The Association Between Differential Association Theory and Burglary

Edwin Sutherland’s theory of Differential Association theory is about an individual learning criminal behaviour through interaction with intimate groups. His theory includes four modalities, which are frequency, duration priority and intensity. Sutherland’s theory is seen

High crime rates are an ongoing issue through the United States, however the motivation and the cause of crime has yet to be entirely identified. Ronald Akers would say that criminality is a behavior that is learned based on what an individual sees and observes others doing. When an individual commits a crime, he or she is acting on impulse based on actions that they have seen others engage in. Initially during childhood, individuals learn actions and behavior by watching and listening to others, and out of impulse they mimic the behavior that is observed. Theorist Ronald Akers extended Sutherland’s differential association theory with a modern viewpoint known as the social learning theory. The social learning theory states that

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

Scarce research is available on active offenders due to their unwillingness to corporate with researchers and past and convicted offenders may have changed their perspectives after being convicted or left their lifestyle of crime. The most reliable data on these offenses and their perpetrators may come from active burglars themselves. Richard T. Wright and Scott Decker’s book, Burglars on the Job seeks to explain the reasons why burglars commit the crimes they do. They have taken their research to another level by gaining the trust of active offenders in the St. Louis area and gaining inside knowledge of these criminals’ daily lives and their crimes. This paper will address

as a general concept, social learning theory has been applied to the many different fields of social science to explain why certain individuals develop motivation to commit (or abstain from) crime and develop the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Social Learning Theory (SLT) is one of the most frequently looked at theories in the criminology field. This theory was introduced by Ronald L. Akers as a reformulation of Edwin H. Sutherland 's (1947) differential association theory of crime meld with principles of behavior psychology (Bradshaw, 2011). Akers retained the concepts of differential association and definitions from Sutherland 's theory, but conceptualized them in more behavioral terms and

There are numerous theories as to why a crime is committed. Rational choice theory, which is a subset of classical theory, says that before people commit a crime they think about what they are going to do. They weigh the pros and cons before committing the criminal act. The rational choice theory is well suited for the causation of burglary. The support for this theory is that burglars do not commit crime for the fun of it or just because they want to. It is usually because they need money to keep their heads above water. In their situation, they do not see any other way than to steal to make a living. The opposition for rational choice theory is that criminals do not think before they act as they may be incapable of thinking

And on the other hand how “Code of the Streets” shows links to the Differential Association and Social Learning theories of crime. The Differential Association (closely related to Social Disorganization theory), developed by Edwin Sutherland, and Social Learning theory, developed by Ronald Akers, both theories of crime are theories that try to explain, at a micro-level, why individuals rather than groups of individuals commit crime (Feldmeyer, Differential Association and Social Learning, 2015).

Social learning theory argues that crime and the manifestation of deviant behaviors are socially learned behaviors (Schram, & Tibbetts, 2018). The key factor in the

The Social Learning Theory is similar to the Differential Association Theory in the respect that they both depend on the approval of others. It says that "...crime is something learned by normal people as they adapt to other people and the conditions of their environment" (Bohm, 2001: 82). People learn by reinforcement weather it is positive or negative. Growing up Kody began to feel more and more that his mom no longer expressed any love or care for him, but that she only nagged him. After returning home from juvenile hall the greeting that Kody got from his mother wasn't exactly what he wanted. "I knew she meant well, but I wasn't up to it tonight. I wanted to be loved, to be missed, to be wanted, not scolded" (Scott, 1993: 173). The

It is known that crime is caused through imitation, arousal and desensitising. The social Learning theory (2009), looks at how people engage in crime due to their associations. It explains that a person’s behaviour is a product of the people who surround ourselves – people imitate those who people admire. Theorist Bandura (1997) had completed an experiment in which looked at

Sutherland, both a sociologist and professor, developed Differential Association theory in 1939. Sutherland made a realization that crime happens in all social standings, not just the lower class. According to Sutherland, criminal activity is not inherent but learned. For example, children are not born to be racist but learn racism either through a family member or a close group of friends or acquaintances. Although Differential Association theory is a learned behavior, one needs to mentor someone on how to engage in deviant behavior and also how to have the right motivation and attitude to commit illegal corruption. What is the person undertaking the activity going to get out of the deviant behavior money, approval from friends or a better job? Criminals know that committing a crime is wrong, but they somehow have to rationalize to themselves that its alright because of the guilt they feel. Differential Association theory also states that people committing these crimes are doing it because it's more promising to violate the law than not too. Likewise, just because people commit deviant acts doesn’t mean they will continue to engage in those acts later in life according to

Burglary has an undeniably large presence in society. Consequently, there is significant discourse surrounding the major criminogenic forces that motivate burglars. As a result, this essay asserts that to a large extent, strain theory provides the most effective explanation for burglary. However, this essay recognises the limitations of strain theory, thus the essay acknowledges the smaller, albeit still significant roles that theories like Seduction of Crime theory and Conflict theory play in explaining burglary. To develop this hypothesis, a number of factors are explored. First however, a definition of burglary must be established; for the purposes of this essay, the Common Law definition shall be used. Additionally, strain theory’s fundamental

Unlike, violent crimes, property crime are one of the most common types of criminal offense and are offenses taken out against the property. Property crimes range from burglary, theft, shoplifting, arson, and vandalism. In this particular time, we will be discussing the property crime, vandalism. According to Yavuz, & Kuloğlu (2010), vandalism is the act of social, mental, spatial and economical aspects, which have negative effects on the

We all know that people may commit a crime for a number of reasons. Some times it’s because of poverty, starvation, drug addiction, the in ability to receive education, and many other factors come into play. With new crime theories we focus on the actual crime that is being committed, how it is happening, events, not dispositions, near, not distant causes or crime, and opportunity factors (Clarke, R.V. 2004).

Differential Association Theory was created by Edwin Sutherland, whose primary goal was to create a theory that could explain both individual criminality and collect crime rates (Walsh, 186). For crime to occur conditions must be available, if not present crime does not exist (Walsh, 186). In reading 13, it shows that individuals exposed to criminal activity are more likely to become involved in criminal acts. “Many empirical tests have relied on the number of criminal associates as evidence of interaction with criminal members within an individual’s primary group (Walsh, 217).” The reading on page 141 supports Sutherland’s idea that behavior is learned. Kody Scott was recently a graduate from an elementary school in Los Angeles whose sole purpose in life was to become a part of a gang known as Eight Trey Crips. Many would argue