The Main Categories Of Theoretical Explanations For Delinquent Behavior And Attitudes

There are three main integrated theories that explain delinquent behaviors committed by juveniles. They are the General Theory of Crime, the Social Process Theory, and the Interactional Theory. After researching each theory, I believe that Terence P. Thornberry's Interactional Theory best explains why children commit crimes. This essay will explain in great detail the Interactional theory and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

One of the more systematically developed integrated theories of delinquency has been proposed by Terence Thornberry. Thornberry’s interactional theory is a developmental approach that stresses that all human behavior occurs in the context of social interaction

Four years now researcher in the fields of psychology sociology, genetics, and the juvenile justice system have contemplated the reason why some youth turn to delinquency and violence. To investigate the reasons, for some adolescents you would have to research on a case to case basis could fall into one category of multiple categories stemming, why they act the way they do and what cause these reactions. Some researchers may want to find reasons that is caused in the genetic line, it is the youth’s social atmosphere concerning in the youth has the right friends or any friends at all, or they could even to lead to arguments in the environment in which the child is raised.

This essay will compare and contrast some psychological and sociological approaches to studying juvenile delinquency and disorder behaviour. The question is what makes people behave disorderly. Youth disorderly behaviours are studied using different approaches including psychological and sociological approaches. Both psychological and sociological approaches to studying juvenile delinquency are necessary. This essay starts with outlining and defining disorderly behaviour and juvenile delinquency. Then, it will look at the work of Eysenck, the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development research which was a longitude study and the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential theory by Farrington, all fit in psychological approach; studying the connection between personality and disorder. It will then look at Sociological approach by looking at the work of Howard Becker, Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall. This essay will be analysing and comparing their theories and separating the differences and noting the similarities in their ideas. This essay will provide evidence for each theory. It will then conclude by specifying significant similarities and differences in the light of the evidence presented.

I have found another trigger for my deviant behavior: peer pressure. Peer influence has emerged over the last fifty years to be the chief source of values and behavioral influence in adolescence, replacing the influence of adults. Although the level of deviance from peer group to peer group varies, the negative actions of one member in a group will increase the probability of other members taking part in similar behaviors. Affiliation with deviant peers predicts delinquent behavior more strongly than community, school, or family.

Sociologists have developed six main sociological theories of deviance. Emile Durkheim’s Anomie theory suggests that people become disconnected from society because they feel that the norms are inadequate examples for behavior. Durkheim said, “We must not say that an action shocks the common conscience because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it shocks the

further question of why it is that the frequency of deviant behavior varies within different social structure and how it happens that the deviations have different shapes and pattern in different social structures. (230)

There is always that moment in life where you make the choice to be good or bad, but we really don’t know why we make those choices. There is a point in life when you choose to be deviant. Social control theory and social learning theory suggest what makes us do the deviant behavior and what makes it different from one person to another. They both have to do with the world around us, but have different views on how you portray yourself from that. Social control is how you interact with society, and it suggest that if you are close to society you will have good behavior, but if your ties are not strong you lash out getting involved in criminal or unwanted behavior. This can be due to someone living in a bad environment and catching on to things that aren 't good. Hirschi 's social bonding theory talks about some ways this affects our lives, and his four elements explain why.

In chapter 7 of our text, Sociology, A Brief Introduction by Richard Schaefer, social control is discussed. According to the text, “Social control is defined as techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society (Schaefer, 159).” An example used in the text to explain this concept was “informal norms” such as dress codes introduced by peer groups in order to, “govern the behavior of their members (Schaefer, 159).” Within society, a term that is commonly known as deviance stems from social control. Deviance is “exhibiting behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society (Schaefer. 165).” Deviant behavior goes against the social norms of society.

Deviant behavior is directly responsible for poor academic performance, substance abuse and increased student involvement in criminal activities. In most instances, students have engaged in activities such as binge drinking, body piercing, hard substance abuse among other criminal activities as a result of deviance in their behaviors. This literature review will analyze a number of scholarly publications and books on deviant behaviors in college freshmen.

In my attempt to discover if delinquency and drug use, or the sale of drugs were correlated with one another, my research lead to a positive correlation, especially when there was gang membership involved. The theory I have chosen to tie in with my review of the articles I found is the social learning theory of Edwin Sutherland known as differential association theory. According to Britannica online, Sutherland’s differential association theory of delinquent behavior is learned from other persons who are also engaged in delinquent behaviors. Sutherland believes that a person becomes delinquent because of an access amount of exposure to the definitions of criminal behavior and the violation of the law (Britannica 2007). This particular belief is a good theory to use to explain juvenile delinquency. Orcutt (1983) explains that Sutherland states that everyone has social groups which influence each of us in the actions that we chose to engage in according to the norms and values of that group. An example would be that most of our parents teach us that we should respect and obey the law. However, there are those that some people are associated with inside their social network that influence in negative ways, tempting and leading others into deviant behavior. Such as assuring those within a group that certain drugs should not be criminalized and that the chance of getting caught with them is very slim. With enough pressure and continued exposure to that mindset and behavior

What makes crime a rampant convention of human civilization? According to The International Center for Prison Studies (2013), the United States holds the record for highest incarceration rates in the world at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. At the beginning of 2013, the world population was recorded at 7.1 billion; 10.2 million of that is the world’s currently documented prison population. In the past 15 years since the first edition of ICPS’s World Prison Population List, world prison population has increased 25-30% (ICPS; Walmsley, 2013). Actual crime in the United States is projected to occur every 26 seconds for violent crimes, and every 3.5 seconds for non-violent crimes. With the steady advancements in law enforcement, social

Deviant sub-cultural theories of crime focus on subcultures, i.e. groups within wider society with norms, lifestyles and values distinct from those of mainstream society. The focus in sub-cultural theories is on delinquency.

This paper explores three topics (Social Control Theory, Labeling Perspective, Aggressiveness and Crime) and explores how they relate through Juvenile Delinquency. Social Control Theory is what occurs when young adults do not have a good foundational upbringing from their parents and as such, they will tend to stray into more deviant behaviors. With repeated deviant actions, these youth will become labeled in our society as deviants or outcasts. Through Social Control Theory and the labeling perspective these minors may feel like they have become trapped and could escalate in their actions, drug usage and crimes.

In consideration of explaining social learning theory in how it correlates and gives value to the influx of the influence of deviant peers on an individual’s own deviance, I propose a program to nudge individual’s away from deviant peers to reduce their own deviant activity. This program would be aimed at young adults, due to the pressure they receive from peers in relation to other populations. In theory, those participating in this program would be referred to the program from cops (once in trouble), school advisors, other programs involved in youth offenders and deviance, family members, or others. They can also join in if they feel they are being exposed and influenced by deviant peers. Furthermore, it would focus on involving these “deviant” individuals with