Differential association theory Flashcards
What is the differential association theory?
Individuals learn the values, attitudes, motives and techniques for criminal behaviour through association and interaction with other people
What type of basis does the theory have?
Scientific
What did Sutherland develop?
Set of scientific principles that could explain offending
Conditions present when offending and absent when not
How does the theory suggest offending behaviour is acquired?
Through learning learned attitudes towards crime and learning specific criminal acts
How does this learning occur?
Through interactions with significant others that the children associate themselves with
Eg. Family and peers
What did Sutherland argue about pro-criminal attitudes?
If the number of pro-criminal attitudes the person comes to outweigh the anti-criminal, they will go on to offend
How is the child exposed to different views?
When they socialise in a group, they are exposed to different values and attitudes towards the law, either pro-criminal or anti-criminal
What does the theory suggest about criminality, regarding mathematics?
It should be possible using mathematics to predict how likely it will be that an individual will commit a crime if we have a knowledge about the frequency, intensity and duration of which they have been exposed to deviant and non-deviant norms and values
What are some techniques of criminal acts which are learned?
How to break into someones house
Steal a car stereo
What else does Sutherland’s theory take into account about reoffending?
When taking into consideration how crime may breed among specific social groups and in communities, it takes into account why so many criminals go on to reoffend after release
Why do offenders go on to reoffend?
When in prison they learn specific techniques from other inmates and they want to go on to put that into practice
How can learning techniques occur?
Through observation or direct tuition
What did Farrington et al (2006) do?
Cambridge study in delinquent development
A longitudinal study of the development of offending and anti-social behaviour in 411 males.
Began as children aged 8 in 1961, living in WC (deprived inner city London)
Looked at criminal careers from convictions and self-report studies up to the age of 50
What did Farrington et al (2006) find?
Of all males, 41% were convicted of at least one offence between the ages of 10 and 50.
The average conviction career lasted from ages 19-28 and included 5 convictions
The most important risk factor between the ages 8-10 was family criminality, daring or risk taking, low school attainment, poverty and poor parenting.
7% were defined as ‘chronic offenders’ as they accounted for about half of all officially recorded offences in the study
What are weaknesses of Farrington et al (2006) study?
Androcentric - can’t be generalised to women
Ethnocentric - cant be generalised to other countries
Limited research
How does the theory have good explanatory power?
It can account for all crime within all sectors of society
He realises which crimes are most common in different types of society
Why is the approach desirable?
It provides a shift of focus
Moves the theory of criminality from biological as well as explain offending as an individual weakness
The theory draws attention on the idea that dysfunctional social circumstances and environments may be more to blame for dysfunctional people
Why is the theory hard to test?
Pro-criminal attitudes are hard to measure
The theory is built on the assumption that offending behaviour will occur when pro-criminal values outnumber anti-criminal ones.
Hard to know when the urge to offend develops and criminal is triggered
What did Sutherland suggest is crucial?
The response of family in determining if the individual will reoffend, making it legitimate and reasonable, then this becomes an influence on their value system
What evidence supports the idea that criminality runs in families?
Farrington
Mednick
What is there a danger of with the differential theory?
Stereotyping those who come from poor backgrounds and are deemed to be ‘unavoidably criminal’
