Differential Association Theory

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Differential Association Theory

• Sutherland

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Definition

• According to Sutherland Crime is a function of
  a learning process that could affect any
  individual in any culture.

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Principals of Differential Association

• Criminal Behavior is learned.
• -Sutherland says that delinquency/criminal
  behavior is learned in the same way that any
  other behavior is learned.
• Criminal Behavior is learned as a by-product of
  interacting with others.
• -People dont just start doing criminal acts,
  they learn how to do these acts from teachers of
  crime. Criminal Behavior cant occur without
  the aid of others.
• Learning criminal behavior occurs within intimate
  personal groups.
• -The interactions people have with their most
  intimate social companions, family, friends,
  peers, have the greatest influence on their
  deviant behavior and attitude development.

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Principals of Differential Association

• Learning criminal behavior involves assimilating
  the techniques of committing crime , including
  Motives, Drives, Rationalizations, and Attitudes.
• -Young delinquents or novice criminals learn
  the ways of crime from the people that they
  associate with. They also learn how to defend,
  rationalize, and show remorse for their criminal
  acts.
• The specific direction of Motives and Drives is
  learned from perceptions of various aspects of
  the legal code as favorable or unfavorable.
• -This involves what Sutherland calls culture
  conflict. This is where the juvenile admires
  someone who holds a view about the law that is
  different than the one of society. In turn the
  juvenile will start to believe in or alter their
  perception of the views of the person they admire
  rather than those of normal of society.

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Principals of Differential Association

• A person becomes a criminal when he/she perceives
  more favorable than unfavorable consequences to
  violating the law.
• -According to Sutherlands theory, individuals
  become law violators when they are in contact
  with persons, groups, or events that produce an
  excess of definitions favorable toward
  criminality and are isolated from counteracting
  forces.
• Differential Associations may vary in Frequency,
  Duration, Priority, and Intensity.
• -Frequency the more frequent the interactions
  the more likely to have more influence.
• -Duration the longer the duration the greater
  influence the interaction will have.
• -Priority means the age of the juvenile when
  they first encounter criminality. Interactions
  made early in life most likely have more
  influence.
• -Intensity the importance or prestige
  attributed to the individual or groups for which
  they have interactions with.

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Principals of Differential Association

• The process of learning criminal behavior by
  association with criminal and anti-criminal
  patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are
  involved in any other learning process.
• -Learning criminal behavior patterns is just
  like learning any other behavior pattern, just
  because it is criminal it doesnt mean that it is
  just imitated.
• Although criminal behavior expresses general
  needs and values, it is not excused by those
  general needs and values because non-criminal
  behavior also expresses the same needs and
  values.
• -This states that the motives for criminal
  behavior cant possibly be the same as those for
  normal behavior.

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Questions?

• Associate coming to college and college life with
  the Differential Association Theory.
• Are there any other variables besides the ones
  listed in the article that you could link with
  the Differential Association Theory?