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LEARNING THEORIES OF CRIME"You, too, can learn to be a serial
killer."(Robert Hale)
Some theories in criminology believe that criminality is a
function of individual
socialization, how individuals have been influenced by their
experiences or relationships
with family relationships, peer groups, teachers, church,
authority figures, and otheragents of socialization. These are
called learning theories, and specifically social
learning theories, because criminology never really embraced the
psychologicaldeterminism inherent in most learning psychologies.
They are also less concerned for the
content of what is learned (like cultural deviance theories),
and more concerned with
explaining the socialprocess by which anyone, regardless of
race, class, or gender, wouldhave the potential to become a
criminal. Social Learning, Control, and Labeling theories
are all examples of social process theories.
Learning is defined as habits and knowledge that develop as a
result of experiences with
the environment, as opposed to instincts, drives, reflexes, and
genetic
predispositions. Associationism (developed by Aristotle, Hobbes,
Locke, and Hume) is theoldest learning theory. It is based on the
idea that the mind organizes sensory experiences
in some way, and is called cognitive psychology today.
Behaviorism (developed by Pavlovand Skinner) is the second oldest
learning theory. It is based on the idea that the mind
requires a physical response by the body in order to organize
sensory associations. There
are two types of learning in behavioral psychology: classical
conditioning (where stimuli
produce a given response without prior training); and operant
conditioning (where
rewards and punishments are used to reinforce given responses).
Examples of operant
conditioning include verbal behavior, sexual behavior, driving a
car, writing a paper,
wearing clothing, or living in a house. Most social behavior is
of an operant
nature. Imitation (sometimes called contagion) is the oldest
social learning theory, andderives from the work of Tarde
(1843-1904), a sociologist who said crime begins as fashion
and later becomes a custom. The Social learning theory that has
had the most impact oncriminology is associated with the work of
Bandura (1969), a psychologist who formulated
the principles of "stimulus control" (stimulus-to-stimulus
reinforcement rather than
stimulus-behavior reinforcement), outlined the stages of
"modeling" (attend, retain,
rehearse, perform), and pioneered the field of "vicarious
learning" (media influences, for
example). Of these many contributions, the one about
stimulus-to-stimulus chains of
learning is the most important since it does away with the need
for extrinsic rewards and
punishments, arguing that observational learning can take place
without them. Bandura's
ideas about role modeling resonated well with criminology
because since the 1930s,
criminology had a similar theory (differential association).
Julian Rotter was also anotherpsychologist who had an enormous
impact on social learning theory in criminology.
SUTHERLAND'S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
Sutherland (1883-1950) is called the father of American
criminology. In 1924, he wrote a
book called Criminology, the first fully sociological textbook
in the field. He first put forth
his theory in the second edition of 1934, revised it again in
1939, and the theory has
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remained unchanged since the fourth edition of 1947. When
Sutherland died in 1950,
Donald Cressey continued to popularize the theory. It's called
Differential
Association (DA) theory, and Sutherland devised it because his
study of white collar crime(a field he pioneered) and professional
theft led him to believe that there were social
learning processes that could turn anyone into a criminal,
anytime, anywhere. Let's look at
the 9 points of DA theory:
1. Criminal behavior is learned....
2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with others in a
process of
communication....
3. Learning criminal behavior occurs within primary groups
(family, friends, peers,
their most intimate, personal companions)
4. Learning criminal behavior involves learning the techniques,
motives, drives,
rationalizations, and attitudes....
5. The specific direction of motives and attitudes is learned
from definitions of the legalcodes as favorable or
unfavorable....
6. A person becomes a criminal when there is an excess of
definitions favorable to
violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of
law.... (this is the principle of
differential association)
7. Differential associations vary in frequency, duration,
priority, and intensity (frequent
contacts, long contacts, age at first contact, important or
prestigious contacts)
8. The process of learning criminal behavior involves all the
mechanisms involved in any
other learning....
9. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs
and attitudes, criminal
behavior and motives are not explained nor excused by the same
needs and attitudes
(criminals must be differentiated from noncriminals)
