SOCIAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL THEORIES
OF CRIME
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…while socialisation theories assume original sin,
and focus on the development or restraints or
inhibitions against deviance, social psychological
and sociological theories …assume that humans
are essentially conforming, and deviate only when
pressured into doing so by societal influences.
This…explains why sociology has produced
several theories of crime and delinquency, while
psychological accounts of crime are usually
derivatives of more general theories of
development and learning (p. 88)
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Sociological Theories
Differential Association
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Main thesis: different socal organisation
implies different subcultural traditions;
this potentially brings conflicting norms.
Emphasize the process – ratio of
exposure- by which criminogenic
traditions are transmitted; takes the form
of 9 propositions
Critics: untestable, only accounts for the
acquisition of criminal tendencies, not for
performance
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Sociological Theories
Strain and subcultural theories
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Main thesis of strain theory: people hates
wide disparity between aspirations and
expectations, and may turn to illegitimate
behavior
Main thesis of subcultural theory: there is
normative conflict between class cultures
or subcultures.
Critics: both overpredicts crime among
the working class and young people
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Sociological Theories
Control Theory
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Main thesis: restraining factors are
needed to ensure conformity
The role of self control
Violations of social restraints involve
personal costs
Critics: not credible explanation
toward the low self control people
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Sociological Theories
Labelling theory
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Main thesis: social reactions to norms
violation may alter the course of deviance
3 assumptions: Crime is a label; reactions
are governed by characteristics of
offenders; a deviant self-image fosters a
delinquent career
Primary deviance and secondary deviance
Critics: too much focusing the underdog
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(Psychologists)…claimed that the acquisition
and maintenance of
Criminal and noncriminal behavior are governed
by the same principles
And that no special theory of crime is therefore
necessary.
However, (psychologists) … must explain how
people come to enact
behaviors which they know to be socially
prohitibited or morally condemned (p. 94)
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Learning Theories
Three distinctive schools
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Applied behavioural analysis
Neo-behaviourism
Social learning theory
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Increasingly concern with cognition as
the structuring of experience – social
cognitive theory
Knowledge exerts control over behavior
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Two dominant themes in learning
perspectives on crime
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Views crime and delinquency as a
failure of socialisation
Views crime as a learned phenomenon
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Early learning models of criminal
behaviour drew on two-process
theory. Behaviour is stimulated by
the development of conditioning
and avoidance learning
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TWO VIEWS ON
SOCIALISATION PROCESS :
1. Internalisation of cues associated with
punishment
2. The emphasis of SLT on cognitive learning
and mediation (p. 97)
Key theme: criminal acts are operants
acquired and maintained by their
reinforcing consequences
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Learning theory and sociological
theories of crime
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Burgess & Akers: “Intimate personal
groups” theory
Andrews: The contingent effects of
exposure to criminal and anticriminal
pattern + interpersonal conditions on
criminal attitudes and behavior in the
context on interventions within prison &
probation services
Hirschi: control theory toward delinquents
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In contrast to positivist models,,,,
the classical utilitarianism…saw
criminal behavior as the outcome of
rational calculation of the costs and
benefits of alternative courses of
action (p. 103)
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Environmental Criminology
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Main thesis: criminality prevails
according to environmental
opportunities and situational
constraint
Environmental determinism - key
concepts: defensible space, routine
activities, situational crime
prevention, target hardening
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The deterrence hypothesis
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Deterrence: any process by which
an act is prevented or hindered, and
is entailed in any consideration of
compliant behavior
Bentham: when the calculated costs
of punishment outweight the
subjective benefits, a criminal
behavior is deterred
Deterrence is in fact a variable
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Limited Rationality
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Three assumptions by Clarke &
Cornish (p. 108)
Limited rationality as against
normative rationality – the exercise
of limited factors prior committing
crime
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