Social Explanations
of Crime
Chapter 3
Some History on Behaviourism


Classical (Pavlovian)
Conditioning
Stimulus-response
 Associations
Behaviourism as perspective on
human nature
Watson:
 Eliminate the “mind”
because it could not be
observed or measured
 Interplay between stimulus
& response only
 All behaviour controlled
by external environment
Learning Theories
All behaviour is learned
 Instrumental (operant) learning


Skinner & behaviourism
 Facilitates personal adaptation
 Consequences and rewards
 Reinforcements & Punishments
Response is strengthened by outcome that follows
 Response is weakened by outcome that follows
 Positive & Negative reinforcement vs. Punishment

Skinnerian Perspective
 Environmental
stimuli are primary
• behaviour can be understood by examining
simplest stimulus-response chains of
behaviour
 Focuses on emitted behaviours
 Juveniles repeat rewarded behaviour
(reinforcement) and do not repeat behaviour
that is punished

Shoplifting; Burglary; Robbery

Physical rewards &/or social & psychological reinforcements
WHY DON’T WE ALL DO CRIME?

Strong connection between deviant
behaviour and aversive consequences
 Punishment
weakens a response or makes it
less likely to recur

Opportunity to make connections (active
problem solvers; socialization)
When Punishment Works

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Immediately punishing a self-destructive
behaviour
Milder punishments appear to work as well
as harsh ones
Consistency is important
Younger criminals:
 reduces rates of arrest but not recidivism;
 severity of punishment makes no diff (fines
probation as effective as jail);
 when get away with crime, behaviour is
intermittently reinforced
&
When Punishment Fails

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If administered inappropriately
Recipient may respond with anxiety, fear or
rage
Effectiveness is often temporary
Most misbehaviour is difficult to punish
immediately
Punishment conveys little info – only teaches
how to avoid it
An action intended to punish may be
reinforcing
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY


Focus on ‘inner’ processes in learning
Assumption: people learn primarily by
observing and listening to others.
 Social
environment is most important factor in
acquisition of behaviour and reinforcement for
the maintenance of behaviour.
 Guides our sentencing practices !

Basic concept: people in all walks of life
have the potential to become delinquents or
criminals.
SOCIAL(COGNITIVE) LEARNING
 Cognitive
processes: Perceptions, thoughts,
expectancies, competencies, & values
 Learning is a change in knowledge that has
the potential for affecting behaviour.
 Albert Bandura
 Modeling
 Edwin Sutherland
 Differential association theory
Observational Learning - Bandura
Imitational aspects of social learning:
 Can
acquire behaviour simply by watching
others (models) and refined through practice
& reinforcement
 Direct
participation & reinforcement not necessary
 Not what model says; about what model DOES
 Observed behaviour more likely to be replicated if
model rewarded
 Maintained behaviour depends on situation and
expectancies for personal gain
 Substantial body of evidence supporting theory
The Modelling Process (Bandura: 1977)

Four basic steps
 Attention

Observe acts
 Retention
 Reproduction

reinforcement
 Motivation
Differential Association Theory


Edwin Sutherland (cultural, not individual roots)
Explains crime across the social structure:
 Criminal
behaviour is learned through intimate social
relationships (peers)
 Views about deviance learned through exposure to
value system (*attitudes) that are pro-deviant
 Deviant communities ‘differentially organized’
subcultures (own values, traditions, & norms for
behaviour)
 Many forms of crime require people to work with each
other (& to be learned same as non-deviant activities)

Accounts for acquisition of criminal tendencies,
not maintenance of performance
Differential Association Theory
Exposure to competing
definitions of appropriate
and inappropriate
conduct
Delinquent and
criminal behaviour
Definitions favourable
or unfavourable to
criminal behaviour
are learned through
interaction in
intimate social groups
Excess of definitions
favourable to law
violation
Learning and criminal
motivations and
techniques
Youtube Links
Stanley Cup Riot in Vancouver – 1994
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2II3UIV2ars

The Milgram Experiment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=274wQJmdRQg

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E-21DE_064s&NR=1
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The Family

May provides the reinforcement that shapes
behaviour and models for criminal behaviour

Studied from 2 angles
 Family

interactions
Do parenting styles and other circumstances
bear on development or future delinquency?
 Family
structure
Is having many siblings a protective factor?
 Is a single-parent household a risk factor?


‘broken home’ or homes ‘broken’
Family Structuring
Reflects the quality of parenting provided:
 Constant
criticism, neglect or verbal abuse?
 Low supervision?
 Lack of discipline?
 Inconsistent discipline?
 Harsh
physical punishment?
Hoffman’s Child-Rearing Styles

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NOTE: research is correlational
Personality & behaviour function of many factors
such as:
 Heredity
 Parenting styles
 Bi-directional influence
 Other

of parent-child
experiences
In general, physical punishment,
inconsistent punishment; poor parental
monitoring, poor discipline & lack of family
cohesion linked to violent delinquency
The Power of Parents
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Nonshared environment is more important influence on
personality
Few parents have a single child-rearing style that is
consistent over time & that they use with all children
(stressors, moods, child’s age & temperament)
Even with consistency, may be little relation between
what they do & how child turns out

Columbine High School murders
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKDvT1f6HDc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ13CZ4Hekg
Reena Virk
Family Relationships

Divorce
 Not
divorce per se or absence of father figure
 Stress & discord prior to separation appears
as operating factor for risk of delinquency

Not enough time with children; depressed;
stressed out, self-absorbed
 Children
may feel unloved & normal practices
are disrupted (discipline) & reduces
attachment between parent and child
Family and Crime

Criminal parents are more likely to have
criminal children:
 Social
modeling: role model
 Poorer & more chaotic
 Parenting styles of criminal parents poor
 Drugs & alcohol more prevalent in home
School & Peer Influences

School is one of most influential environments
 Academic


failure
Peer rejection far more traumatic than punitive
treatment
Reflects contact with antisocial youths:
 Some delinquent acquaintances or friends
 No positive acquaintances
 Strong allegiance to peers
 Subversive (antisocial) values and ideas
 Technique of neutralization
Peer Influences: Antisocial Attitudes

Reflects criminal or otherwise antisocial
attitudes:
 Delinquent
attitudes
 Unconventional attitudes
 Not actively seeking help
 Actively rejecting help
 Callous attitude
 Defiant attitude
Social Control Theory

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Hirschi (1969) – importance of social bonds
(protective factors against crime)
Argues that crime and delinquency occurs when
individuals not socialized to be law-abiding
 Do
not have the controls that normally hold basic
human nature in check
 Child’s relationship with parent is most important
factor in delinquency involvement

Objection to theory: only partially accounts for
deviant behaviour – how do bonds break down?
Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory
Weak attachment to
conventional people and
insensitivity to their opinions
Weak commitment
to conventional social
enterprises like education,
work & social rewards
Weak involvement in
legitimate law-abiding
activity
Weak belief in
conventional values &
the validity of the law
Delinquent or criminal conduct
Deterrence Theory
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Frequency of crime will vary inversely with
certainty, swiftness, & severity of punishment
Works because of fear of external sanctions and
negative consequences (we deter ourselves)
Objection to theory: many crimes are impulsive
or emotion based & little consideration of
consequences
Deterrence Theory
Delinquent or criminal conduct
Lack of severity
(gravity of sanction)
Lack of certainty
(high likelihood of
punishment)
Lack of celerity
(short period of time
separating misconduct
from punishment)
Labelling Theory

Official (social) label & sanctioned process

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Society reacts to violations against social norms by applying
labels & stigmatizing behaviour of other groups
Self-fulfilling prophecy (deviant label may actually
increase deviant behaviour due to label’s negative impacts on one’s
social status, ‘life chances’, and sense of self)

Assumptions
 Acts
are not intrinsically deviant
 Crime is a label that becomes attached to behaviour
for social reasons
 Criminal justice agents are influenced by
characteristics of offender (age, race, class)
Labelling

Deviancy is socially constructed
 Not
act itself but contextual meaning attached
to it that defines if deviant or not

So the focus is on:
 Who
gets defined/labelled deviant?
 How does this process occur?
 What are the consequences of being labelled
deviant?
Stigmatization
Labels inform us as to the conduct but
explain very little about the motivations
 Labels carry a “generalized symbolic value”
 Social, self & structural stigma
 Stigma causes and perpetuates further
deviant behaviour

General Tenets of Labelling Perspective
Ongoing involvement
in deviance
Development of
Deviant self-image,
Self-concept &identity
Multiplicity of influences
Initial primary deviance
Unofficial and/or
official labelling
Deviant shunned by
conventional society
Impact of Labelling Theory

Objection to theory: focuses on deviance of
marginalized groups & oversimplifies relation between
attitudes, self-concept & behaviour. Not totally arbitrary.
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E.g.; Mental illness
Deinstitutionalization between 1965 & 1985
Exposure to institutional life created & reinforced negative selfimages; slowing down recovery & reintegration into community
Age and Gender
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Majority of crime committed by males in early
teens and twenties
Most theories relate most strongly to particular
stages in an offender’s life
Most research conducted with samples of males
Theorizing about female offenders uses different
sets of explanatory factors (victims, mental
illness, home & family factors)
Criminal ‘Career’ Development
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Different developmental pathways (trajectories)
suggest how childhood & adolescence antisocial
behaviour (ASB) is shaped & maintained
Strong evidence that most serious, persistent
delinquency begins early & worsens with age
 Age
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of onset & chronic offending in adolescence
Beginning to target development of ASB during
preschool years
Moffitt: characteristics of child
Moffitt’s Developmental Theory of Crime
The Dual Trajectories in the Origins of Conduct Disorder (CD)
"Early Starters“
<13 (& continue)
"Late Starters“
13+
Life-course-persistent (LCP)
offenders
Adolescent limited (AL) offenders
DSM-IV conduct disorder: childhoodonset type
DSM-IV conduct disorder: adolescentonset type
Minor aggression (bullying, fighting),
lying, hurting animals, biting and hitting
by age 4
Serious aggression (mugging, forced
sex, use of weapon), stealing, running
away, truancy, breaking & entering
Neurological problems: attention deficit
or hyperactivity
Little to no problems with peer
rejection; have learned how to get
along with others
5-10% of the male juvenile offender
population (2% females)
Majority of juvenile offender
population; ceases or stops offending
around age 18
Merton’s Strain Theory
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ANOMIE: “without norms”
Gives the influence of society upon the individual a central position
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Life is about success

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Crime is a social construction & defined by those in power (persisting
structural social gap that pushes people to break rules – normal, maybe
even necessary)
Crime increases when the social structure prevents people from achieving
culturally defined goals (getting money) through legitimate means (job)
Where legitimate and conventional means of success are
unavailable
Unequal opportunity
2. Strain & stress ensue (permanent conflict)
3. Adapt by conforming to rules or deviance becomes a means to an
end
1.
Merton’s Strain Theory
Members of lower class
socialized to embrace
conventional
middle-class values & norms
People in lower class confront
lack of legitimate opportunities
to achieve middle-class success
Strain and frustration ensue
Legitimate mode
of adaptation
“Conformity”
Illegitimate modes
of adapation
“Nonconforming”
Summary
Importance of antisocial/antiauthority &
pro-criminal attitudes & beliefs in the
promotion of criminal behaviour in young
people
 Broad range of situational & personal
factors involved in delinquency

RISK FACTORS (not to be confused with causal factors)

Social, Parental & Family
 Relative
poverty and social class
 Peers
 Education
 Family
relationship, structure
 Gender & Age
 Substance abuse
 Antisocial attitudes
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Vojkovic Article