Differential Association Theory

Sutherland (1939) and his theory

someones likelihood on committing a crime is linked to who they associate with

Attitudes which influence if we act in a criminal way

pro crime - carrying a knife because it’s safe
anti crime - inhibits crime

Normative social influence

if crime is common in a community then people in that community are more likely to commit crime

Observational learning

may learn techniques about how to commit crime from people around

Positive reinforcement

committing crime may be rewarded
may be given status, acceptance and approval

Farrington’s Cambridge study (2006)

followed 411 males from deprived south london
started in 1961 when boys were 8
looked at development of antisocial behaviour and offending

Farrington’s study results

41% of participants had at least one conviction

What predicted who had criminal conviction or not in Farrington’s study?

P who committed crime were more likely to have been raised in families with criminality, poverty and poor parenting

Osborne and West (1982)

40% of sons of convicted criminals also had convictions by 18
only 13% of sons had no conviction

AO3 - Niche picking

interaction with personality and environment
genes may choose who we associate with
eg. high extroverts with others then encourage risk taking behaviour

AO3 - re offending rates

prisoners are around other offenders
reinforces pro crime attitudes
may learn new techniques
prison may make reoffending worse