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Criminology 102
Course Code

THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

College of Criminal Justice Education

Course-Major
 MODULE NO. _6_

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

1st Semester AY 2022-2023

RUBEN M. NARRAZID JR. MSCJ

Instructor III
INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

This module would provide you an educational experience while

independently accomplishing the task at your own pace or time. It aims as well to
ensure that learning is unhampered by health and other challenges. It covers the
topic about the different Sociological theories of crime causation.

Reminders in using this module:

1. Keep this material neat and intact.
2. Answer the pre-test first to measure what you know and what to be learned
about the topic discussed in this module.
3. Accomplish the activities and exercises as aids and reinforcement for better
understanding of the lessons.
4. Answer the post-test to evaluate your learning.
5. Do not take pictures in any parts of this module nor post it to social media
platforms.
6. Value this module for your own learning by heartily and honestly answering
and doing the exercises and activities. Time and effort were spent in the
preparation in order that learning will still continue amidst this Covid-19
pandemic.
7. Observe health protocols: wear mask, sanitize and maintain physical
distancing.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY!

 This chapter presents general and specific theories of crime and delinquency
causation under the concepts of several sociologists. It involves modern and
contemporary sociological theories of crime causation, as well as related researches
that supported the theories.

LESSON 1. OVERVIEW ON SOCIOLOGICAL

THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

A. LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the lesson, you can:
1. Identify the different theories and their meaning
2. Match the different theories with its definition
3. Enumerate Ferri’s classification of criminals, causes of crime, and general causes
of crime according to Lombroso.
5. Explain whether crime causation is a single or multifactor cause.

B. TIME ALLOTMENT: 3 HOURS

C. DISCUSSION

Sociological approaches suggest that crime is shaped by factors external to the

individual: their experiences within the neighbourhood, the peer group, and the
family.

Sociologists Perspective on Crime in the 20" Century.

1. Crime is ‘normal’ in all societies. It serves certain functions and may even
help keep a society orderly. It cannot, therefore, be easily eliminated. Crime may be
usefully understood in mapping these functions.

2. Crime is bound up with conflict. Often of a class-based nature-in which

crimes of the powerful are much less noticed than the crimes of the weak. Crime may
be usefully understood in terms of social divisions and interests, especially economic
interests.

3. Crime is bound up with tension, stresses and strains within societies.

Most commonly, there is a breakdown of the smooth workings of society often called
anomie (or normlessness) and sometimes referred to as social pathology or social
disorganization (Chicago School). Crime may usefully be understood by looking at
the tensions and strains that exist within a society. See more below

4. Crime is strongly (but far from exclusively) linked to city life. Modern
cities bring with them cultural enclaves that seem more prone to generating
criminal/delinquent styles of life with their own values, languages, norms, dress
codes, etc. Crime may usefully be understood through mapping these ‘criminal
areas’.
5. Crime is learned in ordinary everyday situations. There is a process of
cultural transmission, and crime may be usefully understood through looking at life
histories and how people learn their everyday meanings and values.

6. Crime comes about through a lack of attachment to groups valuing

law-abiding behaviour. Controls and regulations break down. Crime here may be
usefully understood through the breakdown of social controls.

Social Divisions and Crime.

More recently, sociologists have recognized that the following social divisions
are very relevant in framing all kinds of social relations, including those linked to
crime and control:

1. Social and Economic Divisions. Here, a person’s labour, wealth and income
play a key role in crime.

2. Gender and Sexuality Divisions. Here, a person’s position as a man or as a

woman plays a key role in crime.

3. Ethnic and Racialized Divisions. Here, a person’s ‘race’ and ethnicity play a
key role in crime.

4. Age Divisions. Here, a person’s age plays a key role in crime.

What is Social Learning Theory? Social learning theory is the view that people
learn by observing others. It explains how people leam new behaviors, values, and
attitudes. Social learning requires attention to the person(s) observed, remembering
the observed behavior, the ability to replicate the behavior, and a motivation to act
the same way. Sociologists have used social learning to explain aggression and
criminal behavior especially. It is a theory of learning and social behavior which
proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It
states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can
occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor
reproduction or direct reinforcement.

In social learning theory, Albert Bandura agrees with the behaviorist learning
theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning which are under the
domain of Behaviorism.

What is Behaviorism? Behaviorism views that behavior is a result of life

experiences, not the unconscious mind. We learn through our experiences with our,
environment. This approach is all about conditioning. Specifically in the field of
criminology, these are social learning theories present in the ‘succeeding segment
such as the Differential Association Theory, Differential Reinforcement Theory and
the like.

Behaviorism Learning Theories

1. Classical Conditioning Theory. This was proposed by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian
physiologist.. According to this theory, behavior is learnt by a repetitive association
between the response and the stimulus. This theory is based on the assumption that
learning is developed through the interactions with the environment. Also, the
environment shapes the behavior and internal mental state such as thoughts,
feelings, emotions do not explain the human behavior.

2. Operant Conditioning Theory. This is also called Instrumental Conditioning

which states that people are likely to emit responses that are rewarded and will not
emit any responses that are followed by any neither reward nor punishment. Thus,
an individual tries to establish an association between a particular behavior and
consequence. This theory was given by B.F. Skinner, who believed that behavior is _
voluntary and is determined, maintained and controlled by its consequences.
According to him, one must focus on the external or observable causes of behavior
rather than the internal mental events such as motivation, thoughts, feelings, etc.

The "Bobo Doll" Experiment(s)

Albert Bandura included an adult who is tasked to act aggressively toward a

Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later, Bandura let the children play inside
a room with the Bobo Doll. He affirmed that these children imitated the aggressive
behavior toward the doll, which they had observed earlier.

Bandura’s 4 Principles of Social Learning

1. Attention. The extent to which we are exposed/notice the behavior. We cannot

learn if we are not focused on the task. If we see something as being novel or
different in some way, we are more likely to make it the focus of our attention. Social
contexts help to reinforce these perceptions.

2. Retention. How well the behavior is remembered. We learn by internalizing

information in our memories. We recall} that information later when we are required
to respond to a situation that is similar to with the situation within which we first
learned the information.

3. Reproduction. This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just
demonstrated. We reproduce previously learned information (behavior, skills,
knowledge) when required. However, practice through mental and physical rehearsal
often improves our responses.

4. Motivation. The will to perform the behavior. The rewards and punishment that
follow a behavior will be considered by the observer. We need to be motivated to do
anything. Often that motivation originates from our observation of someone else
being rewarded or punished for something they have done or said. This usually
motivates us later to do, or avoid doing, the same thing.

Note: Albert Bandura, however, believed on the concept of reciprocal determinism.

What is Reciprocal Determinism? This notion states that just as an individual's
behavior is influenced by the environment, the environment is also influenced by the
individual's behavior. In other words, a person's behavior, environment, and
personal qualities all reciprocally influence each other. For example, a child who
plays violent video games will likely influence his peers to play as well, which then
encourages the child to play more often. This could lead to the child becoming
desensitized to violence, which in turn will likely affect the child's real-life behaviors.

Social learning theory integrated behavioral and cognitive theories of learning

in order to provide a comprehensive model that could account for the wide range of
learning experiences that occur in the real world. As initially outlined by Bandura
and Walters in 1963 and further detailed in 1977.

Key Tenets of Social Learning Theory

1. Learning is not purely behavioral; rather, it is a cognitive process that takes place
in a social context.

2. Learning can occur by observing a behavior and by observing the consequences of

the behavior (vicarious reinforcement).

3. Learning involves observation, extraction of information from those observations,

and making decisions about the performance of the behavior (observational learning
or modeling). Thus, learning can occur without an observable change in behavior.

4. Reinforcement plays a role in learning, but is not entirely responsible for learning.

5. The learner is not a passive recipient of information. Cognition, environment, and

behavior all mutually influence each other (reciprocal determinism).

Social learning theory has been used to explain the emergence and
maintenance of: deviant behavior, especially aggression. Criminologists Ronald
Akers and Robert Burgess integrated the principles of social learning theory and
operant conditioning with Edwin Sutherland's Differential Association Theory to
create a comprehensive theory of criminal behavior.

Burgess and Akers emphasized that criminal behavior is learned in both social
and nonsocial situations through combinations of direct reinforcement, vicarious
reinforcement, explicit instruction, and observation. Both the probability of being
exposed to certain behaviors and the nature of the reinforcement are dependent on
group norms. Akers’ social learning theory was first formulated as Differential
Association Reinforcement by Burgess and Akers.

Sociological Perspectives on Crime and Deviance: General Theories

1. Functionalism Perspective. It argues that societies need a limited amount of

crime, because crime is inevitable (society of saints argument) and that crime
performs three positive functions: regulation, integration and change.
2. Chicago School or Cartographical School Perspective. It states that crime
is being strongly linked to city life. Modern cities bring with them cultural enclaves
that seem more prone to generating criminal/delinquent styles of life with their own
values, languages, norms, dress codes, etc.

3. Social Control Perspective. It states that the cause of deviance is the

breakdown or weakening of informal agencies of social control such as the family and
community. Criminal activity occurs when the individual’s attachment to society is
weakened.

4, Anomie and Strain Perspective. It suggests that crime is bound up with

tension, stresses and strains within societies. Most commonly there is a breakdown
of the smooth workings of society. Crime and deviance occur in times of anomie
when there is a ‘strain’ between society’s socially approved ‘success goals’ and the
opportunities available to achieve these goals. Crime occurs when individuals still
want to achieve the success goals of society but abandon the socially approved means
of obtaining those goals.

5. Traditional [Conflict] Marxism Perspective. It explains crime in terms of

Capitalism and the class structure The Ruling classes make the law to benefit them,
the law protects private property. Ruling and Middle class crime is more harmful
than working class crime but ruling classes are less likely to get caught and punished
for crime. Selective law enforcement performs ideological functions. Crime
(delinquency) is caused by imbalances in power and status.

6. Social Structure Perspective. It asserts that the disadvantaged economic class

position is a primary cause of crime. The theories state that neighborhoods which are
“lower class” create forces of strain, frustration and disorganization that create
crime.

7. Interactionism Perspective. It focuses on how crime is socially constructed,

on how certain acts become defined as criminal or deviant, and how certain people
are more likely to be defined as deviant than others. Labelling Theory and Moral
Panic Theory are key ideas within Interactionism. Labeling theorists believed that
human nature is malleable and that personality and behavior are products of social
interaction. Labeling theorists, therefore, emphasize the power of social response,
especially in the form of social control, to produce delinquent behavior. Their
concern is that publicly or officially “labeling someone as a delinquent can result in
the person becoming the very thing he is described as being.”

8. Neo-Marxism Perspective. It fuses Traditional Marxist and Interactionism.

Crime is an outgrowth of capitalism, but moral panics over the relatively minor
crimes of marginalised groups make the public side with the ruling class against the
marginalised, maintaining social order. It believes that criminology should focus on
highlighting the injustices of the Capitalist System in order to change society.
9. Left Realism Perspective. It is concerned with working class crime, it believes
that we should work with the system in order to improve the lives of the victims of
crime, who are mainly working class. Marginalisation, relative deprivation, and
subcultures are the main causes of crime and we should aim to tackle crime on
multiple fronts more community (less militaristic) policing and tackling poverty and
marginalisation within communities are solutions.

10. Right Realism Perspective. Right Realism is more concerned with practical
solutions to crime. Relatively simple theories such as Rational Choice and Broken
Windows theory explain crime ‘and Zero Tolerance Policing and Situational Crime
Prevention are the solutions.

Note: The aforesaid perspectives are supported by specific theories in the

succeeding Segment.

Positivism: Its Sociological Perspective [Influence] on Criminality

A. Cesare Lombroso. The positivist Cesare Lombroso said that criminal behavior
is caused either by internal (biological or psychological) or external factors
(sociological).

B. Enrico Ferri. Ferri provided a view of the causes of crime under three main
heads: the anthropological, telluric (physical) and social. He was against the
view that any one factor could cause crime, and saw instead the need to take factors
in combination. Ferri viewed that every crime from the smallest to the most
atrocious, is the result of the interaction of these three causes, the anthropological
condition of the criminal, the telluric [literally, ‘pertaining to the earth’] environment
in which he is living, and the social environment in which he is born, living and
operating.

The physical factors highlighted issues such as climate and season; and the
social element stressed population, religion, education and the like. Ferri classified
criminals under five basic types:

a. criminal lunatics,
b. born incorrigibles,
c. habitual criminals,
4. occasional criminals, and
5. emotional criminals.

Note: The internal or nature or subjective factors (biological and psychological)

was presented in the two previous chapters while external or nurtured or objective
factors (sociological) was presented within this Chapter.

----Appendix A. Lesson 1 Evaluation ----

 LESSON 2. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

A. LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the lesson, you can:
1. identify and correct the sentence accordingly;
2. create and produce a video with different theory of crime causation.

B. TIME ALLOTMENT: 6 Hours

C. DISCUSSION

A. Karl Marx. Marx, the father of social conflict theory, developed an

economic conflict theory known as the Conflict Theory applicable to Criminal
justice as well as many other social institutions, positing that industrialization led to
excess population, which was then socially and politically oppressed by those who
benefited from the developing capitalist system. It focused on the causes and
consequences of class conflict between the bourgeoisie (the owners of the means of
production and the capitalists) and the proletariat (the working class and the poor).

The conflict theory is centered around the idea that people commit crimes
because of underlying social and economic issues. For example, people steal food
from a store because they or members of their family are hungry or people kill others
because they see no other way to make a negative situation better. They see the
murder of a particular person as a way to help society as a whole. In other words, the
conflict theory proclaims that crime occurs as a result of perceived or real personal or
group conflict, This theory indicates that all crimes have social or economic basis.
Those theorists who prescribe to this particular school of thought believe that society
thrives upon competition and conflict between incompatible values and interests.
These incompatabilities are the root cause of crime. Crime would be non-existent or
next to non-existent if this competition and conflict did not exist.

B. Charles Wright Mills. Mills, the founder of modern conflict theory view
that social structures are created through conflict between people with differing
interests and resources. Individuals and resources, in turn, are influenced by these
structures and by the "unequal distribution of power and resources in the society.

C. Gabriel Tarde. Tarde developed the Imitation Theory or Imitation and

Suggestion Theory in his book The Laws of Imitation in 1890. He focused his
social learning theory based on three laws of imitation. Tarde opposed the extreme
biological causation ideas of Lombroso and his school of Positivist Criminology.

Tarde’s Three Laws of Imitation

1. The Law of Close Contact. It explains that people have a greater tendency to
imitate the fashions or behaviors of those around them. If one is constantly
surrounded by deviant behavior, one is more likely to imitate that type of behavior
than any other, of which that person knows little. Direct contact with deviance fosters
more deviance. Tarde believed that as society becomes denser, people will start to
imitate each other more. He suggested that the mass media played a key role in the
spread of crime, as criminals copied each other’s style, which they learned about
through the media.

2. The Law of Imitation of Superiors by Inferiors. It explains that the poor or

the young imitate the rich or the more experienced, and that crimes among the poor
are in fact their attempts to imitate wealthy, high-status people.

3. The Law of Insertion. It says that new behaviors are superimposed on old ones
and subsequently either reinforce or extinguish previous behavior. For example, if
criminals start to use a new type of weapon, they will not use the old one any more.

Note. Tarde’s three laws of imitation had an enormous impact on the study of
deviance and social control.

D. Emil Durkheim. He conceptualized the Classical Social Disorganization

Theory which stated that the impact of informal constraints (often referred to as
informal social control) on crime is traditionally associated with concepts such as
community or group cohesion, social integration, and trust. He viewed crime as an
inevitable aspect of a society with uneven distribution of wealth and other differences
among people.

Durkheim’s study entitled Suicide (1951:1897) linked social integration and deviant
behavior. His analysis of social change in his research The Division of Labor
(1960:1893) was concerned with apprehending the basis of social integration as
European societies were transformed from rural, agricultural to urban, industrial
economic organization. It is in this work where Durkheim first introduced the
concept of Anomie Theory. He described anomie as "derangement", and "an
‘insatiable will.

What is Anomie? Anomie is "the condition in which society provides little

moral guidance to individuals. Anomie states that the crime is caused by breakdown
of social bonds between an individual and the community (both economic and
primary socialization).

Durkheim believed that one type of suicide (anomic) resulted from the
breakdown of the social standards necessary for regulating behaviour. When a social
system is in a state of anomie, common values and common meanings are no longer
understood or accepted, and new values and meanings have not developed.
According to Durkheim, such a society produces, in many of its members,
psychological states characterized by a sense of futility, lack of purpose, and
emotional emptiness and despair. Striving is considered useless, because there is no
accepted definition of what is desirable.

Durkheim argued that the division of labor was minimal in traditiona) rural
societies because individuals were generally involved in similar types of social and
economic activities. As a result, shared values and attitudes developed pertaining to
appropriate modes of behavior and the Proper organization and functioning of
institutions such as families, schools, and churches.

Durkheim observed that as societies shift toward urban, industrial

organization, the division of labor becomes differentiated and complex, and, for
instance, leads to greater reliance on individuals assuming Specialized, yet
interdependent, social roles. Durkheim argued that this type of social anq economic
differentiation fosters interest group competition over standards of proper social
behavior. Under those conditions, the “collective conscience” loses some of its
controlling force as societal members internalize a diverse set of thoughts, ideas, and
attitudes that may be in conflict with those of the family and church. Greater
delinquency and crime are a consequence of that shift in the foundation of social
control.

Durkheim considers social disorganization as a state of disequilibrium and a

lack of social solidarity or consensus among the members of a society.

Durkheim’s social disorganization theory is closely tied to classical concern

over the effect of urbanization and industrialization on the social fabric of
communities. Of this, Berry & Kasarda in 1977 developed two urban theories:

1. Linear Development Model. It argued that a linear increase in population size,

density, and heterogeneity leads to community differentiation, and ultimately to a
substitution of secondary for primary relations, weakened kinship ties, alienation,
anomie, and the declining social significance of community. According to that view,
some between neighborhood variation in social disorganization may be evident
within an urban area, but the distinctive prediction is that urban areas as a whole are
more disorganized than rural areas.

2. Systemic Model. It denied that cities as a whole are more disorganized than
rural areas. Rather, social disorganization within urban areas is conceptualized as a
situationally rooted variable that is influenced by broader economic dynamics and
how those processes funnel or sort the population into distinctive neighborhoods.
The resulting socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of neighborhood
residents tied with their stage in the life-course, reflect disparate residential “focal
concerns” and are expected to generate distinct social contexts across
neighborhoods.

Note: The Anomie Theory of Durkheim was advanced by Robert King

Merton (1938), Albert K. Cohen (1955), Richard Cloward, Lloyd Ohlin (1960),
Neil Smelser (1963), Robert Agnew (1992), Steven Messner and Richard
Rosenfeld (1994). See below

E. Robert E. Park and Ernest Burgess of Chicago School. Park and Burges,
Chicago sociologists, developed the Urban Ecology Theory or Zonal Theory of Crime
in 1925 (see below). The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological
characteristics; a core principle of social disorganization theory that states location
matters. In other words, a person's residential location is a substantial factor shaping
the likelihood that that person will become involved in illegal activities. The theory
suggests that, among determinants of a person's later illegal activity, residential
location 1s as significant as or more significant than the person's individual
characteristics (e.g., age, gender, or race). The theory attributed variation in crime
and delinquency over time and among territories to the absence or breakdown of
communal institutions (e.g. family, school, church and local government) and
communal relationships that traditionally encouraged cooperative relationships
among people.

Chicago sociologists pioneered a range of approaches to the study of crime

that may be briefly summarized as follows:

1. crime may be more common in the city because the city generates a distinctive way
of life.

2. crime can be found in ‘natural habitats’ or ecological zones. The city generates
certain ways of life to be found in its various areas- and many of these could be linked
to crime and deviance.

3. crime is basically learned in the same ways as everything else; it is normal

learning. This idea of differential association was linked to the writings of Edwin
Sutherland.

4. Crime is best studied through a range of different methodologies which when put
together bring about a much richer understanding of crime than when only one
single method is adopted.

5. Crime may be best dealt with through coordinated agencies.

Zonal Theory of Crime

At the heart of the Chicago theory was that the urban industrial community of
Chicago may be described as consisting of five successive zones known as
Concentric Zone Model or Burgess Model (see figure 3).

Zone 1. The Central Business District tends in American cities to be at once the
retail, financial, recreational, civic, and political centres. The skyscrapers and
canyon-like streets of this downtown district are thronged with shoppers, clerks, and
office workers. Few people live there.

Zone 2. The Zone in Transition is an interstitial area where change is rapidly

taking place. Here are to be found the slum or semi-slum districts.

Zone 3. The Zone of the Workingmen’s Homes lies beyond the factory belt
surrounding the central business district. It remains accessible, and 1s often within
walking distance for the workers.
Zone 4. The Better Residential Zone is inhabited chiefly by the familics engaged
in professional and clerical pursuits. They are likely to have high school if not college
education. This is the home of the middle class.

Zone 5. The Commuter Zone comprises the suburban districts.

Concentric Zones

The zones significantly showed crime rates is higher in the Zone of Transition
where proverty, lack of schooling, unemployment, illegitimacy and juvenile
delinquency, hence social disorganization.

F. Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay of Chicago School. Shaw and McKay
in 1942 developed the Social Disorganization Theory and Delinquency. The
theory of social disorganization states that a person’s physical and social
environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that a person
makes. At the core of social disorganization theory, is that location matters when it
comes to predicting illegal activity.

Shaw and McKay noted that neighborhoods with the highest crime rates have
at least three common problems, physical dilapidation, poverty, and higher level of
ethnic and culture mixing. They claimed that delinquency was not caused at the
individual level, but is a normal response by normal individuals to abnormal
conditions. Social disorganization theory is widely used as an important predictor of
youth violence and crime.
 Shaw and Mckay’s Relations of Concentric Zones to Delinquency

Four Assumptions as an Explanation of Delinquency by Shaw and McKay

1. The collapse of community based-based controls and people living in these

disadvantaged neighborhoods are responding naturally to environmental conditions.

2. The rapid growth of immigration in urban disadvantaged neighborhoods.

3. The business located closely to the disadvantaged neighborhoods that are

influenced by the “ecological approach” of competition and dominance.

4. The disadvantaged urban neighborhoods lead to the development of criminal

values that replace normal society values.

Social disorganization theory suggests that a person’s residential location is

more significant than the person’s characteristics when predicting criminal activity
and the juveniles living in this areas acquire criminality by the cultures approval
within the disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Therefore, location matters when it
comes to criminality according to social disorganization theory.

Note: The Chicago School is also called as Cartographic School

because it used mapping of crime in order to establish its relationship between
society and the physical environment. It dominated in 1830-1880 in France and
spread to England. The work usually is based on social data of demographic
information on population including its density, religion affiliation and wealth.

G. Edwin Sutherland. He conceptualized the Differential Association Theory

(DAT) in 1939 and revised in 1947 proposing that through interaction with others,
individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.
He defined differential association which is a general theory of crime and
delinquency that explains how deviants come to learn the motivations and the
technical knowledge for deviant or criminal activity.

Sutherland authored the leading text Criminology, published in 1924, in the

third edition retitled Principles of Criminology in 1939 which asserted that the
development of habitual patterns of criminality arise from association with those
who commit crime rather than with those who do not commit crime. The theory also
had a structural element positing that conflict

and social disorganization are the underlying causes of crime because they determine
the patterns of people associated with. This latter element was dropped when the
fourth edition was published in 1947. But he remained convinced that social class
was a relevant factor, coining the term criminal in a speech to the American
Sociological Association on December 27, 1939. In his 1949 monograph White-Collar
Crime, he defined a white-collar crime as "approximately as a crime committed by a
person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.”

Note. Edwin Sutherland is also known as the Father of American

Criminology.

Nine Propositions of Sutherland’s DAT

1. Criminal behavior is learned.

2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of
communication.
3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate
personal groups.
4. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes:
1. Techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very
complicated, sometimes very simple, and
2. The specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and
attitudes.
5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the
legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to
violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law.
 7. 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.
8. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is
not explained by those general needs and values, because noncriminal
behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.
9. Differential association varies in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
The most frequent, longest-running, earliest and closest influences will be
most efficacious or determinant of learned behavior.

H. Daniel Glaser. Glaser proposed a revision of DAT which he called as the

Differential Identification Theory in 1956. It attempts to focus greater attention on
individual factors that intervene between environmental contacts and criminal
behavior. Glaser states “a person pursues criminal behavior to the extent that he
identifies himself with real or imaginary persons from whose perspective his criminal
behavior seems acceptable.

I. Robert L. Burgess and Robert L Akers. Burgess and Akers developed the
Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory in 1966. They reevaluated
Sutherland’s theory about differential association using behaviorism. They
incorporated the psychological principles of operant conditioning and maintained
that even non-social effects can reinforce criminal behavior.'?'! Similar to the
mechanism of differential association, whereby an imbalance of norms, values, and
attitudes favorable toward committing a deviant or criminal act increases the
probability that an individual will engage in such behavior, an imbalance in
differential reinforcement also increases the likelihood that an individual will
commit a given behavior. Furthermore, the past, present, and future anticipated
and/or experienced rewards and punishments affect the probability that an
individual will participate in a behavior in the first place and whether he or she
continues or refrains from the behavior in the future.

Burgess and Akers offered the following seven principles that illustrate the
process wherein learning takes place:

1. Criminal’ behavior is learned according to the principles of operant conditioning

(reformulation of Sutherland’s Principles 1 and 8).

2. Criminal behavior is learned both in non-social situations that are reinforcing or

discriminative and through that social interaction in which the behavior of other
persons is reinforcing or discriminative for criminal behavior (reformulation of
Sutherland’s Principle 2).

3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs in those groups
which comprise the individual’s major source of reinforcements (reformulation of
Sutherland’s Principle 3).
4. The learning of criminal behavior, including specific techniques, attitudes, and
avoidance procedures, is a function of the effective and available reinforcers, and the
existing reinforcement contingencies (reformulation of Sutherland’s Principle 4).

5. The specific class of behaviors which are learned and their frequency of occurrence
are a function of the reinforcers which are effective and ° available, and the rules or
norms by which these reinforcers are applied (reformulation of Sutherland’s
Principle 5).

6. Criminal behavior is a function of norms which are discriminative for criminal

behavior, the learning of which takes place when’ such behavior is more highly
reinforced than noncriminal behavior (reformulation of Sutherland’s Principle 6).

7. The strength of criminal behavior is a direct function of the amount, frequency,

and probability of its reinforcement (reformulation of Sutherland’s Principle 7).

Differential Reinforcement Process Operates in Four Key Modes

1. Positive Reinforcement can also be provided when a behavior yields an

increase in status, money, awards, or pleasant feelings.

2. Negative Reinforcement can increase the likelihood that a behavior will be

repeated if the act allows the individual to escape or avoid adverse or unpleasant
stimuli.

3. Positive Punishment serves to increase the probability of a particular behavior

being repeated.

4. Negative Punishment serves ‘to decrease the probability of a particular

behavior being repeated.

J. Gresham M. Sykes and David Matza Neutralization Theory. Sykes and

Matza developed the Neutralization Theory in 1958 which viewed the process of
becoming a criminal as a learning experience in which potential delinquents and
criminals master techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize
conventional values and drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional
behaviour. Deviators therefore look for loopholes and explanations to justify or
neutralize their own deviant action.

Techniques of Neutralization by Matza and Sykes.

The following are techniques by which offenders justify their behaviour (to
themselves and others) as “acceptable” on a number of grounds:

1. Denial of responsibility. Young offenders sometimes claim theiftnlawful

acts were simply not their fault. Criminals’ acts resulted from forces beyond
their control or were accidents.
2. Denial of injury. By denying the wrongfulness of an act, criminals are able
to neutralize illegal behavior. For example, stealing is viewed as borrowing;
 vandalism is considered mischief that has gotten out of hand. . Delinquents
may find that their parents and friends support their denial of injury. In fact,
they may claim that the behavior was merely a “prank,” helping affirm the
offender's perception that crime can be socially acceptable.
3. Denial of victim. Criminals sometimes neutralize wrongdoing by
maintaining that the victim of crime “had it coming.” Vandalism may be
directed against a disliked teacher or neighbor; or homosexuals may be beaten
up by a gang because their behavior is considered offensive. Denying the
victim may also take the form of ignoring the rights of an absent or unknown
victim: for example, stealing from the unseen owner of a department store. It
becomes morally acceptable for the criminal to commit such crimes as
vandalism when the victims, because of their absence, cannot be sympathized
with or respected.

Note: Denial of the victim may help explain the hate crime phenomenon in
which people are victimized empty because they belong to the wrong race,
religion, ethnic group, or because of their sexual orientation.

4. Condemnation of the condemners. An offender views the world as a

corrupt place with a dog-eat-dog code. Since police and judges are on the take,
teachers show favoritism, and parents take out their frustrations on their kids,
it is ironic and unfair for these authorities to condemn his or her misconduct.
By shifting the blame to others, criminals are able to repress the feeling that
their own acts are wrong.
5. Appeal to higher loyalties. Novice criminals often argue that they are
caught in the dilemma of being loyal to their own peer group while at the same
time attempting to abide by the rules of the larger society. The needs of the
group take precedence over the rules of society because the demands of the
former are immediate and localized.

Figure: Technique of Neutralization

K. David Matza. Matza further develops neutralization theory by incorporating it

into the concept of drift which he called as the Drift Theory from his research work
entitled Delinquency and Drift in 1964. Matza’s idea is that adolescents become
delinquent because the weakening of controls allows them to drift between
delinquent and conventional behaviors. Matza believes that delinquents (like all
other members of society) are subject to the moral obligations of the law. Only when
the attachment to laws is perceived as weak and an opportunity for deviant behavior
arises does man drift into delinquent behavior. The following consciousness of guilt
and bad conscience is compensated by a return to norm-compliant behaviour. The
actor can seize an opportunity and consciously decide for a repetition of deviant
behaviour if he considers the execution to be feasible and worthwhile or if an act is
spurred on by despair over extraordinary circumstances in life that cannot be
influenced. A “drift” into deviant behaviour is always based on a perceived injustice.
Here Matza mentions five circumstances that can be the cause of a sense of injustice:

1. Cognizance describes to what extent the (juvenile) delinquent understands his

committed injustice as such.

2. Consistency describes whether the (juvenile) delinquent feels treated in the

same way as other offenders.

3. Competence related to those who judge the behaviour of the delinquents

4. Commensurability describes whether (at all) the punishment is perceived as

appropriate.

5. Comparison refers to legal provisions aimed at juvenile delinquents which, from

the point of view of the juveniles, present themselves as unfair.

L. Ivan Nye. Nye in 1958 did not only elaborate a social control theory of
delinquency, but specified ways to. "operationalize" (measure) control mechanisms
and related them to self-reports of delinquent behavior. He formulated the theory
after interviewing 780 young people in Washington State. He focused on the family
as a source of control.

Three different types of control by Nye

1. Direct Control. Punishments and rewards.
2. Indirect Control. Affectionate identification with non-criminals.
3. Internal Control. Conscience or sense of guilt.

Youth may be directly controlled through constraints imposed by parents,

limiting the opportunity for delinquency, as well as through parental rewards and
punishments. However, they may be constrained when free from direct control by
their anticipation of parental disapproval (indirect control), or through the
development of a conscience, an internal constraint on behavior. Although he
acknowledged motivational forces by stating that, “,..some delinquent behavior
results from a combination of positive learning and weak and ineffective social
control,” he adopted a control-theory position when he proposed that, "..most
delinquent behavior is the result of insufficient social control.
M. Walter Reckless. Reckless in 1961 developed the Containment Theory by
focusing on a youth's self-conception or self-image of being a good person as an
insulator against peer pressure to engage in delinquency. The two containment
aspects by Reckless are:

1. Inner Containment. Positive sense of self.

2. Outer Containment. Supervision and discipline.

This inner containment through self-images is developed within the family

and is essentially formed by about the age of twelve. Outer containment was a
reflection of strong social relationships with teachers and other sources of
conventional socialization within the neighborhood. The basic proposition is there
are "pushes" and "pulls" that will produce delinquent behavior unless they are
counteracted by containment. The motivations to deviate as pushes are:

1. discontent with living conditions and family conflicts;

2. aggressiveness and hostility, perhaps due to biological factors; and
3. frustration and boredom, say arising from membership of a minority group or
through lack of opportunities to advance in school or find employment;
and the pulls are:
1. delinquent peers; and
2. delinquent subcultures.

N. Travis Hirschi. Hirschi’s Control Theory which he developed in 1969 is also

known as Bonding Theory. Most contemporary control theories effectively ask not
‘Why do people become criminal and commit crime?’ but the reverse and intriguing
question:‘Why do most people not commit crime?’ . In his earlier work, Hirschi
argued that ‘delinquent acts result when an individual’s bond to society is weak or
broken.’ Hirschi asserts that conformity arises from four types of social controls that
create a social bond. . The weaker they are, the more likely it is that criminal acts will
happen.

Four Types of Social Controls

1. Attachment. Strong social attachments encourage conformity; weak

relationships in the family, peer group and school leave people freer to engage in
deviance.

2. Opportunity. The more one perceives legitimate opportunity, the greater the
advantages of conformity. A young person bound for university, one with good career
prospects, has a high stake in conformity. By contrast, someone with little confidence
in future success drifts more towards deviance.

3. Involvement. Extensive involvement in legitimate activities ~ such as holding a

job, going to school and completing homework, or pursuing hobbies inhibits
deviance. People with few such activities those who simply ‘hang out’ waiting for
something _ to happen have time and energy for deviant activity.

4. Belief. Strong beliefs in conventional morality and respect for authority figures
restrain tendencies towards deviance. By contrast, people with a weak conscience are
more vulnerable to temptation.

Later, Michael Gottfredson and Hirschi used this question as the basis
for their more General Theory or Self-Control Theory of crime (1990), in which
one issue matters above all others: that of self-control. Individuals with high self-
control ‘will be substantially less likely at all periods of life to engage in criminal acts’
(ibid.: 89).This changes the theory a great deal, as all the other elements now go
missing. Over the years, the theory has been much tested, and some criminologists
now think it has been the most influential theory of delinquency over the past thirty
years.

Gottfredson and Hirschi think delinquents cannot resist the easy, immediate
gratification that accompanies delinquency because they have low-self-control. They
are impulsive, insensitive, physical (as opposed to mental), risk taker, short-sighted;
and non-verbal.

Note: The theories developed by Gresham M. Sykes, David Matza, Ivan Nye,
Walter Reckless, Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi are within the
domain of Social Control Theory.

O. Robert Merton. Merton developed his version of anomie based from Emile
Durkheim which he called Strain Theory in 1938. He blames delinquency on
conformity to conventional cultural values. American society has (a) cultural goals
that are regarded as worth striving for and (b) Institutionalized means or approved
ways of reaching these goals. The main goals in society are the acquisition of wealth
and status (The American Dream). The socially approved ways to achieve them are
by getting a good education, job training, and career advancement. However, for
many children, access to legitimate means is blocked. Job opportunities are not open
to them, which creates a problem since they desire wealth and status. This situation
produces pressure to deviate and children will resolve this conflict in different ways.

Strain theory holds that crime is caused by the difficulty to those in the
poverty strata with regard to achieving socially valued goals by legitimate means. As
those with, for instance, poor educational attainment they have difficulty achieving
wealth and status by securing well paid employment, they are more likely to use
criminal means to obtain these goals. Merton suggests five adaptations to this
dilemma:

1. Innovation: individuals who accept socially approved goals, but not necessarily
the socially approved means; using socially unapproved or unconventional means to
obtain culturally approved goals the -surviving poor.
2. Retreatism: those who reject socially approved goals and the means of acquiring
them; reject both the cultural goals and the means to obtain them, and then find a
way to escape the -retreating poor.

3. Ritualism: those who buy into a system of socially approved means, but lose
sight of the goals; using the same socially approved means to achieve less elusive
goals (more modest and humble) -the passive poor. Merton believed that drug users
are in this category

4. Conformity: those who conform to the system's means and goals; pursuing
cultural goals through socially approved means the hopeful poor, 5. Rebellion: people
who negate socially approved goals and means by creating a new system of
acceptable goals and means; reject cultural goals and the prescribed means to
achieve them, then work towards replacing both of them the resisting poor.

P. Albert Cohen. Cohen also created his version of strain theory which he named
Subculture Theory based on his research work entitled, Delinquent Boys in
1955. It explained why urban, lower-class boys commit delinquency. He began by
identifying the characteristics of delinquents. They are malicious, negativistic, non-
utilitarian, versatile, loyal, and cannot defer gratification. Cohen blames delinquency
on the following:

1. the frustration children experience because of their low status.

2. their inability to live up to middle-class standards.

Delinquency is the consequence of children expressing their frustration

toward middle-class norms and institutions."

Q. Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin. Cloward and Ohlin also presented | their
version of strain theory which they named the Theory of Differential
Opportunities anchored in their research work entitled Delinquency and
Opportunity in 1960 that explained lower-class male delinquency. They blamed it
on the disparity between what children are taught to want and what is available to
them. Children joined delinquent gangs to achieve success, but because their
legitimate path is blocked, they turn to illegitimate means in the form of delinquency.

Accordingly, criminal behavior develops in stable neighborhoods that provide

children with illegitimate opportunities to become successful criminals. In these
communities:

1. there are successful adult criminals who serve as role models;

2. there is an integration of age levels, which enables younger people to learn from
older juveniles how to commit crime; and
3. there is cooperation between offenders and legitimate people in the neighborhood
such as bondsmen, lawyers and politicians.
 In conclusion, delinquency is blamed on the pressures to succeed and on the
obstacles lower-class children face. Thus, there must be available legitimate
opportunities for the success of the children so they would not turn to criminality.

R. Robert Agnew. Agnew also in 1992 added a twist to Strain Theories of

Merton, Cohen, and Cloward and Ohlin in his General Strain Theory that
increased the number of conditions and produced frustration for children.

Types of Strain by Agnew

1. Failure te achieve positively valued goals. This type of strain may result
from doing poorly on an exam or not performing well in a sporting event.

2. Denial of previously attained achievements. This type of strain may stem

from being fired from a job or being “dumped” by a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

3. Exposure to negative stimuli. An example of a social interaction that may

produce this type of strain is being picked on by classmates or ~ receiving a speeding
ticket.

S. Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld. Messner and Rosenfeld proposed

their version of strain theory which is called as Institutional Anomie Theory
(IAT) they developed in 1994. The theory proposed that an institutional
arrangement with a market, where the market/economy is allowed to
operate/dominate without restraints from other social intuitions like family will
likely cause criminal behavior. Derived from Merton's Strain Theory, IAT expands on
the macro levels of the theory. IAT's focus centers on the criminal influences of
varied social institutions, rather than just the economic structure.

Note: The strain theories developed by Robert Merton, Albert Cohen,

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Robert Agnew, as well as Steven Messner
and Richard Rosenfeld are just offshoots of the Anomie Theory. However,
Robert Merton’s strain was the first American version of Anomie considering
that the Anomie Theory is of French origin.

T. Frank Tannenbaum. Tannenbaum proposed his Labeling Theory in 1938 as

a gesture of his rejection of the dualistic fallacy (the idea that delinquents and
nondelinquents are two fundamentally different types of people). Tannenbaum,
through his Labeling theory, sees delinquents as welladjusted people. Delinquent
behavior is behavior so labeled by adults in a community. Adults, who have more
power than children, are able to have children labeled “delinquent”. Once children
are labeled delinquent, they become delinquent.

U. Edwin Lemert. The concept of Labeling Theory developed by Lemert began

in 1951. He said that not all youths labeled “delinquent” accept these roles; how
receptive they are to such labels depends on their social class. If a youth comes from
a family where parents are powerless and poor, he or she is more likely to accept the
assigned delinquent role. Lower-class parents may be frustrated by their situation
and disturbed by inner conflicts. They may be quick to label their children bad or
worthless, overreacting to qualities in their children that remind them of traits they
despise in themselves. This leads them to reject their children and, when trouble
occurs, to turn them over the community agencies such as the juvenile court. Once
the child arrives in juvenile court, the individual’s character and deviant behavior are
redefined by the court and related agencies.

Lemert believes that having a juvenile court record formally establishes the
youth’s status as a deviant and segregates him or her from the community. Jail
experience and contacts; advance this process, further ensuring that the juvenile will
think of him or herself as truly delinquent. Lemert takes it for granted that
institutions fail to rehabilitate. He believes, ° rather, that they promote the opposite:
recidivism.

V. Howard Becker. The Labeling Theory of Becker started in 1973. He believed

that acquiring a label depends on how other people react to the behavior itself.

W. Edwin Schur. Schur had his share of Labeling Theory since 1971. Schur
thought that the best we can do for children is to leave them alone. He emphasized
three elements of the labeling process:

1. stereotyping,
2. retrospective interpretation, and
3. negotiation.

Only very serious violations should be brought to the attention of the courts. If
a youth is adjudicated delinquent, he or she should not be committed to a
correctional institution but rather diverted to a less coercive and’ stigmatizing
program. Schur’s call for his policy or radical nonintervention is very simple: “Leave
kids alone whenever possible.”

Finally, Schur discussed role engulfment or the process by which an individual

takes a label and fully internalizes it, thus becoming the individual the label implies.
This concept includes accepting the deviant identity or disavowing the deviant
identity or the joining of a deviant subculture by the labeled individual.

X. John Braithwaite. Braithwaite had his version of labeling theory in 1989 which
he called Reintegrative Shaming Theory based on his book Crime, Shame, and
Reintegration. He explored the nature and impact of shaming, which is one form of
labeling.

Two Forms of Shaming by Braithwaite

1. Disintegrative Shaming. It is a form of negative labeling by the juvenile justice

system consistent with traditional notions that are counterproductive and tends to
the likelihood that an offender will develop a deviant identity and that such identity
significantly affects the likelihood of recidivism. It has a stigmatizing effect and
excludes a person from the community. It thus provides for the emergence of
secondary deviance and is thus related to the labeling approaches on a theoretical
level.

2. Reintegrative Shaming. It involves not only disapproval of deviance but also

signs of forgiveness and a willingness to reintegrate the offender into the community.

Braithwaite contends that reintegrative shaming is effective in complex urban

societies as well as simpler ones. Those nations with low crime rates likely are those
in which shaming has the greatest social power.

Y. Edmund Husserl and George Herbert Mead. Husserl and Mead developed
the Symbolic Interactionism Theory which views society as a product of
everyday social interactions between individuals. The theory says that people assign
symbols and create meaning based on their interactions with one another. It is the
study of how individuals shape society and are shaped by society through meaning
that arises in interactions.

Similarly, symbolic interactionism is a theoretical approach that can be used

to explain how societies and/or social groups come to view behaviors as deviant or
conventional. Labeling theory, differential association, social disorganization theory,
and control theory fall within the realm of symbolic interactionism.

Symbolic interactionism focused on the relationship between the powerful

state, media, and conservative ruling elite on the one hand, and the less powerful
groups on the other. The powerful groups could become the 'significant other’ in the
less powerful groups' processes of generating meaning. The former could to some
extent impose their meanings on the latter, and therefore they were able to ‘label’
minor delinquent youngsters as criminals. These youngsters would often take on
board the label, indulge in crime more readily, and become actors in the ‘self-
fulfilling prophecy’ of the powerful groups. Later developments in this set of theories
were by Howard Becker and Edwin Lemert.

Z. Oscar Newman. Newman proposed his Defensible Space Theory in 1972 which
examined how the design of physical space is related to crime; Newman encompasses
ideas about crime prevention and neighborhood safety. Newman argues that
architectural and environmental design plays a crucial part in increasing or reducing
criminality. Newman focused on explaining his ideas on social control, crime
prevention, and public health in relation to community design. Newman noted a
study in the 1970s that found out those residents in a high-rise building experienced
more crime than those in smaller buildings. He suggested that a building with more
people in it creates a feeling where personal responsibility is reduced because a
person feels like they have little or no control over their circumstances. As he looked
at this concept and developed the defensible space theory, he outlined five specific
factors that would need to be present to create such a space. They are:
1. Territory. The home of an individual must be treated as sacred ground.

2, Natural Surveillance. The physical characteristics of the home must provide a

person with an ability to see or know what is going on around them. ;

3. Image. The home must be structured in such a way that it can provide real
security, or at least the sense of security when it is occupied.

4. Milieu. Features of the home must also provide a sense of security, such as its
location near a police station, the installation of a security system, or proximity to a
busy commercial area.

5. Safe [Adjoining] Areas. If the primary space of the home is breached, there
must be a safe adjoining area that provides higher-level services in the other four key
points that can be accessed.

Newman suggested that when a criminal is placed into an isolated position, it

becomes easier for homeowners to defend their home space. When responsible
parties care for and own their homes, and can watch neighborhoods with regularity,
then a criminal feels less secure in taking an action. In the defensible space theory,
environmental design.is what can control or mitigate criminal behavior.

AA. Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen. Felson and Cohen proposed their
Routine Activities Theory in 1974 which considered how opportunities to commit
crime are shaped by between people’s everyday movements through space and time.
Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that focuses on
situations of crimes. The Theory posits that crime is likely to occur when three
essential elements of crime converge in space and time:

1. a motivated offender,
2. an [suitable] attractive target, and
3. the absence of capable guardianship.

Motivated offenders are individuals who are not only capable of committing
criminal activity, but are willing to do so. A suitable target is any type of individual
or property that the motivated offender can damage or threaten in the easiest way
possible. Suitable targets can be a person or object that are seen by offenders as
vulnerable or particularly attractive. If a target is suitable, this means that there is a
greater chance that the crime can be committed, rather than, a target that is hard to
achieve. The acronym VIVA provides four different attributes of what makes a target
actually suitable, in the judgement of the offender. The acronym goes as follows:

V :Value Value of achieving the target, in a real or symbolic manner.

I : Inertia Physical obstacles of the target: weight, height, strength, etc.

V : Visibility Attribute of exposure which solidifies the Suitability of the target.

A : Access Placement of the individual, or object, that increases, or lessens, the
potential risk of the intended attack.

Guardianship car be a person or an object that is effective in deterring

offense to occur and sometimes crime is stopped by simple presence of guardianship
in space and time. Routine activity theory is based on the assumption that crime can
be committed by anyone who has the opportunity. The theory also states that victims
are given choices on whether to be victims mainly by not placing themselves in
situations where a crime can be committed against them.

AB. James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. Wilson and Kelling proposed
their Broken Windows Theory in 1982 which looks at the relationship between low
level disorder and crime. The theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social
behaviour, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further
crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that policing
methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, public drinking, and fare
evasion help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing
more serious crimes.

Note: The Defensible Space, Routine Activities, and Broken Windows

Theories are contemporary theories that considered place and space in the
study of criminality.

Sociologists and their Inputs to Criminological Research

1. Adolphe Quetelet. Quetelet founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and
was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences. He founded
the science of Anthropometry and developed the body mass index scale, originally
called the Quetelet Index.

Quetelet was an influential figure in criminology. Along with andre-Michel

Guerry, he helped to establish the cartographic (Chicago) School and Positivist
Schools of Criminology which made extensive use of statistical techniques. Through
statistical analysis, Quetelet gained insight into the relationships between crime and
other social factors. Among his findings were strong relationships between age and
crime, as well as gender and crime. Other influential factors he found included
climate, poverty, education, and alcohol consumption, with his research findings
published in ‘Of the Development of the Propensity to Crime.

2. Rawson W. Rawson. Rawson used crime statistics to suggest a link between

population density and crime rates, with crowded cities producing more crime.

3. Henry Mayhew. Mayhew used empirical methods and an ethnographic

approach to address social questions and poverty and gave his studies in London
Labour and the London Poor.)
4. Willem Adrian Bonger. Bonger is a Dutch criminologist, who believed in a
causal link between crime and economic and social conditions based on Ph.D. thesis
entitled Criminality and Economic Conditions published in 1916. He asserted
that crime is social in origin and a normal response to prevailing cultural conditions.
In more primitive societies, he contended that survival requires more selfless
altruism within the community. From this, Bonger mentioned four different types of
crime all linked to economic conditions. They are:

a. vagrancy and mendacity;

b. theft;
c. robbery and homicide for economic reasons (by poor people); and
d. fraudulent bankruptcy, adulteration of food,

5. Lance Lochner. Lochner performed three different research experiments, each

one proving education reduces crime.

6. William Julius Wilson. based on his study, suggested a poverty "concentration

effect", which may cause neighborhoods to be isolated from the mainstream of
society and become prone to violence.

Note: The theories presented above were unicausal (single cause) theories
which focused only on sociological factors. However, there are theories that
looked at two factors including sociological influences such as
Psychosocial and Biosocial Theories.

Psychosocial and Biosocial Theories

Psychosocial is relating to the combination of psychological and social

behavior. The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the
combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social
environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function
while Biosocial is a theory in behavioral and social science that describes
personality disorders and mental illnesses and disabilities as biologically-determined
personality traits reacting to environmental stimuli. Usage of the word biosocial
implies a combination of biological and social factors as well as an interaction
between them. Similarly, it explains crime and antisocial behavior by exploring both
biological factors and environmental factors.

What is Queer Criminology?

It is a field of study that focuses on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender) individuals and their interactions with the criminal justice system. The
goals of this field of study are as follows:

1. To better understand the history of LGBT individuals and the laws put against the
community.
2. Why LGBT citizens are incarcerated and if or why they are arrested at higher rates
than heterosexual and cisgender individuals.

3. How queer activists have fought against oppressive laws that criminalized LGBT
individuals.

4. To conduct research and use it as a form of activism through education.

----Appendix B. Lesson 2 Evaluation -----

REFERENCES
 Asalan JG. L., Beringa V.A., Bolante R.B., & Yang B. T. (2013). Introduction to
criminology and psychology of crimes (2nd ed.)Hunt Publishing Center.

Burke R. H. (2009). An introduction to criminological theory (3rd ed.) Willan

Publishing.

Guevara R. M., & Baustista F. P. (2010). Criminology 101. Wiseman’s Books Trading
Inc.

Panugaling G. C., & Cano G. J (2019). Theories of crime causation (1st ed.) Rex Book
Store.

Tangcangco D.L (2018). Theories and causes of crime. Wiseman Books Trading Inc.

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