Running Head: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

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SOCILOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

Introduction

There are several sociological theories of crimes. The paper discusses the three

theories namely; social control theory, strain theory, differential association and neutralization

theory.

The Social Control Theory

The social control norm was development in the year 1969 by Travis Hirschi. The

theory tries to understand why individuals follow the set rules and regulations. For instance,

social control tries to figure out why the convicts have to follow the set norms and

regulations. According to (Akers, 2013), the social control theory is a theory proposing to

exploit the socialization processes. The theory also explains the reason as to why every

individual obeys rules. Moreover, the social control theory gives a clear explanation of how

behaviors of the society members are expected to be adopted. Important to realize, the social

theory focuses mainly on the external factors and the ways of making the processes to be

fully effective.

Regarding the control theory, the fundamental view of the human nature entails the

free will conception thus gives any crime committers a chance to choose and reminds them of

their full behavior responsibility. Likewise, the theory is closely aligned with the classical

school of criminology. According to (McShane, 2013), there is less alignment of the social

control theory with the positivist and the determinist perspectives.

The social control theory proposes people who are involved in crime are mainly those

whose bonds in the community have deteriorated. The social control theory contains four

primary elements namely; attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. The

determination factor explains that people obey rules to avoid the risk of consequences falling

on them. Belief is a system within our culture. Moreover, belief is closely related to

nonconformity. The criminals either neglect the ideas that he or she has learned or justifies
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their bad behaviors as a way of engaging in crimes such as theft. On the other hand, ego,

integrity and norm internalization are usually determined by an attachment of an individual to

others. Correspondingly, involvement means that a person who is fully involved in normal

activities does not have time to engage in behaviors that are deviant.

One of the strengths of the theory is that it justifies that close attachment to the

activities that are conventional reduces on criminal records. However, the weakness of the

social control theory is that it tends to underestimate the delinquent peers' influence.

The Strain Theory

Initially, the strain theory was developed by Robert K.Merton in the year 1957. The

strain theory emphasizes that the society instills pressure and fear on individuals to help them

the set goals. For instance, in a community, the society helps the young achieve their goals

through education. According to the strain theory, individuals in the society engage in crime

to reduce stress. As (McShane, 2013) asserts, strain theory explains crime may be used to

reduce the negative emotions or seek revenge. Moreover, engagement in crime to try and

escape the stress they are undergoing. For instance, a low-income earner may engage in crime

to reduce the financial difficulties in their activities. The most recent strain theory version

was in the year 1992 by Robert Agnew. Peoples desire to make more money has drastically

increased, and this comes hand in hand with the desire for a higher status and more respect

which eventually leading to crime.

One weakness of the strain theory is that it focuses majorly on the bourgeois society

thus depicting a negative image on the low-income earners. The theory has focused more on

the delinquency of the lower class. The strain theory explains the rich people are usually

attacked mainly by the low-income earners. Regarding the delinquency of the low-class

individuals, the theory has overlooked on the achievement of the low-class. The strength of
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the strain theory is that the theory explains the social pressure in our societies (McShane,

2013).

Differential Association

The differential association is a theory by Edwin Sutherland. As (Cornish & Clarke,

2014) emphasizes, the theory explains that through an individuals interaction with others

they tend to learn more about their values and techniques. Moreover, the theory explains the

criminal behavior motives. Rhetorically, the theory talks about how individuals learn on

becoming criminals in the society. Similarly, there is close interaction of the theory with the

interactive perspectives. However, there is close interaction as the interactive perspective

focuses on the expansion of bonds in the society.

The key point the theory discusses is that criminal behaviors are usually learned and

are not inborn and the criminal minds occur on the personal and intimate groups. The

learning of criminal behavior means learning the unique techniques in crime committing

which are either simple or complicated. Learning the techniques goes hand in hand with

learning the motives and attitudes being expressed (McShane, 2013).

The strength of the differential association theory is that it accounts for the criminal

behaviors of a delinquent at an individual level and distributes crime rates on the various

social settings. On the other hand, the theorys weakness is based on the fact that the theory

makes assumptions about the behaviors of humans and the role that our society plays in

manipulating nonconformity.

Neutralization theory

The Neutralization theory was developed by David Matza and Sykes. The theory is

built on four main observations. According to the Neutralization theory, wrongdoers usually

express guilt over their criminal acts. According to the (Eck & Weisburg, 2015), the criminals
SOCILOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

tend to fear and respect the law bidders more thus drawing a lot of inspiration from them. For

instance, a thief who is arrested looks up to a respectable member of the society such as a law

abiding politician. The neutralization theory also explains that a line is usually drawn

between those who the criminals can victimize and those whom they cannot victimize. The

fourth technique by neutralization theory states that a wrongdoer is not safe from the

conformity demand. Matza and Sykes also outlined methods the delinquents need to use to

justify their illegal actions. The methods are by responsibility denial, denial of injury, victim

denial, condemnation of condemners and appealing to the higher allegiances (Eck &

Weisburg, 2015).

According to (McShane, 2013), the neutralization theory faces criticisms since there

is little connection between the delinquent techniques and juvenile delinquency. On the other

hand, the neutralization theory explains clearly on how the criminals handle the guilt.

Lastly, the philosophy that explains criminal behavior between the classical and

positivist is the Classical theory. The Classical theory explains more on how fear is instilled

on crime committers during the acts of punishment. In conclusion, the sociological theories

have helped explain the cases of criminal justice.

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References

Eck, J. E., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Crime places in crime theory.

Cornish, D. B., & Clarke, R. V. (Eds.). (2014). The reasoning criminal: Rational choice

perspectives on offending. Transaction Publishers.

Akers, R. L. (2013). Criminological theories: Introduction and evaluation. Routledge.

McShane, M. (Ed.). (2013). An Introduction to Criminological Theory. Routledge.