CRIM 2-THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

CHAPTER 5
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
 RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
• Banduras believed in reciprocal determinism, that is the world and a person’s behavior cause
each other, while behaviorism essentially states that one’s environment causes one’s
behavior. Later, he considered personality as an interaction between three components: the
environment, behavior and one’s psychological process (one’s ability to entertain images
in minds and languages).
PROCESS THAT A CHILD REPRODUCE BEHAVIOR
1. The child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as
similar to itself.
2. The people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with
either reinforcement or punishment. If it is rewarding and its more likely to
continue.
3. The child will also consider of what happens to other people when deciding
whether or not to copy someone’s action.
Four Meditational process proposed by Bandura:
1. Attention- the extent to which we are exposed/noticed the
behavior.
2. Retention- how well the behavior is remembered. It is important
therefore that a memory if behavior is formed to be performed later
by the observer.
3. Reproduction- It is the ability to perform the behavior that the
model has just demonstrated.
4. Motivation- It is the will to perform the behavior. The rewards and
punishment that follow a behavior will be considered by the
observer.
 4. ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY
(developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen)
The theory believes that of the target is attractive enough, crime will
happen. Motivated offenders are individuals who are not only capable of
committing criminal activity, but are willing to do so.
1. A suitable target is available
Three Major Categories of Targets
1. A person 2. A object 3. A place
2. There is lack of suitable guardians to prevent the crime happening.
A capable guardian is anything, either a person or thing that
discourages crime from taking place
Some example of capable guardians:
1. Police Patrol 2. Security Guards 3. Neighborhood Watch Groups
3. Motivated offender is present. - a crime will only be committed if a likely
offender thinks that a target is suitable and capable guardian is absent.

• The list of possible reasons why people commit offenses is potentially endless.
1. Gain/Need- poverty, to feed a drug habit, greed (intense desire)

2. Society/Experience/Environment - living in a culture where crime is acceptable,

peer pressure, coercion, lack of education, poor employment prospects, family
background, and etc.

3. Beliefs- crimes aren’t wrong, protest on matter of principle, prejudice against

certain minority groups.
5. UTILITARIANISM By Jeremy Bentham

• It is a form of consequentialism because it rests on the idea that it is

the consequences or result of actions, laws, policies, etc. that
determine whether they are good or bad, right of wrong.
6. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

• This theory suggests that individuals who commit deviant acts are
influenced to do so by primary groups and intimate social contacts. It
asserts to the definition that one has favorable to the legal system
over unfavorable one is less likely to be delinquent. It suggested also
that this definition is learned through communications with intimate
people or groups whom the person learns the techniques,
motivations, rationalizations and attitudes.
9 BASIC TENENTS OF DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
1. Criminal behavior is learned behavior.
2. Criminal behavior is learned by interacting with other people by communicating with words
and gestures.
3. The main portion of learning the criminal behavior happens among small group of people.
4. Learning about crime includes learning the techniques of committing a crime, as well as
learning the motivation and attitude towards crime.
5. Legal code demonstrate what is “good” or “bad” and provide a motivation for crimes. In
other words, the law expresses what is right and wrong to an offender.
6. A person becomes a criminal because of frequent criminal patterns. For example, if one is
exposed to a repeated criminal scenario this scenario will eventually rub off on others nearby.
7. The differential association theory can differ in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
8. The learning of criminal behavior by association is similar as all other types of learning.
9. Criminal and non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values. In other
words, it does not discriminate and any person of any background can become a criminal.
 7. CONTAINMENT THEORY (1960’s, Walter Reckless)
• Pushes or pressure - consist of adverse living conditions relative to region
and culture such as:
1. Poverty 4. Group conflicts
2. Unemployment 5. Minority Group Status
3. Economic Insecurity 6. Lack of opportunities and 7. Inequalities
• Violence exposure would be considered a push into crime.
• Pulls - are factors that bring individuals to deviant behavior. The
pulls draw a person away from original way of life and accepted forms of
living.
• - An example of a pull is when a child sees that, in order to get money to
buy things, he or she can join a gang and reach their objective. They are
pulled into the gang by its attraction as a way of earning status and making
money"
1. INNER CONTAINMENT - It involves the
ability to withstand pressures and pulls,
to handle conflicts, to divert oneself from
exciting risks, and to stay out of trouble.
2. OUTER CONTAINMENT - It refers to
the society, the state, the tribe, the
village, the family, and other nuclear
groups are able to hold the individual
within the bounds of the accepted norms
and expectations.
FOUR MAIN ELEMENTS OF INNER CONTAINMENTS

1. SELF-CONCEPT - where the individual has an image of himself as

either the type of person to adhere to the law or to break it.
2. GOAL ORIENTATION - a person having a sense of direction in life, a
purpose, an aspiration towards a goal which is realistic and
achievable in a legitimate way.
3. FRUSTRATION TOLERANCE - considers that there must be
biophysical desires that urge us towards deviant behavior that are
compounded by society frustrating/thwarting our success due to
the different opportunities available to us.
4. NORM RETENTION - unwritten rules of behavior shared by
members of a given group or society
8. SOCIAL BOND/SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY (1960’s,
Travis Hirschi)
• It is the belief that socialization and the forming of personal
relationships are among the most significant aspect of human
development that keep us from committing crimes of others act of
social deviance.
• For Example:
Because people have formed many relationships with family
members and peers over the course of their lives and have unofficially
accepted the social conditions and expectations that come with being
part of a society, they are unlikely to commit crimes against
FOUR BASIC ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL BOND THEORY
• 1. ATTACHMENT It refers not only to interpersonal relationships but also to
social and cultural standards. It is described as the level of val.

• 2. COMMITMENT It is the commitment that an individual has to abide by

legal behavior. The norms and values taught to us an adolescent should be to
obey how society works in normal terms.

• 3. CHOICE TO GET INVOVLED This choice is formed not far after basic rules of
lie are taught. If no right or wrong basis are formed or provided the
adolescent will make the decision that tends to make the most sense. This
also ties into family involvement in the person’s life.

• 4. COMMON VALUE SYSTEM - Refers to acceptance of the norms of

conventional society.
 9. LIFE COURSE/THEORY 1920’S, Karl Manheim
• This theory establishes the connection between a pattern of life events and the
actions that humans perform.

• 1. CHILDHOOD A common factor throughout childhood is the one parent

household case in which studies have shown because a higher risk for criminal
activity later in one’s life.
• 2. ADOLESCENCE When adolescents are able to excel in institutions such as
school, churches, and community centers their less likely to resort to criminal
activities to occupy their time.
• 3. ADULTHOOD Factors for adults include marriage, children, and employment.
Adults that are involved with their families and their careers are less likely to
pursue crime compared to those who are not.
10. DURKHEIMS ANOMIE THEORY (Emile Durkheim )

• He asserts that man is a product of his social environment; thus,

socialization begin at birth and continues through language and
interaction with other people. It reflects to the sense of
normlessness, the lack of any societal norms that spurs (outgrows)
the tendency to act in a deviant way.

• Anomie - According to Robert Merton, anomie is a normlessness due

to the inadequate means available to the society’s goal.
11. SELF-DEROGATION THEORY
• This theory predicts that low self- esteem motivates youth to try out
delinquent activities that are aimed at restoring self-esteem.
• When low self-esteem is experienced, individuals are motivated to
take action to restore positive self-regard.

12. INTERACTIONAL THEORY 1987, Thornberry

It primarily focused on delinquency and drug use during adolescence and
early adulthood. It proposes that the fundamental or primary cause of
delinquent behavior is a weakening of bonds to conventional society.
13. SELF CONTROL THEORY
• Often referred to as the General Theory of Crime It is a criminological
theory about the lack of self-control as the main factor behind
criminal behavior. The self-control theory of crime suggests that
individuals who were ineffectually parented before the age of ten
develop less self-control than individuals of approximately the same
age who were raised with better parenting.

•14. CULTURE DEVIANCE THEORY (1930’s Clifford Shaw and

Henry McKay)
• The theory states that the individuals is not responsible for their
deviance as much as the community within which they reside. People are
influenced by the place, people and social structure of the community in
which they reside.
15. THE THEORY OF FEMINISM

• 1. Feminism on Crime Causation and

Deviance Advocates of this theory react
and highly criticize the male dominance
explanation of crime causation and
deviancy.
• It holds that crime causation and
explanation of deviancy centered mainly to
male offender, thereby, leaving a gap and
void as to the study and understanding of
female offender and deviancy.
2. Feminist School of Thought
• There are three (3) school of thought that emerged:
a. Liberal Feminism
It is simply the idea that those liberal ideals of gender
equality through political and legal reform within the framework of
liberal democracy and informed by a human rights perspective.
b. Radical Feminism
➢ Patriarchy, meaning that, male domination over females.
➢ Women viewed as physically weak and inherently sexual, are most
frequently victimized through the use of rape and domestic
violence.
c. Social Feminism
• This school of thought argues that women deviancy is the by-product
of exploitation of "capitalism and patriarchy". Fewer economic
resources, opportunities and low paying jobs availability are just left
over of men who dominate capitalism.