Differential Association Explanation

• Sutherland (1924) developed a set of scientific principles that could explain all types of offending.
• Individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for offending behaviour through interaction with others - these others' are different from one person to the next (hence, differential association).
• His theory ignores the effects of class or ethnic background, what matters is who you associate with.
• Behaviour is acquired through the process of learning. Learning occurs through interactions with significant others who the child values most and spends most time with, such as family and peer group.
• Offending arises from two factors:

  • Learned attitudes towards offending
  • Learning of specific offending acts.
• When a person is socialised into a group they will be exposed to certain values and attitudes. This includes values and attitudes toward the law - some of these will be pro-crime, some will be anti-crime.
• Sutherland argues that if the number of pro-crime attitudes the person comes to acquire outweighs the number of anti-crime attitudes, they will go on to offend.
• In addition to being exposed to pro-crime attitudes, the would-be offender may also learn particular techniques for committing offences.
• It should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is that an individual will commit offences.
• The prediction is based on our knowledge of the frequency, intensity and duration of an individual's exposure to deviant and non-deviant norms and values.
• Sutherland's theory can account for why so many prisoners released from prison go on to reoffend.
• It is reasonable to assume that whilst inside prison inmates will be exposed to pro-crime attitudes and also learn specific techniques of offending from more experienced offenders which they can put into practice upon their release.