criminal behaviour is learned by associating with people who commit crimes. Through associations with criminals, a person learns both specific methods of crime as well as certain attitudes towards crime.
Alarid et al (2000) applied the differential association theory to 1153 newly imprisoned criminals and found that it could accurately explain their criminal behaviour in many cases
Differential association theory can explain why rates of recidivism are so high: People who are sent to prison will be surrounded by other criminals who teach and encourage criminal behaviour
