Psychological explanations: Differential association theory

• Differential association


  It should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is that an individual will commit offences
• Differential association


  • Need to know the frequency, intensity and duration of exposure to deviant and non-deviant norms and values
• Offending arises from


  1. Learned attitudes towards offending

  2. Learning of specific offending acts/techniques
• Learning attitudes


  When a person is socialised into a group they will be exposed to values and attitudes towards the law. Some of these values will be pro-crime, some of these will be anti-crime
• If the number of pro-criminal attitudes the person comes to acquire outweighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes, they will go on to offend
• The learning process is the same whether a person is learning offending or conforming to the law
• Learning techniques


  Would-be offenders may learn particular techniques for committing offences, such as how to break into someone's house through a locked window or how to disable a car stereo before stealing it
• Prison inmates will learn specific techniques of offending from other, more experienced offenders that they may put into practice upon their release
• Learning in prison


  1. Observational learning and imitation

  2. Direct tuition from offending peers
• Individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for offending behaviour through association and interaction with different people
• Sutherland set himself the task of developing a set of scientific principles that could explain all types of offending
• Sutherland's theory was and is designed to discriminate between individuals who become offenders and those who don't whatever their social class or ethnic background