schmall crim today8e_ppt_ch8

Criminology TodayAn Integrated Introduction

CHAPTER

Criminology Today: An Integrated Introduction, 8eFrank Schmalleger

Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc.All Rights Reserved

Theories of Social Process and Social Development

8



The Perspective of Social Interaction

• Social process theories Depend on the process of interaction

between individuals and society Everyone has the potential to violate the

law. Criminality not an innate characteristic• Learned through socialization

• Social development theories Integrated perspective



Figure 8–1 Principles of Social Process and Social Development TheoriesSource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



Types of Social Process Approaches

• Social learning theory• Social control theory• Labeling theory• Reintegrative shaming• Dramaturgical perspective



Differential Association

• Edwin Sutherland• Crime is learned through a process of

differential association with others who communicate criminal values and advocate the commission of crimes.

• Suggests crime is not substantially different from other forms of behavior



Key Principles

1. Criminal behavior is learned.2. Criminal behavior is learned in

interaction with others in a process of communication.

3. The principle part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.

continued on next slide



Key Principles

4. The learning includes techniques of committing crimes and the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.

5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.




Key Principles

6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to law violation over those unfavorable to law violation.

7. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.




Key Principles

8. The process of learning criminal behavior involves the same mechanisms involved in other learning.

9. While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values.



DifferentialAssociation-Reinforcement Theory• Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers added

reinforcement to differential association theory.

• The same learning process produces both conforming and deviant behavior

• Primary learning mechanisms Instrumental conditioning Imitation




DifferentialAssociation-Reinforcement Theory• Akers' social structure–social learning

theory explains crime as a function of learning within a social structure.

• Learning is the mediating process through which the environment causes crime.

• Location in the social structure is a major determinant of how one is socialized and what one will learn.



Differential Identification Theory

• Daniel Glaser• A person pursues criminal behavior to

the extent that he identifies with real or imaginary persons from whose perspective his criminal behavior seems acceptable.

• Key is symbolic process of identification



Social Control Theories

• Seek identifying factors that keep people from committing crimes.

• Focus on the process through which integration with positive institutions and individuals develops.

• Ask why people obey rules instead of breaking them.



Containment Theory

• Walter Reckless Crime is the consequence of social

pressures to become involved in crime and failure to resist such pressures.

• Compares crime to biological immune response Sickness and crime result from failure of

internal and external control mechanisms.



Figure 8–2 A Diagrammatic Representation of Containment Theory



Delinquency and Self-Esteem

• Howard Kaplan's self-derogation theory of delinquency

• People who are ridiculed by their peers suffer a loss of self-esteem, assess themselves poorly, and abandon the motivation to conform.

• Low self-esteem can foste delinquency, which can in turn enhance self-esteem for some delinquents.



Social Bond Theory

• Travis Hirschi (1969)• Through successful socialization, a bond

forms between individuals and the social group.

• When the bond is weakened or broken, deviance and crime may result.



Components of the Social Bond

• Attachment A person's shared interests with others

• Commitment The amount of energy put into activities

• Involvement The amount of time spent in shared

activities• Belief

A shared value and moral system



The General Theory of Crime

• Hirschi and Gottfredson (1990)• Self-control

Degree to which a person is vulnerable to the temptations of the moment

Acquired early in life Low self-control is the premier

individual-level cause of crime.• Well-developed social bond will create

effective self-control mechanisms.continued on next slide




• Per-Olof H. Wikström's situational action theory (SAT) Individual's ability to exercise self-

control is outcome of the interaction between personal traits and situation.

• No fundamental difference between people who follow/break moral rules and those who follow/break criminal law.





• Some researchers argue that the most powerful predictors of crime are found when people with low self-control encounter criminal opportunities.

• Context of self-control an important determining factor



Control-Balance Theory

• Charles R. Tittle• Control ratio

The amount of control to which a person is subject versus the amount of control that person exerts over others

Predicts the probability one will engage in deviance and the specific form it will take



Figure 8–4 Control–Balance TheorySource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



Labeling Theory

• Tagging Process whereby an individual is

negatively defined by agencies of justice




Labeling Theory

• After the tagging process is completed, the offender has been defined as bad. Few legitimate opportunities available Can only associate with others similarly

defined Association leads to continued crime.



Primary and Secondary Deviance

• Edwin M. Lemert• Primary deviance

Initial deviance undertaken to solve an immediate problem or meet the expectations of one's subcultural group

• Secondary deviance Deviant behavior that results from

official labeling and from association with others who have been so labeled



Labeling

• Society creates deviance and deviant person by responding to circumscribed behaviors.

• Deviance is not a quality of the act but a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions.

• Moral enterprise Efforts by an interest group to have its

sense of propriety embodied in law



Contributions of Labeling Theory

• Deviance results from social processes involving the imposition of definitions.

• Deviants are socially defined.• The reaction of society is the major

element in determining the criminality of the behavior and person.




Contributions of Labeling Theory

• Negative self-images follow processing by the formal mechanisms of criminal justice rather than preceding delinquency.

• Labeling by society and handling by the justice system perpetuate crime rather than reduce it.



Figure 8–5 Becker’s Types of DelinquentsSource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



Reintegrative Shaming

• John Braithwaite Emphasizes processes by which a

deviant is labeled and sanctioned but then brought back into a community of conformity

• Types of shaming Stigmatic shaming Reintegrative shaming



Dramaturgical Perspective

• Erving Goffman (1959) Individuals play a variety of nearly

simultaneous social roles that are sustained in interaction with others.

• Impression management The intentional enactment of practiced

behavior intended to convey to others one's desirable personal characteristics and social qualities




Dramaturgical Perspective

• Discrediting information Information that is inconsistent with the

managed impressions being communicated in a given situation.

• Total institution An institution from which individuals can

rarely come and go and in which communal life is intense and circumscribed



Policy Implications of Social Process Theories

• Emphasize crime prevention programs that enhance self-control and build prosocial bonds

• Programs based on social process theories Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) Preparing for the Drug Free Years (PDFY) Montreal Preventive Treatment Program



Critique of Social Process Theories

• Differential association theory Initial formulation is not applicable at

the individual level. The theory is untestable. It is not a sufficient explanation for

crime. It fails to account for the emergence of

criminal values.





• Labeling theory It does not explain the origin of crime. Little empirical support for the concept

of secondary deviance Little empirical support for the claim

that system labeling is negative It has little to say about secret deviants.





• Dramaturgical perspective Provides a set of linked concepts rather

than a theoretical frame Does not make suggestions for

institutional change Takes the theater analogy too far



The Social Development Perspective

• Focus on process of human development in understanding criminality

• Human development occurs on many levels.

• Social development theories tend to be integrated theories.



Key Developmental Tasks

• Establishing identity• Cultivating symbiotic relationships• Defining physical attractiveness• Investing in a value system • Obtaining an education




Key Developmental Tasks

• Separating from family and achieving independence

• Obtaining/maintaining gainful employment



The Life-Course Perspective

• Criminal behavior tends to follow a distinct pattern across the life cycle. Crime uncommon during childhood Begins in late adolescence, early

adulthood Diminishes/may disappear by age 30–40



Figure 8–7 Aspects of Criminal CareersSource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



The Life Course Perspective

• Emphasis on study of criminal careers Longitudinal sequence of crimes

committed by an individual offender• Researchers interested in evaluating:

Prevalence Frequency Onset





• Also want to identify different developmental pathways to delinquency





• Examine trajectories and transitions the age-differentiated life span.

• Key dynamic concepts Activation Aggravation Desistance



Figure 8–8 Five Important Life Course PrinciplesSource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



Laub and Sampson's Age-Graded Theory

• Delinquency is more likely to occur when bonds to society are weak/broken.

• Social ties embedded in adult transitions explain variations in crime not accounted for by childhood deviance




Laub and Sampson's Age-Graded Theory

• Turning points Crucial life experiences that can change

behavior Key turning points include employment

and marriage.• Social capital

The degree of positive relationships that individuals build up over the course of their lives



Moffitt's Dual Taxonomic Theory

• Explains why most antisocial children do not become adult criminals

• Life course persisters (LCP) Display constant patterns of

misbehavior throughout life• Adolescence-limited offenders (AL)

Led into offending by structural disadvantages




Moffitt's Dual Taxonomic Theory

• Adolescents more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors, be members of non-deviant peer groups if develop: Sense of industry and competency Feeling of connectedness Belief in ability to control their future Stable identity



Farrington's Delinquent Development Theory

• Persistence Continuity in crime

• Desistance The cessation of crime or the

termination of a period of involvement in crime

Unaided desistance occurs without formal intervention.





• Desistance Aided desistance involves justice

system.





• Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development More diversity in ages of desistance

than ages of onset Persistent offenders suffer from a

variety of risk factors for delinquency. Offending peaks at age 17–18, then

declines.• By age 35, many subjects had

conforming lifestyles.continued on next slide




• Loeber and LeBlanc's components of desistance Deceleration Specialization Deescalation Reaching a ceiling

• Resilience Psychological ability to successfully cope

with severe stress and negative events



Evolutionary Ecology

• Wolfgang's birth cohort study found a small group of chronic juvenile offenders accounted for a disproportionately large share of all juvenile arrests.

• Evolutionary ecology builds on social ecology approach.

• Emphasizes developmental pathways encountered early in life.



Figure 8–9 The Nucleus of Chronic OffendersSource: Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology. Printed and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.



Thornberry's Interactional Theory

• Integrates social control and social learning elements

• Delinquency caused by combination of: Weakened bond to conventional society Environment in which delinquency can

be learned and rule-violating behavior can be positively rewarded




Thornberry's Interactional Theory

• Delinquency a process that unfolds over the life course

• Childhood maltreatment may be an important element of developmental process leading to delinquency. Extent of maltreatment related to extent

of delinquent involvement later in life



Developmental Pathways

• Manifestations of disruptive behaviors are often age dependent.

• Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency Longitudinal study focuses on improving

understanding of serious delinquency, violence, and drug use.

Examines how youths develop within the context of family, school, peers, and community continued on next slide



Developmental Pathways

• Positive developmental pathways fostered when adolescents are able to develop: A sense of industry and competency A feeling of connectedness to

others/society A belief in their ability to control their

future A stable identity



Figure 8–12 Three Pathways to Disruptive Behavior and DelinquencySource: Barbara Tatem Kelley et al., Developmental Pathways in Boys’ Disruptive and Delinquent Behavior (Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, December 1997).



Pathways to Desistance

• Largest longitudinal study of serious adolescent offending ever conducted

• Decrease in self-reported offending over time

• Longer incarceration ineffective in reducing recidivism

• Community-based supervision effective• Substance-abuse treatment has

positive effect.



Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN)• Longitudinal analysis of how individuals,

families, institutions, and communities evolve together

• Traces how criminal behavior evolves from birth to age 32

• Early results have led to targeted interventions intended to lower rates of offending.



Policy Implications of Social Development Theories

• OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy Program Framework for preventing delinquency,

early intervention, responding to serious, violent, and chronic offending

• Targeted Outreach program Diverts at-risk juveniles into activities

intended to develop sense of belonging, competence, usefulness, self-control



Critique of Social Development Theories

• Definitional issues and problems• Difficulties in developing risk/needs

assessment devices and in using them in both fundamental (pure) and applied research