Sociological School of Criminology

 Raffalo Garofalo was the first legalist to attempt a sociological definition of crime. The societal
interaction can be mentioned as human being is interaction in the society. The reaction in the
society can be categorized as positive interaction and negative interaction. Positive interaction
provides benefit to the society and negative interaction gives the negative cost which indicates the
crime in the society.
 Sociological school of criminology says that society creates conditions under which a person
commits crime.
 It believe that the values, culture and environment around the people cast a deep impact on the
crimes committed by them.
 These theories adopt an objective approach to explain criminality.
 They attribute criminality to the social conditions of the criminal.
 Sociological criminology is the practice of examining crime from a sociological point of view.
 Sociologists see crime as an individual and social problem and believe that it cannot be properly
understood without examining social, political and economic context. Crime causation depends
considerably on social interactions.
 Offenders are not necessarily viewed as bad people. Because a sociologist looks at the social
context of a person's situation examining the offender's race, neighborhood, social circle, income
level, education level, job or career and type of childhood to determine why a person become
delinquent.

There are many specific theories within the sociological theory of criminology to explain criminal
behavior which are as follows:
a) Differential Association Theory asserts that criminal behavior is learned via communication with
intimate personal groups. A person not only learns technique needed to commit the crime, but the
surrounding attitudes drive, and rationalizations associated with the criminal act. The person is then
surrounded by an excess of favorable definitions of crime that outweigh the unfavorable aspects of
breaking the law. Therefore, crime is seen as normal and beneficial.

b) Neutralization theory views a delinquent as someone who redefines deviant behavior to be morally
acceptable and therefore justifiable. In that person's mind, committing a specific crime becomes an
explainable, reasonable action (not something viewed as morally objectionable or wrong).

c) Anomie Theory (social instability resulting from a breakdown of standard and values) asserts that
offenders commit crimes as a last resort. Since, the offender was unable to meet his or her goals using
legal, socially acceptable means he or she resorts to illegal tactics to reach the original goal.
d) The Conflict Theory, the less power a person possesses, the more he or she is likely to commit a
crime. Dominant groups in society are responsible for making and enforcing laws. Dominant are the one
holding power, status and privilege.

 Sociological criminology also examines the assumptions society has about criminals and
punishment.
 Sociological arguments maintain that criminality is the result of structural defects in the society
or family or any relationship bond etc.
 The explanations of sociological school emphasizes on the existence of fundamental inequality in
the structure of the society.
 In the society, all people have aspirations or goals to be wealthy, successful, educated, hope to
possess materials possessions such as nice clothes, cars, bungalows all luxuries but not everybody
is having the opportunities.
 Sociology, applying scientific methods, studies human societies, their constituents and interacting
processes that preserve and change them.
 Examining the institutions in society such as family, communities, populations, and cultural
practices is a central task of sociology but it also studies social status or stratification, social
movements and social change as well as societal disorder in the form of crime, deviance, conflicts
and social upheavals.
 Sociologist task is to discover how organizations affect the behavior of persons, how they are
established, how organizations interact with one another, how they decay and how they disappear.
 Sociological studies cover a wide range of societal systems and economic, cultural, educational
and political institutions including state as well as the family, the community, interest groups,
clubs and volunteer associations.
 It was coined by Auguste Comte, the term sociology represents a positivist scientific discipline
today.
 Sociology consists of four basic perspectives: They are:
a) Structuralist
b) Functionalist
c) Interactionist
d) Social Conflict

a) Structuralist perspective argues human behavior must be understood in the context of the social
system or the structure that they exist in. The people are the products of such socially structured
conditions.

b) Functionalist perspective postulates that various kinds of interactions between individual brings
about certain new properties as social facts. These social facts are the collective sentiments,
customs, institutions, nations, interrelations between the parts of society contributed to social
unity. It emphasizes the interrelatedness of all parts of society and postulates (assume) change in
 any single element would produce a general disturbance in the whole society.

c) Interactionist perspective focuses on how individuals make sense of and interpret the world. It
tends to focus on the 'micro order' of small groups. Micro order is related to the patterns of
behavior, action and interactions, belief and perceptions.

d) Social Conflict perspectives view social life as a competition of interests and focuses on the
distribution of resources, power and inequality. (It views inequality as generating conflict and
social change)

What is Sociological Inquiries of Criminality?

 Sociological inquiries have undergone in the search of causes of crime and criminality.
 The sociological study of crime and delinquency has focused either on the social structural factors
to cause such behavior or social institutions like family, school and peer groups in which
socialization to conventional or criminal values and behavior are affected.
 Sociologists looks for patterns of variables and relationships that might explain how and why
people engage in criminal acts.

The inquiries are:

a) What are the characteristics of the situation or social structure in which crimes takes place?
b) Do crime rates vary as these situations or structures changes?
 Some sociologists try to identify particular factors associated with criminal or delinquent
behavior, For example: Cigarettes smoking problem, drinking, and illicit sexual behavior, illegal
use of drugs, aggressive behavior and stealing. Some scholars refer them as problem behavior
syndrome.
 Problem behavior is behavior that is defined as problematic or undesirable or is a source of
concern for which societal response is required. Problem behavior differs from person to person
or by gender.

Sociological Theories of Criminal Behavior

The theories of criminal behavior can be explained as:

a) Structural Explanations:
 Criminality is the result of the structural defects in the society or family is the main argument of
this theory.
 Structural defects mean the general breakdown of normal social conditions.
  It emphasizes on the existence of fundamental inequality in the structure of the society.
 Inequalities are experienced in the opportunities to achieve goals valued by the society.
 In the society, all people have aspirations (wish) or goals to be wealthy, successful, educated,
hope to possess material possessions such as nice clothes, cars, bungalows all luxuries.
 Some have greater opportunities, for instance, being from affluent families have greater chances
to get good education.
 Some others, who have lesser opportunity and cannot attain their legitimate means, may face a
compulsion to rely on illegal means.

Such criminal behavior is based on:

Merton's Theory of Social Structure and Anomie or strain theory

 He explains the fall down of social conditions brought by severe economic conditions is
responsible for criminal behavior.
 He rejects the notion that crime is an intrinsic (belonging naturally) and individual behavior.
 Merton borrowed the term anomie from Emile Durkheim a French sociologist.
 Durkheim studied that French and American culture after the Industrial Revolution where he
noted that economic crisis and general breakdown of the normal social conditions created
deregulation of social and moral rules.
 This deregulation which he called anomie, could lead to all sorts of socially diverging accepted
standard including suicide and crime.
 Anomie is a situation/condition which exists when norms no longer control people's behavior
when people no longer have clear rules.
 Merton supported that Anomie is especially likely to exist in a society where there is unequal
opportunity and an emphasis is on material success.
 When goal are over emphasized and highly praised but the means to achieve them are unavailable
to a considerable part of that population then anomie is likely i.e. when success is blocked by the
unavailability of means individuals show two kinds of reactions, either they must adjust their
aspirations downward or devise alternative route to achieve goals.
 The causes of crime in Merton and strain theory are:
- Crime is not caused by factors within the individuals
- Poverty and equality, unrestrained aspirations, blocked opportunities, lack of cultural
emphasis on means of achieving goals are the causes of crime.

According to Merton, five modes are adopted by the people to achieve goals:
a) Conformity is a path taken by most people, even if they realize that the means to achieve their goals
are restricted. It means taking the things as granted if they cannot purchase the new goods or things they
are happy with second hands goods also.
b) Innovation means discovering new methods of law breaking and crime commission where a person
accepts a goal but rejects the accepted legitimate means to achieve the goal. For example: a child wants a
bicycle the legitimate means is to ask his parents or grandparents or save money. If all these means are
not available an alternative method is applied.

c) Ritualism: A person continue to follow the institutionalized means such as hard work and be
economy but losses sight of the goods or reject them. People work diligently in socially approved ways
but have no hope of success in achieving their goals or on longer identify with long term goal.

d) Retreatism: Here, both goals and means are rejected. The retreat's response to an inability to reach
goals is to drop out or to quit trying. This may lead to extreme retreat's behavior such as alcoholism,
drug, and addiction. It means committing such acts which is damaging to oneself like leading a life of
hippie, eating, dressing, sleeping more, speaking less. They pursue the course of alcoholism and drug
taking in the name of enjoyment and freedom.

e) Rebellion is an option for people who reject the approved goals and means. Rebellion are
disappointed individuals who view accepted goals as unattainable or undesirable and socially approved
means of reaching them as demeaning or co-workable. Rebellions want to change the society from its
very root. They advocate for a change, a total change of social structure and economic pattern.

Adaptation of strain diagram:

Cultural goals Institutionalized means (path to achieve

goals)
i) Conformity + +
ii) Innovation + -
iii) Ritualism - +
iv) Retreatism - -
v) Rebellion +/- +/-

 Strain theory states that acceptance or rejection of cultural goals and or institutionalized means of
achieving those goals are the determining factors of crime. For example; one who accepts the goal
of wealth but cannot get a legal job will earn through illegal means .There is clash between
cultural goals and available means of achieving these goals.

Evaluation of Merton's Theory:

 By concentrating on crime at the lower levels of the socio-economic hierarchy for example it
neglects crime committed by middle and upper class people.
 This theory has influenced both research and theoretical developments in criminology.
b) Sub Cultural explanations
 In this sociological approach it gives emphasis on the discrepancy in the norms of different
groups.
 A sub culture is sub-division within the dominant culture that has its own norms, belief and
culture.
 Sub cultures may form among members of racial and ethnic minorities, among prisoners among
occupational groups etc.
 To attack the value and norms or culture of middle class the youths of lower caste form aging.
Because the social conditions existed prevent them from achieving success legitimately.
 Lower class youth experience a form of culture conflict called as status frustration. The youth of
lower class have less means than middle class so it results in joining gang and engaging in
negative approach.
 According to Albert Cohen, an American Sociologist, deviant behavior is supported by sub
culture.
 Important types of deviant behaviors are juvenile delinquency, drug addiction and crime against
person and property etc.
 The structural explanations explain criminal behavior as a result of the frustrations suffered by
lower class, individual deprived of legitimate means to reach their goals. Whereas, cultural
deviance theorists assume that individuals become criminal by learning criminal values of the
groups to which they belong.
 These kind of sub-culture people break the law of dominant culture.
 The illegal patterns of behavior are supported by the particular sub cultural norms that actually
exert pressure towards deviation from the consensual norms underlying the criminal law.
 Gangs for example possess norms about how to behave.
 For some young people, the gang takes place of parents as the given of norms, even when the
parents attempt to instill their own values.

Walter Miller's Theory of focal concerns (Basis of sub cultural explanation)

 Focal concerns is a theory focusing on the worries of delinquent behaviors is an criminal action
committed by a human confronting the laws of the civil society or a person, usually young, who
behaves in a way that is illegal or not acceptable to most people.
 It is a pure cultural theory of gang delinquency specialized for the lower class which means that
the lower class produces criminal acts.
 Miller suggests that the sub cultural norms and values of the working class are not a reaction to
blocked opportunities.
 Working class have developed an independent set or norms and values to mainstream society
through which they gain status. Working class is a socio economic term used to describe persons
 in a social class marked by jobs that provide low pay, require limited skill or physical labour.
 The status is based upon satisfying focal concerns of typically working males (construction
workers)
 Miller identified six focal concerns of working class males.
a) Excitement
b) Toughness
c) Smartness
d) Trouble
e) Autonomy
f) Fate
 These focal concerns led the working class to deviate as they contrasted with norms and values of
mainstream society.
 How these focal concern cause criminality?
a) Excitement
According to Miller, working class makes are seen to crave excitement in their leisure time. This
was demonstrated through drinking alcohol and recreational drug usage, sexual encounters and
fighting. Evidence is the behavior in city centers and local communities of an evening

b) Toughness
Toughness is associated with the working class as status is awarded for displaying masculine
characteristics such as strength or ability to beat on opponent in a fight. This led to criminal acts
such as assault and bodily harm due to the need to 'not back down' in conflict situations. Evidenced
through higher level of conviction for working class males for violent crimes.

c) Smartness
Smartness refers to the ability to outwit others through gambling and gaming. Lower level fraud and
'con' tricks allow working class males to assert their smartness even unwitting victims (without
knowing or planning). Evidenced through humor or verbal responses as well. Participation in sports
betting, gambling machines, casino, stock markets, investments.

d) Trouble
Working class individuals were always aware that their values may lead them into trouble and were
unlikely to back down from it. Linked to sub cultural values of collectivism, working class males
accepted that they needed to support their friends and family in times of conflict. Linked to sub
cultural behaviors in school with collectivism evident in anti-social.

e) Autonomy
 Anti-authority views of working class males led to them dealing with issues themselves rather than
alerting authorities. Retribution for being wronged was dealt with by individuals rather than the
police. Lower levels of reporting incidents on working class areas and reluctance to inform on
other who have committed crime.

f) Fate
Working class males have fatalistic attitude which led them to believe that they have little agency
in life. Behavior of working class males is not moderated by what may happen in the future actions
as today do not impact on the future as it is already decided. Evidenced in education which means
fatalistic attitude toward university.
(Fatalism mean that they do not consider the consequences of their actions as the future is already
written.)
(Toughness, smartness and trouble might result in fighting. Autonomy might led people to take matter
into their own hands rather than asking for help.)

Evaluation/Criticism of Miller's Theory

 Sociologists have found evidence of Miller's focal concerns in working class communities, it is
not clear that what Miller refer to as "lower class".
 Miller refers "Lowe class" having distinct norms and values from the rest of the society.
 Miller just talks about boys without really considering gender.
 Whereas, some feminist critics have pointed out that these focal concerns might be masculine
values rather than lower class ones.

c) Social Process Theories

 These theories are said to be 'social process theories' because they deal with the course of human
socialization in the societies.
 Socialization is a continuing process where by an individual acquires a personal identity and
learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skill appropriate to a social position.
 Socialization begins at home within the family and person as a child starts to learn how to behave
personally and interpersonally.
 School and peers are the most influential agents for socializing individuals.
 These theories focus carefully on how behaviors is learned, internalized and transmitted by the
social influences rather than innate or personally inherited qualities.
 Social psychological explanations of criminality view the criminal behavior as a learned one
acquired through a process of social interaction.
 In order to draw attention to the processes by which an individual becomes a criminal.
  It stress on the reciprocal transactions between people and their social environment that would
explain why some people behave criminally and others do not.
 Social processes theories on criminality present three different perspectives. They are:

a) Social learning that how people learn to commit crimes;

b) Social control that how society fails to control criminal tendencies;
c) Labeling that how negative labels produce criminal careers.

a. Social Learning Theories

 The term learning is generally understood as a process of understanding, keeping knowledge or
studying something in a systematic manner. Definition of learning for criminology is the same as
of psychology.
 Learning in psychology is based on person's experience. The psychology of learning focuses on
range of topics related to how people learn and interact with their environment.
 Learning is a continuous process from the very beginning to till our lives that encompasses much
more than what we just do it for being educated, shaping our language, thoughts, emotions,
attitudes, motivations and personality.
 Learning is a process by which behavior is changed, shaped or controlled.
 Here, observational learning describes the process of learning through watching others, retaining
the information and then later replicating the behaviors that were observed.
 Family interactions, environmental experiences and the media are the channels of learning.
Research on family interactions demonstrated that children who are aggressive are more likely to
have been bought up by the parents or caretakers who are aggressive.
 Individuals residing in the crime prone areas are more likely to learn criminal/delinquent behavior
than those who reside in low crime areas.
 The term 'learning' here is not to mean how criminal behavior is learned but to cover acquisition,
maintenance and modification of human behavior.
 The social learning theories suggest that people learn criminal behavior much as they learn
conventional (accepted, normal, traditional way of doing) behaviors.
 Tarde's Imitation Theory provided a clear a premise to further the social process learning theory
of criminal behavior.
 Sutherland's Different Association Theory postulates criminality result from perceiving an excess
of definitions in favor of crime over definitions that upheld conventional values.

Theory of Social Learning Theories are:

i. Tarde's Imitation Theory:
 Gabriel Tarde argued that people are not born criminal, they become criminal. He saw criminal
behavior as the result primarily of social factors.
 His sociological theory of behavior believed that major acts of social life are carried out under the
domination of 'examples' that have been observed.
 His theory of imitation explained the process of acquiring non-criminal and criminal both types of
behavior.
Tarde distinguished forms of imitations as fashion and customs.
 His first law is based on Fashion. Fashion is the imitation that takes place in crowd or cities where
contact is close and frequent. Custom occurs in small towns and rural areas where contact is less
frequent and change occurs less often. Since both are forms of imitation both occur to some
degree within a society, fashion may uproot and create a new custom. Custom: pattern of
behavior followed by member of particular culture. For example: shaking hands.
 Since both are forms of imitation, both occur to some degree within a society, fashion may uproot
and create a new custom.
 His second law is that the inferior imitates the superior for which he meant small town and rural
residents imitate the city residents.
 He wrote: "Infectious epidemics spread with air or the wind, epidemics of crime follow the winds
of the telegraph."The third law of imitation is the law of insertion "when two mutually exclusive
fashions come together, one can be substituted for the other.
 When this happens, there is a decline in the older method and an increase in the newer
methods."Tarde's attempt was the first attempt to oppose the concept of Lombrosian notion of
born criminals, he just opened the path to a sociological search of the causation of criminality
therefore, and it is that we cannot find much details about the mechanisms of social learning that
are involved in.

ii. Differential Association Theory

 Edwin Sutherland propounded that through interaction with others the individual learn the values,
attitudes, techniques and motives for criminal behavior. Sutherland conceptualized that criminal
behavior is learned by "differential association." There are nine propositions presented to describe
Differential Association Theory. Criminal behavior is learned.
a. Criminal behavior is learned. It is learned from other person, not inherited.
b. Criminal behavior is learned with other persons in a process of communication from
father, friends, peers, media etc.
c. The principle party of the learning of criminal behaviors occurs within intimate personal
groups. Such as friends of school, intimate friends etc.
d. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes:
- Techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated,
sometimes very simple.
 - The specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations and attitudes.
e. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definition of the legal codes
as favorable or unfavorable crime.
f. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of
law over definitions unfavorable to violations of law.
g. Differential Association may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity. (Person
having criminal attitude gets closer to a person who is already in such business.)
h. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and non-criminal
patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
i. Criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by
those general needs and vales, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the some
needs and values.

 Learned means criminal behavior is not inherited but learned in a process of symbolic interactions
with other. For example: A criminal may perceive a certain house easy to invade and engineer
may not perceive the same thing from his perspective because there is a kind of variation in their
experiences. For example: A robber may invade a bank which is not well protected and leave
which are protected.
 Sutherland's nine statements have been subjected to interpretation.
 There are some misinterpretation as well that some people take this theory only as a theory
association between criminals. If this was the case people from police to correctional employees
having an association with the criminal do not reflect criminal themselves.
 Differential Association Theory as a process of sociological theory remains as one of the
influential quest for causation of criminal and delinquent behaviors.
 Sutherland was firm that learning about how and why to commit crime occurred only through
social interaction with closest people in the process of socialization beyond the role of media.

Criticism of Differential Association Theory:

- It has been said that not all those persons who come in contact with the criminals become
criminals, if so then police always come in contact with the criminal but they are not deviant
to the crime.
- The differential theory cannot be extended to all crimes. Thus, it has been said that the theory
doesn't apply to white collar criminals, to perpetrators of individual and personal crimes, to
impulsive criminals, to occasional and situational offender, to persons who commit crimes of
passion and to men whose crimes were perpetrated under emotional stress.

iii. Differential Identification (Daniel Glaser)

 As a "differential identification" a person pursues criminal behavior to the extent that she/he
identifies with an imaginary person from whom his criminal behavior seems fairly acceptable.
 (He added media)
 The idea of differential identification allowed that learning to take place not only through
people close to us but also through other reference groups, even distant ones such as sports,
heroes or movie stars whom the individual has never actually met.
 Differential identification is a theory of criminal behavior similar to differential association
theory, the major differences being that this theory takes into account association with persons
and images presented in the media.
 Given the profound influence of movies, music and television on youth's culture are an
additional framework of the identification theory.

iv. Differential Reinforcement Theory:

 It is a concept of balance of the expected or actual rewards and punishment as consequences of

behaviors.
 Whether to refrain from or to commit a crime in any given time for individuals depends on the
past, present and anticipated future for which rewards and punishment is given for their actions.
 There is Probability of commission of crime or repeated a criminal conduct which is increased by
rewarding or reacting it in terms of outcomes i.e. obtaining approval, money, food or pleasant
feeling are the positive reinforcement.
 The theory according to skinner states that "behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated
behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out or be extinguished."
 In his view, behavior which is a human response to environmental stimuli can be reinforced based
on the consequences of previous behavior or action which skinner described as operant
conditioning which means learning from the consequences.
 Therefore, the consequences of a response determine the probability of behavior being repeated.
According to operant conditioning behavior which is reinforced (rewarded) will more likely to be
repeated behavior which is punished will occur less frequently and an extensive behavior would
not occur again.
 The consequences of operant conditioning therefore can be positive, negative or extinction.
Reinforcement become a process of increasing, stopping or punishing behavior.
 Differential reinforcement is a technique that is used to increase desirable behaviors and reduce
undesirable behaviors.
 Differential reinforcement is often used to reduce difficult behaviors such as disruptive behavior,
self-injurious behaviors. For example: A student who repeatedly shouts out the answer during
class is (undesirable behavior) may be ignored by their teacher however, when they raise their
hands and wait to be called which is (desirable behavior) they receive verbal praise from the
teacher (reinforcement).
 There are two tools that can be used to modify behavior which includes punishments and
reinforcement. Punishment are generally used to reduce undesirable behaviors whereas
reinforcements are used to increase desirable behavior.
Criticism of the theory
Many researches have attempted to validate (prove/accuracy) Sutherland's differential association
theory.
 Some critics ask why it is that not everyone is heavy and prolonged contact with criminal
behavior patterns becomes a criminal. For example: correctional officer in prisons, police officers,
etc. they come into contact with more criminals association than non-criminal ones.
 The key word is definitions, where this theory does not explain all types of criminal behavior. It
has difficulty in explaining crimes of passion or impulsive violence.

b) Social Control Theory:

 Control theory is described as people obeys the rules because behavior and passions are controlled
by internal and external forces. The forces are societal relation, relation to the friends, family,
parents, love with family etc. which controls a person not to be deviant.
 In a society, socially acceptable behavior is approved and supported and the unacceptable
behavior is sentenced in general.
 System of control exists in every society and sociologists and psychologists have developed
explanations of how behavior can be controlled.
 Control theorists believe that deviance results when social controls are weakened or broken down,
when (controls are strong deviance does not occur.)
 Control theory is an approach of giving explanations on criminal behavior in a control frame.
 Social control perspective of criminal behavior assume that there is some type of basic human
nature that all human beings reveal anti-social tendencies towards being violently aggressive and
taking from others what they want if control is absent.
 Control theory emphasizes on the mental mechanisms, self-images, feeling and attachment in
influencing human behavior.
 Control theories assume that people will frequently behave anti-socially unless they are trained
not to.
 Control theory attempts to explain ways to train people to engage in law abiding behavior.
 Although there are different approaches within control theory, they share the view that human
requires nurturing in order to develop attachment or bonds to people and those personal bonds are
key in producing internal controls such as conscience and guilt and external control such as
shame.
 According to this view crime is the result of insufficient attachment and commitment to others.

Social control theories are described below.

 i. Reiss and Nye's Theory
 Albert John Reiss and Francis Ivan Nye were the first ones who applied social control theory to
assess the behavior from sociological perspectives.
 Reiss argued that criminal or delinquent behavior results from the failure of controls at personal
and societal levels.
 Formal (law and punishment) and informal (social sanctions) are two complementary aspects of
social controls.
 Nye aided clarifies on categories of control in relation to the delinquency:
a. Direct control by which punishment is imposed or threatened for misconduct and compliance is
rewarded.
b. Indirect control by which a youth refrains from delinquency because his/her delinquent act
might cause pain and disappointment for parents of other with whom the youth had a close relationship.
c. Internal control by which a youth's conscience or sense of guilt prevents him/her from engaging
in delinquent acts. For example: the fulfillment of needs of adolescents within the family may lessen the
likelihood of adolescent's attempting to look for satisfaction outside the family.
 Nye found association between delinquency and family situations such as lack of discipline,
broken and disintegrated homes, lack of sufficient parental affection toward children and even the
rejection.

Criticism
Nye failed to clearly give an articulation that how a particular aspect of family relationship connects with
the concept of control theory.

ii. Containment theory by Walter C. Reckless

 Containment generally means the action of keeping something harmful under control or within
limits. Containment generally means the action of keeping something harmful under control or
within limits.
 In the view of Reckless, there is a containing of:
a. External social structure holding individuals in line.
b. An internal buffer restraining them from deviation (behavior that violates social norms and
arouses negative social reactions) of the social and legal norms.
 A fundamental issue is why the same phenomena affect some of the people and not the others.
 As to the theory, there are two types of containment: Outer and inner
 Outer containment is social pressure that arises from the community social norms and their
violations by individual and restrained due to the community's reactions.
 Inner containments refer to the internalization of conventional (accepted) values and the
development of personality characteristics that enable one to resist pressures. Strong self-
concept, identity and strong resistance to frustration serve as examples and; Outer containment
 are represented by effective family and near support systems that assist in reinforcing
conventionality and insulating the individual from the assault of outside pressures.
 From the definition given by Reckless, it is explicit that outer nor inner containments alone
cause criminality.
 If triggering factors push or pull any of them may result in criminal acts.
 It asserts that outer pullers (poverty, inequalities, family conflict etc.) combine with inner
pushers (hostility, frustration, please seeking etc.) to induce crime or delinquency.
 He argued that a combination of internal psychological containment and external social
containments prevents people from deviating from social norms.
 Outer (good friends, a supportive family, social interactions etc.) and inner (strong super ego,
tolerance against frustration, ability to control inner conflict) containments essentially over rule
such delinquent or criminal tendencies arisen in people at large.
 The components of outer and inner commitment are buffers (a zone around an
object/incompatible) not the causes and they operate to help the individual refrains from resisting
the pressure to commit crime or violate laws.
 Strong buffers lead to law abiding and weak buffers bad to committal or crime or delinquency.

iii. Bonding (Hirschi's Theory)

 Socialization of individual is taken as an entry of a person to the shared conventional values and
norms.
 Hirschi's bonding/control theory stands for interpretation of the causation of delinquency based on
such relationship.
 Family, schools and peers play a significant role in bonding individual to society.
 Bonding is a process of socialization and internalization that establishes a relationship between
person and group based on shared feelings interests or experiences.
 Elements of social bond as specified by Hirschi are:
a. Attachment - with other
b. Commitment - of action
c. Involvement - in activities
d. Belief - in moral order and law

Attachment refers to the bond to others (such as family and peers) and important institution (such as
schools). Weak attachment to parents and family may impair personality development while poor
relationship with the school are viewed as particularly instrumental in delinquency.

Commitment refers to the investment in activities such as getting an education and involves the degree
to which an individual maintains a vested interest on the social and economic system. Adults for instance,
have many more such commitments than do juveniles. If the invididuals has much in terms of status, job
and opportunity he/she less likely to violate the laws.
Involvement entails engagement in legitimate social and recreational activites that either leaves too little
time to get into trouble. Involvement does not permit people sufficient time to engage in unconventional
activities.

Belief in the conventional norms and value and the law acts as a bond to society that have generally been
interpreted as moral belief concerning the law and rules of society. A person accepts society's
conventional norms and rules believing that these are generally correct and to be obeyed. Having tested
amongst 4000 high school students, Hirschi found that children of unemployed family/father are more
likely to commit delinquency than children of family/ fathers fully employed.

Thus, delinquent behavior is likely to occur if there is

a. Inadequate attachment, particularly to parents and schools.
b. Inadequate commitment particularly to educate and occupational success.
c. Inadequate involvement in such conventional activities as scouting and sports. and
d. Inadequate belief, particularly in the legitimate and morality of the law.

Criticism
 Criticism on this theory is on the four elements:
 Firstly, these elements are not exactly socio-psychological variables.
 Bernard (a theorist) has stated that commitment is socio-cultural variable and the other three
(attachment, involvement and belief) as psycho-social or socio-psychological.
 Bernard argues that individuals bonding is independent of social structural features and enhances
without societal changes.
 The question like:
a. Empirical distinct constituents of socialization?
b. The role of the families and socio-economic conditions as such?
 These questions are not answered within the theory and it is that the theory tells only partial story.

c) Labeling Theory
 Labeling means being branded or marked by others.
 Labeling refers as to social tagging or stigmatization.
 Labeling theory holds that society's response to some forms of behavior triggering the
development of criminal carrier does not produce a single criminal or delinquent event.
 The theory focuses on application of stigmatizing, deviant labels or tags by society on some of its
members.
 Labeling theory views criminal behavior is explained according to the responses of others rather
than the real characteristics of the person charged/blamed as offenders.
 Criminal behavior is not merely isolated legal procedure of arrest and prosecution but the process
 of making the criminal is a process of tagging, defining, describing, emphasizing, making
conscious and it becomes a way of stimulating, suggesting, emphasizing, the traits that are
complaints of the person becomes the things he is described as being.
 Edwin M. Lemert argued labeling as an operative phenomenon and distinguished primary and
secondary deviation or deviance as social pathological problems.
 Primary deviance arises from various social, cultural and psychological causes.
 Secondary deviance is deviant behavior or social roles based upon it, which becomes a means of
defense, attack or adaption to the overt (identity show) and covert (identity hiding) problems
created by the societal reaction to primary deviation which means the negative reaction of others
to individuals who gets engaged in particular behaviors causes them to be labelled as "criminal",
"deviant" or "not normal".
 In the literature (religious, scriptures, epic, stories, and novels) of every society, criminals are
often portrayed as immoral, devious and fundamentally difference from other people.
 The learning of such criminal stereotypes is a part of socialization from childhood development.
 For example: an arrest may have no impact on a youth's life if it is kept secret from school
authorities and members of the local community. But, if school authorities are notified of the
event or if it becomes widely known in the community, it can trigger exclusionary reactions by
teachers and community members.

Re integrative Shaming Theory: (communicates shame to a wrongdoer in a way that encourages

him or her to desist)
 The theory of re integrative shaming was developed not only to generate new predictions and new
policy implications about crime but also to explain the well-established strong relationship
between crime and other variables.
 Must not able of these efforts was done by John Braithwaite and lays out 13 "facts a theory of
crime ought to fit."
a. Crime is committed disproportionately by males.
b. Crime is perpetrated disproportionately by 15-25 years old.
c. Crime is committed disproportionately by married people.
d. Crime is committed disproportionately by people living in large cities.
e. Crime committed by people who have experienced high residential mobility and who live in
areas characterized by high residential mobility.
f. Young people who are strongly attached to their school are less likely to engage in crime.
g. Young people who have high educational and occupational aspirations are less likely to
commit crime.
h. Young people who do poorly at school are more likely to engage in crime.
i. Young people who are strongly attached to their parents are less likely to engage in crime.
j. Young people who have friendship with criminals are more likely to engage in crime
themselves.
 k. People who believe strongly on the importance of complying with the law are less likely to
violate the laws.
l. For both men and women being at the bottom of the class structure, whether measured by socio-
economic status, in which the person lives, being unemployed being a member, an opposed racial
minor increases rates of offending for all types of crime apart from those for whom opportunities
are systematically less available to the poor. (white collar crime)
m. Crime rates have been increasing since World War II in most countries, developed and
developing. The only case of a country which has been clearly shown to have had a falling crime
rate in this period is Japan.
 Though it seems as regeneration of the labeling theory, he has demonstratively summed it up as a
blending revision of labeling, subcultural control, opportunity and learning theory.
 The theory focuses on encouragement to stop the behavior without labeling and stigmatizing the
individual in society.
 The framework behind this theory is that individual after committing an act deemed as criminal
will be shamed by society for that act and then reaccepted back into society plugging out the
labels such as "not normal", "deviant", "criminals".
 When shaming is humiliating and disrespectful of the offender that is disintegrative.
 Disintegrative sharing involves no attempt to reintegrate or reconcile the shamed offender into the
community but provoke for further criminal act or behavior.
 Therefore, disintegrative or stigmatic shaming is likely to be counterproductive.
 Male children from poor families are more likely to be labeled deviant and this may partially
explain why there are more lower class young male offenders.
 Crime is not what you do – it is about how others see it.

E) Economic School
 Economy is closely associated with human being and human society.
 Economic theories of crime have been put forward in an attempt to explain the causes of
criminality.
 Economic school undertake to explain crime in terms of economic reasons as well as in terms of
the structuring of the society.
 Under the following topics the poverty and prosperity or socio-economic condition connected
with crime is discussed.

a) Poverty and Crime

 Poverty has been connected with crime by different researchers.
 Economy is connected to the conditions of people living in society.
 Malthus, a theorist or contributor of economic school had warned the society that if population is
not kept in balance with national economy the national might suffer with crime, poverty, disorder
or wars.
  Quetlet was the first exponent who tried to link crime with social conditions.
 Poverty has been connected with crime by different researchers.
 Economy is connected to the conditions of people living in society.
 According to Quetlet, society breeds crime and criminal are only visible unit of it.
 Crime is committed by both sections of the society that is rich or poor but the police tend to make
surveillance against poor.
 So, poor are picked up and prosecuted. Rich gets off the charge because of their social status,
prestige and influence in the society.
 Where the society is prosperous, prosperous people commit crime to be richer, more luxurious
and more powerful. This shows that form of crime changes with the change in society.

b) Economic Prosperity and Crime

 Inspite of its economic affluence the modern developed civilized society is not immune from the
problem of criminality.
 The increasing incidents of economic offences and violent crimes against the person in United
States of America serves as an example.
 According to a statistics, published in 1966, in America there is one rape in every 20 minutes,
battery incident in every 3 minutes and theft in every 28 seconds.
 People encountered new challenges, new opportunities, new ambitions which led them to hold on
the law with the available opportunity.
 Sutherland claim in 1939 that the traditional concept of crime represents only one part of the
society.
 He termed crime committed by elite people as white collar crime.

i. White Collar Crime

 White collar crime was first coined by Sutherland in 1939 in addressing to American
Sociological society.
 The white collar criminals are defined as those person who hold high socio-economic status, also
violates the laws designed to regulate their occupational activities.
 Crime is committed by elite people.
 This definition does not cover up people like murder, rape, robbery committed by rich people.
 White collar crime is committed by persons who are not deprived of basic needs of life like food,
shelter, health and education.
 They know the law and punishment but try to avoid it by pursuing different business
manipulation.
 False advertisement, tax evasion, black marketing, smuggling of goods, trademark or copyright
rule are some examples of white collar criminality.
 Business men committing economic crime are damaging the society in a far greater scale than
the traditional crime.

Features of White Collar crime

  Crime is committed by elite people: It is committed by elite person who are educated who knows
the law. The crime is committed by prestigious person under the coverage of their prestige,
power or influence.
 In course of occupational activities: it is committed on the course of occupational activities to
generate profit to maximize the income with a view to be rich, prosperous and powerful in
business sector.
 Ambition to be rich: This crime relates to ambition to be rich, powerful against other business
partner.
 Learned through differential association: This crime is learned by differential association in
modern economic world.
 Indirect impact on society: The person committing the act does not feel that he is committing the
crime. The society against who it is committed does not feel that they are being criminally
exploited. The businessmen think that in the course of competition certain degree of violation is
ignorable.
 The study of crime is necessary because it is against the social interest and damaging the society.
These are crimes committed by persons of high profile persons such as doctors, engineers,
professors, judges, lawyers, businessmen etc. in course of their professional occupation and
business.

White Collar crime compared with traditional crime:

 Traditional crime denotes murder, rape, theft and offences with the existence of human being.
White collar crime primarily relates to economic activities by person holding social prestige.
 Traditional crime has direct impact upon the victim which means it is reported to the police and
easy to investigate. White Collar Crime is not easy to investigate and bring the culprit to justice.
 Traditional crime is termed as blue collar crime which means crime committed by dangerous
class of the society that is poor class. It is the symbolic term which represented workers in blue
clothes especially mining industries. Crime committed by person of higher rank is known as
while collar crime.
 White collar crime is an expansion with the growth of economy.

c) The Socialist Theory

 The capitalist society based on laissez fair, competition and maximization of profit.
 The capitalist society is divided into haves and haves not.
 There is constant struggle between these two classes and it is root cause of social problem and
criminality.
 According to Marx, criminals germinate not only crime but also police force, string criminal law
and criminal justice system.
 The socialist theory holds the capitalist society responsible as the sources of crimes. Karl Marx
says that under the capitalist economy the whole society is divided into affluent and indigent
 classes which are locked in constant conflict.
 In capitalist society each class has their own interest so they work accordingly. So, the criminal
activity also may be divided as per their class interest in different categories:

a. Crime and poverty:

Poverty is the root cause of many types of crime. When there is price raise, recession, this type of crime
shows raising trend. The people involved in this type of crime are unemployed person, person having low
income, level or widow woman living destitute life.

b. Crime of Cupidity (Cupidity is a greedy desire for money and possession)

This type of crime shows raising trend during economic boom. Economic boom is rise in gross domestic
product, upturn or growth period. During economic boom economy grows, jobs are plentiful and the
market brings high returns to investors. Rich or poor whatever be their status, they cannot fulfill their
ambitions, desire through legal means. The entrepreneurs are prone to expand their business even by
pursuing false advertisement or other business tactics. Consumers are encouraged to spend money even
beyond their capacity. The upper class bourgeoisie do not commit theft because they have different
means to gain themselves.

c. Professional Crimes:
The first source of professional crimes are the parents themselves who make their children learn to steal.
The second sources are deprived or lower income earning group. They start with pity crime and
ultimately become professional criminals in their adulthood. The third source is prison. Those who are
sent to prison become professional criminals being associated with them there. These people feel that
they are neglected by the society and that there is no place for them in society. They do not feel any
responsibility to the society which has neglected them. They find crime money more comfortable than
limited amount of wage to be earned after hard work.
 Capitalist Society is basically divided into three classes:
a. The upper class (the Capitalist) who had control upon national economy. They are able to
influence the politics. They manage to make laws which severe their interest and live luxurious
life.
b. Middle class people is constantly engaged in maintaining their living standard at the same
level. They have limited access to the national economy.
c. Third class, there are proletariats they have nothing neither land nor property.