Defining Differential Association

Defining Differential Association According to Edwin Sutherland, Differential Association Theory is “the specific causal process in the development of systematic criminal behavior”. (Criminological Theories, Akers, pg.72) To a lay person, I see differential association in the terms of someone being a product of his/her environment. A person who is brought up to be a criminal, becomes a criminal. If you take a person from an upstanding neighborhood, and place said person in an area …

…can get it, get it. Through the research articles and the testing that has done, there is sufficient evidence that there is a need for Sutherland’s theory. There is a need for all the theories in the causation of crime because if we can find a cure, we can start solving these crimes. I believe that we have made great efforts and more we test these theories, the closer we are to an answer.