Example Of Criminological Theories and Research in Practice

Criminological Theories and Research in Practice

Social Learning Theory
The theoretical basis of the organization is the social learning theory. According to this criminological theory, individuals engage in criminal activities due to their associations with other individuals who also engage in these criminal activities. The criminal behavior of these individuals is reinforced, and they develop a sense of learning on the beliefs that they presume favorable to crime. These individuals essentially have certain criminal models that they tend to associate with. As a result, these people end up viewing criminal activities as desirable or somewhat justifiable in given situations (Lishman, 2007). Learning the deviant or criminal behavior is similar to learning to engage in certain conforming behavior. This learning occurs through the exposure to or association with others. Moreover, association with various delinquent friends is an excellent predictor of the delinquent behaviors other than prior delinquencies.
This criminological theory postulates that individuals learn engaging in criminal activities through these mechanisms, including beliefs, modeling, and differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement of the criminal activities means that an individual can teach another individual to engage in criminal activities by punishing and reinforcing certain behaviors. Criminal activities are likely to occur when they are frequently reinforced and infrequently punished, result in large reinforcement results and a little punishment, and are more likely to be reinforced than the alternative behaviors (Lishman, 2007). Under the development of beliefs favorable to criminal activities, an individual can also teach another individual on these beliefs. Research through interviews and surveys suggest that the beliefs that favor the criminal activities fall into various categories. These categories include the approval of minor crime forms, the justification or approval of forms of crime that include serious crimes, and third, some individuals hold various general values that tend to be more conducive to the criminal activities and make these criminal activities appear as attractive alternatives to other behaviors.

Basic Assumptions of the Theory

The assumptions of this theory base on the basic principles that illustrate the process through which learning takes place. First, criminal behaviors are learned according to the operant conditioning principles. Additionally, the criminal behaviors are learned both in the nonsocial situations discriminative or reinforcing and through social interactions in which the behaviors of other individuals are discriminative or reinforcing for criminal behavior. Additionally, the principal aspect of the learning of the criminal behaviors occurs in groups that compromise the major reinforcement sources of individuals. The learning of various criminal behavior, including the specific attitudes, techniques, and the procedures for avoidance, is a function of the available and effective reinforces and the contingencies of reinforcement (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 2006). The given class of behaviors that are learned and the frequencies of the occurrences of these behaviors are functions of the reinforcements that are available and effective, and the norms or rules by which such reinforcements are applied. Criminal behaviors are also a function of the norms that tend to be discriminative to these criminal behaviors, the learning of which occurs when such behaviors are reinforced more highly than the noncriminal behavior. The strength of criminal behaviors is also a direct function of the frequency, the probability and the amount of its reinforcement.
As such, the basic assumptions of the social learning theory can be summarized in various statements. First, the basic assumption in this theory is that the same process of learning in contexts of social structure, situation, and interaction, produce both deviant and conforming behavior. The difference is in the direction of the balance of the influences on behavior. Second, the probability that individuals will engage in deviant and criminal behavior is increased and their conforming probability to the norms is decreased when these individuals differentially associate with other individuals who commit criminal behaviors and espouse various definitions favorable to them (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 2006). As such, with these assumptions, it is important to understand that social learning theory also exists as a general theory because it offers explanations of the reasons why individuals initially participate in deviance and crime, why they continue offending, why they de-escalate or escalate, why they generalize or specialize, and why they choose desisting from deviant or criminal involvement. This theory also explains the reasons why individuals do not involve themselves in crime or deviance, but instead opt to participate in the conforming behaviors only. For this reason, while considering the generalities of the social learning theory as explanations for the participation of an individual in the pro-criminal and pro-social behaviors, more attention is devoted to the core concepts of the theory, which include imitation, differential reinforcement, definitions and differential association.

Influence of the Assumptions on the Daily Operations of the Organization

The assumptions of the underlying theory have various influences on the organization. These assumptions have a lasting and distinct impact on the organization through its influence on criminology. This effect stems from the framework from which the theory was evolved. This framework is from the differential association of Edwin Sutherland in the 1940s that argued that criminal activities, as well as crime, is learned through then interactions with different intimate peers where people acquire differential definitions, which refute or support the violations of the law (Rosenstock, Strecher, & Becker, 2006). These assumptions influence the complexities of the domains of the development of human resource of the organization, which requires the knowledge of the theory that inform this development through theory building, practice and research. With the knowledge of the social learning theory, the organization identifies learning as a distinct learning interplay between the behavior, the person, and the environment. The assumptions of the social learning theory are useful for the organization in explaining the causation of crime and the supporting crime control and prevention.
With these assumptions, the organization can explain the causation of the criminal activities by proving that the individuals are surrounding a given individual serve as the role model of that individual. Moreover, imitation of the behavior and attitudes of these role models is dependent on the extent of the rewards observed as somewhat accruing to that specific individual. Through these assumptions, the organization understands that the extent to which the social learning can lead to the commission of crimes is dependent on the way that an individual views and provides meaning to the role models’ actions, the extent of the exposure to criminal behaviors, and the punishment or reward accorded to these criminal behaviors (Rotter, 2007). As such, with this knowledge, the organization can formulate various assumptions of its provisions that might be elemental in solving various problems. For instance, an individual exposed to the use of drugs as well as trafficking through friends, neighborhoods or family is likely to engage in similar acts if these behaviors are interpreted as acceptable.
Apart from enabling the organization in explaining crime, the assumptions can also support the organization’s crime control and prevention programs. The organization can reduce these crimes by minimizing the individuals’ access to the peers involved in criminal activity, changing and confronting the antisocial attitudes as well as shifting the reinforcement balance through punishments that tend to outweigh all the benefits of committing the crimes to support pro-social behaviors. The organization can apply the assumptions of the social learning theory through aspects such as programs of cognitive restructuring and cognitive behavior in rehabilitating the offenders (Rotter, 2007). The organizations can use these programs to provide various venues for the inmates in rationalizing their beliefs, values, expectations, behavior, and thinking patterns that were causative of their anti-social behaviors. These programs could involve the group or individual sessions with counselors involved in the organization’s rehabilitation program.

Action Plan to Deal with the Challenges

There could be some instances when individuals, especially the public identify challenges or disappointments with the agency. As such, handling these challenges should be of top priority. For this reason, this action plan will outline some of the ways of dealing with these challenges. First, the organization will evaluate its human resource development through the assumptions provided by the theory. Second, the organization will collect public views through various platforms such as the social media platforms on handling these challenges (Rotter, 2007). With these views, the organization can have diversified avenues of dealing with these challenges. In addition, the organization can conduct extensive research on these issues. The findings of the research will then implemented by the management to handle these challenges.

References

Lishman, J. (2007). Handbook for practice learning in social work and social care: Knowledge and theory. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (2006). Social Learning Theory and the Health Belief Model. Health Education & Behavior. doi:10.1177/109019818801500203
Rotter, J. B. (2007). Some implications of a social learning theory for the prediction of goal directed behavior from testing procedures. Psychological Review. doi:10.1037/h0039601