C.

Cultural Deviance, Strain, and Social Control Theories

1. Cultural Deviance Theory. Cultural Deviance Theories were popular in the early 20th
century. They stated that children do not really commit deviant acts. Their behavior may be
considered deviant by larger society, but it is compatible with the behavior in their
neighborhood. In this view, what society calls delinquency is actually conformity to norms
frowned upon by outsiders" but not by "insiders".

a. Neighborhoods and Delinquency. Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay blame delinquency on the
neighborhood where a child lives. Then hypothesized that delinquency rates would decline the
farther one moved from the center of the city, called zonal hypothesis, and tested this idea by
dividing Chicago into five concentric circles or zones.

b. Differential Association Theory/Social Learning Theory. Edwin Sutherland has had an

extraordinary influence on our thinking about delinquency through his D.A.T. where he
described the process children go through to become delinquent. His theory states that crime is
learned behavior.

Nine Principles of Differential Association Theory

a. Delinquent behavior is learned

b. Delinquent behavior is learned in interaction with others through a process of communication.

c. Learning takes place in intimate groups.

d. In intimate groups, children learn techniques for committing crime as well as the appropriate
motives, attitudes, and rationalizations.

e. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal code as
being favorable or unfavorable.

f. A child becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law

over definitions unfavorable to violation of law.

g. Definitions favorable to the violation of law are learned from both criminal and noncriminal
persons.

h. The tendency toward delinquency will be affected by the frequency, duration, priority, and
intensity of learning experiences.

i. Learning delinquent behavior involves the same mechanisms involved in any other learning.

j. Criminal behavior and noncriminal behavior are expressions of the same needs and values
(Scarpitti, Nielsen, & Miller, 2009)

2. Strain Theories. Strain theories assume that children are basically good only under
pressure (strain) do they deviate. Pressure for deviance come from their having internalized
society's goals, such as being successful and wanting to achieve them. But many cannot
become successful by conforming to society's rules. Out of desperation, they turn to crime.
a. Robert Merton Strain Theory. Merton (1938) blames delinquency on conformity to
conventional cultural values. American society has (a) cultural goals that are regarded as worth
striving for and (b) institutionalized means or approved ways of reaching these goals. The main
goals in society are the acquisition of wealth and status. The socially approved ways to achieve
them are by getting a good education, job training, and career advancement.

However, for many children, access to legitimate means is blocked. Job opportunities are not
open to them, which creates a problem since they desire wealth and status. This situation
produces pressure to deviate and children will resolve this conflict in different ways. Strain
theory holds that crime is caused by the difficulty to those in the poverty strata with regard to
achieving socially valued goals by legitimate means. As those with, for instance, poor
educational attainment they have difficulty achieving wealth and status by securing well paid
employment, they are more likely to use criminal means to obtain these goals. Merton suggests
five adaptations to this dilemma.

1. Innovation. Individuals who accept socially approved goals, but not necessarily the socially
approved means.

2. Retreatism. Those who reject socially approved goals and the means of acquiring them.

3. Ritualism. Those who buy into a system of socially approved means, but lose sight of the
goals. Merton believed that drug users are in this category.

4. Conformity. Those who conform to the system's means and goals.

5. Rebellion. People who negate socially approved goals and means by creating a new system
of acceptable goals and means.

b. Albert Cohen Strain Theory. Cohen (1955) explained why urban, lower- class boys commit
delinquency. He began by identifying characteristics of uenquents. They are malicious,
negativistic, non-utilitarian, versatile, loya, and cannot defer gratification. Cohen blames
delinquency on the following: the frustration children experience because of their low status.

2. Their inability to live up to middle-class standards. Delinquency is the consequence of

children expressing their frustration toward middle-class norms and institutions.

C. Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin Strain Theory. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) in their
Delinquency and Opportunity, explained lower-class male delinquency. They blamed it on the
disparity between what children are taught to want and what is available to them. Children
joined delinquent gangs to achieve success, but because their legitimate path is blocked, the
turn to illegitimate means in the form of delinquency. Accordingly, criminal behavior develops in
stable neighborhoods that provide children with illegitimate opportunities to become successful
criminals. In these communities;

1. There are successful adult criminals who serve as role models.

2. There is an integration of age levels, which enables younger people to learn from older
juveniles how to commit crime.
3. There is cooperation between offenders and legitimate people in the neighborhood such as
bondsmen, lawyers and politicians. In conclusion, delinquency is blamed on the pressures to
succeed and on the obstacles lower-class children face. Thus, there must be available
legitimate opportunities for the success of the children so they would not tum to criminality.

d. Robert Agnew Strain Theory. Agnew (1992) added a twist to the work of Merton, Cohen,
and Cloward and Ohlin in his General Strain Theory that increased the number of conditions
and produced frustration for children.

Agnew's types of strain are:

1. Failure to achieve positively valued goals. This type of strain may result from doing poorly
on an exam or not performing well in a sporting event.

2. Denial of previously attained achievements. This type of strain may stem from being fired
from a job or being "dumped" by a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

3. Exposure to negative stimuli. An example of a social interaction that may produce this
type of strain is being picked on by classmate or receiving a speeding ticket.

3. Social Control Theories. These theories assume that children are amoral. Without controls
on their behavior, they are inclined to break the law. Delinquency is, thus, an expected
behavior. What needs to be explained why most children obey society's rules most of the time.

a. David Matza Social Control Theory. Matza thinks that delinquency theories exaggerated
the differences between delinquents and delinquents. He believes delinquents are normal in all
respects except in belonging to a subculture that teaches them it is all right to be delinquent.

Matza also believes that if delinquents were really committed to their misdeeds, they would
participate in delinquency nearly all of their waking hours.

Matza also feels that many delinquents know that what they did was wrong and feel sorry for it.
If he is right, then why do they do it? Matza says it is because they pick up cues from other
children that lead them to believe delinquency is acceptable and that they are the only ones
who do not do it.

Fear of being called a "chicken" makes some juveniles reluctant to back out of a delinquent
escapade.

Techniques of Neutralization

The Neutralization emphasizes that because delinquents feel bad for what they did, they
absolve themselves of guilt by turning to one of five techniques of neutralization. They are:

1. Denial of responsibility. Juveniles will deny being responsible for their illegal acts. They
may say," the alcohol made me do it."

2. Denial of injury. Delinquents may believe that even though what they have done was illegal,
it was not immoral because no one was seriously injured. Shoplifting may be rationalized in this
way.
3. Denial of victim. Sometimes juveniles deny the seriousness of their behavior by saying that
what they did was right under the circumstances. For example, beating someone up may be
explained away by saying: "he had it coming."

4. Condemnations of condemners. Children may shift the blame from their own illegal
behavior to the behavior of others. They will criticize those who condemn them. For instance,
children may rationalize the legitimacy of their illegal drug use by saying that some police are
also involved in the drug trade.

5. Appeal to higher authority. Sometimes juveniles justify their illegal behavior by claiming
that they were committed in deference to a higher authority, such as a normal or religious belief,
the gang, or a racial or ethnic group (Sykes & Matza, 1957).

b.Travis Hirschi Social Control Theory or Social Bonding Theory Hirschi (2002) is not
surprised that children commit deviance. He expect them to, unless obstacles are thrown in
their path by a disapproving society. Social Bonding Theory at the core of Hirschi's theory is the
bond or the glue that connects children to society. The bond consists of four elements
attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

1. Attachment is an emotional element. It describes the extent that a child is tied to other
people. A child's most important attachments are those of his or her parents, school, and fears.
The stronger the child's attachments, the less likely he or she will commit delinquency.

2. Commitment is a rational component of the bond. It refers to the extent that children
invest in conventional activities. Commitment controls juveniles because they know getting into
trouble will hurt their chances of becoming successful.

3. Involvement is the amount of time a child spends in conventional activities. If these

occupy a youth's entire day, delinquency cannot take place. Involvement in conventional
activities is viewed as a means of preventing delinquency as early as Biblical times, when the
sages counseled that "idle hands are a devil's workshop."

4. Belief in the moral validity of conventional norms is the fourth component of the
social bond. Some children believe more strongly in the legitimacy of society's rules. Those
who do are less likely to commit delinquencies. In 1990 Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi
published a theory of crime that departed significantly from Hirschi's earlier work. In their book,
A General Theory of Crime, the idea of individual self-control took center stage. Self-control
and Delinquency by Gottfredson and Hirschi is based on a simple explanation: Children commit
delinquency when the opportunity is available because crime is gratifying. Gottfredson and
Hirschi think delinquents cannot resist the easy, immediate gratification that accompanies
delinquency because they have low-self-control. They are impulsive, insensitive, physical (as
opposed mental), risk taker, short sighted, and non-verbal (Regoli & Hewitt, 1991).

D. Labeling and Conflict Theory

1. Labeling Theory. While cultural deviance, strain, and social control theories assume that
deviance leads to social control, labeling theory assume that social control leads to deviance.
Labeling theorists believed that assumes that human nature is malleable and that personality
and behavior are products of social interaction. Labeling theorists, therefore, emphasize the
power of social response, especially in the form of social control, to produce of social behavior.
Their concern is that publicly or officially "labeling” someone delinquent as can result in the
person becoming the very thing he is described being." Labeling theory posits that:

· If labels have such formidable power, why don't parents label their children as "gifted",
"intelligent", or "athletic?" In turn, why' don't youth affix a positive label to themselves and then
allow the self-fulfilling prophecy to occur?

The Labeling Theorists

a. Frank Tannenbaum Labeling Theory. Tannenbaum rejected the “dualistic fallacy" - the
idea that delinquents and no delinquents are two fundamentally different types of people.
According to Tannenbaum, criminologists previously attributed undesirable qualities, such as
atavistic physical features and intellectual inferiority, to delinquents, which lead to anti-social
behavior. Tannenbaum sees delinquents as well-adjusted people. Delinquent behavior is
behavior so labeled by adults in a community. Adults, who have more power than children, are
able to have children labeled "delinquent". Once children are labeled delinquent, they become
delinquent (Tannenbaum, 1938).

b. Edwin Lemert Labeling. In his concept, he said that not all youth labeled "delinquent"
accept these roles; how receptive they are to such labels depends on their social class. If youth
comes from a family where parents are powerless and poor, he or she is more likely to accept
the assigned delinquent role. Lower-class parents may be frustrated by their situation and
disturbed by inner conflicts. They may be quick to label their children bad or worthless,
overreacting to qualities in their children that remind them of traits they despise in themselves.
This leads them to reject their children and, when trouble occurs, to turn them over to the
community agencies such as the juvenile court. Once the child arrives in juvenile court, the
individual's character and deviant behavior are redefined by the court and related agencies.
Lemert believes that having a juvenile court record formally establishes the youth's status as a
deviant and segregates him or her from the community. Jail experience and contacts advance
this process, further ensuring that the juvenile will think of himself or herself as truly delinquent.
Lemert takes it for granted that institutions fail to rehabilitate. He believes, rather, that they
promote the opposite: recidivism (Lemert, 1951).

c. Howard Becker. Becker (1973) believed that acquiring a label depends on how other
people react to the behavior itself.

d. Edwin Schur. Schur (1971) thinks the best we can do for children is to leave them alone.
He emphasized three elements of labeling process: (1) Stereotyping, (2) retrospective
interpretation, and (3) negotiation. Only very serious violations should be brought to the
attention of the Courts. If a youth is adjudicated delinquent, he or she should Committed to a
correctional institution but rather diverted to a less coercive and stigmatizing program. Schur's
call for his policy or radical nonintervention is very simple: "Leave kids alone whenever
possible."

e. John Braithwaite. Braithwaite explores the nature and impact of shaming which is one form
of labeling. Shaming takes two forms: (1) disintegrative and (2) reintegrative. Disintegrative
shaming as a form of negative labeling by the juvenile. Justice system consistent with
traditional notions is counterproductive and tends to likelihood that an offender will develop a
deviant identity and that such identity significantly affects the likelihood of recidivism
(Adam.1996).
2. Conflict Theory. Conflict theory views conflict within society as normal and rejects the idea
that society is organized around a consensus of values and norms. Conflict theorists believe
that in its normal state, society is held together by force, coercion, and intimidation. The norms
and values those of different groups are often the basis of conflicting interests between those
groups. Law, therefore, represents the interest held by groups that have obtained sufficient
power or influence to determine legislation. Conflict theory of the Marxist (Karl Marx) mode
suggests that capitalism is the essential root of crime and that repressive efforts by ruling class
to control the ruled class produce delinquency (Regoli & Hewit, 1991).

Theories of Delinquency and their Major Premise: A Summary

1. Supernatural Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by other-world powers or spirits.

2. Classical and Neoclassical Theory. Children commit crimes because they anticipate more
benefits from violating the law than conformity.

3. Biological Theories. Crime (delinquency) is caused by some biological deficiency inside the
offender

4. Psychoanalytic Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by an overdeveloped or

underdeveloped superego.

5. Behavioral Theory. Criminal behavior (delinquency) is a learned response that has been'
strengthened because of the reinforcements produces.

6. Cultural Deviance Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by disorganization, which hinders

the ability of neighborhoods to monitor children.

7. Strain Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by society telling children what to seek
without providing them with the means to do so.

8. Control Theory. Juveniles who are not bonded to society are free to violate its rules.

9. Labeling Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by societal reactions to behavior, which

include exposure to the juvenile justice system.

10. Conflict Theory. Crime (delinquency) is caused by imbalances in power and status.

Lesson 3. Female Delinquency Theories

1. Biological and Psychological Theories. Although the earliest explanations of delinquency

located its causes in demons and, later, in free will, they did not make causal distinctions on the
basis of the sex of the delinquent. It was not until the rise of positivistic criminology (Cesare
Lombroso), with its early emphasis on biological and psychological causes of behavior, that the
female law violators were seen as uniquely "different" from male criminals.

a. Lombroso and Ferrero's Atavistic Girl. In The Female Offender, published in 1895,
Cesare Lombroso and William Ferrero applied to females the principles of Lombroso's earlier
work on the male criminal. Inasmuch as the criminals were viewed as "throwbacks", or atavistic
by their nature, the female criminal was also seen as biologically inferior and distinct to
noncriminal women. They believed that women were lower on the evolutionary scale than men
and, therefore, closer to "primitive" origins.

According to them, women are naturally more childlike, less intelligent, lacking in passion, more
maternal, and weak -characteristics that make them less inclined to commit crimes. For
Lombroso and Ferrero, women's criminality is a product of their biology, but this biology also
keeps most women for crime. They also believed that most female delinquents were only
occasional criminals, as were most male delinquents.

b. Freud's Inferior Girl. Sigmund Freud saw female delinquency arising primarily out of the
anatomical inferiority of women and their inability to deal adequately with Electra complex,
which emerges during the Oedipal stage of development (between ages 3 and 6). Freud
believed that when girls realize they have no penis, they sense that they are being punished
because boys have something important they have been denied. Consequently, they develop
penis envy, which results in an inferiority complex.

Envy, and desire for revenge, leads the girl to "act out" as .attempts to compensate for her
inferiority. Freud believed that promiscuous sexual behavior by girls, and eventually prostitution,
grow out of the Oedipal stage of development and repression of early sexual love for parent of
opposite sex.

C. Thomas' Unadjusted Girl. It was published in 1923 authored by William I.Thomas which
postulated that males and females are biologically different. Although both males and females
are motivated by natural biological instincts leading to "wish fulfillment", how they approach the
fulfillment wishes differs. There are four (4) distinct categories of wishes by Thomas:

1. the desire for new experience,

2. the desire for security,

3. the desire for response, and

4. the desire for recognition.

He believed that women by nature have stronger desires for response and love than men and
that they are capable of more varied types of love as demonstrated by maternal love, a
characteristic atypical of males.

This intense need to give and receive love often leads girls into delinquency (sexual
delinquency) as they use sex as a means to fulfill other wishes. Yet, he did not that believe girls
were inherently delinquent. Rather, their behaviors are the result of choices circumscribed by
social rules and moral codes designed to guide people's actions as they attempt to fulfill their
wishes.

d. Pollak's Deceitful Girl. In The Criminality of Women in 1950 authored by Otto Pollak, he
argued that women are actually as criminal as men but their criminality is hidden or "masked".
The masking of their crimes and delinquencies is a result of "natural" physiological differences
in the sexes, as well as the tendency of males to overlook or excuse offenses by women. He
believed that the physiological nature of women makes them more deceitful than men. With
less physical strength than men, women must resort to indirect or deceitful means to carry out
crimes or to vent their aggression; women also are more likely to be "instigators" and men
perpetrators" of crime.

2. Marxist-Feminist Theories. These theories combine the notions of patriarchal male

dominance in the home and interpersonal relationships with male control of the means of
production. In such an environment criminal Justice system "defines crimes as those actions
that threaten this capitalist-patriarchal system" For example, James Messerschmitt argues that
in societies characterized by patriarchal capitalism, male owners or managers of capital control
workers and men control women. Thus, under patriarchal capitalism, women experience
double marginality: Women are subordinatet o both capitalists and men. Messerschmitt
suggests that girls are less likely to be involved in serious delinquencies for three (3) reasons

a. Most crimes are masculine" in nature physical strength, aggressiveness, and external proofs
of achievement are facets of the male personality.

b. Because women are subordinate and less powerful, they have fewer opportunities to engage
in serious crimes.

c. Males control even illegitimate opportunities, and females are and relegated to subordinate
roles even in criminal activities. When women do engage in crime, their criminal activity tends
to be a response to their subordinate and powerless position in patriarchal capitalist society.
Such activity may take the form of privatized resistance (alcoholism, drug abuse, or suicide) or
of accommodation (generally less serious economic crimes are shoplifting, embezzlement, and
prostitution). Power-control Theory by Hagan, Gillis, and Simpson (1990) argued that girls
engage in less delinquency because their behavior is more closely monitored and controlled by
parents (the mother) in patriarchal families.

In Patriarchal Families, the father works outside the home and has control over others, while
the mother stays at home and raises the children. Egalitarian Families, on the other hand, are
characterized by a lack of gender differences in the consumption and production spheres. Both
parents work and have control positions outside the home, and both share child rearing
responsibilities within the home.

3. Differential Oppression Theory (DOT). DOT also provides a framework for understanding
why girls become delinquent as well as why they are less inclined to delinquency than males.
DOT argues that adults oppress children as they attempt to impose and maintain adult
conceptions of social order.

Children are perceived as objects, devalued and defined as inferior to adults, and consequently
experience a sense of powerlessness and marginality. Adults impose their social order on
children frequently through oppressive means. Generally, "the more oppressed the child is, the
more likely she or he will become delinquent." Girls in patriarchal societies, however, are
doubly oppressed: they are oppressed as children and as females (recall that earlier
Messerschmitt argued that females experience double marginality) (Regoli &Hewitt, 1991).