Criminal Behavior

Understanding Recidivism Through Social Learning and Strain Theories Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name April 7, 2025 Understanding the differences between various theories in criminal behavior as well as persisting issues in reality is important for both policy-makers and law enforcement officers. Accordingly, one of the most challenging issue in the modern criminal justice system is summarised as residual crime rates. On the one hand, Deviant Peer Groups within criminal adoption environments engage in Social Learning Theory-based interactions, producing different learning behaviors and criminal conduct. On the other hand, Strain Theory states that because of oppressive elements of poverty and discrimination as well as hopeless situations, people are prone to even more offenses to try and make legitimate pathways when it seems impossible. Regarding why criminal behavior persists, Social Learning Theory coupled with Strain Theory provides individual yet complementary information. Following from this, it is apparent that social contact and their companions and advisors should jointly structure support for behavioral attitudinal learning to succeed in reentry programs. The Strain Theory suggests the necessity of creating effective programs for people who were jailed in the past to include not only attention to housing support and employment services but also structural corrections and increased mental health resources. Complete programs addressing behavioral problems and system constraints that block formerly incarcerated people's successful reentry are formed from multiple research approaches. Given this, it is only necessary for society to delve beyond the punitive measures used in decelerating recidivism, which necessitates us attempting to understand and solve those determinant human behavioral factors contributing to the problem. It is found that the justice system develops its practices and policies better using theoretical frameworks than the justice system successfully achieving rehabilitation or dignity. Ultimately, it is the author’s belief that Social Learning Theory and Strain Theory perspectives apply to the review of both theoretical frameworks, and their social policy effects are used in the study to evaluate the roots of criminal relapse. This paper uses the both approaches to analyze the recurrence of criminal behavior, with the end goal of developing a body of facts regarding illegal actions and effective criminal justice prevention strategies preventing further illegal activities. Social Learning Theory: Crime as a Learned Behavior Human behavior transitions into criminal patterns through observation with imitation and social contact as per the Social Learning Theory (SLT). Albert Bandura (1977) developed cardinal concepts of the Social Learning Theory by studying modeling and observational learning in research studies. Bandura conducted his Bobo doll experiment to demonstrate that people, including children, learned aggressive actions when observing rewarding behavior from others. According to Bandura, behavior learning depends on indirect reinforcement that enables people to learn through observation. Ronald Akers (1973) built off Differential Association Theory through behavioral psychological features, thus establishing a thorough framework for understanding social crimes. The Social Learning Theory uses differential association, definitions favorable to law violation, and differential reinforcement and imitation to construct its framework. Differential association describes the learning opportunity where individuals get exposed to criminal attitudes and deviant behaviors from their peers. The more often people socialize with criminals, the more their habits tend to match those who lead an illegal lifestyle. Minimal inhibitions that support lawbreaking serve as personal reasons for breaking the law. People develop their definitions through social interactions. According to differential reinforcement, all behavioral outcomes create either strengthening effects through rewards that lead to repeated behavior or weakening effects through punishments that lead to behavior avoidance. Individuals mimic observed behaviors from others, specifically when those actions prove successful and win admiration from others (Akers, 1998). SLT presents valuable insight into why jail release does not prevent former inmates from committing new offenses. Imprisonment creates an environment that strengthens deviant actions among inmates. The prison facility functions as a social forum where prisoners practice evolving criminal concepts among their peers, according to DeLisi and Vaughn (2016). People who exit prison typically combine with their social networks that were initially responsible for promoting criminal conduct. The contact with deviant peer groups increases re-offending risks to significant levels; according to Warr (2002), when an ex-inmate returns to a community that accepts and promotes illegal behavior, desistance is less likely. Multiple research projects have validated that social learning theory continues to apply to present-day scenarios. A significant study by Siennick, Mears, and Bales (2020) examining Florida individuals after incarceration proved that criminal peer relationships are a significant determinant of rearrest. The research showed that people who cut off criminal affiliations but developed pro-social relationships with employers and mentors or joined religious groups reduced their likelihood of committing new offenses. According to Akers ' fundamental premises, Augustyn et al. (2021) conducted research that showed differential peer relationships following release function as the most predictive factor of offender reintegration success or failure. Studies about the impact of differential peer associations on recidivism have produced similar results worldwide. Social learning variables like criminal family involvement and peer association increased the chance of young male Swedish adults committing repeat offenses, according to Pettersson et al. (2021). Research now shows some drawbacks in addition to its previous findings. The research by Vieira and Skilling (2020) shows peer influence is significant for adolescent criminal behavior, yet this effect diminishes when adults make decisions independently with more complex cognitive capabilities. The strength of Social Learning Theory in clarifying youth criminal involvement and collective offenses appears to weaken for solitary crimes and adult criminal activities. The research demonstrates that returning to contact with criminal associates remains a moderately dangerous factor for criminal repeat behaviors during adult life. Strain Theory: Crime as a Response to Pressure and Inequality According to Strain Theory, which serves as a criminological cornerstone, the explanation for criminal actions stems from how people handle blocked opportunities to attain society's desirable goals through lawful means. As noted by Robert Merton, in 1938, American society introduced material success and success achievement as worldwide goals but maintained limited availability for legitimate achievement methods. According to Merton's analysis, five alternative responses exist through which people adapt to social stress: conformity innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. People who accept social goals but use illegal means like theft and drug trafficking for goal achievement show the most significant criminal tendencies. The primary contribution of Robert Agnew to criminology emerged in the 1990s with the General Strain Theory (GST), which added new dimensions to the strain theory initially proposed by Merton. Agnew defined deviant behavior through individual and interpersonal stressors, ...