Discuss the Theories Developed by Sutherland, Merton, and others to Compare and Contrast Them - Essay Example

He got pleasure in his frequent brushes with the law and developed the reputation of being an uncontrolled money maker. He eventually mastered the activities of murder and vehicle hijacking and even succeeded in plundering the Kennedy Airport in 1960. It appeared that Gotti was walking away free from prosecutions with the same speed as the charges that were being levied against him. The prosecution could not succeed in getting him convicted on repeated occasions, which gave him the status of being untouchable by the law enforcement agencies.

Obviously, he got a lot of media attention that made him further famous and he began riding high in the world of crime. Gotti was quite different from other gangsters of the period such as Vito Genovese and Gambino who remained away from publicity. John Gotti got immense pleasure in coming into limelight and media glare. It is said that his love for publicity and the media were responsible for his eventual conviction following Gravano’s statement against him in court (Raab, 2006). Gotti attracted a great deal of police and media attention and was quick to adopt violent ways to keep up with his commanding position in the crime world.

After his gambling debts began to increase he could never recover from financial hardship and pressurized his men to get more money in spite of the ban that was imposed on drugs (Capeci and Mustain, 1996). Gotti got lot of publicity because of the alliances he made with Nicky Scarfo of Philadelphia and the operations that he initiated against the Genovese family of New Jersey. Gotti received considerable publicity when the FBI foiled a plot by the Genovese family to kill him. John Gotti was amongst the few gangsters whose biography was a bestseller and who appeared on the cover of Time issue dated 29 September, 1986.

A number of biographical movies were made on him, such as Gotti, Mugshots: John Gotti: Mafia Assassin, Biography:John Gotti: A Mafia Story, Mobsters:John Gotti and Crime Stories: John Gotti. He was portrayed in TV programs titled Gotti (1996), The Big Heist (2001), Getting Gotti (1994), Boss of Bosses (2001) and Witness to the Mob (1998). There are several aspects of criminological theories that deal with issues such as criminal justice, political science, sociology and psychology. It is correct to say that integrating all these aspects provides a viable means of analyzing crimes and criminal behaviors.

Burgess and Akers attempted to explain crime and criminal behavior by identifying learning processes and including elements such as reinforcement, stimuli, conditioning and behavior in their theories. The main elements of Akers Social Learning theory refer to the processes through which people rationalize, evaluate and infer things in terms of right and wrong. For instance, a young man of 20 years may recognize that the law should be obeyed, he may not adhere to the law that people below 21 should not have alcoholic drinks.

Sutherland developed the theory of differential association that dealt with crime and delinquency. His social learning theory holds that criminal behaviors result because of interactions with people with inappropriate behaviors. Merton’s adaptation of the Anomie theory relates to American society in terms of the outcomes emanating from individuals’