Criminology: Understanding Social Learning Theory - Essay Example

Lecturer: Criminology Criminology is the scientific study that involves the nature and cause of the crime as well as control of criminal behaviors through imposing laws or regulations in the society. In the field of social and behavioral sciences, criminology draws the attention of sociology of deviance and psychologists in the aspect of law. Criminologists have adopted diverse ways of incorporating social and behavioral sciences in the study of criminology. Social philosophers developed varied theories that explain the reasons or cause for increased crimes in the society. Therefore, the classical philosophers and other modern scholars of American criminology founded varied theories regarding the issue of crime as a social phenomenon. Understanding criminology theories depend on the relationships made in formulating them and each theory differ from one situation to another. Therefore, social learning theory is one of the criminology theories that explain the way people develop their behaviors through socialization. This theory argues that “as social creatures, our behavior is a product of our environment,” thus understanding social learning theory is imperative because it enables the policy makers to implement effective strategies for combating crime issues in the society. Social learning theory is one of the criminology theories that attempt to address the issue of the social environment and the way it influences crimes of all sorts. Understanding social learning theory in criminology can be simple or complex, but this depends on the relationships made by social scientists in formulating theories (Akers 56). However, this theory is significant because it enables criminal investigators to understand the way crime are committed and what influences them. This is vital because it enables the policy makers to implement effective ways of controlling such crimes that result through learning from social environments. This can be through providing mass education programs to the public on the consequences of involving in crime activities and encouraging people in the society to serve as role models to others. Social learning theory controls the behaviors of an individual in the society. Therefore, understanding this theory is essential because it enables one to understand the study of criminology. Learning refers to the habit or knowledge gained as a result of experiences within the surrounding environment. It is opposed to instinct, drives or genetic predispositions, thus enabling people to understand criminology study (Furst 96). The social learning theory is a significant aspect for creating learning of new behaviors for achieving behavioral transformation in institutionalized settings. This theory was derived from Albert Bandura, the psychologist of social sciences thus, he argued that an individual learn or develop behaviors through learning from the social context. Understanding social learning theory is essential because it enables one to understand the deviant behaviors through combining variables that encourage criminal behaviors in the society. Akers Ronald and Burges Robert developed social learning theory in order to reveal the way deviant behaviors may encourage or contribute to crime issues of all sorts in the society (Akers 34). For instance, the social pressure from peer group with variable unethical behaviors can be explained well through understanding social learning theory. Therefore, it is significant for parents to be responsible for deviant behaviors of their children in the society. This is essential because it will enable them to implement effective parental styles for training their children; thus developing valuable ethical behaviors that can enable them fit in the social settings. The social theory depends upon varied cultural issues and diverse functions that may lead to deviant behaviors. Therefore, when study this theory, one need to understand the cultural conflicting issues and other social perspectives that contributes to deviant behaviors. The social environment offer diverse cultural values invariably social learning institutions such as family schools, churches and other institutions that shape the behaviors of an individual. The social institutions are determined as the core centre for shaping or determining the personal development behaviors of an individual. For instance, a child develops cognitive and social behaviors depending on the environment in which he or she grow up. Thus, social learning theory explains the way some children develop bad behaviors or engage in crime activities while other does not engage in crime issues. For example, a child raised in a family, which is well known for committing crimes issues, is highly vulnerable to participating in crime issues more than a child raised in a Christian family. This reveals the way social environments shapes the behaviors of individual; hence, criminologist seeks to understand the social environment of crimes when they are carrying out crime issues. Hugh and Decker (201) argue that criminal behaviors are transmitted through socialization with others in an environment. This explains the reason as to why many youths engage in deviant behaviors in the contemporary society such as murder, stealing, rape cases and all sorts of criminal behaviors. There are issues in the social context that also contribute to criminal issues. For instance, poverty, urbanization with its associated consequences such as increased crime in the society, which is due to unemployment levels are other aspects in the social environment that are explained in the social learning theory. For instance, many crimes committed nowadays results due to social context such unemployment levels, drug trafficking and poverty in the society; thus many youths engage in such deviant behaviors in order to fit in the society. All this result due to learning from others; thus understanding social theory is imperative especially to crime investigators. This is because it enables policy makers to employ effective strategies for combating crimes in the society. Social learning theory contributes to a better understanding of criminology because it defines certain types of criminal behaviors and the way they occur in the social environment. While crimes are often regarded as deviant activities, not all deviant activities are crimes; thus, criminologists attempt to use social learning theory in order to define deviant activities. For instance, people who suffer from psychological disorders may be categorized under deviant, but the mental disorder is in itself, not a crime. Therefore, the classical and modern criminology have always made a significant attempt in defining the way crimes result in the society. This is imperative because it will enable the law imposers to apply justice and punishment through first understanding the cause of crime. Therefore, understanding this theory is effective for the law enforcers because it leads to effective implementation of law and legal processing activities. They can also help in weighing the consequences of the criminals’ actions and apply justice where necessary. Moreover, social learning theory contributes to a better understanding of the punishment applied to lawbreakers. This theory encourages one to impose punishment as criminal justice system to the law offender (Franklin and McShane 112). Criminal differ; thus understanding different criminology theories may enable the law imposers to apply effective punishments to criminals. For instance, B.F skinner, the philosopher who implemented behaviorism theory offers different types of punishment that can be applied to individuals in dissimilar environments. This theory is also applied in criminology especially when it comes to imposing of punishment to law breakers. It is similar to social learning theory, but it explains the way the trait influences certain criminal behaviors in a different environment. However, understanding diverse criminology theories is imperative because it enables one to understand the study of criminology. Work Cited Akers, Ronald L. Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers, 2009. Print. Barlow, Hugh D, and Scott H. Decker. Criminology and Public Policy: Putting Theory to Work. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010. Print. Furst, Gennifer. Contemporary Readings in Criminology. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2009. Print. Williams, Franklin P, and Marilyn D. McShane. Criminological Theory. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education, 2004. Print. Read More