Sociologists suggest numerous theories to explain the behavior identified as juvenile delinquency. Some of the theories explain one type of delinquent behavior better than other theories. As Siegel and Senna (1997) note, the various theories identify the source of the forces shaping delinquent behavior, whether the individual is the source, the social structure, a social process, or a social reaction. Shoplifting and illegal drug use occur with high frequency among young people today. The theory of differential association best explains both behaviors, while strain theory offers the least valuable assessment for both.
The crime of shoplifting sometimes exhibits compulsive behavior brought about by some psychological cause, but this can only explain certain instances of this behavior. Theories based on social distinctions and class differences also explain only some of this behavior, for perpetrators need not be poor to steal. Shoplifting as a crime transcends social boundaries and other evidence of social stratification. Some do steal because they are poor, of course, but much shoplifting occurs among juveniles who are not poor and not deprived. The most likely force operating in these instances is peer pressure, and peer pressure serve as a key component in differential association theory.
Young people behave in a way that allows them to conform to the cultural values of their immediate environment, though those values are in conflict with the values of the greater society:
Conformity to the rules, values, and norms of unconventional groups with whom a youth is in close contact results in violation of the rules of conventional society (Siegel & Senna, 1997, 161).
Edwin Sutherland developed differential association theory in 1939 in his text Principles of Criminology. He offered an interpersonal explanation of behavior based on three major assumptions: 1) human behavior is flexible; 2) learning occurs primar...