Practical Application In Criminal Justice

Learning Theories, Practical application in Criminal Justice

High tech offenders can come in all different shapes and sizes, as well as flavors. You can have the guy who works as an accountant for a multi international corporation, that’s quietly syphoning money from various accounts into his own offshore retirement fund account. How about the local DMV employee Trish who’s submitting falsified information to get ID’s for various amounts of cash. For minors, illegal aliens, or say that Russian wet work team that snuck into the country and doesn’t have any identification but needs some with clean records attached, to keep local authorities away in case of any indiscretions that might happen like running a red light. Let’s not forget about
little Barbra who graduated from a tech school as a computer systems analyst, who pays for her lavish lifestyle by hacking into people’s personal computers and stealing all their personal information. So she can drain their bank accounts, and get credit cards in their names to pay for anything and everything she desires. Each of these criminals has some reason and explanation behind why they ended up committing such crimes. Three theories I have chosen to explain their actions are the Learning Theory, Differential Identification Theory, and the Attachment theory.

The learning theory says that criminal behavior comes about through the acquisition of norms, values, and patterns of behaviors conducive to crime.
Also stating that criminal behavior is not an innate characteristic in any given individual but a product of the social environment. This theory can best explain the actions of the corrupt account. Say for instance the accountant had a great childhood and young adult life, never got into trouble at school or with the law, had impeccable grades, and was a very honest person. Such an upbringing doesn’t generate a criminal. However if when this individual was struggling midway through his accounting degree in college and started associating with people who was cheating their way through school, through this association the well brought up individual became swayed and accepting of dishonest behavior, first step in the criminal direction. The second step being that when he went over the files of his predecessor in the company, he found subtle bits of information the showed money had been syphoned. Curious about the information he speaks with his predecessor and learns about what was going on and is eager to learn how he can do the same, seeing as how the company pays decent but not enough to support his needs and wants in
life.

The differential identification theory can relate to the crooked dmv clerk.
In theory, one will identify themself with another person, the identification with that person, or an abstract understanding of what that person might be like, can be more important then actual association with a real person. The dmv clerk, Trish, may be going through a financially hard time due to a down economy, or just plain greedy. Trish happens to be a big fan of a popular television, were the lead female character lives a dream lifestyle in her personal life due to her illegal under the table dealings in her day time job, that tend to be very profitable. The clerk looks at the fiction character as a role model, and identifies with her. Sparking the desire to be just like her, leading to her illegal dealings at the
dmv.

Lastly is the Attachment Theory, a perspective on criminal behavior that holds that the successful development of secure attachment between a child and its primary caregiver, lays the foundation for all future psychological development. Barbra, our computer hacking, and identity stealing/cloning individual just so happened to be an adapted child. Consequently her adaptive parents when through a divorce when she was 4. So, her father, who was rarely around, raised her souly and when he was he was abusive. They didn’t have much since her father spent most of the money on computer equipment or in the bars. His only positive influence was teaching her all about computers and programing. This foundation was in accordance to the attachment theory, the leading factor in Barbra’s criminal activity as an adult.