1996/01/01 by B. McCARTHY, Bill McCarthy · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Medicine · #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
paper · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014062
Contemporary studies of Sutherland's differential association theory argue that people learn about crime predominantly or exclusively through exposure to attitudes and motives that legitimize such behaviours. I suggest that Sutherland's writings demonstrate an equal concern with more direct exposure to crime; that is, with tutelage in criminal methods. I test this interpretation with models of drug selling and theft among a sample of homeless youths. In both cases, models that include deviant associations, attitudes, and desires improve with the addition of a measure of tutelage. Disregarding the role of tutelage may, therefore, mis-specify the differential association process and encourage misinterpretations of findings that correspond with Sutherland's theory.