Defining Differential Association According to Edwin Sutherland, Differential Association Theory is “the specific causal process in the development of systematic criminal behavior”. (Criminological Theories, Akers, pg.72) To a lay person, I see differential association in the terms of someone being a product of his/her environment. A person who is brought up to be a criminal, becomes a criminal. If you take a person from an upstanding neighborhood, and place said person in an area …showed first 75 words of 2034 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2034 total…can get it, get it. Through the research articles and the testing that has done, there is sufficient evidence that there is a need for Sutherland’s theory. There is a need for all the theories in the causation of crime because if we can find a cure, we can start solving these crimes. I believe that we have made great efforts and more we test these theories, the closer we are to an answer.