Howard Kaplan’s self-derogation theory of delinquency states; that when adolescents are ridiculed they suffer a loss of self-esteem and their self-worth decreases and then they consequently abandon the motivation to conform. Individuals displaying antisocial behaviour developed in a family exhibiting "deviant behaviour," in an "adverse home environment," can be the root cause of such problems, the child can be grouped with their deviant family and thus labelled deviant by his/her peers resulting in a self fulfilling prophecy.
Many that are cited causes of adolescent anti-social behaviour include; abuse, neglect, socioeconomic status, parental antisocial behaviour, etc. On the other hand there is no evidence that social factors, like these can cause antisocial behaviour without accompanying other biological factors.
According to Terrie Moffitt, there are two different types of juvenile delinquents; Adolescent-Limited offends, offenders who conduct deviant behaviour as a result of the transitional state their bodies and minds are undergoing, thus this delinquency is grown out of, and is temporary. The other type of delinquent is the Life-Course-Persistent offender this is a child who may have neurological complications or a poor home life that result in permanent damage to their social identity thus forging a lifelong anti-social nature.
Moffit explains that there are three etiological hypotheses for the cause of adolescent-limited offenders. The first is adolescence-limited, this is simply the body adjusting to the chemical and biological changes as well as the formation of a social identity.
The second is learned from antisocial models that are easily mimicked. Edwin Sutherland suggests that crime is learned through a process of differential association when adolescents are socialized by those that see criminal activity as a norm. In a nut shell possibility that these criminal activities are taught to these adolescents by their families or by peers shows that crime is not that much different from other learned activities, so in this circumstance because of this transition period norms aren’t yet established crime can become a norm depending on who the adolescent is learning their values from.
Following on from this the third is these deviant behaviours are sustained through reinforcement. Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers (1966) suggests that humans learn to define behaviours that are rewarded as positive the same learning process produces both conforming and deviant behaviour, basically you learn crime in the same way you learn anything, so the production of criminality is something that comes from the norms of the people around you. Someone naive who knows nothing of morality is rewarded for committing a crime they naturally assume that action should be repeated to attain more reward. A person’s class or location is also a major determinant of how that person is socialized and what that person will learn. If you go to prison the only people to teach you are other more experienced criminals and all they will have to teach you is better more sophisticated crimes, in the same way a poor family may resort to crime simply to survive in that sort of situation crime becomes a necessity.
The Life-Course-Persistent offender is a result of brain abnormalities and a deviant home life. According to multiple studies, a correlation was found between birth defects in the brain resulting from child birth and later antisocial behaviour. Children exhibiting antisocial behaviour early in life, often carry this behaviour into later life.
Moffitt (1955) writes, "Minor physical anomalies, which are thought to be observable markers for hidden anomalies in neural development, have been found at elevated rates among violent offenders and subjects with antisocial personality traits." This could just be circumstantial or could result in social exclusion as they do not conform to ideas of attractiveness, they don’t necessarily have to reflect neurological disorders, and Moffit goes on to to say that these problems could be caused by maternal drug abuse.
Bibliography;
Schmalleger, F. (2012). Criminology today: An integrative introduction (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
