Question

1) How does differential association factor into the teen’s decisions about whether to engage in criminal activity?

2) Would you consider crime “contagious” based on your teen’s story? If so, what forces or factors made crime contagious? If not, what forces or factors reduced the contagious effect often seen in crime?

Character 1: Jake

Jake is a 12-year-old kid living in Michigan. Jake's brother, Carl, deals drugs in their suburban neighborhood. He's constantly trying to push Jake away from doing this too, saying that it's too dangerous for his little brother. He won't teach him how to do it well and tells Jake to focus instead on school. As a teen, Jake makes friends with a guy a few years older who
wants him to work for him running drugs back and forth between different parts of the neighborhood. Jake does this once but it feels wrong somehow. Even though he could have made
good money, he decides not to do it again.

Answer 1

Answers with Explanations:

1) How does differential association factor into the teen’s decisions about whether to engage in criminal activity?

"Differential association" is a theory proposed by Edwin Sutherland. It states that an individual learns about a criminal behavior from others by interacting with people who do them.

In the story, Jake hasn't fully developed his self-image and this is the reason why he is still searching for it by observing his brother (his role model). Jake has the tendency to engage in the criminal activity because he is associated with his brother who's active in dealing with drugs. Then, he had the opportunity to work by dealing with drugs for a guy. His experience allowed him to decide not to do the activity again. It is probably because his brother has also been telling him not to do it and so it reminded him. In this situation, Jake's law-abiding attitude is higher than his law-breaking attitude.

2) Would you consider crime “contagious” based on your teen’s story? If so, what forces or factors made crime contagious? If not, what forces or factors reduced the contagious effect often seen in crime?

Yes, I believe that crime is contagious. People grow up and incorporate attitudes and behaviors according to what they see among the closest people in their home. This means that children may learn to become criminals if they happen to know or witness their siblings or parents doing it because they think it's normal.

In the teen's story, Jake learned the criminal behavior from his brother. Although his brother kept telling him not to do it, the fact that his brother is doing it continuously makes Jake curious in doing the same activity. This shows how contagious criminal behavior is.

However, Jake and his brother have different values. This plays an important role regarding their intention in doing the criminal behavior.