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"The principle that criminal behavior is learned provides the foundation for differential association. This expressly rules out heredity, human nature, and innovation as causes of aberrant behavior. Persons are not, as George Thorogood sings, "born to be bad," nor do they invent deviant behavior. They are taught how to behave, or misbehave, in a social context."2.
The main ideal behind Sutherland's first principal is simply to establish the philosophy that crime is learned. In doing so, he lays the foundation of his theory. For example, if a young kid named John is sitting in school, and watches his classmates stealing money from the teacher's purse, he has now learned criminality. He has also learned that criminality can lead to rewards without inducing punishment. .
The second and third principals of Sutherland's theory are linked to one other. The second principal states that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other people in a process of communication. The third principal states the vital part of learning criminal behavior is learned in small intimate groups. Therefore, people learn criminal behavior while associated and interacting with other peers. However, that alone isn't solely responsible for criminal behavior, Sutherland takes it a step farther and says that when an individual is isolated in a small group of friends, that criminal conduct is much more generative. In the case of John, after he learns that his peers have executed the criminal act and evaded punishment, he becomes friends with the kids that committed the crime. He asks them questions about how they did it, why they did it, what else have they done. In doing so, he is learning criminal behavior in a process of communication, but more importantly he is learning it within a small intimate group. Sutherland also adds that a small intimate group allows group reinforcement to occur. When John is in his small group, they will urge him to commit crime or try to lessen the reality of the crime making him more likely to actually commit the act of crime.
