Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys Dr. Victor Rios is an award winnings college professor, author and speaker. Dr. Rios provides captivating, evidence-based professional developments to educators about the power of positive quality of interactions in the lives of young people. Rios was hanging out with teenagers on some of the country 's toughest street, in Oakland, California. The police officers threatened to arrest Victor for conspiracy by just hanging out with teenagers. Rios spent three years hanging out with 40 youths between the ages of 14 and 17, most of them had arrest records and gang affiliations. The police officers had a poor opinion of any efforts to understand inner city youths. Police officer were the part
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When empirically tested against other theories it generally shows more validity than other theories. The central concept of Social Learning Theory is that probability of whether or not a person will engage in deviant behavior is determined by the definitions held by the individual, and the influences upon him, at any given time (Burgess & Akers, 1966). Or put Pennington 6 differently, criminal behavior can be predicted by an individual’s beliefs, in a given situation. Akers identified four main concepts in his theory: differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, and imitation (Burgess & Akers, 1966). Differential association states that the greatest effect on behavior comes from the earlier associations that have a longer duration, occur frequently and involve those who one is close to. The second concept that Akers proposes is the concept of definitions. Definitions can best be understood as one’s attitudes and beliefs that affect one’s behavior. The third concept of Social Learning Theory is differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement can best be thought of as the mental calculus of the pros and cons that result from a particular behavior. The final concept of Social Learning Theory that Akers proposes is imitation. Imitation refers to how an individual will engage in a behavior after seeing others engage in the
When empirically tested against other theories it generally shows more validity than other theories. The central concept of Social Learning Theory is that probability of whether or not a person will engage in deviant behavior is determined by the definitions held by the individual, and the influences upon him, at any given time (Burgess & Akers, 1966). Or put Pennington 6 differently, criminal behavior can be predicted by an individual’s beliefs, in a given situation. Akers identified four main concepts in his theory: differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, and imitation (Burgess & Akers, 1966). Differential association states that the greatest effect on behavior comes from the earlier associations that have a longer duration, occur frequently and involve those who one is close to. The second concept that Akers proposes is the concept of definitions. Definitions can best be understood as one’s attitudes and beliefs that affect one’s behavior. The third concept of Social Learning Theory is differential reinforcement. Differential reinforcement can best be thought of as the mental calculus of the pros and cons that result from a particular behavior. The final concept of Social Learning Theory that Akers proposes is imitation. Imitation refers to how an individual will engage in a behavior after seeing others engage in the