Differential Association Theory defines criminal and non-criminal behavior as learned via close intimate affiliation through positive or negative association encountered without effective balance. Positive parenting in a low rent area still renders a child access to deviance outside of the house. Submersed in the neighborhood culture, the child associates heavily with a group of deviants and learns their lifestyle. This learned behavior activates deviant behaviors creating a criminal lifestyle. Alternately, that same child immersed in extra-curricular activities in school, in church, and in the community offers positive or neutral behaviors that continue to promote positive social conformity eliminating deviance. Both deviance and normative
