Sykes And Matza's Theory Of Crime Analysis

Sykes and Matza’s theory of delinquency and drift theorizes that most kids aren’t committed to delinquent values. Because they aren’t fully committed to crime they aren’t committed to conforming. Individuals use techniques of neutralization to neutralize the guilt. This allows them to drift in-between criminal behavior and non-criminal behavior without conforming. In Sam’s story, he was a very good student and didn’t have problems with his teachers but he was a bully to other kids. His friends would vandalize mailboxes then his dad would pay for the damages. He got in trouble with the police then they just brought him home. He experimented with cigarettes, drugs and alcohol but then got his life together and quit using drugs and attended college. His life has been a drift back …show more content…
One of the neutralization techniques he applied were denial of injury, saying no one got hurt in his crimes he committed. To prevent future offending a role model should reinforce the values of societal norms to keep them from drifting to offending again and to keep them from rationalizing their acts through neutralization techniques. Hirschi’s social bond theorizes that strong social bonds prevent delinquency. There are four different elements to the connection between an individual and society: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment refers to a strong bond to a parent or positive adult relationship. Commitment to socially acceptable goals is the second. Involvement to wholesome recreation with more supervision leaves less time to be delinquent. Belief in the rightness of the law and that the law exists to protect us, is the last element. Sam describes his relationship with his parents as normal with his mom being an authoritarian but she was a good mom and his dad as demanding and expected his kids to succeed. He was