According to this theory individuals imitate the

- according to this theory, individuals imitate the behavior of other individuals based on
the degree of their association with other individuals and it is inferior or weak who tend to
imitate the superior and strong.
c. Adolphe Quetelet and Andre Michael Guerry
- He repudiated the free will doctrine of the classicists
- founder of cartographic school of criminology.
- founder of moral statistics.
- cartographic school of criminology made use of statistical data such as population,
age, gender, occupation, religious affiliations and social economic status and studies
their influences and relationship to criminality.

Sociology of Crimes and Ethics 7
MODERN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION
- environmental factors such as the kind of rearing or family upbringing, quality of teaching in school,
influences of peers and friends, conditions of the neighborhood, and economic and other societal
factors are believed to be contributory to crime and criminal behavior.
1. SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES
- refers not only to the physical features of the communities but also to the way society is organized.
- include such things as level of poverty and unemployment and the amount of crowded housing
which are believed to affect behavior and attitudes of individuals which in turn contribute to their
commission of crimes.
- also called social environment
- includes social disorganization theory, strain theory and cultural deviance theory.
a. Social Disorganization Theory
- popularized by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay.
- according to this theory, crimes in urban areas are more prevalent because residents have
impersonal relationships with each other.
- increase in the number of broken families and single parenthood are also very common in
disorganized communities.
- another feature of disorganized community is poverty as evidenced by poor living conditions
such as rundown houses, unsanitary and unsightly streets and high unemployment rates.
b. Strain Theory
- strain refers the individual’s frustration, anger and resentment.
- holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they
can use to legally obtain them. This also argues that the ability to obtain these goals is class
dependent; members of the lower class are unable to achieve these goals which come easily to
those belonging to the upper class. Consequently, they feel anger, frustration and resentment,
referred to as STRAIN.
c. Cultural Deviance Theory
- gives emphasis on the concept of culture and sub-culture.
- according to this theory, because people in the lower class feel isolated due to extreme
deprivation or poverty, they tend to create a sub-culture with its own set of rules and values.
This is characterized by deviant behavior which results in criminal behavior among its
members.