NCJ Number
82537
Journal
Journal of Offender Counseling Services and Rehabilitation Volume: 5 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: (Spring/Summer 1981) Pages: 53-64
Date Published
1982
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The objective of this paper is to restate Cressey's process of 'retroflexive reformation' in terms of the much more precise principles of operant conditioning as a means of increasing the feasibility of empirical verification.
Abstract
The differential association theory of Edwin Sutherland is one of the most widely elaborated and debated theories of criminal behavior ever articulated. Even though it has been restated in several forms including the principles of operant conditioning, its empirical verification has been virtually impossible. Cressey has proposed a reverse process of differential association by which criminals can be taught noncriminal behavior. (Author abstract)