Incidences of Domestic Violence - Essay Example

it helps in explaining why the social worker proposed that the child needed to be removed from his/her current environment (Siegel, 237). It helps in explaining that if the child will be constantly in contact with the parents who are practicing anti-social behaviors such as drug abuse and domestic violence, the likelihood of the child developing similar behaviors is quite high. The learning of deviant activities by children due to their contact with their environment is regarded as a differential association and the theory was first proposed by Edwin H. Sutherland (Siegel, 238). The theorist proposed that criminal behavior is developed by individuals because they learn those behaviors and learning occurs primarily through the interaction of an individual with others such as peers as well as family members. The theory even helps in explaining why a change in the environment of the child is required as proposed by the social worker. The theory helps in explaining that if the child is brought up in a social environment where anti-social behavior is not promoted, the child will negative perception towards anti-social behaviors and will not indulge in such behaviors.

The social learning theory provides enough insight regarding the shaping of policy that focuses on finding foster homes for children and that focuses on reducing crime and future criminals. The theory states that individuals learn criminal behavior and they continue to accept and even copy those behaviors as a result of constant contact with an environment that promotes deviant behavior. If the findings of the social learning theory are true then it would not be wrong to suggest that such behaviors can be changed with the assistance of changing the environment in which the individual lives. Keeping this in mind, policymakers should take steps to create policies that can help in changing the environment of individuals who are living in anti-social environments. Policymakers can make rules with the help of which a person or a child who is living in an environment that is pro-deviance can be removed from such environment and can be situated in a pro-social environment. This means that children who live in regions and households where deviant activities are being practiced should be removed from such households and regions. They should be put up for adoption or social workers should try to find families or foster care where deviant activities are frowned upon. Keeping this in mind the policy makers should even create policies to ensure that the foster care institutes where several children live together under one roof are against anti-social behaviors.