High crime rates are an ongoing problem in the United States, yet the motivation and cause of crime have yet to be fully identified. Ronald Akers would say that crime is behavior that is learned based on what an individual sees and observes others do. When an individual commits a crime, he acts impulsively based on actions he has seen others perform. Initially in childhood, individuals learn actions and behaviors by watching and listening to others, and on impulse imitate the behavior that is observed. Theorist Ronald Akers extended Sutherland's differential association theory with a modern viewpoint known as social learning theory. Social learning theory states that individuals commit crimes through their association or exposure to others. According to Akers, people learn to commit crimes based on observation of their surroundings and their association with peers. Theorist Akers states that “people can become involved in crime through imitation, that is, by modeling criminal conduct. Second, and more significantly, Akers argued that definition and imitation are more instrumental in determining initial forays into crime” (Lilly, Cullen, and Ball 2011:57). Although Akers' theory has been linked to juvenile delinquency in the past, it has also been tested as a possible cause of crime in general. Individuals learn from observation that criminal behavior is justifiable under certain circumstances. In relation to delinquency and juvenile crime, peers and intimate groups have the greatest effect on individuals when associated with criminal behavior. You are more likely to imitate the behavior of someone with whom you have close ties, regardless of whether the behavior is justifiable or… middle of paper… h. 1979. "Social Learning and Deviant Behavior: A Specific Test of a General Theory." American Sociological Theory 44(4): 636-655.Button, Deeanna, and Roberta Gealth. 2010. “High-Risk Behaviors Among Victims of Sibling Violence.” Journal of Family Violence 25(2): 131-140.Higgins, George E. Margaret Mahoney, and Melissa L. Ricketts. 2009. “Nonsocial Reinforcement of Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use: A Partial Test of Social Learning and Self-Control Theories.” Journal of Drug Issues 39(4): 949-963. Lilly, J. Robert, Francis T. Cullen, and Richard A. Ball. 2011. Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Walters, Richard H. 1966. “Implications of Laboratory Studies of Aggression for the Control and Regulation of Violence.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 364: 60-72.