A Social Learning Theory Analysis of Computer Crime among College Students

Computer crime is a fairly new area of research in criminology and deviance. With the exception of Hollinger, few studies have examined the occurrence of illegal computer acts and virtually none have tried to offer a theoretical explanation for the behavior. In this article, the authors provide data on the lifetime, past year, and past month prevalence of five illegal computer activities from a multistage sample (N = 581) of students at a southern university. The authors also examine the etiology of computer crime by testing the ability of social learning theory to explain these behaviors. Using multiple regression procedures, they demonstrate that measures of differential association, differential reinforcement and punishment, definitions, and sources of imitation are significantly related to computer crime. Findings from this study are compared with Hollinger's data and discussed in terms of why social learning theory is an appropriate and useful theoretical perspective for understanding why college students commit illegal computer acts.