Contribuțiile lui David Matza în criminologie

The active growing and spread of positive, mainstream criminology during the second half of the 20th Century led to reactions and counter movement theories which challenged the existing criminological "orthodoxism". One of the key thinkers who challenged the status quo was David Matza.

Delinquent subcultures concepts were strongly criticised by Matza. He argued that traditional, mainstream theories "predicted and explained too much crime" (Jones, 2006, p. 190). They portrayed the differentiation of delinquents and non-delinquents, often for biological or psychological reasons. Matza argued against such a statement, believing that in fact, social events and acts are diverse and crime must be seen as pathological or abnormal, as labelled by positive criminology. Moreover