Juvenile Deliquency - Lee Boyd Malvo

Edwin H. Sutherland’s formulation of differential association theory proposed that delinquency, like any other form of behavior, is a product of social interaction. On October 14th, 2002, 17 year old Lee Boyd Malvo was charged by the state of Virginia for two capital crimes: the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin "in the commission of an act of terrorism" and the murder of more than one person in a three-year period. Sutherland’s nine propositions of differential association best explains Malvo’s act for the following reasons: (1) Malvo learned how to commit each heinous crime through his social interaction within his intimate group, (2) Malvo learned the techniques to commit each crime through his mentor, i.e. learning the skills necessary to handle a rifle and learned the motives, attitude and rationalization to commit the crimes through persuasion from his mentor, and (3) Malvo’s culture conflicted with the legal codes as unfavorable.
Initially, Malvo was arrested along with his mentor, 42 year old John Allen Muhammad, who was his mother’s ex-boyfriend, in connection with a killing spree. Allegedly, beginning in the fall of 2002, Malvo assisted Muhammad in a killing spree which lasted for three weeks that left ten people dead and three people injured throughout Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana and Alabama. Using a rifle and creating their own sniper nest in the trunk of their car, Malvo and Muhammad worked as a team; one selected the victim while the other pulled the trigger. After the ninth fatality, Malvo and Muhammad sent a letter to the police asking for $10 million to end their reign of terror. But several calls made by an unknown male claiming to be the sniper, told authorities and two priests that they should investigate a robbery homicide in Montgomery, Alabama, that led to a break in the case. Malvo had left a fingerprint on a document found at the scene, which helped authorities to solve the case. Malvo is currently incarcerated at