This article will provide an explanation of how differential association theory explains burglary. Burglary, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), considers a property crime a Type 1 index crime due to its potentially violent nature. The FBI divides burglary into three subclassifications. This article discusses the elements of the crime of burglary and what constitutes a structure or dwelling. It will discuss a brief history of deviance, trends, and rates, and how this correlates to the specific theory that this article will also discuss. Differential association theory best explains burglary deviance. There are many principles associated with this type of learning theory. Edwin Sutherland's theory explains how crime is a learned behavior over which family, peers, and the environment have great influence. Differential association theory seeks to prove that criminal behavior is learned and this article will assess the connection between the two. Under common law many years ago, burglary was the breaking and entering of a dwelling at night for the purpose of committing a felony or felony. a flight (Bernasco and Luykx 2003). At common law, there were several reasons for this specific definition of burglary. First, as Bernasco says, breaching is the act of creating an opening by disabling any part of the dwelling intended to serve as a tool to prevent intrusion. Second, nighttime was an important element of burglary by common law standards; legislators viewed people as incapable of protecting themselves in the middle of the night. At common law, it was not enough to enter a dwelling, the act of break-in had to exist; if entry is through an unlocked door then burglary...... middle of paper ......ance of a child engaging in a neutral activity as this discourages and prevents that child from entering in contact with a person who acts of a criminal nature. Many research findings support the differential association theory. Pratt and his associates found that the association between crime and differential association theory is quite strong (Siegel 239). , Flight. 41, no. 3, 2003, p. 981-1002.Lawrence Friedman, “Crime and Punishment in American History,” BasicBooks, 1993, p. 109-111. Print.http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-us/2010/crime-in-the-us-2010/property-crime/burglarymainLarry J. Siegel, “ Criminology”, Cengage Learning, 2012, p..236-40.