Social Control Theory Analysis

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Introduction
During my summer internship with the Rochester Police Department in Rochester NY, I had an array of duties ranging from drafting judicial orders to answering phone calls to maintaining copy machines. Other times, the DA and his ADA’s asked me to research and compose list of the defendants’ attorneys or to gather a multitude of papers in order to create a docket with the details of a case. All of the imperative details forced me to pay close attention to each single paper I looked at or filed. As I became more familiar with the case system, courtroom conduct, and judicial jargon, I realized that all of my tasks were now easier as my skills improved. Moreover, I also recognized how interesting, yet difficult, the judicial field was …show more content…

The theory seeks to understand the ways in which it is possible to reduce the likelihood of criminality developing in individuals. Social control theory has a numerous explanations that explain how social institutions restrain individuals to societal norms. This theory mainly explains why individuals conform to societal norms rather than why they deviate (McLaughlin & Muncie, 2001, p.270). This theory basically focuses on the fact that everyone is subject to social control, but it just takes an individual to not follow the norms. Regardless of what the society put out as a law, there is always that one individual who breaks the law and ends up in jail. Glick & Miller (2008) also help explain how the social control theory is also known as the control theory. They describe social theory to be “the ideas that people in society commit delinquent and criminal acts because of the weakness of forces restraining them to do so” (Glick & Miller, 2008, p. …show more content…

During my off site court visits along with district attorney (DA) Kuehhas, he explain the reason why the crime rate is not as high in Southampton as it is in other cities, is due to (1) the society has direct control, based on threat of punishment; (2) indirect control like attachments to conventional persons, (3) internalized control, which focuses on development of an individual self-concept and personality; (4) the control over opportunities for deviant activities (McLaughlin & Muncie, 2001, p.270). This helped me understand that it takes a society to control their environment, whether good or bad. If society allows deviant behavior to frequently happen in the neighborhood, then it will remain a high crime

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