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History of criminology research paper
Study of delinquency
History of criminology research paper
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Travis Hirschi is an American Criminologist known for his contributions and influence on criminology with his research and theory of early juvenile delinquency with correlation to the lack of an individual's social bonds. Hirschi developed the social bond theory within the late 60's. At a later time in his career, Hirschi collaborated with another Criminologist by the name of Michael R. Gottfredson and revised Hirschi's earlier theory of social bonds. The two Criminologists later created the self-control theory indicating that crime can be explained as opportunity being presented to commit an act of crime coupled with the lack of an individual's self control neglected from early parent rearing.
Self-Control Theory is a Criminological theory in which Hirschi & Gottfredson created and determined that heavily influential parenting stabilizes a child by the age of eight. Hirschi & Gottfredson indicate that early positive stages of parenting determined whether or not children would potentially turn out to be adult offenders. According to Hirschi & Gottfredson, self control begins to deve...
The self-control theory suggested that people engaged in criminal behaviors as they believed that crime was an advisable way of fulfilling their self-interest, which provided them a sense of pleasure immediately. Everyone has different ability to control their impulses for instant satisfaction, the ability mainly developed before puberty and relatively stable over the life span. The probability for engaging in criminal behaviors was greater in people with low self-control than those with high self-control. Moreover, the self-control theory suggested that the relationship between self-control and the involvement in criminal behaviors was less affected by factors like peer influences or cultural influences (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Therefore, self-control theory is totally different from differential association theory. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), the major cause of children with low self-control may be inefficient parenting. Parents should monitor their children, keep the children under surveillance, and actively react to improper behaviors. They should be able to recognize when deviance occurs, then punished and disapproved that misbehaviors. If the parents failed to do so, children with low self-control may be produced and thus the children may have a greater likelihood to commit in
Regarding the self-control theory, it can be defined as someone who has the ability to commit or not to commit crimes. Aileen Wournos had control, but didn’t care to control her behaviors, or she controlled herself into not committing more. Aileen Wournos’s genes could also play a part in her behaviors, (“Serial Killer Aileen Wournos: Applying Sociology Theories to Crime Behavior,” 2015), and it is further stated that children who have violent parents are more likely than not to become violent themselves. With her father behind bars, and never knowing him, his genes were passed down to his children. He was not only an alcoholic, but also had a horrible temper. Her mother, Diane Wournos wanted to escape her father’s incestuous behaviors, which is why she married Leo Dale
Hirschi, T. (2011). Social bond theory. In F. Cullen & R. Agnew (Eds.), Criminological Theory: Past
Church, W. T., Wharton, T., & Taylor, J. K. (2008). An examination of differential association and social control theory: Family systems and delinquency. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 7(1), 3-15.
Wiatrowski, M.D., Griswold, D.B., & Roberts, M.K. (1981). Social control theory and delinquency. American Sociological Review, 46(5), 525-541.
Plenty of children engage in rough-and-tough play and may be a little mischievous from time to time. As they grow into adolescence, they may start committing crimes and get in trouble with the law, but most of these individuals outgrow their behavior and stop offending. What makes individuals persist or desist from crime? What are the key causal factors and mechanisms that help this behavior desist? An in-depth synthesis of John Laub and Robert Sampson’s theory of age-graded informal social control will provide insight as to why individuals desist from offending.
Chen (2010) also concluded that depending on the context, the desire for autonomy and delinquency could result in creating greater strain for these adolescents by dealing with stricter constraints and limiting their ability to exercise autonomy (As cited in Akers and Sellers, 2013). The desire for autonomy is just one example of strain, as noted above, in which individuals face through out the age of sixteen to twenty, in which could be used to explain why more crime tends to take place during this specific time frame in an individuals
Nearly everyone in the modern world has heard of the term self-control, a seemingly non-important or uninteresting topic of interest. However, self-control has been related to having one of the most significant impacts on a person. Even some have gone as far to say that self-control is the “biggest predictor of a successful and satisfying life” (Pinker 1), which are bold words for a topic that many merely disregard. The idea of self-control is a concept coined in the Victorian era, and appears immensely throughout the novel, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, written by R.F. Baumeister & J. Tierney. Essentially a self-help book, ‘Willpower’ provides explanations for why humans are doing the things that they do, and why people aren’t always as virtuous as they may be expected to be. Self-control affects many facets of a person’s life, and by looking at how it is presented in psychology, and in Baumeister and Tierney’s novel, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, one will see the correlations and differences between modern research and historical perspectives on the idea of self-control, and ultimately decide if the idea of self-control is an inherent trait or a learned condition.
Akers and Sellers (2013) explain that Hirschi’s theory postulated a person’s delinquent behavior is the result of his weakened bonds to his community, school, and social groups. Consequently, if those bonds are not strong, the individual’s attachment to certain groups, that he interacts with, will cause him to be closer to those types of people, even if they cause him to commit criminal acts. According to Krohn and Massey (1980), Hirschi’s theory, like ot...
Reflecting on Travis Hirschi's Control Theory--How would you apply it to the students (or other population) The way that I can apply the Travis Hirschi's Control Theory to the students at APCH is by conforming with the students at APCH to social norms which depends on a strong bond between the staff at APCH and the students surrounding community to live in today's ride or die society. By applying the Travis Hirschi's Control Theory we have to use the four dimensions to incorporate the success of the Theory. Hirschi's concern was "why don't more people become delinquent?" Hirschi's concern of why do not more people become delinquent, will be met by applying this concern to APCH it will demonstrate the success of the program and it's well being to the surrounding community that few will be delinquents and more will become successful in the near future.
The power-control theory was developed by John Hagan and his colleagues in the Structural Criminology. It brings together conflict-oriented theory of social control of family relationships to present a power-control of gender and delinquency. He argues that power relationships in society are reflected in the family. He believes that establishing authority and dominance are carried over into the home of family. Males and females experience different roles, expectations, values. The first thing is that delinquency reflects activities that are pleasurable, and fun. Power-control theory predicts the more patriarchal family structure, and bridges the gender gap in delinquent behavior.
Power-control theory could also explain the differences in total crime rates between adults and youths. This theory identifies family roles as a major factor in determining delinquency. As people age, they begin to take on greater responsibilities within the family. An example is a youth eventually aging and becoming a parent to a child. That individual, no matter the gender, now has greater responsibilities such as providing for and raising the child. With more responsibility, comes less opportunity for delinquency, explaining the lower crime rates amongst adults compared to
The purpose of this paper is to review the theory of self-regulation and how it can be applied to practice in health care settings to improve patient outcomes. According to Johnson (1997), more than 25 years of research has influenced the development of the self-regulation theory, which is about coping with healthcare experiences. Health problems have shifted from acute to chronic where it has been identified that personal behaviors are linked to over half of societies chronic health problems (Ryan & Sawin, 2009). As the modern nurse strives to provide specialized care and improve patient outcomes, the utilization of nursing theory continues to gain importance. This theory explains how patients use specific types of information to cope with health care events thus providing a rational for selecting information that can be expected to benefit patients. The concept of self-regulation has been a part of nursing practice in a circumlocutory fashion for years. It has been most commonly referred to as self-management creating considerable ambiguity and overlapping of definitions for that term and self-regulation (SR). For the purpose of this paper these terms will imply that people follow self-set goals introduced by their health care provider.
In conclusion, Social Bond Theory has been around for many years and has stood the test of time. The four bonds, attachment, involvement, commitment and belief are all held by individuals and play a major part in determining criminality. While it does not describe deviance perfectly, it does match what is believed to be the basic human view of why people become criminals. The view of Social Bond Theory is that all humans are basically evil and that deviance is a natural process. It is just a matter of how weak or strong these bonds are that either promotes, or deters deviance.
As a parent, I have spent a great deal of time observing the behavior, motivation, and thought processes of my children. As they mature these processes have changed, and it has been fascinating to watch. I have learned a great deal on the limits of self control in the adolescent mind during this time, and I believe that families should be held responsible for crimes committed by their teenagers.