Social Control Theory Summary

In my opinion, I believe that most of the theories that were mentioned in the book had their strong and weak points but the one that can best explain juvenile delinquency is the social control theory which was created by the American criminologist Travis Hirschi (Bartollas, 2014, p. 115). This theory began to receive a lot of attention in the middle of the 20th century and it is one of the theories that has been tested the most (Criminal Justice). The social control theory explains juvenile delinquency in a simple way and it explains it from the point of view of why some juveniles follow the law or why juvenile delinquency is not committed rather than the traditional theories which explain why juvenile delinquency was committed after the fact. The social control theory explains that juvenile delinquency is committed because the social bond that the juvenile has with society is either broken or weak, in other words if the social bond is taken away from the juvenile then the chances for that juvenile to engage in delinquency will

115). Attachment usually starts with respect, in this case attachment to parents, guardians, or a positive role model or mentor can help prevent juvenile delinquency because the juvenile will take in consideration the expectations that those role models have for the juvenile and it can probably outweigh any gains that delinquency will bring to the juvenile (Bartollas, 2014, p. 115). There has been many studies conducted to see if the attachment element is a true requirement for a strong social bond and the studies found that the early the attachments are made the less likely that the juvenile will engage in juvenile delinquency therefore it is recommend for parents to create a good positive bond from an early age (Jay,