Social Control and Bond Theories

According to Hirschi (1969) control theories assumes that all humans as a part of their nature are naturally prone to break the law. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) control and bond theories state that humans are free to commit crimes if their social ties are weak or broken. Hirschi (1969) stated an interesting premise about human nature when he stated that all human beings are innately selfish and will pursue crime as a means to secure self gratification. According to Hirschi (1969) control theories created a new chapter in criminology, and began to ask “why do some people not commit crime?,” instead of continuing to ask “why do they commit crime?”. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) Travis Hirschi control theory differed from previous theories such as differential association theory and strain theory. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) differential association theory focused on the role that peers and social groups played on the development of delinquent behaviors. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011) the differential association theory as like other learning theories believed that the motivation to commit crime was the result of social interaction with deviant sub groups in which an individual learned to positively value committing criminal behavior. Furthermore, Cullen and Agnew (2011) stated that strain theory placed an individual’s motivation to commit crime with an individuals strained relationship, and experience with society that led people to commit crime in order to relieve the strain. According to Gottredson and Hirschi (1990) people develop strain which eventually lead to crime causing frustration based on lack of means to satisfy their human needs, and desires which leads to crime.

Cullen and Agnew (2011)...

... middle of paper ...

...iminology, Lecture notes 4/2/2014 and 4/9/2014.

Gottfredson, M .R., Hirschi, T. (1990) A General Theory of Crime. Stanford: California:

Stanford University Press. ( Chapter 5).

Gottfredson, M .R., Hirschi, T. (1990) “A General Theory of Crime”. Pp 224-236 in

Criminological Theory: Past to Present, edited by Cullen, T.F., Agnew, R. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hirschi, T. (1969) Causes of Delinquency. Berkley, California: University of California Press.

(Chapter 2).

Hirschi, T. (1969) “Social Bond Theory”. Pp 215-223 in

Criminological Theory: Past to Present, edited by Cullen, T.F., Agnew, R. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sampson R.J., Laub, J.H. (1993) “An Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control”. Pp 241-

253 in Varieties of Control Theory, edited by Sampson R.J., Laub, J.H.. Massachusetts,

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.