1. Control Theories

2. Control Theory Everyone is motivated to break the law
Deviance results from weak social constraints

3. Social Sources of Control
We connect to society via social groups
Social rewards are contingent on staying out of trouble

4. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory
People break the law because they have not internalized society’s rules
Internalization requires social bonds

5. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory
Emotional Attachment
Material Commitment
Temporal Involvement
Moral Belief

6. Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
Sampson and Laub (1993) extended social control theory to explain changes in offending behavior over the life course
Questions:

7. The Life-Course Perspective
Trajectories =
Transitions/Turning Points =

8. Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
Transitions increase or decrease informal social control
Life course persistent v. adolescent limited

9. Policy Implications Less reliance on incarceration
Job training and family counseling
Use of community based punishment

10. A Contrasting View: Self-Control Theory
Control resides in the person, not in his or her relationship to social groups

11. The Origins of Self-Control
Young children naturally break rules
By age 8-10, kids most kids learn to control their behavior
Parenting is the key

12. Empirical Patterns that Fit
Offenders tend to be generalists
Most offending requires no special skil
Offending usually brings immediate benefit

13. A General Theory
Self-control is the only important causal factor for understanding crime/deviance
Other factors are spurious (also due to self-control)

14. Policy Implications of Self-Control Theory
Focus on early family-based intervention
Parents must monitor and punish behavior

15. Code of the Streets? Informal social control theory
Neutralizations
Age-graded theory of informal social control
Self-control theory