Coco's Self-Control Theory

A Struggle of Success: A Mother Trying to Better Her and Her Kid’s Lives Coco lived in Morris Heights and was seen as “an ebullient with a taste for excitement. Coco saw family as more important, she was generous throughout, and always wanted to please. Coco wasn’t much of a church girl and she wasn’t much of a schoolgirl either but she wasn’t raised by the street.” (LeBlanc 27). Coco’s mother was Foxy, and her step-father Richie, an older sister Iris, and an older brother Manuel. Foxy worked full-time, Richie was unemployed and a heroin addict. Coco was at the time dating Washman, and her best friend was Dorcas before she met Cesar. Coco started dating Cesar at fourteen. Coco compulsively picked her face. Coco faced many struggles, and …show more content…
Self-Control Theory “explains crimes as the outcome of an individual’s low self-control in combination with situational conditions conductive to criminal behavior” (Glick. Miller. 176). Individuals with low levels of self-control Gottfredson’s and Hirschi states; “crime provides easy and immediate gratification of desires; criminal acts provide few or meager long-term benefits; and criminal acts are exciting, risky, or thrilling” (Glick. Miller 176). Hirschi states that self-control must be taught or learned during childhood. Also, including one’s childhood “those who have neglectful and ineffectual parents may be; impulsive, insensitive, physical (aggressive), risk-taking, shortsighted, and nonverbal” (Givens 2016). Individuals who lack self-control may also fail in other social domains, for example, in school, at work, or even in relationships as marriage. In the book, Glick and Miller note that the theory explains crime in the relation to an individual’s characteristics of low self-control in combination with situational conditions. (Glick. Miller. 176). Individuals with low self-control find short-term gratification in crime, these gratifications can range from “excitement, to small amounts of money, and relief from situational aggravations” (Givens. 2016). This theory suggests individuals lacking in self-control commit …show more content…
Miller. 147). Merton’s Strain Theory examines the absence of values and norms due to anomie, and the discrepancy between the two leads to criminal activity. Within Merton’s Theory there are four modes of adaptation – retreatism, rebellion, innovation, and ritualism. There methods occur when the legitimate means to reach the goal is