Glen Walters's Lifestyle Theory Analysis

Glen Walters’s lifestyle theory states that when criminals commit crimes, it’s due to the continuous cycle of “…irresponsibility, impulsiveness, self-indulgence, negative interpersonal relationships, and the chronic willingness to violate society’s rule” (pg. 268) that they grew up either with or around in their life. This theory also states that until a criminal can change their thinking pattern, their criminal behavior can’t be helped. Robert Agnew’s super traits theory states that criminals might have their personality, family, school, peers, and work to thank for introducing them to a life a crime. An example of this theory is a potential offender having low self-control and is irritable with bad parents who don’t teach them how to have higher self-control and to not be so irritable, mixed with bad experiences at school, and bad grades, and being surrounded by delinquents, with little to no money coming in, or no job can lead this potential offender to being an offender.
Lifestyle Theory …show more content…
They basically imply that criminals live the lifestyle they are currently living by making choices to commit crimes in the condition they are in. Basically, if this criminal lives in a poor neighborhood without many options, they can either make the choice to do something about the situation, like find a job, or make the choice to commit burglary, or robbery. As an outcome of the choices and conditions the criminal lives in, they develop cognition which connects with cognitive styles or features called thinking errors, which makes them