Social control theory

The two that most apply are the strain theory and social control theory. The strain theory, according to Glick and Miller, “views crime and delinquency as a result of the anger and frustration people feel because of their inability to achieve the American dream’’ (2008). This theory applies to this research because prisoners returning to society are often lacking resources that other non-offenders readily have available. Without those resources to achieve the “American dream”, a prisoner may become more inclined to reoffend. Social control theory states that people may commit acts of crime because they do not have a support system to adequately prevent them from such. With the control theory, this research should show a link that prisoners with a strong support system will have lower recidivism rates due to the fact that those family members or mentors will be able to guide and motivate the prisoner through the hardships of returning to society and to be a voice of reason so they do not reoffend. These strong support systems may also show that prisoners returning to them are less likely to become frustrated from a lack of resources (strain theory) because the family and or mentor can help them bridge the gap until the prisoner becomes…

Social Control Theory is one of the most widely accepted theories for explaining criminal behavior and delinquency. Being first titled social control theory by “Travis Hirschi in his 1969 book, Causes of Deliquency.” (Costello, 2010) Social control theory has had the influence from earlier criminologists like Hobbes, Bentham and Beccaria where they stated that basically every individual’s human nature is selfish (Costello, 2010) and due to that selfishness people will usually commit delinquent…

an account of the causes of crime, some of the effects of crime and their social implications in the society. The development of human beings is controlled by traits that individuals are born with (Siegel 2010). Criminology theories explain the existence of certain behaviours in individuals but do not give an account of why criminal rates change from one place to another. There have been many theories explaining why crime exists in the society today. These theories use facts through observations…

and the possible policy implementations. The essay will examine the comparison of Travis Hirschi’s theory of social control compared to classical criminology, Durkheim's theory, and Merton’s theory. Social control theory examines delinquency, and how “Delinquent acts result when an individual’s bond to society is weak or broken” (Hirschi, 2014, p. 231). He argues that delinquency is not subjected to one certain group, but anyone can become delinquent. Criminality is created through the social…

implications of each theory. Firstly, Travis Hirschi’s Social Control Theory can explain the high crime rates in Chicago. This theory revolved around the notion that social bonds between individual’s…

society can try to explain some reasons with sociological theories. People can look at three widely known Sociological theories of crime; Strain, social learning, and control theories. Each of these theories explain crime by using social environment such as, family, school, social groups (friends), workplace, community, and society. Each theory is similar but at the same time very different, each theory is different on how social environments cause crime, they take different parts of social…

LOCUS OF CONTROL The locus of control is the framework of social learning theory that explains how people take responsibility for their actions and how they believed to be the master of their own fate (Mearns, 2016). Furthermore, the concept of locus of control splits people into internal and external personality attributes. Zimbardo (1985) accounted that it is a belief about whether the outcomes of actions are contingent on the events outside (external) or under their personal control…

In a study of the Social Control Theory, Josine Junger-Tas was able to use a sample of 75,000 to gain a better understanding. After much research, Josine was able to develop a more defined meaning of the concepts in Travis’s Hirschi’s theory. Such as the concept of attachment being only to significant others, commitment to the conventional subsystems, involvement in conventional activities and beliefs in the conventional norms (Junger-Tas 10). She developed a consensus of Hirschi’s theory after…

Once the positivist position was staked out in criminology, the whole field was opened up for researchers and criminologists to branch out in many different directions. In the last chapter, Chapter Seven, we explored one particular direction, the theories that looked at the structure of American society and noted that a capitalist society caused strain for many individuals. In addition, cultural/subcultural theories were examined. In this chapter, while continuing to focus, at least for the most…

Control theories dictate that individuals conform to what society motivates. Social controls predict whether deviance occurs or not (Reiss, 1951). Control theory focuses on why society conform to deviant behavior, rather than most theories focusing on individuals deviating from social norms. Control theory has been compared to many other theories of criminal behavior. Hirschi and Gottfredson (1990) referred to theories as positivistic. Positivistic theories motivate people to commit crimes. In…