The boys sought for this experiment were already delinquent, and as noted this was a case study, these were unique individuals and as such the findings cannot be generalized to the larger population of the United States, California or even Oakland. Another fact that must be noted is that the author utilized snowball sampling, the author went to community organizations and asked to be connected to ‘at risk’ kids, and when he established communication with some of the young men, he asked them to refer him to other youths in similar situations. The author also makes note of the fact that his own experiences as a child may have had a bias on his
Essentially, this theory suggests that crimes and other comparable acts occur due to the lack of self-control (O’Grady 2014, 117-118). Thus, low self-control and criminal opportunity makes way for criminal acts (Broll, 2017). Moreover, the theory suggests that individuals lacking self-control are self-centered, risk-takers, impulsive and lack perseverance (O’Grady 2014, 118). According to Gottfredson and Hirschi, self-control is established early in life (O’Grady 2014, 118). An individual’s degree of self-control is influenced by the quality of parenting during childhood (O’Grady 2014, 118).
“Fast Break” is a poem written by Edward Hirsch. It is about basketball, specifically a play called the fast break. Hirsch uses literary devices such as vivid language and hyperboles to express his passion for the game. By using vivid language Hirsch conveys the extreme detail of the play. Using words such as “gangly”, “tandem”, and “inexplicably”, he creates a vivid motion picture in your mind as you read the poem.
People that have gone to a good school and have a family with positive influences are less likely to engage in deviant behavior. External structures like schools, churches, clubs, police departments, keep individuals from deviating, these institutions push individuals into conforming to the norms of society. Travis Hirschi introduced four elements of social bonds: “attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief” (Vierra 2014). Reckless believed that these four components could prevent crime and deviant behaviors because they give the individual a purpose and sense of responsibility. If individuals in many of these lower income neighborhoods do not have a job and no source of steady income, then they are ever more likely to resort to deviant behaviors in order to attain the means of survival.
Empirical background After Robert Agnew introduced the General Strain theory in 1992, he received several support from researchers regarding of his theory including himself. Broidy and Agnew (1997) conducted a study on why the crime rate is higher among males and why also females engage in crime. Broidy and Agnew (1997) hypothesized that males are always subject to different types of strain that would result to serious crime and also males are always subject to financial strain and interpersonal conflict that would lead into violence. Broidy and Agnew (1997) found that females commit crime when they are restricted of conversation, physical and emotional expression, social life and others. Years later, Agnew (2001) examined the characteristics of strainful events and conditions that influence their relationship to crime and he found out that strains are most likely to result in crime when they are seen as “unjust, high in magnitude, associated with low social control, and create some pressure or incentive to engage in criminal coping.”
This theory suggests that the motivation behind crime for a control theorist does not center on pressure resulting from negative affective states but rather the absence of important relationships (Hirschi 1969). With the absence of that relationship one is more prone to be involved in crime (Hirschi 1969). The absence of an important relationship in this case would apply to Aaron Hernandez and his father. Prior to his father’s death Aaron Hernandez never used nor abused any form of drugs. Aaron’s father was his world and kept him headed on the right path.
The federal government’s “War on Crime” by the Johnson administration in the 60s made way for tougher law enforcement and surveillance (Hinton, 2015). However, with this came the separation of children and adults in the criminal justice system; then the separation of juvenile delinquents from status offenders. As mentioned, status offenders are different from juvenile delinquents because they had broken rules which apply to only children. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquents are youths under the age of 18, who committed offenses that would be punishable to adults as well. By the late 1960s, there became a growing concern that juveniles involved in the court-based status-offense system, were not getting their best interests met (Shubik & Kendall, 2007).
Hirschi presumed that the answer to his question is that individuals who are highly socially integrated, or have a strong bond to society, are less willing than others to exhibit criminal, delinquent or deviant behaviours due to the risk of negative repercussions (Costello, 2010). Among the most influential of these repercussions are the informal punishments, such as the disapproval of those whose opinions are valued, rather than the formal punishments administered by the criminal justice system (Costello, 2010). It is further outlined that there are four elements to social bond. The first element of social bond is known as attachment, referring to the level of sensitivity an individual is seen to exhibit in reference to the opinion of others
(Richards and Jones, 2004). The aim of this essay is to see how a former criminal can desist from criminal behaviour in an appropriate manner of society. In order for an individual to desist from crime key life transition factors such as age, marriage, employment and the peer groups are all contributing factors. A study by Gluecks in the 1930s and 1940s was carried out on 500 men up to the age of 32. Sampson and Laub (2003) then examined 53 of these 500 men up to the age of 70 to see had their criminal career continued.
They examined the relations among age, antisocial decision-making and psychosocial maturity in a sample of more than 1,000 teenagers and adults, aged between 12 and 48, and found that antisocial decision-making is stronger influenced by psychosocial maturity than by age (Figure 3). They also found that the steepest inflection point is between the age of 16 and 19 which is especially relevant to debates about teenage
Adolescent-limited offenders make up the majority of criminals but commit less crime and usually quit criminal behavior as they mature into adulthood. Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory is more
ARTICLE FOUR I chose, Settling Sown and Aging Out: Toward an Interactionist Theory of Desistance and the Transition to Adulthood by Massoglia & Uggen (2010), due to the extremely thorough nature of the research that was conducted. The criminal justice system has always been focused on delinquency as well as desistance, and in this study the researchers brought in numerous hypotheses to test, to determine what exactly enables the aging out process. The interesting aspect of this literature, not only that is connects with desistance which we have learned about this semester, it incorporates life course aspects and variables that occur in people’s lives that possibly play a role in desistance.
The relationships shape a person’s behavior and seeks to identify those features of a person’s personality and of the environment that keeps a person from committing a crime (Schmalleger, 2012). Social control theory predicts that when social constrains on antisocial behavior are weakened or are absent, delinquent behavior will happen. Social control asks why people obey rules instead of breaking them. Social control does not stress causative factors in criminal behavior (Schmalleger, 2012). Social control theory tries to find and identify features of personality and the environment that keep people from committing crimes.
The set of the structural-functional theories are among the most widespread perspectives on the juvenile delinquency. The group of the theories regards that the behavior of the underage delinquent is caused by the breakdown of the social process that consequently results in the increase of conformity (Thompson & Bynum, 2016). The group of theories presumably blame institutions that are responsible for the socialization of the young delinquents for the way the socialize the individuals by causing them to conform to the values of the society. One of the central theories of the juvenile delinquency is the anomie theory that is rooted in the early studies by the sociologist Emile Durkheim.
There are countless arguments theorizing the criminal behaviors of offenders. Lifestyle-Exposure Theory, also known as Lifestyle Theory, acknowledges the differences in an individual life on a day-to-day basis. Lifestyles are patterned, regular, recurrent routine activities. Lifestyle can be defined as an activity that a person would engage in on a daily basis, including both obligatory activities, such as work or school, and leisure activities (Lifestyle, 2011). This theory of victimization recognizes that every person takes different paths, has different routines, and life exposures.
