Differential association theory (2018) and social bonds theory (2001) address the role of relationships in promoting or preventing individuals’ involvement in crime. Sutherland (2018) emphasizes the impact of associations with deviant others who expose and instill an individual with motives and favorable attitudes towards offending. Hirischi (2001), in contrast, believes the strength of conventional social bonds acts as a preventative measure that mitigates the possibility of offending by instilling an individual with society’s norms and values to ensure conformity.
Organized crime groups (OCGs) strongly rely on the relations between members to effectively operate (Ashton & Bussu, 2020; Calderoni et al., 2020). However, there is the question
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A subset of control theories, social bonds theory defines conventional social bonds as an individual’s attachments to people, such as family members or friends, that are stakes for them to conform to conventional social norms and values (Hirischi, 2001). The stronger the relationships between individuals and their conventional bonds, the less likely they are to participate in deviance. Hirischi (2001) describes four attachment elements, each conducive to forming a strong social bond serving as a stake in conformity both on their own and in combination with the other elements. First, attachment describes bonds’ closeness and emotional connection (Hirischi, 2001). The greater the attachment, the less likely an individual will act in ways that may go against the wishes and expectations of those they care about. Commitment involves the investment of time and energy a person has put into maintaining the bond (Hirischi, 2001). The third element is involvement, the amount of time spent in the bond (Hirischi, 2001). The strongest bonds involve so much commitment that individuals do not have the time or opportunity to engage in deviant behavior, such as when a parent must spend a significant amount of time caring for their child. Finally, Hirischi (2001) describes belief as the process …show more content…
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2016, May). Transnational organized crime. Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime.
Hirischi, T. (2001). Social bond theory. In Criminological Theory Past To Present Essential Readings (2nd edition, pp. 231-239). Roxbury Publishing Company. (Original work published 1969).
Pauwel, L. J. R., & Svensson, R. (2013). Violent youth group involvement, self-reported offending and victimisation: An empirical assessment of an integrated informal control/lifestyle model. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 19(4), 369-386.
Sutherland, E. H. (2018). A sociological theory of criminal behavior. In Criminological Theory: A Text/Reader (3rd edition., pp. 366-368). SAGE. (Original work published 1955). van Dijk, M., Kleemans, E., & Eichelshiem, V. (2019). Children of organized crime offenders: Like father, like child? An explorative and qualitative study into mechanisms of intergenerational (dis)continuity in organized crime families. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 25(4),