The family is the biggest piece of the pie

Social control theory and social learning theory are two theories that suggest why deviant behavior is chosen to be acted upon by some individuals and not others. Both take a different stance on the issue. Social control theory suggests people’s behavior is based on their bonds to society, if they have strong bonds to society they conform and if not they have a tendency to act out or become involved in criminal or deviant behavior. Social learning theory suggest that through vicarious learning people learn from observing others and based on what the observe make the choice of whether to copy those actions to obtain desired results or chose not to if

Throughout history we have seen many theories being implemented in the criminal justice system. People come in and try to set in something new that they think will improve the overall performance of the criminal justice system. To fully understand how theories work, it is critical to first be fully aware of what theories actually are. A theory is a set of interrelated variables formed into hypothesis, that specify a relationship among variables. Criminal justice is the main umbrella that all the other perspectives come under. “The theory of criminal justice involves four main philosophies that drive the policies that determine how a government handles its problems with crime. The first two, punishment theory and retributive theory focused on the satisfaction of the victim for such punishment. The other two primary theories of criminal justice, deterrent theory and reformation theory, are aimed at preventing future crimes. They seek to achieve this aim either by discouraging others to commit the same crimes or transforming the individual criminal into a productive member of society.” (Wikipedia. Theories of criminal law) That is the criminal justice theory in a nut shell, but when you look deeper you find other fascinating perspectives that have been implemented in the criminal justice system. One of these key perspectives is the social control perspective. Social control theory lets us understand and lower levels of criminal activity. The idea is that an individual’s basic

Before we dive into Gein’s criminal history and early life we need to understand why social control theories differ from most other criminological theories. Social control theories tend to dive deeper into the realm of “Why didn’t someone offend” opposed to “why did someone offend.” Most criminological theories seek to explain how the need to conform to society affects criminal development ,but social control theories center around the idea that there are multiple outside factors that encourage

Social process theories contend that criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process. Offenders may turn to crime as a result of peer-group pressure, family problems, poor school performance, legal entanglements, and other situations that gradually steer them to criminal behavior. Sykes and Matza (1957) and Matza (1964) view the process of delinquent youths becoming criminals as a matter of neutralizing their personal values and attitudes as they drift between conventional behavior and illegitimate behavior. Classical control theorists would argue that people do not commit crimes such as murder because of their fear of punishment. Punishment, they believe, can serve as a deterrent to committing crimes. Hirschi found that youths who appeared to be closely attached to their parents were less likely to commit crimes. In

Social control assumes that people act on the basis of free will, similar to that of Classical theory (which is a version of social control); this was an idea that popularized with the rise of the Enlightenment. There are many variations of this theory, as there are many variations of reasoning people come up with to explain criminal activity. Durkheim theorized that individuals had desires that needed to be regulated by society, Reiss believed that a failure of self control along with the failure of a group to enforce social norms were the two main causes of delinquent activity (Crutchfield, 2008). Travis Hirschi was someone who developed social control theory even further, pointing out flaws in other theories while simultaneously introducing the idea of social bonds. These bonds consist of four basic elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment is the bond between an individual and someone they respect or want to be valued by. Commitment is the bond between and individual and an institution, object, etc. Involvement consists of the opportunities someone has to commit and delinquency, and belief involves an individual’s moral beliefs (Hirschi,

However, they still possess similar characteristics. For instance, policy implications of the two theories are found to overlap. One implication of social bonding theory is strengthening attachment and commitment should be combined with positive reinforcement, modeling, and learning prosocial attitudes and skills in school and family, which shows how social bonding theory overlaps with social learning theory by using the aspects of reinforcement and learning models and attitudes in conjunction with bonds. Social learning theory is also seen to lend support to social bonding theory by suggesting that the type of attachment matters; if a certain type of attachment is strong, there is more of a chance of someone imitating what he or she sees. Therefore, another implication is that by developing strong social bonds with family and schools during childhood, prepares an individual to learn prosocial skills, attitudes, and behaviors as well as helps that individual to avoid learning delinquent behaviors later on in life; this also highlights how the two theories overlap and are related. Moreover, to further illustrate, policy implications can be seen to be implemented in preventive and rehabilitative programs that use variables to positively change behavior such as curfews, after-school activities and programs, parenting classes, job placement programs, peer counseling and gang interventions. The idea behind some of these

According to Garry Potter, PhD, crime control policy is grounded into two conservative traditions in the United States. Both conservatives are assumptions that assumes that classified traditions are of social organizations are established around values that have a positive impact on society, while the other has a reform that is subversive and radical in which become rebellious (2011). However, crime control is conservative; which is based on two reasons. First, it is the attempt to control and prevent criminal behavior which displays no interest in producing an elaboration of crime and criminality. Second, terms of a separation between criminals and non-criminals, for example the behavior has to be prevented or punished for a solution to the problem of crime. However, according to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1995) crime control policy in the United States is unguided by theory. Programs that sow disdain based on ideas why crimes occur are favored. Theoretical criminology has changed to administrative criminology due to comparison of the crime and the nature of the crime. However, once theory is established; the government is responsible for controlling crime according to Hirschi (1993).

Social control theory and life course theory focus on people’s lives and how they interact with one another.

According to Hirschi there are four individual bonds a person has to conventional society. Attachment is the first of these. It is important to have someone that is always there for you, for children this often means having an attachment with a parent or parents. As kids age and their bonds to society weaken and criminal activity flourishes. As presented in figure 1., with some time stronger attachments form and criminal activity becomes less popular. Involvement with conventional society is another important bond. Having a place of acceptance such as a family environment, religious institution, school, and community organizations can be very

This paper will be going over social learning theory and how it affects juveniles and its relation to Juvenal delinquency. Social learning theory states that learning social behaviors happens through observation and learning from others. This paper will be explaining how family, friends, and socialization affect the child's behaviors in relation to juvenile delinquency. Also going over the strengths and weaknesses of the social learning theory.

Freud’s theory can be seen to be supported by control theory; the idea that we are all born with a natural inclination to violate rules of society ( the animalistic/aggressive nature of the Id) and crime results from a failure of others to bond with the individual and teach them not to offend. This is, however, a sociological theory and thus puts forward the question of whether to account fully for offending behaviour whether both psychological and sociological theories needs to be taken into consideration.

Furthermore can formal social control institutions such as the criminal justice system and the government provide the best aspect of producing conformity and law abiding behaviour? Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory is concerned with what effect formal institutions have on conformity in individuals and in particular, how law abiding behaviour is produced due to these institutions (Walklate, 2005). However Wilson (2007) argues that formal methods of social control such as the criminal justice system are merely there to control and segregate delinquents and offenders who have not had adequate socialisation, which is where social mores are learnt and when conformity is produced, and that an alternative form of social control such as restorative

Two theorist and theories that have been recognized by many involved in the criminal justice field are Ross L. Matsueda's Theory of Differential Social Control, and, Charles R. Tittle's Control Balance Theory. Matsueda's theory, (1) identifies a broader range of individual-level mechanisms of social control, (2) specifying group and organizational processes for controlling delinquency, (3) conceptualizing classical criminological theories as special cases of a general interactionist framework, and (4) testing the interactionist model empirically against specific hypotheses drawn from competing theories. Tittle's theory believes deviance results from the convergence of four variables: (1)

In 1969, a man named Travis Hirschi wrote and proposed something called the Social Control Theory. This theory can be applied in numerous kinds of ways when trying to address and solved social problems dealing with adolescents delinquent behavior. Before we can try to apply the Social Bond Theory, we must first understand the components and definition of the theory. Once we have a firm grasp of the theory, we can then look into our own lives and programs within our communities, to possibly provide support to strengthen the validity of the Social Bond Theory.

The social control theory was discovered by Travis Hirschi in his 1969 book Causes of Delinquency. The social control theory states “that everyone has the potential to become a criminal, but most people are controlled by their bonds to society” (Siegel 196). This theory explores why people obey the rules of society and explains the onset of youthful misbehavior. Social control theorists have come to the conclusion that self-control and having a commitment to conformity are what allow people to obey the law. Without strong bonds to society, people are more likely to commit crimes. Hirschi said that four elements in society control people: attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement. To test his theory, Hirschi administered a self-report survey to 4,000 junior and senior high school students in Contra Costa County. With regards to attachment, Hirschi found compelling evidence that attachment is an important element regardless of gender or family structure.