Lecture 16 Gottfredson and Hirschi: Self-control – The Ability of Resist Crime- Certain connection between Hirschi’s original control theory and the new theory- 1980s: general control theoryo They believed that their theory overcome the limitations and weaknesso Defined “crimeo o Why some people have high self-control while some have low self- control- Crime: “Acts of force or fraud undertaken in pursuit of self-interest.” (Gottfredsonand Hirschi) – not the legal definitiono It is a self-interested act- Criminal behavior is the behavior that breaks the criminal law- Characteristics of criminology  criminalityo Easy Murder – gives the person revenge without the trouble of courts Robbery – gives the person money without worko Immediate gratification Wanting something and expecting it right now VS. delayed gratification- A lot of things you want from life but you put them off No long-term planning is involved Murder is often robbery gone bad Cash provides immediate gratification – that’s what burglars are seekingo Few or meager long-term benefits Criminal activities interfere with someone’s long-term goals Alienates friends and families. o Exciting and risky Auto-thefts Crime usually easy Usually cars are stolen for the joy of it. Usually by teenage boys. It’s simply funo Pain or discomfort for the victim The criminal is insensitive Lacks empathyo Minimal tolerance for frustration or conflict The trait of criminality- Analogue activitieso Smokingo Drinking – won’t take longo Gambling – immediate rewards that they don’t need to work foro Using drugs - thrillingo Illicit sexo Illegitimate childreno Accidents – impulsive, risk taking- Self-controlo The differential tendency of people to avoid criminal acts whatever the circumstances in which they find themselves”o Social ecology explains that people commit crimes because they live in bad neighborhoodo Self-control theory explains the versatility of crime Whatever the circumstances are, the person with low self-control will commit crimeo Gottfredson and Hirschi called their theory “general theory” They believe their theory explains everything including why people commit crimeo Low self-control will lead to variety crimeo Criminal behavior is versatile Crime is not a specialization. They are likely to do anything and everything.o Crime cannot be a profession. - Spurious associationso Two variables appear to related but they are not. They are related by third variableo Drugs  crime (low self-control) They are related only because both reflections of a person’s low self-controlo Pornography  rape Both expression of same underline trail- Low self-control has certain costs and these costs go to the family- Child rearing and self-controlo Attachment of the parent to the child If the child is not attached to the parents, there is no way for the child to develop self-control The mother is naturally bond to their children Step-parents are less likely to attached Lack of attachmento Parental supervision – direct control Direct control leads to indirect control. It trains the child to control himself. Indirect control – self-controlo Recognition of deviant behavior The parents need to identify the deviant behavior Basic things that a child must be taught to reframe doing By limiting a child television viewing Delay gratification and self-control If children do not learn self-control in the ordinary things, they will not learn self-control in adulthoodo Punishment of deviant acts Rationality involves costs and benefits Punishment is a cost. Punishment is necessary People respond more to cost than they do to benefits. People have anxiety toward punishing children Gottfredson and Hirschi are not promoting crueltyo Problem of Parental criminality Criminals are unable to do any of the thing listed above They are unable to recognize the deviant behavior No direct learning taking place here Children are not learning that they need to obey the rules and laws because parents themselves have problems with obeying the law The punishment is usually sudden and violent Not consistent through time. It’s often disproportional.  Extreme verbally and physically abusive Reflection of parents’ low self-control Crime is concentrated across generations – criminal parents cannot teach their children self-control Criminal parents  delinquent  adult criminal A person’s level of self-control is set in a family The most controversy part of the theory: usually a person’s level of self-control is set somewhere around 8-10. Once the level of self-control is set, it will not likely to change throughout his/her life. A person’s relativelevel of self-control will remain stable through time. Even if low self-control people gain some self-control through time, they still have lower self-control than the average. They still have relative lower self-control Along people age, they commit fewer crime just because there are somethings harder to do.- The general theory “incorporates a classical view of the role of choice and a positivistic view of the role of causation in the explanation of behavior”o Positivism  Crime is  explains why some people have low self-control. They are more likely to choose crimeo the old classical school crime is