NCJ Number
154144
Editor(s)
T Hirschi,
M R Gottfredson
Date Published
1994
Length
284 pages
Annotation
These 14 papers advance the view that all forms of deviance, criminal, reckless, and sinful behavior have in common the tendency to pursue immediate benefits without concern for long-term costs and argue that the concept of self-control is more useful than the concept of aggression for understanding deviant behavior.
Abstract
The analyses argue that disparate behaviors such as smoking, traffic accidents, burglary, and rape are similar in that they all involve disregard for their inevitable consequences: poor health, injury, loss of freedom, shame, or disrepute. The chapters demonstrate how various forms of deviance relate to one another and can be explained by a common theory involving self-management. The theory of self- control is also applied to the family to show how this institution is central to crime control. Individual papers focus on the similarities between victims of car accidents and perpetrators of crime, the connection between drugs and crime, feminist explanations of rape, gender differences in crime rates, drunk drivers among high school students, and the progression of a juvenile delinquent's life from adolescence to adulthood. Tables, figures, chapter notes and reference lists, and index