NCJ Number
194786
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 1-16
Date Published
2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The author reviewed the criminal records of 500 adult arrestees to determine the correlation between self-control theory indicators and criminal status.
Abstract
The author conducted a study of 500 adult arrestees to determine if the criminal behavior of those offenders provided empirical support of the use of Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi’s "General Theory of Crime" (referred to by the author as "self-control theory") (1990) as a predictor of potential for criminal behavior. In self-control theory, low self-control is created by parenting failures and results in an adult who is driven by instant gratification and self-interest who also has an increased probability of using force or violence to meet their needs. The study data was compiled from interviews and the official records of 500 randomly sampled offenders selected from a sampling frame of 25,640. Offender conduct was separated into analysis by violent crime, property crime, white collar crime, and nuisance crime, and analysis of gender, age and race and ethnicity differences was also included. Indicators used to create a low-self control measure were aliases, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and places of birth. In his analysis of the sample data, the author found a strong correlation between low self-control and all four identified criminal offense types. 2 tables, 10 notes, 59 references