NCJ Number
108933
Journal
Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1987) Pages: 841-862
Date Published
1987
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Delinquency theory must come to terms with experimental studies of causation and with existential studies of delinquents in situ.
Abstract
The three are closely related. Existential studies provide insight into both the forms of delinquency and its causal matrix, and causal studies suggest both the relevant context and lawful regularities in the nature of delinquency. Moreover, using the concepts of domain and generality, one sees that strain 'theory' is not a theory but a causal paradigm and that it is not competitive with control theory. One also finds that social control theory and cultural deviance are parallel in that both deal essentially with conforming behavior. (Publisher abstract)