The Nature of Gottfredson and Hirschis General Theory of Crime - Essay Example

The Nature of Crime: Question Discuss the nature of Gottfredson and Hirsch's general theory of Crime: Gottfredson and Hirsch wrote the general theory of crime in 1990; they argued that social control is the central concept in determining the individual's possibility of committing a crime. They defined crime as an act of force or fraud undertaken in pursuit of self interest, low self control explains an individuals likelihood of committing a crime, on the other hand high self control will explain the likelihood of an individual conforming to set norms and values in the society. (Gottfredson M and Hirschi T (1990)) Self control determines who is likely to commit a crime and also that self control is internalized early in life during socialization. Therefore the level of self control of an individual is determined by the quality of parenting, therefore parenting plays a major role in determining a person's level of self control. Children who are punished by their parents due to misconduct will develop high self control whereas if a child is negletively brought up will tend to be insensitive, a risk taker and short sighted. The theory states that people who involve themselves in crime engage themselves in behaviors that give them short term gratification example drinking, irresponsible sex, smoking and gambling. Therefore according to this theory low self control will increase the possibility of a person committing a crime, self control is achieved during early age when a child is socializing, poor parenting will lead to low self control to a child in future while strict and proper parenting will lead to high self control to a child. This theory applies to age, race and gender, a research done to determine the age crime relationship showed that the age variable for certain crimes supported the theory in that the age was a direct result of low self control depending on level of socialization. (Gottfredson M and Hirschi T (1990)) There also exist differences among races and ethnic groups because of the difference in supervision among this groups, but the races and ethnic groups do not directly determine crime instead it is the amount of socialization by parents that determine the occurrence of crime. According to the two classical scholars low self control is as a result of poor parenting which determines the quality of socialization, parents therefore should undertake the responsibility of punishing their children incase of any misconduct in order to avoid the development of low self control which intern will lead to a high possibility of the occurrence of crime. Various scholars have tested this theory and there exist various criticisms, some scholars argue that the theory relates behaviors such as drinking and smoking as criminals behaviors but to be realistic smoking and drinking individuals do not necessarily mean that they are criminals. Another critic is that the theory assumes that crime is committed for the purpose of pursuing self interest, but this may not be true for all types of crimes because some other crimes such as murder may be committed for other reasons other than self interest. The theory is also criticized for favoring traditional roles of the family, the two classical theorists favor the traditional society and argue that a child should have both parents, this is unrealistic. Other studies have opposed the theory and suggested that adult social bonds such a person who has a stable job and a happy marriage may not involve himself in crime despite a poor socializing and parenting. However the theory is a clear breakthrough in criminology and has helped understand the causes of crime, although the theory faces some critics it is the only theory that well explains he concept of crime and also possible ways of minimizing crime through proper parenting. Question 2 Discuss the role of formal "sanction threats" in offender decision making. In doing so, your essay should address: Formal social controls play a major role in the prevention of crime; control is expressed through set rules and regulations against deviant behavior. Threats such as imprisonment and fines are used by the government and institutions as a way of enforcing the law. According to various control theories they focus on what refrains people not to involve themselves in crime, according to Hirsch social bond refrain people from involving themselves in crime, he says that the four components of this social bond and this include attachment which involves affection and sensitivity to others, commitment that involves the persons investment in convectional stake in conformity with social norms, involvement that involves a persons work that restrict opportunities of crime and finally the belief which involves the degree to which the individual thinks he should obey the law. A predictive trait of crime revolves around adventuresome ness which is defined as the self initiating behavior occurring within a person. According Gottfredson and Hirschi offered these traits as shortsightedness, inability to learn from experience, poor judgment and miscalculation. (Lilly R, Cullen T, and Richard A (1995)) Shortsightedness refers to the lack of foresight, poor judgment and planning and the miscalculation of pain. Poor judgment is also related to the general theory in that it is related to bonds of commitment and involvement; poor judgment refers to activities one engages in while one is differing gratification. Miscalculation of pain depends on the belief in moral validity of norms, according to Hirsch's theory on bonds risk of penalties serve as a means of discouraging crime. Therefore the fear in the individual will deter him from committing a crime and not the guilt of committing a crime. Non formal sanctions play a role in discouraging the occurrence of crime, under the informal means of social control there exist traditions, norms, customs and values that are usually inherited by the individual. The rules are expressed in this means and the informal sanctions here include criticisms, disapproval, guilt, social discrimination and exclusion from the society. Therefore the individual control is embedded in his personality and act as a way of increasing the individuals self control on committing a crime. The rational choice model assumes that human behaviors are guided by instrumental reasoning, therefore according to the theory people will always choose what they believe is the best means to achieve their set goals. When it comes to crime people will behave in the same way, people will rationally evaluate the risk involved when one is caught after committing a crime. According to the rational choice theory free will is assumed and also some other factors such as a person's level of intelligence, family background, situational factors such as persuasion by friends and also previous experience. We can therefore conclude by saying that the occurrence of crime will depend on many factors, these factors will include self control level, parenting background of a person, existence of social sanctions either formal or informal, the existing social bonds and also the level of intelligence. All this factors will influence a person to either involve in crime or not to commit a crime. The theory therefore suggest that there are various government policies that should be put in place to ensure that children are properly brought up through proper parenting and also a review on criminal laws and sanctions that will discourage crime. References: Gottfredson M and Hirschi T (1990) a General Theory of Crime, Stanford University Press, Stanford Lilly R, Cullen T, and Richard A (1995) Criminological theory: context and consequences, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks Read More