Theory of crime  of

         

Midterm Exam Essay

Theory of crime

Humbert Diazgranados

CJ102-03: Criminology

         Social organizational theorists assume that although the individual's personality (i.e., the characteristic of self-control) remains stable through time, the relationship between self-control and crime is amenable to change.  Crime is more likely to occur when an individual’s bond to society is attenuated; theorists affirm that early childhood events are significant predictors of later adult criminality (Siegel pg. 67).

         Recent evidence indicates that insecurely or poorly attached children are more likely to engage in later violent behavior.

         An insecure attachment produces low levels of empathic understanding suggests that the central underling factor involved in a secure attachment is the experience of empathy.  A child develops self-control and empathy as the result of receiving empathic understanding from a parent or guardian (Siegel pg 67).  When potential offenders can perceive others as humans rather than as objects, they are less likely to inflict injury upon them.  There is strong continuity in antisocial behavior running from childhood through adulthood across a variety of life domains.  Social control in adulthood explains changes in criminal behavior over the life span, independent of prior individual differences in criminal propensity.  Childhood pathways to crime and conformity over the life course are significantly influenced by adult social bonds.

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         Early delinquency predicts weak adult social bonds, and weak adult social bonds predict concurrent and later adult crime and deviance.  The process is thus one in which childhood antisocial behavior and adolescent delinquency is linked to adult crime and deviance in part through weak social bonds (Siegel pg 75).  

         Gender is the most consistent variable across all forms of violence.  Men commit more violence than women.  Violence does not occur every time a male is present; the presence of male hormones in the bloodstream cannot tell us when violence will ...

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