Building Self-control to Prevent Crime (original) (raw)
Related papers
A general theory of crime and public policy
2009
In A General Theory of Crime, Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi (1990) argue that self-control is the principal cause of criminal and analogous activity over the life course. According to the theorists, self-control is formed via a three-pronged parental socialization process in the first decade of life that includes parental monitoring of offspring, parental recognition of deviant behavior, and appropriate parental punishment associated with deviant behavior.
Preventing Criminal Minds: Early Education Access and Adult Offending Behavior
SSRN Electronic Journal
In this paper we estimate the impact of a nationwide public preschool expansion that took place in Spain over the 1990s on criminal behavior later in time. We exploit variation in enrollment rates across Spanish regions and birth-cohorts, and we link education data to a unique administrative crime dataset recording offenses committed in the region of Catalonia over the period 2009-2014. We find that for the average birth cohort, Catalan municipality and year, a 1 percentage point increase in preschool exposure at age 3 yields 1.6% fewer crime actions during youth and young adulthood. We are able to account for region of origin, birth cohort, time and local fixed effects, as well as several region and time-specific controls. Leveraging detailed information on types of crime committed, we propose a categorization of offenses into those likely to have been rationally planned and driven by economic motives, and those in which emotional factors and lack of self-control play a significant role. On average, we find the benefits of preschool to be larger and more robust on crimes belonging to the latter category, suggesting that non-cognitive skills play an important role in explaining the overall effect.
Revisiting the Concept of Stability in the General Theory of Crime
Crime & Delinquency, 2019
The general theory proposes that self-control exerts a relatively stable effect on behaviors across the life course. Most studies have examined the stability of self-control itself, rather than whether it leads to persistent patterns of offending that differ between low and high self-control groups. This article examines this alternative idea of stability by tracing patterns of offending over time. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child and Young Adult Data, we find that the level of childhood self-control predicts deviance in every age group. The patterns of offending indicate there are stable differences, with low self-control leading to involvement in a greater range of deviant behavior at every age. The theoretical and policy implications of this stability are discussed.
The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior
2015
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Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 2004
This study explores the characteristics of the perpetration of crime over a 15-year follow-up period for a sample of adjudicated French Canadian males. Two patterns of perpetration of crime were identified between adolescence and adulthood. The organized pattern is mainly characterized by a predominance of utilitarian motives, a considerable level of planning, and an increased use of instruments. The disorganized pattern of perpetration of crime is motivated by hedonism and thrill seeking, displays little organization, and is characterized by a greater propensity to drug and alcohol use. Pathways were identified to determine how offenders combined these patterns between adolescence and midadulthood. All pathways showed signs of disorganization with age. These results suggest that patterns of perpetration of crime are more dependent on situational components and criminal opportunities, which are both more likely to vary across time, rather than on individual predispositions. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.