Control theory, rational choice and
routine activity
Why don't people commit crime?
All of us are potential deviants
What stops us?
1. Legal controls
2. Social controls
3. Opportunities to commit crime
Control theoryHirschi 1969: ‘The Causes of
Delinquency’
Reaction to previous theories
Strain Theory: Merton
Empirical study (self report study)
Crime spread across social groups
Overprediction of working class
White collar crime not incorporated
-Middle class is committing crime just as much as lower class
‘‘Only control theory fits the facts’
Key idea: Delinquent acts result when the individual’s bond to society is weak or broken’ (Hirschi
1969:16)
Social bonds: “stake in conformity”
Attachment
What people think of you?
If you don’t care then you do whatever you want
Emotional
aspect
Commitment
Build up a business
Reputation Less likely
to commit crime All
the hard work you
put in something
Trapped in the prison
of your own making
Rational aspect
Involvement
How much time and how much energy
you put into conventional things I’m a
bit tired, don’t wanna go stealing
Rational aspect
Beliefs
Non-religious How much you believe that you should obey the
rules of society Very subjective Some laws more than others,
like cannabis
Moral aspect
-trapped in a prison of your own making -social
bond that everyone has -four elements that
everyone has -can be weaker or stronger in
different moments in your life
Extending the model…Steven Box (1981): Deviance,
Reality and Society
Why do some people commit crime, while others do not?
ABILITY to offend depends on:
Secrecy
The chanceyou think you get away with it
Skills
Need to know who to do it, commit the offence
Supply
Special skills
Social support
Someone helps you like friends
Symbolic support
Moral justification, you don´t have any money for instance
WISH to offend depends on
Subterranean values (Matza and Sykes 1961):
Excitement
Spontinatinaty
Excitement
Gangs and the subculture
Excitement
confirmation of identity;
material gain;
creativity
Everyone would, if you could
Marxist criminologist
Differential social controls
Girls are not different in a biological way, but are raised in a different way. Greater attachment
bond. Different gender pattern
Less prepared to take risks. Social expectations. Family, reputation. Reinforced by their peer
groups
Backed up by research. In particular. Reduces a greater disparity. Less likely to commit crime
Feminize social control: more control over boys. But also good sign that more girls commit crime than
before, they are freer
Policy implications
Education Parenting
Creating leisure
opportunities Family values
Boosting conventional
morality
Oppressive and repressive?
Limitations
Underplays role of social structures and deeper social controls.
Not all families are the same
What is ignoring is broader social structures
Women oversocialised? Where does that come from?
Ignores nature of law and law enforcement
It ignores how law actually works: labelling by the police
Ignores different forms of crime
In the riots e.g.: why do people start to loot
Ignores different motivations
It is important why people offend, but no emphasis on it
Rational choice theories: key ideas
Cost/ benefit calculation.
How do offenders make choices?
How can choices be influenced?
Policy implications
Manipulate environment
Situational crime prevention (Clarke 1992):
Increase effort
Pin on card
Increase risks
CCTV
Reduce reward
Mark property to make it less vulnarable
Link to classical criminology
“Contemporary classicism”
Bounded’ rationalitySOURCE: Farrell and
Pease (2006:187)
Stil rational
Routine activity theory(Cohen and Felson 1979)
How is crime situated in everyday life? ‘Chemistry
for crime’: Motivated offenders Suitable targets
Absence of capable guardians Must converge in
time and space