The Self-Control Theory Or The General Theory

There is no shortage of criminological theories. For centuries, humans have tried to explain ‘deviant’ behaviors that are considered criminal. Social scientists have often wondered why do people commit crimes? Why are some things considered criminal and some other things are not? Why do some people continue a life of crime while other individuals desist? All of these answers gave birth to criminology and the plethora of theories regarding criminal behavior. One of these criminological theories is The Self-Control Theory, or The General Theory.
This is a theory that was originally developed by Travis Hirschi and Michael Goffredson in 1990 (Wright). The first assumption that this theory has is that most of the crimes committed generally require minimal prior planning, have very few long-term pay-offs and are not too difficult (Wright). The next assumption made by these two is that given this nature of crime, those who commit crime should have certain qualities, including impulsiveness and shortsightedness, or in other words having little to no self-control (Wright). Not only will these individuals be engaged in crime, but also they will be engaged in other high-risk behaviors such as drug use and alcohol consumption, not wearing of seatbelts in cars, in addition to possessing issues with
It wasn’t until 2009, when the first publication of empirical data came out. Goode publish a volume that complied all empirical data that was related to Self-Control theory along with some critiques of the theory (Wright). In 2000, Pratt and Cullen conducted a meta-analysis of all research studies conducted on Self-Control theory. The results of that study showed that there was indeed a correlation between self-control and crime. (Wright). Self-Control theory continues to gain empirical support within the field of