Hate Crime Theory: The General Theory Of Crime

Theory is an important part of discovering and understanding why people commit crime. It is difficult to understand how a prejudice or bias towards someone can be linked to criminal behavior. The general theory of crime coined by Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson can be applied to hate crime. The general theory of crime explains that people are born pre-disposed to crime and that they have natural tendencies to commit crime (Tibbetts, 2015, p 161). The only difference between those who are criminals and non-criminals would be their self-control (Tibbetts, 2015, p 161). Self-control is a key component to the general theory of crime. Not everyone acts on his or her thoughts of someone criminally, or even at all. The difference between people who do not choose to commit crime, would be their difference in self-control. People who commit crime have low self-control, and people who are law-abiding citizens have high self-control.

161, para 1). This explanation is critical when viewing hate crime or bias crime because these perpetrators are acting out of hate and committing the criminal act because of their low self-control. People are unable to read minds of others; they only know what they are thinking once they take action. Correlating the general theory of crime and low self-control to hate crime would be that the perpetrator was unable to use self-control based on their thoughts of the victim an acted upon their hate towards that person because of their particular