Thomas Robertson Case Study
Thomas Robertson is a 37-year-old male, who has been involved in crime since a very young age. He lives in a low socio-economic area, and has lived there since he was a child. His family was unsupportive, and unavailable for Thomas throughout his childhood. His older brother brought him into a group of his friends at the age of 12, and revealed them to be a chapter of a gang when Thomas turned 13. Thomas was charged with multiple, separate, thefts from small businesses, malls, and convenience stores around the city. He has been charged with assault, public mischief, and a count of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. His most recent charge was for assault causing bodily injury and
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(2011), Hirschi’s theory of social control summarized people follow the law and obey regulations because of social bonds surrounding them. He broke the social bonds down into four separate categories: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs. Thomas Robertson experienced very weak social bonds throughout his life. Attachment refers to the people around an individual which would defer said individual from committing crime in order to keep their ties with their peers. Unfortunately, we see Thomas had a weak social bond with proper influences in society; rather, he insisted on making friends with deviant people in order to create any sort of bond. Commitment refers to how much desire an individual has to be successful with conventional activities such as finishing education. Thomas, at one point was interested in school, however, ridicule and harsh treatment belittled his commitments, resulting in him giving up on school. Involvement addresses how much time an individual spends on conventional activities such as school and work. Thomas dropped out of school in grade 11 and never had a job to make money. In order to get what he wanted, he resorted to criminal activities. Finally, Thomas’s beliefs of what was right and wrong were skewed by his environment, and he found himself believing conventional law was wrong, and his gang lessons were
James T. Johnson was a young man who had a good job working as a construction worker. Although, he had a job and worked every day he still lived at home with his mother. Furthermore, he was the type of young man who went to work on time and after work he would come home. Unfortunately, there were occasions where he would go out with a few of his co-workers on a Friday he still came home afterwards. Nevertheless, he was hiding a secret from his mother that later led to him being arrested. Now, rather than James uses his money he had earned from working, he burglarized homes and garages in the communities in his area. After burglarizing these homes he would then sell the items he had stolen via the internet or a pawn shop in two different counties.
...ctivities they do. The theory looks at how the lack of regulation in a community results into crime. Further, it alludes that when an individual faces great strain or pain in the achievement of his or her goals and needs in life, he or she is forced to either give up all together or apply force to accomplish them. This motivation to achieve the needs and objectives of the community, led the other Moore deep into the life of crime (Moore, 2011).
The general strain theory hypothesizes that socioemotional problems cause strain in people’s lives and that the accumulation of stressors leads to criminal behavior. According to Agnew (2001), strain events can be characterized as involving “goal blockage, the loss of positive stimuli and/or the presentation of negative stimuli” (p. 323). These events can be seen by an individual as being unjust, undeserved, or threatening, especially for an adolescent. As we look back at the life of Jesse James, we
The two theories I have decided to merge are Agnew’s General Strain Theory and Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory. I picked General Strain Theory because it does a good job at discussing some of the things that can trigger the release of a person’s negative emotions which in turn may lead to deviant behavior. I also decided to write about Social Bond Theory because it describes some of the factors that keep people from committing crime. Both of the theories have strengths and weaknesses individually, but when merged they help fill in each other’s gaps. (Agnew, 2011; Hirschi, 2011) +1 (888) 295-7904
Social control theory tries to explain why it is that all of us do not commit crime. Social control theory gained prominence during the 1960s. Travis Hirschi put forth his new theory that was built upon existing concepts of social control. His social control theory declared that ties to school, family, and other aspects of society serve to lessen one 's tendency for deviant behavior. Hirschi believes that because of the bond with co-workers, teachers, friends and family and activities such as education or career goals cause people to have less time to commit crimes. I would have to disagree to some extent. If you chose to hang out with a family member or friend that is into criminal behavior such as drugs or being involved with a gang, that
Social Control Theory: Hirschi’s social control theory has been pervasively used to explain the occurrence of gangs and specifically gang membership. However, rather than focusing solely on why individuals choose to become involved in criminal behaviour including organized crime, Hirschi begins his analysis by asking, “Why do most persons conform to societal norms?” (Abadinsky 2010, 25). Consequently, according to Hirschi individuals choose to engage in delinquent behavi...
This theory assumes that “individuals generally decide on their behavior on the basis of opportunities, costs, and benefits” (Seddig, 2015, p. 3). After analyzing the interview, the 25-year-old man depicts weak bonds with school and with his father, which essentially are the main pillars for this theory. When an adolescent is not doing well academically, their chances of being involved in delinquent behavior increase. Travis Hirshi argued that people were kept in check by their social bonds or attachments to society. For example, if an adolescent does not have interest in going to school or learning, the most probable outcome is for the dropout rates to increase. These individuals lack commitment in pursuing an education, a promising job and refuse to be involved in sports or religious activities. Being committed and involved “constitutes a temporal boundary for delinquent involvement, because it simply limits the opportunities to commit delinquent acts” (Seddig, 2015, p. 3). With time, as social bonds weaken, interest in conventional values decrease. It can be assumed that because of this, he chose to get a fake I.D. at the age of 14 to start working in order to support his delinquent activities. He had a greater interest in money rather than on an education. Clearly, he was detached from an educational experience, which could be a
Wayne Bertram Williams, a native to Atlanta Georgia, was born May 27, 1958 (Case Study, n.d.). He became the focus of a police investigation that became known as the “Atlanta Child Murders” involving twenty-nine murders (Case Study, n.d.). Eventually, Williams was convicted of two counts of murder and is still the prime suspect in many others (Wayne Biography, 2015).
According to Travis Hirschi, by establishing and forming strong social bonds, the likelihood of one committing a criminal act is slim to none. Hirschi’s theory of Social Control and Social Bond focuses on what contributes to the prevention of a criminal act rather than what causes someone to engage in a criminal act. Hirschi’s Social Control Theory of Social Bond contains four elements which contribute to social bond. These four elements include attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. On the other hand, the Bond Gone Wrong Theory begs to differ. Focusing on what causes an individual to commit a criminal act rather than what prevents one from committing one, the Bond Gone Wrong Theory suggests that social bond can contribute to criminal acts. The Bond Gone Wrong Theory states that a social bond such as attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief can contribute to criminality. Moreover, it suggests that people commit crime as a result of three defining reasons. These three defining reasons include victim-retaliation, protection, and social control.
Innes, M. (2003) Understanding Social Control: Deviance, Crime and Social Disorder. Open University Press. Berkshire England.
Control theories in general are very common in criminological research and have been successful both theoretically and empirically. As a result, this theory has been comprehensively studied by many researchers and is popular for its cognitive clarity (Brunet, 2002). Furthermore, as Gouldner (1970) notes "some theories are simple experienced as intuitively convincing" and low self-control theory falls into this category for many (Paternoster & Bachman, 2001, p.5). A critique of this approach is that it assumes that self-control is stable across the life course and therefore presupposes that an individual 's propensity for crime also remains stable (Holtfreter et al., 2008). However, when applied to the scenario, even if Tim and Lionel lack proper self-control, it is possible that through a process of socialization, they could adjust in society and operate as law abiding citizens regardless of their low
Walter Reckless took the “control theory” and developed it a little further, presenting the “containment theory”. He insists that there are external and internal containments that either push or pull an individual to commit crime. An individual must be given boundaries and moral limits in order to process their desires in acceptable ways. In order to develop these limits, they must have a connection with the influential group, but the lack there of will push them into criminal behavior. Additionally, the individual must develop positive awareness and esteem (Traub & Little, 1999, p. 307). The gang members that have joined Homeboy industries, like many other gang members, have been missing a large portion of both internal and external containments. Through their own confessions they recognize that they had hard lives growing up and the gang scene was where they found a second family...
High crime rates are an ongoing issue through the United States, however the motivation and the cause of crime has yet to be entirely identified. Ronald Akers would say that criminality is a behavior that is learned based on what an individual sees and observes others doing. When an individual commits a crime, he or she is acting on impulse based on actions that they have seen others engage in. Initially during childhood, individuals learn actions and behavior by watching and listening to others, and out of impulse they mimic the behavior that is observed. Theorist Ronald Akers extended Sutherland’s differential association theory with a modern viewpoint known as the social learning theory. The social learning theory states that individuals commit crime through their association with or exposure to others. According to Akers, people learn how to be offenders based on their observations around them and their association with peers. Theorist Akers states that for one, “people can become involved in crime through imitation—that is by modeling criminal conduct. Second, and most significant, Akers contended that definition and imitation are most instrumental in determining initial forays into crime” (Lilly, Cullen, and Ball 2011:57). Although Akers’ theory has been linked to juvenile delinquency in the past, it has also been tested as a possible cause of crime overall. Individuals learn from observation that criminal behavior is justifiable in certain circumstances. In connection with juvenile delinquency and crime, peers and intimate groups have the most effect on individuals when associated with criminal behavior. One is more likely to mimic the behavior of someone who they have close ties with, whether the behavior is justifiable or...
Krohn, M., & Massey, J. (1980). Social control and delinquent behavior: an examination of the elements of the social bond. The Socialogical Quarterly, 21(4), 529-544.
... of social interest from which it stems. He advocated the need to compel teachers and parents to encourage children to take to a sense of social interest as part of their lifestyle to avoid problems such as committing crimes. Crime is an infestation that affects the whole community. Adler (2006) goes as far implying that “we need to emphasize to the world that crime is a sign of cowardice,” (p. 99). But Adler realized that although crimes were committed to in community, the prison system should institute a way to rehabilitate criminals so that they too develop social interest before entering back into society. Unless this step is taken, criminals being release are likely to remain sociopathic. “The criminals sees what life is requires by way of cooperation, but acts as if the requirements are for others, and not for him or herself.,” (Griffith & Powers, 2007, p. 96)