Do Social Bonds Contribute To or Prevent Possible Criminal Acts?

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.

Individuals who are victims of a crime are more likely to commit a crime or criminal act. The criminal act inflicted upon the individual can be physical, mental, emotional, or verbal attacks. Nevertheless, the individual has fallen victim of a crime, therefore they are more than likely to retaliate. This is known as victim retaliation. The four elements of Hirschi’s social bond contribute greatly to victim retaliation because the victim’s attachment to family and friends who he or she believed would help him has disintegrated. Moreover, the individual’s involvement and commitment in school activities may be the cause of him or her becoming a victim. Through this process of...

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...ndividual who is short-tempered, impulsive, and ill-disciplined is more likely to respond back physically or with a criminal act. However, the person that has more self-control and I self-disciplined is less likely to respond back with any criminal acts.

Evidently, the act of engaging in criminal activity is based on choice. However, according to the Bond Gone Wrong Theory, the decision can be affected by social bond and self-control. With a strong social bond, comes over protection. If something were to harm or interfere with the strong bond, it may cause an individual to retaliate. However, with self-control the results may differ. Nevertheless, the Bond Gone Wrong Theory can be used in the future as a theory to better understand why some people commit crime rather than just labeling them or assuming that they’re all the same, killing or stealing for no reason.