The Self-control theory of crime, often referred to as the General Theory of Crime, is a criminological theory about the lack of individual self-control as the main factor behind criminal behavior.

The theory was originally developed by criminologists Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson, but has since been subject to a great deal of theoretical debate and a large and growing empirical

Empirical

The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....

 literature.

Theory and background

Springing from interest in bonding theory

Social control theory

In criminology, Social Control Theory Travis Hirschi fits into the Positivist School, Neo-Classical School, and, later, Right Realism. It proposes that exploiting the process of socialization and social learning builds self-control and reduces the inclination to indulge in behavior recognized as...

, Hirschi—in co-operation with Gottfredson—has developed the "General Theory of Crime" or self-control theory from 1990 onwards. Based on the empirical observation of the strong, consistent connection between criminal behavior and age

Age

Age may refer to:* Age , an aspect of mathematical model theory* Age , an international peer-reviewed journal operated by Springer.* The Age, a daily newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia* Agé, a god* Åge, a given name...

, Hirschi and Gottfredson theorized the single most important factor behind crime

Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

 is individual lack of self-control. Individual self-control improves with age as a result of many factors: changing biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 through hormonal development, socialization

Socialization

Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...

 and increasing opportunity cost

Opportunity cost

Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the best alternative that is not chosen . It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone, or group, who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. The opportunity cost is also the...

s of losing control. In addition, criminal acts are often markedly non-controlled; they are both opportunistic and short-sighted.

Criticisms and defense

Akers (1991) argued that a major weakness of this new theory was that Gottfredson and Hirschi did not define self-control and the tendency toward criminal behavior separately. By not deliberately operationalising self-control traits and criminal behavior or criminal acts individually, it suggests that the concepts of low self-control and propensity for criminal behavior are one and the same. Hirschi and Gottfredson (1993) rebutted Akers argument by suggesting it was actually an indication of the consistency of the General Theory. That is, the theory is internally consistent by conceptualizing crime and deriving from that a concept of the offender's traits.

Empirical support

The research community remains divided on whether the General Theory of Crime is sustainable but there is emerging confirmation of some of its predictions (e.g. LaGrange & Silverman: 1999). A number of empirical studies - including meta-analysis

Meta-analysis

In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. In its simplest form, this is normally by identification of a common measure of effect size, for which a weighted average might be the output of a meta-analyses. Here the...

 - have confirmed that individual self-control is in fact one of the strongest predictor

Predictor

Predictor may refer to:* a predictor variable, also known as an independent variable* the Kerrison Predictor, a military fire-control computer* something which makes a prediction* a branch predictor, a part of many modern processors...

s of crime, when compared to a range of factors at various levels of analysis.

See also

• Right Realism
  Right Realism
  In criminology, Right Realism is the ideological polar opposite of Left Realism...
  
  
• Self-control
• Control theory
  Control theory
  Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
  
  
• Social control theory
  Social control theory
  In criminology, Social Control Theory Travis Hirschi fits into the Positivist School, Neo-Classical School, and, later, Right Realism. It proposes that exploiting the process of socialization and social learning builds self-control and reduces the inclination to indulge in behavior recognized as...