By articulating a general theory of crime and related behavior, the
authors present a new and comprehensive statement of what the
criminological enterprise should be about. They argue that
prevalent academic criminology--whether sociological,
psychological, biological, or economic--has been unable to provide
believable explanations of criminal behavior.
The long-discarded classical tradition in criminology was based on
choice and free will, and saw crime as the natural consequence of
unrestrained human tendencies to seek pleasure and to avoid pain.
It concerned itself with the nature of crime and paid little
attention to the criminal. The scientific, or disciplinary,
tradition is based on causation and determinism, and has dominated
twentieth-century criminology. It concerns itself with the nature
of the criminal and pays little attention to the crime itself.
Though the two traditions are considered incompatible, this book
brings classical and modern criminology together by requiring that
their conceptions be consistent with each other and with the
results of research.
The authors explore the essential nature of crime, finding that
scientific and popular conceptions of crime are misleading, and
they assess the truth of disciplinary claims about crime,
concluding that such claims are contrary to the nature of crime
and, interestingly enough, to the data produced by the disciplines
themselves. They then put forward their own theory of crime, which
asserts that the essential element of criminality is the absence of
self-control. Persons with high self-control consider the long-term
consequences of their behavior; those with low self-control do not.
Such control is learned, usually early in life, and once learned,
is highly resistant to change.
In the remainder of the book, the authors apply their theory to the
persistent problems of criminology. Why are men, adolescents, and
minorities more likely than their counterparts to commit criminal
acts? What is the role of the school in the causation of
delinquincy? To what extent could crime be reduced by providing
meaningful work? Why do some societies have much lower crime rates
than others? Does white-collar crime require its own theory? Is
there such a thing as organized crime? In all cases, the theory
forces fundamental reconsideration of the conventional wisdom of
academians and crimina justic practitioners. The authors conclude
by exploring the implications of the theory for the future study
and control of crime.
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