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1. Social Control Theory
Social Control Theory
Report by: Jesril E. Abayon
Master of Science In Criminal Justice with Specialization in Criminology
Jose Rizal Memorial State University
This theory maintains that everyone has the potential to
become criminals but most people are controlled by their
bonds to society.

2. Social Control Theory
-In 1969 he came up with the theory called “CAUSE OF DELINQUENCY”
this theory is defined the absence of social bond.
 TRAVIS HIRSCHI WAS BORN ON APRIL
15TH OF 1935 IN ROCKVILLE UTAH
 RECEIVED A PH.D IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA (BERKLEY) IN 1968
 HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS SOCIAL
PERSPECTIVE ON JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY AND HIS SELF-
CONTROLLED PERSPECTIVE.
BACKGROUND

3. Social Control Theory
Travis Hirschi that human beings were inherently hedonistic by nature. He
said that, “we are all animals and thus naturally capable of committing
criminal acts”.
He chose to approach criminology in a completely different way than most
of his peers, and in doing so he came up with several ground-breaking
theories that are still at the center of the criminological world today.
In 1960 was a decade filled with societal non-conformity. Rock and Roll had
taken the music world by storm causing drug use and risky sexual behavior
to reach an all-time high. From masses protesting the Vietnam War to the
civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. there was an
opportunity to behave delinquently around every turn.

4. Social Control Theory
In 1969 Hirschi released one of his most famous piece of work, a book
called Causes of Delinquency. This book has been a staple in the
criminological world for years and is often referred to for theory
construction and research in the delinquency field. The piece laid out
Hirschi’s social control theory.
According to Wiatrowski (1981), contrary to popular belief Hirschi’s social
control theory implied that since delinquency is actually intrinsic to human
nature, it is conformity that must be explained.

5. Social Control Theory
Social Control Theory, Social Control Theory of Crime, Social Bond Theory of
Delinquency, Social Bond Theory,
The theory is commonly used in childhood psychology or juveniles.
Hirschi explains conformity as being “achieved through socialization, the formation
of a bond between individual and society comprised of four major elements:
attachment, commitment, involvement and belief”.
All four of these elements are what make up the social bond, and the stronger each
of these four elements are, the less likely the individual will be to partake in
delinquent behavior.
Hirschi’s theory proposes that the weaker the group to which an individual belongs,
the less he depends on them. Which causes the individual to depend more on himself
and he will eventually realize no other rules of conduct unless they benefit his own
private interests.

6. Social Control Theory
Hirschi’s Perspective
Benefits Consequences
• People feel something they like. • People feel or would feel
something they don’t like.
• People are motivated to acquire wants. • The cost of acquiring the want is
severe
• People assert a desired level of control. • Social control strength affects
criminal activity
• People have an attraction to illegal temptations. • Social Bonds control the
attraction to illegal
temptations and
ensure conformity.

7. Social Control Theory
FOUR ELEMENTS
• Attachment.
According to Hirschi, “Attachment corresponds to the affective ties which the
youth forms to significant others”
These significant ties are often found in the family environment when parents act
as role models by teaching their children what is and is not socially acceptable
behavior.

8. Social Control Theory
Psychopathy or Psychopath.
Hirschi mentions in his book that John Martin and Kenneth Fitzpatrick say
that a psychopath has characteristics such as, “deficient attachment to or
affection for others, a failure to respond to the ordinary motivations founded
in respect or regard for one’s fellows” and “excessive aggressiveness”.
Most people would say that the characteristics of the psychopath come as a
result of his lack of attachment, or that his lack of attachment comes as a
result of his psychopathy.
Hirschi says to lack attachment to others is to be free from moral restraints
and means that you have no conscience or superego.
If you subscribe to that train of thought then lack of attachment to others is
the same thing as lack of conscience. “In his view, lack of attachment to
others is not merely a symptom of psychopathy, it is psychopathy”.

9. Social Control Theory
• Commitment.
is related to the aspiration of going to
college and attaining a high-status job”
The commitment to studying and working
hard to reach these goals is considered an
investment and the individual puts their
investment at risk if they partake in
delinquent behavior.
According to this theory, youths with well-
defined goals are much less likely to engage
in delinquent behavior than those who are
not looking towards the future.

10. Social Control Theory
Hirschi believed that commitment is directly correlated to conformity. He
said that men have been known to obey the rules for no other reason than
because they were afraid of facing the consequences.
It said that we label the rational component of conformity as commitment
and that people who follow the rules out of fear of the consequences are
committed to conformity, thus much less likely to behave delinquently.
Hirschi often emphasized education when he talked about commitment
much like he emphasized parents when talking about attachment. He said
that commitment has to do with time and effort invested in conventional
plans of action. These actions could be educational aspirations, school
performance, long-term career goals or maintaining ones reputation.

11. Social Control Theory
Commitment is also associated with the cost factor that is involved when
engaging in delinquent activities. We can assume that somebody that is
committed has invested a lot of time and effort into whatever it is that they
are committed to.
Both time and effort can be considered cost factors. If someone has spent
years of their life working their way up to the head of a company then there
probably is not much time left over to perform deviant acts. Maybe they did
not put too much time into their investment but it did require a lot of effort.
They probably won’t do anything that could jeopardize their investment
because they do not want all of their work to be for nothing.
It is important to keep in mind when thinking about these elements of the
social bond that Hirschi’s theory explains why we will NOT commit crimes,
rather than why we will.

12. Social Control Theory
• Involvement
is plain and simple; if somebody spends a
great deal of time doing conventional
things then they will not have time to
engage in delinquent behavior.

13. Social Control Theory
Hirschi believed that somebody that is extensively involved in conventional
activities is, “tied to appointments, deadlines, working hours, plans, and the
like, so the opportunity to commit deviant acts rarely arises”.
Devoting energy to productive task reduces the chances to offend. This is
when we start to see the connection between the elements of the social
bond.
For example,
if you are committed as a high school student to getting in to a prestigious
college so you can eventually graduate and get a high-paying job there is no
way to fulfill your commitment without extensive involvement.

14. Social Control Theory
• Belief
is the acceptance of the moral validity of the
central social-value system.
The more rule-bound people feel, the less
likely they are to commit a crime or violate
those rules.
Due to socialization Hirschi
says that everyone,
including deviants,
recognized the validity of
one dominant set of values.

15. Social Control Theory
The difference between those deviants and the rest of us is that even though
they recognize the same set of values they do not feel bound by them due to
their lack of belief or weakened social bond this element brings an
interesting question to light.
If we all recognize the same set of values, how can someone believe it is
wrong to commit a crime while he is committing a crime?

16. Social Control Theory
Hirschi claims that according to control theory there are two ways deviants
get around the rules.
o One way is by giving no real meaning to their beliefs and considering
them to be nothing more than words.
o The other way is through neutralization.
This entails the deviant essentially justifying the act to themselves before it
occurs so they can violate the rule and maintain their belief in it at the
same time.

17. Social Control Theory
IN INTRO TO CRIMINOLOGY
Containment Theory
developed by Walter Reckless (1967). This theory is proposed after
conducting research on juveniles. According to this theory, the inner and
outer containments help prevent juvenile offending.
Containment Theory Sociologist Walter Reckless suggested that people are
drawn toward deviance for various reasons (frustration, media influence,
poverty, etc.). These negative influences pull all individuals toward
deviance in some way. There must, then, be some way of “containing”
individuals within the norms.

18. Social Control Theory
Containment Theory
Reckless suggested that people could be “insulated” from crime
If properly socialized by his parents and peers, the individual will control
(or “contain”) himself.
The individual provides his own “containment” (controlling those natural
impulses that could lead to the violation of norms).
If the individual cannot “contain” himself from violating norms, his family
and/or peers may try to contain him. If that fails, the other social institutions
of informal social control may provide containment.

19. Social Control Theory
Juvenile Delinquency and Social Control
Social Control
• Under the Social Control Theory,
delinquency increases when the
social bond between child and
society is broken.
• The relationship between the social
environment and attitudes contribute
to adolescent delinquent behavior.
• Weakened social bonds are
precursors to juvenile delinquency.
Juveniles
• Crime rates are higher in
juveniles and decline with
age(Hopson,2002 ).
• There are at least 3 million
juveniles under 18 arrested
yearly of arrests(Menasco,2005).
• “A 70% increase of juveniles
transferred to adult court
between the late 1980s and the
beginning of the 1990s.”

20. Social Control Theory
In 2016, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made an estimated
856,130 arrests of persons under age 18, 58% less than the
number of arrests in 2007.
Most Serious Offense Number of Juvenile Arrest
Total 856,130
Violent Crime Index
Property Crime Index
Non index
Percent change
2007-16 2012-16 2015-16
58% 35% 7%

21. Social Control Theory
PHILIPPINES
History and Statistic
Children in jail in the Philippines is a significant problem. According
to Amnesty International, over 50,000 children in the Philippines have been
arrested and detained since 1995. Torture, rape and other forms of cruel and
inhumane treatment are a part of everyday life for those children while
they're incarcerated. Most are charged with minor crimes, such as petty
theft, sniffing solvents and vagrancy.

22. Social Control Theory
By 2001, jailed children in the Philippines was attracting international
media attention. The Australian government-owned television network, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation ran a documentary on the issue in
which it stated that children as young as eight are being held in adult
prisons in the Philippines in contravention of international statutes and the
country’s own laws.
In September 2005, it was estimated that over 4,000 children were in jails
and detention centers all over the country — many of them mixed with
adults.
Another estimate states there are an estimated 20,000 children in prison in
the Philippines throughout a single year.
By May 6, 2005, it was estimated there were 2,100 children in jails across
the Philippines, 20 of them on death row.

23. Social Control Theory
“Between January 2011 and July 2016, 956 children aged six to 17 were
“rescued nationwide from illegal drug activity,” according to PDEA. They
were mostly involved with marijuana and crystal methamphetamine, a
highly addictive drug also known as shabu, and were handed over to the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Of these, only 80
were under the age of 15.”

24. Social Control Theory
There were 24,000 minors among the 800,000 drug users and dealers who
had registered with the authorities by November 30, according to police
statistics. But less than two percent of those minors, or about 400 children,
were delivering or selling drugs. Only 12 percent, or 2,815, were aged 15 or
younger. Most of the 24,000 minors were listed as drug users.”

25. Social Control Theory
The drug war death toll includes at least 29 minors who were either shot by
unidentified gunmen or accidentally killed during police operations from
July to November 2016, according to the Children’s Legal Rights and
Development Center (CLRDC) and the Network Against Killings in the
Philippines, both Manila-based advocacy groups.

26. Social Control Theory
Benefits in Applying the Social Control Theory to Juveniles
• Juveniles are impressionable and can be influenced by positive social
bonds.
• Juveniles are not as set in their ways as adults.
• Overcoming bad habits is easier.
• Juveniles have several life decisions to make which affect them for years
to come.
• Juveniles also undergo many physical changes which adjust hormone
levels .

27. Social Control Theory
Just like any other theory, social control theory has several criticisms, but
the most widely known criticism actually came from Travis Hirschi
Himself. In the year 1990 Hirschi teamed up with another criminologist
named Michael Gottfredson and together they came up with General Crime
Theory, also known as self-control theory.
Instead of explaining deviance through the strength of an individual’s bond
with society through the elements of attachment, commitment, involvement
and belief, Hirshci’s new theory set out to explain all criminal behavior
using just one type of control.

28. Social Control Theory
Self Control Theory
The main idea of the theory is that individuals with high self-control are
less likely to behave criminally, and those who possess low levels of self-
control are more likely to lead life’s of crime and generally deviant behavior
(Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990).
Hirschi often emphasized the importance of attachment to peers, this
brought several opposing views. Many people argue that attachment could
actually lead to delinquent behavior rather than prevent it.
They claim that being attached to peers who are already engaging in
criminal behavior could influence the newly attached individual to begin
behaving in the same manner.

29. Social Control Theory
Sociologist Rand Conger (1976) also states that delinquency will be at its
highest when an individual’s attachment to a deviant environment is strong.
As mentioned above the elements of commitment and involvement can be
codependent, because of this there are criminologists that believe that the
two should just be combined into one element.
Marvin Krohn and James Massey (1980) did just that because they could
not see a scenario in which somebody could be involved in something
without at least a slight commitment to the activity and vice versa.
Other more general criticisms of social bond theory include the idea that an
individual’s social bonds will change over the course of a lifetime causing
them to keep building them back up again.

30. Social Control Theory
Recommendation
Juveniles need to be provided with the appropriate social bonds.
Future crime rates can only be affected if the Criminal Justice
System begins to apply the principles of the Social Control
Theory.
Give the youth set expectations, guidance, support, and the
solution begins.

31. Social Control Theory
Conclusion
In my opinion the more you simplify social learning theory, the more sense
it makes. If you have 10 adolescents with no strong attachment to parents or
peers, no solid commitments, no consistent activities they are involved in,
and limited to no belief in a set of values; then how many of the 10 do you
think would engage in delinquent behavior? They would be blank slates,
naturally hedonistic just Like Hirschi claimed, with nothing or nobody to
tell them not to be delinquent. My guess is that the vast majority of them
would behave delinquently if not all 10, thus rendering Hirschi’s social
control theory still relevant despite the challenges it has faced in the last
many decades.

32. Social Control Theory
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33. Social Control Theory