REL 430 Varieties of Control Theory Wk. 2
Please submit your 3 page APA style paper by Monday March 20th. Summarize the Varieties of Control Theory and its significance in society. Do not limit the research to the textbook alone. The use of external per-reviewed resources is required. See syllabus in moodle for further.
REL 430 Varieties of Control Theory Wk. 2
Control theory justifies why people follow laws and obey rules focusing more on the external factors and internal controls. Control theory in criminology states that individual beliefs, values, commitments, and norms leads to conformity or breaking laws. Through the control, theory individuals internalize the societal moral codes and decide to commit the crime or limit their urges to commit the crime (Laub, and Costello, 2020). The primary aim of social control theory is reducing criminality through decision making tied towards social relations.The paper is a discussion of varieties of control theory and their significance to society.
Control theory proposes that criminality gets tied to exposure towards social situations, also known as social bonds over some time. Social relationships may enhance guilt or control the likelihood of crime engagement. There are four types of social bonds; the commitment bond, belief, involvement, and attachment (Farrington, 2017). Commitment bond involves individual discipline to safeguard a long-time build character or investment through offering protection. Commitment is a strong bond that depicts one from committing a crime; for instance, a man planning to kill the family would consider the long term investment and decide not to deviate.
Attachment bond involves the kind of bond an individual’s share was through the relationship; an individual chooses not to commit a crime to protect the bond, acquire approval or acceptance. For example, an individual not committing a felony for a parent’s approval or spouse acceptance (Laub, and Costello, 2020). Types of attachment include; parental attachment, religious attachment, community attachment as well as school attachment. Involvement bond states that people who engage in moral activities daily are less likely to involve in crime. People who engage in unlawful activities such as unhealthy relationships shoplifting are less likely to get caught and get involved in more significant crimes. Belief consists of an individual having their own original beliefs about a situation or oneself. Acceptance of the understanding of oneself restricts one from committing a crime, especially if the view is positive.
The control theory of Travis Hirsch is an integrated theory with different types of controls. Direct supervision, the stake of conformity, and the internal control where each kind of power consists of various components (Laub, and Costello, 2020).
Direct control: Direct control involves control of one’s behavior by close people or a person or a group of people watching over someone else behavior. Parents, guardians, teachers, police as well as community residents offer direct control where parents and relatives are a significant and most direct form of direct supervision. Direct control involves monitoring a person’s behavior, setting rules and regulation as well as the use of sanction. Family members, police, and teachers design a set of rules to control individual practices. The collection of standards includes the type of punishment if the person violates the laws. Rules consist of well-outlined moral expectations from a person where most of the time appears in written form.
Monitoring a person’s behavior comes in two ways; directly or indirectly, where most times, monitoring takes place indirectly. Direct supervision involves frequent and continuous surveillance of individual expression. Parents or the authority, such as police officers, may decide to perform direct monitoring to take note of any inappropriate behavior (Laub,and Costello, 2020). Direct supervision mostly takes place in juvenile delinquency. Sanctioning is another method of monitoring a person’s behavior where people caught acting against the law may be sanctioned through probations or parole. Sanctioning is not a harsh punishment but a fair and consistent act of reducing deviance.Direct control through monitoring, development of rules and sanction is a societal rensponsibility that enhance good morals and reduce recidivism as well as prison overcrowding.
Internal control: Internal control is a type of power where individuals have strong self-control to refrain and restrain from engaging in criminality (Burt, 2020). Internal control is an example of an inner belief or the original belief towards crime. An Individual’s understanding of crime being wrong and unacceptable act saves the person and those around from committing the crime. The ideas of wrongdoing being wrong free individuals from committing the crime or having the urge and desires to commit a particular crime.Internal control saves the society from deviance where through training and education people on self-control criminality tends to reduce.
Individual moral orientation plays a massive part in the internal control of corruption. Some people are taught crime is bad since childhood, while others showed offense is excellent, which reflects an individual belief towards crime. People not informed of how bad sin is, and the consequences of crime tend to engage more in crime (Burt, 2020). On the other hand, people with low self-esteem are likely to engage in misconduct, for instance, lack of anger control or control towards drug use. People with anger issues and other personality traits are prone to engage in crime regardless of their belief.
The stake of conformity: People with a lot to lose through committing a crime are less likely to engage in crime compared to people with nothing to lose. One of the primary and most used methods of controlling deviance is direct control. Direct control and monitoring impact differently on different individuals. Some individuals may decide not to commit a crime while others may choose to according to their stake in conformity. An individual stake in compliance includes personal investment or emotional attachment. People with high emotional attachment with their family members are less likely to engage in crime compared to those detached from their parents. Secure attachment restricts people from committing a crime because the consequences of the actions would affect their relationship.
Individuals with significant investments, for instance, education or big businesses, are less likely to engage in crime (Farrington, 2017). Time invested in such convectional activities and future expectation of various finance, for example, getting a good job or having children restricts an individual from engaging into a criminal act that would affect their future investments therefore reducing deviance in the society.
To sum up, control theory enables individuals to develop bonds that restrict them from committing crimes. Deviance is reduced by having a positive belief from within as well as influence from society. Criminality is less likely to occur when individuals receive direct control and fear loss of various investments such as education and businesses as well as when an individual has the power to control deviance through having strong self-control and positive moral orientation.
References
Britt, C. L., & Rocque, M. (2016). Control as an Explanation of Crime and Delinquency. The Handbook of Criminological Theory. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 182-208.
Burt, C. H. (2020). Self-Control and Crime: Beyond Gottfredson & Hirschi’s Theory. Annual Review of Criminology, 3.
Farrington, D. P. (2017). An Integrative Personal Control Theory of Deviant Behavior: Answers to Contemporary Empirical and Theoretical Developmental Criminology Issues. In Integrated Developmental and Life-course Theories of Offending (pp. 135-174). Routledge.
Laub, J. H., & Costello, B. J. (2020). Social Control Theory: The Legacy of Travis Hirschi’s. Annual Review of Criminology, 3, 21-41.
