Week 7: Social Control Theories

Vocabulary flashcards covering social control theories, life-course criminology, and developmental perspectives from Week 7, including theories by Thornberry, Gottfredson and Hirschi, Sampson and Laub, Moffitt, Farrington, and former Justice Stanley Jones.

Interactional Theory

A theoretical model developed by Terrance Thornberry that combines social control and social learning theories, asserting that parental, school, and peer bonds change dynamically across the life course.

Childhood and Early Adolescence (Interactional Theory)

The life-course stage up through age 11 in Thornberry's theory where children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods with inadequate child-rearing are at the greatest risk of persistent and increasingly serious criminal behavior because early weakened bonds tend to remain weak.

Middle Adolescence (Interactional Theory)

The developmental period between ages 12 and 16 when youth who were previously well-behaved may begin experimenting with substance abuse and shoplifting due to negative peer associations, typically desisting as they exit this stage.

Young Adulthood Delinquency (Interactional Theory)

The life stage from age 16 onward where individuals who avoided early misbehavior due to strong protective bonds with parents and school may begin breaking the law upon leaving that environment and facing employment or relationship issues.

General Theory of Crime

A criminological theory formulated by Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi stating that low self-control is the primary cause of crime, deviance, and risk-taking behaviors.

Self-Control (Gottfredson & Hirschi)

The capacity to restrain oneself from momentary temptations, delay short-term pleasure, and avoid reckless or risk-taking actions.

Lack of Diligence / Short-Sightedness

A trait of low self-control in Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory characterized by taking the quickest available path to satisfy immediate desires.

Physicality (General Theory of Crime)

A low self-control trait where an individual prefers and values physical activity and physical responses over cognitive or intellectual development.

Insensitivity (General Theory of Crime)

A low self-control trait marked by being self-centered and failing to consider the emotional or physical harm one's actions inflict upon other people.

Low Frustration Tolerance

A trait associated with low self-control where an individual feels slighted by even the most minor incidents and struggles to handle irritation.

Parental Socialization Process (Self-Control)

The parenting method necessary to instill self-control: monitoring the child's behaviour, recognizing signs of low self-control, and correcting unacceptable behaviours when they occur.

Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control

A theory introduced by Robert Sampson and John Laub (1993) proposing that formal and informal social controls restrict criminality across life stages and that individuals can follow pathways back to conformity.

Trajectories (Sampson & Laub)

Long-term pathways or avenues of development and offending behavior that unfold throughout an individual's lifespan.

Life-Course Turning Points

Critical life events—specifically establishing a successful career or marriage—that redirect an individual's developmental criminal trajectory toward desistance or onset.

Social Capital

Positive relations with individuals and conventional institutions (such as a career or marriage) that support law-abiding behaviour and inhibit criminal acts.

Developmental Taxonomy of Offenders

Terrie Moffitt's criminological framework dividing offenders into two distinct groups based on the onset and duration of their offending careers.

Life-Course Persistent (LCP) Offenders

A group compromising less than 5–10% of the population whose offending begins in childhood, worsens into adulthood, and stems from prenatal/neuropsychological deficits combined with environmental disadvantages.

Adolescent-Limited (AL) Offenders

Offenders who begin minor delinquency during adolescence to express maturity and gain adult status, usually coming from advantaged backgrounds and desisting upon entering adult roles like marriage and employment.

Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) Theory

David Farrington's model aiming to explain delinquent behaviour in adolescent boys by assessing changes in their propensity to commit deviant acts over time.

Antisocial Potential (AP)

An individual's continuous propensity to engage in crime and deviance, which varies over time, across life events, and peaks during adolescence.

Long-Term Antisocial Potential

A chronic, enduring propensity toward deviance found in individuals who come from poor families, suffer poor socialization, exhibit impulsivity, seek sensation, and have low IQ.

Short-Term Antisocial Potential

A situational, temporary spike in antisocial propensity experienced by individuals without chronic deficits in response to immediate inducements or unfulfilled desires.

Toxic Stress

An umbrella term encompassing exposure to negative environments, disadvantaged neighborhoods, and chronic stressors that impede healthy child development.

Stanley Jones's Reform Proposals

A three-part approach to reducing youth crime: informing the public that criminality originates in early childhood, actively supporting disadvantaged families, and building an equitable society with reduced poverty.