GOTTFREDSON AND HIRSCHI: SELF-CONTROL THEORY
Travis Hirsch’s social or control bonding theory hypothesized that those people who have strong attachments to the conventional society are the ones that are less likely to deviate as compared to those who have shallow or weak bonds. Later Hirsch and Gottfredson moved away from this notion to the notion of self-control in which they argued that low self-control is related to higher levels of deviance and criminality regardless of the weaknesses or strength of a person’s social bonds (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 2017). Ideally, the self-control theory by Hirsch and Gottfredson assumes that crime may be explained concerning a very limited or single set of explanatory factors. Additionally, the theory assumes a very strict and static approach to causality. The theory assumes that prior offending has no effect on the current crime as well as assuming that changes in life events and changes in offending are false.
Hirschi and Gottfredson’s theory of self-control helps explain the case of William and the time bomb attack. According to the theory of self-control, all offenders commit crimes since they have low self-control and have the same inclination to commit to engaging in deviance behavior. Once a person has committed a crime one time or habitually as in the case of William, the person is unlikely to be deterred from deviance behavior. Ideally, four elements bond an individual with the society that hemp most people from committing a crime or acting in a deviant manner. These elements include attachment, involvement, belief, and commitment (DeLisi & Vaughn, 2008). People with low self-control such as William in the time bomb attack case are insensitive and impulsive and will always tend to engage in physical activities instead of mental activities in which they tend to show less self-control.
References
DeLisi, M., & Vaughn, M. G. (2008). The Gottfredson–Hirschi critiques revisited: Reconciling self-control theory, criminal careers, and career criminals. International Journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 52(5), 520-537.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (2017). Self-control and opportunity. Control theories of crime and delinquency (pp. 5-20). Routledge.