Crime, Immigration, and Public Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-184
Author(s):  
Michael Gottfredson ◽  
Travis Hirschi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Self Control ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Criminal Involvement ◽  
Theory Versus ◽  
Causes Of Crime ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter uses self-control theory to explain the generally low crime rates for immigrants in the United States. The benefits of control theory versus other common sociological theories of crime is demonstrated with contemporary and historical research on immigration and crime. The misinterpretation of the relationship historically in American criminology was used to support sociological perspectives on the causes of crime, such as cultural deviance and social disorganization, by implying a high rate of criminal involvement by immigrants. Modern research on causes and consequences of immigration disputes these earlier depictions and illustrates how characteristics of recent immigrants result in comparatively low crime rates, consistent with the theory of self control. The immigration–crime relationship illustrates the theory of self control and how the theory can be used for effective public policy.

Time’s Up! Shorter Hours, Public Policy, and Time Flexibility as an Antidote to Youth Unemployment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Eva Maich ◽  
Jamie K. McCallum ◽  
Ari Grant-Sasson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employment Relationships ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Work Scheduling

This chapter explores the relationship between hours of work and unemployment. When it comes to time spent working in the United States at present, two problems immediately come to light. First, an asymmetrical distribution of working time persists, with some people overworked and others underemployed. Second, hours are increasingly unstable; precarious on-call work scheduling and gig economy–style employment relationships are the canaries in the coal mine of a labor market that produces fewer and fewer stable jobs. It is possible that some kind of shorter hours movement, especially one that places an emphasis on young workers, has the potential to address these problems. Some policies and processes are already in place to transition into a shorter hours economy right now even if those possibilities are mediated by an anti-worker political administration.

Low Self-Control, Substance-Using Peers and Intimate Partners, Pro-Drug Use Definitions, and Inhalant Use Among Convicted Offenders in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeyong Choi ◽  
Nathan E. Kruis
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Mediation Hypothesis ◽  
Low Self Control ◽  
The Relationship

Hirschi has repeatedly argued that the relationship between social learning variables and crime is a product of “self-selection” driven by low self-control (LSC). Akers’ has suggested that social learning mechanisms, such as affiliations with deviant individuals and acceptance of criminal definitions, can mediate the effects of LSC on crime. Interestingly, there has been little comparative work done to explore this mediation hypothesis in the realm of substance use for offender populations outside of the United States. This study helps fill these gaps in the literature by exploring the potential mediation effects of social learning variables on the relationship between LSC and inhalant use among a sample of 739 male offenders in South Korea. Our results provide strong support for the mediation hypothesis that LSC indirectly influences self-reported inhalant use through social learning mechanisms.

Evaluating Self-Control Theory Among the Deaf Community

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110491
Author(s):  
Tony R. Smith ◽  
Jason D. Scott ◽  
Judy L. Porter ◽  
LaVerne McQuiller Williams
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Effective Parenting ◽  
Parental Management ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Rule Breaking ◽  
The Relationship

This study evaluates the generality of self-control theory with a previously untested cultural group rarely studied by criminologists, the Deaf community. Survey data ( n = 428) from participants attending a university that houses a college for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing were compared with a sample of “hearing” students. The findings support Gottfredson and Hirschi’s cultural invariance thesis as self-control was consistently able to predict a wide range of rule-breaking behaviors among the culturally distinct groups examined. However, several unexpected results challenge the parental management thesis. In particular, exposure to effective parenting techniques was a significant contributor to variations in self-control for the hearing, but not the Deaf sample. Additionally, self-control did not fully mediate the relationship between child-rearing experiences and norm violating behaviors for the Deaf sample. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Exploring Potential Protective Factors for the Relationship between Low Self-Control in Adolescence and Negative Health Outcomes in Adulthood

2020 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2093144
Author(s):  
Cashen M. Boccio
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Protective Factors ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Criminal Involvement ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Low Self Control ◽  
The Relationship

Previous research links low levels of self-control with criminal involvement and negative life outcomes. A similar line of inquiry has begun to explore whether low levels of self-control are also associated with developing health problems in adulthood. This paper extends this research by examining associations between adolescent levels of self-control and four different categories of health outcomes in adulthood. In addition, this study examines whether associations between adolescent levels of low self-control and health outcomes in adulthood are moderated by environmental protective factors. The results reveal that low levels of self-control in adolescence are consistently associated with reporting more health problems. In addition, some evidence emerged in support of the role of environmental protective factors in buffering the risk of developing health problems conferred by low levels of self-control in adolescence.

Parent–Child Relations and Delinquency Among African American and European American Juvenile Offenders: An Expanded Examination of Self-Control Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-46
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Fix ◽  
Janice E. Clifford ◽  
Barry R. Burkhart
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Self Control ◽  
European American ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Parent Child

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime indicates that low levels of self-control leads to subsequent delinquency. Multiple studies suggest an indirect effect of parent and family factors on delinquency through self-control. Furthermore, evidence exists that race/ethnicity may affect the mediated relationship between parenting and delinquency. The present study collected information on demographics, parent–child attachment, self-control, and delinquency from 350 confined male adolescents. Models were run to test whether self-control mediated the relationship between total parent–child attachment and facets of parent–child attachment on delinquency. Results indicated self-control mediated the relationship between parent attachment and delinquent behavior. Follow-up models indicated uniquely influential pathways to delinquency depending on aspects of parent-child attachment and the race/ethnicity of the participant. Select aspects of parent–child attachment were more meaningfully predictive of self-control and delinquency among African American youth compared with European American youth. Furthermore, while models run with European American adolescents support previous theories and study outcomes on the link between self-control and delinquency, self-control levels did not predict delinquency within models rung with African American adolescents, identifying a possible limitation of self-control theory. Implications from the present study are discussed alongside future directions for continuing research on culturally informed models of self-control and delinquency.

When Do Those High in Trait Self-Control Suffer From Strain?

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Kai Externbrink ◽  
Stefan Diestel ◽  
Martina Krings
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Self Control ◽  
The Other ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. We explore the limits of the protective function of trait self-control in coping with sources of stress. Inspired by integrative self-control theory (ISCT) we predict that trait self-control only buffers the relationship between self-control demands and irritation when individuals have to cope with one source of stress, whereas in cases of two stressors, trait self-control fails to attenuate adverse effects. Samples consisted of occupational students ( N = 163) and partly or fully or not formally employed students ( N = 135). Job-related self-control demands (SCDs) did not predict strain when trait self-control was high and the other stressor (academic SCDs or weekly study time) was low, whereas strain was disproportionally higher and predicted by SCDs when trait self-control was low or the other stressor was high.

The Relationship Between Productivity Changes and Poverty in the United States

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Hayes ◽  
D. J. Slottje ◽  
M. L. Nieswiadomy ◽  
E. N. Wolff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Policy Implication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Macroeconomic Variables ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the relationship between poverty and changes in productivity and other macroeconomic variables. It is not assumed that the relationship is unidirectional from productivity to poverty. Specifically, the hypothesis is that there may be bi-directional causality between poverty and changes in productivity. The empirical results suggest that feedback does exist between productivity and poverty. The clear public policy implication is that measures intended to affect productivity growth or poverty must be designed simultaneously.

Public opinion and public policy in the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saundra K. Schneider ◽  
William G. Jacoby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Responsiveness ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Policy Field ◽  
The Relationship

In a properly-functioning democracy, public opinion should not only be correlated with, but also a major determinant of, public policy. Is that the case in the United States? In this chapter, we address that question by covering the major lines of empirical research on the relationship between American public opinion and public policy. We begin with early work that emphasized the limits of popular thinking about government, creating the apparent need for democratic elitism in governmental action. More recent literature includes perspectives from the public policy field, and research on democratic responsiveness at both the national and state levels. Major lines of work emphasize the existence of rational public opinion at the aggregate level which ‘smooths out’ the inconsistencies that may exist within individual policy attitudes. Seminal studies have considered both the degree of correspondence between opinion and policy (i.e., ‘the rational public’), and models that specify how policy responds to opinion (thermostatic responses and the macropolity). Recent methodological innovations have led to new insights about democratic responsiveness in the American states. Our general conclusion is cautiously optimistic: Policy generally does follow the contours of citizen preference, but elites also have opportunities to shape manifestations of public opinion.

Quick on the Draw

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Donner ◽  
Jon Maskaly ◽  
Alex R. Piquero ◽  
Wesley G. Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Deadly Force ◽  
Self Control ◽  
General Theory Of Crime ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Theory Of Crime ◽  
Situational Predictors ◽  
Low Self Control ◽  
The Relationship

Police officers have a continuum of force options available to them, but, without question, the most extreme of these options is deadly force. Recent officer-involved shootings in the United States, and their subsequent media attention, have placed police use of deadly force at the forefront of political, academic, and policy conversations. While the extant literature has uncovered numerous structural, organizational, and situational predictors of police shootings, studies to date are more limited with respect to individual-level factors and have essentially ignored criminological theoretical constructs. Using Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime as a theoretical framework, the current study fills a gap in the literature by using personal and agency records of 1,935 Philadelphia police officers to examine the relationship between low self-control and officer-involved shootings. The results indicate that officers with lower self-control are significantly more likely to have been involved in a police shooting.

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