The compensatory effects of inner and outer controls

Internal and external controls have been firmly established as factors restraining criminal activity, but surprisingly little is known about their concrete interplay. Inspired by recent theoretical developments, such as Situational Action Theory or the life-course model of interdependence, this work addresses the question whether the crime-reducing impact of outer controls is conditioned by the level of inner controls. Analyses of a student survey from Slovenia reveal that external regulatory mechanisms exercise a greater effect when internal restraints decrease in size. This finding points to a compensatory relationship between controls located in different domains. Inner and outer controls may substitute for one another to a certain extent.

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Can Situational Action Theory Explain the Gender Gap in Adolescent Shoplifting? Results From Austria

International Criminal Justice Review ◽

10.1177/1057567717690199 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 165-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Helmut Hirtenlehner ◽

Kyle Treiber

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

Large Scale ◽

Action Theory ◽

Student Survey ◽

Situational Action Theory

Although shoplifting is one of the crimes with the smallest gender gap among all offense types, most studies still conclude that males steal from shops more frequently than females. The roots of the gendered distribution of shoplifting have not yet been satisfactorily explained. This work investigates whether situational action theory (SAT) can account for males’ greater involvement in shoplifting compared to females and if the propensity–exposure interaction that is at the heart of the theory applies to both genders. Results from a large-scale student survey conducted in Austria suggest that SAT generalizes to both genders and that it is well suited to explain why males are more likely to shoplift than females.

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Dynamics of the Causes Of Crime: a Life-Course Application of Situational Action Theory for the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood

Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology ◽

10.1007/s40865-021-00161-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Georg Kessler ◽

Jost Reinecke

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Action Theory ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Transition Probabilities ◽

Crime Rates ◽

Future Research ◽

Differential Analysis ◽

Ecological Selection ◽

Conditioning Effect ◽

Situational Action Theory

Abstract Purpose According to the Developmental Ecological Action Model (DEA) of the situational action theory (SAT), changes in crime rates over the life-course are explained through personal (moral) maturation and socio-ecological selection. This assumption is empirically tested by comparing results for the conditioning effect of the principle of moral correspondence (as an essential part of SAT’s perception-choice process) on crime rates for the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Methods Comparing two waves of a German longitudinal study (CrimoC, 17 and 26 years old, n = 1738), a series of logistic and multinomial logistic regressions and ensuing estimated transition probabilities capture the cross-sectional but also developmental processes involved. Additionally, the CrimoC study offers a differential analysis of offending scales, separating offenses into youth and adult crimes. Results The principle’s conditioning effect on crime could be replicated at both times. We can observe a general trend of individual transitions, which correspond to predicted personal maturation and socio-ecological selection. The transitions correlate with the expected reduction in crime rates over time. Males and females show comparable results. The separation into different offending scales yielded tentative insights. Conclusion We found stability in the mechanisms leading to crime as proffered by SAT and DEA across time. Personal (moral) maturation and socio-ecological selection are likely to be the driving forces behind reducing crime in adulthood. Future research needs to explain in detail how life-course events influence these factors. Considering adult crimes in the analysis is a promising endeavor that warrants further investigation.

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Money Now, Money Later: Linking Time Discounting and Criminal Convictions in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x16678938 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 1131-1142 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alex R. Piquero ◽

David P. Farrington ◽

Wesley G. Jennings

Keyword(s):

Life Course ◽

Early Life ◽

Criminal Activity ◽

Prior Work ◽

Middle Adulthood ◽

Criminal Offending ◽

Time Discounting ◽

Criminal Convictions ◽

The Life Course ◽

Criminological Theories

Two prominent criminological theories offer time discounting, or the preference for an immediate reward over a later one, as a central part of understanding involvement in criminal activity. Yet, there exist only a few studies investigating this issue, and they are limited in a few respects. The current study extends prior work in this area by using multiple measures of time discounting collected at three different periods of the life course to examine the link to criminal offending into late middle adulthood in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Results show that greater time discounting is positively related to a higher number of criminal convictions by late middle adulthood, and this effect remains after controlling for early life-course individual and environmental risk in a multivariate framework. Study limitations and implications are also discussed.

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Gender differences in the effect of child maltreatment on criminal activity over the life course

Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research - Families, Crime and Criminal Justice ◽

10.1016/s1530-3535(00)80013-8 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 207-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ryan E. Spohn

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Child Maltreatment ◽

Life Course ◽

Criminal Activity ◽

The Life Course

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What Is Age and Where Does It Come From?

Talking Like Children ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190876975.003.0003 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 45-60

Author(s):

Elise Berman

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Life Course ◽

Age Differences ◽

Language Socialization ◽

Continuous Production ◽

New Model ◽

Cohort Differences ◽

Novices And Experts ◽

The Life Course ◽

Theoretical Developments

This chapter reviews the research on age and the life course. It argues that age differences are cultural and produced through interaction. The chapter defines “age” and “immaturity” and then discusses how ideologies of age and experiences of the life course differ across cultures and contexts. It compares three different types of life course variation: cohort differences, differences between children in different contexts (including gender differences), and age differences. Investigating age differences requires building upon theoretical developments in the study of gender and race to explicitly focus on how age itself is socialized. The chapter argues for a new view of language socialization not as an interaction between novices and experts but as the constant and continuous production of differences, often age differences. This new model provides insight not only into socialization but also into cultural and linguistic practices more broadly.

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