Self-Control Theory

Crime Similarity

Self-control theory's approach represents three major departures from other criminological postulations. Most fundamentally, because virtually all criminal acts promise the same thing—relatively immediate gratification—self-control theorists believe that distinctions such as white-collar and corporate crime or even violent and property crime have little utility, and, in fact obscure the similarity among criminal acts and among criminals. To illustrate this similarity, all of the following are looking for money (or its equivalent) based on the least amount of honest work: robbers, corporate polluters, shoplifters, bank embezzlers, doctors who perform unnecessary surgery, lawyers who over-bill, burglars, and price-fixers. Self-control theory therefore supposes that all of these offenders should be viewed as essentially the same.

A second important divergence of self-control theory is that it considers the division between criminal and noncriminal behavior to be a false distinction for theoretical purpose, because both crime and noncriminal deviant acts reveal manifestations of the same trait. Tobacco and alcohol use, lying, low academic performance and cheating, adultery, high debt, checkered work histories, unsafe sex, car accidents from risky driving, gambling, and a host of other noncriminal behaviors will occur at rates based on how low one's self-control is, as will larceny, assault, embezzlement, rape, fraud, and murder. By transcending legalistic designations of which behaviors and individuals are criminal, self-control theory avoids many of the entanglements associated with figuring out such designations, and is able instead to concentrate on overall behavior patterns. Many of these noncriminal acts of self-gratification can contribute to financial and other stresses for an individual, increasing further the motivations and frustrations that lead a person to commit property crime, violent crime, and to use drugs. Indeed, extremely low self-control ravages a person's life far beyond the pains associated with official punishments, and official punishments are often the least of such persons' daily worries. However, self-control theory does not believe that involvement in one form of deviance leads to involvement in other forms. Rather, high involvement in both criminal and noncriminal deviant behaviors are caused by the same thing—lower self-control.

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