According to the Control Balance Theory, both the probability of deviant behavior occurring and the characteristic form of deviation are determined by the relationship between the control that a person is exposed to and the control that he exercises himself. Main proponent Charles R. Tittle Theory The Control Balance Theory
Theories of Crime
Social bonds theory (Hirschi)
Hirschi assumes in his social bonds theory that humans have a natural tendency to delinquency. The interesting question for him is what prevents people from violating norms. According to Hirschi, conformity is generated by social control. Hirschi distinguishes four different forms of social bonds and their influence on social control:
Career model (Quensel)
Quensel’s career model describes crime as a process that can evolve from a small insignificant offence to a serious criminal career due to the failed interaction between the individual and the environment (including judicial sanctioning). Main proponent Stephan Quensel Theory With his model, Quensel wants to combine the etiological and
Career model (Hess)
According to German sociologist Henner Hess, the emergence and consolidation of criminal behaviour can be explained by careers. The actor glides processually, pushed through the outside world and situation, but ultimately individually chosen, into a delinquent role. Main proponent Henner Hess Theory Hess’ basic assumption regarding crime theories is that
Delinquency and Drift (Matza)
Matzas work Delinquency and Drift, published in 1964, is a critique of positive criminology (e.g. Lombroso’s anthropological/anthropogenetic crime theory) as well as of the then prominent explanatory approaches to juvenile delinquency (theory of differential opportunities of Cloward & Ohlin and subculture theory according to Cohen). At the center of the
Radical labelling approach (Sack)
[According to Fritz Sack, the term “labelling” is unnecessarily narrow. He therefore proposes the term “Marxist-interactionist”.] According to Fritz Sack, crime is a pure attribution process. In this attribution process, a physical event is linked to a mental state. This physical event thus goes through a social career. This attribution
