An Analysis of Michael R. Gottfredson and Travish Hirschi's A General Theory of Crime

In their 1990 work, Gottfredson and Hirschi introduce a new, comprehensive theory of crime. At the time, crime researchers tended to focus on environmental factors that led to crime, not on the criminals themselves, and were inclined to think about crime only from their particular academic perspective. Ideas about what caused crime, and how to prevent it, were often in conflict. Gottfredson and Hirschi believed criminology should return to its roots and examine how crime is connected to human behavior. Drawing on important philosophers, they developed their self-control theory of crime, suggesting all crime can be explained by the amount of self-control a person can exercise. The Macat Library is the world's leading collection of short analyses of great works. Each analysis looks at one enduringly influential book - unlocking its ideas and explaining the underlying critical thinking skills which made it so important. Book jacket.