Tim Hirschi’s Social Control Theory in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia

Over the past few decades criminologists and sociologists have developed several theories in an effort to try and explain what causes some human beings to commit crimes. One of the most well-known theories that tries to explain why criminals commit crimes is called the social control or social bond theory developed by a theorist named Travis Hirschi. Hirschi also wanted to figure out why people don’t commit crimes instead of just figuring out why they do and he tried his best to answer those questions using his social control theory.The social control theory developed by Mr. Hirschi states that a person who has bonds with family, friends, the community, or other groups is less likely to participate in criminal activity than people who do not have those solid bonds in their life. (Glick & Miller, 2008, p. 175) Some theorists criticize this theory because they say not having bonds with friends, family, or the community has no effect on whether a person becomes involved in criminal activity or not. This paper will use the movie Crime and Punishment in Suburbia to demonstrate the validity of the social control theory by showing that not having strong bonds in a person’s life can drive them to commit criminal acts. Crime and punishment in Suburbia is the perfect movie to use in order to demonstrate the validity of Travis Hirschi’s control theory because it is about a girl named Rosanne who lacked social bonds in her life which led her to commit a crime. Rosanne appeared to be the perfect teenage girl. She was a beautiful cheerleader who dated the quarterback of the football team. She also seemed to have very high self-esteem and confidence in herself. However, as the movie progresses viewers watch Rosanne be sexually assaulted and verbally abused by her stepfather. After a while, Rosanne couldn’t take anymore of the abuse and she murders her stepfather and her mother accidently gets blamed for the crime. This move is perfect to demonstrate the control theory or social bond theory as it is sometimes called, because it proves the validity of the social control theory. If Rosanne would have had some of the bonds talked about in the control theory than there is a good chance she wouldn’t have committed the crime. Travis Hirschi’s control theory is made up of four different types of bonds. The four different types of bonds are attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. The first type of bond that Hirschi believes is necessary for an individual to have in their life is attachment. “Attachment refers to the level of psychological affection one has for prosocial others and institutions.” (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p. 58) Hirschi strongly recommends that an attachment bond be formed between a child and their parent (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p. 58). Hirschi believes that if a person has this type of bond in their life then they are not likely to commit crimes because they don’t want to disappoint their peers and loved ones. However, people who lack this kind of bond in their life are sometimes starving for attention and feel all alone like no one cares about them. They seem to think it is them versus the world. For example, in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia the main character Rosanne has no bonds of attachment with anyone but her boyfriend and that seemed to be more of a sexual relationship than anything. After her mother leaves her with her stepfather she loses the only attachment that she has which is her mother. Since she didn’t have an attachment bond with her mother or her stepfather she felt all alone and thought no one understood her. She had no one to confide in about the sexual abuse so she felt she had to take matters into her own hands and deal with her stepfather on her own. The attachment part of the control theory seems to be valid because if Rosanna had an attachment bond with her mother or a close friend she would have most likely shared her feelings about the sexual assault with them which may have prevented her from murdering her stepfather. The second type of bond that Hirschi believes is necessary for an individual to have in their life is commitment. Hirschi believes that in order for a person not to get involved in criminal activity they must have commitment to long term goals such as getting an education and career. (Hirschi, 1969, p. 34) Hirschi stated “The higher the student’s educational aspirations…the less likely he is to commit delinquent acts.” (Hirschi, 1969, p. 171) According to several studies that were completed in 1967, students who stated that they wanted to go to college in the future are said to have high commitment and those who stated they did not want to go college are said to have low commitment. (Wiatrowski, 1978, p. 73) Hirschi feels that commitment is necessary to keep people from committing criminal acts because if a person is striving towards a goal they feel that they have a purpose in life and are going to accomplish great things in their lifetime. Someone who has goals and purposes with a bright future ahead is most likely not going to ruin their future by committing criminal acts. However, if a person lacks a commitment bond in their life they feel that they are not losing anything or harming their future if they commit a crime. For example in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia, Rosanna seems to struggle with academics in a few scenes and she never mentions anything about college or future career plans. Usually at Rosanna’s age teenagers are talking about what colleges they want to attend with their friends, what they want to major in, and what their future career goal are. Rosanna never mentions anything of that nature and seems to be enjoying living in the moment with no future goals in sight. If Rosanna had made some plans and goals for her future she probably would have thought twice before murdering her father. She probably wouldn’t have wanted to spend her future in jail if she had more goals and plans instead of just living day by day. It is possible that she felt like she had no future anyway and therefore decided to kill her father for abusing her instead of finding a healthy way to cope with it. Crime and Punishment in Suburbia definitely validates the commitment part of Hirschi’s control theory.
The third type of bond that Hirschi believes is necessary for an individual to have in their life is an involvement bond. “Involvement in conventional activities refers to the idea that people who are involved in socially approved activities in community or local institutions are less likely to deviate from social norms or laws.” (Glick & Miller, 2008, p. 176) Hirschi’s theory states that involvement in activities gives people less time to plan and carry out criminal acts. In other words Hirschi believed that” idle hands are the devil’s workshop” (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p. 58). However, Hirschi made it clear that just because people are involved in productive activities does not mean that they will not be involved in criminal activity but it is less likely than those who are not involved in something in some way. (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p.59) For example, in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia, Vincent a friend of Rosanne’s was very interested in photography and some types of art. He was so wrapped up in his photography that after school he stayed busy and managed to stay out of trouble even though he mentioned getting in trouble in the past. However, Roseanne’s involvement bond seemed to be pretty weak because even though she was a cheerleader she seemed to have plenty of time to engage in unhealthy and unsafe activities by having constant sex with her boyfriend and attending parties. If she was involved in more activities she wouldn’t have felt the need to kill her father because she would mat have been able to channel all of her anger and hurt into something positive like photography or writing poetry. Photography or writing poetry would have allowed her to express her emotions in a personal way until she was ready to confide in someone about the abuse. Those activities would have left her with little spare time to be home with her stepfather. More involvement in activities like those listed above could have prevented her from committing murder. Crime and Punishment in Suburbia definitely validates the involvement part of the control theory because maybe if Rosanne had been more involved in other stuff she wouldn’t have had the time to dwell on the abuse and wouldn’t have felt the need to murder her stepfather. “The final type of social bond identified by Hirschi is belief, which refers to the degree to which one adheres to the values associated with behaviors that conform to the law” (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p.59) If a person has certain values that they believe in they are less likely to become involved in criminal activity. (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p.59) For example, if a child values education than he is less likely to skip school. However, if a child doesn’t believe that education is important he will skip school as much as possible. (Pratt, Gau, & Franklin, 2011, p.59) If a person has no beliefs in their life they have nothing stopping then from committing crimes. For example, if Rosanne was taught to value human life she probably couldn’t have murdered her stepfather regardless of what he did to her. However, since she had no beliefs that reminded her that murder and breaking the law were wrong she was able to murder her stepfather without hesitating. Crime and Punishment in Suburbia definitely validates the control theory by showing what can happen if a person has no strong beliefs. This paper has used the movie Crime and Punishment in Suburbia to demonstrate the validity of the social control theory by showing that not having strong bonds in a person’s life can drive them to commit criminal acts.

References
Glick, L., & Miller, J. M. (2008). Criminology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Pratt, T. C., Gau, J. M., & Franklin, T. W. (2011). Key ideas in criminology and criminal justice. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Wiatrowski, Michael David, "Social control theory and delinquency" (1978). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 857.