Modern Control Theory and the Limits of Criminal Justice

In 1990 when Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hisrchi published A General Theory of Crime, now often referred to as self control theory, it quickly became among the most discussed and researched perspectives in criminology. In Modern Control Theory and the Limits of the Criminal Justice, Gottfredson and Hirschi develop and extend the theory of self control advanced in their classic work. Focusing on the methodology of testing crime theory and measuring behavioral research on crime and delinquency, they critically review the evidence about self control theory. Gottfredson and Hirschi further discuss evidence about the positive consequences of higher levels of self control from education, economics, and public health, that--along with evidence from delinquency and crime--show substantial support for the theory of self control. Illustrating the theory through predictions about policing, incarceration, juvenile justice, and the connection of immigration policy to crime, this book connects self control theory to the structure and function of the criminal justice system, then applies the theory to pressing issues of public policy about delinquency and crime.

Michael Gottfredson is Chancellors' Professor of Criminology Law and Society, Sociology, and Law at the University of California, Irvine. From 2000-2012 he served as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Irvine and from 2012-14 as President of the University of Oregon. He has published extensively in criminology on the causes of crime and delinquency, criminal victimization, and the criminal justice process. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Western Society of Criminology and the recipient of the Tappan award for criminological theory. Travis Hirschi is Regents' Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, through 2018. He is the author of Causes of Delinquency, Delinquency Research (with Hanan Selvin), and A General Theory of Crime (with Michael Gottfredson). He has published extensively on the causes of crime, research methodology, and the corelates of crime and delinquency. He is a Past President and Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the recipient of the Sutherland Award and the Stockholm Prize in criminology.