Question

Travis Hirschi has been one of the most influential criminal theorists over the last 25 years. He asserts that there are four social bonds that can deter or encourage individuals to commit crime. What are those bonds, and which of the four do you believe is most lacking among at-risk juveniles today? Why?

Answer 1

The four basic elements of social bond theory are attachment, commitment, involvement in conventional versus deviant or criminal activities, and lastly the common value system within an individual’s society or subgroup.

Attachment is described as an individual's level of values and/or norms in society. Attachment is particularly important when it comes to the parental figures of the person. Other attachments, like college, play a tremendous part in standard culture, according to Hirschi (1969). Since it was first established, school has tended to be a middle to upper-class participation. The kids of the middle class tend to make fun of or demoralize the kids of the lower class. Not only does this therapy come from the kid, but it also comes from the organization straight, through the teacher. In combination with each other the person starts to resent school at the earliest point.

Next is commitment, this can be defined as an individual's level of engagement to legal behaviour. It should be the norms and values taught to us as a teenager to follow how society functions normally. We hope to know the distinction between "right" and "wrong" from the very beginning of our life. This knowledge has a tremendous impact on how we turn out in ordinary culture and set our position.

Third, is the decision of a person to engage in standard rather than deviant behaviour. Not long after fundamental rules of life are learned, this decision is created. If there is no "correct and incorrect" foundation, or if the teenager makes the choice that tends to create the most sense. This also has to do with family participation in the lives of the person. Finally, these senses in many ways directly correlate many factors or aspects of Hirschi's (1969) theory's four main parts..

Attachment among juveniles also applies to colleagues is mostly missing. Peer attachment was favorably associated with self-esteem, self-control, and optimism, but with parental attachment these factors tended to be more closely linked. However, insufficient parental bonding may pose a dangerous change to relying on colleagues involved in operations outside of society's standards. These peer-to-peer associations that go incorrect lead to drug use and drinking and such events.