Causes of delinquency

About this book

“CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY may mark a turning point in the study of delinquency. Mr. Hirschi takes issue with many currently popular theories and with much of the conventional wisdom on the subject. He shows, for example, that the lower-class child is no more likely than the middle-class child to commit delinquent acts; the broken home and the working mother have very little significance for delinquency; that delinquents are not, as has been contended, the products of their own culture. The author begins by describing history and content of theories of delinquency. In remarkably concise language he then sketches his own theory, which has the virtue of being in essential agreement with earlier investigations as well as the extensive body of new data presented here. Hirschi offers a rigorous definition of delinquency suitable to quantitative research, surveys the social distribution of delinquency, and then examines one by one and with reference to rates and kinds of delinquency, the important ties to society: attachment to people and institutions; commitment to conventional success goals; involvement in conventional activities; and belief in the validity of legal and moral rules. He then shows how variation in the strength of these ties is linked to the commission of delinquent acts. Delinquency research has been much criticized for its alleged inconclusiveness. Yet it is clear, according to Mr. Hirschi, that the results of empirical research have been much more consistent than theoretical statements made about them. He finds significant areas of agreement between his own extensive survey of adolescents and those of other scholars, and contends that the older theorists, though openly moralistic, were essentially correct: delinquent behavior is natural; it is likely to occur unless prevented by ties to conventional society.” BOOK JACKET.