Required Readings
Atlas, R. I. (2003). How are criminals using CPTED? SecurityManagement, 47(5), 148“146.
Hoffmann, J. P. (2010). A life-course perspective on stress,delinquency, and young adult crime. American Journal ofCriminal Justice, 35(3), 105“120.
Menard, S., & Morris, R. G. (2012). Integrated theory andcrimes of trust. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 28(2),365“387.
Wilcox, P., Quisenberry, N., Cabrera, D. T., & Jones, S.(2004). Busy places and broken windows? Toward defining the role of physical structure and process in community crimemodels. Sociological Quarterly, 45(2), 185“207.
Silver, E., & Miller, L. L. (2004). Sources of informal social control in Chicago neighborhoods. Criminology, 42(3), 551
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014d). Sociological theories of criminal behavior I [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Dr. Charis Kubrin discusses sociological theories of crime. Think about the different sociological theories she presents and how these theories are explained.

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

 
Assignment: Social Control Theory
Social control theory, when applied to the study of criminal behavior, examines the social rules and contracts that influence individual behavior. Social control may be both informal and formal. Informal controls are interwoven with social values, community expectations, and the unwritten social contracts by which communities abide. Alternately, formal social control describes the social laws, rules, and punishments that address behavior that is considered antisocial or criminal.
Social control is effective in preventing criminal behavior when individuals feel connected to a community, a family, or another social entity to which they also feel accountable. On the other hand, it tends not to be effective when individuals feel disconnected from family and community. In fact, the theory contends that criminal behavior flourishes when these links to conventional community standards are broken or missing.
To prepare for this Assignment:

Review the article, Sources of Informal Social Control in Chicago Neighborhoods, paying attention to various sources of informal social control. Also consider why methods of social control may develop in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Search the Internet and select a peer-reviewed article that addresses issues of social control.

Assignment (1“2 pages):

Analyze the degree to which social control theory explains engagement in criminal behavior.
Analyze the degree to which social control theory explains the prevention of criminal behavior.
Based on your analysis, explain how useful control theory might be for understanding and explaining the nature of criminal behavior.

Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the resources for this course.
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