The age-graded theory of informal social control, introduced by Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub in Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life (1993), holding that the strength of an individual's informal social bonds to family, school and, in adulthood, marriage and employment explains both persistence in and desistance from offending across the life course.
Facts
Core ClaimThe strength of an individual's informal social bonds, more than any fixed childhood trajectory, explains offending and desistance across the life course, so a strong adult turning point, such as marriage, military service or employment, can redirect even a persistent offender. 1 Standing CritiqueRaymond Paternoster and colleagues argued in 1997 that the theory could be read as a general theory of crime, a classification some scholars dispute given its tension with Gottfredson and Hirschi's rival general theory built on stable early-childhood self-control rather than changeable adult bonds. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
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Informed By
The age-graded theory extends Hirschi's social bond account across the life course, treating adult bonds as capable of changing an established trajectory.
Sources
1. SAGE Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory: Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
SAGE Publicationsp. 806Quote, p. 806
In 1993, Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub joined the fray by introducing a compelling new age-graded theory of informal social control in their book Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life. This theory has become the leading life-course theory of crime.
1. SAGE Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory: Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
SAGE Publicationsp. 807Quote, p. 807
Their age-graded theory integrates the life-course perspective with social control theory to meet this challenge.
1. SAGE Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory: Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
SAGE Publicationsp. 811Quote, p. 811
Laub and Sampson identify three causal factors that affect offending patterns for all people both directly and in interaction: social controls, routine activities, and human agency.
Laub and Sampson 2001: Understanding Desistance from Crime
John H. Laub and Robert J. Sampson, University of Chicago Press (Crime and Justice, vol. 28)Associated With: Desistance, AbstractQuote, Associated With: Desistance, Abstract
A life-course perspective provides the most compelling framework, and it can be used to identify institutional sources of desistance and the dynamic social processes inherent in stopping crime.
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