Crim. Essay On Travis Hirschi

Criminology Essay

The holidays are approaching and many children are making their annual Christmas lists for mom and dad. Dad is hanging the lights on the house while mom is decorating the house with ornaments. The kids are dreaming of the morning they wake up and mom and dad are sitting next to the tree on Christmas morning with smiles of invitation. Well those dreams ceased for me at the age of eight, and for the most part I never really I had a chance to begin that dream. Growing up in a single parent house was hard enough, but I was young and things like who had the nicest clothes and cars didn't matter to me so I was happy in my youth. My family was important to me. My two brothers and my mom were all I needed. Until that day came to an end day when my mother past away from aids. Working as a nurse to insure the health and quality of other peoples lives she became infected. Now only eight, not knowing my father because he was taken from me before I was even born by a bullet. My two brothers who the oldest eighteen and the middle sixteen and I are now on our own.

Travis Hirschi asked why do people not commit crimes. He believed that people avoided delinquent acts because of there ties to social institutions. This theory he speaks about is called Social Bond Theory. At this time in my life I was left without anyone to draw a bond with. For around a year and a half I was moved from five different foster homes never creating that bond with the families that was needed to prevent delinquency. The whole time I also had been to three different schools because for bad behavior. At this stage in my life it is easy to see that Hirschi's theory of social bond was prevalent. Hirschi states there are four elements to this theory, those being attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment being the more important element focuses on how much we care about the opinions of the social groups around us. This in turn leads to respect for those who are influential on our lives. As a child it was important for me to feel that I was accomplishing things for others and making them proud. None of this mattered though because there was no one for me to feel respect for or to feel as if I was successful. This is why I turned to deviance in school and at the houses I was in. If I didn't feel sensitive to the view the families and schools were placing on me I felt no need to obey their rules. Which leads to the next element of the theory.

Commitment which relates to the amount of energy or investment a person would put into their goals in life. What goals did I have at eight? With no mother or father to welcome me home from school. No siblings around to share feelings or interests with. At eight there was no one telling me education was important in a foster home. At this time in my life the only thing I was being told was your lucky someone let you move into their house so you better listen to them. I saw no future for myself so there was no point making goals or investing energy in something that was not existent. So instead I was a trouble maker still causing problems in school and at home. This element has some similarities to the next element which is involvement.

This refers to the belief that the more time you spend on your goals in life then the time you have to be deviant. Well I had all the time in the world to be deviant. In fourth grade I spent a year in a behavioral disorder classes because the schools felt this was my problem and placing me in a classroom full of people without any goals in life, but since the had to be