Self-control, violent offending, and homicide victimization: Assessing the general theory of crime

Abstract

Criminologists have long recognized that offending and victimization share common ground. Using Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime, with its emphasis on self-control as a theoretical backdrop, we examine the extent to which self-control is related to both violent offending and homicide victimization. To examine this issue, we use 5-year post-parole data on violent offending and homicide victimization from a sample of parolees from the California Youth Authority. Using rare-events logistic regression models, results indicate that self-control is related to each outcome, but that other risk factors are also uniquely related to each outcome. The implications of this study for theory and future research are addressed. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.