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| Introduction: A General Theory of Crime and Delinquency | |
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| Why I Wrote This Book and What I Hope to Accomplish | |
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| The Questions a General Theory of Crime Must Answer | |
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| A General Theory | |
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| That Answers | |
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| These Questions | |
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| Runs the Risk of Being | |
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| Too Complex | |
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| My Approach to Constructing a General Theory of Crime | |
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| What the Theory Is Designed to Explain | |
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| Testing and Applying the Theory | |
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| Acknowledgments: The General Theory | |
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| Is Built on the Work of Numerous Others | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| Crime Is Most Likely | |
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| When the Constraints Against | |
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| Crime Are Low and the Motivations for Crime Are High | |
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| Constraints Against Crime | |
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| The Motivations for Crime | |
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| Long-lasting and Situational | |
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| Constraints and Motivations | |
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| Is Crime Influenced by Factors Other | |
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| Than Constraints and Motivations? | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| A Range of Individual and Social Variables Affect the Constraints | |
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| Against and the Motivations for Crime | |
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| The Dominant Strategy for Grouping the Causes of Crime Into a Smaller Number of Categories | |
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| An Alternative Strategy for Grouping the Causes of Crime Into a Smaller Number of Categories | |
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| The Key Variables in the Five Life Domains | |
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| The Relative Importance of the Life Domains at Different Stages in the Life Course | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| The Web of Crime | |
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| The Life Domains Affect One Another | |
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| Although Some Effects Are Stronger Than Others | |
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| The Effects of the Self (Irritability and Low Self-Control) on the Other Life Domains | |
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| The Effect of the Family (Poor Parenting and No/Bad Marriages) on the Other Life Domains | |
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| The Effect of School (Negative School Experiences and Limited Education) on the Other Life Domains | |
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| The Effect of Peers (Peer Delinquency) on the Other Life Domains | |
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| The Effect of Work (Unemployment and Bad Jobs) on the Other Life Domains | |
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| Summary: The Effects of the Life Domains on One Another Over the Individual''s Life | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| Crime Affects Its ''Causes'' and Prior Crime Affects Subsequent Crime | |
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| The Effect of Crime on the Life Domains | |
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| The Direct Effect of Prior Crime on Subsequent Crime | |
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| The Effect of Prior Crime on Subsequent Crime Depends on the Reaction to Crime and the Characteristics of the Criminal | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| The Causes of Crime Interact in Affecting Crime and One Another | |
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| The Core Propositions of the General Theory (Up to Now) | |
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| The Causes of Crime Interact in Affecting Crime and One Another | |
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| General Principle: A Cause Is More Likely to Lead to Crime When Other Causes Are Present | |
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| Some Illustrative Interactions | |
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| The Life Domains Interact in Affecting One Another | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| The Causes Tend to Have Contemporaneous and Nonlinear Effects on Crime and One Another | |
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| Effects Are Largely Contemporaneous in Nature, Although Each Cause Has a Large, Lagged Effect on Itself | |
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| Effects Are Nonlinear | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| The Life Domains Are Influenced by a Range of Outside Factors, Including Biological and Environmental Factors | |
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| Outside Factors That Affect the Life Domains | |
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| A Note on Larger Social and Cultural Influences | |
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| An Overview of the General Theory of Crime | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| Using the General Theory to Explain Group Differences in Crime | |
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| How Might the General Theory Explain Group Differences in Crime Rates | |
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| Explaining Age Differences in Crime | |
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| Explaining Sex Differences in Crime | |
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| Explaining ''Life-Course Persistent'' and ''Adolescent-Limited'' Offending | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| Testing the General Theory | |
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| Testing the Core Propositions of the General Theory | |
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| Summary | |
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| Discussion and Study Questions | |
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| Recommendations for Controlling Crime | |
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| How Effective Is the ''Get Tough'' Approach to Controlling Crime? | |
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| How to Make Arrest and Official Sanctions More Effective | |
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| Rehabilitation and Prevention Programs | |
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| Some General Guidelines for Rehabilitation and Prevention Programs | |
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| The General Theory as an Integrated Theory of Crime | |
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| Considers a Broad Range of Variables | |
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| Considers a Broad Range of Intervening Mechanisms | |
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| Groups the Specific Causes of Crime Into Cluster | |