Paper Summary:

The paper explains the principle of social bonding, a core component of social control theory, and how it creates pressure to conform to acceptable standards of behavior. The paper then explains how routine activities and lifestyle theory present crime in terms of opportunism, the individual choices that increase or decrease risk factors for crime. The paper concludes that different patterns in male and female behavior are due at least in part to the social bonds men and women create, differences in desire to conform, and to different opportunities for deviance.

From the Paper:

" As Steffensmeier & Allan (1996) point out, "men offend at much higher rates than women for all crime categories except prostitution," (p. 460). Official crime statistics substantiate the universal truth that men commit more crimes more frequently than women. The gender gap in crime is more pronounced for violent than for property crimes. Criminological statistics provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program are shocking, showing a definite, distinct gender gap in criminal behavior. Psychological and sociological theories including social control theory and routine activities theory explain core variables that impact the gender gap in criminal behavior."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chapple, C.L., McQuillan, J.A., & Berdahl, T.A. (2004). Gender, social bonds, and delinquency: a comparison of boys' and girls' models. Social Science Research 34(2005): 357-383.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (2005). Crime in the United States: Ten Year Arrest Trends. Table 33. Retrieved Aug 1, 2008 from http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_33.html
• Smith, D.A. & Paternoster, R. (1987). The gender gap in theories of deviance: Issues and evidence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 24(2): 140-172.
• Steffensmeier, D. & Allan, E. (1996). Gender and crime: Toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annual Review of Sociology. 22: 459-487.

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