Self-Control and Crime Over the Life Course

What exactly is self-control, and what life outcomes does it affect? What causes a person to have high or low self-control to begin with? What effect does self-control have on crime and other harmful behavior?      

Using a clear, conversational writing style, Self-Control and Crime Over the Life Course answers critical questions about self-control and its importance for understanding criminal behavior. Authors Carter Hay and Ryan Meldrum use intuitive examples to draw attention to the close connection between self-control and the behavioral choices people make, especially in reference to criminal, deviant, and harmful behaviors that often carry short-term benefits but long-term costs. The text builds an overall theoretical perspective that conveys the multi-disciplinary nature of modern-day self-control research. Moreover, far from emphasizing only theoretical issues, the authors place public policy at the forefront, using self-control research to inform policy efforts that reduce the societal costs of low self-control and the behaviors it enables.

Carter Hay is a professor and the director of graduate studies in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. His articles, chapters, and books have focused on the causes and consequences of crime and deviance over the life course, with a special focus on self-control and its early in life precursors.