This research tests Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime as an explanation for gender differences in the delinquency of approximately 2,000 Canadian secondary school students. Separate psychological factors, including a preference for risk seeking, impulsivity, temper, present oriented, and carelessness, are used as measures of self‐control, and additional measures of the construct are taken from the frequency of self‐reported smoking and drinking. Elements of delinquent opportunity are controlled for by including measures of parental/adult super‐vision. These measures and their interactions are used to predict self‐reported general delinquency, property offenses, violence, and drug offenses. Results provide partial support for the general theory, revealing relationships between measures of self‐control and delinquency that vary by magnitude across genders and for different offense types. Implications for the generality of the theory are discussed.

Using data obtained from three different sources, principles derived from routine activities theory are used to predict the distribution of minor property crimes in a medium-sized Canadian city during a 1-year period. Mischief and vandalism incidents recorded by the local police, transit department, and department of parks and recreation are aggregated by census enumeration area using mapping software, and analyzed in relation to three sets of predictors: (1) neighborhood demographic characteristics; (2) the proximity of shopping malls; and (3) the proximity of public and Catholic senior and junior high schools. Similar patterns observed for the three types of damage are examined in relation to the convergence of potential offenders, reduced guardianship, and increased opportunity as derived from routine activities theory.

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Self-control and strain perspectives are widely viewed as independent and contrasting explanations for crime and delinquency. This paper re-evaluates the competing paradigms approach by considering the two theories as potentially complementary in explaining participation in delinquency based on Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) assumption that self-control acts as a barrier to criminal behaviour. If such a claim is valid, one would hypothesize that individuals with high self-control would be able to mediate the effects of strain and refrain from engaging in delinquent activities. In contrast, adolescents with low self-control may not be equipped with the necessary constraints to abstain from delinquency and would therefore exhibit the greatest criminal propensities. A significant interaction term would support such claims. Data from a sample of over 2,000 adolescents attending junior and senior high schools in a western Canadian city were analysed to determine the independent and contextual effects of self-control and strain on involvement in delinquent behaviour. Results suggest that both self-control and strain are important contributors to delinquency, but in an additive and not an interactive way. Such results do not seem to provide support for claims made by control theorists, who would no doubt argue that the effects of strain should be conditioned by low self-control.

This article considers the impact of police officers' education in relation to a single type of"critical incident," one in which suspects appeared to be mentally ill. Data are taken from interviews of officers with three different levels of education: high school only, some college or university, and a university degree. The research considers whether officers with different educational levels reported handling cases differently, after controlling for officers' gender, age, and experience, in addition to suspect- and incident-specific factors, including substance abuse and the psychiatric criteria for referral for mental health evaluation. The incident outcome is used as the dependent variable, with possible outcomes including arrest, psychiatric referral, or informal resolution to the incident. Findings indicate that education significantly influenced reported dispositions, with university-educated officers more likely to report the use of a psychiatric referral than officers with other educational backgrounds.