Abstract
The present study represents an attempt to expand Hirschi's social control theory of delinquency causation to include adult misdemeanant offenders on probation; in addition, the study proposed to see if social control theory can provide a theoretical framework for probation prediction studies. A quota sample of 328 cases was drawn from a population of 3,320 closed case files in three Florida counties where misdemeanant probation supervision was provided by a vendor agency from the private sector. The authors hypothesized that various measures of three bonding elements (attachment, commitment and involvement) were positively associated with conformity (successfulprobation outcome). Results indicated qualified support for several of the hypotheses with education and time on present job emerging as salient variables. Analysis of the data directed attention to several methodological problems and suggestions for future research.
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