Social control theory has become one of the most widely accepted explanations in the field of criminology in its attempt to account for crime rates and deviant behavior. Unlike theories that seek to explain why people engage in deviant behavior, social control theories approach deviance from a different angle, asking why people refrain from violating established norms, rules, and morals. The theory seeks to explain how normative systems of rules and obligations in a given society serve to maintain a strong sense of social cohesion, order, and conformity to widely accepted and established norms. At the heart of this theory is a perspective that deviant behavior is much more likely to occur when social constraints and connections between the individual and the rest of society are either weak or simply absent. The bonds that deter crime are strengthened by the relationships between the individual and social institutions such as family, schools, justice/police systems, etc. Here, crime and delinquency become simply the product of the systematic failure of social control over the deviant individual. Although social control theory places great emphasis on normative morality in a given society, it nevertheless presupposes variations in the morality of a given society. Hypotheses derived from social control theory, such as self-control theory, view crime as the result of lack of personal self-control (rather than societal control) over deviant desires, abnormal personality attributes and antisocial constitutions. Nonetheless, social control theory emphasizes the idea that members of a society are likely to commit delinquent or criminal acts when the forces that restrict such acts middle of paper...... Erica have widely implemented these practices as viable methods of deterring crime. The result may have in part produced overwhelming rates of incarceration and post-incarceration recidivism. Although the correlative relationship between the four variables can explain some crimes, it is difficult to believe that the four variables can explain all crimes. Presumably, those who commit financial crimes on the scale of Bernie Maddoff are often strongly attached to authority figures, committed to normative aspirations, and deeply involved and engaged in conventional behavior for most of their lives. However, these crimes still occur. Furthermore, the theory seems to simply transform weak social ties into the cause of deviant behavior, as opposed to its opposite; thus, this circular logic does not seem to make any substation development in reference to why such events occur.