Testing the boundaries: Dating violence and the General Theory of Crime

Abstract

This dissertation, "Testing the Boundaries: Intimate Violence and the General Theory of Crime" is a test of the General Theory of Crime regarding intimate violence. The investigation is three pronged. I test the applicability of the General Theory to explain the causal structure of intimate violence, intimate offending risks and risks of intimate victimization. Additionally, the meaning for both learning theory and control theory in criminology concerning the link between witnessing parental violence and later delinquent acts is discussed. This current work fills two gaps in the field of contemporary criminology. First, few studies of intimate violence have been undertaken from a criminological, control perspective. Second, this investigation attempts to extend the General Theory to predict victimization risks. The results of the analyses clearly support the applicability of applying the General Theory of Crime to explain dating violence and general crime.