ABSTRACT
A few years after the publication of A General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990), Grasmick et al. (1993) suggested that the book "is sure to generate important theoretical debates and research" (p. 5). Undoubtedly, they were correct in their prediction, as Cohn and Farrington
(1998) recently identified both Hirschi and Gottfredson as the two most cited authors in a combined ranking of the top three criminology and the top three criminal justice journals, largely due to the publication of their book. Gottfredson and Hirschi's theoretical propositions and associated empirical tests continue to permeate both criminological and criminal justice literature in the United States as well as abroad (for comprehensive discussions ofthe theory, see, e.g., Cohen and Vila 1995; Grasmick et al. 1993; Hirschi and Gottfredson 1995).
