ABSTRACT
Authors do not always choose the titles of their books, although they must of course approve them. Causes of Delinquency is the title hit upon by Grant Barnes of the University of California Press for Hirschi's dissertation titled, “Infraction as Action: A Study of the Antecedents of Illegal Acts.” To some, this title was in direct conflict with the contents of the book, which emphasizes controls or restraints on delinquency. Because Hirschi had examined the logic of causal thought before writing Causes (see Chapters 1 and 2 above), he did not agree with this assessment. In “Causes and Prevention,” he responds to this criticism and in the process demonstrates the compatibility of control theory and causal analysis.—JHL/TH
