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James Bulger's Criminological Theory

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To be quite honest, I have never heard of James”Whitey” Bulger, and I was born and raised in the city of Boston. My family has resided in Boston since the early 1970’s and they have never mentioned him. Therefore, in order to write this paper and actually know who is James “Whitey” Bulger, I watched the recent film Black Mass which is based on his story. I found the Bulger story to be quite terrifying and unbelievable, I believe the film did a great job portraying his life as a gangster in Boston. Bulger story gives a perfect demonstration of the criminological theories we have discussed in class. I find that Bulger story best represents the disorganization theory of Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, although, it lacks the representation of Travis Hirschi's self control theory. Unlike his brother William “Billy” Bulger, who turned out to be a successful politician, lawyer, and educator, James Bulger was involved with criminal acts since he was a young lad. Although, they were both born and raised in South Boston, a dangerous and unstable …show more content…

Most crimes, they argue, are simple to commit, require no long-term planning, and provide few long-term benefits. In addition, this theory implies that individuals who were inadequately parented before the age of eight develop less self-control than individuals of approximately the same age who were raised with better parenting. Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that parents must monitor their children, recognize bad behavior, and correct this bad behavior. If self-control has not developed by ages eight to ten, they argue, it is not likely to develop. As a result, research have indicated that low levels of self-control are relevant to criminal and impulsive

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