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26 Deviant Behav. 1 (2005)

handle is hein.journals/devbh26 and id is 1 raw text is: Deviant Behavior, 26: 1-24, 2005 Taylor & Francis Copyright () Taylor & Francis Inc. Taylor&FrancisGroup ISSN: 0163-9625 print/1521-0456 online DOL 10.1080/01639620490497947 can low self-control help with the understanding of the software piracy problem? George E. Higgins Department of justice Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA Computer crime-specifically, software piracy-is growing, and no research in criminology examines whether low self-control can help us understand the behavior. This study examines the link that Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) idea of low self-control has with software piracy. Using a nonrandom sample of college students and measures of low self-contro, software pirating peers, software pirating attitudes, and moral beliefs toward software piracy, the findings show that low self-control has a link with software piracy. This finding expands the scope of self-control theory and provides an understanding of why the behavior occurs. Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) General Theory of Crime, now known as self-control theory, provides a substantial ad- vance in a long history of self-control theory in criminology (see Reckless 1961; Reiss 1951). Since its presentation over 13 years ago, Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) theory has become a leadingcrime theory (see Agnew 1995). Criminol- ogists often cite the theory (see Cohn and Farrington 1999), Received 18 January 2004; accepted 25 May 2004. Address correspondence to George E. Higgins, Department of Justice Administration, University of Louisville, 208 Brigman Hall, Louisville, KY 40292. E-mail: gehigg0l@gwise. louisville.edu I