Catch Me If You Can

Abstract In this paper, I will be discussing the different criminal justice theories found in the movie Catch Me if You Can staring Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr, and Tom Hanks as FBI Agent Carl Hanratty. Some of the themes I will be discussing include Rational Choice Theory, Critical Criminology Theory, Social Learning Theory, Neutralization Theory, and Social Control Theory.

Delaine Songe
11/13/2012
Criminal Justice Theory
CJ 325
Karla Pope
Catch Me if You Can
Catch Me if You Can is a movie based off the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr, who impersonated a Pan Am Air pilot, a pediatric doctor, and a lawyer, and accumulated over 2.8 million
He also passes the bar exam to become a lawyer after Brenda introduces him to her parents as such. He eventually has to run again, however because both the firm and Carl are putting pressure on him. He assumes his pilot identity again. In the beginning of the film, with the game show, fake Frank 1 says that the reason he chose to pretend to be each of these professions was because he was young and needed money, and that, instead of actually trying to legally go through the training to BE a pilot, doctor, or lawyer was because it seemed easier than to go through all that trouble. Another theory that I see present in this movie is Social Control Theory. Social Control Theory is when people commit illegal acts when the bindings of the society they live in are either weakened or broken. When we see Frank when he was younger, he was in a good school living in a big house with his American veteran father and French mother. His father was a part of the rotary club and was inducted as a lifetime member, giving him great status in the community. However, he had problems with the IRS, and was denied a business loan. This led them to give up their house and move into a much smaller apartment. While this isn’t considered illegal, Paula, Frank’s mother cheated on her husband, Frank Sr., with his best friend and eventually filed for a divorce so she could marry his friend. This was largely due to the fact that she was used to living a larger life with