Criminology
The body of knowledge viewing and analyzing crime as a social phenomenon... Goals are scientific: a body of general and verified principles and knowledge regarding law, crime and treatment.
Why do we study criminology?
Because it serves a purpose to the community (in order to stop crime we must first understand it) and because it directly/in-directly impacts all of us through the CJS.
What are big issues within crime?
Inequality, problems with institutions such as schools, correctional facilities, domestic violence or lack of support, sensationalized media (over coverage), lack of political will to make REAL changes and a lack of programs meant to prevent crime rather
Why is the media leading to a heightened sense of danger?
The media only tends to report stories that are bound to attract viewers, which are usually focused more on extreme crimes such as murder or assault... Basically if it bleeds, it leads. This creates a negative outlook on the CJS, leading to distrust and f
Norms
Informal rules that govern behaviour... Folkways are informal norms with informal penalties for not following them such as disapproval of others.
Laws
Formal, written down rules and regulations.
Crime
An act that violates the criminal law and is punishable by fines, jail time, or other penalties.
Julia Schwendinger (1970)
Everyone should have the same rights and any acts violating or denying these rights should be considered crimes. Believes that those in power have too much say on what is law. Her theory: The law is biased against the poor.
The Continuum of Crime and Deviance
There are 3 Dimensions of the crime continuum:
1. The degree of consensus that an act is wrong (Does everyone agree that it's a crime?)
2. The severity of society's response to that act.
3.The amount of harm caused by that act.
The Four Major Categories of Crime and Deviance are...
Consensus crimes, conflict crimes, social deviation, social diversions.
How is crime socially defined?
The definition of crime itself is mutable and different from place to place. Actions are not inherently good or bad so it depends on how people see them. One must consider the context of crimes (where, when, who is involved, etc.)
What is the relativity of crime?
Rules changes, so what constitutes crime changes. The distinction between criminal and noncriminal is ambiguous (open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning).
Consensus Theory
Law represents a consensus among people within a society about what acts should be prohibited by the criminal law.
Conflict Theory
Recognizes law through political processes, involves conflict between interest groups and social classes.
Criminology
Body of knowledge viewing and analyzing crime as a social phenomenon
Criminology is a Process of
Making Laws, Breaking Law, Reacting to breaking of laws
Medias Results on Public Perceptions
Amount of crime is overestimated; fear of crime higher than victimization; calls for gov't to tighten laws
Areas of Criminoloy
Def'n of Crime and Criminals; Origins and Role of the Law; Social Distribution of Crime; Causation of Crime; Patterns of Criminal Behaviour; Societal Reactions to Crime
Definition of Crime and Criminals
Area of Criminology; which acts are defined as crimes
Social Distribution of Crime
Area of Criminology; what types of people commit stand temporal regional trends
Causation of Crime
Area of Criminology; Central concern of the text
Societal Reactions to Crime
Area of Criminology; operation of the Criminal Justice System
Norms
informal rules that govern behaviour; internalized (follow subconsciously)
Laws
Formal rules and regulations which exist as order
Legal Def'n of Crime
Act which violates the criminal law and is punishable by fines/jail/other penalties
White Collar Crime
Middle-Upper class persons in the course of business; usually not considered a violation of criminal law
Sutherland
Theorist who felt criminologists should study white collar crime as a crime because of the harm it causes
Julia Schwendiger
Theorist who believed in a much broader definition of crime which is based on rights everyone should have; crime based on human rights; law is biased against poor
Hagan
Theorist who believed in the mediocre definition of crime; crime encompasses acts; proposed crime and deviance be considered as a continuum
3 Dimensions: Hagan (crime and deviance as a continuum from most serious-least serious acts)
Degree of Consensus that an act is wrong; severity of response to act; amount of harm caused by act
4 Major Categories of Crime and Deviance
Consensus Crime; Conflict Crime; Social Deviations; Social Diversions
Relativity of Crime
Rules change, so what constitutes crime changes; distinction between criminal and non-criminal=ambiguous
Consensus Theory
Law represents a consensus among people about what acts should be prohibited by criminal law; law is a codification of values supported by members of a society; board agreement
Conflict Theory
Reject consensus theory; theorist see law as a tool by ruling class to maintain their privileged position; recognize law process through political process
Green Criminology
new branch of the constantly changing discipline of crime; actions that are socially harmful should be considered crimes (pollution, clear-cutting)
Terrorism Studies
New area of criminology; criminologists have looked at recruitment and training of terrorists, organization, links to crime, and how to prevent it
3 Reasons Why it is Important to know about crime
1) social scientists believe it is essential to learn more about all aspects of our social life; 2) need to realize crime before we can reduce it; 3) crime directly & indirectly affects us all
Human Rights
Minimum conditions required for a person to live a dignified life
Hunting and Gather Societies
Societies that preserved harmony through cooperation, mutual aid and kinship
Modern Law
Requires existence of a central body/state. Creates and enforces laws
Elder's Councils
Part of the transformation from small-scale society to the state; dealt with legal, political, economic and administrative functions, decisions were supposed to be in pursuit of what was best for community
Chieftainships
Part of the transformation from small-scale society to the state; Highest political authority in a community; Chief expected to demonstrate proficiency at speaking and be very wise in both knowledge and customs
Social Organization of small-scale society
Needs for self-restraint; mutual benefit (little surplus); a community of belief
Paramount Chieftainships
Part of the transformation from small-scale society to the state; similar to kingdoms; chief able to exert control over a much larger region and population
English Feudal System
Helped produce modern state system; based on agrarian mode of production; lords and their laws took over dispute settlement
State
Defined by Max Weber, state is an institution that claims the exclusive right to the legitimate exercise of force in a given terrify through the use of police to enforce laws or the army to maintain stability
Collective Solidarity
A state of social bonding or interdependence that rest on similarity of beliefs and values, shared activities, and ties of kinship and cooperation among members of a community
Feudalism
A system of economic and social organization found historically in several areas of the world. Economic foundation of the system was the feudal manor that included a central farm owned by a landlord and small land holdings for a class or bonded farm labou
Serfs
Individuals who were required to work the central manorial farm and to provide the lord with produce and money payments in return for their to use land (Part of Feudalism)
Common Law: Modern State System
tradition found in English Canada, derives from feudal England, where it had become the practice for the king to resolve disputes in accordance with local custom
Crime
Conduct that is prohibited by law and subject to a penal sanction (may or may not be a consensus)
Criminal Law Factors
Definitions of Crimes; Specification of punishments; general principles of criminal responsibility; defences to a criminal charge
Federal Legislation
Under the Constitution Act of 1867, Parliament has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal law and procedures
Public Evil
Behaviour that has an injurious affect on the Canadian public; SCC ruled that every passed by federal government must be directed against this
Quasi-Criminal Law
Regulatory Legislation, lacks element of public evil; laws that are concerned with orderly regulation of activities; are not "true crimes"; far less serious (max. penalties of fines/imprisonment of 6 months of both)
Judge-Made Criminal Law
Judicial decisions that interpret criminal legislation or expound the common law; Charter empowers judges to declare invalid any legislation that infringes on an individuals Charter rights
Common Law
judge made law that evolves in areas not covered by legislation
3 Actus Reus Elements
1) Conduct (voluntary act/omission); 2) Surrounding of "Mater Circumstances"; 3) Consequences of Voluntary Conduct
Exceptions to Actus Reus
1) perjury does not require proof of consequences; 2) possession of housebreaking instruments does not require act; 3) failure to act is criminal if intentions present
Mens Rea
Refers to the mental elements of the crime; person must understand and intend the consequences of act
Subjective Mens Rea
Have to show in most serious cases; 1) accused deliberately intended to bring about consequences prohibited by law; 2) Accused subjective realized they conduct might bring about such consequences but proceeded anyways; 3) Accused willfully blind->delibera
Objective Mens Rea
Person convicted because a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have appreciated their act of conduct created a risk of harm
Strict Liability
Regulatory offences are considered to be offences of this; onus is on accused (to show he/she was not negligent), accused assumed to know regulations
Absolute Liability
Most regulatory offences used to be this; no opportunity for the accused to argue he/she did all they could to comply
Party to a Criminal Offence
Aiding or abetting (encouraging) a person puts one on same footing as the person who commits the crime; agreeing to a common purpose with other to commit an offence
Inchoate Offences
Occurs when a person attempts to bring about a crime but in unsuccessful in doing so; some form of actions that manifest the intention to commit a crime
Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD)
Defence to a crime; one has to be able to appreciate the quality of an act or omission to know it was wrong
Mistake of the Fact
Defence to a crime; person involved made an honest mistake that resulted in crime
Intoxication
Defence to a crime; Only in state that prevented an individual from forming mens era; defence only for specific intent cases
Necessity
Defence to a crime; person commits a lesser crimine in order to prevent occurrence of greater crime; person has acted involuntarily from a moral viewpoint
Duress
Defence to a crime; Person must be subject to a threat of death or serious bodily harm; Court must agree that a reason person would've done the same->no obvious escape
Provocation
Defence to a crime; only a partial defence used only in the case of murder; successful=manslaughter; accused must have killed in "the heat of passion"-> b/c of provocation; sufficient enough to deprive ordinary person of self control
Self Defence
Defence to a crime; Unlawfully assaulted and did not provoke attack; no intention to inflict death or grievous bodily harm; force used no more than necessary
International Criminal Court
Court of last resort, trying grave crimes that national court are unwilling/unable to try
True Crime
Criminal Law directed toward the control of behaviour that is concerned to be inherently wrong; occurs when an individual engages in conduct that s not only prohibited by law but also constitutes a serious breach of community values
Coverage
Controversy over Counting Crime; need to find data on amount and nature of crime in a society
Crime Rate
Controversy over Counting Crime; calculation or amount of crime/100 000 of the population
Methodology
Controversy over Counting Crime; need to critically examine methods used to count crime
Reliability
Controversy over Counting Crime; consistency of results
Validity
Controversy over Counting Crime; Does tool measure crime, how accurately
Kapalan's Law
Hammer effect on theories; theorists develop theories on basis of information available
Units of Count
Needed this in order to change records into visible stats; what is being counted
Level of Aggregation
Needed this in order to change records into visible stats; how data are to be combined into national, provincial, city or other level
Definitions
Needed this in order to change records into visible stats; need consensus on what is being counted
Data Elements
Needed this in order to change records into visible stats; what exactly should be counted
Dark Figure of Crime
Crime that in unreported, unrecorded and largely known
Canadian Uniform Crime Reports
Designed to provide uniform, comparable and national stats on crime
UCR 1.0 Aggregate System
part of the Canadian uniform crime reports; collects summary information on almost 100 separate offences
UCR2 Incidence-Based Survey
part of the Canadian uniform crime reports; collected more detailed information on each incident, the victims, and the accused
Seriousness Rule
Only most serious crime is scored in an incident; inflates crime as percentage of total; includes attempted crimes
Victimization Surveys
Survey of a random sample of the population where respondents recall their experiences as a victim of crime; done every five years by stats Canada
Typical Victim
Young, single, male, unemployed, living an active social life
Self-Report Studies
Based on asking criminals questions about what they do and how often they do it; looks at relationship between social class and crime; internally consistent
Problems with Self-Report Studies
Focus on minor infractions compared to official data; do not survey hard core criminals
Ned Polsky
Theorist who argued that understanding of crime would never be significantly advanced if we relied on statistical data
3 Types of Criminal Justice Stats
1) Stats about Crimes/Criminals; 2) Stats about the CJS & its response to crime; 3) Stats about perceptions of crime and criminal justice
3 Concerns of Seriousness Rule
1) Deflates total crime count since less serious crimes are not counted; 2) Inflates serious crimes as proposition of total; 3) way in which seriousness is scored is problematic
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS)
a division of stats Canada formed in 1981, with a mandate to collect national data of crime and justice
Correlation
a relationship between at least 2 phenomena that are related or occur, or vary together
Positive Correlation
as one variable increases, so does the other
Negative correlations
As one variable increases, the other decreases
Causal Explanation
The inference that a change in one variable results from change in another variable
Correlation: Crime and Age
Crime is a young man's game; peak age for youth crime is between 13-15; age composition of the population affects crime rates
Maturational Reform
As adolescents move into adulthood, involvement in crime decreases; thesis suggests adolescence is a time of transition and marginality; as youth's move into adulthood, this results in them=more to lose
Greenburg
Theorist who believed age segregation results in strong peer influence; poor teen labour market and need for money=theft; as teen leaves school, motivations reduce as does crime
Hirshci and Gottredson
Theorists believed age-crime correlation exists at all times
Correlation: Sex and Crime
self-report data claim narrowing of gender gap; violent crime still mostly performed by males
Convergence Hypothesis (From Role Theory)
as social roles of sexes become more equal, differences in criminal behaviour should diminish
Steffenmeiser
Theorist who believed woman still remain in jobs with limited access to illegitimate opportunities; woman still have primary child care responsibilities
Johnson
Theorist who believed there are increases in female property crime due to their economic deprivation and marginality and more formal policing
Correlation: Race and Crime
Canada race information has not been routinely collected in official police data; incarcerated persons represent visible minorities; Aboriginal overrepresentation noticed since 1967
Correlation: Social Class and Crime
People with less money; lower occupational status and less schooling are disproportionately represented in CJS
Cultural Explanation
An explanation for crime that is phrased in terms of the values and beliefs of a society
Structural Explanation
An explanation for crime that focuses on social structure (refers to poverty, inequality, power differentials)
Right To Recognition
One core right of victim; each and every victim must be recognized in the criminal justice system
Right To Information
One core right of victim; each victim must be made aware of services available that can help them with the harm inflicted
Right To Assistance
One core right of victim; each victim but be informed of the services that can provide assistance to them, these services must be adequately funded
Right To Reparation
One core right of victim; victims can be entitled to financial recovery, either from restitution from victim or reparation from the state
Right To Be Protected from Accused
One core right of victim; not just through incarceration
Right To Participation and Representation
One core right of victim; in the legal process, victims must be defended based on their best interest
Right to Effective Policies to Reduce Victimization
One core right of victim; Government must enforce polices that prevent 1st time victimization/repetitive victimization
Right to Implementation
One core right of victim; Must be a remedy if rights are not adequately implementd
What are the sources of Criminal Law in Canada?
The Federal Government, The Supreme Court of Canada, The Criminal Code, any Acts or legislative regulations (quasi-criminal offences), and from judicial decisions.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that criminal law must be...
Directed against forms of behaviour that create a "public evil" or put society as a whole in harm.
What does the Criminal Code do?
It defines the nature of various criminal acts and the legal elements that must be present for convictions, outlines both the procedures that must be followed in prosecuting a case, along with the powers and limitations of CJS officials, and makes the dis
Who decides how to proceed on hybrid offences?
The Crown chooses whether or not the criminal act should be tried as a summary or indictable offence.
What is "Quasi-Criminal Law"?
Is mostly concerned with the orderly regulation of activities instead of criminal offences with actual victims... penalties are far less serious... Max penalties of 6 months or less, or fines, or both.
What is Common Law?
Laws and defences stemming from a large body of judicial decisions that interpret criminal legislation or expound (to present and explain a theory or idea systematically and in detail) the common law.
What is the biggest impact the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has on the Criminal Code?
Judges must disregard any legislation that infringes on someone's fundamental rights (the presumption of innocence, right to not be deprived of life, liberty and security of person).
What is Section 1 of the Charter and why is it important?
This is the Reasonable Limits Clause where individual have to surrender their Charter rights if these individual rights puts society in some sort of danger. This is important because it puts no one above the law.
In order for an act to be considered a crime, there needs to be...
Both Mens Rea (a guilty mind) and Actus Reus (a guilty act).
The Three C's of Actus Reus are...
1. Conduct (voluntary act or omission, aka failing to act or provide the necessities of life)
2. Surrounding or "material circumstances" (lack of consent)
3. Consequences of voluntary conduct (non-trivial injury)
Mens Rea requires the Crown to prove that there was INTENT. What are the two types of Mens Rea?
Subjective Mens Rea (the accused intended to bring about the consequences that are prohibited by law, OR the accused was willfully blind or reckless, therefore ignoring the potential dangers) and Objective Mens Rea (conviction because reasonable people in
Who do not meet the standards for Objective Mens Rea?
The mentally disabled and children (they lack the ability to foresee consequences)
When can you be convicted of a crime you didn't physically commit?
Whenever you Aid and Abet (encourage a crime), agree to a Common Purpose with others to commit a crime, or commit an Inchoate Offence (occurs when someone attempts to bring about a crime but is unsuccessful in doing so... Involves attempt, conspiracy and
What are permissible defences to crime?
There are 9... Claiming you were either NCRMD, suffer from Automatism or Battered Woman Syndrome, or were provoked, intoxicated, under duress, or committed a crime out of necessity, mistake, or self-defence.
What is the NCRMD defence?
It means "Not Criminally Responsible due to a Mental Disorder"... Also known as the "insanity defence", in order to work one must not realize the quality or nature of an act or omission to know it was wrong. They must be suffering from a mental disorder o
What is the Automatism defence?
Claims that an action/crime was performed unconsciously or involuntarily... Works only if the accused had been recently concussed.
What is the Mistake of Fact defence?
When the accused made an honest mistake resulting in crime. This is NOT ignorance of law, for example, in sexual assault cases you must prove that you had consent. This could also happen if an official had previously told someone that something is not an
What is the Intoxication defence?
A common law defence where intoxication must have made the individual not capable of forming mens rea... In the case of specific intent crimes, a more complex pattern of thought is required. An example is R. v. Daviault (1994)... The accused was so extrem
What is the Necessity Defence?
When someone commits a lesser evil of a crime to avoid the occurrence of a greater evil. A common law defence where person is considered to have acted involuntarily from a moral viewpoint.
What is the Duress defence?
When someone subjected to threats, violence, constraints, or other action does something against their will or better judgment. Courts must agree that any other reasonable person would have acted likewise, and that there were no other obvious safe avenues
What is the Provocation defence?
When the accused was provoked into committing a crime. This is a partial defence to murder... Someone will still be found guilty, but not of first degree. Often committed in the "heat of passion"... there has to be a sufficient reason that would deprive a
When can Self-Defence be used as a reason?
A Criminal Code provision where the accused must have shown that they were unlawfully assaulted/did not provoke initial attack, that they used no more than necessary force and that they didn't intentionally inflict death or extreme bodily harm.
What is the Battered Woman Syndrome defence?
Defence used by woman stuck in abusive relationships suffering from a from of PTSD. A woman can be charged depending on what a "reasonable woman" would have done... She must have been in acute fear for her life.
The International Criminal Court, ratified in 2003 by over 114 countries, does what?
Prosecutes individuals for the gravest of crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met.
What are the controversies surrounding crime statistics?
Controversies question how consistent the results and info gathered actually are. Common questions include: How valid are these tools that measure crime? Will another researcher get similar results? Is it measuring crime, or something else?
What occurs in the Crime Funnel?
Not every crime reported can be tracked down... People are "spit" out of the funnel/CJS.
What is Kaplan's Law?
Theorists only develop theories on basis of the information available... Thought that the only criminal behaviour committed were by those already in prison.
What are the three types of statistics on crime?
1. Stats about crime and criminals.
2. Stats about the CJS and how it responds to crime.
3. Stats about the perceptions of crime and justice (community opinions)
In order to change data into usable statistics, we must define:
1. Units of Count (What is being counted?)
2. Level of Aggregation (Is it national, provincial or municipal?)
3. Definitions (Need a clear consensus on what to count... be specific about the parameters of the search)
What is the Dark Figure of Crime?
Crime that is not reported, unrecorded and largely unknown. Includes domestic abuse, sexual assault among crimes largely unreported... Why? Because there is no faith in the system or they believe its their fault.
What is UCR?
Canadian Uniform Crime Reports... Designed to provide uniform, comparable national statistics on crime. UCR 1.0 = Aggregate system collects summary info on almost 100 separate offences. UCR 2.0 = Incident based survey... Detailed info on each incident, vi
What does the CCJS reinforce?
The need for national commitment and strategies for collecting and sharing data.
Who have higher rates of crime, the young or the old? Male or female?
Younger males have higher rates of crime and this relationship is stable over time and across jurisdictions... Peak age for youths to commit crime is between 13 and 15 (crimes seem to diminish around 17 years old).
What is Maturational Reform?
There is much more to lose at an older age, so people seem to age out of crime.
What is Greenberg's thesis?
He saw that age segregation results in strong peer influence. Poor teen labour market and need for money to participate in activities result in theft and experiences including humiliation by teachers result in lashing back at system.
What is Hirschi and Gottfredson's thesis?
Historical research indicates the age-to-crime correlation exists all the time, so it is NOT the result of modern day, industrial society, and also that having a part time job increases crime, refuting Greenberg's thesis... OHHHH (burn).
Although crime rates for females are increasing, they are still substantially lower than the rates for men. Why might this be occurring?
People think that judges are less likely to convict females (being too "chivalrous").
What is the Convergence Hypothesis from Role Theory?
As social roles of sexes become more equal, differences in criminal behaviour should diminish.
In the US, race is used as an indicator for crime. Is this the same in Canada?
NOPE.
Why are victims seen as "orphans"?
Victims are called that because they're forgotten about. There is very little research about victimology (the idea that we should care more about victims along with giving them more rights while pining for the prevention of victimization as a whole).
What is the Zero Tolerance Policy?
Police must lay charges if there is domestic abuse.
What are the flaws of police data?
1. Many people do not report crime.
2. Police may not even record the report.
What is the purpose of Victimization Surveys?
To measure the prevalence and rate of reporting to the police (collected every 5 years)... GSS (General Social Survey) results are that 1/4th of Canadians are victimized by theft and assault each year, and that victims are most likely to be young, Aborigi
What are the needs of Crime victims? (Eight Core Values)
1. Right to Recognition (CJS understanding the victim and their rights)
2. Right to Information (about CJS processes)
3. Right to Assistance (access to victim services that are 4. crime specific and adequately funded)
4. Right to Reparation (financial rec
What happened in 1985?
The UN created a resolution that is considered the Magna Carta of victims, a go-to statement that discusses the standards of justice for victims of crime and abuse of power. The goal was to balance the rights of victims with those of the offenders.
What happened in Canada in 1967?
Saskatchewan began to provide compensation for victims of violent crimes.
What are Victim Fine Surcharges?
Fines that go towards funding victim-needs programs.
In what ways could a victim gain reparation?
Through restitution, civil suits, restorative justice measures and by compensation from the government.
What does the European Union do for victims in which Canada doesn't?
Victims have legal standing paid by the state and possess an actual voice in the matters... More than just giving a victim impact statement.
What are Waller's key components for a successful action plan?
Canada needs to model legislation with sections regarding support (recognition, information, assistance), justice (reparation, protection, participation and representation) and good government (policies to reduce victimization/endorse implementation)... B
What were pre-18th Century notions of crime largely influenced by?
Judeo-Christian beliefs concerning evil spirits and magic.
How was guilt tested?
Usually by trial, which included combat, ordeal or water/floating... It was believed that God took the side of the innocent, helping them to stay alive.
Why was there a transition from feudalism to capitalism?
Worsening economic situation for the growing masses, feudalism was unable to accommodate larger populations.
What was the Inquisition?
The Inquisition used religion to support the status quo by blaming social ills on the devil and other evil spirits; people in power claiming to have the ability to combat evil; calling anyone who challenged this a "heretic" and subjecting them to extreme
How did the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution challenge authority?
They changed how people thought about the world... People began to test things rather than just assume or go by what those in charge believed.
What was the Classical School and its beliefs?
The Classical School of thought was premised on the idea that people have free will in making decisions, and that punishment can be a deterrent for crime, so long as the punishment is proportional, fits the crime, and is carried out promptly.
What contributions were made to criminal law from the Classical School?
It attacked excesses and provided the foundation for the current CJS. It made sure that there was equality before the law, the guarantee of rights, separation of judicial and legislative systems, established fixed penalties and due process for safeguards,
What were the limitations of the Classical School?
Equal punishments did not allow for flexibility or personal considerations or mitigating circumstances. There was no discretion was allowed for judges which in itself allowed for injustice. The assumption that people are free and rational human beings ign
What was the Statistical School?
The school gathered statistical information to find a relationship between crime and factors. It discovered that crime is influenced by society and NOT the individual. It looked at structural factors/features of society like inequalities.
What is Positivism?
The belief that crime was the result of natural causes that could be discovered through scientific methods, and that this behaviour could be altered.
What was the Positive School?
It used scientific methods to compare criminals and non-criminals... It was influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution. Theories were accepted in the 19th century because it blamed the individual and NOT society.
What was Lombroso's theory concerning criminal behaviour?
He claimed that all prisoners were criminals and that someone's physical features could show that they had criminal tendencies.
What is a Stigmata?
Stigmata" means physical, anatomical characteristics determining if you were a criminal. Lombroso argued women had fewer stigmata's because of their maternal instincts.
What contributions did Lombroso make towards criminal law?
Despite his theories being extremely flawed, he called for different treatment of different criminals. He believed in probation, indeterminate sentences and more mitigating circumstances to be weighed in.
What were some early 20th century Biological Theories?
Criminals were socially/physically inferior and had lower intelligence. Believed that different body types such as endomorphs, mesomorphs and ectomorphs had different personality traits associated with each, and that criminality was genetically inheritabl
What are the five themes of moral development?
1. Moral knowledge
2. Socialization
3. Empathy
4. Responsibility vs. Conscience
5. Autonomy
What do Psychological Theories of Crime concern?
These theories believe a person's behaviour in a specific situation is correlated with their personality and what they have been taught. They usually entail:
1. An assumption of offender deficit
2. An assumption of discriminating traits (What does the off
Problems with the Psychological Theories of Crime?
There is little emphasis on the strengths of the offender, it ignores contextual factors on individual behaviour and it assumes people are either criminal or noncriminal. It blames the individual entirely, and not other societal factors.
What is Community Psychology?
Looks at individuals in a communal environment and acknowledges that other things play a role.
What was developed by Freud and what did it argue?
He developed Psychoanalytic Theory, which focuses on Three Forces of the Personality:
1. Id: biological, undisciplined drives
2. Ego: Directs the impulses of the Id and acts as a reality tester
3. Superego: Your conscience, highly disciplined.
Ego and Sup
What did Warren, Hindelang and Bowlby believe?
Warren and Hindelang believed that criminal behaviour is a form of neurosis... They suffer from the compulsive need to be punished to alleviate guilt/anxiety from unconscious strivings. Bowlby emphasized the importance of a stable attachment to the mother
What are the problems with Psychoanalytic Theory?
1. It is unstable because it relies on unobservable underlying constructs.
2. It is redundant/tautological... Causes are seen as explanations.
3. Not all criminals show guilt.
What do theories of Moral development focus on? What did Piaget believe?
How we develop our sense of morality and responsibility. Piaget believed that morality was developed in stages and that children go from egocentric (everything revolving around you) to cooperation (what's best for the group?)
What did Kohlberg believe?
Kohlberg determined that there are six stages of moral development everyone goes through (usually in order, but pace may vary and others may get stuck):
1.Pre-conventional level (roles and social expectations are external to the individual)
2. Conventiona
What is wrong with Kohlberg's theory?
It was biased against women, it was thought that women weren't capable of reaching the third level due to their "irrationality".
What was Eysenck's Theory of Crime and Personality?
Deviant behaviour is inherently reinforcing so children will only refrain if they're punished... There is a need to pair deviance with pain to stop criminal activities. Eysenck predicted that extraverted, neurotic and psychotic people were more likely to
What is Social Learning Theory?
It focuses on cognitive functioning... it is the ability to make choices. People learn new behaviours through modeling/role-taking. It is more strongly supported by empirical data than any other social psychological theory on crime and deviance.
Where does Bondura say aggression is learned from?
1. Family (abuse)
2. Subcultural influences (violence in neighbourhoods)
3. Symbolic meaning (violence in television and movies... there is much research surrounding the connection of violence and television or video games and how they desensitize audienc
According to Bondura, what is the best deterrent to crime?
Fear. Many law-abiding citizens overestimate their chances of getting caught and punished.
What is Operant Conditioning?
Based on the work of B.F. Skinner, who used rewards and punishments to increase the probability of a given response. This was used as a basis for attempts to change delinquents and criminals.
What is "Achievement Place"?
It is rewarding people for appropriate behaviour and punishing people for inappropriate behaviour. Points were given and deducted and bought privileges and goods... There were certainly positive short term effects, but long term ones are still in question
What is Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)?
Cluster of related terms, including psychopathy, sociopathy, and moral insanity. APD involves disregard for the rights of others, impulsive, irresponsible and aggressive behaviour.
What are the Antisocial Personality Disorder patterns of behaviour?
Begins in childhood (lying, stealing, fighting, etc.), continues into adolescence where there is early or aggressive sexual behaviour, drinking, drug use, etc. It eventually goes into adulthood, but extreme indications after age 30 diminish. Only 15-20% o
Who developed the "Psychopathy Checklist" that is still widely used today and what does it do?
Hare, and it is a strong predictor of violence and recidivism.
Where do high-functioning, intelligent psychopaths prosper in normal society?
The corporate world. Social manipulation makes them seem charismatic, and like all predators, they like actions and rewards. Corporations provide power, control, and the environment/opportunity for psychopaths to engage in exploitative interpersonal relat
Are all criminals mentally insane?
Teplin's review actually found that only 16-67% of inmates were in any way mentally ill, whereas 5-12% for severe mental illness. The majority of prisoners have substance abuse disorders, regarding alcohol and drugs, but are not conventionally mentally il
Who are usually the first people to interact with the mental ill? Why is this problematic?
The police are usually the first to come into contact with mentally ill individuals. This is a problem since police training for this situation varies greatly.
Does mental illness explain criminal behaviour?
Overall, no. Mental illness does not explain criminal behaviour from most offenders. There is a need to combine psychological and sociological approaches.
What is the central insight to Strain Theory?
People feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they cannot realistically achieve (such as the accumulation of status and wealth) without the use of culturally non-acceptable and illegal ways.
What is the Sociological approach to Strain Theories?
Looks at wider relationship between crime and social structure... Within sociology, strain theory fits within the consensus perspective (where society agrees on what is right and wrong).
What does the Consensus Perspective (functionalism) assume?
That the vast majority share similar values concerning right and wrong. Societies have a tendency to maintain themselves in a state of relative equilibrium (a state of balance) and that the maintenance of society is in the common interest of all its membe
What do Conflict Perspectives assume?
That there are inherent divisions in society based on social inequalities. The law reflects the interests of groups that create and enforce the law... only the most powerful benefit.
According to Durkheim, what is Anomie?
Durkheim believed that most societies have social solidarity (agreed upon rules that lead to a set of shared norms) which provide a sense of community and collective conscience. Anomie occurs during times of great social change when there is a breakdown i
What did Merton, who took Anomie and applied it to 1938 America, believe crime was the result of?
Crime was the result of the differences between socially accepted goals and the availability of socially acceptable means to achieving those goals. In America, material wealth along with the accumulation of status/money are seen as universal goals. The le
Are there certain groups more affected than others concerning the gap between aspirations and means?
Merton acknowledged that access to legitimate means was more difficult for certain groups, correlating that with the crime rate. Merton also argued that this even applied to upper class members who are pressured to make more money.
What is Micro Anomie?
The individual is in a state of chaos, or places self-interest above the collective.
Menser and Rosenfeld's Institutional Anomie Theory believed what?
That American society emphasizes monetary success, but places weak restrains on the means. It directly encourages people to use illegal means to get money, and indirectly encourages crime by emphasizing the economy over all other institutions.
Canadian reactions to abuse of power by corporate elites is...
Weak. The economic institution remains dominant over others, like family, education and religion.
Hackler believed that White Collar Crime should be...
Target. This will reduce unethical behaviour since it is not just a few companies that commit WC crime.
What did Agnew look at?
He looked at the intervening role of anger in strain. If strain leads to anger that cannot be handled legitimately, the result is crime.
Durkheim's Anomie Theory emphasized that social cohesion and the social restraints that prevent crime, but Merton shifted focus to...
Opportunity structures. Merton felt that crime was primarily lower class, so less evenly distributed than Durkheim's theory would have predicted.
What is Sutherland's theory?
Criminal behaviour is learned through association.
Illegitimate opportunity structures vary by community and by individuals. They include...
Criminal (opportunities for crime of financial gain such as organized crime), Conflict (opportunities for gang violence) and Retreatist (for failures of other structures, turn to substance abuse) opportunity structures.
What are Marginal Opportunity Structures?
Borderline legal opportunity structures such as street life and prostitution.
According to Andersen, the "code of the street" is a response to...
The lack of jobs that provided a mobility route for lower class workers.
What has been Durkheim's main contribution to Strain and Criminal Theory?
He changed the focus away from psychological and genetic variables to sociological ones, which are now dominate in theories of crime.
What are Merton's contributions to Strain and Criminal Theory?
Merton's theories help account for social class differences in crime, but not gender differences.
What is the main reason behind Strain Theories?
Strain theories point out criminogenic features of our society, ideas that are still relevant. It is a theory that can be combined with other theories successfully.
What does Braithwaite believe?
Only when legitimate opportunities are low and illegitimate opportunities are high do we get much crime.
Implication: Avoid having ghettos, or slums, with a higher number of lower class. There needs to be more of a mix.
According to Strain Theory, how could our policies reduce crime?
Policies should provide more opportunities for young people in poor areas through schooling, job training, and early childhood education programs. They should develop a less cohesive justice system and try to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich.
What is the central assumption surrounding Conflict Theory?
Social norms and values made into laws are not agreed upon, but are those endorsed by powerful or dominant groups in society.
What is Cultural Conflict Theory?
Developed by Sellin, the theory claims that diverse cultural groups maintain distinct "conduct norms" or cultural rules governing appropriate conduct. He believed that crime is the result of when the conduct norms of one (dominant) cultural group are exte
What are Criminal Norms?
Conduct norms codified into laws that represent the values of the dominant group. Ex. Honour killings.
What is Vold's Group Conflict Theory?
Individuals form groups to further their interests... that society is composed of diverse, shifting "interest groups" which are generally in a stable equilibrium. Law-making is a political process involving conflict between interest groups with laws being
When does crime occur, according to Vold?
Crime occurs when there is a conflict between the behaviour of a minority group and the laws of the dominant majority. Ex. delinquent gang violates laws of the adult world... Crime can also occur from conflict between competing interest groups vying for p
How is Vold's theory limited?
Vold's theory is limited to conflict between interest groups and doesn't explain petty crimes like theft.
What is Quinney's Group Conflict Theory?
A theory that focused on "segments of society" which attempt to secure their interests through the development and administration of the law. Unlike Vold, Quinney placed much more emphasis on and saw much more inequality in power in decision-making of pol
What are Quinney's "social reality of crime"?
1. Crime a product of legal definitions... Crime isn't innate (opposite of Lombroso)
2. Crime is behaviour that conflicts with the interests of segments that have the power to shape policy.
3. Powerful segments also enforce and administer the law
4. Peopl
What are Marxist Perspectives on Crime?
Focus on the social, political and economic structures of society that give rise to crime, NOT on individual pathologies. There is focus on the organization of capitalist society which promotes crime (how one's relation to the means of production decides
What is Instrumental Marxism?
Assumes that the State and the legal and political institutions within it are a direct reflection of the interests of the bourgeoisie (an instrument of the capitalist class)
What are criticisms for Instrumental Marxism?
1. Wrongly portrays ruling class as homogeneous
2. Ignores constraints on the powers of the ruling class
3. Ignores legislation that seem contradictory to the position of the bourgeoisie like health regulations
4. It is too rigid in interpreting the base/
What is Structural Marxism?
It opposes the instrumental Marxist assumption that the State is the direct servant of the ruling class. Instead, generally argue that the institutions of the State function in the long term interests of capitalism, which may require going against the sho
What is relative autonomy?
The idea that the state has a certain amount of independence from the capitalist class.
What did Spitzer believe?
Criminalization of behaviour is often directed at problem populations developed in capitalism - surplus populations or those who disturb capitalism like student radicals.
What did Greenberg believe?
Juvenile delinquency are excluded from access to income and become surplus population motivated to commit crime to participate in peer activities.
What is Socialist Feminism?
A branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression.
What is Left Realism?
Emerged from critical criminology as a reaction against what was perceived to be the Left's failure to take a practical interest in everyday crime, allowing right realism to monopolize the political agenda on law and order. It looks for solutions to worki
What are criticisms to Left Realism?
1. It fails to take into account the economic, cultural, historical context in which crime takes place
2. It may "widen the net" of social control
3. It's common-sense approach fails to develop a theoretical account.
Classical School
Considered to be the first formal school of criminology. Associated with authors such as Beccaria, Bentham, etc. This school brought the emerging philosophy of liberalism and utilitarianism to the justice system, advocating principles of rights, fairness,
Deterrence
As used in criminal justice, it refers to crime prevention achieved through the fear of punishment.
Statistical School
Associated with early social scientists. Early use of statistics is important, they also developed a structural explanation of crime and other social problems.
Positive School
First scientific school. They supported the assumptions of positivism and argued that criminality is determined-the effect in a cause-effect sequence-and that the mandate of criminology should be to search for the cause. It was believed that with the exce
The Inquisition
An attempt by those in power to use religious ideas to support the status quo
Age Of Reason
Shifted ideas to naturalistic explanation based on reason, and against fanaticism and religious superstition
Neoclassical Criminologists
Called for changes of a rigid classical system. Others called for age, mental competence, and motive be taken into consideration. Tarde is the theorist who wanted individual treatment of criminals
The Statistical School
Associated with positivism. Belief that crime was a product of natural causes that could be discovered through scientific methods. Gathered statistical information on the relationship between factors and crime
Stigmata (Lombrosso)
Lombrosso used the term to refer to physical signs of the state of atavism (a morally and evolutionary inferior person)
Charles Buckman Gonny
Theorist who responded to Lombrosso's theory. Compared thousands of males with English convicts and found no evidence of a distinct physical type. Work was also flawed in assumption that a prisoner=a criminal.
Houton
A theorist who found that criminals tended to be socially and biologically inferior to non-criminals (using large samples). New stigmata.
Somatype Theory
Theorist, Sheldon developed this theory. Three types of body types: endomorphs (fat), mesomorphs (muscular), and ectomorphs (skinny)-->these are associate with different personality traits.
Endomorphs
Fat body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory.
Mesomorphs
Muscular body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory, more likely to be involved in delinquent/criminal behaviour
Ectomorphs
Skinny body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory.
Assumption of Offender Deficit
The view that offenders who break that law obtain a psychological deficit that differs them from law-abiding citizens.
Assumption of Discriminating Traits
The view that offenders differ from non-offenders based on personality traits (ex. higher levels of impulsiveness and aggressiveness) Research on personality trait that differs between offenders and non-offenders.
Community Psychology
A perspective that analyzes social problems (including crimes) as largely a product of organizational and institutional characteristics of society.
Id
One force that the personality is composed of. A psychoanalytical term that denotes the most inaccessible and primitive part of the mind. It is a reservoir of biological urges that strive continually for gratification (rewarding). Controlled by the id and
Ego
One force that the personality is composed of. Psychoanalytical term that indicates the rational part of the personality. Mediates the id and the superego, responsible for dealing with reality and making decisions
Superego
One force that the personality is composed of. A psychoanalytical term that indicates the ethical and moral dimensions of the personality; and individual's conscience
Moral Development Theory
Refers generally to theories of individual psychology and investigate how moral reasoning emerges within the individual and develops as the individual matures.
Classical Conditioning
A basic form of learning whereby a neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that naturally elicits a certain response; the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the same response as the stimulus that automatically elicits the response
Modelling
Associated with the social learning theory. A form of learning that occurs as a result of watching and imitating others
Operant Conditioning
The process in which an individual's behaviour is shaped by reinforcement or punishment
Token Economy
A behaviour therapy procedure based on operant conditioning factors. Individuals are rewarded (reinforced) for positive/acceptable behaviour. Individuals are disciplined (punished) for unacceptable behaviour.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A personality disorder that involves disregard for the rights of others, as well as impulsive, irresponsible, and aggressive behaviour
Stages of Development
oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital development
Warren and Hindelang
Theorists who summarized the psychoanalytic approach as a form of neurosis.
Criminal in need to reduce guilt.
Criminal activity can be a result of substitute satisfactions one did not receive from family.
Delinquent behaviour is a result of traumatic even
Bowlby
Psychoanalytical theorist who emphasizes the importance of a stable attachment to the mother in first few years in order to show affection.
Piaget
Moral Developmental theorist who studied children. Stated that children develop moral reasoning in stages and go from egocentricism to cooperation.
Kohlberg
Six stages of moral development, everyone goes through these stages in order, however some may get stuck. His six stages were combined into three levels of moral judgement.
Pre conventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Rules and conventions that are external to the individual. Moral and values are understood as "do's" and "don'ts" and are associated with punishment.
Conventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Internalized rules and expectations of others. Individual accepts/upholds/understands the norms and conventions of society.
Postconventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Not many achieve this level. It is the ability to critically examine customs with regard to universal rights/duties/principles. Ability to define own value by means of self-chosen principles.
Dimensions of Personality
Eysnck termed these three dimension of personality: extraversion (vs. introversion), neuroticism (vs. stability), psychoticism
Cognitive Functioning
Central concept of social learning theory. The ability to think and make choices.
Bandura
Stated that people learn aggression through three sources: family, subcultural influences, symbolic meaning
Sources of Deterrence to Crime
Bandura states that the fear of punishment is the best deterrent to crime. Legal sanctions, social sanctions, self-sanction
B.F. Skinner
Theorist who used reward and punishment (Operant Conditioning) to increase probability of a given response. Used the token system. Approach appears to have positive short-term benefits
Helbum
Theorist whose study indicates that highly intelligent psychopaths were neither violence or impulsive are more successful, and better at not getting caught
Babiak and Hare
Book: Snakes and Suits. Theorists found that criminals fit well in corporate world. Charismatic, and like action and rewards.
Consensus Perspective
Also known as functionalism, this perspective assumes that societies have an inherent tendency to maintain themselves in a state of relative equilibrium through mutually adjustive support interaction of their principle institutions. It also assumes the ef
Strain Theory
The proposition that people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals they are unable to achieve due to them not being able to have access to culturally approved methods of achieving these goals.
Conflict Perspective
The focus on the intrinsic divisions of society based on social inequality and the way these social divisions give rise to different and competing interests, central assumption is that social structures and cultural ideas only reflect some members of soci
Anomie
A concept developed by Durkheim to describe an absence of clear social norms and values (chaos)
Culturally Prescribed Aspirations
A rejection of the notion that aspirations are self-created; anther, they are defined by culture and transmitted by other members of the society.
Merton
Theorist who believed that crime was the result of the gap between culturally prescribed aspirations and the socially structured means of realizing the aspirations. (The Gap Between Aspirations and Means)
Mesner and Rosenfeld
Theorists who believed that American society places emphasis on monetary success but weak restraints on the way to achieve this. Directly encourages ppl to use illegal means to get money, Indirectly encourages crime by placing the economy of most signific
Sutherland
Theorist who composed the differential association theory. Criminal behaviour is learned through association with others.
Illegitimate Opportunity Structure
Vary by community and by individual. Include: criminals, conflict, retreatist
The Code of the Street
Theorist Anderson. Mobility rate for lower class workers have disappeared through globalization.
Conduct Norms
Specification of rules or norms of appropriate behaviour generally agreed upon by members of the social group to whom the behaviour norms apply.
Cultural Conflict Theory
A theory that attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the conduct norms of divergent cultural groups. Developed by Sellin
Vold's Group Conflict Theory
A theory that attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the interest of minority groups and dominant groups. Individual form groups in order to further their interests Developed by Vold.
Instrumental Marxism
The state is viewed as the direct instrument of the ruling or capitalist class. Instrumentalism is based on the notion that the processes of the superstructure are determined by the economic base. State and legal/political institutions direct reflection o
Structural Marxism
The state is viewed as acting in the long-term interests of capitalism as a whole, rather than in the short-term interests of the capitalist class.
Relative Autonomy
A term used in the structural Marxism perspective to indicate that the state has a certain amount of independence from the capitalist class and is therefore able to enact laws that are not n the immediate interest of the capitalist class.
Radical Feminism
A perspective that views the problem of gender inequality and of women's subordination in society as rooted in the institution of patriarchy.
Criminal Norms
Conduct norms that are codified into laws that represent the values of the dominant group.
Quinney's Group Conflict Theory
Theory developed by Quinney in his book, Social Reality of Crime. Focused on the "segments of society" that attempt to secure their interests through the development and administration of the law. Saw much more inequality in power. Developed six propositi
First Proposition of Crime
Part of Quinney's group conflict theory. Crime is a product of legal definitions
Second Proposition of Crime
Part of Quinney's group conflict theory. Crime is behaviour that interfere with the interest of the segments that obtain the power to shape the policy.
Third Proposition of Crime
The segments in power have the ability to administer and enforce the law.
Fourth Proposition fo Crime
Individuals who are part of the less power segments in society are more likely to have their behaviour deemed criminal.
Fifth Proposition to Crime
Mass media has a significant role in diffusing and constructing conceptions of crime
Sixth Proposition of Crime
Process above=social reality of crime
Marxist Theories
Look at the political, social and economical structures of society that give structure to crime, not individuals paths.
Bourgeoise
One of the major economic class under capitalism. Class that creates their own production.
Proletariat
One of the major economic classes under capitalism. Class that was property-less, sell labor to survive
Left Realism
Takes serious the problem of street crime. Looking for solutions to working class crime that involves repressive crime control.
Eisenstein
Social Feminsist theorist who adverted combining radical feminism and marxism due to the lack of recognition of women. Canadian researchers have focused on the issue of violence towards women, lobbying changes have seen some success
Labelling Theory
According to this theory, deviance is not a quality of the act but of the label that others attach to it. This raises question of who applies the label and who is labelled. The application of a label and the response of others to the label may result in a
Career
In common use, this refers to the sequence of stages through which individuals in a particular occupation sector move during the course of their employment. This term has also been applied to the various stages of personal involvement with criminal activi
Primary Deviation
Occurs when an individual commits a deviant act but fails to adopt a primary self-identity as a deviant
Secondary Deviation
Occurs when an individual accepts the label of a deviant. The result is adoption of a deviant self-identity that confirms and stabilizes the deviant lifestyle.
Drift
A psychological state of weak normative attachment to either deviant or conventional ways.
Moral Rhetoric
In the study of crime, this is the set of claims and assertions deviants make to justify their deviant behaviour.
Stigmata (Goffman)
Used by Goffman, a personal characteristic that is negatively evaluated by others and thus distorts and discredits the public identity of the individual.
Moral Entrepreneurs
Someone who defines new rules and laws or who advocates stricter enforcement of an existing laws.
Career Contingency
An unintended event, process, or situation that occurs by chance, beyond the control of the person pursuing the career
Continuance Commitment
Adherence to a criminal identity by unattractiveness or unavailability to alternative lifestyles. (ex. cannot get a job)
Self-Enhancing Commitment
Commitment leading to a better opinion of oneself
Self-Degrading Commitment
Commitment leading to a poor opinion of oneself
Differential Association
Developed by Edwin Sutherland in 1930s. This theory argues that crime, like any social behaviour is learned with others.
Hot Spots Policing
Most crimes occur at a small number of addresses in any community. Concentrates police researches on these high-crime locations
Individualized Deterrence
Offenders who are heavily involved in criminal activity are individually warned that their actions are being monitored and that future violation of the law will be dealt with immediately.
Rational Choice Theory
Theory claims that crime is the result of deliberate choices made by offenders based on their calculation of the risks and rewards of these choices.
Lifestyle (Exposure) Theory
A theory of crime victimization that acknowledges that not everyone has the same lifestyle and that some lifestyles expose ppl to more risk than others do.
Situational Crime Prevention
Premised on the belief that most crime is opportunistic rather than being the outcome of those driven to commit a crime no matter what the circumstance, this form of prevention attempts to reduce the opportunities for crime rather than relying on police a
Crime Prevention Through Social Development
An approach to crime prevention that focuses on reducing the number of motivated offenders by changing the social environment.
What is the Deterrence Theory based on? What does it state?
Based on Beccaria's Classical Theory, it states that humans are rational thinkers and are able to make their own decisions, therefore, if an individual chooses to break the law, they will have to deal with the negative consequences of their actions.
When does law not act as a deterrent?
When there is no law enforcement present - meaning crime will increase in situations where a person believes they will not be caught.
What do politicians believe? Why is it not helpful?
Politicians believe sentences should be more severe but research shows the certainty of punishment is more important than the severity of punishment. Longer sentences only create higher costs and have little impact on crime.
What could imprisonment possibly increase?
Long prison sentences are hard to justify on the basis of crime prevention through deterrence... therefore, imprisonment may increase rates of recidivism.
How are Mandatory Sentencing Minimums avoided?
Minimum mandatory sentences are often avoided by prosecutors and judges when thought too harsh - through plea bargaining, dismissals, withdrawn charges, etc.
What are the Deterrent effects of increasing punishment certainty?
A large body of research supports the deterrent effect of increasing certainty.
Hot Spot Policing
Concentrating police resources to certain locations to reduce the crime rate.
Individualized Deterrences
Involves directly informing individuals about the possible consequences of future criminal actions and making sure they understand.
Rational Choice Theory
Based on offender's perceptions of the risks and rewards of crime, how they selected targets, how they proceeded. Focuses on the situational dynamics involved in the decision to commit a crime - which can vary from person to person.
Environmental Criminology
An extension of rational choice theory, it focus on environmental opportunities along the paths travelled in criminals' daily routines:
1. Nodes: places frequented by criminal
2. Paths: routes between nodes
3. Edges: boundaries between different types of
Routine Activities Theory
Developed from research on patterns of crime and victimization.
Hindelang's Lifestyle Exposure Theory
Some people live lives that put them in social setting with a high risk of victimization, such as pending a lot of evenings in public places, being a prostitute on the streets... Some people are likely to be repeatedly victimized.
Commission of a crime depends on presence of...
The handled offender (person susceptible to informal social control because of bonds to society
intimate handlers - someone who has intimate knowledge of the potential offender to control the offender)
Presence of facilitators (physical, like guns or tech
What is Reducing Motivated Offenders?
Crime prevention through social development: involves changing the social environment that produces criminals.
It often focuses on high crime areas where there is poverty, and targets young people.
What are the central ideas to Interactionist Theories?
It centres on the interchanges between people and the meaning of these interchanges. Three basic premises of symbolic interactionism:
1. People act according to the meanings objects (including people) have for them
2. These meanings emerge from interactio
What are the two major types of Interactionist Theories?
Labelling Theory, and Differential Association
What is Labelling Theory (The Deviant Career)?
A theory that claims acts are only devious if people in power have deemed them to be devious. Sometimes negotiation takes place between possible deviants and labellers. The labelling process is not necessarily fair because less powerful groups often negat
There are many key concepts in Labelling Theory, what is Lemert's contribution?
Primary deviation: offender commits deviant acts but does not develop a primarily deviant self-identity
Secondary deviation: the individual adopts the deviant self-identity
the individual must be willing to engage in the deviance
deviance becomes a way of
Matza's contribution?
People willing to engage in deviance have a weak commitment to conventional norms and identities. Young people also have little commitment to deviance, they thus drift between conventional and deviant behaviour.
What are Subterranean traditions?
Young American male offenders are strongly attached to marginal, masculine traditions involving smoking, renouncing work, being tough and enjoying the pleasures of "real men"... The quest for good standing with peers results in practicing these traditions
What are Moral Rhetoric's contributions?
Claims and assertions used to justify one's deviant behaviour. Used to neutralize the stigma (personal characteristic negatively valued by others) associated with deviance.
Examples:
(1) denial of responsibility, e.g. ' I was drunk';
(2) denial of injury,
Who are the Agents of Social Change?
Includes all those involved in maintaining law and order... Police, judges, other Criminal Justice System (CJS) members, some ordinary citizens. Other organizations and individuals include "Moral Entrepreneurs" (individuals who defines or advocate new rul
Are certain groups labelled more than others?
Certain ethnic groups are often targeted by laws, or by enforcement, so become more likely to have the label of deviant successfully applied. The imputed possession of a characteristic associated with belonging to a certain ethnic group is more important
What is Career Contingency?
An unintended event or situation that can affect the movement of an individual along a deviant career.
What is Continuance Commitment?
Awareness of the impossibility of choosing a non-criminal identity because of penalties in making the switch.
What is Differential Association Theory?
Concerned with why people become criminal in the first place. It believes that crime is learned like all other social behaviour, that crime is learned in association with others in small face-to-face groups, that criminal techniques and motives, attitudes
What are the contributions from Differential Theory?
It helps explain theft, burglary, prostitution and marijuana use. It highlights importance of ties to deviant peers. This is especially true for young offenders, it points out need to learn criminal techniques.
Limitations/Problems of Differential Theory?
The learning process is often more like drift than the straightforward process described by Sutherland.
What are some Critiques of Interactionist Theory by Neo-Marxists?
It fails to take into consideration historical, political and economic contexts. Labelling theory fails to go very far in examining the division between powerful and powerless in society.
The Empiricist critique?
the Empiricist critique:
Labelling theorists ignore non-labelled deviants
Labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized
Labelling theory lacks testable hypotheses. But interpretive paradigms require qualitative research studies which are
Vulnerability Model
Assumes there is a direct link between traits and crime; some people are vulnerable to crime from birth
Differential Susceptibility Model
The view that some people are predisposed to environmental influences
Hypoglycemia
A condition that occurs when glucose (sugar) in the blood falls below levels necessary for formal and efficient brain functioning
Androgens
Male sex hormones
Testosterone
The principal male hormone
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Condition, postulated by some theorists, wherein several days before and during menstruation, excessive amounts of female sex hormones stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior
Neurophysiology
The study of brain activity
Conduct Disorder (CD)
A pattern of repetitive behavior in which the rights of others or social norms are violated
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, along with impulsivity and hyperactivity
Neurotransmitters
Chemical compounds that influence or activate brain functions
Arousal Theory
The view that people seek to maintain a preferred level of arousal but vary in how they process sensory input. A need for high levels of environmental stimulation may lead to aggressive, violent behavior patterns
Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytic) Theory
Theory, originated by Freud, that the human personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes that develop in early childhood and involve the interaction of id, ego, and superego
Id
The primitive part of people's mental makeup, present at birth, that represents unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other life-sustaining necessities. The id seeks instant gratification without concern for the rights of others
Ego
The part of the personality developed in early childhood that helps control the id and keeps people's actions within the boundaries of social convention
Superego
Incorporation within the personality of the moral standards and values of parents, community, and significant others
Attachment Theory
Bowlby's theory that being able to form an emotional bond to another person is an important aspect of mental health throughout the life span
Behavior Theory
The view that all human behavior is learned through a process of social reinforcement (rewards and punishment)
Social Learning Theory
The view that human behavior is modeled through observation of human social interactions, either directly observing those who are close and from intimate contact, or indirectly through the media. Interactions that are rewarded are copied, while those that
Behavior Modeling
The process of learning behavior (notably, aggression) by observing others. Aggressive models may be parents, criminals, in the neighborhood, or characters on television or in movies
Cognitive Theory
Psychological perspective that focuses on the mental processes by which people perceive and represent the world around them and solve problems
Information-Processing Theory
Theory that focuses on how people process, store, encode, retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems
Personality
The reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and emotions, that distinguish one person from another
Antisocial Personality
Combination of traits, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, hedonism, and inability to empathize with others, that make a person prone to deviant behavior and violence; also referred to sociopathic or psychopathic personality
Nature Theory
The view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior
Nurture Theory
The view that intelligence is not inherited but is largely a product of environment. Low IQ scores do not cause crime but may result from the same environmental factors
Mood Disorder
A condition in which the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the circumstances
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior, during which a child often loses her or his temper, often argues with adults, and often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults' requests or rules
Schizophrenia
A severe disorder marked by hearing nonexistent voices, seeing hallucinations, and exhibiting inappropriate responses
Bipolar Disorder
An emotional disturbance in which moods alternate between periods of wild elation and deep depression
Primary Prevention Programs
Programs, such as substance abuse clinics and mental health associations, that seek to treat personal problems before they manifest themselves as crime
Secondary Prevention Programs
Programs that provide treatment, such as psychological counseling, to youths and adults after they have violated the law
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Condition, postulated by some theorists, wherein several days before and during menstruation, excessive amounts of female sex hormones stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior
Neurophysiology
The study of brain activity
Conduct Disorder (CD)
A pattern of repetitive behavior in which the rights of others or social norms are violated
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, along with impulsivity and hyperactivity
Neurotransmitters
Chemical compounds that influence or activate brain functions
Arousal Theory
The view that people seek to maintain a preferred level of arousal but vary in how they process sensory input. A need for high levels of environmental stimulation may lead to aggressive, violent behavior patterns
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Condition, postulated by some theorists, wherein several days before and during menstruation, excessive amounts of female sex hormones stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior
Neurophysiology
The study of brain activity
Conduct Disorder (CD)
A pattern of repetitive behavior in which the rights of others or social norms are violated
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, along with impulsivity and hyperactivity
Neurotransmitters
...
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Condition, postulated by some theorists, wherein several days before and during menstruation, excessive amounts of female sex hormones stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior
Neurophysiology
The study of brain activity
Conduct Disorder (CD)
A pattern of repetitive behavior in which the rights of others or social norms are violated
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Condition, postulated by some theorists, wherein several days before and during menstruation, excessive amounts of female sex hormones stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior
Oscar Lewis argues that the crushing lifestyle of lower-class areas produces ________ that is passed on from one generation to the next.
a culture of poverty
According to institutional anomie theorists, the _________ is both a goal and process to accumulate goods and wealth.
American Dream
Which of the following statements does NOT reflect labeling theory?
Labeling theory recognizes that criminality is a disease or a pathological behavior.
Collective efficacy refers to the social control exerted by cohesive communities that is based on mutual trust.
True
According to learning theories, even corporate executives may be exposed to pro-criminal definitions and learn to neutralize moral constraints.
True
Mainstream criminologists level a number of criticisms against critical criminology. Which is not one of those criticisms?
Critical theorists focus too heavily on the problems and conflicts that exist in socialist countries.
Social control theory suggests that
crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened or broken.
According to the author, which of the following is accurate regarding why troubled kids choose delinquent peers?
Troubled kids do so out of necessity rather than desire.
Shaw and McKay's statistical analysis confirmed that even though crime rates changed, the highest rates were always in Zones I and Zone II.
True
All of the following family factors are associated with delinquency EXCEPT
non-coercive parenting.
The totality of research on the effect of dropping out of high school indicates one fact - high school dropouts face a significant chance of entering a criminal career.
False
A major premise of social reaction theory is that the law is differentially constructed and applied, depending on the offenders.
True
Differential association theory holds that people learn criminal attitudes and behavior during their adolescence from close, trusted friends or relatives.
True
Adolescents who do not receive affection from their parents during childhood are
more likely to use illicit drugs and be more aggressive as they mature.
As working and middle-class families flee inner-city poverty areas, the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in urban ghettos. This phenomenon results in a poverty
concentration effect
Because social conditions prevent them from achieving success legitimately, lower-class youths experience a form of culture conflict that Albert Cohen labels
status frustration
The "truly disheartened" is the term used by William Julius Wilson to describe socially isolated people who dwell in urban inner-cities, who occupy the bottom rung of the social ladder, and who are the victims of discrimination.
False
According to the author, the most important of Shaw and McKay's findings was that
crime rates correspond to neighborhood structure
According to Shaw and McKay, a __________ neighborhood is an area wracked by extreme poverty and suffering high rates of population turnover.
Transitional
__________ is a process whereby secondary deviance pushes offenders out of the mainstream of society and offenders begin their escalating cycle of deviance.
Deviance amplification
Research affirms Hirschi's contention that delinquents are detached loners whose bonds to friends have been broken.
False
The stronger a person's commitment to conventional institutions, individuals, and processes, the less likely they are to commit crime.
True
According to Hagan and his associates, within the paternalistic home, mothers are expected to control the behavior of their sons while granting greater freedom to daughters.
False
Which theory focuses on the urban conditions, such as high unemployment and school dropout rates, to explain crime?
social disorganization theory
Cloward and Ohlin's classic work Delinquency and Opportunity combined strain and social disorganization principles to explain
gang formation
Actus Reus
The actual act that a defendant is convicted of
Common law
Court decisions and customs
Conflict Theory
A theory stating that laws are created by the majorities to oppress the minorities, where the public disagrees on laws created
Consensus Theory
The community agrees on norms of bad behavior, group agreement to bad certain "bad" activities like murder, theft, rape, etc.
Crime
Behavior deemed bad towards the collective good of a society, can change depending on the differing societies acceptable values
Criminal intent
Key elements needed to prove guilt in a court of law (Mens rea, Actus reus)
Criminogenic
Crime causing
Criminology
Study of making laws, breaking of laws, and societies reactions to the breaking of laws
Customs
Unwritten and informal norms
Debunking motif
The challenges sociology poses to conventional understandings of the ideologies of social institutions and social reality
Dependent Variable
Variable influenced by a change in the independent variable
Deviance
Behaviors violating any and all social norms
Felony
Crimes punishable by more than one year in prison
Generalize
to be able to relate a small portion of data to a large population
Independent Variable
The changing factor in an experiment that causes a different dependent variable
Laws
Formal norms set by society
Longitudinal studies
Studies on small group or individual over a large period of time
Mala in se
Evil within the crime committed, bad for all humans in society
Mala prohibita
A crime is only a crime because it was deemed bad by society
Mens rea
A guilty mind after committing a crime, used in criminal intent
Misdemeanor
A crime committed that is punishable by less than a year in prison
Norms
Standards of acting throughout society that are unanimously agreed upon
Private troubles
Individual problems that many people have that they think stem from their own circumstance
Public issues
Social problems resulting from structural and other problems in the social environment
Social Control
Societies restraint of norm-violating behaviors
Social Structure
How society is organized in terms of social relationships and social interactions
Survey
A questionnaire sent out to many people to be filled out anonmyously
Sexual Assault
Any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the recipient
Felony Murder
A death occurring during the commission of a violent felony
Kidnapping
Unlawful taking and carrying away of another person with the intent to permanently deprive that person of his or her liberty
Criminal Confinement
A person who knowingly or intentionally confines another person without the other person's consent
Assault
Threatening to do bodily harm to a person or placing someone in fear of such harm
Battery
Intentional physical contact with another person without that person's consent
Murder
Intentional killing of another person with malice aforethought
Manslaughter
Unlawful killing another person without malice
Rape
Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without consent of the victim
Robbery
Theft through violence or the threat of violence
Larceny
Trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property belonging with intent to deprive permanently
Vandalism
Willful destruction of property without the consent of the owner
Car Jacking
Using violence or threats of violence to steal a car from its driver or to force the driver to the offender someplace
Burglary
Unlawful entry of a structure with the intent to commit a felony
Arson
The malicious burning of a building or other property
Fraud
The acquisition of the property of another person through deception or cheating
Embezzlement
Theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer
Criminal Trespassing
Entering or remaining on another's property without the owner's consent
Forgery
Maunfacturing, altering or possessing with intent to defraud, anything which is made to appear true
Prostitution
The practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment
Cesare Lombroso (1853-1909)
Argued criminals are born criminals
founding father of scientific criminology
believed:
criminals were distinctively different from civilised people
criminals were degenerate
criminals could be identified by their physical characteristics
Lombroso's classifications
born criminals have atavistic characteristics
epileptic criminal
insane criminals (idiots, imbeciles)
occasional criminals/criminaloids
criminals of passion
Dugdale (1877)
crime as hereditary.
20 male immediate blood relations, 17 were arrested and 15 convictved
Goring (1913)
believed that a lower intelligence was indicative of potential criminality
methodology issues
Eysenck (1960s+70s)
believed there was a strong genetic to personality development
Moir and Jessel (1995)
different types of criminals have different kinds of brain patterns, related to chemical or structural malfunctions
Thornhill and Palmer (2000)
natural theories of rape:
rape is due to an urge which is rooted in nature
rape is a result of "choosy" females being a major obstacle to the reproductive success of males
rape is less traumatic for a woman of child bearing age
Eric Wulffen (1934)
criminal women viewed everything from an erotic point of view.
female criminals are deemed to be doubly deviant
criminal women are viewed to having an excessive sexuality
Hobbes and the Leviathan (1651)
without some restraint, people will be at war with everyone.
human beings surrender some of their freedom to the state in order to gain protection from the state.
Cesare Beccaria (1738-94)
discussing the administration of criminal justice
purpose of punishment
treatment of suspects
severity of justice
proportionality
deterrence theory
punishment works best when inescapable
specific deterrence
punishment to stop the individual from reoffending
general deterrence
make a model of a criminal in order to deter the general public
critiques of deterrence
limit support of the use of deterrence (drink driving, car crime, luggage theft)
no evidence it works for hardened repeat offenders
assumes we're all rational beings
Beccaria's principles of justice
laws are clear, simple and unbiased
the law should place minimal restrictions on freedom
punishment must be proportionate
purpose of law is to deter in the general sense
punishment should be speedy and certain
Beccaria on capital punishment
the severity of capital punishment leads to people committing worse crimes to prevent being found for the initial crime
Betham
Panopticon: to produce the obedient subject, the individual subjected to habits, rules and orders
the panopticon
a combination of:
segregation and isolation from society
constant monitoring and surveillance
rigid timetable
breakdown of barriers between spheres of life
exercise of discipline over every aspect of the criminal's life
utilitarianism
the doctrine that actions are right if they're useful for or benefit the majority of society
neoclassical criminology
recognises the central assumptions of CC as problematic and so acknowledges:
the influence of the environmental factors (poverty)
individual factors
Rational Choice Theory (Clarke and Cornish, 1985)
presumes there are lots of potential offenders who rationally weigh up the costs and benefits of committing crime
McChesney (1999)
newspapers are experiencing decline in circulation, so increase in soft news stories have emerged.
soft news stories require little investigation and have an obvious hook
Chibnall's newsworthiness
immediacy
dramatisation
titillation
personalisation
structured access
simplification
Katz (1987)
stories are newsworthy when they allow for rehearsal of moral values, collective identity and social values
moral panics
condemn wrongful behaviour
attribute responsibility to a perp
marginalise behaviour of the perp
emphasise the need for state intervention
cautionary tales
prescribe rightful behaviour
marginalise the behaviour of the victim
attribute responsibility to a victim
emphasise need for self regulation
crime legends
informal and timeless
communally created
never gains credence in official news
core features: common victims, perps and settings. crimes of violent nature
cultural trauma
isnt a natural response but a distinct domestic response (Smelser, 2004)
divide good and evil - no ambiguity
crime news effects
government police/legislation (Jamie Bulgar, 1993 - CCTV)
public attitudes (cause public to believe the police need to be more effective; increase public fear. Lowry, Nia and Leitner, 2003)
diffuse (idea that media is not the sole reason for our impressio
intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989)
used to explore links between gender, race, culture and crime
Daly and Chesney-Lin (1988) Feminist Theory
gender isn't natural, it's a complex social, historical and cultural product
gender relations and construct of masculinity are based on men's superiority and social and political economic dominance over women
women should be at the centre of intellectual
critical issues explaining women's offending
media representations of women seem disproportionate to the amount of crime committed by women (Heidensohn, 2006)
recurring moral panics about women offenders
women as offenders
women commit less crimes than men
their offences are less serious than men
convicted more often for some offences (TV license fee evasion - 64% of womens non-motoring offences; shoplifting - 45% of indictable offences; benefit fraud)
Heidensohn, 1991
women often overlooked in CJS: "too few to count
Corston, 2007
women offenders' particular vulnerabilities are routinely ignored
women in prison
1,100% increase of female suicides in prison from 2014/15-2015/16
Gelsthorpe + Wright (2015)
CJS needs a distinct approach to meet female criminal needs. this requires addressing the currently unmet needs, such as: poverty, substance abuse, homelessness, unemployment
women as victims
85,000 women are raped on average each year
400,000 women sexually assaulted eah year
between 1.1% and 4.9% of all calls to the police are IPV
570,000 calls per year in connection with domestic violence (81% female victims, 8% male victims)
Ward and Marsh, 2006)
armed conflict generally brings a lot of sexual violation and torture of civilian women
Gabbindon, 2015
Race: contemporary use to refer to the grouping of people on the basis of colour and cultural characteristics
Bowling and Phillips (2002)
ethnicity: tries to avoid the problemative biological focus of race by focusing on those groupings were an internal sense and external perception of distinctiveness exists
Smith (1989)
Ethnicity: has been critiqued simply as shorthand for signalling that black people are the object of concer
Fear of crime and ethnicity
2004/5 British Crime survey shows that people from mixed ethnic groups face significantly higher risks of being a victim of crime than white people
BAEM groups sig. more likley to be worried about burglary, car crime and violent crime
Over representation of BAME groups within CJS
BAME population heavily influenced by age (more young than old)
BAME more likely to be committed to crown court (33.5% white, 33.7% asian, 44.5% black)
BAME young offenders more likely to receive community sentence
disproportionality of muslim people in p
institutional racism (MacPherson Report)
the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people due colour, culture, or ethnic origin
What was Emile Durkheim's first major work?
The Division of Labor in Society
What are Durkheim's views of people in society?
People have insatiable appetites, which can be affected by social structure. In a well-ordered society, there is a set of values and norms which regulate the appetites. Crime is a behavior that offends the collective conscious.
What are Durkheim's views on crime?
Crime is normal and necessary for the functionality of any society.
Why does Durkheim believe crime is a societal necessity?
-Reminds us of values
-Creates sense of solidarity among non-criminals
-Severity of punishment relays relative importance of rules
-Punishment enforces compliance with laws
-Warns that something is wrong with the structure of society
-Serves as a stimulus
What did Durkheim define as a small-scale society?
Little division of labor and common values
What did Durkheim define as a large-scale industrial society?
More extensive division of labor and diverse values
What occurs when societies change from small-scale to large-scale, according to Durkheim?
Excess levels of crime
What is anomie?
A condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals.
What leads to anomie?
-Technological changes
-Rise of capitalism
-Division of labor
-Fall of agrarian societies
What two functions maintain social solidarity, according to Durkheim?
Integration and regulation
What were Durkheim's views of human nature?
It is a blend of the civilized self and the primal instinct. Social solidarity is based on social integration and regulation allows the primal self to be more humanizing on moral ground (this must be maintained or crime will occur).
What is Sociological Positivist Criminology?
-Looks for the causes of crime
-Criminals are different from non-criminals
-Individual explanations account for some crime
-Rejects biological and psychological theories
What is Sociological Criminology?
-Focuses on social class stratification
-Views street criminal as the most important criminal
-Tends to focus on youth crimes
What are the 3 major branches of Social Structure Theories?
-Social Disorganization Theory
-Routine Activities Theory
-Strain Theory
Where does the social disorganization theory come from?
Work done by sociologists at the University of Chicago during the 1920s and 1930s. Highly influenced by the broader Progressive movement.
What is important about the social disorganization theory?
Rejected notions that poor, inner-city residents were in that position because they were biologically inferior
What is human/urban/social ecology?
Studied the interrelationships of people to each other and their environment. Focused on characteristics of high crime areas, not on characteristics of the individual criminal.
What did Park's research find?
Within cities, there are natural areas (i.e. Chinatown, Little Italy). Each natural area was seen as playing a part of the city, through the process of invasion, dominance, and succession.
Central Business District
Center of the city
Zone 2
area in transition; constantly invaded by zone 1; oldest area of the city; has residential and housing but tends to be dilapidated and rundown; least desirable residential area
Zone 3
zone of workers' homes; people who have escaped zone 2; generally 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants; still not desirable but better
Zone 4
residential district; last zone within the city limits; single-family homes and expensive apartments
Zone 5
commuter zone; satellite towns; workers travel from here to city limits
What did Shaw and McKay say?
Crime rates were differentially distributed throughout the city. Areas with high crime rates had high rates of other community problems. Most delinquency occurred in areas nearest the central business district. Some areas had consistently high delinquency
What were the implications of Shaw and McKay?
Normal methods of social control (punishment or treatment) are not effective in reducing crime. Advocated the creation of various programs aimed at changing the conditions of high-crime neighborhoods (Chicago Area Project).
What do the more recent disorganization/ecology theories say influences crime in given areas?
-Community deterioration
-Employment opportunities
-Population turnover
-Population density
-Family disruption
What does Sampson say?
-Poverty alone is NOT associated with crime. -Family disruption is associated with higher rates of violence.
-Neighborhoods with higher percentages of African Americans have higher crime rates (This disappeared when controlled for poverty and family disru
What are the two meanings of "strain"?
-Feelings of frustration and anger that result primarily from lower-class inner-city life
-Social structure does not provide legal means to achieve cultural goals
What were Merton's major assumptions?
-People are socialized into a common system of values. (Learn the consensus)
-This common system of values teaches us the things that we should aspire to and the most appropriate ways to accomplish them (Gives us goals and teaches us legitimate means).
Where does strain occur?
-Where there is inconsistency in society between its goals and its system of legitimate means for achieving these goals
-Where people who do not have access to legitimate means may opt for other, perhaps illegitimate, ways of achieving goals
-Where anomie
What are Merton's 5 Modes of Adaptation?
1.) Conformity
2.) Innovation
3.) Ritualism
4.) Retreatism
5.) Rebellion
Criminology
The scientific study of crime.
-We have to be objective
-Bias Free
The goal of Criminology
It does not exist on its own. It's possible because of other sciences such as:
-Psychology
- Economics
-Sociology
-Biology etc.
Crime
Anything that is a written legal rod in time & in place .
Also Crime
It's a legal definition.
Criminal
When you get convicted, not caught.
Mala in se
Univerversal Condemned (Ex: Murder, rape, pedifial) : Felony: Victimful
Mala Prohibita
Inherently bad (Prohibited behavior, morally wrong in society) : Misdemeanor: Victimless Crimes
Mala in se Charges
Felony: Prison: 1yr or more
Mala Prohibita Charges
Misdemeanor: Jail: 1yr or less
Jail
1 year Maximum
Incarceration
Jail
Imprisonment
Prison
Criminality
A clinical or scientific term rather than a legal term.
What causes crimes
1. Poverty
2. Single Parent Homes
Who is Cesare Lombroso?
father of criminology
Contributions of Cesare Lombroso
atavistic criminal"
studied Italian inmates - distinctive physical features deemed them primitive humans, stigmata of degeneration
Stigmata of Degeneration
people who looked less evolved more likely to commit crime (concept continuation from James Darwin)
Behavioral Genetics
field of study variance in behavior or traits; genetics, shared environment, non-shared environment
Behavioral Genetics Studies
Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart -
+100 pairs of twins
+determined aggression, self-control, and negative emotion highly heredity
Interaction Effect
gene that influences behavior may manifest differently in different environments
Theme of Evolutionary Psychology
human behavior a consequence of pressure to spread genes; mechanisms encoded in brain
Theme of Neuro-psychological Approaches
how the structure and function of the brain relates to behavior
What is a theory?
a. ideas about why
b. to understand or explain something
c. Rob Akers "necessary process is producing knowledge"
d. Bernrd Cohen "scientific knowledge is theoretical knowledge
George Homans
a. discovery- determining that two phenomena are related
b. explanation- demonstrating that the relationship can be deduced from a set of more general statements
What does a theory do?
a. explains
b. focuses attention of important concepts and variables
c. guides our research
d. suggests applied functions of the explanation
Components of a Theory (CAASO)
Concepts
Assertions
Assumptions
Scope Conditions
Operational Definitions
Deductions of Theory
generating testable propositions from more abstract statements or propositions
Ways to Evaluate a Theory (LAPTED)
Logical Consistency
Applicability
Practical Application
Empirical Validity
Testability
Definition of concepts
Social Structural Theories
examining issues at an aggregate level
*aggregate: consisting of many parts or elements
What is Social Disorganization?
+"Why doesn't everyone commit crimes?"
+social-control
+Neighborhood level: inability to organize, little solidarity, lack of informal social control, weak social institutions
Park and Burgess Concentric Zones
middle city zone was the worst conditions and most crime due to unhappiness and shared displeasure of neighbors
What is Strain?
combination of anomie culture and structured inequality leads to strain and need to adapt
*anomie: overemphasis on goals compared to means
**Robert Merton
Strain Adaptations (CIRRR)
Conformity
Innovation
Ritualism
Retreatism
Rebellion
General Strain Theory, Robert Agnaw
expansion of reasons for strain; people with high aspirations less likely to commit
Emotions Associated with Strain
anger, depression, frustration
Messner and Rosenfield's Institutional Anomie
+overemphasis on economic goals compared to other social institutions like family
+undermines the effectiveness of norms
+would require cross-sectional testing
+crime lowest when gov protects citizens economically
Albert Cohen and Strain Theory
delinquent boys
+emphasis on attainment of social status
Cloward and Ohlin and Strain Theory
Differential Opportunity Theory
+adaptation depends on reason for blocked opportunities
Sutherland's Differential Association
+ too much crime to blame genetics
+ criminal behavior learned through interactions
+ learns definitions favorable and unfavorable to the violation of law
Modalities of Association
Frequency
Duration
Priority
Intensity
Aker's Social Learning
+ specifies processes of learning
+ difficulty measuring favorable/unfavorable
+ operant conditioning
Symbolic Interaction
+ learning through covert indication
Assumptions of Social Control
+deviant behavior
+don't explain reason why - amotivational theory
+asks what controls or constraints
Hirschi's Social Bonding
+ we constrain due to conventional bond with society
+ four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, belief in general values
Gottfredson and Hirschi
learned behavior and low self-control impulsiveness
Conflict Theory
the key dynamic in society is conflict over economic advantage, power or values
Karl Marx
+ historic dialectical materialisms (it's necessary to study history)
Criticisms of Capitalism
need for surplus profit to be used as capital for investment; private property to motivate owners to generate more surplus profit
consequence: generates inequality; constant capital
How are laws developed from Marxist perspective?
Chambliss Law of Vagrancy (kept workers on feudalist farms)
Types of Marxists
instrumental: ruling class is small and unified and uses the law to dominate the poor
structural: need to examine historical trend
Pledge System
+families grouped in tithings responsible for protecting settlement and dealing with minor problems
+hue and cry
+need for constable with larger tithings
Year of First Police Force
1829
London Issues with Militia
tremendous growth, promise of work insufficient, unemployed unhappy neighbors would riot, militia sent to deal with them
August Vollmer
+first police chief in Berkeley, California
+policing is service work
American Police
Boston, New York, Philadelphia
Yes
Baby
You're
Doing Great
Criminal Law
Criminal law is a set of rules legislated by the state in the name of society, and enforced by the state through the threat and application of punishment. The genesis of crime and criminal law is the society. Sources of Criminal law are: Constitution, Cri
Mal in se offenses
Crimes that are morally wrong actions and go against the standard of society. These crimes can include:
- Rape
- Murder
- Robbery
- Assault and Battery
mala prohibita offenses
Wrong because it is prohibited." These are crimes that are not morally wrong, but are still crimes because the law says so. Some examples are:
- Drug abuse
- Drunk Driving
- Illegal gambling
-Public Intoxication
- Parking in a Handicapped zone.
Emile Durkheim
Of all 19th century writers on the relationship between crime and social factors, none powerfully influenced criminology like Durkheim. The most important of Durkheim's many contributions to contemporary sociology is his concept of anomie, a breakdown of
Adolphe Quetelet
- He was a Belgian mathematician with fervent interest in the study of criminology at the same time that Guerry was studying crime in France.
- His analysis of criminal statistics he called "moral statistics."
- He published detailed analysis of crime and
Andre Michel Guerry
He was a French lawyer with interest in criminology. The first modern criminal statistics was published in France in 1827.
- Guerry analyzed data on crime by districts within France.
- He made chats, tables and maps about crime distribution in each distri
Officially recognized oldest code of law
- The Code of Ur-Nammu - the Sumerian King who founded the 3rd Dynasty of Ur.
- The Code of Hammurabi, discovered in 1901 in Susa near the Persian Gulf; the Code dates from 1650 B.C.
-Other Ancient Codes:
i. The 12 Tables of Rome.
ii. The Mosaic Code
iii.
Cartographic School of Criminology
tries to explain crime in terms of geographical factors such as;
a) Climatic Conditions (Temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure),
b) Topography,
c) Natural Resources, and
d) Geographic Location.
- The Cartographic School claims that these four fac
Dark Figure of Crime (Hidden Crime)
� This is the volume of crimes not known and not recorded by the law enforcement agencies.
� In the strictest sense all crimes are generally known to someone- at least the offender.
Hidden Crimes Fall into 3 Categories:
- Crimes that remain unknown to eve
Strict Liability
Bigamy, Statutory rape
Vicarious Liability (respondeat superior)
Let the master answer." Employee= Employer Liability; Agent= Employer Liability
State Crime
State crime is any illegal act committed by the executive head of state against the nation, his political opponents for economic benefits, illegal acts of government agencies against members of the society, and acts in violation of international law.
Type
William Chambliss
Crime is a reaction to the life conditions of a person's social class.
Index Crimes
i. Aggravated Assault
ii. Auto theft
iii. Burglary
iv. Forcible Rape
v. Larceny of $50 and over in value
vi. Murder or Non-negligent Manslaughter
vii. Robbery
viii. Arson
What is Criminology?
� Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminal laws, the breaking of laws, the criminal and the victim, and the society's reactions to the law breaker-the offender.
� Criminology is a social science discipline. Its assumptions can be investig
Three factors that qualify an offense for an index crime
-An offense is an index crime because of the following reasons:
a) High reportability
b) High frequency of occurrence
c) High seriousness of the offense
The ingredients of crime
The Ingredients of Crime are factors that make a behavior a crime.
The general principles of criminal law provide 7 basic requirements for an act to qualify as a crime:
i)Actus reus (the act requirement)-This means, for a crime to have been committed, the
mens rea
The Guilty Mind")- The concept of mens rea means that there must be "a culpable state of mind." That means, there is intent and the offender has knowledge of what he was doing at the time of the act.
-Negligence or recklessness can replace mens rea.
-Exc
Uniform Crime Reports
1) The Uniform Crime Report is a set of data frequently regarded as the authoritative measure of crime in the U.S.
2) Crimes become official data in 2 ways:
a) Crimes reported to police
b) Crimes observed by police
*UCR started in 1930- A division of iden
National Crime Victimization Survey
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization. Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 135,000 households, c
Crime
- Crime is an act that violates the criminal law of a State.
- Legalistically, a crime is an act or omission that violates the criminal law of a State without justification, and punished as a felony or misdemeanor.
WHAT MAKES AN ACT A CRIME:
- For an act
Society and Crime
-say that society creates conditions under which a person commits a crime. That is, people are influenced by society to commit crimes. The words 'sociological' and 'society' are linked, so you can remember that sociological theories look at crime as a soc
Nature of Crime
Relative to time and place.
Forms of International Crime
-International Crime are the major criminal offenses so designated by the community for the protection of interests common to all humankind -crimes against humanity, aggression(by one state to another), threat of aggression, intervention(in the internal o
Urbanization and Crime
Urbanization is a sociological explanation of crime.
Slums and Crime
- Slum neighborhoods in the United States are breeding grounds for crime and delinquency because of:
- High concentration of poor people.
- High concentration of vice activities.
- Absence of informal control mechanisms.
- High concentration of broken hom
Types of Sociological Theories of Crime
...
Gender and crime
-Except for crimes such as prostitution, shoplifting, and welfare fraud, males traditionally commit more crimes than females at all ages. -According to the UCR for 2014, the arrest ratio is more than 3 male offenders to 1 female offender.
Age and crime
-In any given year, approximately half of all arrests are of individuals under the age of 25. Juveniles constitute about eight percent of the population, they account for 15 percent of arrests for Index Crimes in 2006. While people age 65 and over constit
Classical school of criminology
Founded by Cesare Beccaria.
The members of the Classical School of Criminology were:
i. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), Founder.
ii. Francois Voltaire
iii. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
- The 18th century Europe was infested with crime waves caused by the Indus
Positive school of criminology
� The Positive School of Criminology sought to apply scientific methods to the study of crime. The Positive School had its genesis in the works of three late 19th century Italians. They are
The Holy Three of Criminology:
1. Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909), Fo
Murder
DEGREES OF MURDER:
In many jurisdictions, murder is divided into 1st Degree and 2nd Degree Murder.
FIRST DEGREE MURDER:
a. Murder committed with Premeditation and Deliberation (except in the State of New York).
b. Any Killing committed in the course of co
Insanity defense
...
Daniel M'Naghten Rule
Insanity Defense originated in England, UK, in 1843 in the trial of Daniel M'Naghten.
This is referred to in U.S. as M'Naghten Rule.
The Origin of M'Naghten Rule:
M'Naghten intended to kill the British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, when the Prime Minis
Theory of social contract and founders
Thomas Hobbes developed the theory of Social Contract.
According to Hobbes, in other to avoid a war of all against all, individuals relinquished their natural liberty to the State for the State, in return, to protect the lives and property of its members.
Sir Robert peel
The British Prime Minister who M'Naghten intended to kill when he was supposed to deliver a speech. Instead, he had his secretary give the speech, M'Naghten mistook the secretary for Robert Peel
Edward Drummond
The secretary who gave the speech for The Prime Minister(Robert Peel) and ended up getting killed by M'Naghten
Operant conditioning
The theory was developed by B. F. Skinner. The theory assumes that a behavior that is complimented is more likely to be repeated than a behavior that is punished. The theory claims that potential offenders weigh the consequences of their actions before th
Date of origin of insanity defense in England
Insanity Defense originated in England, UK, in 1843 in the trial of Daniel M'Naghten.
This is referred to in U.S. as M'Naghten Rule.
Involuntary manslaughter
- An unintentional killing committed recklessly,
- Gross negligence, or
- During committing of an unlawful act,
- DWI: DWI is defined in some States as Manslaughter and punished like a second degree murder, example in North Carolina, Michigan, etc.
Voluntary manslaughter
- In most cases, a killing occurring in the
Heat of Passion.
Psychiatric explanations of crime
a. Psychiatric theory holds that deviant behavior is a result of childhood experiences in the family.
- Over 14,000 psychiatrists in the U.S. hold this view.
- Also clinical psychologists hold this view.
b. All deviant behaviors are a product of something
Cesare Beccaria's assumptions
- Cesare Beccaria Protested the cruelty of punishment and the irregularity of proceedings in the courts of his time.
- He framed a program of reform in which he depended heavily on the "theory of Social contract."
- He proposed to modify the criminal law.
Cesare lombroso's assumptions
1. Asymmetrical face
2. Excessive jaw
3. Eye defects
4. Large ears
5. Receding forehead
6. Prominent cheek bones
7. Long arms
8. Twisted nose
9. Swollen lips.
Note: For Lombroso, these characteristics do not cause crime, but they only reveal the criminal.
William Sheldon and Body type theory
Somato Type (Body Type Theory)
- In an attempt to pursue the biological determinism theory, Sheldon studied 200 delinquents and 200 non-delinquents in Boston, MA., in 19 42.
- He studied the relationship between body shapes and criminal tendencies.
- He f
Lombroso's typologies of criminals
1. BORN CRIMINALS: These are the products of atavism and consist of of all criminals.
2. INSANE CRIMINALS: Exhibit degeneracy similar to epileptics, hysterical persons, alcoholics, dipsomaniacs, pyromaniacs, kleptomaniacs, and temporarily insane.
3. CRIMI
Rape
- The common law definition of rape is unlawful sexual intercourse with a female without her consent. It is not necessary that the defendant achieve an emission.
- All that is required is that there be a sexual penetration, however slight.
- It is usually
Assault/aggravated assault
Aggravated assault is an assault with a weapon, the victim is no march to the defendant in terms of strength and yet the assault was too much for the victim, the intent of the defendant is to kill or inflict severe bodily injury, and the degree of bodily
The holy three of criminology
1. Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909), Founder,
2. Enrico Ferri (1856-1928), and
3. Raffael Garofalo 1852-1934)
Robbery
The crime of robbery is defined as larceny committed with two additional elements:
i. The property is taken from the person or presence of the owner;
ii. The taking is accompanied by use of force or putting the owner in
fear.
� Aggravated Robbery: Aggrava
Statutory Rape
...
Criminal Law
Criminal law is a set of rules legislated by the state in the name of society, and enforced by the state through the threat and application of punishment. The genesis of crime and criminal law is the society. Sources of Criminal law are: Constitution, Cri
Mal in se offenses
Crimes that are morally wrong actions and go against the standard of society. These crimes can include:
- Rape
- Murder
- Robbery
- Assault and Battery
mala prohibita offenses
Wrong because it is prohibited." These are crimes that are not morally wrong, but are still crimes because the law says so. Some examples are:
- Drug abuse
- Drunk Driving
- Illegal gambling
-Public Intoxication
- Parking in a Handicapped zone.
Emile Durkheim
Of all 19th century writers on the relationship between crime and social factors, none powerfully influenced criminology like Durkheim. The most important of Durkheim's many contributions to contemporary sociology is his concept of anomie, a breakdown of
Adolphe Quetelet
- He was a Belgian mathematician with fervent interest in the study of criminology at the same time that Guerry was studying crime in France.
- His analysis of criminal statistics he called "moral statistics."
- He published detailed analysis of crime and
Andre Michel Guerry
He was a French lawyer with interest in criminology. The first modern criminal statistics was published in France in 1827.
- Guerry analyzed data on crime by districts within France.
- He made chats, tables and maps about crime distribution in each distri
Officially recognized oldest code of law
- The Code of Ur-Nammu - the Sumerian King who founded the 3rd Dynasty of Ur.
- The Code of Hammurabi, discovered in 1901 in Susa near the Persian Gulf; the Code dates from 1650 B.C.
-Other Ancient Codes:
i. The 12 Tables of Rome.
ii. The Mosaic Code
iii.
Cartographic School of Criminology
tries to explain crime in terms of geographical factors such as;
a) Climatic Conditions (Temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure),
b) Topography,
c) Natural Resources, and
d) Geographic Location.
- The Cartographic School claims that these four fac
Dark Figure of Crime (Hidden Crime)
� This is the volume of crimes not known and not recorded by the law enforcement agencies.
� In the strictest sense all crimes are generally known to someone- at least the offender.
Hidden Crimes Fall into 3 Categories:
- Crimes that remain unknown to eve
Strict Liability
Bigamy, Statutory rape
Vicarious Liability (respondeat superior)
Let the master answer." Employee= Employer Liability; Agent= Employer Liability
State Crime
State crime is any illegal act committed by the executive head of state against the nation, his political opponents for economic benefits, illegal acts of government agencies against members of the society, and acts in violation of international law.
Type
William Chambliss
Crime is a reaction to the life conditions of a person's social class.
Index Crimes
i. Aggravated Assault
ii. Auto theft
iii. Burglary
iv. Forcible Rape
v. Larceny of $50 and over in value
vi. Murder or Non-negligent Manslaughter
vii. Robbery
viii. Arson
What is Criminology?
� Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminal laws, the breaking of laws, the criminal and the victim, and the society's reactions to the law breaker-the offender.
� Criminology is a social science discipline. Its assumptions can be investig
Three factors that qualify an offense for an index crime
-An offense is an index crime because of the following reasons:
a) High reportability
b) High frequency of occurrence
c) High seriousness of the offense
The ingredients of crime
The Ingredients of Crime are factors that make a behavior a crime.
The general principles of criminal law provide 7 basic requirements for an act to qualify as a crime:
1. Actus reus (the act requirement)-This means, for a crime to have been committed, th
mens rea
The Guilty Mind")- The concept of mens rea means that there must be "a culpable state of mind." That means, there is intent and the offender has knowledge of what he was doing at the time of the act.
-Negligence or recklessness can replace mens rea.
-Exc
Uniform Crime Reports
1. The Uniform Crime Report is a set of data frequently regarded as the authoritative measure of crime in the U.S.
2. Crimes become official data in 2 ways:
a) Crimes reported to police
b) Crimes observed by police
*UCR started in 1930- A division of iden
National Crime Victimization Survey
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS)
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
is the
nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization
.
- Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 135,000 households
Crime
Crime is an act that violates the criminal law of a State.
- Legalistically, *
a crime is an act or omission that violates the criminal law of a State without justification, and punished as a felony or misdemeanor.
*
WHAT MAKES AN ACT A CRIME:
- *
For an
Society and Crime
...
Nature of Crime
Relative to time and place.
Forms of International Crime
...
Urbanization and Crime
Urbanization is a sociological explanation of crime.
Slums and Crime
Slum neighborhoods in the United States are breeding grounds for crime and delinquency because of:
- High concentration of poor people.
- High concentration of vice activities.
- Absence of informal control mechanisms.
- High concentration of broken homes
Types of Sociological Theories of Crime
Cultural Deviance Theories
- Cultural deviance theories attribute crime to a set of values that exist is disadvantages neighborhoods.
- Conformity with lower-class value system, which determines behaviors in slum areas causes conflict with society's laws.
Gender and crime
...
Age and crime
...
Classical school of criminology
THE FOUNDATIONS OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES:
The Classical School of Criminology - Founded by Cesare Beccaria.
The members of the Classical School of Criminology were:
i. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), Founder.
ii. Francois Voltaire
iii. Jeremy Bentham (1748
Positive school of criminology
THE POSITIVE SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY OR
BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM THEORY
**
The Positive School of Criminology sought to apply scientific methods to the study of crime.
**
- The Positive School had its genesis in the works of three late 19th century Italians.
Murder
(homicide and insanity defense document)
Insanity defense
(homicide and insanity defense document)
Daniel M'Naghten Rule
(homicide and insanity defense document)
Theory of social contract and founders
...
Sir Robert peel
(homicide and insanity defense document)
Edward Drummond
(homicide and insanity defense document)
Operant conditioning
The theory was developed by
B. F. Skinner
.
The theory
assumes that a behavior that is complimented is more likely to be repeated
than a behavior that is punished.
The theory
claims that potential offenders weigh the consequences of their actions
before t
Date of origin of insanity defense in England
Insanity Defense originated in England, UK, in *
1843
* in the trial of Daniel M'Naghten.
This is referred to in U.S. as M'Naghten Rule.
Involuntary manslaughter
*
HOMICIDE
*: ANY UNLAWFUL TAKING OF THE LIFE OF ANOTHER FALLS UNDER THE GENERIC CLASS OF HOMICIDE.
- THERE ARE TWO PRINCIPAL KINDS OF HOMICIDE:
1. Murder
2. *
Manslaughter
*
- TWO KINDS OF MANSLAUGHTER:
a. Voluntary Manslaughter
b. *
Involuntary Manslaug
Voluntary manslaughter
*
HOMICIDE
*: ANY UNLAWFUL TAKING OF THE LIFE OF ANOTHER FALLS UNDER THE GENERIC CLASS OF HOMICIDE.
- THERE ARE TWO PRINCIPAL KINDS OF HOMICIDE:
1. Murder
2. *
Manslaughter
*
- TWO KINDS OF MANSLAUGHTER:
a.
Voluntary Manslaughter
b. Involuntary Manslaught
Psychiatric explanations of crime
Psychiatric Explanation:
1. Psychiatric theory holds that *
deviant behavior is a result of childhood experiences
* in the family.
- Over 14,000 psychiatrists in the U.S. hold this view.
- Also clinical psychologists hold this view.
2. *
All deviant behav
Cesare Beccaria's assumptions
...
Cesare Lombroso's assumptions
*
LOMBROSO'S CRIMINAL CHARACTERISTICS
*
1. Asymmetrical face
2. Excessive jaw
3. Eye defects
4. Large ears
5. Receding forehead
6. Prominent cheek bones
7. Long arms
8. Twisted nose
9. Swollen lips.
*
Note: For Lombroso, these characteristics do not cause
William Sheldon and Body type theory
Somato Type (Body Type Theory)
- In an attempt to pursue the biological determinism theory, Sheldon studied 200 delinquents and 200 non-delinquents in Boston, MA., in 19 42.
- He studied *
the relationship between body shapes and criminal tendencies
*.
-
Lombroso's typologies of criminals
Lombroso's Typologies of Criminals
1 - *
BORN CRIMINALS
*: These are the products of atavism and consist of of all criminals.
2 - *
INSANE CRIMINALS
*: Exhibit degeneracy similar to epileptics, hysterical persons, alcoholics, dipsomaniacs, pyromaniacs, kl
Rape
Rape: the common law definition of rape is *
unlawful sexual intercourse with a female without her consent. It is not necessary that the defendant achieve an emission.
*
- All that is required is that there be a sexual penetration, however slight.
- It is
Assault/aggravated assault
*
Aggravated Assault
*: an assault with a weapon
- the victim is no march to the defendant in terms of strength and yet the assault was too much for the victim .
- *
the intent of the defendant is to kill or inflict severe bodily injury, and the degree of
The holy three of criminology
The Holy Three of Criminology:
1. Cesare *
Lombroso
* (1836-1909), Founder,
2. Enrico *
Ferri
* (1856-1928), and
3. Raffael *
Garofalo
* 1852-1934)
Robbery
*
Robbery
*: The crime of robbery is defined as larceny committed with two additional elements:
1 - The *
property is taken from the person
* or presence of the owner;
2 - The *
taking is accompanied by use of force or putting the owner in fear
*.
*
Aggra
Statutory Rape
...
Crime
...
Criminal Law
...
Society & Crime
...
William Chambliss
...
Nature of Crime
...
Cartography School
...
Earliest Criminal Codes of Law
...
Ingredients of Crime (8)
...
Forms of International Crime
...
Urbanization & Crime
...
Slums and Crime
...
Types of Sociological Theories of Crime
...
Gender and Crime
...
UCR
...
NCVS
...
Age and Crime
...
Classical School of Criminology
...
Index Crime
...
Positive School of Criminology
...
Theory of Social Contract and Founders
...
Operant
...
Conditioning
...
Dark Figure of Crime
...
Psychiatric Explanations of Crime
...
Cesare BECCARIA's Assumptions
...
Cesare LOMBROSO's Assumptions
...
William SHELDON & Body Type Theory
...
LOMBROSO's Typologies of Criminals
...
Rape
...
Assault
At common law, an unlawful offer or attempt with force or violence to do a corporal hurt to another or frighten another.
Aggravated Assault
An attack on another person in which the perpetrator inflicts serious harm on the victim or uses a deadly weapon.
Robbery
...
Men's Rea
...
Statutory Rape
Sexual intercourse with a person incapable of giving legally relevant consent, because of immaturity (below age) or mental or physical condition.
Murder
...
Insanity Defense
...
Daniel M'NAGHTEN Rule
...
Sir Robert PEEL
...
Edward DRUMMOND
...
Date of the Origin of Insanity Defense in England
...
Involuntary Manslaughter
Homicide in which the perpetrator unintentionally but recklessly causes the death of another person by consciously taking a grave risk that endangers the person's life.
Voluntary Manslaughter
...
Strict Liability
...
Vicarious Liability
...
Mala In Se Offenses
...
Mala Prohibita Offenses
bad or evil because it is forbidden (embezzlement, drug offenses, traffic violations)
The Holy Three of Criminology
...
State Crimes
...
Types of State Crimes
...
Crimes of Colonization
...
Reasons for Chicago crime spike
Had a low stable crime rate, until Prohibition provided opportunity for rise in organized crime (ex Al Capone), spike in non-white homicides (includes Italians)
Chicago School
group of sociologists who sought to investigate the geographical patterns and social factors behind crimes
Robert Park
first to develop idea of social ecology in relation to city life. inspired by insect ecology and Darwinism to explain the human social behavior and competitive conflict which causes crime.
Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay
developed concentric zone theory and spot maps
Frederic Trasher
proposed gang membership is a substitute to everyday life
concentric zone theory
spatial organization of the distribution of social groups and resources in a given area. Divides city into zones of commercial, workers and residence; zones become more stable and wealthy as they move outward. highest level of crime is in zone two (zone o
social ecology theory
study of social and behavioral consequences of interaction of human behavior and enviroment. certain neighborhoods and places sustain problems in crime for years regardless of specific inhabitants (even when total population turnover still heavy crime rat
john Hagedorn
rejects social ecology theory because doesn't acknowledge political and financial interests, believes gangs are not natural byproducts of spatial arrangements but formed because of absence in integrating values. Gangs are social actors to provide communit
critical gang theory
states that gangs are instrumental response to political and economic alienation. criminogenic conditions are not natural, but constructed and imposed. gangs are social actors
albert cohen
gangs are a cultural phenomenon that arises from status frustration. delinquent subcultures are solution to exclusion from respectable status system
mertonian types
typology of criminals and noncriminals on basis of rejection or acceptance of society's cultural norms (capitalism) and institutional means to attain goals
robert merton
created the strain theory, argued that capitalist ideologies are a key reason for deviant behavior (especially in white collar crime), five typologies based on adherence to cultural goals and beliefs in means to achieve these goals
emile durkheim
anomie theory: crime can be explained through the disjunction of legitimate goals and illegal means of acquiring these goals
conformist
(most common) someone who accepts mainstream goals (American Dream, wealth, status) and legitimate means to achievement (working hard, education)
innovator
someone who accepts mainstream goals (capitalism, wealth, status) but finds illegitimate unconventional means of achievement (cheating, fraud, stealing) most likely to be criminal
retreatism
someone who rejects mainstream goals and mainstream means of achievement (ex. Chris McCandless - Into the Wild retreats to live in the Alaskan wilderness) tend to join cults, drop out and accept defeatism
ritualist
someone who accepts failure or only partial success in mainstream goals (uninterested in making a ton of money or high status) but follows mainstream means and patterns (going to college, participating in economy) (ex. college drop out to start own busine
rebel
someone who rejects both mainstream goals and means to achievement, instead defines their own goals and means (ex Martin Luther King Jr) often leaders of social movements who seek to organize
gang membership pull
internal factors that entice people out of gangs (family and work, marriage, new area, family exiting the gang, gang break up)
gang membership push
external factors that nudge people out of gangs (aging out, police harassment, imprisonment/CJS
involvement, personal victimization)
criteria of a gang
1. The group has an agreed-upon name
2. Commit crimes together [key criterion]
3. Has one or more identified leaders
4. Socialize together
5. Display or wear common colors or insignia
6. Turf/territory claim
Rohen & Messner's 4 institutions
economy, family, education and polity. Institutions supposed to be interdependent and complement one another but economy dominates the other three
strain
discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means
available to achieve these goals
strain theory
refers to deviant behavior as the normal response to abnormal conditions. Society creates strain by organization, resource allocation, and goals. When individuals cannot attain these mainstream goals (money and success) they turn to crime
anomie
sense of isolation from the breakdown in social values, refer to social and individual fragility when norms disappear. When society cannot regulate the desires of individuals it leads to nonconformity (often illegal)
why charlottesville?
politically liberal, mostly white, Southern antebellum fantasy, symbolic, history of troubled race relations
American Dream
built one 1) Glorification of Material Success 2) Individualism 3) Universalism 4) Strong Achievement Orientation
Robert Merton and Anomie Theory
ROBERT MERTON'S ANOMIE THEORY
Deviance/Crime in America
1. Cause: Malintegration.
2. Types of Deviance: The types of deviance are related to the nature of the malintegration.
3. Robert Merton borrowed Emile Durkheim's anomie theory to explain deviance/cri
Containment Theory
Containment Theory (Walter C. Reckless)
1. According to Walter reckless, containment means that human behavior is something that should be held in check.
2. Containment theory assumes that crime is a result of pushes and pulls toward crime that may enter
Techniques of Naturalization of Guilt
Five Major Techniques of Neutralization
i) Denial of Responsibility
- My parents are responsible - My old man is nutty.
ii) Denial of Lying
- I did no harm to anybody.
- Things are not really stolen, they are borrowed.
iii) Denial of the victim
- Unfair t
Graft
Workplace crimes are occupational crimes committed against employers in violation of trust including pilferage, embezzlement, and sabotage.
b. Graft includes fee splitting, taking of bribes and kickbacks, and using privileged information for personal prof
Pilferaging
1. Inventory control: Reduction in inventory caused by shoplifting, or petty thievery by the employees. 2. Marine insurance: Theft of a few pieces or a small quantity of a relatively large shipment. Some standard marine insurance policies do not cover pil
Biological Determinism
Biological determinism refers to the idea that all human behavior is innate, determined by genes, brain size, or other biological attributes. This theory stands in contrast to the notion that human behavior is determined by culture or other social forces.
Ecological Determinism(Environmental)
Environmental determinism (also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism) is the study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular development trajectories.
Edwin Sutherland and White Collar Crime
White Collar Crime: This is a term coined by a Sociologist, Edwin Sutherland. According to Edwin Sutherland, white collar crime is a crime of a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.
- Examples are: Insider tradin
William Bonger
Wrote criminality and economic conditions, a good read for research on Crime and economics. Was a Dutch Criminologist who took his own life.
Charles Goring
Used empirical research to refute Lombroso's theory of criminal types.
Ernest Hooton
Related criminality to hereditary inferiority.
Francois Voltaire
...
Jeremy Bentham
Developed utilitarian principles of punishment.
Henry Shaw and Clifford McKay
They used the model Park and Burgess had created to investigate the relationship between crime rates and the various zones of Chicago. They found that the highest rates of delinquency persisted in the same areas of Chicago over the extended period from 19
The Principal Code of Mafia
Manliness
Young's (2011) definition of criminology
An instrumental means of training future employees of the 'crime control industry'
Criminology is an...
abstract empiricism dedicated to making general claims on the causes of crime and finding solutions to prevent it
Matza (1969)
Criminology appears to aim at getting rid of the very thing it studies
Positivism
Lombroso (1878): criminals have distinctive physical abnormalities
Sociology of deviance
ethnography and qualitative work
interdisciplinary
concerned with the structure and social conditions
engaged with theory making
C Wright Mills
The sociological imagination is stimulated by a willingness to view the social world from the perspective of others
involves thinking externally to the individuals and their problems
focusing on the social conditions that produce the problems
Personal troubles
Rational Choice Theory
Mills: we live detached from the wider social world and experience our own lives as unique and interpret others in the same way
Public Issues
Mills: to cultivate our sociological imagination we need to connect individual's lives with larger processes of social, economic, and political change
stand behind personal difficulties
Criminological imagination
developing empathy to view the world from other people's perspectives in order to understand criminal issues
Barton et al (2007)
a genuinely imaginative criminology must provide a means for shaping political consciousness and instilling debates with a new and more illusionary common sense
it must be able to provide a plausible account that taps into people's lived realities and fac
a criminological imagination requires
an intellectual understand of determining contexts
an ability to understand the relationship between individuals and structural forces
an ability to desire and empathise with victims and offenders
an ability to understand injustice but also be moved to ch
Freud's unconscious
criminality could be understood by examining the abnormal development of the psyche in childhood
existential analysis
dreams were a form of wish fulfilment rather than metaphors for our unconscious
The Oedipus complex
criminality can be explained as a substitute response to the unfulfilled desires and created deviant desires
sublimation
desires are diverted to healthy outlets approved by the superego
repression
desires are repressed and denied
person engages in Freudian slips
denial
anxiety about desires goes unacknowledged or treated unemotionally
projection
prohibitions of the superego are applied as standard for judging others, but not oneself
fixations
prohibitions are so strong they become fears/phobias
undoing
superego is so strong that the person continually makes amends/apologies for what they do
reaction formation
both the id and the superego are so strong that a person sometimes identifies with aggression
displacement
ego is so weak that the person settles for a substitute of their desire
this is where criminality occurs
a weak superego
hostility to authority
few of the usual inhibitions against anti-social behaviour
causes behaviour that gratifies the id, regardless of social norms and constraints
a deviant superego
if the same-sex parent has deviant values, the child's superego may not react normally to criminal acts
subcultural values develop which don't result in normal inhibitions
an overdeveloped superego
an excessively powerful superego renders a person anxious and guilty
this could result in a person committing crime in order to get caught and punished so they feel they have dealt with the guilt
alternatively: desire builds up over time and the person 'e
Megargee's "over controlled violent offender
documented a series of violent cases carried out by people regarded as passive and harmless
argued their shared inability to express their anger in normal ways would result in them exploding
Bowlby's affectionless psychopath
if affectionate relations with the mother aren't established, this could result in an inability to relate to others
39% of 44 thieves has significant disruptions to their maternal attachments
Glover's 'The Roots of Crime' (1960)
argued against statistical abstraction
argued that punitive attitudes towards offenders were more about the punisher's need for crime and the public's need for vengeance than justice or rehabilitation
Psychoanalysis in the CJS
restorative justice (Klein: reparation is crucial for offenders to relieve excessive guilt)
police interrogations (Chong Ho Chon & DeVerre Woods: interrogation often deploys psychoanalysis techniques)
Free association therapeutic work with offenders
Jefferson and Gadd (2007)
argued both administrative criminology and critical criminology ignore the rich inner life of the offender and mainstream psychological perspectives
Jones (2012)
we need to understand the interaction between mental conflict and public issues
Jefferson and Holloway (2000)
anxious people: crime could serve unconsciously for displaced anxieties which would otherwise be too threatening to deal with
sociological context and psychoanalytic methods and practices gives a psychosocial account for fear of crime
Walters (2003)
market led criminology
focus on risk-management, cost-effectiveness and strategies for reducing crime
Matthews (2009)
policy driven evidence rather than evidence driven policy
focus on finding evidence to support current policy rather than creating policy based on evidence
Tierney (2009)
approaching crime without investigating causes of crime
an approach to studying crime that makes causal factors irrelevant
Rational Choice Theory
Clark and Cornish
presumes there are lots of potential offenders within society who rationally weigh up the costs and benefits of committing crime
what are the specific circumstances that persuades individuals to commit crime?
Clark and Cornish (1994; 2003)
situational crime prevention
1. increase perceived effort involved in carrying out crime
2. increasing perceived risks of getting caught
3. reducing anticipated rewards
4. reducing provocation
5. removing excuses
social context for situational crime prevention
decline of the social
- citizens are increasingly private and individualised
- strangers seen as threats and forms of intrusion
privatisation of public space
- eradication of publicly owned, publicly accessible spaces
- spaces are increasingly "non-places
technical critiques of rational choice theory
- Hakim and Reigert (1981), Lowman (1992): situational crime prevention just displace crime rather than prevent it?
- prevention increases attraction of risk-taking
- increased prevention implies increased value
theoretical critiques of rational choice theory
- should policy driven evidence be the primary task of criminology?
- is the research restricted by political policy?
Routine Activity Theory
concentration on crime events and their sources
crime depends on opportunities and a rational assessment
aim: to devise pragmatic strategies to increase the risks and reduce the rewards of crime
the likely offender
someone who has both the propensity and ability to commit crime
assumes there is a ready supply of likely offenders
doesn't take into account social circumstances as well as individual differences
neglects root causes of crime
a suitable target
VIVA
value
inertia
visibility
access
critiques of routine activity theory
ignores broader social, economic and cultural factors in shaping criminal motivations
lack of attention paid to WCC and corporate crime
Emile Durkheim
human behaviour should be understood sociologically rather than biologically/psychologically
rise of individualism becomes a fundamental problem
mechanical society
importance of shared values and consciousness
binds people together
pre-modern societies
main source of income: agriculture
most people followed the same religion
organic society
highly specialised division of labour
structural interdependence
modern society
various religious views
anomie
a rapid process resulting from the move from mechanical to organic society
society is unable to develop regulations to keep up
Merton (1938)
Merton's adaptations (1938)
conformity
innovation
ritualism
retreatism
rebellion
The Fruit Machine
whoever put the fruit machine there controls the behaviour
Agnew's general strain theory (1992/2008)
micro level strain
people engage with crime because they experience strain/stressors
anticipated strain
strains that are expected to occur in the future
vicarious strains
strains experienced as a result of events which happen close to others
experienced strains
strains we face in everyday life
Ostrowsky + Messner (2005)
3 indicators of strain:
1. gap between aspirations and outcomes
2. Perceptions of blocked opportunities
3. removal of positively valued stimuli and confrontation with negative/unpleasant circumstances
property offending: blocked opportunities
violent offe
Jock Young's exclusive society
chronically high casualised and unstable employment
increasing boredom --> new forms of entertainment
interactionism
emphasises the flexibility of individual responses
interested in the power of the label AND the micro-level interactions between rule violator and enforcer
Tannenbaum (1938)
deviance created through a process of interaction
while a majority commit crime, only a minority become known as deviant
primary deviance
a temporary transgression in which perps have no conception of themselves as deviant
secondary deviance
created by the reaction of others to the initial deviance
Becker (1963) 3 stage process of rule breaking
1. rules are created by social groups, and it is the infraction of these rules that creates deviance
2. the rules are applied to particular people
3. those to whom the rules are applied are then labelled as outsiders
deviant behaviour is behaviour so labe
Schrag (1971)
assumptions of labelling theory:
- no act is intrinsically criminal
- being caught begins the labelling process
- CJS based on free-will perspective that allows for condemnation and rejection of offender
- produces an identification with deviant image as
Williams (1964)
deviant amplification
transmission of information may lead to distortion and exaggeration which in turn leads to an adaptive behavioural reaction
Stan Cohen (1972)
moral panics and fold devils
mods vs rockers
no evidence of structured gangs
threatening behaviour, not assault or malicious damage
more news coverage increases police activity and more public concern
Goffman (1963) Stigma
helps us to understand how criminal careers are started and reinforced by the CJS
an attribute that is deeply discrediting within a particular social influence
becomes the defining feature of an individual's personality
Braithewaite (1989)
Shaming
focus on the ways in which society/community and family sanction deviance
the shame that matters the most is that of the people we care about most
Reintegrative shaming
1. the over-disapproval of the delinquent act by socially significant members
2. on-going inclusion of the offender within an inter-dependent relationship
disintegrative shaming
a form of shaming that excludes and stigmatises the individual
historically: public humiliation/flogging
media and public response denouncing crimes and criminals
little or no effort is made to forgive offenders or affirm goodness of character/reinforces
sovereign power
inflicting punishment on the body asserts control
public punishment as a spectacle
power is an oppressive force
power came from the monarchs
disciplinary power
18th C onwards
discipline governs mind and soul
uses surveillance to produce self-governance
power is a productive force
panopticism
everyone takes responsibility for governing behaviour: we all need to undertake ways of self-governing
Genealogy
argues that understanding the world around us requires an archaeological exercise that constructs counter-histories to those in popular/public discourse
Biopolitics
argues reproduction became a site of public importance
population control became seen as a legitimate site of state regulation and societal concern
the doubling of the offence
occurs when a whole series of other things that are not the offence itself are presented as the cause, origin, motivation and starting point of the offence
e.g. extreme pornography
Reiss (1951)
delinquency as a failure of social and personal goals
Nye (1958)
families are the most important in providing social controls for adolescents
Reckless (1961)
commitment theory
factors that push or pull people towards crime are kept in check by inner and outer containments that serve as controls
Sykes and Matza (1959)
techniques of neutralisation
adolescents conform to laws majority of the time, but controls are weakened by these engagements of crime justification techniques
- denial of responsibility
- denial of injury
- denial of the victim
- condemnation of the cond
Matza (1964)
delinquency and drift
acknowledged neutralisation made deviance possible, but something else drives the offending
partial result of relaxed parental supervision, low responsibility and little sense of consequence
Hirschi's social bond theory (1969)
since we are all predisposed to deviance, we must teach individuals not to offend
4 stage model:
1. attachment: our internalisations mean we care about others opinions and act within the norms of society
2. Commitment: we make investments in social life.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990)
people differ in the extent to which they are vulnerable to the temptations of the moment
control theory encompasses social and individual considerations of the extent to which we are restrained from criminal acts
Blevins (2017)
individuals with high levels of self-control are able to resist breaking the law or engaging in other deviant behaviour
low self-control is the primary individual characteristic underpinning criminal behaviour
causes of self-control
Gottfredson + Hirschi
ineffective or incomplete socialisation and poor parent as the main factor of low self-control
Sampson and Laub (1993)
age-graded theory of low self-control
maturational reform - variations in strength of social bond over time
social bond theory
risk factors
family (poor parental supervision and discipline)
school (low achievement and commitment)
personal (hyperactivity and impulsivity)
community (living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood)
social bond theory
protective factors
social bonding (stable, affectionate, warm relationships with one or both parents)
health standards (opportunities for involvement, social and reasoning skills, recognition and due praise)
individual standards (female gender, resilient temperament, positi
Criminology
The body of knowledge viewing and analyzing crime as a social phenomenon... Goals are scientific: a body of general and verified principles and knowledge regarding law, crime and treatment.
Why do we study criminology?
Because it serves a purpose to the community (in order to stop crime we must first understand it) and because it directly/in-directly impacts all of us through the CJS.
What are big issues within crime?
Inequality, problems with institutions such as schools, correctional facilities, domestic violence or lack of support, sensationalized media (over coverage), lack of political will to make REAL changes and a lack of programs meant to prevent crime rather
Why is the media leading to a heightened sense of danger?
The media only tends to report stories that are bound to attract viewers, which are usually focused more on extreme crimes such as murder or assault... Basically if it bleeds, it leads. This creates a negative outlook on the CJS, leading to distrust and f
Norms
Informal rules that govern behaviour... Folkways are informal norms with informal penalties for not following them such as disapproval of others.
Laws
Formal, written down rules and regulations.
Crime
An act that violates the criminal law and is punishable by fines, jail time, or other penalties.
Julia Schwendinger (1970)
Everyone should have the same rights and any acts violating or denying these rights should be considered crimes. Believes that those in power have too much say on what is law. Her theory: The law is biased against the poor.
The Continuum of Crime and Deviance
There are 3 Dimensions of the crime continuum:
1. The degree of consensus that an act is wrong (Does everyone agree that it's a crime?)
2. The severity of society's response to that act.
3.The amount of harm caused by that act.
The Four Major Categories of Crime and Deviance are...
Consensus crimes, conflict crimes, social deviation, social diversions.
How is crime socially defined?
The definition of crime itself is mutable and different from place to place. Actions are not inherently good or bad so it depends on how people see them. One must consider the context of crimes (where, when, who is involved, etc.)
What is the relativity of crime?
Rules changes, so what constitutes crime changes. The distinction between criminal and noncriminal is ambiguous (open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning).
Consensus Theory
Law represents a consensus among people within a society about what acts should be prohibited by the criminal law.
Conflict Theory
Recognizes law through political processes, involves conflict between interest groups and social classes.
What are the sources of Criminal Law in Canada?
The Federal Government, The Supreme Court of Canada, The Criminal Code, any Acts or legislative regulations (quasi-criminal offences), and from judicial decisions.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that criminal law must be...
Directed against forms of behaviour that create a "public evil" or put society as a whole in harm.
What does the Criminal Code do?
It defines the nature of various criminal acts and the legal elements that must be present for convictions, outlines both the procedures that must be followed in prosecuting a case, along with the powers and limitations of CJS officials, and makes the dis
Who decides how to proceed on hybrid offences?
The Crown chooses whether or not the criminal act should be tried as a summary or indictable offence.
What is "Quasi-Criminal Law"?
Is mostly concerned with the orderly regulation of activities instead of criminal offences with actual victims... penalties are far less serious... Max penalties of 6 months or less, or fines, or both.
What is Common Law?
Laws and defences stemming from a large body of judicial decisions that interpret criminal legislation or expound (to present and explain a theory or idea systematically and in detail) the common law.
What is the biggest impact the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has on the Criminal Code?
Judges must disregard any legislation that infringes on someone's fundamental rights (the presumption of innocence, right to not be deprived of life, liberty and security of person).
What is Section 1 of the Charter and why is it important?
This is the Reasonable Limits Clause where individual have to surrender their Charter rights if these individual rights puts society in some sort of danger. This is important because it puts no one above the law.
In order for an act to be considered a crime, there needs to be...
Both Mens Rea (a guilty mind) and Actus Reus (a guilty act).
The Three C's of Actus Reus are...
1. Conduct (voluntary act or omission, aka failing to act or provide the necessities of life)
2. Surrounding or "material circumstances" (lack of consent)
3. Consequences of voluntary conduct (non-trivial injury)
Mens Rea requires the Crown to prove that there was INTENT. What are the two types of Mens Rea?
Subjective Mens Rea (the accused intended to bring about the consequences that are prohibited by law, OR the accused was willfully blind or reckless, therefore ignoring the potential dangers) and Objective Mens Rea (conviction because reasonable people in
Who do not meet the standards for Objective Mens Rea?
The mentally disabled and children (they lack the ability to foresee consequences)
When can you be convicted of a crime you didn't physically commit?
Whenever you Aid and Abet (encourage a crime), agree to a Common Purpose with others to commit a crime, or commit an Inchoate Offence (occurs when someone attempts to bring about a crime but is unsuccessful in doing so... Involves attempt, conspiracy and
What are permissible defences to crime?
There are 9... Claiming you were either NCRMD, suffer from Automatism or Battered Woman Syndrome, or were provoked, intoxicated, under duress, or committed a crime out of necessity, mistake, or self-defence.
What is the NCRMD defence?
It means "Not Criminally Responsible due to a Mental Disorder"... Also known as the "insanity defence", in order to work one must not realize the quality or nature of an act or omission to know it was wrong. They must be suffering from a mental disorder o
What is the Automatism defence?
Claims that an action/crime was performed unconsciously or involuntarily... Works only if the accused had been recently concussed.
What is the Mistake of Fact defence?
When the accused made an honest mistake resulting in crime. This is NOT ignorance of law, for example, in sexual assault cases you must prove that you had consent. This could also happen if an official had previously told someone that something is not an
What is the Intoxication defence?
A common law defence where intoxication must have made the individual not capable of forming mens rea... In the case of specific intent crimes, a more complex pattern of thought is required. An example is R. v. Daviault (1994)... The accused was so extrem
What is the Necessity Defence?
When someone commits a lesser evil of a crime to avoid the occurrence of a greater evil. A common law defence where person is considered to have acted involuntarily from a moral viewpoint.
What is the Duress defence?
When someone subjected to threats, violence, constraints, or other action does something against their will or better judgment. Courts must agree that any other reasonable person would have acted likewise, and that there were no other obvious safe avenues
What is the Provocation defence?
When the accused was provoked into committing a crime. This is a partial defence to murder... Someone will still be found guilty, but not of first degree. Often committed in the "heat of passion"... there has to be a sufficient reason that would deprive a
When can Self-Defence be used as a reason?
A Criminal Code provision where the accused must have shown that they were unlawfully assaulted/did not provoke initial attack, that they used no more than necessary force and that they didn't intentionally inflict death or extreme bodily harm.
What is the Battered Woman Syndrome defence?
Defence used by woman stuck in abusive relationships suffering from a from of PTSD. A woman can be charged depending on what a "reasonable woman" would have done... She must have been in acute fear for her life.
The International Criminal Court, ratified in 2003 by over 114 countries, does what?
Prosecutes individuals for the gravest of crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met.
What are the controversies surrounding crime statistics?
Controversies question how consistent the results and info gathered actually are. Common questions include: How valid are these tools that measure crime? Will another researcher get similar results? Is it measuring crime, or something else?
What occurs in the Crime Funnel?
Not every crime reported can be tracked down... People are "spit" out of the funnel/CJS.
What is Kaplan's Law?
Theorists only develop theories on basis of the information available... Thought that the only criminal behaviour committed were by those already in prison.
What are the three types of statistics on crime?
1. Stats about crime and criminals.
2. Stats about the CJS and how it responds to crime.
3. Stats about the perceptions of crime and justice (community opinions)
In order to change data into usable statistics, we must define:
1. Units of Count (What is being counted?)
2. Level of Aggregation (Is it national, provincial or municipal?)
3. Definitions (Need a clear consensus on what to count... be specific about the parameters of the search)
What is the Dark Figure of Crime?
Crime that is not reported, unrecorded and largely unknown. Includes domestic abuse, sexual assault among crimes largely unreported... Why? Because there is no faith in the system or they believe its their fault.
What is UCR?
Canadian Uniform Crime Reports... Designed to provide uniform, comparable national statistics on crime. UCR 1.0 = Aggregate system collects summary info on almost 100 separate offences. UCR 2.0 = Incident based survey... Detailed info on each incident, vi
What does the CCJS reinforce?
The need for national commitment and strategies for collecting and sharing data.
Who have higher rates of crime, the young or the old? Male or female?
Younger males have higher rates of crime and this relationship is stable over time and across jurisdictions... Peak age for youths to commit crime is between 13 and 15 (crimes seem to diminish around 17 years old).
What is Maturational Reform?
There is much more to lose at an older age, so people seem to age out of crime.
What is Greenberg's thesis?
He saw that age segregation results in strong peer influence. Poor teen labour market and need for money to participate in activities result in theft and experiences including humiliation by teachers result in lashing back at system.
What is Hirschi and Gottfredson's thesis?
Historical research indicates the age-to-crime correlation exists all the time, so it is NOT the result of modern day, industrial society, and also that having a part time job increases crime, refuting Greenberg's thesis... OHHHH (burn).
Although crime rates for females are increasing, they are still substantially lower than the rates for men. Why might this be occurring?
People think that judges are less likely to convict females (being too "chivalrous").
What is the Convergence Hypothesis from Role Theory?
As social roles of sexes become more equal, differences in criminal behaviour should diminish.
In the US, race is used as an indicator for crime. Is this the same in Canada?
NOPE.
Why are victims seen as "orphans"?
Victims are called that because they're forgotten about. There is very little research about victimology (the idea that we should care more about victims along with giving them more rights while pining for the prevention of victimization as a whole).
What is the Zero Tolerance Policy?
Police must lay charges if there is domestic abuse.
What are the flaws of police data?
1. Many people do not report crime.
2. Police may not even record the report.
What is the purpose of Victimization Surveys?
To measure the prevalence and rate of reporting to the police (collected every 5 years)... GSS (General Social Survey) results are that 1/4th of Canadians are victimized by theft and assault each year, and that victims are most likely to be young, Aborigi
What are the needs of Crime victims? (Eight Core Values)
1. Right to Recognition (CJS understanding the victim and their rights)
2. Right to Information (about CJS processes)
3. Right to Assistance (access to victim services that are 4. crime specific and adequately funded)
4. Right to Reparation (financial rec
What happened in 1985?
The UN created a resolution that is considered the Magna Carta of victims, a go-to statement that discusses the standards of justice for victims of crime and abuse of power. The goal was to balance the rights of victims with those of the offenders.
What happened in Canada in 1967?
Saskatchewan began to provide compensation for victims of violent crimes.
What are Victim Fine Surcharges?
Fines that go towards funding victim-needs programs.
In what ways could a victim gain reparation?
Through restitution, civil suits, restorative justice measures and by compensation from the government.
What does the European Union do for victims in which Canada doesn't?
Victims have legal standing paid by the state and possess an actual voice in the matters... More than just giving a victim impact statement.
What are Waller's key components for a successful action plan?
Canada needs to model legislation with sections regarding support (recognition, information, assistance), justice (reparation, protection, participation and representation) and good government (policies to reduce victimization/endorse implementation)... B
What were pre-18th Century notions of crime largely influenced by?
Judeo-Christian beliefs concerning evil spirits and magic.
How was guilt tested?
Usually by trial, which included combat, ordeal or water/floating... It was believed that God took the side of the innocent, helping them to stay alive.
Why was there a transition from feudalism to capitalism?
Worsening economic situation for the growing masses, feudalism was unable to accommodate larger populations.
What was the Inquisition?
The Inquisition used religion to support the status quo by blaming social ills on the devil and other evil spirits; people in power claiming to have the ability to combat evil; calling anyone who challenged this a "heretic" and subjecting them to extreme
How did the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution challenge authority?
They changed how people thought about the world... People began to test things rather than just assume or go by what those in charge believed.
What was the Classical School and its beliefs?
The Classical School of thought was premised on the idea that people have free will in making decisions, and that punishment can be a deterrent for crime, so long as the punishment is proportional, fits the crime, and is carried out promptly.
What contributions were made to criminal law from the Classical School?
It attacked excesses and provided the foundation for the current CJS. It made sure that there was equality before the law, the guarantee of rights, separation of judicial and legislative systems, established fixed penalties and due process for safeguards,
What were the limitations of the Classical School?
Equal punishments did not allow for flexibility or personal considerations or mitigating circumstances. There was no discretion was allowed for judges which in itself allowed for injustice. The assumption that people are free and rational human beings ign
What was the Statistical School?
The school gathered statistical information to find a relationship between crime and factors. It discovered that crime is influenced by society and NOT the individual. It looked at structural factors/features of society like inequalities.
What is Positivism?
The belief that crime was the result of natural causes that could be discovered through scientific methods, and that this behaviour could be altered.
What was the Positive School?
It used scientific methods to compare criminals and non-criminals... It was influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution. Theories were accepted in the 19th century because it blamed the individual and NOT society.
What was Lombroso's theory concerning criminal behaviour?
He claimed that all prisoners were criminals and that someone's physical features could show that they had criminal tendencies.
What is a Stigmata?
Stigmata" means physical, anatomical characteristics determining if you were a criminal. Lombroso argued women had fewer stigmata's because of their maternal instincts.
What contributions did Lombroso make towards criminal law?
Despite his theories being extremely flawed, he called for different treatment of different criminals. He believed in probation, indeterminate sentences and more mitigating circumstances to be weighed in.
What were some early 20th century Biological Theories?
Criminals were socially/physically inferior and had lower intelligence. Believed that different body types such as endomorphs, mesomorphs and ectomorphs had different personality traits associated with each, and that criminality was genetically inheritabl
What are the five themes of moral development?
1. Moral knowledge
2. Socialization
3. Empathy
4. Responsibility vs. Conscience
5. Autonomy
What do Psychological Theories of Crime concern?
These theories believe a person's behaviour in a specific situation is correlated with their personality and what they have been taught. They usually entail:
1. An assumption of offender deficit
2. An assumption of discriminating traits (What does the off
Problems with the Psychological Theories of Crime?
There is little emphasis on the strengths of the offender, it ignores contextual factors on individual behaviour and it assumes people are either criminal or noncriminal. It blames the individual entirely, and not other societal factors.
What is Community Psychology?
Looks at individuals in a communal environment and acknowledges that other things play a role.
What was developed by Freud and what did it argue?
He developed Psychoanalytic Theory, which focuses on Three Forces of the Personality:
1. Id: biological, undisciplined drives
2. Ego: Directs the impulses of the Id and acts as a reality tester
3. Superego: Your conscience, highly disciplined.
Ego and Sup
What did Warren, Hindelang and Bowlby believe?
Warren and Hindelang believed that criminal behaviour is a form of neurosis... They suffer from the compulsive need to be punished to alleviate guilt/anxiety from unconscious strivings. Bowlby emphasized the importance of a stable attachment to the mother
What are the problems with Psychoanalytic Theory?
1. It is unstable because it relies on unobservable underlying constructs.
2. It is redundant/tautological... Causes are seen as explanations.
3. Not all criminals show guilt.
What do theories of Moral development focus on? What did Piaget believe?
How we develop our sense of morality and responsibility. Piaget believed that morality was developed in stages and that children go from egocentric (everything revolving around you) to cooperation (what's best for the group?)
What did Kohlberg believe?
Kohlberg determined that there are six stages of moral development everyone goes through (usually in order, but pace may vary and others may get stuck):
1.Pre-conventional level (roles and social expectations are external to the individual)
2. Conventiona
What is wrong with Kohlberg's theory?
It was biased against women, it was thought that women weren't capable of reaching the third level due to their "irrationality".
What was Eysenck's Theory of Crime and Personality?
Deviant behaviour is inherently reinforcing so children will only refrain if they're punished... There is a need to pair deviance with pain to stop criminal activities. Eysenck predicted that extraverted, neurotic and psychotic people were more likely to
What is Social Learning Theory?
It focuses on cognitive functioning... it is the ability to make choices. People learn new behaviours through modeling/role-taking. It is more strongly supported by empirical data than any other social psychological theory on crime and deviance.
Where does Bondura say aggression is learned from?
1. Family (abuse)
2. Subcultural influences (violence in neighbourhoods)
3. Symbolic meaning (violence in television and movies... there is much research surrounding the connection of violence and television or video games and how they desensitize audienc
According to Bondura, what is the best deterrent to crime?
Fear. Many law-abiding citizens overestimate their chances of getting caught and punished.
What is Operant Conditioning?
Based on the work of B.F. Skinner, who used rewards and punishments to increase the probability of a given response. This was used as a basis for attempts to change delinquents and criminals.
What is "Achievement Place"?
It is rewarding people for appropriate behaviour and punishing people for inappropriate behaviour. Points were given and deducted and bought privileges and goods... There were certainly positive short term effects, but long term ones are still in question
What is Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)?
Cluster of related terms, including psychopathy, sociopathy, and moral insanity. APD involves disregard for the rights of others, impulsive, irresponsible and aggressive behaviour.
What are the Antisocial Personality Disorder patterns of behaviour?
Begins in childhood (lying, stealing, fighting, etc.), continues into adolescence where there is early or aggressive sexual behaviour, drinking, drug use, etc. It eventually goes into adulthood, but extreme indications after age 30 diminish. Only 15-20% o
Who developed the "Psychopathy Checklist" that is still widely used today and what does it do?
Hare, and it is a strong predictor of violence and recidivism.
Where do high-functioning, intelligent psychopaths prosper in normal society?
The corporate world. Social manipulation makes them seem charismatic, and like all predators, they like actions and rewards. Corporations provide power, control, and the environment/opportunity for psychopaths to engage in exploitative interpersonal relat
Are all criminals mentally insane?
Teplin's review actually found that only 16-67% of inmates were in any way mentally ill, whereas 5-12% for severe mental illness. The majority of prisoners have substance abuse disorders, regarding alcohol and drugs, but are not conventionally mentally il
Who are usually the first people to interact with the mental ill? Why is this problematic?
The police are usually the first to come into contact with mentally ill individuals. This is a problem since police training for this situation varies greatly.
Does mental illness explain criminal behaviour?
Overall, no. Mental illness does not explain criminal behaviour from most offenders. There is a need to combine psychological and sociological approaches.
What is the central insight to Strain Theory?
People feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they cannot realistically achieve (such as the accumulation of status and wealth) without the use of culturally non-acceptable and illegal ways.
What is the Sociological approach to Strain Theories?
Looks at wider relationship between crime and social structure... Within sociology, strain theory fits within the consensus perspective (where society agrees on what is right and wrong).
What does the Consensus Perspective (functionalism) assume?
That the vast majority share similar values concerning right and wrong. Societies have a tendency to maintain themselves in a state of relative equilibrium (a state of balance) and that the maintenance of society is in the common interest of all its membe
What do Conflict Perspectives assume?
That there are inherent divisions in society based on social inequalities. The law reflects the interests of groups that create and enforce the law... only the most powerful benefit.
According to Durkheim, what is Anomie?
Durkheim believed that most societies have social solidarity (agreed upon rules that lead to a set of shared norms) which provide a sense of community and collective conscience. Anomie occurs during times of great social change when there is a breakdown i
What did Merton, who took Anomie and applied it to 1938 America, believe crime was the result of?
Crime was the result of the differences between socially accepted goals and the availability of socially acceptable means to achieving those goals. In America, material wealth along with the accumulation of status/money are seen as universal goals. The le
Are there certain groups more affected than others concerning the gap between aspirations and means?
Merton acknowledged that access to legitimate means was more difficult for certain groups, correlating that with the crime rate. Merton also argued that this even applied to upper class members who are pressured to make more money.
What is Micro Anomie?
The individual is in a state of chaos, or places self-interest above the collective.
Menser and Rosenfeld's Institutional Anomie Theory believed what?
That American society emphasizes monetary success, but places weak restrains on the means. It directly encourages people to use illegal means to get money, and indirectly encourages crime by emphasizing the economy over all other institutions.
Canadian reactions to abuse of power by corporate elites is...
Weak. The economic institution remains dominant over others, like family, education and religion.
Hackler believed that White Collar Crime should be...
Target. This will reduce unethical behaviour since it is not just a few companies that commit WC crime.
What did Agnew look at?
He looked at the intervening role of anger in strain. If strain leads to anger that cannot be handled legitimately, the result is crime.
Durkheim's Anomie Theory emphasized that social cohesion and the social restraints that prevent crime, but Merton shifted focus to...
Opportunity structures. Merton felt that crime was primarily lower class, so less evenly distributed than Durkheim's theory would have predicted.
What is Sutherland's theory?
Criminal behaviour is learned through association.
Illegitimate opportunity structures vary by community and by individuals. They include...
Criminal (opportunities for crime of financial gain such as organized crime), Conflict (opportunities for gang violence) and Retreatist (for failures of other structures, turn to substance abuse) opportunity structures.
What are Marginal Opportunity Structures?
Borderline legal opportunity structures such as street life and prostitution.
According to Andersen, the "code of the street" is a response to...
The lack of jobs that provided a mobility route for lower class workers.
What has been Durkheim's main contribution to Strain and Criminal Theory?
He changed the focus away from psychological and genetic variables to sociological ones, which are now dominate in theories of crime.
What are Merton's contributions to Strain and Criminal Theory?
Merton's theories help account for social class differences in crime, but not gender differences.
What is the main reason behind Strain Theories?
Strain theories point out criminogenic features of our society, ideas that are still relevant. It is a theory that can be combined with other theories successfully.
What does Braithwaite believe?
Only when legitimate opportunities are low and illegitimate opportunities are high do we get much crime.
Implication: Avoid having ghettos, or slums, with a higher number of lower class. There needs to be more of a mix.
According to Strain Theory, how could our policies reduce crime?
Policies should provide more opportunities for young people in poor areas through schooling, job training, and early childhood education programs. They should develop a less cohesive justice system and try to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich.
What is the central assumption surrounding Conflict Theory?
Social norms and values made into laws are not agreed upon, but are those endorsed by powerful or dominant groups in society.
What is Cultural Conflict Theory?
Developed by Sellin, the theory claims that diverse cultural groups maintain distinct "conduct norms" or cultural rules governing appropriate conduct. He believed that crime is the result of when the conduct norms of one (dominant) cultural group are exte
What are Criminal Norms?
Conduct norms codified into laws that represent the values of the dominant group. Ex. Honour killings.
What is Vold's Group Conflict Theory?
Individuals form groups to further their interests... that society is composed of diverse, shifting "interest groups" which are generally in a stable equilibrium. Law-making is a political process involving conflict between interest groups with laws being
When does crime occur, according to Vold?
Crime occurs when there is a conflict between the behaviour of a minority group and the laws of the dominant majority. Ex. delinquent gang violates laws of the adult world... Crime can also occur from conflict between competing interest groups vying for p
How is Vold's theory limited?
Vold's theory is limited to conflict between interest groups and doesn't explain petty crimes like theft.
What is Quinney's Group Conflict Theory?
A theory that focused on "segments of society" which attempt to secure their interests through the development and administration of the law. Unlike Vold, Quinney placed much more emphasis on and saw much more inequality in power in decision-making of pol
What are Quinney's "social reality of crime"?
1. Crime a product of legal definitions... Crime isn't innate (opposite of Lombroso)
2. Crime is behaviour that conflicts with the interests of segments that have the power to shape policy.
3. Powerful segments also enforce and administer the law
4. Peopl
What are Marxist Perspectives on Crime?
Focus on the social, political and economic structures of society that give rise to crime, NOT on individual pathologies. There is focus on the organization of capitalist society which promotes crime (how one's relation to the means of production decides
What is Instrumental Marxism?
Assumes that the State and the legal and political institutions within it are a direct reflection of the interests of the bourgeoisie (an instrument of the capitalist class)
What are criticisms for Instrumental Marxism?
1. Wrongly portrays ruling class as homogeneous
2. Ignores constraints on the powers of the ruling class
3. Ignores legislation that seem contradictory to the position of the bourgeoisie like health regulations
4. It is too rigid in interpreting the base/
What is Structural Marxism?
It opposes the instrumental Marxist assumption that the State is the direct servant of the ruling class. Instead, generally argue that the institutions of the State function in the long term interests of capitalism, which may require going against the sho
What is relative autonomy?
The idea that the state has a certain amount of independence from the capitalist class.
What did Spitzer believe?
Criminalization of behaviour is often directed at problem populations developed in capitalism - surplus populations or those who disturb capitalism like student radicals.
What did Greenberg believe?
Juvenile delinquency are excluded from access to income and become surplus population motivated to commit crime to participate in peer activities.
What is Socialist Feminism?
A branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression.
What is Left Realism?
Emerged from critical criminology as a reaction against what was perceived to be the Left's failure to take a practical interest in everyday crime, allowing right realism to monopolize the political agenda on law and order. It looks for solutions to worki
What are criticisms to Left Realism?
1. It fails to take into account the economic, cultural, historical context in which crime takes place
2. It may "widen the net" of social control
3. It's common-sense approach fails to develop a theoretical account.
Classical School
Considered to be the first formal school of criminology. Associated with authors such as Beccaria, Bentham, etc. This school brought the emerging philosophy of liberalism and utilitarianism to the justice system, advocating principles of rights, fairness,
Deterrence
As used in criminal justice, it refers to crime prevention achieved through the fear of punishment.
Statistical School
Associated with early social scientists. Early use of statistics is important, they also developed a structural explanation of crime and other social problems.
Positive School
First scientific school. They supported the assumptions of positivism and argued that criminality is determined-the effect in a cause-effect sequence-and that the mandate of criminology should be to search for the cause. It was believed that with the exce
The Inquisition
An attempt by those in power to use religious ideas to support the status quo
Age Of Reason
Shifted ideas to naturalistic explanation based on reason, and against fanaticism and religious superstition
Neoclassical Criminologists
Called for changes of a rigid classical system. Others called for age, mental competence, and motive be taken into consideration. Tarde is the theorist who wanted individual treatment of criminals
The Statistical School
Associated with positivism. Belief that crime was a product of natural causes that could be discovered through scientific methods. Gathered statistical information on the relationship between factors and crime
Stigmata (Lombrosso)
Lombrosso used the term to refer to physical signs of the state of atavism (a morally and evolutionary inferior person)
Charles Buckman Gonny
Theorist who responded to Lombrosso's theory. Compared thousands of males with English convicts and found no evidence of a distinct physical type. Work was also flawed in assumption that a prisoner=a criminal.
Houton
A theorist who found that criminals tended to be socially and biologically inferior to non-criminals (using large samples). New stigmata.
Somatype Theory
Theorist, Sheldon developed this theory. Three types of body types: endomorphs (fat), mesomorphs (muscular), and ectomorphs (skinny)-->these are associate with different personality traits.
Endomorphs
Fat body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory.
Mesomorphs
Muscular body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory, more likely to be involved in delinquent/criminal behaviour
Ectomorphs
Skinny body type associated with Sheldon's somatype theory.
Assumption of Offender Deficit
The view that offenders who break that law obtain a psychological deficit that differs them from law-abiding citizens.
Assumption of Discriminating Traits
The view that offenders differ from non-offenders based on personality traits (ex. higher levels of impulsiveness and aggressiveness) Research on personality trait that differs between offenders and non-offenders.
Community Psychology
A perspective that analyzes social problems (including crimes) as largely a product of organizational and institutional characteristics of society.
Id
One force that the personality is composed of. A psychoanalytical term that denotes the most inaccessible and primitive part of the mind. It is a reservoir of biological urges that strive continually for gratification (rewarding). Controlled by the id and
Ego
One force that the personality is composed of. Psychoanalytical term that indicates the rational part of the personality. Mediates the id and the superego, responsible for dealing with reality and making decisions
Superego
One force that the personality is composed of. A psychoanalytical term that indicates the ethical and moral dimensions of the personality; and individual's conscience
Moral Development Theory
Refers generally to theories of individual psychology and investigate how moral reasoning emerges within the individual and develops as the individual matures.
Classical Conditioning
A basic form of learning whereby a neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that naturally elicits a certain response; the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the same response as the stimulus that automatically elicits the response
Modelling
Associated with the social learning theory. A form of learning that occurs as a result of watching and imitating others
Operant Conditioning
The process in which an individual's behaviour is shaped by reinforcement or punishment
Token Economy
A behaviour therapy procedure based on operant conditioning factors. Individuals are rewarded (reinforced) for positive/acceptable behaviour. Individuals are disciplined (punished) for unacceptable behaviour.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A personality disorder that involves disregard for the rights of others, as well as impulsive, irresponsible, and aggressive behaviour
Stages of Development
oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital development
Warren and Hindelang
Theorists who summarized the psychoanalytic approach as a form of neurosis.
Criminal in need to reduce guilt.
Criminal activity can be a result of substitute satisfactions one did not receive from family.
Delinquent behaviour is a result of traumatic even
Bowlby
Psychoanalytical theorist who emphasizes the importance of a stable attachment to the mother in first few years in order to show affection.
Piaget
Moral Developmental theorist who studied children. Stated that children develop moral reasoning in stages and go from egocentricism to cooperation.
Kohlberg
Six stages of moral development, everyone goes through these stages in order, however some may get stuck. His six stages were combined into three levels of moral judgement.
Pre conventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Rules and conventions that are external to the individual. Moral and values are understood as "do's" and "don'ts" and are associated with punishment.
Conventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Internalized rules and expectations of others. Individual accepts/upholds/understands the norms and conventions of society.
Postconventional Level
One of Kohlberg's level of moral judgement. Not many achieve this level. It is the ability to critically examine customs with regard to universal rights/duties/principles. Ability to define own value by means of self-chosen principles.
Dimensions of Personality
Eysnck termed these three dimension of personality: extraversion (vs. introversion), neuroticism (vs. stability), psychoticism
Cognitive Functioning
Central concept of social learning theory. The ability to think and make choices.
Bandura
Stated that people learn aggression through three sources: family, subcultural influences, symbolic meaning
Sources of Deterrence to Crime
Bandura states that the fear of punishment is the best deterrent to crime. Legal sanctions, social sanctions, self-sanction
B.F. Skinner
Theorist who used reward and punishment (Operant Conditioning) to increase probability of a given response. Used the token system. Approach appears to have positive short-term benefits
Helbum
Theorist whose study indicates that highly intelligent psychopaths were neither violence or impulsive are more successful, and better at not getting caught
Babiak and Hare
Book: Snakes and Suits. Theorists found that criminals fit well in corporate world. Charismatic, and like action and rewards.
Consensus Perspective
Also known as functionalism, this perspective assumes that societies have an inherent tendency to maintain themselves in a state of relative equilibrium through mutually adjustive support interaction of their principle institutions. It also assumes the ef
Strain Theory
The proposition that people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals they are unable to achieve due to them not being able to have access to culturally approved methods of achieving these goals.
Conflict Perspective
The focus on the intrinsic divisions of society based on social inequality and the way these social divisions give rise to different and competing interests, central assumption is that social structures and cultural ideas only reflect some members of soci
Anomie
A concept developed by Durkheim to describe an absence of clear social norms and values (chaos)
Culturally Prescribed Aspirations
A rejection of the notion that aspirations are self-created; anther, they are defined by culture and transmitted by other members of the society.
Merton
Theorist who believed that crime was the result of the gap between culturally prescribed aspirations and the socially structured means of realizing the aspirations. (The Gap Between Aspirations and Means)
Mesner and Rosenfeld
Theorists who believed that American society places emphasis on monetary success but weak restraints on the way to achieve this. Directly encourages ppl to use illegal means to get money, Indirectly encourages crime by placing the economy of most signific
Sutherland
Theorist who composed the differential association theory. Criminal behaviour is learned through association with others.
Illegitimate Opportunity Structure
Vary by community and by individual. Include: criminals, conflict, retreatist
The Code of the Street
Theorist Anderson. Mobility rate for lower class workers have disappeared through globalization.
Conduct Norms
Specification of rules or norms of appropriate behaviour generally agreed upon by members of the social group to whom the behaviour norms apply.
Cultural Conflict Theory
A theory that attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the conduct norms of divergent cultural groups. Developed by Sellin
Vold's Group Conflict Theory
A theory that attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the interest of minority groups and dominant groups. Individual form groups in order to further their interests Developed by Vold.
Instrumental Marxism
The state is viewed as the direct instrument of the ruling or capitalist class. Instrumentalism is based on the notion that the processes of the superstructure are determined by the economic base. State and legal/political institutions direct reflection o
Structural Marxism
The state is viewed as acting in the long-term interests of capitalism as a whole, rather than in the short-term interests of the capitalist class.
Relative Autonomy
A term used in the structural Marxism perspective to indicate that the state has a certain amount of independence from the capitalist class and is therefore able to enact laws that are not n the immediate interest of the capitalist class.
Radical Feminism
A perspective that views the problem of gender inequality and of women's subordination in society as rooted in the institution of patriarchy.
Criminal Norms
Conduct norms that are codified into laws that represent the values of the dominant group.
Quinney's Group Conflict Theory
Theory developed by Quinney in his book, Social Reality of Crime. Focused on the "segments of society" that attempt to secure their interests through the development and administration of the law. Saw much more inequality in power. Developed six propositi
First Proposition of Crime
Part of Quinney's group conflict theory. Crime is a product of legal definitions
Second Proposition of Crime
Part of Quinney's group conflict theory. Crime is behaviour that interfere with the interest of the segments that obtain the power to shape the policy.
Third Proposition of Crime
The segments in power have the ability to administer and enforce the law.
Fourth Proposition fo Crime
Individuals who are part of the less power segments in society are more likely to have their behaviour deemed criminal.
Fifth Proposition to Crime
Mass media has a significant role in diffusing and constructing conceptions of crime
Sixth Proposition of Crime
Process above=social reality of crime
Marxist Theories
Look at the political, social and economical structures of society that give structure to crime, not individuals paths.
Bourgeoise
One of the major economic class under capitalism. Class that creates their own production.
Proletariat
One of the major economic classes under capitalism. Class that was property-less, sell labor to survive
Left Realism
Takes serious the problem of street crime. Looking for solutions to working class crime that involves repressive crime control.
Eisenstein
Social Feminsist theorist who adverted combining radical feminism and marxism due to the lack of recognition of women. Canadian researchers have focused on the issue of violence towards women, lobbying changes have seen some success
Labelling Theory
According to this theory, deviance is not a quality of the act but of the label that others attach to it. This raises question of who applies the label and who is labelled. The application of a label and the response of others to the label may result in a
Career
In common use, this refers to the sequence of stages through which individuals in a particular occupation sector move during the course of their employment. This term has also been applied to the various stages of personal involvement with criminal activi
Primary Deviation
Occurs when an individual commits a deviant act but fails to adopt a primary self-identity as a deviant
Secondary Deviation
Occurs when an individual accepts the label of a deviant. The result is adoption of a deviant self-identity that confirms and stabilizes the deviant lifestyle.
Drift
A psychological state of weak normative attachment to either deviant or conventional ways.
Moral Rhetoric
In the study of crime, this is the set of claims and assertions deviants make to justify their deviant behaviour.
Stigmata (Goffman)
Used by Goffman, a personal characteristic that is negatively evaluated by others and thus distorts and discredits the public identity of the individual.
Moral Entrepreneurs
Someone who defines new rules and laws or who advocates stricter enforcement of an existing laws.
Career Contingency
An unintended event, process, or situation that occurs by chance, beyond the control of the person pursuing the career
Continuance Commitment
Adherence to a criminal identity by unattractiveness or unavailability to alternative lifestyles. (ex. cannot get a job)
Self-Enhancing Commitment
Commitment leading to a better opinion of oneself
Self-Degrading Commitment
Commitment leading to a poor opinion of oneself
Differential Association
Developed by Edwin Sutherland in 1930s. This theory argues that crime, like any social behaviour is learned with others.
Hot Spots Policing
Most crimes occur at a small number of addresses in any community. Concentrates police researches on these high-crime locations
Individualized Deterrence
Offenders who are heavily involved in criminal activity are individually warned that their actions are being monitored and that future violation of the law will be dealt with immediately.
Rational Choice Theory
Theory claims that crime is the result of deliberate choices made by offenders based on their calculation of the risks and rewards of these choices.
Lifestyle (Exposure) Theory
A theory of crime victimization that acknowledges that not everyone has the same lifestyle and that some lifestyles expose ppl to more risk than others do.
Situational Crime Prevention
Premised on the belief that most crime is opportunistic rather than being the outcome of those driven to commit a crime no matter what the circumstance, this form of prevention attempts to reduce the opportunities for crime rather than relying on police a
Crime Prevention Through Social Development
An approach to crime prevention that focuses on reducing the number of motivated offenders by changing the social environment.
What is the Deterrence Theory based on? What does it state?
Based on Beccaria's Classical Theory, it states that humans are rational thinkers and are able to make their own decisions, therefore, if an individual chooses to break the law, they will have to deal with the negative consequences of their actions.
When does law not act as a deterrent?
When there is no law enforcement present - meaning crime will increase in situations where a person believes they will not be caught.
What do politicians believe? Why is it not helpful?
Politicians believe sentences should be more severe but research shows the certainty of punishment is more important than the severity of punishment. Longer sentences only create higher costs and have little impact on crime.
What could imprisonment possibly increase?
Long prison sentences are hard to justify on the basis of crime prevention through deterrence... therefore, imprisonment may increase rates of recidivism.
How are Mandatory Sentencing Minimums avoided?
Minimum mandatory sentences are often avoided by prosecutors and judges when thought too harsh - through plea bargaining, dismissals, withdrawn charges, etc.
What are the Deterrent effects of increasing punishment certainty?
A large body of research supports the deterrent effect of increasing certainty.
Hot Spot Policing
Concentrating police resources to certain locations to reduce the crime rate.
Individualized Deterrences
Involves directly informing individuals about the possible consequences of future criminal actions and making sure they understand.
Rational Choice Theory
Based on offender's perceptions of the risks and rewards of crime, how they selected targets, how they proceeded. Focuses on the situational dynamics involved in the decision to commit a crime - which can vary from person to person.
Environmental Criminology
An extension of rational choice theory, it focus on environmental opportunities along the paths travelled in criminals' daily routines:
1. Nodes: places frequented by criminal
2. Paths: routes between nodes
3. Edges: boundaries between different types of
Routine Activities Theory
Developed from research on patterns of crime and victimization.
Hindelang's Lifestyle Exposure Theory
Some people live lives that put them in social setting with a high risk of victimization, such as pending a lot of evenings in public places, being a prostitute on the streets... Some people are likely to be repeatedly victimized.
Commission of a crime depends on presence of...
The handled offender (person susceptible to informal social control because of bonds to society
intimate handlers - someone who has intimate knowledge of the potential offender to control the offender)
Presence of facilitators (physical, like guns or tech
What is Reducing Motivated Offenders?
Crime prevention through social development: involves changing the social environment that produces criminals.
It often focuses on high crime areas where there is poverty, and targets young people.
What are the central ideas to Interactionist Theories?
It centres on the interchanges between people and the meaning of these interchanges. Three basic premises of symbolic interactionism:
1. People act according to the meanings objects (including people) have for them
2. These meanings emerge from interactio
What are the two major types of Interactionist Theories?
Labelling Theory, and Differential Association
What is Labelling Theory (The Deviant Career)?
A theory that claims acts are only devious if people in power have deemed them to be devious. Sometimes negotiation takes place between possible deviants and labellers. The labelling process is not necessarily fair because less powerful groups often negat
There are many key concepts in Labelling Theory, what is Lemert's contribution?
Primary deviation: offender commits deviant acts but does not develop a primarily deviant self-identity
Secondary deviation: the individual adopts the deviant self-identity
the individual must be willing to engage in the deviance
deviance becomes a way of
Matza's contribution?
People willing to engage in deviance have a weak commitment to conventional norms and identities. Young people also have little commitment to deviance, they thus drift between conventional and deviant behaviour.
What are Subterranean traditions?
Young American male offenders are strongly attached to marginal, masculine traditions involving smoking, renouncing work, being tough and enjoying the pleasures of "real men"... The quest for good standing with peers results in practicing these traditions
What are Moral Rhetoric's contributions?
Claims and assertions used to justify one's deviant behaviour. Used to neutralize the stigma (personal characteristic negatively valued by others) associated with deviance.
Examples:
(1) denial of responsibility, e.g. ' I was drunk';
(2) denial of injury,
Who are the Agents of Social Change?
Includes all those involved in maintaining law and order... Police, judges, other Criminal Justice System (CJS) members, some ordinary citizens. Other organizations and individuals include "Moral Entrepreneurs" (individuals who defines or advocate new rul
Are certain groups labelled more than others?
Certain ethnic groups are often targeted by laws, or by enforcement, so become more likely to have the label of deviant successfully applied. The imputed possession of a characteristic associated with belonging to a certain ethnic group is more important
What is Career Contingency?
An unintended event or situation that can affect the movement of an individual along a deviant career.
What is Continuance Commitment?
Awareness of the impossibility of choosing a non-criminal identity because of penalties in making the switch.
What is Differential Association Theory?
Concerned with why people become criminal in the first place. It believes that crime is learned like all other social behaviour, that crime is learned in association with others in small face-to-face groups, that criminal techniques and motives, attitudes
What are the contributions from Differential Theory?
It helps explain theft, burglary, prostitution and marijuana use. It highlights importance of ties to deviant peers. This is especially true for young offenders, it points out need to learn criminal techniques.
Limitations/Problems of Differential Theory?
The learning process is often more like drift than the straightforward process described by Sutherland.
What are some Critiques of Interactionist Theory by Neo-Marxists?
It fails to take into consideration historical, political and economic contexts. Labelling theory fails to go very far in examining the division between powerful and powerless in society.
The Empiricist critique?
the Empiricist critique:
Labelling theorists ignore non-labelled deviants
Labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized
Labelling theory lacks testable hypotheses. But interpretive paradigms require qualitative research studies which are