Characteristics of Kinds of People Theories
1. crime is a product of something within the person
2. All are "why do they do it" theories
3. All suffer from an inability to explain epidemiology
Epidemiology
Distribution of crime in time and space
Characteristics of Sociological Theories
1. Positivistic
2. Assume people are almost infinitely changeable given different environments
3. Fine the cause of crime "outside" specific people
Robert K Merton
Theory of Anomie
What kind of theory is Anomie
Structural- meaning that the cause of crime is found in social structure or society
Strain Theory
Anomie as a term
describes cultural imbalance between goals and means
Strain
Aspiring to more than one can attain. Creates motivation
Problems with Anomie
� The distinction between goals and means may be difficult to maintain
� May not be correct that culture stresses materialism over other values like truth or honesty
� Hard to identify a set of cultural values that are universally accepted in modern socie
How does Merton's explanation differ from earlier ones?
Previously, crime (an evil) was caused by bad people (evil people. However, in Anomie- a good(ambition) causes crime.
Explain the basic concept of Anomie
� Humans are social products
� They are born into a social environment and must be socialized to that environment
� Societies have certain values (goals) and norms (legitimate means to achieve goals)
o The value system is sometimes not consistent with the
Hirschi's Control Theory
Deviance is taken for granted and it is conformity that is problematic
-Wants to answer the question "Why don't we do it?"
-We are not conformists by nature
3 Ways Crime can be seen as Rational (Hirschi)
1. Advantage in someone's death
2. Money or sexual gratification is sufficient to explain the "gain"
3. Satisfaction in physically injuring another
When does deviance take place? (Hirschi)
when the "social bond" that ties individuals to their groups is weakened or broken
4 Things That Make up the Social Bond
1. Attachment
-feelings of respect and affection for one's groups
2. Commitment
-feelings that conventional activities offer rewards
-Deviance jeopardizes valued benefits
3. Involvement
-Amount of time spent in conventional activities; no time for devianc
Problems with Hirschi's Control Theory
1. Theory assumes consensus on values, like several others (anomie)
-Assumes we agree upon what is deviant and non-deviant
-If there is no consensus, one explains deviance and conformity by one's allegiance to other norms and values
-The distinction betwe
Edwin Sutherland
-Differential Association
-Developed term white collar crime
The Chicago School and WHO
was characterized by sending students into the field to observe social life first-hand
Henry McKay and Clifford Shaw
The Five Zones
1. Central business district (downtown)
2. Zone in transition
-Area of industrialization, factories, cheapest housing in the city
3. Working class residences
-Single Family Tenements
4. Residential Zone
-middle class area
-Single Family Homes
-Yards and g
3 Principle Findings from Shaw and McKay
1. Races if delinquency conform to regular patterns being highest in the inner city areas and declining with distance to center of city
-delinquency was highest downtown and as you moved further away from the center of the city delinquency rates declined
9 Propositions surrounding Sutherland's Differential Association
1. Criminal behavior is learned
- (Sutherland wanted to participate in the biggest intellectual debate at the time: nature vs. heredity, learning vs. biology----he is denying biology going for nurture side.)
-Behavior is not inherited or invented by other
Typology
� A conceptual device that divides phenomena into different categories or types
Classification
breaking up material into categories without regard to the relationship among those categories
Three Approaches to Typologies
1. Typologies organized around crime
2. Typologies organized around some feature of the criminal
3. Typologies organized around the role of criminal
Typologies Organized Around Crime
Legal
Problems with Typologies Organized Around Crime
1. Legal terms change and offenses are defined differently over time and by jurisdiction
2. Legal offense categories often fail to reflect important dimensions
3. Offenders do not commit only one kind of crime
typologies organized around some feature of the criminal
� Some feature is singled out for emphasis
Problems with typologies organized around some feature of the criminal
-These characteristics have not been found to be related to criminality except in individual cases
-The search for personality traits has been especially disappointing
Typologies Organized around the role of criminals
A behavior system approach
Can be seen in career terms
Types are differentiated from one another in terms of certain definitional dimensions
Behavior System
Behavior system=a typology that discriminates among offenders based on:
1. Commitment
2. Identification
3. Progression
3 Definitional Dimensions
1. Commitment to Crime
2. Identification with Crime
3. Progression
3 Questions in Defining Violence that is Deviant
1. Should it include both actual force or threats or both?
2. What kinds of violence should be studied?
3. What about the degree of violence?
Collective Violence
� normal feature of the US and most other countries
� US was born in an act of collective violence (Revolutionary War)
� Seen in wars, riots, labor disputes, one group (KKK) against others (Blacks, Catholics)
� Southern violence - the South has a long his
Two Competing Traditions of Southern Violence
1. Gentility (southern hospitality)
2. Violence(lynchings)
School Violence
� All violent crimes can take place among school children who can victimize each other
� Overall, not many violent crimes take place at school but about 14% of rape victims were under 12
� School shootings are all reported and that fuels speculation that
Prison Violence
� Prison violence is more common in some institutions than others
� Most is inmate on inmate
� Prison inmates can commit all violent crimes in prison
Types of Violence
Prison
School
Collective
Two Features that make violence more likely in prisons
1. Prison culture stresses being able to handle conflict without involving staff
2. Strength and physical prowess are valued among inmates
Is the US more violent than other countries?
� Yes and no. The homicide rate is higher than any other industrialized country but is lower than many African, and Central and South American countries
Have rates of violence been increasing?
� No. They have been declining overall, although rates of violence among teenagers may have leveled off
Who commits violent crimes?
� Offenders and victims share similar characteristics
� They are overwhelmingly male in their teens and 20s and disproportionately from racial and ethnic minorities
� Most are inner-city residents
� "Today's offender is tomorrow's victim
Are violent crimes the result of violent career criminals?
� No. While a few individuals commit violent crimes frequently, they account for a small percent of violent crimes
� Serial murderers account for only 1 - 2% of all murders
3 Types of Murder Situations
1. Prolonged disputes
2. Immediate crisis situation (more common)
3. In connection with another crime (ex: drug deal gone bad)
How is murder patterned?
� Most occur on weekends
� Most are in inner-city areas
� Primarily an intra-racial crime (within the same race)
� Rates are higher for young minority males
� Alcohol is a factor in many murders - 64% of offenders had been drinking and both offender and v
3 Theories of Violence
1. Psychological
2. Social Inequality
3. Subculture of Violence
Psychological Theory of Violence
a. Violence is related to something in the person's history or personality
b. Might stem from mental conflicts or some psychiatric condition
c. May have been raised in an abusive family setting and learned violence as a solution to certain problems
Social Inequality Theory of Violence
a. Murder is related to the extent of social and economic inequality in society
b. Those areas with the greatest inequality have the highest murder rates
Subculture of Violence (Theory of Violence)
a. This is from Wolfgang
b. Violence stems from cultural differences among groups
c. Violence is a consciously motivated action
d. Subculture is a collection of conduct norms that prescribe violence in certain situations
e. These may conflict with the val
Subculture has two dimensions
i. Groups in question have a lower threshold of insult about certain matters
ii. Responses to insults, either trivial or serious, must be violent
Three Types of Robbers
1. Opportunist
2. Addict
3. Commercial
4 Reasons why Rape is Unlike Other Crimes
1. There have been problems in processing cases in the CJS
2. There is sometimes ambiguity in circumstances surrounding rape
3. There are support groups for victims
4. Rape may be the most feared crime
What Makes Drug Use Deviant?
Situation and Age of the User
NOT CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF DRUG
What was the first federal drug law and what did it do?
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
Complete disclosure of all ingredients in meds to combat patent medicines
What did the Harrison Narcotic Act do?
Regulated by prescription the sale and use of opiates and cocaine
Patterns of Illegal drug use in the 1950's and 60's?
MARIJUANA
Patterns of illegal drug use in the 70s?
Quaalades, LSD
Patterns of Illegal drug use in the 80s?
Angel Dust, Cocaine
Patterns of Illegal Drug use in the 90s?
Crack
Patterns of Illegal Drug use in the 2000s?
Meth
Definition of Prostitution
: Granting sexual access on a relatively indiscriminant basis for payment in either money or goods
Name the 3 types of Prostitutes and Describe them
1. Streetwalker
-hangs around public places, direct solicitation of clients
-low income, high risk
2. Bar Girl
-hangs around taverns and clubs "advertising"
-moderate income and risk
3. Call Girl
-Uses apartment or hotel room with client referred to her
-
Two things prostitutes learn from apprenticeships
1. Technique
2. Values and Attitudes
What is the Mann Act?
prohibited taking women across state lines for prostitution.
happened bc in WWI there was evidence women were coerced into prostitution
What does Coyote want to do?
Decriminalize prostitution
Why do women who have been kidnapped for international sex trafficking not try to escape?
1. They or their families need money
2. They trust decisions from males bc of upbringing
3 reasons why public order crimes are different from other crimes
1. Community is harmed party
2. Disagreement as to their seriousness and immorality
3. Most of these crimes are generated by the police
3 things that can change moral landscape for alcohol crimes
1. Public opinion changes
2. Groups come into power
3. New generations bring new ideas
Main offenders of alcohol offenses
Lower class males
Why Is drunk driving different than other alcohol offenses?
1. Chances of direct harm to others increases
2. Susceptible to police intervention
All kinds of theft use :
1.identification
2. Commitment
3.progression
Violations of financial trust
Embezzlement
Donald cressey
Analytic induction
Explain analytic induction process
1. Initial hypothesis
2. Interviews an offender
3. If the hypothesis fits a second offender is interviewed
4. If it doesn't fit another hypothesis is created
A hypothesis is tested until it fits the every case
Cressey's 3 conditions found in all embezzlers
1. Unshareable financial problem
2. Use of neutralizations
3. Viewed their position as a solution to the problem
Four sources of inventory shrinkage
1. Shoplifting(33)
2. Employee theft (41)
3. Vendor fraud
4. Mistakes
Shoplifting definition
Theft from a retail store by people posing as legitimate customers
The booster and the snitch
Mary Owen Cameron
How are boosters different
Work in groups
Steal to sell
Many have been trained
Use various tools and devices
Are inventory shrinkage rates going up or down
Up
Economy is improving
What does the word heavy refer to in professional heavy criminal
They commit their crimes armed
5 characteristics of professional heavy criminal
1. Offense behavior
-specialize in crimes they commit and limit participation to armed robbery and burglary
2.interaction setting
-committed in groups
-recruited specifically for particular jobs and certain skills
3. Self concept
-view themselves as crimi
Semi professional heavy criminal
(How they differ from professional)
1. Offense behavior
-planning is not as extensive much longer record
2 interaction setting
-same
3. Self concept
same
4. Attitudes
-more likely to hate police
5. Role career
-don't have access to criminal role models who can help them be better criminals
Edwin Lemert
Naive Check Forger
Accepting of Goals and means =
Conformity
Accepting of Goals but not means =
Innovation (most criminals are here)
Not accepting of goals but accepting of means =
Ritualism
Not accepting of Goals or means =
Retreatism
+/- of goals and means =
Rebellion (want to change them)
Shaw and McKays definition of Social Disorganization
Some neigborhoods did not exercise social control over their residents
What is a victim precipitated murder?
When the victim drew a weapon first or struck the first blow
What does William Oliver say violence is precipitated by?
Autonomy Transgressions
Oliver and 3 threats to the manliness of the offender
1. Insults
2. Identity attacks
3. Unacceptable Accounts
Oliver and 5 intervening factors
1. Adherence to norms that condone violence
2. Experience or successful use of violence in the past
3. A tendency to argue under the influence of drugs or alcohol
4. Presence of third parties who provide support for face-saving tactics that lead to violen
Why is rape underreported?
1. It is personally embarrassing
2. Many victims are afraid of unintended harassment by officials
Why are clearance rates for race declining?
1. Increasing volume of cases in some areas so that some cases are not pursued as much as others
2. Victimization surveys show that many victims and offenders know one another and this decreases arrest probability
Revised definition of 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 the consent of the victim
why have police and the courts had a problem with rape cases?
1. Problems with evidence
2. Victim noncooperation
Rape problems at the police stage
� They have often tried to substantiate crime by grilling victims
� The police have exhibited a greater sense of doubt about these cases than other crimes
� Police have been insensitive to the psychological harm of investigation
Rape problems for prosecutors and defense attorneys
� Lacking other evidence, prosecutors have resorted to circumstantial evidence in proving the crime (prior record of defendant)
� Defense attorneys attempt to bring in the sexual history of the victim
Rape problems of judges
� The use of special instructions to jurors
� Hale Warning: Rape is an easy charge to make but a difficult one to prove
Menachim Amir
and his Findings
First study of forcible rape
1. Nature of offense-75% were planned and alcohol was not present in 67%
2. Victim Offender Relationship-most knew each other and came from same neighborhood
3. Victim Precipitation- 20% of victims had prior records for sexual