Criminology Exam 1 (Working)

critical criminologists

critical criminologists examine how those who hold political and economic power shape the law to uphold their self-interests

Social Class and Crime

- Neighborhoods experience income inequality, lack of informal social control, and resource deprivation have crime rates higher than those who can provide economic opportunity for their residents - Lower class have higher rates because they lack the means to obtain desired goods and services through conventional routes. o Their motivation comes from a lack of real opportunity in lower-class communities ♣ Busway points out that lack of entry into legitimate labor markets creates an incentive for illegal behaviors. • Some commit instrumental crimes - illegal acts whose goal is to provide desired goods and services that can't be obtained through legit means • Some commute expressive crimes such as rape and assault which result from their frustration with what they believe to be unfair and unjust society, they express their rage with irrational crimes o Not all criminologist accepts crime and class relationship at face value,

Anomie

A lack of norms or clear social standards. Because of rapidly shifting moral values, the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable.

Valid measures

A measure that actually measures what it purports to measure; a measure that is factual

Deviant Behavior

Actions that depart from the social norm. Some are considered criminal, others merely harmless aberrations. - Criminologists devote themselves to measuring, understanding, and controlling, crime and deviance -Deviance includes a broad spectrum of behavior ranging from the most socially harmful such as rape to the relatively inoffensive such as cross dressing -If it is deemed socially harmful, then the the act will be prohibited under the criminal law

Contemporary Trends

Crime rates are declining from the peak in 1991 Violent crimes and thefts have declined\ -There has been a significatn drop in UCR violent crimes, murder, rape, robbery, and assualt, a trend that began in 1991 -Property crime rates have also declined in recent years

Cleared Crimes

Crimes are cleared in two ways: when at least one person is arrested, charged, and turned over to the court for prosecution; or by exceptional means, when some element beyond police control precludes the physical arrest of an offender (for example, the offender leaves the country). Traditionally, about half of all violent crimes and 20 % of property crimes are cleared by arrest each year

Socialization of Views

Criminal Behavior is linked to an individuals socialization such as there education and peer relationships, they found that children who grewup in homes marked by conflict were more exposed to the forces that engendered crime

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Criminology - explains the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society - Criminal Justice - refers to the study of the agencies of social control - police, courts, and corrections - Criminologists are mainly concerned with identifying the suspected cause of crime, criminal justice spend there time identifying effect methods of crime control

The Chicago School

Group of urban sociologists who studied the relationship between environmental conditions and crime. - really begun sociological positivism was Robert Ezra Park, Ernest Burgess, Louis Wirth - Examined how neighborhood conditions such as poverty influenced crime rates

NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System)

Program that requires local police agencies to provide a brief account of each incident and arrest within 22 crime patterns, including incident, victim, and offender information. - Under NIBRS, law enforcement authorities provide information to the FBI on each criminal incident involving 49 specific offenses, including 8 part 1 crimes, arrests on 46 offenssses plus 11 lesser offeneses

Crime Trends

Studies have indicated that a gradual increase in the crime rate, especially in violent crimes, occured from 1830 - 1860, then from 1860 - WWI - After readjustment, the crime rate steadily declined until the depression Homicide rate which decreased between the 1930-1980's, sparked through the 1980's

Conflict View

The belief that criminal behavior is defined by those in power in such a way as to protect and advance their own self-interest.

Interactionist view

The belief that those with social power are able to impose their values on society as a whole, and these values then define criminal behavior.

Social Process Theory

The view that criminality is a function of people's interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society.

reliable measure

a measure that produces consistent results from one measurement to another

mandatory sentence

a statutory requirement that a certain penalty shall be set and carried out in all cases upon conviction for a specified offense or series of offenses

Decriminalize

having criminal penalties reduced rather than eliminated

racial threat hypothesis

o According to the racial threat hypothesis - as the percentage of African Americans in the population increases, so does the amount of social control imposed on black citizens at every stage of the justice system the result is stepped up stratagems to control and punish racial minorities

Crime is said to be offender Specific

o because criminals are not simply robots who engage in unthinking and unplanned acts, th3ey decide whether they have the needs, skills and prerequisites to commit a successful criminal act

victim precipitated homicide

refers to those killings in which the victim is a direct, positive precipitator of the incident

Penology

subarea of criminology that focuses on the correction and control of criminal offenders

Victimology

the study of the victim's role in criminal events Following areas of interest: - Using a victim surveys to measurre the nature and extent of criminal behavior and to calcualte the actual costs of crime to victims - Calculating probabilities of victimization risk -Studying victim culpability in the precipation of crime -Desinging services for crime victims, such as counseling and compensation programs

Trait Theory

the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits

Social Structure Theory

the view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime

Rehabilitation

treatment of criminal offenders that is aimed at preventing future criminal behavior

Contemporary Rational Choice Theory

• Contemporary RTC means that people are motivated by self-interest and willing to violate the law after both personal (money, revenge, thrills,) and situational (police presence) factors are considered. • The decision to forog crime occurs when the potential criminal belives that the risks outwieght the rewards o they are going to get caught and buished o they fear punishment o they risk loosing respect, damaging reputation, and feelings of guilt or shame o The risk of appprehnshion outweights the benefits and or pleasure of commiting the crime • RTC theorists view crime as both offense-specific and offender specific • Crime is said to be offense specific because: o Because offenders react selectively to the immediate charactersitcs of a specific criminal act

Is Crime Inherited?

- 50% inheritable, some say 85%, strongest for chronic offenders - Callie Burt and Ronald Simons belive that social enviorment plays a more critical role than genes and heritty o as enviorment changes, so do brian and neverous systems - Debate is still open

Arousal Theory

- A variety of genetic and enviormental reasons, peoples brains function differently in response to enviormental stimuli o some people need a little stimulation, while others are sensation seekers and look to for stimulating activies such as aggressive violent behavior patterns o Adrian Raine found that antisocial behavior have lower resting hear rates than the general population o Raine found that low hear rates may produce a need for stimulation that is associated with agressiv ebehavior patterns ♣ associated with impulsivity which in turn is associated with lack of self-control and delqieunt behavior

Genetics and Crime

- Another biosocial theme is that human traits associated with criminality have genetic basis - Gene crime association may be direct o 1.) antisocial beahviro is inherited o 2.) genetic make up a persons parents is passed onto children o 3.) Genetic abnormality is directly linked to a variety of antisocial behaviors - 1.) Parental Deviance o If criminal tendencies are inherited children of crimal parents should be more likely to be law violators ♣ Cambridge youth survey indicates that a significant number of delqiquent youths have criminal fathers ♣ David Farrignton found that one type of parental deviancy, schoolyard agressio, may be intergerneration - 2.) Adoption Studies o Several studies indicate that some relationship exists between biological behavior and the behavior their children, even when they have been adopted ♣ Studies of adopted yough shouw that biological fathers criminality is a strong predocor of childrs criminal behavior even if adopting parent is noncriminal - 3.) Twin Behavior o Inherited traits cause criminal behavior and we should expect that twins be quite similar, research fonrims a significant correspondence of twin behavior in acitivies ranging from frequence to seual activity to crime o Monozgotic twins and fraternal dizygotic twins ♣ Studies of MZ twins who have never met show that their behavior is nearly identical ♣ Much lower for DZ twins, MZ twins are closer for crime level and verbal skills

Psycopathic/Antisocial Personality

- Anti Social Personality - Combaination of traits such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, hendonism, and inability to empathize with others, that make a person prone to deveiant behavior and violence, also refered to as sociopathic or psychopathic personality - James Blair found that 15 - 25% of prison inmates meet the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, and are three times more likely to reoffend with in a year and four times more likely to reoffend violenetly - Some say that the disease reflects family exerpiences, such as lack of love and bad parents o Path is antiscoail parenting -> sociopathy -> Criminality - Second view is that antisocial personality is passed down genetically o Research shows that psycopaths have lower skin conduantace levels and fewer reposnes to than normal subjects Ther is a link between ANS dysfuntion and the disorder o Pyscopaths do not fear criminality - James Ogloff and Stephen Wong found that the reduced anxiety levels result in behaviors that are more impulsive and inapproprrate and in deviant behavior, apprehenshion, and incarceration - Anotehr view is that psycipahty is related to abnormal brian strucutres, and therefore they need greater sitmulation to bring them up to comfortable levels o Blair - the amygdala dysfunction gives rise to impariments in aversive condition, instrumental learning, and the rpcoessing of fear and sadness - Early criminologist have argued that low IQ is linked to crime - 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 largely a product of enviorment, Low IQ scores do not cause crime but may result from the same enviormental factors - Mood Disorder - A condition in which the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the cirumstancesns - Oppositional Defiant Disorder - A pattern of negativitist hostile and defiant behavior chard Heduring which a child often ooses her or his temper, often argues with adults, and often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults requests or rules - Traivs Hirschi and Mciahel Hindelan suggested a link between intelligenc and crime and found that youths with Low IQ's do poorly in school and have a high chance of adult delquency - James Wilson and Richard Herrnstein conclude that low intelligence leads to poor school performance which enahviances criminality - Low IQ is linked to crime, High IQ is linked to noncrime - Schizophrenia - a severe disorder marked by hearing nonexistent voices, seeing hallucnaitions, and exhibiting inapprooprate resposnes - bipolar disorder an emotional disturbance in which moods alternate between periods of wild elation and deep depression - Richard Dorn found in a logntinduail survey that there is an association between mental disorders and violence they found that people suffering mental illness were more likely to engage in violent episodes ecepscially if they use drugs or alcohol - Mentally ill have higher recidivism rates - Mental illness have higher levels of antisocial behaviors - Mental illness is a crime risk mainly when that illness is accompianed by other risk factors such as alcoholism and unemployment - Helping people with serious mental illness is particularly relevant to reducing homicides and violent - It is possible that the link between mental illness and crime is spurious and that in fact both mental illness and criminal behavior are caused by some other independent factors: o 1. People who suffer from them might also have suffered poor socialization in childhood o 2. Metally ill people might lack finaical reosurces and are forced into crime patterns o 3. The police are more likely to arrest someone with mentally illness because they give off the impression of being more crime prone o 4. People of mental illness are more prone to vicimtization which has been linked to high crime rates o 5. Those suffering from mental illness might self-medicate with drugs and alcohol

Positive Criminology

- August Comte considered to be the founder of sociology, argued that societies pass through stages that can be grouped by how people try to understand the world in which they live, this is the positive stage, and that people who followed his writing are known as positivists Positivism - The branch of social science that uses the scientific method of the natural sciences and suggests that human behavior is a product of social, biological, psychological, or economic forces that can be empirically measured Positivism has the following elements: - Uses the scientific method to conduct research - Predicting and explaining social phenomena in a logical manner, this means identifying necessary and sufficient conditions under which a phenomenon operates according to laws that can be measured and observed -All beliefs or statements must be proved through empirical investigation guided through the scientific method, concepts such as God and the Soul must be measured empirically -Science must be value-free, and should not be influenced by the observer/scientist's bias or political view

Criminological research is used Extensively by the Supreme Court in their decision making process

- Miller v. Alabama - Suprmee court relied on social research that conclusivley showed that juveniles are not fully capable of anticipating the consequences of there action, leading that it life sentences are inapproriate for juvilinies, without the possibility of parole. Glossip v. Gross - Breyer and Ginsburg relied on social science by Samuel Gross to show that there is a singificnat likliehoood of a wrongful convicition in death penalty cases

The Behavior Perspective: Social Learning Theory

- Behavior theory maintains that human actions are developed through learning experiences. - Behavior Theory maintains that human actions are developed through experiences - The major premise is that people alter the behavior in accordance with the response that it elicits from others o Behavior is supported by rewards and extinguished by negative reactions - Crimes are learned reponses to life situations, and do not necessarily represent abnormality or moral immaturity - Social Learning theory is the view that human behavior is modeled through observation of human social interactions, either directly form observing those who are close and from intimate contact, or indirectly through the media. Interactions that are rewarded are copied while those that are punished are avoided. o Children model their behavior after adult behavior, and these patterns continue in life for there social relationships, domestic violence see it as a child more likely to perpetrate as an adult - Although Social learning theorists agre that mental and physical traits may predispose a person towards violence, they believe a persons violent tendencies are activated by factors in the environment o There interpretations of behavior outcomes and situations influence the way they learn from experiences.

Trait Theory Introduction:

- Chris Mercer would sit by himself in the dark, he killed nine people and wounded seven, he was killed after gunfire ensued, left a long letter behind that told stories about his depression and anger, had an online blog that referenced multiple other shooting incidents - "A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name in every lips, seems like the m more you more you kill, the more you are in the limelight. - The root of crime might be linked to mental or physical abnormality - Jared Lee Loughner a disturbed person opened fire in a grocery store and killed Congresswoman Gabbrielle Giffords - TV and Media portrayals show violent criminals are mentally ill and deranged and physically abnormal, and it shows killing is normal, - This chapter reviews Trait Theories, which can be subdivided into two major theories, those that stress biological makeup and those that stress psychological functioning, each branch has its unique characteristics and will be discussed separately.

Survey Research

- Crime data is collected through surveys in which people are asked about their attitudes, beliefs, values, and charactersitics as well as there experience with crime and vicitmization -Surveys involving sampling, the process of selecting for study a limited number of subejects who are representative of an entire group that has similar characteristics, called the population

Chronic Offenders/ Crime Careers

- Crime data shows that most offenders commit a single criminal act and, upend arrest, discontinue their antisocial activity. o Carrera criminals is most associated with Wolfgang, Folio, and Selling - they used official records to follow criminal careers of 9,945 boys, about 1/3 had some police contact but 2/3 had none ♣ 6% of the group that had repeated runs in with the law were known as chronic behavior they were responsible for around 52 % of the offenses committed by the Cohort. o Chronic offenders tend to be at risk youth who are exposed to a variety of personal and social problems and who begin their law breaking at a very early age referred to as early onset. ♣ also, been linked to low intellectual development and to parental involvement in drugs. o Mandatory minimums were spurred out of the chronic offender paradigm.

Crime Patterns

- Criminologists look at stable crime patterns to gain insight in to the nature of crime o Place, Time, Season, Climate ♣ There are distinct temporal and ecological patterns in the crime rate. • Metropolitan areas are more crime prone than suburban or rural areas • Ecological features such as housing projects that experience a disproportionate share of crime incidents • There are also seasonal patterns o crime rates are highest during the warm summer months, teenagers are out of school have greater opportunity to commit crime. ♣ Murders and robbery is an exception to this, one reason is because it is likely to take place when it is dark, which happens in earlier during the winter. • Crimes are more likely on the first day of the month when people have more money because they were paid • Large urban areas have by far the highest violence relates, there are some exceptions to this patter o low population resort areas with seasonal population have higher crime rates than the norm

Evoltion of Gender and Crime

- Evoolutionary concepts link gender differences to crime rates are based loosely on mammalian mating patterns - Males maximize aggression mating stratagoes - Those iddividuals with strong mating patterns and preference are more likely to engagne in antisocial conduct aand are likely to produce offpsirng who are also prone to criminal behavior.s - the Human speciries, aggressive males have had the greatest impact on the gene pool o This accounts for the disproporintate amount of male aggression and violence ♣ Becase of there gestation, females require a secure home and single partner to ensure their survival • Crime rates between genders might be linked to the inherit difference in mating patterns - The Second branch of trait theory focuses on the psychological aspects of crime, including the associations amoing intelligence personality and crimanabeavior - Chalres Goring and Gabriel Tarder - studied 3,000 convicts and found little differenece in physical characterizcts, however there was defective intellgicen which involved traits such as feeblemindenedess, epilepsy, insanity, and defective social instinct - Tarde held that people learn from one another trhough imitation - A number of differen psychological views have various implications for the causation of criminal behavior

Use of Firearms

- Firearms play a dominate role in criminal activity o Siring and Hawkins believe that the proliferation of hand guns is the most significant factor separating the crime problem in the United States from that in the rest of the developed world ♣ Keck however believes that personal gun use can actually deter crime and that guns save lives o Hemingway and Sonic on defensive guns found that firearms are rarely used by victims to prevent crimes, o Cook found that while the vast majority of the city's homicides in Chicago are committed with guns, must guns re quite old, criminals don't often by guns from stores, Licensed dealers play only a small role in arming gang members and other intermediates such as straw purchasers.

Cognitive Theory

- Focus on mental process how people perceive and mentally prepresent the world around them and solve problems - Started by William Wundt, Edward Titchner, and William James - The Moral development branch is conerened with how people morally rperesnet and reason about the world - Human psychology stresses self-awarness and getting in touch with feelings - Information Processing Theory focuses on hwo people process store encode information so that it can be interpreted, next they search for a proper repsosne and decide the approrparotae action, then they act on that decisison - People use information properly, are better conditioned to make reasoned judgments and who can make quick decisions are best able to avoid antisocial behavior - Those who cant are not detreed by the threat of legal punisgmetn when they try to calculate the costs and consequencesof an action - Law violators may be sensational seekers who are constantly looking for novel experiences, whereac others lakc deliberation and rarely think through problems - Multiple reasons for faulty reasoning: o 1.) Mental Scripts - people may rely on mental scripts learned in childhood to tell them how to interpret events and what to expect and how to react ♣ Some may learn improper scripts form preexposure to violence and which may become stable behavor because the scripts emphaise aggressive response and are repeateledly rehearsed as the child matures

Contemporary Trait Theory

- For many years criminologists ignored any linkage made between traits and crime o John Paul Wright said that this view is softening, and that trait theory is entering more of the mainstream - Contemporary trait theorirsts do not suggest that a single biological or psychological attribute adequately to explaning all criminality, rather each offender is considered physically and mentally unique so there must be different explanations per person o what is usually linked to the enviorment can be linked to personal factors o Personal traits and biological conditions, not parenting or social enviorment, best explain behavior choices

Brain Structure

- Guido Frank - aggressive teen behavior may be linked to the amygdala, an area of the brain that processes information regarding threats and fear, and to lessening of activity in the frontal love, a brain region linked to decision making and impulse control o found that reactively aggressive adolescences frequently misterpreted their surroundings, feel threatened, and act out o Helps epxlin what goes on in the brains of some teenage boys who respond with innaprorpriate anger and aggression to perceived threats, it is possible that some of the behavior is associated with brian function not enviormental sociolziation or other social function ADHD - 3% of American children suffer from this disorder, most common reason why children are refered to mental health clinics - Origin unknown, suspected causes include nuerological damage, ernatal stress, reactions to food adidityves, chemical allergies, and genetic link - Many children with ADHD suffered from a conduct disorder and engagne in antisocial behavior in early childhood - ADHD children more likely to use drugs and drink and cigragreets, and be physically aggressive, more likely to be arrested - TWO views o the associatin between ADHD and aggressive behavior: o 1.) is that leads to aggressive antisocial beahviors o 2.) More indirect and results in poor school achiemvent which leads to substance abuse and depression which are related to antisocial behavior

Evolution of Criminal Law

- The criminal law is constantly evolving in an effort to reflect social and economic conditions - Criminal law may shift because to reflect social and eocnomic conditions, or for legal reasons - The criminal law may also change because of shifts in culture or social conventions, for example rape in serveal states cahnged rape laws if a women's consent changes in the middle of intercourse and Lawerence v. Texas sodomy case and drug legalization for marijuana legalization

Co-Offending and Crime

- It is generally accepted that crime tends to be a group activity and that adolescents in particular, are overwhelmingly likely to commit crime in groups o Peers encourage offending in adolescence. ♣ Some offenders are lone wolf but a crime especially among the young, appears to be a group activity - Co-offending is more prevalent in neighborhoods that are less disadvantaged, more stable, and contain more people who can be trusted - this means that efforts to improve neighborhood stability and chewiness may also help produce an environment that encourages crime - Research by Marie Tiller and Rob Tiller analyzed NIBRS data to determine whether coo fending in robberies actually works -> they found that "co-offending results in significantly less property value stolen per offender, while increasing the likelihood of an incident resulting in an arrest -> more robbers, better chance victim recognizes someone who stole from them

Attachment Theory

- John Bowlby - the ability to form an emotional bond to another person has important psychological implication that follow people across there life span - Attachments are formed soon after birth, when infants bond with their mothers, babies will become frantic, crying, and clinging to prevent separation - Attachment occurs when mothers provide support and care - Failure to develop attachment makes people prey to psychological disorders some of which resemble ADHD, these individuals will be impulsive and have a difficult time concentration and experience difficulty in school, as adults they will have trouble maintaining relationships - Meta-analysis finds that lack of attachment predicts involvement in a broad spectrum of criminal activity. - Detachment problems link to a variety of antisocial behaviors including sexual assault and child abuse, boys dispropornatley experience these and may explain disproportionate male offending rates

Conflict Theory

- Karl Marx and his communist manifesto laid the foundations for the confclt theory - The view that human behavior is shaped by interpeersonal conflcit and that crime is a product of human conflict

Gender and Crime

- Male Crime rates are much higher than those of females o The most recent UCR indicates that males account for about 80 percent of all arrests for serious violent crimes and more than 60 percent of the arrests for serious property crimes. ♣ Murder is an 8 - 1 ratio for male to female ♣ Male crime rate Dec 25%, female 11% Dec, but ink in property crimes for female - Early criminologists said that there were physical, emotion, and psychological difference between male and females that explain crime, females were weaker and more passive they are less likely to commit crime. o This is no longer taken seriously, but some still consider trait difference as a key germinant between female and male crime rates - Socialization differences, girls are socialized to be less aggressive than boys, and are supervised more by their parents. o male perceptions of power, there relative freedom, and their ability to hang with their friends helps explain the different rates in crime and delinquency. - Cognitive differences - Psychologists note significant cognitive differences between male and females, Grills have soupier verbal abilities, whereas boys test higher in visual or spatial performance, girls soupier verbal skills teach them to talk not fight, girls are more willing to negotiate a way out of a situation rather than to fight. - Social/Political differences o In 1970's the liberal feminist theory focused attention on the social and economic role of women in society and its relation to female crime rates = women's lower crime rate could be explained by their second-class status o Recent trends support the feminist view of crime rates as they become more fully integrated into society, ♣ However, this could also reflect the changing view of deterrence towards women from police.

Validity of UCR

- Many serious crimes are not reported - Some departments define crimes more loosely than others - Some make errors in reported what they believe counts as an arrest (after booking or not?) - Only most serious offense is counted in a crime spree - But same problems persist year after year so looking and the increases/ decreases from year to year are reliable Distinct Problems with the UCR 1.) Confidence in Law Enforcement - some victims do not trust police to solve there crimes and underreport 2.) Insurance - victims without property insurance belive it is useless to report theft 3.) Reprisal - some victims fail to report for fear of repisals from an offenders friend or family 4.) Not Important Enough - The more serious a crime, and the greater the loss the more likley a person is to report the crime 5.) Dirty Hands - People who are themselves involved in criminal activity are less likley to reprot crimes than those with clean hands 6.) Social Support - Non reporters recieve very little social support from family, friends, and government institutions

Scholarly Studies on Crime Patterns

- Marie Tillyer and Rob Tillyer aaluzed NIBRS data to deteremine whether co-offending in robberies actually work, concluded that co-offending results in significantly less property value stolen per offender, while increasing the likelihood of an incident resulting in an arrest. - Liberal Feminist Theory - Focused on social and economic role of women in society and its relationship to female crime rates o Suggested that traditionally lower crime rates for women could be explained by their "second-class" economic and social position. o It was assumed that as women's social roles changed theier lifestyles would become more like mens and crime rates would converge - this is supported by recent trends ♣ May reflect changing attitudes of police towards women which is resulting in higher arrest rates - Ojmarrah Mitchell and Michael Caudy analuzed the arrest of low level drug offenders and found that African Americans are 247% more likely than whites to have experienced a drug distribution arrest by age 29 o The differences are an outcome of implicit bias, police officers focus their attention on patrolling inner city areas where drug offending may be readily apparent and where residents are predominately African American ♣ More common I communities where there are relatively few racial minorities. - Racial Threat Hypothesis - As the percentage of African Americans in the population increases, so does the amount of social control imposed on black citizens at every stage of the justice system, from arrest to final release. o Starts when White residents oversestimate the proportion of minorities living in their neighborhood, a circumstance that leads to false perceptions of disorder, when fear grips a neighborhood police are more likely to get involved and more aggressive on patrol, the result is stepped up effort to control and punish minority citizens - Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins be;eive that the proliferation of handguns and the high rate of of lethal violence cause is the single most significant factor separating the crime problem in the United States from that in the rest of the developed world - In Contrast, Gary Kleck believe that personal gun use can actually be a deterrent in crime, he believes that the benefits of guns on crime reduction should not be overlooked and that at least 18 national surveys have consistently confirmed that defensive gun usage by potential victims is very common, probably more common than criminal gun use - Dave Hemenway and Sara Solnick on defenseive guns use found that firearms are rarely ised by victims to prevent crimes, and when they are used have little effect on risk of victim injury. - Philip Cook found that while the vast majority of the city's homicides are committed with guns, most guns used in crime are quite old, with a median age of over 10 years and have gone through a series of transactions before being acquired by the current owner, cook concludes that licensed dealers only play a very small and limited role in arming gang members and other intermediaries such as straw purchasers, and brokers, traffickers who remain outside - Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson state that age is everywhere with crime, and its effects on crimes do not depend on other demographic correlates of crime - Marvin Wolfgang, Robert Figlio, and Thorten Sellin used official records to follow 9,945 boys in philly from birth until they reached 18, about 1.3 had some police contact, 6 percent of them were chronic offenders, arrests and court experience did little to deter the chronic offenders and punishment was inversely related to chronic offending - In a second cohort study Wolfang revealed a similar pattern of chronic offending, and found that chronic deliqunecy in females was rarer.

Distinct Breakdown of Crime Patterns

- Metropolitan Areas are more crime prone than suburban or rural areas o May contain ecological features such as housing projects that experience a disproportionate share of crime incidents. - Crime rates are highest during the warm summer months of July and August o During the summer tennagers who usually have the highest crime rates are out of school and have greater oppurtunity to commit crime o People Spend more time outdoors during warm weather making themselves easier targets o Homes are left vacant during the sumer ♣ Murder and robbery are exception because they happen at night, which occurs earlier during the cooler months - Crime Rates are higher on the first day of the month than any other time o Government and social welfare checks arrie at this time and come in tangent with an increase in mailbox break-ins, and accousting recipents on the street. o Also more income means more money to spend on behaviors that relate to crime such as drinking, partying, gambling, and so on. - Some crimes are more likely to take place at night, while others are more common during the day o Robberies plan the time of their attacks. - Low-population resort areas with large transient or seasonal populations have higher crime rates - Western and Southern states have higher crime rates than the Midwest and Northeast - Crime tends to be a group activity, especially in adolescents, in particular o Adolescents enjoy an increased social status if they engage in risk-taking behavior by their peers - Co-offending is more prevalent in neighborhoods that are less disadvantaged, more stable, and contain more people who can be trusted - Male Crime Rates are much higher than those of females, o According UCR data, while male crime rates have declined in the last decade by 25 percent, female arrest rates have been more stable, declining by only 11 percent, and increasing for serious property crimes during the past decade, whle male rates have decreased during the same time period ♣ Few reasons: • 1.) Trait Difference - Emotional physical and psychological differences explain the difference in crime rates between male and females • 2.) Socialization Differences - Girls are socialized to be less aggressive and are supervised more than their parents, male perception of power, their relative freedom, and theier ability to hang with friends explain gender gaps • 3.) Cognitive differences - Girls have been found to be superior to boys in verbal abilities, where as boys test better in visual-spatial, girls are more likely to negotiate a way out of conflict, rather than responding passively, or physically resisting, ecspecially when they perceive harm or death. - Minority group members are involved in disproportionate share of criminal activity, African Americans account for more than 40% of arrests for violent crimes and 25 percent for serious property arrests o May be an artificat of institutional bias found in the justice system and not actual differences in criminal activity: police are more likely to stop, search, and arrest racial minorities than members of the white majority o Racial Profiling describes the practice of stopping and searching African Americans without probable cause or reasonable suspicion - Racial minorities face a greater degree of social isolation and economic deprivation than the white majority, racial differences in crime rates have been linked to institutional and structural differences in society - Neighboorhoods experience income inequality, lack of informal social controls, and resource deprivation have crime rates significantly higher than those who can provide economic oppurutunity o Instrumental Crimes are commited illegal acts whose goal is to provide a desired good or service o Expressive crimes - rape and assault are results of their frustration with what they believe to be an unfair and unjust society ♣ Middle and upper-class crimes are typically non-violent, white collar business crimes - Crime rates should correlate with unemployment rates, peaking during tough economic times when people are out of work and money is tight. - Younger people commit crime more often than older people o The peak age for property crime is believed to be 16 and for violence 18 o Elderlymales over 65 are predominately arrested for alcohol related offenses and elderly females for larceny - People commit less crime as they age, crime peaks in adolesnce and then declines rapidly o young peole are impatient and are unwilling or unable to delay gratification, but this changes as they mature - Some criminolosigsts believe that the key to gaining out is linked to human biology, during adolescne dopamine increases while serotonin is reduced, in adults dopamine levels recede while serotonin is increased, but the trend for youth arrest is decreasing calling into question this theory - Criminal data shows that most offenders commit a single criminal act and upon arrest discontinue ther behavior, however a small group of people account for the majority of all offenses, there called chronic offednders - Chronic offending is related to early onset at risk youth who are exposed to a variety of personal and social problems. o three strike policy was spurred because of chronic offending. - Immigrants are less crime prone than people In the general population o As immigrants increase, per capita crime rates decrease o Illegal immigrants are 44% less likely to be incarcerated than natives, while legal are 69% less likely to be incarcerated than natives

Neurophysiological Conditions and Crime

- Neurophysiology - the study of brian activity using brain scanning techniques such as MRO and PET BEAM and SQUID to assess areas of the brain that are directly linked to antisocial behavior - Studies have shown that both violent criminals and substance abusers hae impairment in the prefrontal lobes, thalamusm medial temporal lobe, and superior parietal and left angular gyus areas of the brain - Adolescents with antisocial substance disorder has been linked to misifing in particular areas of the brain o damage may be associated with a reduction in executive functioning, impairments in EF hae been implicated in a range of problem solving disorders including: AHDH, Conduct disorder, autism, and Tourette syndrome. - Neurological impairment may also lead to the development of personality triats linked to antisocial behavior - There is a suspsected link between braind dysfunction and conduct disorder which a precourse to chronic offending

Brain Chemistry

- Neutortansmitters influence or activiate brain function o dopamine, serotinon, MAO, and GABA - Low levels of MAO to high violence - Abnormal MAO levels may explain indidual and group differences in crime rate o Females have higher level which may explain difference in crime rates - It is not uncommon for vioelcne prone people to be treated wih drugs such as Haldol, Stelzaine, Proxilin, and Risperdal, which help control levels of neutransmiters

Biological Trait Theories

- One branch of contemporary trait theory focuses on the biological conditions that control human behavior o refered to as biocriminologists, biosocial criminologists, or biologically oriented criminologists, the terms are used here interchangeably - Biology of crime began to receive national attention when Dan White killed San Fransico mayor George Moscone and Harvey Mike, said he did because of a Twinkie addiction and got manslaughter instead of murder o Today triat theorists believe that biochemical conditoons including both those that are genetically predetermined and those that are acquired through diet and enviorment infleucne antisocial behaviors ♣ Blood mercury levels in children with ADHD is higher than levels found in the general population indicating a clear link between an enviorment pollutant and a behavior disorder linked to antisocial behavior - Some biochemical factors have been linked to criminality are discussed o 1) Diet - a healthful diet can provide minimal minerals and chemicals needed for normal brian function, improper diet can cause chemical imbalance and lead to factors associated with antisocial behavior ♣ An oversupply or undersupply of certain chemicals can lead to depression, adhd, and genitive problems ♣ People whose diet lacks sufficient chemical or to much of them are a higher risk of developing physicological distubrances related to antisocial behavior o 2.) Sugar intake ♣ A british study of the long-term effects found that kids aged 10 who enganged in excessive consumption were the ones most likely to be convicted for violence in adulthood ♣ Study in boston found that high school students who drank more than five sodas a week were singnficantly more likely to carry weapons and to engange in violence with peers, family, or intimate partners ♣ Nathan DeWall - found that some sugar intake may acutally reduce aggression o 3.) Hypglycemia ♣ Blood glucouse falls below levels for necessary brain function, a condition called hypoglycemia occurs which includes irritability, anxiety, depression, crying spells, headaches and confucion ♣ Studies have linked this to outbursts of anti-social behavior and violence, high levels have been in groups of habititually violent and impulsive offenders o 4.) Hormonal Influences ♣ Research has found that abnormal levels of male sex hormones (androgens) can produce aggressive behavior ♣ Growing body of evidence suggests that hormonal changes are also related to mood and behavior ♣ Testorornoe has been linked to violence, prenatal exposure to elevate amounts display long term tendency towards aggression • This explains female difference ♣ Horomone levels may explain the aging out process: levels of testorone decline during the life cycle and so do violent rates o 5) Premenstrual Syndrome ♣ The link between PMS and delqinecy was first popluariized by Katharina Dalton who indidicated that females are more likely to commit suicide and to be aggressive during menstruration ♣ Diana Fishbein concluded that there is in fact an association between menstration and elevated levels of female agrssion • 1.) significant number of incarecated females commited their crime during the premenstrual pahse • 2.) At least a small percentage of women appear vulnerable to cyclical hormonal changes that make them more prone to anxiety and hostiiclity o 6) Led Exposure ♣ CDC - even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ ability and academics • 5 micgrogams per decliter to identify children with blood lead levels that are much higher than most children levels, 2 million kids ♣ Delqieunts have higher blood lead levels, locals with higher lead levels have more prone to homicide ♣ Research has shown a significant fit between the rise and fall of gas lead and crime o Environmental Contaminants ♣ Research has linked prenatal exposure to PCB's to lower IQ and attention problems ♣ Enviormental contimaints such as PCBs PAHs and PBDEs have harmful to the brains of babies and small children and may affect there developing nervous systems and they can be exposed to harmful chemcials even before they are born

Validity of the NCVS

- Overreporting due to victim's misinterpretation of events - Underreporting due to embarrassment, fear of punishment, or forgetfulness - Inability to record the criminal activity of those interviewed - Sampling errors - Inadequate question format

Validity of Self-Reports

- People will not candidly admit illegal acts. - Some may exaggerate their criminal acts, some forget them, or be confused about what is being asked. -Critics suggest that there are flaws in reporting accuracy

Personaltiy and Crime:

- Personaltiy is the reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and emotions that distinguish one person from another - Several research efforts have attempted to identify criminal personality traits surveys sho that traits such as impulsivity, hostility, narcissim, hedonism, and aggression are highlight correlated with antisocial and criminal behavior - Hans Eysenck PEN model contains three elements: psychoticism (P) Extraversion (E), and Nueorticism (N) o Extroversts - energetic, enthisustat, and self-confident o Introverts - Quiet, Low-key, deliberate, and detached from others - People at either end of the spectrums are more prone to antisocial beahvors - Unstable extroerts are called neuroticisms and are anxiouse tense and volatile, they may act self-destructively by abusing drugs and repeating there criminal acidity

Prevention of Programs

- 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 - Biologically oriented therarpy is also being used in the criminal justice system to alter diets, and compensate for learning disabilities - Surgical procedures have been used to alter the brains of sex offenders in an effort to eliminate there sex drives - Cognitive theories attempt to teach explosive people to control aggressive impulses by viewing social provocations as problems deminading a solution rather than retialitiaiton.

The Concept of Crime

- Professional Criminologists align themselves with one of several schools of thoughts, allowing them to discover there own view of what constitutes a crime, which falls into three view - the consensus view, the conflict view, the interactionist view

The Pschodynamic Perspective

- Psychodnynamic (or psychoanalytic) psychologuy was originated by Sigmnd Frued, who believed that we all carry with us the residue of the most significan emotional attachemnts of our childhood which then guides future relationships - 3 part structure o ID - primitive part of peoples mental makeup present at birth and represent unconcusious biologicical drives o The ego - part of the personality which compensates for the demands of the id by helping the individual keep his or her actions within them boaudires of social convention o Super ego - develops as a result of incorporating within the personality the moral standards of values of parents, community, and significant others - People unhappy in childhood, will become an aggressive and frustrated person - Weak egos are associated with immaturity, poor social skills, and consequently lack of internalized representation of behaviors that re punished in society. - The psychodynamic tradition links crime to manifestation of feelings of opressionand the inability to develop the proper psychological defesenand rationales to keep them under control o criminality enables troubled epeople to survive by producing positive psychic results it helps them to feel free and indepdnent and it offers them the psosiblity of excitement and the chance to use there imagination. Attachment Theory

Social Learning and Violence

- Social learning theorirsts view violence as some thing learned through a process called behavior modeling, aggressive acts are modeld after three pricniples o 1. Family interactions = studies of family life show that aggressive children have parents who use aggressive tactics when dealing with others. The Children of wife batters are more likely to use aggressive tactics themselves than children in the general population, if the vicitms suffer psychological distress form the abuse o 2. Evniorment Experience: people who reside in areas where violence occurs daily are more likely to act violent than those who dwell in low crime areas whose norms stress conventional behavior o 3. Mass Media - Media depicts violence, and is often portrayed as accepatable, Viewing violence influences violence - Physical attacks sometimes trigger violence - Verbal and physical assaults sometimes trigger violence as well - Events that trigger violence o 1.) An event that heightens arousal = insluts o 2.) Aggressive Skills = learned aggressive response o 3.) Expected Outcomes = violence comes with awards o 4.) Consistency of Behavior = The belief, gained forom observing others, that aggression is justified and approprorate

Evolutionary Views of Crime

- Some belive that the human traits that produce violence have been advanced by the process of human evoltuon, the completion for resoruces ahs infleucend and shaped the human races - People have been shaped to engage in actions that promote their well-being and ensure the survival and reproduction of their genetic line o males impulsivity come from there father - Behavior patterns are inherited, impulsiveness is intergeneration, passed down from parent to children

The Process of Justice

- The criminal Justice process is transformative, at first a person is a suspect, then convicted criminal, and finally an ex-offender - Stigma and labeling make reform difficult 1. Initial contact - Occurs when police observe a criminal act during a patrol, may also find about the crime through a witness or victim, 2. Investigation - May take a few minutes when a patrol officer ses a burglary in progress or may take years to complete 3. Arrest - Is legal when all of the following condition exist - 1. probable cause that crime is being or ahs been committed, the officer deprives the individual freedom, the suspect belives that he or she is in the custody of a police officer and cannot voluntarily leave 4.Custody - After the arrest, and is at the police station having there personal information recorded through booking 5.Complaint/ charge Once the case is turned over to the prosecutor and he weighs the evidence to determine if there are sufficient facts to prosecute,, if there is insufficient evidence to move the case it issued a nolle prosecute declaration which signifies the decision to drop the case from professecurtion 6. Preliminary Hearing - if there is significant evidence, and indictment can be made by a grand jury which considered the case in a closed hearing, if sufficient facts are presented the grand jury will see a true bill of indictment, insufficient evidence results in no bill if not a grand jury state then a preliminary hearing will occur 7.Arraignment - The accused is brought to the court that will try the case, formal charges are read, and defendants rights are read 8. Bail or detention - money bond, the amount which is set by the judge that ensures the presence of the suspect at trial 9.Plea Bargain - Agreement between prosecution and defense in which the accused pleads guilty in return for a reduction of charges and a more lenient sentence or some other consideration 10. rarely Adjudication, the defendant can be found guilty or not guilty, or a hung jury which is unable to agree on a decision leaves the case opened and possibly retried 11. Sentencing/disposition if found guilty the judge sentences, Disposition usually involves a fine, term of community service, or period of incarceration, 2/3 of defendants receive incarceration sentences 12. Appeal - taking a criminal case to a higher court because the defendant was found guilty because of legal error or violation of there constitutional rights 13. Correctional Treatment - offenders, found guilty are formally sentenced under the jurisdiction of correctional authorities, incarceration, community service, supervision, or community correctional centers are forms 14. Release - at the end of the correctional sentence the offender is released into the community, most incarcerated are granted parole before the maximum sentence, and they finish them the sentence in the community 15. Postrelease/aftercare - The offender needs to succcesfffuly return to the community nd to be supervised by correctional staff members, typically parole officers, successful completion of there postrelease period marks the end of the criminal justice process

Development of Trait Theory

- The view that criminals have physical or mental traits that make them different and abnormal is not restricted to movie plots but began with the Italian physician and criminologists Cesare Lombroso and his contemporaries, who conducted the first scientific studies of crime. - Spurred by the publication of Edmund O. Wilson's Sociobiology: the New Synthesis where explanations of crime based on human traits received renewed interest from criminologists - Sociobology stresses the following pricniples; o Beahvioral traits are shaped by both inhereited traits and the enviorment o Biological and genetic conditions affect how social behaviors are learned and perceived. o Behavior is determined by the need to ensure survival of offspring and replenishment of the gene pool o Biology, enviorment, and learning are mutually interdependent factors - Simply put, sociobiology assumes that while social behavior is genetically transmitted, it adapts to and is shaped by existing environmental conditions, o revived interest in biological and psychological basis for crime an delqiency o Behavior is controlled by traits that are present at birth or developed soon afterwards, possession of these traits does not mean that someone commit crime, but given the equivalent environmental conditions the suspect is more likely to eb deviant to attain their life goals and desires.

Age and Crime

- There is general agreement that age is inversely related to crime o Hirsch and Gottfried's state that "age is everywhere correlated with crime, its effects on crime do not depend on other demographic correlates of crime o Crime declines with age! ♣ Aging out of crime may also be a function of history and human life cycle • Deviance is fueled by the need for money and sex and is reinforced by close relations with peers • Teenagers who are transition to adults have new sense of energy and strength and are involved with papers with similar vigor • Adults develop the ability to delay gratification and forgo immediate gains

Individual Vulnerability v. Differential Susceptibility

- Triat theorists today recognize that crime-producing intersctions involve both personal traits such as defective intelligence and abnormal chemistry, and enviormental facots such as family and education o People living in disadvantaged communities may be at higher risk of crime, but that is only made stronger when they also bear a genetic makeup that makes them vulnerable to the crime producing influence in their environment - Two views on this interaction: o 1.) Individual vulnerability model - a direct link between traits and crime, some people develop these at birth or soon after, that affects there social functioning regardlsss of how they are raised o 2.) Differential Susceptibility Model - there is an indirect association between triats and crime, some people possess physical or mental triats that make them vulnerable to adverse enviormental influences, while postivie enviorments provide beenfts, those with bad genetic makeup are predisposed to violence that will manifest when their surroundings get troubeled Biological Trait Theories

Race and Crime

- UCR arrest data indicates that minority group members are involved in a disproportionate share of criminal activity. o African Americans share 13% of total population, but more than 40% of arrests - Institutional Bias o Institutional balsas create a vicious cycle: because they're tarred more frequently, young black men are more likely to possess a criminal record, which is associated with repeat stops and searches ♣ Racial profiling has been described as the practice of stopping and searching African amerces without probable cause, minorities are more likely to be stopped and searches than a member of the white majority • Mitchell and Candy looked at racial differences in the arrest rate and found that African Americans are 247% more likely than whites to be arrested for drug distribution than whites. o Police patrol inner-city areas where African Americans live primarily - Racial Threat Hypothesis

Unemployment and Crime

- Unemployment rates to higher crime rates, especially when the government does not provide sufficient economic support such as welfare and unemployment benefits o However, crime rates fluctuate and do not always rise and fall with unemployment because for example if someone is employed they make take the money and drink and gamble which inherently leads to more crimes

Recividism

A relapse into a former habit, especially criminal or antisocial behavior

Self-Report Surveys

A research approach that requires subjects to reveal their own participation in delinquent or criminal acts.

Monitoring the Future

A source of longitudinal self-report data that research at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) have been conducting annually since 1978, This national survey typically involves more than 50,000 high school students and is one of the most important sources of self-report data.

Sociological Criminology

Founded by Emile Durkheim, crime is normal because it is impossible to imagine a society in which criminal behavior is totally absent. - Crime is inevitable because people are all so different from one another - Thoerized that crime can sometimes be usefull or even healthful for society in that it paves the way for social change In the Division of Labor In Society - discussed the consequences of the shift rom a small rural society which was labeled as mechanical to the more modern organic society with large urban populations, division of labor, and isolation. Resulting from the structural changes were the anomie- or norm and role of confusion

Contemporary Criminalogiy

Has been constatly evolving, and characterized by major theories such as rational choice, trait, and social structure

white collar crime

Illegal acts that capitalize on a person's status in the marketplace. White-collar crimes may include theft, embezzlement, fraud, market manipulation, restraint of trade, and false advertising.

Early Criminological Positivism

J.K Lavater (Physiognomists) - studied the facial features of criminals and found that the shape of the ears, nose, and eyes are associated with antisocial beavhior Franz Joseph Gall (phrenologists) - studied the shape of the skull and bumps on head and concluded that theres were linked to criminal behavior Phillippe Pinel - Coined the phrase Manie sans delire to denote what eventually was referred to as psychopathic personality - Cesare Lobroso - studied the cadavers of executed criminals to determine how scientifically criminals differed from noncriminals

Hate Crime in Georgia

July 25th - 2015, Kayle Rae Norton and Jose Ismael Torress drove a pickup truck in georgia as part of the trespect the flag rally - They joined dozens of other trucks with confederate flags - Through racial slurs at a black family having an 8 year old birthday party and approached it with a gun - law enforcment linked them to the KKK - They were sentenced to 20 yeara sna d 15 years respectivley for the couple, all 15 people were indicted for the rally

Explaining Criminal Behavior

Marvin Wolfgang's 1958 study Patterns in Criminal Behavior discovered that in many instances victims caused or precipitated the violent confrontation that led to their death, spawning the term - Victim Precipitated Homicide Edwin Sutherland created a new field of business-related offenses coining the phrase - white-collar crime to describe economic crime activites of the affluent.

Classical Criminiology

Moderate view of criminal sanctions can be traced to Cesare Beccaria who was the first scholar to develop a systematic understanding of why people commit crimes -Beccaria believed that people chose there savior because they act in their own self-interest and do whatever is pleasurable and pain reducing -To deter crime, punishment must counteract the criminal lure -Beccaria's famous theorem was that for punishment to be successful, it must be public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in the given circumstance, proportionate, and dictated by law. _Theoretical perspective suggesting that people choose to commit crime and that crime can be controlled if potential criminals fear punishment

Primary Source of Crime Data

The Primary source of crime data are surveys and official records - The Uniform Crime Report - includes crimes reported to local law enformcent, and the number of arrets made by police agencies There are part 1 crimes - murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, agrivated assualt, batter, larcney, vehicle theft, and arson -Part 2 crimes are things such as drug trafficking, and sex crimes The UCR uses three methods to express crime data 1.) number of crimes reported to police and arrests are expressed as raw figures 2.) Year over year percentage changes in the number of crimes are compute 3.) The crime rate per 100,000 people is calculated using number of repeated crimes/total us population X100,000

criminal justice system

The agencies of government - police, courts, and corrections - that are responsible for apprehending, adjudicating, sanctioning, and treating criminal offenders - An instrument of social control, laws are formal control -Infromal social control, sucha s parental and school disciline are designed to deal with moral, not legal, misbheavhor The Contemporary Criminal Justice System is divided into three components 1.) Police and law enformcent, charged with tasks such as mainting peace, and investigatiin crime 2.) The Court - carries out trials and sentencing 3.) Correctional System - incapciaptates convicted offenders and attempt to aid in their treatment and rehabilitation - It now cost $200 billion per year to administer civil and criminal justice, 300% increase since 1982 - System cares for 11 million people - 6.7 milluon people are under some form of correctional supervision

Consensus View

The belief that the majority of citizens in a society share common values and agree on what behaviors should be defined as criminal. -Criminal Law the written code that defines crime reflects the values and beliefs of society - Consensus implies general agreement

capital punishment

The execution of criminal offenders; the death penalty.

Rational Choice Theory

The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

The ongoing victimization study conducted jointly by the Justice Department and the U.S. Census Bureau that surveys victims about their experiences with law violation. -The greatest advantage of the NCVS over the UCR is that that it can estimate the total amount of annual crimes, not just those that are reported to police

criminiology

The scientific study of the nature, extent, cause and control of criminal behavior - Academic discioline that uses the scientific method - Interdisciplinary field, with many who practice having backgrounds in sociology, pyschology, or legal fields, etc.. -Criminologists are interested in computing criminal stats with valid and relable measures

Ethics Issues in Criminology

Three types of issues: 1.) What to study 2.) Whom to study 3.) How to Study

Victim Trends

US residents aged 12 or older experienced about 20 million violent and property victimizations The NCVS has shown that criminal victimization rates have declined significantly during the past 30 years, since 1993 the rate of vicitmization has declined about 80 percent. - The rate of serious violent crime against youths aged 12 - 18 has declined more than 70 percent since 1994, falling from 62 victims per yer 1,000 youth to fewer than 15 per 1,000

Critical Criminology -

the view that crime is a product of the capitalist system

Structural Racism

o Many black youths are forced to attend serrated schools that are underfunded and run down that elevates the chance of incarceration in the future. ♣ They also face harder discipline in school or in the homes o In sum, racial differences in crime rates have been linked to institutional and structural differences in society. If racial and ethnic disparity in the application justice and the distribution of social and economic resources were to end, crime rate differences between races would evaporate.

Crime and Rationality

• Crimes are rational thoughts and acts • Drug use is controlled by rational thinking • Research confirms that even seiral killers utilize rational thinking when choosing targets by picking vulnerable people • Robbers carefully select there sites as well, so its rational • Bruce Jacobs and Richard Wright Found that Robbers commit crime in response to three provocations o 1.) Market-Related robberies emerge from disputes involving trade, or predators o 2.) Status based vilation involve enounters where robbers characteristics have been challneged o 3.)Personalistic violatiosn - flow from incidents in which the robbers autonomy has been jeporaidized. • Gretchen Sutto examined the characteristscs of hate crimes and found that they are calculated response to concrete event • Thomas Halt - Sex crimes, prostitutions by Johns, is a rational act • Crimes are not random events, they are calculated and planned to provide the would be criminal with an overall benefit, monetary, or emtoitonal thrill • HOWEVER, Robert Agnew argues that the average person is just as likely to give consideration to others as they are to satisfy their own interest,, and that although some people are self-interested, others are socialy concered a state o fmind that restrains crime

Deterrence

• General deterrence - a crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweighs its benefits. o Not only does the actual chance of punishment, but so does the perception that punishment will almost certainly be forthcoming. • Marginal Deternce - occurs when a realviley more serve penalty will produce some reduction in crime - arrest has a better chance of stopping an offender than does a warning • Restrictive (partial) deterrence - refers to situations in which the threat of punishment can reduce but not eliminate crime - steepp fine for going over the speed limit o Bruce Jacobs four factors that restrictive deternce contains ♣ 1.) The offender reduces the number of crimes she or he commits over a particular period ♣ 2.) the offender commits crimes of lesser seriousness than the contemplated ♣ 3.) Enganges in a situational measures to enhnce the probability that the risk will be taken without detection ♣ 4.) Reconizes risk situation, which causes them to commit same crime at a different place and time.

Offender Specific Crime Characteristics

• Offender Specific Characteristcs o 1.) Peer and Guardianship - young people belive to be more crime prone because parents reduce the likelihood of kids committing crime,, this can also explain why boys commit more crime o 2.) Need for Excitement and Thrill - people may engage in illegal behavior because they love the excitement and buzz ♣ Jack Katz says sneaky thrills is the primary motive, not profit o 3.) Economic Oppurtunity ♣ If they need money they might commit crime, • 1.) No faith in econ • 2.) Friends said they have scored big o Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh interviewed Drug gang members and found that the was a a lnk between crime and potential for future riches o 4.) Competence and Experience - Personal experience and expertise are important elemecnts in structuring criminaolty, if they know how to do it, they have a higher chance of doing it RTC holds that the decision to commit crime

RTC holds that the deicsion to commit crime is structured by:

• RTC holds that the decision to commit crime is structured by o A.) Where it occurs o B.) The characteristics of the target

Crime and Tageting

• RTC holds that the decision to commit crime is structured by o A.) Where it occurs o B.) The characteristics of the target • Criminals are careful about where the commit crime, o target familiar places ♣ Barbara Menting - Criminals targe areas near homes or old homes and where they have family and ties • Targets are carfully selected o Christopher Contrera found that neighboorhods with weed dispensaries have higher chance of being caught bc of the cash being held • Professional criminals lay out escape roots o Bruce Jacobs and Mark Cherbonneau found that auto thieves relay on the normalcy illusions to prevent authorities from thinking that it is a stolen vehicle ♣ fresh licenses plates

Rational Choice Theory

• Rational Choice Theory - The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potentiall offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of the illegal act • RTC has roots in classical criminology developed by the Italian Social thinker Cesare Beccaria, who used a utilitarian approach • Popularity of the theory declined in replacement of the Positive theory that focused on social and personal factrs rather than personal choice and decision making • The theory was revitalized in the 1960's Gary Becker argued that except for a few mentally ill, criminals behave in a predictiable or rational way when deciding to commit crime, Becker viewed criminality as rational behavior that might be controlled by increasing costs of crime and reducing potentials for gain. • James Wilson in Thinking About Crime observed that people who are likely to commit crime are unfraid of breaking the law because the excitement and thrills of crime, have low stake in confirming, and are willing ro risk more than the average person o if they can be convinced a strict punishment, only irrational people would engage in crime Contemporary RTC means that

Situational Crime Prevention

• Situational Crime Prevention- Seeks to elimate or reduce particular crimes in a specific setting o Convincing a criminal tthat a specific target is not worth the effort will reduce crime ♣ Crimes can be prevented if • 1.) Potential targets are carefully guarded • 2.) The means to commit the crime are controlled • 3.) The potential offenders are carefully monitored • This approach was popularized by Oscare Newman in 1970's when he coined the term - defensible space - the idea that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical enviorment to reduce the oppurtunity that individuals have to commit crime, such as well-lit housing projects that maximize surveillance • Ron Clarke's CRAVE model identifies the facts that make theft-related crime attractive, teamed up with Brian Smith to test the model in regards to drugs and found that priduces with an appeal to drug uses in a grocery store were stolen more likely. • Situational Crime Prevention Stratagies involve developing tactics to reduce or eliminate a specific crime problem o 1.) Increase the Effort Needed to Commit Crime - putting unbreakable glass on a storefront o 2.) Increase the Risk of Committting Crime - Marcus Felson argues that the risk of crime may be increased by improving the effectiveness of crime discoragers - people who serve as guardians of property or people ♣ READ on 112 o 3.) Reduce the Rewards of Crime - Displaying fake jewelry in widows and keeping real stone locked o 4.) Induce Guilt: Increase Shame - if we communicate to people the wrongfulness of there behavior and how harmful it is to society EX. Publishing John's list o Reduce Provocation - Some crimes are the result of extreme provociation, Philip Cook and Jens Ludgwing say that alchol is a significant factor in assaults, increase tax decrease consumption, decrease crime o Remove Excuses - Crime may be reduced if we reduce the excuses people use to explain criminal behavior such as I didn't know it was illegal • Situational Crime prevention effors bring with them certain hidden costs and benefits that can undermine there effectinvesss • Situational crime prevention efforts brings with them certain hidden costs and benefits o Hidden benefits ♣ Diffusion - when efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevent another, video camers to stop shoplifters stop vandals ♣ Discouragment - occurs when crime control effots targeting a particular locale help reduce crime in surrounding areas and populations o Hidden Costs ♣ Displacment - occurs when crime control efforts in one location simply move somewhereelse ♣ Extinction - Occurs when crime reduction programs produce short-term positive effect, but benefits dissipate as criminals adjust to new conditons, burglars learn to disable new security alarms ♣ Replacment - occurs when criminals try new offenses to replace those neutralzed by crime prevention