Sociology 368

booze

(working class immigrant catholics)

criminalization process

1) Laws are written which outlaw certain behavior 2) surveillance and policing of that behavior 3) if detected, punishment of that behavior

annual cost of crime in US

1.7 billion

crime myth

A false belief about crime myths distort and intensify the fear of crime What do myths do? 1. provide information about power structures who has the power, how much do they have 2. Moral boundaries reinforces moral boundaries 3. Distraction distract people from other problems in society 4. "legitimate" or "explain" inequality 5. create support for crime policy

Social order: what are the two main ways to enforce it?

Consent and Coercion

criminal vs. civil law

Criminal law: sources are statutory & case law, contains misdemeanors and felonies, result: loss of liberties (voting, jobs, student loans, etc.), public record, decreased formal status Civil law: sources are contract law, tort law, result: no loss of liberties, no public record, no decrease in status

irony of official statistics (link to knowledge of crime, fear of crime)

Farther we go into criminal justice system and official statistics, the data we have increases but representative data decreases

fast vs. slow thinking

Fast - Automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypical subconscious Slow - Effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious

unholy trinity

Fear of Crime → Crime Myths → Media (cycle)

felony vs. misdemeanor

Felony=more than 1 year sentence and you go to prison-more serious; Misdemeanor=you go to jail which is local, less than 1 year sentence, not as intense; less serious Different accessibility to loved ones

What type of crime are they most likely to experience?

No, violent crime rates are actually decreasing; Most people also fear crime by strangers of the different race, when in fact crime usually occurs between people in the same race and not by strangers. Also, street crime is less common than white collar crime.

official vs. unofficial measures of crime

Official is collected by known government authority; unofficial -not collected by known government authority Official: UCR Uniform Crime Reports (1930, by FBI), NIBRS National Incident-Based Reporting System(more detailed version, by FBI 1988), NCVS National Crime Victimization Surveys (1972, by Bureau of Justice Statistics, redisign in 1992); Unofficial: The Guardian (police killings), self-report, life course data, life-history data, criminal biographies, observation research and participant observation research, comparative and historical research UCR -> measure CKP , police-based measures (reportability)-not accurate measure of TRC. Victim-based NCVS gives better idea of TRC, still parts missing (some people may not be comfortable reporting), more light on the dark number from victim based data

politico-moral entrepreneur

People/ groups, usually the elite who campaign against drug use and its negative effects in an attempt to divert attention to this specific issues than others

drug scares

Period of mark concern about a drug/s that sweeps through the country In the U.S. we have a lot of drug scares because making claims about how a drug is damaging in a society can help the elites increase social control of groups that are perceived as threatening, establish their moral code as dominant, make money thru arrests, and mobilize voter support.

who is over-represented?

Inter-racial victimization, directly violent street crime

inter-racial and intra-racial crime

Intra-racial crime is more common Myth: we think inter-racial

claims-making

Those who attempt to construct deviance-moral entrepreneurs

What do most Americans fear? How has this been changing?

Terrorism (at home) How has this been changing? Attitudes towards terrorism have changed post 9/11 Pre 9/11 the most feared crime was interpersonal violent crime. Post 9/11 the most feared crime is terrorism followed by interpersonal violent crime

material v. symbolic threat

material = real things, usually money. symbolic = having to do with prestige and racial hierarchy. Drugs scares help you to maintain both.

crimes vs. girls and women (rape and battery)

most likely to be committed by someone they know myth: we think stranger danger (more likely to be attacked by a stranger)

culpability

blame worthy

drug users

myth: opium = Chinese ,cocaine = blacks, weed (marijuana) = latinos, meth = white, poor rurals

NCVS (race, gender, age patterns) (originated 1972)

national crime victimization survey bureau of justice statistics surveys households for crime victimization statistics Compared to NIBRS and UCR: interviews victims instead of using police reports and helps see under-reported crimes such as rape and assault UCR<NIBRS<NCVS<TRC

NIBRS (originated 1988)

national incident based reporting system law enforcement submits reports to the FBI law enforcement reports any Group A crime (46 crimes) to the FBI Compared to UCR: does not use the hierarchy rule, more detailed, include more type of crime UCR<NIBRS<NCVS<TRC

UCR part 2 crimes

non-index, based on CCA e.g. simple assualt, forgery, fraud, carry weapon

defenses of justification 3 types

duress - typically the case with homicides, where the killer has reason to believe that their life is in jeopardy necessity - threatened by natural causes in which they have no control over ex. if trapped in a burning building and must break a window to escape, they would not be charged with vandalism duty - raised by public officials, such as police officers killings in the line of duty are justifiable homicides

who has the highest rates of fear of crime?

elderly, youth, women, racial minorities (especially African Americans, Latinos/Latinas)

counter-hegemonic

challenges the status quo

who is under-represented?

White Collar crime, crime against minorities

Sociological approaches to crime

allows us to see social dynamics at play that influence the outcome of things like the enacting of laws, surveillance of certain behaviors or groups of people, and then the punishment (or not) of those who violated social norms

Folk devil

an unambiguous, substance/type of person, the personification of evil covers up/distracts from other social ills; serves as a scapegoat

dark number

an unknown amount of crime that goes unreported to the police (= TRC - CKP)

use of weapons in street crime

gun is not commonly used myth: almost all street crime involves a weapon

Ideology

partial a group related phenomenon/pattern of ideas, images, ways of thinking, etc. "ready made" point of view Example: capitalism is the best economic system

Moral panic (3 major types)

period of marked concern that sweeps through a community/society 1) Drug scares 2) serial killings 3) child abductions/disappearances

Social construction as a process

concerns not just conditions; problems are constructed

Consent

consent is a way in which social order is maintained and thus is related to hegemony as it is a form in which hegemony is maintained. consent is not always fully knowledgeable and is a way to convince people to go along with, or abide by the status quo. Unlike coercion, consent is more efficient and experiences less resistance as it isn't being forced upon people.

2nd dimension of social relativity

crime is diff. across cultural variations - space

implications of social construction

crime is thought of as a social problem; just because it's a social construction doesn't mean it's not real. the effects of socially constructed ideas of crime are very real.

Crime as socially constructed: briefly define/explain

crime, crime statistics are all socially constructed. Crime is a product of human endeavor

CCA

crimes cleared by arrest (rate)

CKP

crimes known to police

mens rea

criminal intent

modifications of criminal intent

defenses of justification, entrapment, insanity

UCR part 1 crimes (N=8)

definition: Index crimes measures street crimes 2 major types: violent interpersonal crime and property crime

racialized, gendered, classed: what does it mean to describe something this way?

image highlights and biases/stereotypes something by race, gender, class

3rd dimension of social relativity

intra-social: political - space

crimes against children

it is often committed by loved ones myth: think strangers are biggest danger to children (abduction)

analogous social injury/social harm

legally permissible acts or social conditions that result in 1) bodily harms such as violent or untimely death, injury, illness, etc. 2) significant deprivations of food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education and/or 3) intentional or structural limitations on political and/or social participation examples: 438,000 deaths are caused each year in the US by tobacco use, more than 200,000 citizens are injured or killed b/c of negligence of doctors, 4,609 fatal work accidents in the United States

reportability

likelihood of becoming known to the police Some crimes have high/low reportability (based on type of crime, offender, victim) which may change the data and the supposed prevalence of some crimes The CKP can only refer to crimes that were reported because they are known by police. The TRC is unknown because reportability can vary. For example, rape/sexual assault is less likely to be reported so, the TRC cannot be known for sure. Have to make estimates.

naturalization (ideology)

make something seem more natural; when ideologies are making things seem just, if you can naturalize the inequality it works very well

mala in se, mala prohibita

mala in se: crime that is wrong in and of itself (murder, assualt, etc) anything threatening "life or limb" mala prohibita: any action that is criminalized strictly by statute and statutory law. (jaywalking, public intoxication)

discretion

police get to decide how to act, "wiggle room" people of power get to decide how the rules are applied affected by legal seriousness (murder vs. jaywalking), complainant preference, relational distance, deference, complainant status

The counted: what does this refer to? Who does the counting?

project by The Guardian to track number of people who are killed by police in US 1,134 total deaths at the hands of American police in 2015 177 deaths of young black men - 15% of all police killings this year, despite African American males making up just 2% of the country's population under-representation of official data about killing by police

frequency of property crime vs. interpersonal crime

property crime more frequent myth: interpersonal crime is more frequent

dominant ideology

referring to the most common/powerful point of view dominant images of crime (i.e. rape by strangers) lead us to believe crime myths, reinforce hegemonic beliefs, etc.

validity vs. reliability

reliability = whether something is repeatable; validity = is it measuring what its actually supposed to be measuring? "truth value" Ex. FPA is the female percentage of arrests: a liberation thesis that people used to point out the evils of feminism; women are creating more crime but the police are arresting more women or men creating less crime

incident: what transforms an event into a criminal incident

reportability

crime waves/scares (link to unholy trinity)

serial murder missing children halloween candy

murder types and their prevalence

serial murders are very uncommon myth: serial murders are likely to occur

Moral panics as socially constructed (Best reading?)

sometimes we have crime waves when crime is actually going down. So, our concern comes from what we grant legitimacy to.

street crime vs. suite (white collar) crime

street crime is thought to be more dangerous and includes categories like murder, rape, burglary, etc. Suite crime is white collar crime and it is often overlooked. Suite crime costs more, affects more people, and is more dangerous How is it relevant in this context? There is a crime myth that we should only fear street crime and that suite crime is often unknown. However, the truth behind this matter is quite different

strict liability and status offenses

strict liability: when a defendant is in legal jeopardy by virtue of a wrongful act without any accompanying intent or mental status (ex. statutory rape)

hegemonic

supports the status quo maintained through cultural norms and processes that produce consent. Makes inequality seem legitimate and appropriate; naturalizes it and is depicted as inevitable, not political.

The White Gaze (walking while black reading)

the assumption and perception that the black male body is different, deviant, ersatz. Historically it was deemed disrespectful to have a black person interrupt the white's gaze by looking directly into their eyes.The idea is hegemonic and grounded in relations of white power. Not individual, it has been socially ingrained into our minds, so even if we are are aware, still hold a implicit bias.

triangulation

there are 3 angles with multiple measures diff. measure measures diff. things, if we blend them, we may have better understanding about crime

TRC

true rate of crime TRC > CKP > CCA

actus reus

voluntary, or supposed to act and did not

proto criminal event

when no report was taken by the police (therefore the event was unknown to them) this does not mean it wasn't a criminal event

1st dimension of social relativity

when things are socially constructed, they vary relative to history

crime as a social problem vs crime as a sociological problem

while a social problem is simply something that is perceived to cause social harm (can vary in time and place), a sociological problem is one that is patterned by social dynamics such as class, gender, race etc, as well as the interplay of political, economic, and social ideologies

youth: as offenders and victims

youth commit less than 16% of all crime (potter and kappeler) Myth: youth are the primary "criminals"

what proportion of TV is devoted to crime?

⅓ of all standard television programming is devoted to crime. the more one watches TV , the greater FOC

stare decisis

the legal principle of determining points in litigation according to precedent; when a court has already decided on a ruling, they tend to stick to that ruling, the precedent

marijuana and xenophobia

(Mexicans) Muggleheads: pot smokers Harry Anslinger: architect of prohibition Homicidal mania: idea that drugs could lead people to kill people that they love The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 tried to get rid of the use and sale of the drug thru heavy taxing "stepping stone" theory: marijuana was a gateway to other drugs National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (1972): the punishment against marijuana use was too severe and wasn't going to discourage use

hierarchy rule

(Only for the UCR) Only the most important/severe crime in a incident is reported. ex. If someone breaks into a house and commits rape and murder, only murder is reported as the crime.

Bias in the UCR

Can be intentional or unintentional; UCR doesn't include white collar crime; relies on activities/reporting of police who exercise discretion based on their own racial/class/gender/sexuality-related biases

two major approaches to defining crime?

Legalistic and Sociological

coca products

(Blacks)

opiates

(Chinese immigrants)

what factors influence our perception of crime as a social problem? (role of media and official statistics)

1. The augments and rhetoric and power of claims and moral entrepreneurs 2. The pressure tactics of powerful private interests groups 3. The professional utterances of public officials "opinions about whether a condition is a social problem vary among groups and depend on how and by whom the condition is defined and perceived by society." 1. the group you are a part of 2. how the group perceives crime 3. whether that group defines the condition as a problem

What percentage of Americans have NO direct experience with crime? (link to myths and hegemony)

99%

victim-based measures

NCVS

UCR (began 1927 in US)

Uniform crime reports. FBI statisticians, data from crime reports submitted voluntarily from city, county, and state law enforcement agencies. Violent crime: murder and non negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggregated. Property crimes: burglary; larceny theft, and arson Does not measure unreported crimes. suite crimes (White collar crimes), federal crimes, internet crime. This matters because it underestimates the crime rate UCR<NIBRS<NCVS<TRC

Yancey and Mullainathan's arguments

Yancy talks about the white gaze-- directly relates to ideological assumptions about black people as criminals. Mullainathan discusses research conducted to prove the historical biases (people with "white" names will have more job opportunities

Stranger danger: what is it? Why is it relevant?

The fear that strangers will more likely commit a crime against someone Why relevant? The truth behind crime is that strangers are not the one who should be feared-but rather the people who we are close to. Think the example from the first day where all the girls talked about strategies to prevent from sexual assault from strangers

Coercion

a way to maintain the status quo when someone is unwilling to give consent; force Hegemony is not incompatible with force. When consent breaks down, dominant society can rely on coercion to enforce social order.

crime facts/stats as 'theory laden'

facts are not neutral; facts are heavy with theory Ex. Definitions of sexual assault through history: "rape" vs. "forcible rape" vs. "carnal knowledge of a woman against her will"

crime as violation of human rights

some sociologists see crime as any behavior that violates human rights (life & dignified human existence such as liberty, happiness)

global/international approach to crime (2 institutions)

"crime is an integral part of the new global network because globalization promotes a host of new opportunities for crime"; global conduct norms = "rules of conduct, apparently agreed upon by international community, that allow for prosecution of certain coercive relationships between a state and its citizenry and between one state and another" examples: 9/11, war on terror, United Nations act International Criminal Court (ICC), formed 1998, in force 2002, an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

2 main ingredients of social problems (link to myths and moral panics)

"facts" and interpretation

globalization

"globalization is the worldwide process whereby individuals, peoples, economies, and nation-states, are becoming increasingly interconnected and interdependent"

UCR critiques

1. Hierarchy rule only the most serious crime that is reported to the police is included in the UCR → leads to under reporting 2. Discretion refers to how professionals or authorities can make a judgment about how to apply a rule: conditions of "acceptance" of crime (legal seriousness, complainant's preference, relational distance, deference, complainant's status) 3. Statistical manipulation: Re-categorization & Slate-cleaning to clear the crime you simply have to make an arrest or more arrests (no equal to real offender) 4. Resources & local politics resource allocation and prioritization (crime that people complain has higher priority, such as in poor black areas) 5. Dangers of over-reliance on UCR potential for biases!

implicit vs. explicit bias

Implicit - Unconscious stereotypes/attitudes includes favorable and unfavorable evaluations towards a group of people Explicit - Conscious stereotypes/ attitudes

how is fear of crime related to media consumption?

More media consumption=more fear of crime, especially violent street crime

UCR crime index

UCR Part I crime: MRRLBAMA: Murder, Rape, Robbery, Larceny, Burglary, Arson, Motor vehicle theft, Aggravated assault) My Really Red Lamborghini Bought At Maury's Auto

police-based measures

UCR, NIBRS

peace-making missions

UN intervention in countries going through internal conflict to help create conditions for sustainable peace Example of globalization

rate: why are they sometimes preferable to incidences

can compare rates between places & population size

implicit bias in the CJS

shooter/weapons bias: there is a bias for white people to shoot unarmed black suspects more often than unarmed white suspects. These findings in laboratory studies have been obtained both with trained police officers as well as with college students role-playing as police officers. Judaical Performance Evaluations(JPEs) - Ratings determined by attorneys and other judicial staff that hold judges accountable to performance standards, have served as a fundamental component for selecting judges, bias towards women and minorities American Bar Assosication (ABAs) - African Americans, and Hispanics were associated with lower ABA ratings, even after controlling for education, race, gender, political affiliation, and prior experience Jurors - Death sentencing - an overall implicit bias favoring Whites and viewing them as having more "worth" than Blacks Juries - if it was an all white jury they are 16% more likely to convict someone black but if there is at least one black person on the jury then it is equal Blacks are way more likely to be stopped and frisked more than whites