Criminology Exam 1 Rutgers Porow

Positivist School of Criminology

-Criminal Behavior is caused by internal and external factors outside of the individual's control -Guided by Positivism (founded by Auguste Comte) -Broken up into 3 segments -Biological, Psychological, Environment -Cesare Lombroso considered founder of Positivist School of Criminology -Largest Contributor of Biological Theory

Critique of Cohen's Theory

-Overlooks middle-class delinquency -Criticized for the assumption that most delinquency is non-utilitarian -Failed to explain why many boys doing poorly in school did not become delinquent

Critique of Anomie Theory

-There is an assumption that poor commit more crime than the non-poor -This theory does not explain violent crimes (homicide, assault, rape) -this theory fails to explain why people choose one adaptation over another

Goals of Criminal Law

-To keep the public safety from crime and criminals -to articulate our society's morals and values -To protect the rights and freedoms of the nation's citizenry

Psychological Explanations Psychoanalytic Explanations

-crime arises from internal disturbances from early childhood -Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis -Mental disorders derive from conflict between society and insensitive needs of the individual -Id, Ego, Superego -limited in explaining criminal behavior -suggests antisocial behavior is mentally disordered behavior -neglects social factors and overemphasizes childhood experiences -fill in smaller picture of crime -psychological studies often use small, unrepresentative samples; results should be interpreted cautiously -generally disregard structural factors (poverty) -causal order remains unclear -rarely study white-collar offenders

Evaluation of Biological Explanations

-crime is too diverse for biological explanations to account for all behaviors -methodological problems in research studies cannot easily account for group rate differences -social policy implications -We cannot change our biology -potential justification for appalling acts

Labeling Theory

-first critical perspective on crime -adopts a relativist definition of crime -doesn't take the law for granted -If definitions of crime are relative, then we understand that some behaviors are labeled deviant, while others aren't

Restorative Justice

-focus on restoring social bond between offender and community -victim impacts panels -sentencing circles -family group conferences -increases victim satisfaction with justice program

Tenets of the positivist School of Criminology

-human behavior is not a matter of free will -criminals are different than non-criminals -social scientists can be objective in their research -crime is caused by multiple factors

Walter Reckless: Containment Theory

-inner and outer containments help prevent juvenile offending -Inner containments: positive self-concept, tolerance for frustration, ability to set realistic goals -Outer containments: institutions such as family -Inner pushes: need for immediate gratification, restlessness, and hostile attitude -External Pushes: poverty, unemployment

How does official labeling influence continued deviance?

-labeling theorists examine why people engage in secondary deviance, not primary deviance -labeling is thought to have a potential direct effect, and indirect effect, on continued deviance

Jeremy Bentham

-law was more severe than it needed to be to keep rational people from committing crime -his work helped create the modern prison

Positivist Approach to Studying Crime

-looks at the idea of the individual, internal, cause them to engage in criminal behavior -no one perspective does a good job at explaining all crime -a positivist approach views criminal behavior as a result of internal and external factors of a person's control -these are biological and psychological explanations for crime -genetics predispose people to behave a certain way environmental conditions contribute to how people actually behave

Classical School of Criminology

-people act with free will and calculate whether their behavior will cause them more pleasure or pain -"what's the worst that could happen?" -punishment should be harsh enough that it should be more negative than the crime people have free will -deterrence is based upon the notion that people seek pleasure and avoid pain, thus will weigh the costs and benefits of each action -punishment can deter people from crime if the costs outweigh benefits -excessive punishments is unnecessary swift and certain punishment is more effective in deterring criminal behavior -Over simplistic view of human behavior fails to recognize that force both inside and outside of individuals might affect their likelihood of breaking the law

Classical School of Criminology

-people act with free will and calculate whether their behavior will cause them more pleasure or pain -punishment should be harsh enough that it should be more negative than the crime people have free will -deterrence is based upon the notion that people seek pleasure and avoid pain, thus will weigh the costs and benefits of each action -punishment can deter people from crime if the costs outweigh benefits -excessive punishments is unnecessary

Personality

-personality problems in childhood lead to delinquency throughout life -Glueck research- ink blot tests showed greater personality problems in delinquents -Childhood Temperament that produces behavior issues: Attention deficits, impulsivity, hyperactivity, irritability, coldness

Strain Theory

-results when people's aspirations become uncontrolled and unfulfilled -too much emphasis on economic success in US -some people cannot achieve this success -when someone fails to accomplish goals, it leads to a strain

4 rationales for punishment

-retribution (this is the focus, we punish harshly) -deterrence -rehabilitation (they don't deserve, will they ever get better then?) -societal protection

Neoclassical theories of Criminology

-revival of classical school of criminology -these theories rest on the classical view that individuals are normal, rational individuals who choose to commit crime after evaluating the potential risk and rewards -Rational choice and deterrence theory

Social Influence and Crime

-social influence- the act of influencing the behavior and thoughts of others -conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales and marketing -Milgram- shock experiments- influenced by others -Zimbardo's- Mock prison experiments- influenced by others as well- through obedience and other social variables, will be on board

Albert Bandura: Social Learning Theory

-social learning theory of aggression -Aggressive tendencies are learned -studied effects of mass media on aggression -what is acceptable, aggression is promoted and learn at conscious and unconscious levels

Why does official labeling lead to continued deviance for some and not others?

-socially as a society, every aspect of your life is impacted by that label -the punishment extends beyond the jail lost rights and walking around with the stigma of a felon -shaming: social disapproval (john Braithwaite) -disintegrative shaming-stigma is placed on the individual -reintegrative shaming- stigma is placed on the act -recidivism- repeat offending

Chicago school of Criminology

-sociologists adopted a social ecology approach to studying criminology -found that urban neighborhoods with high levels of poverty often experience breakdowns of their social structure and institutions, such as family and schools -arose through the works: Robert Ezra Park, Ernest Burgess

Summary Critical Perspectives

-these perspectives are critical of the law and how it is used as a tool by the powerful -the way that crime is defined, and offenders are labeled, illustrates how the law is relative

Cesare Beccaria

-wrote "Crimes and Punishments" -considered founding father of: Modern Criminology, the Classical School of Criminology

Edwin H. Sutherland: Differential Association Theory

1. Criminal behavior is learned (learned from close ties vs weak ties) 2. Learned through interaction with others through communication occurs within intimate personal groups 3. Learning includes techniques and specific motives, drives, rationalizations and attitudes 4. Definition of legal codes as favorable or unfavorable 5. Excess of definitions favorable to crime 6. Frequency, duration, priority, and intensity 7. Learning criminal behavior same as learning other types of activities 8. Criminal Behavior not explained by general needs and values

Moral Development

Children experience stages of oral development incomplete development is a major cause of criminal and antisocial behavior Lawrence Kohlberg

The Legacy of Durkheim

Emile Durkheim considered deviance a normal phenomenon within all healthy societies moral authority of society limits personal aspirations

Neurochemical factors

Hormones: Testosterone as a cause of male criminality -Premenstrual syndrome a cause of female criminality -Neurotransmitters: low levels of serotonin contribute to violent behavior

Ritualism

Reject goal, but continue accepting means of working

Chicago school of Criminology Ecological approach to study of crime

The focus is on the relationship between an individual and the environment Industrialization impacted communities → social disorganization Park and Burgess developed social ecology through their work on Concentric zones Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay influenced by Park and Burgess Studied delinquency in Chicago (1990-1993)

Innovation

accept the goal, but reject means of working and undertake new means

Using Science to explain crime

age of enlightenment there was a movement promoting the use of reasons and science to advance knowledge and challenge faith based ideas there was a belief that people have their own free will and reason intellectuals promoted that god does not directly control human behavior

Control Theories

all of the various factors that prevent us from engaging in crime why do people not become criminals?

Social Class

arrestees for street crime are mainly low income and poorly educated overrepresentation of poor in the criminal justice system; class bias

Rational Choice Theory

assumes people choose to commit crime after calculating whether its rewards outweigh risks

Deterrence Theory

assumes potential and actual punishment can deter crime

Social Controls

attachments to and involvement in conventional social institutions (schools, family, religion)

Somatology

body shapes affect personalities, thus criminality

Travis Hirschi: Social Bonding Theory

bonds to conventional social institutions may keep us from committing crime 4 elements of social bond -attachment -commitment -involvement -belief

Conformity

continue to accept goal and the means of working

Measurement and patterning of criminal behavior

crime statistics tell us more about practices within the criminal justice system than the 'true rates' we can never know what the true rate is or how it is changing

Violation of norms

deviance-behavior that violates norms sanctions for deviant behavior: informal- ostracism, criticism, ridicule (don't need to imply punishment changes- ex. different style, uncommon- expect chances) formal- codified rules called "laws"

Retributive Justice

focuses on punishing the individual

Victimology

generally focuses on street crimes the study of victims

Diet and Nutrition

high levels of sugar and refined carbohydrates increase aggressive behavior

Part 1 offenses

homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson

direct effect

impacts how others view the offender, this can lead to blocked opportunities

indirect effect

impacts how people view themselves

Personal controls

individual conscience, commitment to law, positive self-concept

Crimes vary by:

location, season, climate, gender, race, social class

mesomorph

muscular and athletic, assertive, vigorous, bold

Labels lead to a self-fulfilling Prophecy

occurs when at a starting point, an unsubstantiated definition of the situation, evokes a subsequent behavior with mirrors the definition asserted

Critiques of Labeling Theory

overly passive view of the individual fails to explain primary deviance ignores crimes by the powerful

Routine Activities theory

people engage in regular activities that increase chance of victimization; 3 components of the theory are 1. presence of attractive target 2. presence of likely offender 3. absence of guardianship

Pregnancy and Birth Complications

poor nutrition, alcohol, and tobacco use during pregnancy impair central nervous system function of the fetus and cause of antisocial behavior

Retreatism

reject both the goal and the means

Daniel Glaser: Differential Identification Theory

rests on the notion of reference groups learning criminal behavior can occur without interacting with the group influencing you

Learning Theories

socialization is critical for social order deviant norms and values are learned from delinquent peers how we conduct ourselves around others criminality is result of socialization process context of us learning our values in terms of positive things focuses on socialization and learning things that aren't positive tabulorasa- we start with a clean slate and we learn what we see

endomorph

soft and round, fun, loving, and sociable

Lifestyle theory

some lifestyles put people more at risk for becoming victims frequenting hot spots: riskiest locations from crime; generally poor disadvantaged neighborhoods bars and taverns help turn some areas into hot spots insufficient sense of community

ectomorph

tall and thin, well developed brain, introverted, sensitive, nervous

Culture of Fear

term used by sociologists, media critics to describe feelings of fear and anxiety are created by the mass media through the manipulation of words, facts, news, sources, or data

Criminology

the study of making the laws, the breaking of laws, and society's reaction to the breaking of those laws laws vary from place to place making deviance a relative concept exercising their right to punish people varies on situations

Sociological Theories: Social Process

theories that examine interactions that look at behaviors and how the interactions that we have with others and in the outcomes we see Learning theories- learn certain things through interactions Control Theories- theories that look at various controls that prevent us from stopping us from certain behaviors

Power and Official Labeling

those with power impose deviant labels on those without power many factors contribute to the chances of a person being arrested, labeled, and the likelihood of being punished race/ethnicity class gender appearance

Ways to prevent chaos: Social Ties

ties to family, friends, and other variables, help socialize us and integrate us into society (jobs, memberships, don't want to jeopardize anything)

Ways to prevent chaos: Socialization

we learn social norms of a society (prevents us from going out and filling our desires and impulses, keeps us in check)

Socialization

we learn what it means to be "normal" norms- standards of behavior mores- any given society's particular norms, not virtues or values folkways- social conventions that are not considered to be of moral significance the process of inheriting norms, customs, and ideologies

Victim Precipitation

when to some degree, victims either actively or passively cause or initiate their own victimization