Criminology Exam 2

propensity theorists believe human development is controlled by a master trait present at birth or soon after that results in?

an increased propensity to commit crime

How do life course theorists view criminality?

as a dynamic process

What is the overarching message of trait theories?

society molds the traits we are born with - the nature vs nurture debate is outdated - trait theories are sometimes seen as overly deterministic - being born with a particular trait does not mean that a person will turn out to be criminal

Cloward and Ohlin's classic work Delinquency and opportunity combined strain and social disorganization principles to explain?

Gang formation

Techniques of Naturalization (social learning theory-> neutralization theory)

- Deny the victim -deny responsibility - Condemn condemners - appeal to higher loyalties - deny injury

Biological Trait Theories Direct and Indirect Influences:

- Direct: alcohol use will have a influence on behavior (A-> C) - Indirect: Chemical and mineral imbalances lead to cognitive and learning deficits that, in turn, are associated with aggressive behavior (A->B->C)

Gottfredson and Hirschis General Theory of crime: Propensity theory/ latent trait theory

- Integrated perspective: Biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and rational choice - Impulsivity/ low self control predicts crime: insensitive, risk-takes, short-sighted, nonverbal - General Theory: attempts to explain all forms of crime and deviance

Trajectory Theory: trajectories:

- Late starters: these eventual persisters stay out of trouble in adolescence, until late into their teenage years, and then become violent, chronic persisters - abstainers: adolescents who do not engage in any (or very little) deviant behavior, a path that places them outside the norm for their age group - life course persisters (moffitts) - adolescent limiteds (moffitts)

Cultural Deviance sub theories?

- Miller's focal concern theory - Cohen's theory of delinquent subculture - Cloward and Ohlin's theory of opportunity

Describe the central values and norms (or rules) that form the "code of the streets"

- Respect - Nerve - Justice -Self-image -trophies - zero-sum quality

what are accurate statements about problem behaviors and problem behavior syndrome?

- all varieties of criminal behavior may be a part of a generalized problem behavior syndrome - people suffering from one problem behavior condition typically exhibit many symptoms of the rest - the more risk factors a person suffers, the greater the likelihood they will engage in antisocial behavior

Thornberry discussed three LIMITATIONS of other theories in his work "Toward an interactional theory of delinquency, what were they?

- assume uniform causal effects (ignoring a persons position in the social structure) - Unidirectional - Nondevelopmental

what would a biological trait theorist study?

- biochemical conditions - neurophysiological conditions - genetics - evolutionary views

why are some adolescents able to desist from delinquency in early adulthood, while others continue to engage in crime? - According to Thornberrys General Theory

- buffering that offsets some of the negative feedback - example: low commitment to school increases delinquency (but the child has strong attachments to parents that might mitigate delinquency).

Social structure: cultural deviance theories

- combines elements of social disorganization and strain theories - due to strain and social isolation, a lower-class culture develops in disorganized neighborhoods - subcultures maintain unique values and beliefs that conflict with conventional social norms - subcultural values are passed from generation to generations -- a process termed cultural transmission

Social Structure: strain theories

- crime is a function of the conflict between peoples goals and the means they have to obtain them - inability to achieve mainstream symbols of success leads to strain - some people choose alternative, criminal means to achieve success

Relative deprivation theory (strain theory)

- crime occurs when the wealthy and the poor live close to one another - envy, mistrust, and aggression resulting from perceptions of economic and social inequality - Focus: relative deprivation

Life course theory: Problem Behavior Syndrome:

- criminality is best understood as one of many social problems faces by at-risk youth - other factors involved are: family dysfunction, sexual and physical abuse, substance abuse, smoking, precocious sexuality and early pregnancy, educational underachievement, suicide attempts, sensation seeking and unemployment - people who suffer from one factor typically exhibit symptoms of other factors - a cluster of antisocial behaviors

Neurological theory (biosocial trait theory)

- criminals and delinquents often suffer brain impairment, attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, and minimal brain dysfunction are related to antisocial behavior - explains irrational violence and shows how the environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior - focus: CD, ADHD, learning disabilities, brain injuries, brain chemistry

Why does Thornberry state that lower-class children "have the highest probability of moving forward on a trajectory of increasing delinquency"?

- disrupted family processes and environments - poorer preparation for school - belief structures influenced by the traditions of the american lower class - greater exposure to neighborhoods with high rates of crime - The direction of these effects is such that we would expect children from lower-class families to be INITIALLY less bonded to conventional society and more exposed to delinquent values, friends, and behaviors

Describe how Thornberry's model changes from early to late adolescence (what variables decrease or increase in importance, what new variables enter the model)

- early adolescence= attachment to family - middle adolescence= school and peers - later adolescence= career and marriage

Interactional theory (developmental theory)

- explains antisocial behavior, delinquency, and offending across the life course. - considers a spectrum of behaviors, usually aggressive transgressions against society that are developmentally specific ranging from tantrum to criminal act - describe onset, course, desistance

If I am trying to measure social disorganization, what am I looking for?

- high unemployment - different racial or cultural groups who do not get along with each other - vandalism, buildings and personal belongings broken and torn up - little respect for rules, laws and authority - winos and junkies - prostitution - heavy vehicle traffic - abandoned houses - sexual assault or rapes - burglaries and thefts - gambling - run down and poorly kept buildings and yards - syndicate, mafia, organized crime - assaults and muggings - delinquent gangs

Three developmental theories?

- life course theory - propensity theory/ Latent trait theory - trajectory theory

Differences between the three developmental theories? - life course theory - propensity/ latent trait theory - trajectory theory

- life course: people are constantly evolving and so is their criminal behavior - Propensity: an unchanging master trait controls antisocial behavior. - Trajectory: there is more than one path to crime and more than one crime-producing trait.

why do individuals who oppose the code of the streets nevertheless conform to its rules on occasion?

- presentation of self - protection - juice (respect) -self esteem - manhood

To what extent does the code of the streets affect the behavior of girls?

- similar but different - conflict is not rooted in turf or status, but in beauty, boyfriends, and gossip - girls rarely use guns - girls often wont put their lives on the line for manhood.

Sampson and Laubs Age Graded Theory: Life Course Theory

- social capital - cumulative disadvantage - turning points - love, marriage, and criminality

How are street kids socialized?

- sporadic, neglectful mothering, and short-tempered adults - they come up hard - might makes right, and toughness is a virtue while humility is not

what factors in american society might cause social bonds to be weaker in inner-city neighborhoods?

- stressed families - poor schools - unsupervised peer groups - broken communities

Give three examples of reciprocal causal effects from Thornberry's model

- unemployment and criminal involvement - school attachment and delinquency - religious commitment and marijuana use

(biological trait theory) Biochemical conditions and crime: the twinky defense

-a man was found guilty for manslaughter under the diminished capacity defense (temporary insanity) - sentenced to seven years in prison-> released in five - the defense: a series of mitigating circumstances such as drastic change in diet, financial hard ship, political stress, lack of sleep, and personal problems diminishes a persons ability to rationalize ones actions

similarities between the three developmental theories? - life course theory - propensity/ latent trait theory - trajectory theory

-focus on criminal careers -criminality must be viewed as a path rather than an event - criminal careers are enduring, begin early in adolescence and continue into adulthood - integration of multiple factors

What does Thornberry mean by an "amplifying causal structure" or a spiral of increasing delinquency?

-overtime the effects of problem behavior are bi-directional and mutually reinforcing - in nonacademic terms: things get worse over time - proportionality of Cause and Effect

Hirschi's social control theory: What are the main critiques of social bonding theory?

1) bonding to delinquent peers or substance-using parents? 2) the magnitude of the relationship between social bonding and deviant behavior ranges from moderate to low? 3) mistaken causal order? -- delinquent bond -> bad behavior? OR -- bad behavior -> delinquent bond?

Strain theories sub theories?

Anomie theory institutional anomie theory relative deprivation theory general strain theory

What are the four elements of the social bond? how does each one help to control a youth from engaging in delinquency?

Attachment (family, friends), Commitment (Future, Career), Belief (Honesty, Fairness), Involvement (school activities, sports teams)

What are the biosocial trait theories of crime?

Biochemical conditions Neurological conditions Genetics Evolutionary Views

propensity/ latent trait theorists view the PROPENSITY to commit a criminal act as

CONSTANT but the opportunity to commit them is constantly fluctuating

Millers Focal concern theory (cultural deviance theories)

Citizens who obey the street rules of lower-class life (focal concerns) find themselves in conflict with the dominant culture. Focus: cultural norms, focal concerns

Contemporary trait theorists______ that a single biological or psychological attribute adequately explains all criminality.

Deny

Moffitt's (1993) developmental Theory of crime (Trajectory theory)

Dual Taxonomy = 2 groups of offenders - adolescent- limiteds: "typical teenagers" who get into minor scrapes and engage in what might be considered rebellious teenage behavior with their friends - Life course persisters: begin offending at a very early age and continue to offend well into adulthood

What is the method of research in Andersons Code of the streets?

Ethnographic field interviews conducted in inner-city neighborhoods of Philadelphia - stories, watching people, became part of the gang..

How does control theory differ from the other theories we have discussed?

Etiology of conformity no the etiology of crime

Social structure: social disorganization theory

Focuses on urban conditions that affect crime rates - disorganized area- institutions of social control have broken down - indicators of social disorganization- high unemployment and drop-out rates, deteriorated housing, low income levels, large numbers of single-parent households

What are the psychological trait theory's?

Psychodynamic Behavioral Cognitive Attachment

Which theory focuses on the Urban conditions, such as high unemployment and school dropout rates, to explain crime?

Social disorganization theory

What are the sub theories for social process theory?

Social learning theory: - Differential association theory - Neutralization theory social control theory: - Hirschi's control theory social reaction (labeling) theory: - Labeling Theory

According to Social Process Theories why do people commit crimes?

Social process, socialization - people are shaped by their interactions with social institutions (such as schools) and with social groups (such as family, peers, and neighbors)

a student cheats on an exam: according to social structure theory, why?

Social structure - nature not nurture - social forces not individual traits that lead to crime

what volunteer group was professor knight forced to volunteer for by her mom?

The key club

what focuses on associations among intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior?

The psychological trait view

what theory addresses the different classes and types of offenders associated with crime? - combines life course and propensity theories

Trajectory - subgroups within the population that follow distinctively different developmental trajectories towards and away from a criminal career

Neutralization Theory <- Social Learning theory <- social process theory

Youths learn ways of neutralizing moral restraints and periodically drift in and out of criminal behavior patterns Focus: crimes, beliefs, values

Hirschi's control theory <- Social Control Theory <- Social Process theory

a persons bond to society prevents him or her from violating social rules. If the bond weakens, the person is free to commit crime Focus: association among commitment, attachment, involvement, belief, and crime

According to Propensity theory when does a latent trait appear?

a stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, present at birth, or soon after, makes some people crime-prone or soon after, makes some people crime prone over the life course. - latent trait disrupts normal socialization

Evolutionary theory (biosocial trait theory)

as the human race evolved, traits and characteristics became ingrained, some of these traits make people aggressive and predisposed to commit crime - explanation of high violence rates and aggregate gender differences in the crime rate -focus: gender differences, understanding human aggression

Criminals sometimes neutralize wrongdoings by "appealing to higher loyalties". Which of the following would be an example of that technique?

attacking someone who is arguing with a freind

A student cheats on an exam. How would a trait theorist explain this behavior?

because they have abnormal their biological or psychological traits

social biology (trait theory)

biosocial researchers state this field is still young, and has just started with DNA sequencing

Cloward and Ohlin's theory of opportunity (cultural deviance theories)

blockage of conventional opportunities causes lower-class youths to join criminal, conflict, or retreatist gangs Focus: gangs, cultural norms, culture conflict, effects of blocked opportunity

which of the following is not one of the significant life-changing events (called turning points) that reduces criminality, according to Laub and Sampson (1993)?

buy a car

Strain theory holds that crime is a function of

conflict between people's goals and means

Why does Hirschi say that the key question for criminologist to answer is "why dont they do it?" as opposed to "why do they do it?"

control theory is a theory in which deviation is not problematic. The question "why dont we do it?" is answered by that there is much evidence that we would if we dared.

Shaw and McKays concentric zones theory (social disorganization)

crime is a product of transitional neighborhoods and manifest social disorganization and value conflict Focus: poverty and disorganization

Social control theory suggests that?

crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened or broken.

Biochemical theory (biosocial trait theory)

crime, especially violence, is a function of diet, vitamin intake, hormonal imbalance, or food allergies - explains irrational violence and shows how the environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior - focus: diet, hormones, enzymes, environmental contaminants and lead intake

Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime (self Control theory/ Propensity theory) - Marsh mellow theory

criminal offender (impulsive personality->low self-control-> weakening of social bonds) + Criminal opportunity = criminal act - racial and gender differences - moral beliefs - peer influence - misreads human nature - one of many causes - people change - cross-cultural differences

Genetic theory (biosocial trait theory)

criminal traits and predispositions are inherited, criminality of parents can predict the delinquency of children - explains why only a small percentage of youths in high crime areas become chronic offenders -focus: twin behavior, sibling behavior, and parent-child similarities

andersons code of the street explained:

data suggests that the code is about neighborhoods disadvantage (class not race) - more likely to adopt the code if male, poor, poorly supervised, harshly disciplined by parents, belief opportunities are limited, victim of violence, engage in violence, associate with violent peers, - poverty gives rise to the code, its about self esteem

criminals sometimes neutralize wrongdoings by maintaining that the crime victim "had it coming". This is an example of which technique of neutralization?

denial of the victim

why do people commit crimes according to developmental theories?

development , overtime - Time & age - attempt to explain the natural history of a criminal career: its onset, continuation, and termination

What is not one of the major principles of differential association?

different associations may vary in meaning, reliability, and intention

Cognitive Theory (Psychological trait theory)

individual reasoning processes influence behavior. Reasoning is influenced by the way people perceive their environment. - show criminal behavior patterns change over times as people mature, develop their reasoning powers (aging- out) process. Focus: perception, environmental influences

Developmental theories attempt to provide a natural history of criminal careers by encompassing?

its onset, continuation, and desistance/termination

what are significant life-changing events (turning points) that reduces criminality, according to Laub and Sampson?

joining the military getting a job getting married

Institutional anomie theory (strain theory)

material goods pervade all aspects of American life - Focus: frustration, effects of materialism

Life course theory (developmental theory)

people have multiple traits: social , psychological, economic people change over the life course family, job, peers influence behavior - criminality is a dynamic process - Problem behavior Syndrome - age-graded theory

social learning theory (social process theory)

people learn techniques and attitudes of crime from close relationships with criminal peers.

Anomie Theory (Strain theory)

people who adopt the goals of society but lack the means to attain them seek alternatives such as crime Focus: frustration, anomie, effects of failure to achieve goals

Sampson and Laub's age graded theory: Turning points and transitions: (life course theory

the life events that alter the development of a criminal career trajectory (marriage, employment, etc.)

Differential Association Theory <- Social Learning Theory <- Social Process Theory

people learn to commit crime from exposure to antisocial definitions - learning criminal behavior involves assimilating techniques - a person becomes criminal when he or she perceives more favorable than unfavorable consequences to violating the law - Birds of a feather flock together Focus: influences of deviant peers and parents

Behavioral theory (psychological trait theory)

people commit crime when they model their behavior after others they see being rewarded for the same acts. Behavior is reinforced by rewards and extinguished by punishment. - Explains role of significant others in crime. Shows how media can influence crime and violence - Focus: perception, environmental influences

propensity theory/latent trait theory (developmental theories)

people do not change, criminal opportunities change, maturity brings fewer opportunities people have a master trait: personality, intelligence, genetic makeup. Early social control and proper parenting can reduce criminal propensity

Labeling Theory <- Social Reaction theory <- Social process theory

people enter into law-violating careers when they are labeled and organize their personalities around the labels - First and Secondary Deviance Focus: self-concept and crime, labels and effect of stigma

Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory: Social capital (life course theory)

positive, life-sustaining relations with individuals and institutions

which is an inaccurate statement about problem behaviors and problem behavior syndrome?

problem behavior syndrome portrays crime as the product of other social problems

Social disorganization theory sub theories?

shaw and McKays concentric zones theory social ecology theory

Cohen's theory of delinquent subculture (cultural deviance theories)

status frustration of lower-class boys, created by their failure to achieve middle-class success, causes them to join gangs. Focus: gangs, culture conflict, middle class measuring rods, reaction formation

General strain theory (strain theory)

strain has a variety of sources. Strain causes crime in the absence of adequate coping mechanisms. Focus: strain, inequality, negative effective states, influence of negative and positive stimuli

What would a psychological trait theorist study?

the associations among intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior - personality - intelligence - mental disorders

How does Anderson explain the origin of the code of the streets?

the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor result in alienation and lack of hope the code of the streets is a cultural adaptation to a lack of faith in the police

Social ecology theory (social disorganization)

the conflicts and problems of urban social life and communities (including fear, unemployment, deterioration, and siege mentality) influence crime rates Focus: social control, fear, collective efficacy, unemploymen t

Psychodynamic Theory (psychological trait theory)

the development of the unconscious personality early in childhood influences behavior for the rest of the person's life. Criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities. - explains the onset of crime and why crime and drug abuse cut across class lines - Focus: Mental illness and crime

social structure theory of crime

the root cause of crime lies in the socioeconomic disadvantage that have become embedded in American society

Sampson and Laub's age graded theory: cumulative disadvantage: (life course theory)

the tendency of prior social problems to produce future ones that accumulate and undermine success

Attachment theory (psychological theory)

there are four types of attachment styles - securely attached - Anxious ambivalent - Anxious Avoident - Anxious disorganized -if the child is securely attached to their care giver they feel free to go an explore the world appropriately because they can always come back to their parent.

Trajectory theory (developmental theories)

there is more than one path to a criminal career there are different types of offenders and offending