Criminology Final

Junger-Tas "Juvenile Delinquency and Gender"

-Women commit less crimes due to social controls placed upon them, as well as some biological factors (such as aggression in males) -The crimes women commit are less serious, their careers are shorter, and age of onset is later -Tighter control over girls and what they're allowed to do

Five elements of genocide

1. Killing members of the group 2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group 5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Age-Graded Norms

A script to the life course that governs what should happen and the ordering/sequencing of what should happen. There is a penalty to being off script- locked passage to adulthood We judge ourselves compared to others our age, compared to where we were five years ago, how we think others see us

differential association theory

A social psychological explanation of how normative conflict in society translates into individual criminal acts -Criminal behavior is learned by communication and intimate groups -Criminal behavior is determined by the ratio of definitions favorable to crime vs unfavorable and not all definitions are equal

Hirshi "Age and the Explanation of Crime"

Age effect is invariant across social and cultural conditions--> age distribution curve shows 15-17 year olds have the highest arrest rate per population of any age group. Person crimes peak later than property crimes. Still see age effects in robust settings (military, incarceration)- consistence casts doubt that status changes are associated with decreased criminality. Age distribution does not cause crime. Sex and race do not effect age's effect on crime.

Hagan, Raymond-Richmond, Parker "Criminology of Genocide"

Argument: The violence in Darfur is genocide. Main proof is the self-reported association of racial slurs/epithets while violence was occurring; people were more likely to be killed if they heard racial epithets. Attacks on villages have been racially motivated, destructive, state-supported, and backed by military. The attackers spared Arab neighbors/rebels and just attacked indigenous communities.

Continuing involvement model

As you commit crimes it becomes easier to pull off (become professional) because of success

Deterrence

By raising the cost of crime you can stop people from doing it--> the benefits don't outweigh

What does it mean to be an adult?

Certain markers: independent residence, financial self-sufficiency, enter the labor market, relationships and family, desist from crime Some things are no longer acceptable as an adult, even if they are completely legal -Frequent binge drinking -Promiscuous sex -Having a child too late/early

Social Disorganization Theory

Community disadvantage and instability diminish social networks for social control of kids through conventional values and social bonds; lack of resources contributes to this. Disorganized communities may have higher levels of crime because of the people in the community or the area. Violence is rooted in community structures--> function of racial inequality... not inherently about race

Desistance

Complete cessation from crime Doing less of the same thing- slowly moving away from crime Doing less serious crimes Getting help for the behavior (ex. rehab)

Sampson and Laub "Crime in the making"

Consequences of crime become more serious with age. High informal costs: family, work; high formal costs: adult criminal justice system; higher costs ultimately lead to desistance for juvenile delinquents who become adults, weak social bonds lead to deviance. Life course studies find that there is stability and change of criminality over the course of a lifetime. Although antisocial adults were antisocial children, antisocial children will not necessarily become antisocial adults.

Sutherland "A theory of crime: Differential Association"

Criminal behavior is learned, criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other people in a process of communication, principle part of learning criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups, when criminal behavior is learned the learning includes a) techniques of committing the crime, which can be complex or simple and b) the specific direction of motives, drives, attitudes, and rationalizations -The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of legal codes as favorable or unfavorable -A person becomes delinquent because their favorable attitudes towards legal codes do not outnumber unfavorable ones

John Hagan "Defining Crime"

Criminal laws exist but how they are used changes, and what should be considered criminal should be extremely limited. If there is no victim, there shouldn't be a crime.

Shaw and McKay "Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas"

Delinquents in Chicago: -Industrialized areas -Low rental areas -Areas with families on relief -Commerce areas -High percentage of immigrants -Lower income families Residential characteristics: poverty areas tended to have high rates of residential mobility and racial heterogeneity -When population of an area is constantly changing, the residents have fewer opportunities to develop strong, personal ties to one another and to participate in community organization -According to authors, ethnic diversity interferes with communication among adults because differences in customs an a lack of shared experiences contribute to fear and mistrust (less social capital) It's the place not the people

Cohen & Felson "Social change and crime rate trends"

Direct contact predatory violations: when someone intentionally targets a person or thing to be harmed. You need three things to come together 1) motivated offender, 2) suitable targets, 3) absence of a capable guardian

Census (Pettit)

Every 10 years, we count all people in the United States. This is very important to Pettit because we have ALWAYS undercounted African Americans; enumeration is important because it means less funding to certain areas with certain populations.

Sampson, Laub, Wimer "Does marriage reduce crime?"

Explanation basically states that the costs of crime are raised when in a relationship/married. Social bond becomes stronger, change in patterns of friendship interaction, direct social controls of partner, marriage as part of package (becoming an adult, getting serious, becoming more responsible). Marriage does effect crime. People who get married are inherently different from people who don't get married- counterfactual (limiting the differences between people).

Weitzer & Kubrin "Breaking News: How Local TV News..."

Fear of crime is a major problem in the US, and there is concern for what effects the mass media has had shaping beliefs and fears of Americans. Studies the effects of news consumption on fear of crime. Findings: -Media plays a substantial role in shaping beliefs and fear around crime, and those who say that local news is their most important source are more fearful compared to those who prefer others -Media and real world conditions have different effects on white and black respondents as well as respondents in neighborhoods with different violent crime levels -->Whites: fear of crime is influenced by their perceived risk of violent crime victimization and not by the media. Real world thesis is partially supported- but other real world factors such as personal victimization and risk of other types are not significant -->Blacks: both local crime (real world conditions) and media portrayals influenced fear of crime; residents in areas with high violent crime rates are especially likely to be affected by local news (higher levels than predicted by only resonance hypothesis)

Control

Focuses more on why deviance does not occur. Humans are inherently deviant but certain things stop us; a lack of social controls allows for deviance to occur. Socialized into an agreed upon value system that instills controls

Wilson & Kelling "Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety"

General idea of broken windows: -Physical appearance has implications for behavioral patterns -Minor behavioral problems lead to bigger behavioral problems -Visible signs of decay/disrepair (disorder, crime, abandoned cars, run down buildings) leads to more decay -Fear of crime leads to less community cohesion and less communication among residents Solution to make residents feel more safe (not to reduce crime rates) -Make police officers more visible

Normative conflict

Groups with competing value systems. Some groups think drugs should be illegal, others think they should be legal. In conflict over appropriate behavior and values; both groups attempt to motivate policies and legislation.

Zimring "Youth Violence Epidemic"

Growth of violent assault and homicide; homicide could be because of the increase in gun use. New youth offenders are more violent ("violent new breed"). The change in classification of assault means that it's over reported.

Hagan and Rymond-Richmond "Darfur and The Crime of Genocide

Had all of the patterns of genocide: -Tension- Between black and Arab groups -Arming- Of the Janjaweed militias -Bombing- Sudanese government bombed African villages -Ground attacks- Stormed villages and kill/raped people -Racially motivated violence- Used racial epithets during their attacks -Sexual violence- Raped women and left them alive -Confiscation of property- Took the belongings of black farmers -Displacement- Black farmers had to move to campus -Arab resettlement- By Arab groups on land previously held by black African tribes

Incarceration Impacts (individual/community)

Higher income inequality, high racial inequality, separation of family members, less employment opportunities, education inequality, access to health care, increase in mental illness (PTSD, depression, anxiety), impact on physical health (infectious disease), voting abilities

Differential social organization

How groups are organized for or against criminal behavior

Stewart and Simon "Structure and Culture in African American Adolescent Violence: A Partial Test of the Code of the Street Thesis"

Hypotheses: -Decent families will bring up decent youth, street families will bring up street youth -Exposure to racial discrimination makes an individual more likely to associate with street code -Exposure to violence and neighborhood disadvantage makes individual more likely to associate with street code -No evidence for fourth hypothesis: relationship between decent families and street -->Indicates that decent families have little impact on adopting the street code, decent families may recognize the value in adopting the street code as a survival mechanism and encourage an understanding of the street code but not encourage explicit street code Null finding -Growing up in a "decent" family has no effect on adopting the street code

Family structure / SES (socioeconomic status)

Hypothesized to be related given variation in structure/SES across groups. Disadvantaged environments= more single parent families with less time to supervise, fewer resources for their children, less likely to form strong parent-child bonds. Fewer resources for social control- child care, youth activities, that foster conventional values and bonds

Household Surveys

Implications: -Excluded institutional populations like prisons, jails, etc. -So much money flows from the Federal Gov. to states based on household surveys- if whole populations are being left out this means less funding for those problem communities -Creates a "myth" about progress of African American men (education, health, political participation, wages, etc.) --> Essentially taking the worst out of the denominator- Denominator represents the base number of African Americans but not including those incarcerated so the number is too small; it means all the progress rates they make about African Americans are basically false because they're using too little data --> Huge issue because African Americans make up such a large part of the prison population

Anderson "The Code of the Streets"

Inclination to violence in the inner-city black community springs from the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor -The lack of jobs that pay a living wage, stigma of race, the fallout from rampant drug use and drug trafficking, and the resulting alienation and lack of hope for the future. Code of the streets= a cultural adaptation to a profound lack of faith in the police and judicial system; street code emerges where the influence of the police ends and the personal responsibility for one's safety is felt to begin. Communities are organized into two different groups 1. Decent families= tend to accept mainstream values more fully and attempt to instill them in their children (better off financially, value hard work and self-reliance/sacrifice for children, hopes for a better future for their children/interest in schooling, tend to be strict on children because their awareness of problematic and dangerous environments they live in) 2. Street families= parents show a lack of consideration for other people and superficial sense of family and community, unable to cope with physical and emotional demands of parenthood, may aggressively socialize their children into the street way (aggressive behavior towards children from parents teaches children that to solve any kind of interpersonal problem, one must quickly resort to hitting or other violent behavior). For men on the streets, identity expressed in concept of "manhood" implies physicality and certain ruthlessness, link between manhood and self-esteem, assumption that a real man knows the code of the streets, goal is to gain respect (by finishing a fight, standing up for yourself and your friends, taking someone else's girlfriend). Uncaring view of death stems out of a very limited view of life; uncertain about life-expectancy, accept fate, and live on the edge.

Hirshi "Causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency"

Increase social control, it decreases delinquent behavior without having to resort to severe punishment (bond to conventional society. Family/parents play a huge part in control: when a child is neglected, the opinions of parents do not matter. when parents do not demand respect, their opinions do not matter. both increase delinquent behavior. School provides commitment to or stake in conformity. The reason that delinquency increases in adolescence is that teens become more accountable to the law and less accountable to adults.

Can incarceration be good for health?

Individual: Remove women from abusive relationships, possibly beneficial for extremely disadvantaged people like the homeless (prison is warm, provides meals) Community: The group most served by the penal system is less served by our health system (poor, African Americans, living in the inner city, disorganized neighborhoods); prison can test and treat individuals for different diseases/illnesses- this could have a positive effect on communities when these individuals are released back into society

Causation

Intervening variables and theory: what leads to the cause and effect

Pager "The Mark of a Criminal Record"

Issue: The impact of a criminal record on job prospects. Audit study: Identical job applicants (same race and criminal history; 2 white and 2 black), all other factors like education, work history, etc were held constant. Who was called back? White: No record 34%, record 17%; Black: No record 12%, record 5%. Thus, white people with criminal records were better off than black people without criminal records; casual relationship between criminal records and employment opportunities.

Experimentation

Key features: manipulation and control; main reason to do it is to test a hypothesis that one variable causes a change in another variable (manipulated independent variable= the "treatment"), groups treated exactly alike except one group receives experimental treatment and another does not, subjects assigned to either group randomly is known as random assignment

Origins of Laws

Law as a product of consensus= Natural product from the informal rules that everyone follows Law as a product of conflict= People have different interests; groups of people who have distinct classes need laws to maintain those norms; higher class will use law as a weapon against lower class to keep them there; morality supports the wishes of the ruling class

Social capital

Less social capital available to single parent families with low income/education. Structural factors (disadvantage/instability) also lead to lower available social capital

American Penal System

Locks up more people than any other country in the world; it has one of the most punitive post release policies. Huge representation of one group of people: Black, uneducated (no high school degree) men

Humphries "Realities and Images of Crack Mothers"

Most common cocaine usage profile? Whites, males, under 30. Yet... Media reports epidemic of drug use among mothers; in particular "crack" mothers. Despite the fact that men were far more common than women to use crack. There were no solid estimates of maternal drug use. Media took high estimates and did not differentiate. Exact media portrayal: -Women who used crack during pregnancy (black, poor, 20s, large cities and Medicaid paid for the birth -Discrimination--> Racial bias in drug testing (black women more likely to be tested than white women at the time of delivery) -Black women increasingly shown in stories about "drug babies" -Whites were used to show stories of reform, repent, and rehabilitation Null Findings -No difference between white and black mothers and their relationship to crack, "no story" here, no epidemic/greater instance of "crack babies" -Didn't get much attention because the null findings were published/found years later after the actual study was done--> damage had already been done (academics didn't't do a good job pushing back against the false narrative of the media portrayals)

Resonance thesis

Opposite of the substitution thesis. When media images are consistent with lived experience (victimization, high crime communities/experience), media and experience mutually reinforce fear -Studies: increased tv watching increased fear of crime but only in high crime neighborhoods- not in low crime -TV/media is only salient in combination with a high crime neighborhood setting

Singleton "Approaches to research"

Parts of experiments: Association= statistical association, strong or weak; has to be statistically significant (those not likely to have occurred by chance), Direction of influence= cause must come before effect (A before B); hypothesized relationships should always indicate direction of influence, and the direction should be empirically based, Nonspuriousness= C cannot cause the change in both A and B; elimination of rival hypothesis, cannot have a third variable, randomization is the process that makes it theoretically possible to control for extraneous variables

Determinism

People are born criminal. Criminals are simply different from the rest of society. Physical differences: asymmetrical craniums, protruding eye-ridge and jaw, different hair, long arms. Economic factors can make people commit crime (marxist criminology)

Cornish and Clarke "Crime as a Rational Choice"

People rationally choose to commit crime based off of two things: 1. People have to decide whether they are willing to engage in crime to meet their needs, which depends on their personal and vicarious experiences of crime, their temperament, morality, etc. (Initial Involvement Model); heavily influenced by their previous learning and experience, including their moral code, view of themselves, personal and vicarious experiences of crime, and the degree to which they can plan and exercise foresight 2. They decide to commit a particular offense, which depends on urgency, how convenient it is, location, probability of being caught (Criminal Event Model); ex. desperate need for money--> the criminal then selects a target based on consideration of costs and benefits, ex. a home to burglarize, is it occupied?

Rationalism

People seek the action that is most beneficial to them. People have the free will to commit crime or not commit crime; weigh benefits of committing vs. the negative results

Wilson and Hernstein "A biopsychosocial theory of choice"

People's behavior is determined by consequence. The consequences of crime are uncertain. The extent to which people anticipate distant punishment determines criminal behavior. The greater the rewards for non crime compared to crime will reduce crime. Making punishment more swift is more effective than making it more severe.

Morenoff, Sampson and Raudenbush "Neighborhood Inequality, collective efficacy, and the Spatial Dynamics of Urban Violence"

Problems with social capital: -Strong ties may impede efforts to establish social control (they may facilitate social integration but can also lead to the acceptance of networks that facilitate crime (gangs)) -No simple relationship between strong social ties and social control (in urban communities, social control is maintained in the absence of thick ties among neighbors; weak ties can create less intimate connections between subgroups) The linkage of trust and cohesion with shared expectations for control is known as collective efficacy Highlight two main areas: -Spatial dynamics= relationship between what happens in one place and what happens in another -Social institutional processes= social organizations Weak ties are really important- they show we do not need to be tightly connected as long as we have a shared understanding of what we want in our neighborhood and a willingness to intervene when it might not be happening

Radalet and Berg "The changing nature of death penalty debates"

Proposed function of the death penalty -Deterrence -Incapacitation: person doesn't commit any more crimes -Costs: more expensive, long time incarcerations/appeals/court time -Retribution- the most contemporary pro-death penalty argument Problems: -Bias--> the consistency and the racially disproportionate impact -Racially discriminatory purpose -Mis-carriages of justice (innocent people being killed--> the Innocence Project) About punishment: -Certainty= how certain the punishment is -Celerity= how quickly the punishment is administered (the most prominent when deciding to commit a crime) Severity= how severe the punishment is (not effective)

McNulty "Explaining Ethnic and Racial Differences in Adolescent Violence"

Race differences in violence: Higher rates of violence for American Indians, Black, and Latino adolescence due to communal inequalities and disadvantages. Authors found that for black communities, the main issue was location- moving high disadvantage into low disadvantage communities would be a good solution. Authors found that for Latinx communities, familial disadvantage was the main issue- policies that encourage higher education are a good solution

Elliot and Ageton "Reconciling race and class differences in self-reported and official estimates of delinquency"

Self-report data has lots of issues such as deliberate falsification, inaccurate recall, and forward backward telescoping. Instrument construction- question of representativeness in items employed by SRD measures: less serious behaviors are over represented, whereas more serious behaviors are under represented, problems of item overlap: some crimes can be counted under multiple items, limited or ambiguous response sets: items are left to participants' interpretation, or the categories are uneven (ex. once, never, three times or more means that a 3 time offender and a 100 time offender are in the same category). Self reports have no difference between class and race and official ones do.

Gary LaFree & Laura Dugan "How does studying terrorism compare to studying crime?"

Similarities: Interdisciplinary, social constructions (one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter), both committed disproportionately by young males, both undermine social trust Differences: Terrorism is not given its own category under the criminal law, responses to crime rarely move past local authority but terrorism does, criminals seek to hide, terrorists seek attention, terrorists seek broader political goals, terrorists are more likely to see themselves as altruists, terrorists are more innovative.

Hirschi "Causes of delinquency"

Social bond represents connection to conventional society. There are 4 elements to the bond: Attachment= affection and sensitivity to others (3 most important: family, nation, humanity), Commitment= investment in conventional society or stake in conformity, Involvement= time aspect; being busy restricts opportunities for delinquency, Belief= degree to which person thinks they should obey the law. Hischi does do a good job explaining again out (the age crime curve). As you age, the costs of crime become greater- movement away from crime is a result of the acquisition of meaningful social bonds as individuals age, work and family bonds inhibit crime in early adulthood

Physical Biological Theories

Some people are biologically predisposed to crime. Psychopathology, lack of empathy, etc.

Stafford and Warr

Specific deterrence: Direct experiences with punishment General deterrence: Indirect experiences with punishment (punishing some defenders to deter the overall general population, including those not punished but did commit crimes) Reconceptualization: if deterrence is defined as the omission or curtailment of a criminal act out of fear of legal punishment, then general deterrence refers to the deterrent effect of indirect experience with punishment and punishment avoidance; and specific deterrence refers to the deterrent effect of direct experience with punishment and punishment avoidance

techniques of neutralization

Suggest that delinquents develop/learn a special set of justifications for their behavior when such behavior violates social norms. These allow delinquents to neutralize and temporarily suspend their commitment to societal values, providing them with the freedom to commit delinquent acts. 1. denial of responsibility: delinquent will propose that he is a victim of circumstances out of his control ("wasn't my fault") 2. denial of injury: delinquent supposes that his acts really do not cause any harm, or that the victim can afford the loss or damage 3. denial of victim: the victim deserves the injury ("they had it coming")

Real-world thesis

The fear of crime as largely or entirely shaped by objective conditions (victimization, neighborhood characteristics, city-level crime rates). Here the media plays little to no role because the media is far removed from individual lives and personal experiences with crime and victimization are more salient. -Victimization rates and fear of crime- positively associated. Individuals with lowest victimization rates have the greatest fear of crime. Racial composition and the amount of crime and disorder (social disorganization, broken windows connection) influence resident's fear in neighborhoods

Feld "Abolish the Juvenile Court"

The juvenile court has been transformed from a nominally rehabilitative system to a second class criminal court (does neither punishment or rehabilitation well) -We need to make age a mitigating factor "Substantive Justice" -Developmental psychology (less developed- under age of 18) -Risk taking (shorter time frame- not thinking of "life course" some punishments affect future) -Peer influences (more susceptible) -Reduced culpability (court decisions have allowed shorter sentences) -Subjective time (3 months sentence, but being grounded seems like the end of the world) Proposed plan: - Give youth a "discount" Ex. a 15 year old gets 25% of adult penalty -Integrated criminal justice system with age-culpable sentencing policy (# of considerations like group crimes, individualization vs. categorization)

Cultivation thesis

The media world is very different from the real world, therefore, heavy consumption of media messages distorts individuals' beliefs about the world and influences emotional and cognitive states. Here the greater one's exposure, the more likely that their perceptions of the world will match what's depicted in the media. The media disproportionately reports on serious crime and doesn't tell about patterns and causes of crime so it gives the impression that crime is random and gives the idea that the world is a scary place. -Issue: assumes that the media has a uniform effect on the audience. Characteristics and experiences play an important role in how viewers interpret and reconstruct messages

Asymmetrical causation

The reason you start crime is different than the reason you stop

Cultural transmission

The way a group of people in a given culture tend to learn and pass on new information -Delinquent traditions transmitted across generations of youth groups -Older gangs transmit delinquency to younger groups

Collective efficacy

The willingness to intervene on behalf of your neighbor even if you don't like them that much. Strong ties aren't really better than weak ties.

Huff "Historical explanations of crime from politics to demons"

There has been a shift from old theories of determinism. There has been a shift from penal imprisonment to rehabilitation. Positivism moved people towards looking at social change to solve crime.

Sampson and Laub on Desistance

They believe you enter adult roles such as work and marriage, these roles bond individuals to society which in turn raise the stakes of non-conformity. Therefore, people decrease their criminal involvement. They emphasize the salience of "some" adult roles- high quality jobs and good marriages -Problems? Not everyone forms quality bonds as they get older but they still desist; GOOD people select themselves into GOOD jobs and relationships which means they were probably less crime prone to begin with. People in bad marriages/low quality jobs desist from crime later/slower.

Massoglia and Uggen on Desistance

They suggest an identity transformation occurs prior to entering a marriage or job which conditions the impact of these institutions. You cannot objectively or subjectively be an adult in the US if you are still engaged in delinquency/crime. Essentially, adult roles are only effective if you have made an identity transformation such that you are ready to accept the responsibility associated with adult roles.

Hochsteler, Copes, and DeLisi "Differential Association in Group and Solo Offending"

Three reasons to be skeptical of differential association theory: -Perceptions of friends behaviors rather than the friend's views on crimes, correlate more with criminal behavior -Recent peer relationships are more predictive of criminal behavior than long term relationships -Friend's attitudes and behaviors have an effect on criminal behavior independent of individual attitudes and behaviors -People who associate with criminals are more likely to find themselves in a criminal event Friend's attitudes and behavior were significant determinants of criminal offending

Trajectories and Turning Points

Trajectories through life: deviant, criminal, conforming. Also a work or education trajectory. Transitions: embedded in a given trajectory like marriage and employment

Substitution thesis

Variant of the cultivation thesis, sensitive to audience and contextual differences. Heavy exposure to media portrayals of crime have strong effects on those without direct experience with crime. For them, media portrayals of crime substitute real world experience. People who are well insulated from crime should be more susceptible to media messages (affluent, women, elderly, low crime neighborhoods)

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

Covariance

variables change together

independent variable

what you are changing

dependent variable

what you are measuring