Criminology Final Study Guide
Racial Threat
- According to the racial threat hypothesis - as the percentage of African Americans in the population increases, so does the amount of social control imposed on black citizens at every stage of the justice system, from arrest to final release - The source of racial that begins when white residents overestimate the proportion of minorities living in thier neighboorhood, a cricumstance that leads to false perceptions of disorder -When fear grips a neighboorhood, police are more likley to agressivley patrol minority areas, suspect, search, and arrest minority group memebers and make arrests for minor infractions, helping to raise the minority crime rate. - As the perception of racial threat increases, so does law enforcement the result is stepped up stratagems to control and punish racial minorities
Correlates of Crime: Age
- Age and Crime People age 10-24 are 20% of population but about one-third of serious violent crime (34%) and property crime (35%) Crime peaks in adolescence and declines rapidly after. - Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson, Age Invariance Thesis age is invariant; all offenders will slow down or stop committing crime as time passes Influenced by - Age - Marriage - Education - Employment - Status - Friends - Low self-control - Research by Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin (1972) Delinquency in a Birth Cohort 9,945 boys born in 1945 One-third (3,475) had police contact, rest did not. Of the 3,475, 54% had multiple arrests, 46% one-time only. Of the repeat offenders, 18% were arrested 5 times or more, the rest were less than 5 times. 627 (6%) of the original 9,945 were labeled "chronic offenders" Responsible for 5,305 offenses, or 52% of all offenses committed by the cohort Responsible for 71% of homicides, 73% of rapes, 82% of robberies and 69% of aggravated assaults
Criminology as Interdisciplinary Science
- An academic discipline that uses the scientific method to study the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior. Involves using valid and reliable procedures for the systematic collection, testing, and analysis of empirical evidence relevant to the problem under study. -Criminology: An interdisciplinary science that gathers and analyzes data on crime and criminal behavior. - The field itself is far-reaching and subject matters ranging from street level drug dealing with international organized crime, from the wolf terrorist to control of kiddie porn. - It is an interdisciplinary field: while many criminologists have attended academic programs that award degrees in criminology or criminal justice, many criminologists have a background in other academic disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and legal studies.
Bail
- Bail or detention - money bond, the amount which is set by the judge that ensures the presence of the suspect at trial -California is the first state to get rid of cash bail completely. But in a lot of ways, New Jersey came first. A little over over a year ago, defense attorneys, judges, and prosecutors in New Jersey got together and replaced the bail system with an algorithm that decides who should stay in jail and who should be released in the vast majority of cases. The algorithm looks at factors like a person's age, prior convictions, and failures to appear in court. -https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/29/643072388/episode-783-new-jersey-bails-out
Ford's Explanations of the Decline of Crime
- By the end of the 1990's the homicide rate plunged 42% - Violent Crime decreased by 1/3 - Murder rate was halfed nationally, 75% decrease in New York - There is no real consensus among scholars about what caused one of the largest social shifts in modern American history (decrease in crime). - Economic growth as some relation to the decline in crime but it is very slight at best - Maybe income, but then again it may not be -A decrease in beer and alcohol consumption was contributed to a 7.5% reduction in crime during the 1990's - Higher incarceration rates had t best a modest effect on the decline, and there was little indication that there was a deterrent effect - Increase policed presence were responsible for a o to 10 percent drop in crime - COMPSTAT did play a role, but broken windows did not play a drastic role and the stop and frisk policy ban still showed a decrease in crime - Roe v. Wade played a large role because it led children who were unwanted from roaming the streets, this might explain around 50% of the violent crime drop off in the 1990's - 50% reduction violent crimes has also been attributed to decreae n lead from gasoline following the Clean Air Act of 1970 Exogenous: abortion, lead, age Economy Police tactics, police force size Alcohol consumption Mass incarceration
Consensus View of Crime
- Crimes are behaviors that all elements of society consider repugnant. The rich and powerful as well as the poor indigent is believed to agree on which behaviors are so repugnant that they should be outlawed and criminalized. -Therefore, the criminal law the written code that defines crimes and their punishments reflect the values, beliefs, and opinions of society's mainstream. -The term consensus implies general agreement among a majority of citizens on what behaviors should be prohibited by criminal law and hence viewed as crimes. META-LEVEL: 1. The law defines crime 2. Agreement exists on outlawed behavior 3. Laws apply to all citizens equally
Developmental Criminology
- In the 1940's and 1950's Sheldon and Eleanor Gleuck a husband - and - wife time of criminologists and researchers at Harvard Law School, conducted numerous studies of delinquent and criminal behior that profoundly influenced criminologiacal theory -Their work intergrated sociological, psychological, and economic elements into a complex a developental view of crime causation -Their most important research efforts followed the careers of known delqieunets to determine what factors predicted persotent offending; they also made etensive use of interveiws and records in their elaborate comparisons of delinquents and nondeliquents -The Glueck's vision integrated biological, social, and psychological elements. -It suggested that the initiation and continutity of a criminal career was a developmental process influenced by both internal and external situatiatons, conditions, and cirumstances
James Wilson
- James Wilson in Thinking About Crime observed that people who are likely to commit crime are unfraid of breaking the law because the excitement and thrills of crime, have low stake in confirming, and are willing ro risk more than the average person - if they can be convinced a strict punishment, only irrational people would engage in crime Contemporary RTC means that
James Wilson
- James Wilson in Thinking About Crime observed that people who are likely to commit crime are unfraid of breaking the law because the excitement and thrills of crime, have low stake in confirming, and are willing ro risk more than the average person - if they can be convinced a strict punishment, only irrational people would engage in crime - Contemporary RTC means that - Moral deficit and black people have no morals, and that leads people to commit crime
Trait Theory: Attachment Theory
- John Bowlby - the ability to form an emotional bond to another person has important psychological implication that follow people across there life span - Attachments are formed soon after birth, when infants bond with their mothers, babies will become frantic, crying, and clinging to prevent separation - Attachment occurs when mothers provide support and care - Failure to develop attachment makes people prey to psychological disorders some of which resemble ADHD, these individuals will be impulsive and have a difficult time concentration and experience difficulty in school, as adults they will have trouble maintaining relationships - Meta-analysis finds that lack of attachment predicts involvement in a broad spectrum of criminal activity. - Detachment problems link to a variety of antisocial behaviors including sexual assault and child abuse, boys dispropornatley experience these and may explain disproportionate male offending rates
Trait Theory: Mental Disorders and Crime
- Mood Disorder - A condition in which the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the cirumstancesns - Oppositional Defiant Disorder - A pattern of negativitist hostile and defiant behavior chard Heduring which a child often ooses her or his temper, often argues with adults, and often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults requests or rules - Traivs Hirschi and Mciahel Hindelan suggested a link between intelligenc and crime and found that youths with Low IQ's do poorly in school and have a high chance of adult delquency - James Wilson and Richard Herrnstein conclude that low intelligence leads to poor school performance which enahviances criminality - Low IQ is linked to crime, High IQ is linked to noncrime - Schizophrenia - a severe disorder marked by hearing nonexistent voices, seeing hallucnaitions, and exhibiting inapprooprate resposnes - bipolar disorder an emotional disturbance in which moods alternate between periods of wild elation and deep depression - Richard Dorn found in a logntinduail survey that there is an association between mental disorders and violence they found that people suffering mental illness were more likely to engage in violent episodes ecepscially if they use drugs or alcohol - Mentally ill have higher recidivism rates - Mental illness have higher levels of antisocial behaviors - Mental illness is a crime risk mainly when that illness is accompianed by other risk factors such as alcoholism and unemployment - Helping people with serious mental illness is particularly relevant to reducing homicides and violent - It is possible that the link between mental illness and crime is spurious and that in fact both mental illness and criminal behavior are caused by some other independent factors: o 1. People who suffer from them might also have suffered poor socialization in childhood o 2. Metally ill people might lack finaical reosurces and are forced into crime patterns o 3. The police are more likely to arrest someone with mentally illness because they give off the impression of being more crime prone o 4. People of mental illness are more prone to vicimtization which has been linked to high crime rates o 5. Those suffering from mental illness might self-medicate with drugs and alcohol
Trait Theory: Neurological / Neurophysiological Conditions and Crime
- Neurophysiology - the study of brian activity using brain scanning techniques such as MRO and PET BEAM and SQUID to assess areas of the brain that are directly linked to antisocial behavior - Studies have shown that both violent criminals and substance abusers hae impairment in the prefrontal lobes, thalamusm medial temporal lobe, and superior parietal and left angular gyus areas of the brain - Adolescents with antisocial substance disorder has been linked to misifing in particular areas of the brain o damage may be associated with a reduction in executive functioning, impairments in EF have been implicated in a range of problem solving disorders including: AHDH, Conduct disorder, autism, and Tourette syndrome. - Neurological impairment may also lead to the development of personality triats linked to antisocial behavior - There is a suspsected link between braind dysfunction and conduct disorder which a precourse to chronic offending *1.) Brain Structure* - Guido Frank - aggressive teen behavior may be linked to the amygdala, an area of the brain that processes information regarding threats and fear, and to lessening of activity in the frontal love, a brain region linked to decision making and impulse control o found that reactively aggressive adolescences frequently misterpreted their surroundings, feel threatened, and act out o Helps epxlin what goes on in the brains of some teenage boys who respond with innaprorpriate anger and aggression to perceived threats, it is possible that some of the behavior is associated with brian function not enviormental sociolziation or other social function *2.) ADHD* - 3% of American children suffer from this disorder, most common reason why children are refered to mental health clinics - Origin unknown, suspected causes include nuerological damage, ernatal stress, reactions to food adidityves, chemical allergies, and genetic link - Many children with ADHD suffered from a conduct disorder and engagne in antisocial behavior in early childhood - ADHD children more likely to use drugs and drink and cigragreets, and be physically aggressive, more likely to be arrested - TWO views o the associatin between ADHD and aggressive behavior: o 1.) is that leads to aggressive antisocial beahviors o 2.) More indirect and results in poor school achiemvent which leads to substance abuse and depression which are related to antisocial behavior *3.) Brain Chemistry* - Neutortansmitters influence or activiate brain function o dopamine, serotinon, MAO, and GABA - Low levels of MAO to high violence - Abnormal MAO levels may explain indidual and group differences in crime rate o Females have higher level which may explain difference in crime rates - It is not uncommon for vioelcne prone people to be treated wih drugs such as Haldol, Stelzaine, Proxilin, and Risperdal, which help control levels of neutransmiters *4..) Arousal Theory* - A variety of genetic and enviormental reasons, peoples brains function differently in response to enviormental stimuli o some people need a little stimulation, while others are sensation seekers and look to for stimulating activies such as aggressive violent behavior patterns and this determines potential of crimeinal deviance.
Implicit Bias
- Ojmarrh Mitchel and Michael Caudy looked at racial differences in the arrest of low-level drug offenses and found that African Americans are 247% more likely than whites to be arrested for a drug distribution arrest by age 29, histpanics were 60 percent more likely - They reasoned that this is due to an implicit police bias because police officers focus there attention on patrolling inner-city areas where drug offending may be readily apparenta and where residents are predominately African Americans. -Racial Profiling - police initiated action directed at a suspect or group of suspects based solely on race -The idea that everysingle one of us have certain assumptions ab other peopple, womene, men, people of color, and there is an urgent of emergency situation we call on those assumptiosn and use them to tell and finish a story - The idea that law enformcent rely on there own semi insticituonal or leanred perspectives nad those end up in racial disdadvantage -
Structural Disadvantage
- Racial and Ethnic minorities face a greater degree of social isolation and economic deprivation than the white majority. - Race based differences in the social context that predict future crime first appear in adolescence. -Many black youths are forced to attend essentially segregated schools that are underfunded and run down that elevates the chance of incarceration in the future. -Even if they remain in school, they also face harder discipline than other students both in school or in the homes -Being suspended increases the chance that they will be incarcerated later in life - Family dissolution may be tied to low employment rates among African American males, which places a strain on marriages. When families are weakened or disrupted, social control over the children is compromised. - In sum, racial differences in crime rates have been linked to institutional and structural differences in society. If racial and ethnic disparity in the application justice and the distribution of social and economic resources were to end, crime rate differences between races would evaporate. *-Racial discrimination comes from the economic and social disparity that comes long before encounters with the justice system. -Community level patterns of inequality give rise to the social inclusion and ecological concentration of the truly disadvantaged, which in turn leads to structural barriers and cultural adaptations that undermine social organization and ultimately the control of crime.* MAIN THINGS: - People of color are at a structural disadvantage because of the enviorment that they live in - They are ecpesically vulnerable to commit crime, becuase they liv ein a toxic enviorment, and once they comit crime they are more likley to go back into the criminal justice system. -
Correlates of Crime: Unemployment and Crime
- Research has linked unemployment rates to higher crime rates, especially when the government does not provide sufficient economic support such as welfare and unemployment benefits -There is a great deal of conflicting research some of which shows that the two factors are only weakly relate: crime rates sometimes rise during periods of high employment and fall during periods when people are out of work -One reason for this is that during times of full employment more people are being hired, including young people with after school jobs who then go unsupervised by parents - Some spend the tuition on drinking and drug usage, - In Contrast, when unemployment rates are high jobless parents are at home to supervise teenager thus reducing their opportunity to commit crimes. - When people are unemployed, tehy have less money on hand and purchase fewer things worth stealing; they are also home to guard their meager possessions, They may even sell their valuables to raise cash to pay off debts, reducing suitable targets for burglars and thieves.
Problems with the UCR?
- Some departments may define crime to loosley, reporting a trespass as a burglary or an assualt as a attempted rape, where as others pay attention to the FBI's strict guidelines - Some make systematic errors when reporting, such as counting an arrest only after a formal booking procedure even though the UCR requires arrests to be counted if the suspect is released without a formal charge -Difference in the way crimes are defined my influence whether or not they are reported, such as with rape the definition has been expanded -The hierarchy rule in which in a multiple offense incident only the most serious crime is counted thus if an armed bank robber commits both a robbery and an assualt, only the robbery is reported because it si the most serious crime.
Reliability and Validity
- The subarea of criminal statistics/crime measurements involves creating a methodologies that are able to accurately measure activities, trends, and patterns in crime and then using these other tools to calculate amounts and development in criminal activity: How much crime occurs annually, who commits it, and where does it occur? -Criminologists interested in computing criminal statistics focus on creating valid and reliable measures *Valid Measures* = a measure that actually measures what it purports to measure; a measure that is factual *Reliable Measure* = A measure that produces consistent results from one measurement to another. Criminologists: 1. Help formulate techniques for collecting and analyzing official measures of criminal activities, such as crimes reported to the police 2. Measure unreported criminal activity they develop survey instruments designed to have victims report loss and injury that may not have been reported to police 3. Design methods that make it possible to investigate the cause of crime, they create self-administered surveys with questions measuring teen delinquent behavior as well as social characteristics, education, the occupation of parents, and school activities. These survey items can later correlate in order to determine the associations among a variety of social factors and criminal activities such as wehtehr school failure is related to drug abuse.
The Scientific Method
- The use of verifiable principles and procedures for the systematic acquisition of knowledge. Typically involves formulating a problem, creating a hypothesis, and collecting data, through observation and experiment, to verify the hypothesis. -First utilized under the postiviist school, which was founded by Auguste Comte, they use the scientific method to conduct research. - Predicting and explaining social phenomena in a logical manner, this means identifying necessary and sufficient conditions under which a phenomenon operates according to laws that can be measured and observed -Science must be value-free, and should not be influenced by the observer/scientist's bias or political view Steps: 1. Question 2. Do background research 3. Conduct a hypothesis 4. Test with an Experiemnt 5. Procuedure Working, if not trouble shoot and try again, and if it is use data 6. Analyze data 7. Results align with hypotheis, or partially, or not at all 8. Communicate results
Persectives on agining out of crime
- There is general agreement that age is inversely related to crime -Hirsch and Gottfried's state that "age is everywhere correlated with crime, its effects on crime do not depend on other demographic correlates of crime - Crime declines with age! -Aging out of crime may also be a function of history and human life cycle - Deviance is fueled by the need for money and sex and is reinforced by close relations with peers -Teenagers who are transition to adults have new sense of energy and strength and are involved with papers with similar vigor - Adults develop the ability to delay gratification and forgo immediate gains - Crime data shows that most offenders commit a single criminal act and, upend arrest, discontinue their antisocial activity. -Carrra criminals is most associated with Wolfgang, Folio, and Selling - they used official records to follow criminal careers of 9,945 boys, about 1/3 had some police contact but 2/3 had none - 6% of the group that had repeated runs in with the law were known as chronic behavior they were responsible for around 52 % of the offenses committed by the Cohort. -Chronic offenders tend to be at risk youth who are exposed to a variety of personal and social problems and who begin their law breaking at a very early age referred to as early onset. -also, been linked to low intellectual development and to parental involvement in drugs. - Mandatory minimums and three strikes policies were spurred out of the chronic offender paradigm.
Interactionists view of Crime
- There is no objective reality. People, institutions, and events are viewed subjectively and leveled ether good or evil according to the interpretation of the evaluator. -The content of the criminal law and consequently the definition of crime are subjective and can change at any moment -The recreational use of weed is no wegal in some places, and illegal in others -Whether a particular act of a crime is also a function of interaction and perception -Whether the act is labeled as a crime, and the actor a criminal depends on the interpretiation of events -Interactionsists see criminal law as conforming ot ht ebeleifs of moral crusaders, or moral entreprenuers who use their influence to shae the legal process as they see fit. -What is a crime changes over time META-LEVEL: - Moral entrepenuers define crime -Acts becomes crimes becasue society defines them in that way - Criminal labels are life-transforming events.
Correlates of Crime: Race
-African Americans make up 13% of population but more than 40% of arrests for violent crimes and 25% for property crimes -About 30% of AfAm males have experienced an arrest by age 18, vs. 22% for white males -By age 23 almost 50% black males have been arrested, vs. 38% for white males. -Except for violent crime, similar trends in self-report data.
Classical Crimonology
-By the mid-eighteenth century, social philosphers began to argue for a more rational approach to punishment - Emphasized human rationality and free will -The more moderate view of criminal sanctions, classical criminology, can be traced to Cesare Beccaria who was the first scholar to develop a systematic understanding of why people commit crimes -Beccaria believed that in choosing their behaviour people act in thier own interest: they want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. *classical criminoogy has a few basic elements: 1. People have free will to choose to criminal or lawful solutons to meet their needs or settle their problems 2. Crime is attractie when it promises great benefits with little effort 3. Crime may be controlled by the fear of punishment 4. Punishment that is (or is perceved to be) sever, certain, and swift will deter criminal behavior* -LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME
Positivist Criminology
-During the 19th century, a new vision of the world challenged the validity of the classical theory and presented an innovative way of looking at the cause of crime - August Comte considered to be the founder of sociology, argued that societies pass through stages that can be grouped by how people try to understand the world in which they live, this is the positive stage and that people who followed his writing are known as positivists -People in excellent societies believe that inanimate objects have life (sun god), in later social stages, people embrace a rational scientific view of the world, This is what Comte called the positive stage, and those who followed his writings beecame known as positivist Positivism - The branch of social science that uses the scientific method of the natural sciences and suggests that human behavior is a product of social, biological, psychological, or economic forces that can be empirically measured Positivism has the following elements: 1. Uses the scientific method to conduct research 2. Predicting and explaining social phenomena in a logical manner, this means identifying necessary and sufficient conditions under which a phenomenon may or may not occur. Both human behavior and natural phenomena operate according to laws that can be measured and observed 3.All beliefs or statements must be proved through empirical investigation guided through the scientific method, concepts such as God and the Soul must be measured empirically 4.Science must be value-free, and should not be influenced by the observer/scientist's bias or political view
Ed Sutherland
-Edwin Sutherland, the most important criminologist of the 20th Century, defined criminology as the study of the making of laws, the breaking of laws, and the social reaction to the breaking of laws. -Edwin Sutherland created a new field of business-related offenses coining the phrase - a white-collar crime to describe economic crime activities of the affluent -People learn criminal attitudes from older, more experienced, law violators - Fell into a socialization view, or the idea that there is a relationship between social processes, such as education, family life, and peer relations, and crime.
Floyd v. City of New York
-Jeff Fagan's research 175,000 pedestrian stops over a 15 month period -People of color, especially African Americans, are more likely to be stopped in areas where they look "out of place" Composition of the area was the greatest predictor of whether someone was stopped. -Of more than 5 million searches in a , 90% found nothing. Blacks and Latinos comprised 87% of the searches. Floyd ruled in favor of a 4th Amendment violation -SQF dramatically decreased from 685,000 in 2011 to 10,800 at yearend 2017.
Plea bargains
-Plea Bargain - Agreement between prosecution and defense in which the accused pleads guilty in return for a reduction of charges and a more lenient sentence or some other consideration - 90 - 95% cases end in a plea.
UCR
-The UCR is compiled by the FBI it measures crimes reported to local law enforcement departments and the number of arrests made by police agencies - The FBI receives and compiles records from ab 17,000 police agencies - Publishes reports by city, county, standard metropolitan statistical area, and geographical divisions in the United State. - Measures Part 1 Crimes: Murder and manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson (8 total crimes) - And Part 2 Crimes: all other crimes aside from the eight-part 1 crimes included in the UCR arrest data, they include drug offenses, sex crimes, and vandalism among others. The UCR uses three methods to express crime data 1.) number of crimes reported to police and arrests are expressed as raw figures 2.) Year over year percentage changes in the number of crimes are compute 3.) The crime rate per 100,000 people is calculated using number of repeated crimes/total us population X100,000 PROS of UCR: - The UCR continues to be one of the most widely used sources of criminal statistics because data for the UCR is collected in a careful and systematic way - The data is a highly reliable indicator of criminal patterns and trends, even if not valid the data should be reliable because the problems with reporting should remain stable from year to year.
UCR v. NCVS
-UCR data comes from law enforcement agencies, not all of which contribute their data. Report and arrest data -Does not account for changes in victim reporting over time -NCVS fails to find a relationship between lead and crime
COMPSTAT
Approach to crime prevention and police productivity measurement pioneered in New York City and then adopted in other cities that involves frequent meetings among police supervisors to examine detailed crime statistics for each precinct and develop immediate approaches and goals for problem solving and crime prevention. -- Is a coputerized way of looking at crime, and is popular in new york, and it is also in other cities, the main idea is that is a living document looking at how crime is happening in the city on any given day, its real time data which datates policing tactics, they also now have an incentive to get crime down in that area, and it is now more effective -The training and deployment of around 5,000 new better-educated police officers - The integration of New York's housing and transit police into the New York Police Department - Police decision-making being devolved to precinct level - The clearing of a backlog of 50,000 unserved warrants -Robust "zero tolerance" campaign against petty crime and anti-social behavior under Mayor Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton -Widespread removal of graffiti -Programs that moved over 500,000 people into jobs from welfare at a time of economic buoyancy -Housing vouchers to enable poor families to move to better neighborhoods -Gentrification, displacement of lower income individuals more likely to commit crimes from gentrifying or gentrified communities -Demographic changes including a generation raised in the social welfare systems started in the 1970s and 1980s -End of the crack epidemic and a shift to a marijuana-based drug economy with a larger consumer base and less competition -Advances in emergency medicine allowing more victims to survive -A further reduction in the lead contaminants in the environment
Trait Theory: Biochemical
Biological Trait Theories - One branch of contemporary trait theory focuses on the biological conditions that control human behavior o refered to as biocriminologists, biosocial criminologists, or biologically oriented criminologists, the terms are used here interchangeably - Triat Theorists believe that biochemical conditoons including both those that are *genetically predetermined* and those that are acquired through diet and *enviorment influence* antisocial behaviors - Some biochemical factors have been linked to criminality are discussed *o 1) Diet* - a healthful diet can provide minimal minerals and chemicals needed for normal brian function, improper diet can cause chemical imbalance and lead to factors associated with antisocial behavior ♣ An oversupply or undersupply of certain chemicals can lead to depression, adhd, and genitive problems ♣ People whose diet lacks sufficient chemical or to much of them are a higher risk of developing physicological distubrances related to antisocial behavior *o 2.) Sugar intake* ♣ A british study of the long-term effects found that kids aged 10 who enganged in excessive consumption were the ones most likely to be convicted for violence in adulthood ♣ Study in boston found that high school students who drank more than five sodas a week were singnficantly more likely to carry weapons and to engange in violence with peers, family, or intimate *o 3.) Hypglycemia* ♣ Blood glucouse falls below levels for necessary brain function, a condition called hypoglycemia occurs which includes irritability, anxiety, depression, crying spells, headaches and confucion ♣ Studies have linked this to outbursts of anti-social behavior and violence, high levels have been in groups of habititually violent and impulsive offenders * 4.) Hormonal Influences* ♣ Research has found that abnormal levels of male sex hormones (androgens) can produce aggressive behavior ♣ Growing body of evidence suggests that hormonal changes are also related to mood and behavior ♣ Testorornoe has been linked to violence, prenatal exposure to elevate amounts display long term tendency towards aggression • This explains female difference ♣ Horomone levels may explain the aging out process: levels of testorone decline during the life cycle and so do violent rates *o 5) Premenstrual Syndrome* ♣ The link between PMS and delqinecy was first popluariized by Katharina Dalton who indidicated that females are more likely to commit suicide and to be aggressive during menstruration o 6) Led Exposure ♣ CDC - even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ ability and academics • 5 micgrogams per decliter to identify children with blood lead levels that are much higher than most children levels, 2 million kids ♣ Delqieunts have higher blood lead levels, locals with higher lead levels have more prone to homicide ♣ Research has shown a significant fit between the rise and fall of gas lead and crime *7. Environmental Contaminants* ♣ Research has linked prenatal exposure to PCB's to lower IQ and attention problems ♣ Enviormental contimaints such as PCBs PAHs and PBDEs have harmful to the brains of babies and small children and may affect there developing nervous systems and they can be exposed to harmful chemcials even before they are born
Trait Theory
Chris Mercer would sit by himself in the dark, he killed nine people and wounded seven, he was killed after gunfire ensued, left a long letter behind that told stories about his depression and anger, had an online blog that referenced multiple other shooting incidents - "A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name in every lips, seems like the m more you more you kill, the more you are in the limelight. - The root of crime might be linked to mental or physical abnormality - Jared Lee Loughner a disturbed person opened fire in a grocery store and killed Congresswoman Gabbrielle Giffords - TV and Media portrayals show violent criminals are mentally ill and deranged and physically abnormal, and it shows killing is normal, - This chapter reviews Trait Theories, which can be subdivided into two major theories, those that stress biological makeup and those that stress psychological functioning, each branch has its unique characteristics and will be discussed separately. Development of Trait Theory - The view that criminals have physical or mental traits that make them different and abnormal is not restricted to movie plots but began with the Italian physician and criminologists Cesare Lombroso and his contemporaries, who conducted the first scientific studies of crime. - Spurred by the publication of Edmund O. Wilson's Sociobiology: the New Synthesis where explanations of crime based on human traits received renewed interest from criminologists - Sociobology stresses the following pricniples; o Beahvioral traits are shaped by both inhereited traits and the enviorment o Biological and genetic conditions affect how social behaviors are learned and perceived. o Behavior is determined by the need to ensure survival of offspring and replenishment of the gene pool o Biology, enviorment, and learning are mutually interdependent factors - Simply put, sociobiology assumes that while social behavior is genetically transmitted, it adapts to and is shaped by existing environmental conditions, o revived interest in biological and psychological basis for crime an delqiency o Behavior is controlled by traits that are present at birth or developed soon afterwards, possession of these traits does not mean that someone commit crime, but given the equivalent environmental conditions the suspect is more likely to eb deviant to attain their life goals and desires. Contemporary Trait Theory - For many years criminologists ignored any linkage made between traits and crime o John Paul Wright said that this view is softening, and that trait theory is entering more of the mainstream - Contemporary trait theorirsts do not suggest that a single biological or psychological attribute adequately to explaning all criminality, rather each offender is considered physically and mentally unique so there must be different explanations per person o what is usually linked to the enviorment can be linked to personal factors o Personal traits and biological conditions, not parenting or social enviorment, best explain behavior choices Individual Vulnerability v. Differential Susceptibility - Triat theorists today recognize that crime-producing intersctions involve both personal traits such as defective intelligence and abnormal chemistry, and enviormental facots such as family and education o People living in disadvantaged communities may be at higher risk of crime, but that is only made stronger when they also bear a genetic makeup that makes them vulnerable to the crime producing influence in their environment - Two views on this interaction: o 1.) Individual vulnerability model - a direct link between traits and crime, some people develop these at birth or soon after, that affects there social functioning regardlsss of how they are raised o 2.) Differential Susceptibility Model - there is an indirect association between triats and crime, some people possess physical or mental triats that make them vulnerable to adverse enviormental influences, while postivie enviorments provide beenfts, those with bad genetic makeup are predisposed to violence that will manifest when their surroundings get troubeled Biological Trait Theories
Trait Theory: Cognitive Theory:
Cognitive Theory - Focus on mental process how people perceive and mentally prepresent the world around them and solve problems - Started by William Wundt, Edward Titchner, and William James - The Moral development branch is conerened with how people morally rperesnet and reason about the world - Human psychology stresses self-awarness and getting in touch with feelings - Information Processing Theory focuses on hwo people process store encode information so that it can be interpreted, next they search for a proper repsosne and decide the approrparotae action, then they act on that decisison - People use information properly, are better conditioned to make reasoned judgments and who can make quick decisions are best able to avoid antisocial behavior - Those who cant are not detreed by the threat of legal punisgmetn when they try to calculate the costs and consequencesof an action - Law violators may be sensational seekers who are constantly looking for novel experiences, whereac others lakc deliberation and rarely think through problems - Multiple reasons for faulty reasoning: o 1.) Mental Scripts - people may rely on mental scripts learned in childhood to tell them how to interpret events and what to expect and how to react ♣ Some may learn improper scripts form preexposure to violence and which may become stable behavor because the scripts emphaise aggressive response and are repeateledly rehearsed as the child matures
Rational Choice Theory: Contemporary Rational Choice Theory:
Contemporary Rational Choice Theory • Contemporary RTC means that people are motivated by self-interest and willing to violate the law after both personal (money, revenge, thrills,) and situational (police presence) factors are considered. • The decision to forog crime occurs when the potential criminal belives that the risks outwieght the rewards o they are going to get caught and buished o they fear punishment o they risk loosing respect, damaging reputation, and feelings of guilt or shame o The risk of appprehnshion outweights the benefits and or pleasure of commiting the crime • RTC theorists view crime as both offense-specific and offender specific • Crime is said to be offense specific because: o Because offenders react selectively to the immediate charactersitcs of a specific criminal act Crime is said to be offender Specific o because criminals are not simply robots who engage in unthinking and unplanned acts, th3ey decide whether they have the needs, skills and prerequisites to commit a successful criminal act
Rational Choice Theory: Crime and Rationality
Crime and Rationality • Crimes are rational thoughts and acts • Drug use is controlled by rational thinking • Research confirms that even seiral killers utilize rational thinking when choosing targets by picking vulnerable people • Robbers carefully select there sites as well, so its rational • Bruce Jacobs and Richard Wright Found that Robbers commit crime in response to three provocations o 1.) Market-Related robberies emerge from disputes involving trade, or predators o 2.) Status based vilation involve enounters where robbers characteristics have been challneged o 3.)Personalistic violatiosn - flow from incidents in which the robbers autonomy has been jeporaidized. • Gretchen Sutto examined the characteristscs of hate crimes and found that they are calculated response to concrete event • Thomas Halt - Sex crimes, prostitutions by Johns, is a rational act • Crimes are not random events, they are calculated and planned to provide the would be criminal with an overall benefit, monetary, or emtoitonal thrill • HOWEVER, Robert Agnew argues that the average person is just as likely to give consideration to others as they are to satisfy their own interest,, and that although some people are self-interested, others are socialy concered a state o fmind that restrains crime
Rational Choice Theory: Crime and Targeting
Crime and Tageting • RTC holds that the decision to commit crime is structured by o A.) Where it occurs o B.) The characteristics of the target • Criminals are careful about where the commit crime, o target familiar places ♣ Barbara Menting - Criminals targe areas near homes or old homes and where they have family and ties • Targets are carfully selected o Christopher Contrera found that neighboorhods with weed dispensaries have higher chance of being caught bc of the cash being held • Professional criminals lay out escape roots o Bruce Jacobs and Mark Cherbonneau found that auto thieves relay on the normalcy illusions to prevent authorities from thinking that it is a stolen vehicle ♣ fresh licenses plates
Cesare Lombroso (1835 - 1909)
Early Criminal Positivism - (1835 - 1909) Known as the father of criminology studied the cadavers of executed criminals in an effort to determine scienfitically how criminals differed from noncriminals. -Convinced that serious and violent offenders had inherited criminal traits, these "born criminals" suffered from "atavistic anomalies"; physically they were throwbacks to more primitive times when people were savages and were believed to have the enormous jaws and strong canine teeth common to carnivores that devour raw flesh. -Lombroso's criminal anthropology was brought to the United States via articles and textbooks that adopted his ideas., by the beginning of the 20th century, America was discussing the science of penology and the science of criminology. -The view that criminals have physical or mental traits that make them different and abnormal is not restricted to movie plots but began with the Italian physician and criminologists Cesare Lombroso and his contemporaries, who conducted the first scientific studies of crime.
Trait Theory: Intelligence and Criminality:
Early criminologist have argued that low IQ is linked to crime - Nature theory - The view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior. - Nurture theory - The view that intelligence is not inherited but largely a product of enviorment, Low IQ scores do not cause crime but may result from the same enviormental factors
Why Don't People Report Crimes
Distinct Problems with the UCR 1.) Confidence in Law Enforcement - some victims do not trust police to solve there crimes and underreport 2.) Insurance - victims without property insurance belive it is useless to report theft 3.) Reprisal - some victims fail to report for fear of repisals from an offenders friend or family 4.) Not Important Enough - The more serious a crime, and the greater the loss the more likley a person is to report the crime 5.) Dirty Hands - People who are themselves involved in criminal activity are less likley to reprot crimes than those with clean hands 6.) Social Support - Non reporters recieve very little social support from family, friends, and government institutions
Trait Theory: Evolutionary
Evolutionary Views of Crime - Some belive that the human traits that produce violence have been advanced by the process of human evoltuon, the completion for resoruces ahs infleucend and shaped the human races - People have been shaped to engage in actions that promote their well-being and ensure the survival and reproduction of their genetic line o males impulsivity come from there father - Behavior patterns are inherited, impulsiveness is intergeneration, passed down from parent to children Evoltion of Gender and Crime - Evoolutionary concepts link gender differences to crime rates are based loosely on mammalian mating patterns - Males maximize aggression mating stratagoes - Those iddividuals with strong mating patterns and preference are more likely to engagne in antisocial conduct aand are likely to produce offpsirng who are also prone to criminal behaviors - the Human speciries, aggressive males have had the greatest impact on the gene pool o This accounts for the disproporintate amount of male aggression and violence ♣ Becase of there gestation, females require a secure home and single partner to ensure their survival • Crime rates between genders might be linked to the inherit difference in mating patterns - The Second branch of trait theory focuses on the psychological aspects of crime, including the associations amoing intelligence personality and crimanabeavior
Emilie Durkheim (1858 - 1917)
Founded Sociological Criminology, then she started Social Positivism Social Postivism = crime is normal because it is impossible to imagine a society in which criminal behavior is totally absent. - Crime is inevitable because people are all so different from one another and use such a wide variety of methods and types of behavior to meet their needs, even if real crimes were eliminated, human weakness and petty vices would be elevated to the status of crimes. - Crime can be useful for social change - Talked about Socrates to illustrate that concept. If the Greek philosopher was considered criminal and put to death for corrupting the morals of youth simply because he expressed ideas that were different from what people believed at that time. -In the Division of Labor In Society - discussed the consequences of the shift from a small rural society which was labeled as mechanical --- to the more modern organic society with large urban populations, a division of labor, and personal isolation. -From the resulting structural changes flowed anomie, or norms and role confusion, - An anomie society is in chaos experiencing moral uncertainty and an accompanying loss of traditional values, Resulting from the structural changes were the anomie- or norm and role of confusion A lack of norms or clear social standards. Because of rapidly shifting moral values, the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable.
Sociological Criminology
Founded Sociological Criminology, then she started Social Positivism Social Postivism = crime is normal because it is impossible to imagine a society in which criminal behavior is totally absent. - Crime is inevitable because people are all so different from one another and use such a wide variety of methods and types of behavior to meet their needs, even if real crimes were eliminated, human weakness and petty vices would be elevated to the status of crimes. - Talked about Socrates to illustrate that concept. If the Greek philosopher was considered criminal and put to death for corrupting the morals of youth simply because he expressed ideas that were different from what people believed at that time. -In the Division of Labor In Society - discussed the consequences of the shift from a small rural society which was labeled as mechanical --- to the more modern organic society with large urban populations, a division of labor, and personal isolation. -From the resulting structural changes flowed anomie, or norms and role confusion, - An anomie society is in chaos experiencing moral uncertainty and an accompanying loss of traditional values, Resulting from the structural changes were the anomie- or norm and role of confusion A lack of norms or clear social standards. Because of rapidly shifting moral values, the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable. CHICAGO SCHOOL - The chicago school was secured research funding and began in the early 20th century by Robert Ezra Park, Ernest Buress, Louis Wirth -These urban sociologists examined how neighborhood conditions, such as poverty levels, influenced crime rates, they found that social forces operating in a urban areas created a crime promoting enviorment were some neighboorhoods were natural areas for crime - In urban areas with high levels of poverty, the fabric of critical social instituions such as the school and the fmaily, came undone -There traditional ability to control behavior was undermined and the outcome was a high crime rate Chicago School = Group of urban sociologists who studied the relationship between environmental conditions and crime SOCIALIZATION -Edwin Sutherland created a new field of business-related offenses coining the phrase - a white-collar crime to describe economic crime activities of the affluent -People learn criminal attitudes from older, more experienced, law violators - Fell into a socialization view, or the idea that there is a relationship between social processes, such as education, family life, and peer relations, and crime.
Trait Theory: Genetic
Genetics and Crime - Another biosocial theme is that human traits associated with criminality have genetic basis - Gene crime association may be direct o 1.) antisocial beahviro is inherited o 2.) genetic make up a persons parents is passed onto children o 3.) Genetic abnormality is directly linked to a variety of antisocial behaviors *- 1.) Parental Deviance* o If criminal tendencies are inherited children of crimal parents should be more likely to be law violators ♣ Cambridge youth survey indicates that a significant number of delqiquent youths have criminal fathers ♣ David Farrignton found that one type of parental deviancy, schoolyard agressio, may be intergerneration *- 2.) Adoption Studies* o Several studies indicate that some relationship exists between biological behavior and the behavior their children, even when they have been adopted ♣ Studies of adopted yough shouw that biological fathers criminality is a strong predocor of childrs criminal behavior even if adopting parent is noncriminal *- 3.) Twin Behavior* o Inherited traits cause criminal behavior and we should expect that twins be quite similar, research fonrims a significant correspondence of twin behavior in acitivies ranging from frequence to seual activity to crime o Monozgotic twins and fraternal dizygotic twins ♣ Studies of MZ twins who have never met show that their behavior is nearly identical ♣ Much lower for DZ twins, MZ twins are closer for crime level and verbal skills
Conflict Criminology
In his Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx described the opressive labor conditons prevalent during the rise of industrial captalism -Marx was convinced that the character of every civilization is determined by its mode of production the way it developed and produced material goods -The most important relationship in industrial culture is between the owners of the means of production (bourgoise) and the people who perform the the labor (proletrariat) - The economic system controls all facets of human life and people lives revolve around the means of production - The exploitation of the working class, would eventually lead to class conflict and the eventual end of the capatalist system - These wirtins laid the foundation for conflict theory - the view that human bheavior is shaped by interpersonal conflict and that crime is a product of human conflcit -It was not until the social and political upheavl of the 1960's and the vietnamn war that criminologitss began to analyze the social conditons in the United States that promoted class conflcit and crime -What emerged from this was a critical criminology that indicted the economic system as producing the conditions that support a high crime rate -Critical criminologist have played a significant role in the field ever since -Conflict Criminology = The view that human behavior is shaped by interpersonal conflci tand that those who maintain social power will use it to further their own ends.
Is Crime Inherited
Is Crime Inherited? - 50% inheritable, some say 85%, strongest for chronic offenders - Callie Burt and Ronald Simons belive that social enviorment plays a more critical role than genes and heritty o as enviorment changes, so do brian and neverous systems - Debate is still open
Rational Choice Theory: Offender Specific Characteristics
OFFENDER-SPECIFIC Crime is also said to be offender-specific because criminals are not simply robots or automatons who engage in unthinking and unplanned acts of an- tisocial behavior. Before deciding to commit crime, individuals must decide whether they have the personal needs, skills, and prerequisites to commit a successful criminal act. These assessments might include evaluation of: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Necessary skills to commit the crime Immediate need for money or other valuables Availability of legitimate financial alternatives to crime Available resources to commit the crime Fear of expected apprehension and punishment Availability of alternative criminal acts, such as selling drugs Physical ability, including health, strength, and dexterity Offender Specific Crime Characteristics • Offender Specific Characteristcs o 1.) Peer and Guardianship - young people belive to be more crime prone because parents reduce the likelihood of kids committing crime,, this can also explain why boys commit more crime o 2.) Need for Excitement and Thrill - people may engage in illegal behavior because they love the excitement and buzz ♣ Jack Katz says sneaky thrills is the primary motive, not profit o 3.) Economic Oppurtunity ♣ If they need money they might commit crime, • 1.) No faith in econ • 2.) Friends said they have scored big o Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh interviewed Drug gang members and found that the was a a lnk between crime and potential for future riches o 4.) Competence and Experience - Personal experience and expertise are important elemecnts in structuring criminaolty, if they know how to do it, they have a higher chance of doing it RTC holds that the decision to commit crime
Rational Choice Theory: Offense Specific Characteristics
Offense-Specific/Offender-Specific Rational choice theorists view crime as both offense-specific and offender-specific.11 Crime is said to be offense-specific because offenders react selectively to the immedi- ate characteristics of a specific criminal act. Take, for instance, the decision to commit a burglary. Potential offenders might consider: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Their evaluation of the target yield The probability of security devices Police patrol effectiveness Likelihood of apprehension Ease of selling stolen merchandise Presence of occupants Neighbors who might notice a break-in Presence of guard dogs Escape routes Entry points and exits
Pretrial Detention
Once the case is turned over to the prosecutor and he weighs the evidence to determine if there are sufficient facts to prosecute,, if there is insufficient evidence to move the case it issued a nolle prosecute declaration which signifies the decision to drop the case from professecurtion - Pre-trial detentiton results in different outcomes v. not having pretrial detention 6. Preliminary Hearing - if there is significant evidence, and indictment can be made by a grand jury which considered the case in a closed hearing, if sufficient facts are presented the grand jury will see a true bill of indictment, insufficient evidence results in no bill if not a grand jury state then a preliminary hearing will occur -There is empitcal evdience that people who are detained pre trial have a tax on them they are more likley to get a criminal sentence and to be incarcerated for a longer period of time, found in multivariant studies
Trait Theory: Personality and Crime
Personaltiy and Crime: - Personaltiy is the reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and emotions that distinguish one person from another - Several research efforts have attempted to identify criminal personality traits surveys sho that traits such as impulsivity, hostility, narcissim, hedonism, and aggression are highlight correlated with antisocial and criminal behavior - Hans Eysenck PEN model contains three elements: psychoticism (P) Extraversion (E), and Nueorticism (N) o Extroversts - energetic, enthisustat, and self-confident o Introverts - Quiet, Low-key, deliberate, and detached from others - People at either end of the spectrums are more prone to antisocial beahvors - Unstable extroerts are called neuroticisms and are anxiouse tense and volatile, they may act self-destructively by abusing drugs and repeating there criminal acidity
Trait Theory: Prevention Programs
Prevention of Programs - Primary Prevention Programs - Programs such as substance abuse clinics and mental health associations that seek to treat personal problems before they manifest themselves as crime - Secondary Prevention Programs - Programs that provide treatment such as psychological counseling to youths and adults after they have violated the law - Biologically oriented therarpy is also being used in the criminal justice system to alter diets, and compensate for learning disabilities - Surgical procedures have been used to alter the brains of sex offenders in an effort to eliminate there sex drives - Cognitive theories attempt to teach explosive people to control aggressive impulses by viewing social provocations as problems deminading a solution rather than retialitiaiton.
Trait Theory: Psycopathic/Antisocial Personaltiy
Psycopathic/Antisocial Personality - Anti Social Personality - Combaination of traits such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, hendonism, and inability to empathize with others, that make a person prone to deveiant behavior and violence, also refered to as sociopathic or psychopathic personality - James Blair found that 15 - 25% of prison inmates meet the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, and are three times more likely to reoffend with in a year and four times more likely to reoffend violenetly 1.) Some say that the disease reflects family exerpiences, such as lack of love and bad parents o Path is antiscoail parenting -> sociopathy -> Criminality -2.) Second view is that antisocial personality is passed down genetically o Research shows that psycopaths have lower skin conduantace levels and fewer reposnes to than normal subjects Ther is a link between ANS dysfuntion and the disorder o Pyscopaths do not fear criminality - James Ogloff and Stephen Wong found that the reduced anxiety levels result in behaviors that are more impulsive and inapproprrate and in deviant behavior, apprehenshion, and incarceration 3.) Anotehr view is that psycipahty is related to abnormal brian strucutres, and therefore they need greater sitmulation to bring them up to comfortable levels o Blair - the amygdala dysfunction gives rise to impariments in aversive condition, instrumental learning, and the rpcoessing of fear and sadness -
Contemporary Criminology
Rational Choice Theory -Trait Theory Structure Theory Social Process Theory Critical Criminology
Trait Theory: Social Learning and Violence
Social Learning and Violence - Social learning theorirsts view violence as some thing learned through a process called behavior modeling, aggressive acts are modeld after three pricniples o 1. Family interactions = studies of family life show that aggressive children have parents who use aggressive tactics when dealing with others. The Children of wife batters are more likely to use aggressive tactics themselves than children in the general population, if the vicitms suffer psychological distress form the abuse o 2. Evniorment Experience: people who reside in areas where violence occurs daily are more likely to act violent than those who dwell in low crime areas whose norms stress conventional behavior o 3. Mass Media - Media depicts violence, and is often portrayed as accepatable, Viewing violence influences violence - Physical attacks sometimes trigger violence - Verbal and physical assaults sometimes trigger violence as well - Events that trigger violence o 1.) An event that heightens arousal = insluts o 2.) Aggressive Skills = learned aggressive response o 3.) Expected Outcomes = violence comes with awards o 4.) Consistency of Behavior = The belief, gained forom observing others, that aggression is justified and approprorate
Trait Theory: The Behavior Perspective Social Learning Theory:
The Behavior Perspective: Social Learning Theory - Behavior theory maintains that human actions are developed through learning experiences. - Behavior Theory maintains that human actions are developed through experiences - The major premise is that people alter the behavior in accordance with the response that it elicits from others o Behavior is supported by rewards and extinguished by negative reactions - Crimes are learned reponses to life situations, and do not necessarily represent abnormality or moral immaturity - Social Learning theory is the view that human behavior is modeled through observation of human social interactions, either directly form observing those who are close and from intimate contact, or indirectly through the media. Interactions that are rewarded are copied while those that are punished are avoided. o Children model their behavior after adult behavior, and these patterns continue in life for there social relationships, domestic violence see it as a child more likely to perpetrate as an adult - Although Social learning theorists agre that mental and physical traits may predispose a person towards violence, they believe a persons violent tendencies are activated by factors in the environment o There interpretations of behavior outcomes and situations influence the way they learn from experiences.
Trait Theory: The Psychodynamic Perspective
The Pschodynamic Perspective - Psychodnynamic (or psychoanalytic) psychologuy was originated by Sigmnd Frued, who believed that we all carry with us the residue of the most significan emotional attachemnts of our childhood which then guides future relationships - 3 part structure o ID - primitive part of peoples mental makeup present at birth and represent unconcusious biologicical drives o The ego - part of the personality which compensates for the demands of the id by helping the individual keep his or her actions within them boaudires of social convention o Super ego - develops as a result of incorporating within the personality the moral standards of values of parents, community, and significant others - People unhappy in childhood, will become an aggressive and frustrated person - Weak egos are associated with immaturity, poor social skills, and consequently lack of internalized representation of behaviors that re punished in society. - The psychodynamic tradition links crime to manifestation of feelings of opressionand the inability to develop the proper psychological defesenand rationales to keep them under control o criminality enables troubled epeople to survive by producing positive psychic results it helps them to feel free and indepdnent and it offers them the psosiblity of excitement and the chance to use there imagination.
Cesare Beccaria (1738 - 1794)
The more moderate view of criminal sanctions, classical criminology, can be traced to Cesare Beccaria who was the first scholar to develop a systematic understanding of why people commit crimes -Beccaria believed that in choosing their behaviour people act in thier own interest: they want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. - People will commit a crime when the potential pleasure and the reward they believe that they can achieve from illegal acts outweighs future punishment. chose their savior because they act in their own self-interest and do whatever is pleasurable and pain reducing -To deter crime, punishment must counteract the criminal lure -Beccaria's famous theorem was that for punishment to be successful, it must be public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in the given circumstance, proportionate, and dictated by law. _Theoretical perspective suggesting that people choose to commit a crime and that crime can be controlled if potential criminals fear punishment -Rational Choice theory has roots to classical criminology which was developed by Cesare Beccaria, whose utilitarian approach powerfully influenced the criminal justice system and was widely accepted through Europe and the United States. -General deterrence focuses on Becarrias theorem that the severity, certainty, and speed of legal sanctions, the less inclined people will be to commit crime and consequently the lower hte crime rate.
Rational Choice Theory: Introduction
The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act. • Rational Choice Theory - The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potentiall offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of the illegal act • RTC has roots in classical criminology developed by the Italian Social thinker Cesare Beccaria, who used a utilitarian approach • Popularity of the theory declined in replacement of the Positive theory that focused on social and personal factrs rather than personal choice and decision making • The theory was revitalized in the 1960's Gary Becker argued that except for a few mentally ill, criminals behave in a predictiable or rational way when deciding to commit crime, Becker viewed criminality as rational behavior that might be controlled by increasing costs of crime and reducing potentials for gain. • James Wilson in Thinking About Crime observed that people who are likely to commit crime are unfraid of breaking the law because the excitement and thrills of crime, have low stake in confirming, and are willing ro risk more than the average person o if they can be convinced a strict punishment, only irrational people would engage in crime Contemporary RTC means that
Conflict view of Crime
depicts society as a collection of diverse groups - such as owners, workers, professionals, and students, who are in constant and continuing conflict. -Groups able to assert their political power use the law and the criminal justice system to advance their economic and social position. -Criminal laws, therefore are viewed as created to protect the haves from the have-nots. -Conflict criminologists often contrast the penalties inflicted on the poor for their "street crimes" their white-collar crimes (securities violations and otehr illegal business practices) META-LEVEL: - The Law is a tool of the ruling class - Crime is politically defined concept -Real Crime such as racism sexism, and classism is not outlawed -The law is used to control the underclass
Deterrence
• General deterrence - a crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweighs its benefits. o Not only does the actual chance of punishment, but so does the perception that punishment will almost certainly be forthcoming. • Marginal Deternce - occurs when a realviley more serve penalty will produce some reduction in crime - arrest has a better chance of stopping an offender than does a warning • Restrictive (partial) deterrence - refers to situations in which the threat of punishment can reduce but not eliminate crime - steepp fine for going over the speed limit o Bruce Jacobs four factors that restrictive deternce contains ♣ 1.) The offender reduces the number of crimes she or he commits over a particular period ♣ 2.) the offender commits crimes of lesser seriousness than the contemplated ♣ 3.) Enganges in a situational measures to enhnce the probability that the risk will be taken without detection ♣ 4.) Reconizes risk situation, which causes them to commit same crime at a different place and time.
Oscar Newman
• This approach was popularized by Oscar Newman in 1970's when he coined the term - defensible space - the idea that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunity that individuals have to commit crime, such as well-lit housing projects that maximize surveillance Defensible Space - The principle that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunity that individuals have to commit crime.
