criminology final

Definition of crime based on critical criminology

--Crime is a function of social conflicts and Law is an instrument of power to maintain certain people's wealth, social position, and class advantage --crime is a political concept designed to protect the power and position of the upper classes at the expense of the poor. --Some examples of crimes under this category include the violation of human rights due to racism, sexism, and imperialism and other violations of human dignity and physical needs and necessities --Contemporary Critical Criminology criminologists devote attention to two concerns. --1. Justice system inequality : They believe the racial and ethnic minorities are now the target of racist police officers and unfair prosecutorial practices. --2. Demystifying domination: Another central theme of critical criminology is the concept of domination: how one class or group works to dominate another and retain power --cause of crime can be linked to economic, social and political disparity. Some groups in society, particularly the working class and ethnic minorities, are seen as the most likely to suffer oppressive social relations based on class conflict and racism and hence to be more prone to criminal behavior

Human instinct and violence

--Anthropologists trace the roots of violence back to our prehistory, when our ancestors lived in social groups and fought for dominance. The fact that our ancient ancestors were so violent seems to suggests that violence is instinctual and part of the human condition --Sigmund Freud believe that human behavior is shaped by two instinctual drives: Eros and Thanatos. --Eros - life instinct, drives people toward self-fulfillment and enjoyment. Thanatos - death instinct, produces self-destruction. --Thanatos can be expressed externally as violence and sadism or internally as suicide, alcoholism, and other destructive behaviors. --Biologists and anthropologists speculate that instinctual violence-promoting traits are common in the human species. Humans lack the inhibition against killing members of their own species. --Eros and Thanatos—Freud identifies two drives that both coincide and conflict within the individual and among individuals. Eros is the drive of life, love, creativity, and sexuality, self-satisfaction, and species preservation. Thanatos, from the Greek word for "death" is the drive of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence, and death. At the conclusion of C&D, Freud notes that human beings, following Thanatos, have invented the tools to completely exterminate themselves; in turn, Eros is expected to "make an effort to assert himself in the struggle with an equally immortal adversary. But who can foresee with what success and with what result?" --Inhibition against killing members of their own species protects animals from self-extinction. Human lacking this inhibition against fatal violence, are capable of killing their own kind in war or as a result of interpersonal conflicts such as those arising over finding suitable mates

Age-Graded Theory

--As a life course theory, there is an age-graded theory proposed by Sampson and Laub. In their work Crime in the making (1993) Sampson and Laub identified the turning points in a criminal career. Together they reanalyzed the data originally collected by the Gluecks more than 50 years ago and found Discrete factors influence people at different stages of their development and, therefore, criminality is neither stable nor unyielding (stiff). --A. For Delinquents causing trouble at home and at school—the parents exert greatest influence --B. In adolescence, their peer group become most important and deviant friends are key to increased delinquency --C. In adulthood, marriage, family and work influence delinquency --identified the life events that enable adult offenders to desist from crime. trajectory, transition and turning point are pertinent in describing the time source and events --Trajectory refers to the long-term patterns in life. Transitions are the short-term events embedded in trajectories. Turning points mark important life events which can 1) Produce a transition in the life course 2) Change the direction of a persons' life-course trajectory --Both trajectory and transitions can have a positive or negative connotation. --Example: a positive transition might include graduating from college and getting a good job and entering the workforce (status is changed. single -> married students -> workers); negative trajectory might be joining a gang --Social capital refers to positive relations w/ individuals and institutions. This is key to inhibiting deviant behavior. People build social capital w/ individuals and institutions that are life sustaining. Building social capital supports conventional behavior and inhibits deviant behavior. People who fail to accumulate social capital are more likely to commit criminal acts. --e.g. successful marriage creates social capital when it improves a person's stature, creates feelings of self-worth, and encourage people to trust the individual. A successful career inhibits crime by creating a stake in conformity --Repeat negative experiences and social problems create a condition called Cumulative Disadvantage. Those with high cumulative disadvantage risk offending and continue offending. Once accumulated, it is difficult to remedy as social problems do not simply go away as they mature; they often linger and vex people throughout their lives. Accumulation in childhood hurts people further down the life path- for example, kids who get arrested are less likely to find jobs as adults --People who acquire this cumulative disadvantage are more likely to commit criminal acts and become crime victims themselves --Kids whose fathers were incarcerated are more likely to suffer an arrest by age 25 than the offspring of conventional, law-abiding parents --Marriage on the whole as studied, appears to both transform people and reduces their opportunity to commit crimes. It helps cut off a person's past, provides new relationships, creates new levels of supervision, and helps the former offender develop structured routines focused on family life. Spending time in marital and family activities also reduces exposure to deviant peers, which in turn reduces the opportunity to become involved in criminal activities. Even unstable marriages appear to reduce conviction frequency, at least while they last --Both men and women have a greater likelihood of arrest when divorced compared with when they were married. While a happy marriage can reduce crime, separation and divorce seem to have an opposite effect. People in long term marriage increase their antisocial behavior when they divorce. --shorter marriages, those that dissolve prior to the first anniversary, have little effect on offending rates

Contemporary forms of interpersonal violence: hate crime, workplace violence, and stalking.

--Assault, rape, robbery, and murder are traditional forms of interpersonal violence --Hate crime: some hate criminals are thrill seekers; others are motivated by hatred of outsiders; still others believe they are on a mission. More than 10,000 people are the targets of hate crimes each year in the US --Hate or bias crimes are violent acts directed toward a particular person, members of a group, or property based on the target's discernible racial, ethnic, religious, or gender characteristic. --Roots of Hate - Motivations for Hate Crime --Thrill-seeking - Inflicting pain or injury on others gives the offender a sadistic thrill. --Reactive - Offenders rationalize their behavior as taking a defensive stand against outsiders whom they believe threaten their community or way of life. --Mission - Disturbed offenders view it as their duty to rid the world of evil. (New Zealand) --Retaliatory - Offenders commit crime in response to an original real or perceived hate crime. (Sri lanka) --2007 there were 7,700 hate crime incidents and 9,500 victims. --Most hate crimes are motivated by race. --Vandalism and property crimes were products of hate crimes motivated by religion. Violent crimes were produced by hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. --The majority of known hate crime offenders were young, white males --Thirty-nine states have enacted laws against bias-motivated violence and intimidation. Nineteen states have statutes mandating the collection of hate crime data --Bias crimes are more likely to be violent. Bias crimes have significant emotional and psychological impact on victims. Bias crimes harm not only the victim but also the "target community." Bias crimes violate the shared value of equality among citizens and disrupt racial and religious harmony --Virginia v. Black (2003) - the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Virginia's law that criminalized cross burning --Workplace violence has become commonplace. It is believed to be related to a number of factors, including job stress and insensitive management style --Third leading cause of occupational injury or death. typical offender is a middle-aged white male facing termination in a worsening economy --Precipitating factors: Management style that appears cold and insensitive, Refused romantic relationships, Victims received a job the assailant coveted., Clients/customers have killed due to poor service or perceived slights --Nurses are three-times more likely to experience workplace violence than any other professional group --stalking: repeated physical or visual proximity, nonconsensual communication, or verbal, written, or implied threats sufficient to cause fear in a reasonable person

Three categories of economic crimes: blue, white, and green collar crimes

--Blue-collar crimes: Common-law theft crimes such as larceny, burglary, and arson. --White-collar crimes: Crimes that involve business enterprise such as embezzlement, price fixing, and bribery. --Green-collar crimes: Violations of laws designed to protect the environment --late 1930s, criminologist Edwin Sutherland first coined the phrase " white collar crime" to describe the criminal activities of the rich and powerful. fraud and embezzlement --Any business-related act that uses deceit, deception, or dishonesty to carry out criminal enterprise --White collar crime is no longer considered the exclusive domain of those committed by only upper class. --The range of white collar crime is wider than before: including tax evasion, embezzlement .. --The cost of white collar crime much higher than blue collar. 70% of victims do not report the crime --Green criminals are motivated by profit and are therefore not eco terrorists or vandals. They want to make profits by avoiding the payment of governmental fees, logging in restricted areas, or poaching protected fish and animals. victimizing the environment for profit --example: explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig: gross negligence and willful misconduct --three concepts toward defining what is the scope of green collar crimes. --Legalist viewpoint would include the violation of existing criminal laws designed to protect people, the environment, or both. --Environmental justice: Some say limiting environmental crimes to actual violations of the criminal law is too narrow. A great deal of environmental damage occurs in third-world nations desperate for funds and willing to give mining and oil companies a free hand to develop resources. Criminologists must take a broader view of green crimes than the law allows per concept of environmental justice. --Biocentric: environmental harm is viewed as any human activity that disrupts a biosystem, destroying plant and animal life --Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits --Illegal wildlife exports: The smuggling of wildlife across national borders is a serious matter. The U.S. is estimated to purchase nearly 20 percent of all illegal wildlife and wildlife products on the market --Deterrence vs. Compliance --Compliance strategies: rely on the threat of economic sanctions or civil penalties to control potential violators, creating a marketplace incentive to obey the law --Deterrence strategies: rely on the punishment of individual offenders to deter would-be violators

Types of white-collar crime: Ponzi schemes, chiseling, exploitation & influence peddling.

--Business frauds and swindles: Using institutional or business position to trick others out of their money --Ponzi schemes --a. Charles Ponzi - Postage stamp speculation in 1920s --b. Bernard Madoff - Stock --Chiseling: Another type of business swindle, involves an ongoing conspiracy to use one's business position to cheat institutions or individuals by providing them with faulty or bogus goods and services or by providing services that violate legal controls on business practices --Using illegal means to cheat an organization, its consumer or both, on a regular basis --Professional chiseling (for example, overbilling) --Financial chiseling: (for example, stock market and insider trading) Exploitation: Victim has a clear right to expect a service, and the offender threatens to withhold the service unless an additional payment or bribe (example: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq and Afghanistan) --Influence peddling is basically a form of business related bribery: people who hold power in a business may force those wishing to gain a contract into paying a gratuity --Example: --A police officer uses his or her official position to help a friend collect a debt from a third person. --A driving school examiner takes a bribe, promising to speed up the process of getting a driving license for the citizen. The examiner talks to the head of the school and asks the citizen to be exempt from the theory test --Embezzlement: an example would be a bank employee takes money from customers' account. Someone who is trusted with someone else's personal property fraudulently converts it - keep it for his or her own or for the use of others --Health care fraud: health care schemes 1) billing for services that were never rendered by using genuine patient information to fabricate entire claims --2) Billing for more expensive services or procedure than were actually provided or performed, commonly know as "upcoding." --3) Performing medically unnecessary services solely for the purpose of generating insurance payments. --4) Misrepresenting noncovered treatments as medically necessary covered treatments for purposes of obtaining insurance payments --Tax evasion: passive neglect and affirmative tax evasion

Karl Marx, Freiderich Engels, Richard Quinney, and George Vold views toward crime

--Critical criminology is rooted from the ideas of Karl Marx. --The roots of critical criminology can be traced to the political-economic vision created by philosopher Karl Marx who authored the "Communist Manifesto" in which he described the oppressive labor conditions prevalent during the rise of industrial capitalism. The exploitation of the working class would eventually lead to class conflict and the end of the capitalist system. --Karl Marx believed economic structure in a society controls human relationship. Crime is a product of law enforcement policies akin to a labeling process theory. He also saw a connection between criminality and the inequities found in the capitalist system. --Freiderich Engels, an associate of Marx, viewed crime as a function of social demoralization, or a collapse of people's humanity reflecting decline in society. Workers, demoralized by capitalist society and treated as faceless components of the capitalist machine, are caught up in a process that leads to crime and violence. According to Engels, workers are social outcasts, ignored by the structure of capitalist society and treated as brutes. Working people commit crime because their choice is a slow death of starvation or a speedy one at the hands of the law. --Even though Marx himself did not write much on the topic of crime, Marx's views on the relationship between the concept of social conflict were first applied to criminology by three distinguished scholars: Willem Bonger, Ralf Dahrendorf, and George Vold. Social conflict means the struggle for power in society. It is also defined as human behavior in social contexts resulting from conflicts between competing groups

Key concepts of restorative justice

--Critical theorist argue that the "old methods" of punishment are a failure and that more than of two-thirds of all prison inmates recidivate soon after their release. traditional justice system has done little to involve the community in the process of dealing w/ crime --Advocates of restorative justice argue that what is needed is a justice policy that repairs the harm caused by crime and that includes all parties who have suffered from that harm: the victim, the community, and the offender --Process of Restoration begins with redefining crime in terms of a conflict among the offender, the victim, and affected constituencies. --In this program, offender is asked to recognize he or she has caused injury. --This program turns the justice system into a healing process --In addition, reconciliation is a big part of the restoration process. --Effectiveness is dependent upon a person's stake in the community --commitment to material/monetary restitution and symbolic reparation (an apology) --One of the examples is a sentencing circle which is a peacemaking technique in which offenders, victims, and other community members work together to formulate a sanction that addresses the needs of all --Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ): justice system should give equal weight to offender accountability, competency development, and community protection. Offenders should leave the justice system more capable of making better choices. Community should feel as if they are safer, not in more danger after crime occurs. Most BARJ focuses on juvenile offenders --Restorative justice substantially reduced repeat offending for some but not all offenders. Reduced crime victims' post traumatic stress symptoms and related costs. Provided both victims and offenders with more satisfaction than traditional approaches. Reduced crime victims' desire for violent revenge against their offenders. Reduced the costs of criminal justice, when used as diversion. Reduced recidivism in both adult and juvenile prisons

Race and justice

--Critical thinkers also focus on contemporary social institutions to show how they operate as instruments of class and racial oppression. they study the differences in discipline meted out in poor and wealthy districts, racial profiling, racial and economic bias in prosecution and punishment

Main focus of developmental criminologist on criminals

--Eleanor and Sheldon Glueck considered founders of the developmental branch of criminological theory --Conducted between 1930 and 1960 on 500 delinquent boys. In 1930s, conducted research on the careers of known criminals to determine the factors that predicted persistent offending, making extensive use of interviews and records in their elaborate comparisons of criminals and non-criminals. Gluecks measured such physiological and psychological traits as body type, intelligence, and personality. suggest that initiation and continuity of a criminal career was a developmental process influenced by both internal and external situations, conditions, and circumstances --Sampson and Laub reanalyzed Gluecks' data and came up with developmental theory. Wolfgang also found that while many offenders commit a single criminal act and desist from crime, a small group of chronic offenders engage in frequent and repeated criminal activity and continue to do so across their life span --Rolf Loeber and Marc LeBlanc proposed that criminologists should devote time and effort to understanding some basic questions about the evolution of criminal careers b/c criminality is dynamic not static: why do people begin committing antisocial acts? Why do some stop while others continue? Why do some escalate the severity of their criminality while others deescalate and commit less serious crimes as they mature? --life course view, latent trait view, and trajectory view --Life-course theories: criminality as a dynamic process, influenced by a multitude of individual characteristics (social, psychological and economic), traits, and social experiences --Latent trait theories: human development is controlled by a stable propensity or "master trait," present at birth or soon after. (personality, intelligence, maturity) Trajectory theory: multiple trajectories in a criminal career. There are numerous subgroups within a population that follow distinctively different criminal career trajectories

Degree of murder

--First-degree murder occurs when a person kills another after premeditation and deliberation. --Premeditation - killing was considered beforehand. Deliberation - killing was planned after careful thought rather than being carried out on impulse. (e.g. accidentally watched spouse' cheating, shot gun.) Felony murder - a killing accompanying a felony --First degree murder: it was committed after planning or "lying in wait" for the victim. For example, Dan comes home to find his wife in bed with Victor --Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as: 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion"; or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. e.g: gun manufacturer employer kills boss after being insulted by the boss with gun in the office --Manslaughter: homicide without malice --Voluntary manslaughter is commonly defined as an intentional killing in which the offender had no prior intent to kill, such as a killing that occurs in the "heat of passion." ; typically without a weapon ( for example; two people get into an argument and exchange blows. One falls, hits his head, and dies. The punch is technically a battery , a misdemeanor, and the resulting death would be considered manslaughter. ) --Involuntary manslaughter: when someone dies as a result of the defendant's non-felonious illegal act or as a consequence of the defendant's irresponsibility or recklessness. (example: motor vehicle (accident)death, hunting a bear which was actually a human)

View of the general theory of crime toward criminal activity

--Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that low self-control is key to offending --Low self-control results in unstable marriages, jobs, and friendships --Focus is on the now, rather than the future --B. Low self-control intersects with opportunity to commit crime --C. Low-self-control remains stable over the life-course --D. GTC can explain why two kids in the same neighborhood could have very different criminal propensities --E. Considerable research shows a relationship between low self-control and delinquency --People with limited self-control tend to be impulsive: Insensitive to other people's feelings, Physical (rather than mental), Risk taker, Short-sighted, Non-verbal --Inadequate child-rearing practices could explain development of impulsivity/low self control --Early parental socialization with supervision and proper discipline is key to developing self-control and is determined by age 10 --"poor parenting produces low-self control children model" may be intergenerational because children who are not attached to their parents, who are poorly supervised, and whose parents are criminal or deviant themselves are the most likely to develop poor self-control. Kids who have low self-control may strain parental attachments and the ability of parents to control children. Impulsive kids grow up to become poor parents who themselves use improper discipline, producing yet another generation of impulsive kids who lack self-control --how much influence does biology have on self-control? The exact answer is unknown but Kevin Beaver and his team examined impulsivity and self-control in pairs of twins and concluded these particular traits may be more inherited than developed --Gottfredson and Hirschi consider the criminal offender and the criminal act as separate concepts. --Criminal acts: illegal events or deeds that offenders engage in when they perceive them to be advantageous. --Criminal offender: people predisposed to commit crimes. But, they are not robots who commit crime without restraint --Gottfredson and Hirschi claim the principles of self-control theory can explain all varieties of criminal behavior and all the social and behavioral correlates of crime --Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that self-control applies equally to all crimes, ranging from murder to corporate theft. However, there are critiques of the GTC --People change and so does their level of self-control. maturation, changing life circumstances influence frequency of offending --Environmental differences. little evidence of regional differences in impulsivity or self-control --Racial and gender differences. little evidence that males are more impulsive than females --Personality differences. not all criminals are impulsive. some more calculating

Trajectory theory

--Life course and Propensity theories miss out on the different classes and types of offenders; there are different trajectories in a criminal career --Criminal trajectories may also vary according to offending specialty. --Trajectory theories hold that people begin their offending careers at different points of their lives and follow different offending trajectories. Not all chronic offenders begin early in life. Some are "late bloomers" --Different trajectories or pathways in criminal career may depend on different pace, kinds of crime, and external forces --Those who begin offending at an early age may engage in more age-appropriate crimes as they mature; violent adolescent school yard bully in adulthood, violent over the life course --Rolf Loeber proposes several Pathways to crime. --1. Authority conflict pathway - begins at an early age with stubborn behavior leading to defiance (disobedience) and then to avoidance (staying out late, running away). --2. Covert pathway - begins with minor underhanded behavior (lying, shoplifting) that leads to property damage and escalates to more serious forms of criminality. --3. Overt pathway - begins with aggression (bullying), leading to physical fighting, and then to violence. --Some people simultaneously enter two or even three pathways --most young offenders follow one of two paths: --1. Adolescent-limited - One who follows the most common criminal trajectory, in which antisocial behavior peaks in adolescence and then diminishes. They are "typical teenagers" who get into minor scrapes and engage in what might be considered rebellious teenage behavior with their friends. --2. Life-course persisters : One of the small group of offenders whose criminal careers continue well into adulthood. They begin offending at a very early age and continue to offend well into adulthood --late bloomers: These eventual persisters stay out of trouble in adolescence, until late in their teenage years, and then become violent, chronic persisters. Late bloomers combine psychopathology with risk-taking behavior and poor social skills --Mental diseases and personality disorders progress differently, affecting some people in early adolescence and others later in life. --There are early starter (ES) who begin to engage in antisocial behavior at a young age before the onset of the psychiatric disorder, most likely because they maintain other psychological issues as an antisocial personality. Late Starters (LS) who begin to engage in antisocial behavior after the onset of the psychiatric disorder. First offenders (FO) are men in their late thirties with a schizophrenia disorder who suddenly commit a very serious violent offense. They differ from those people in LS group because while the late starters initiate a criminal career with a variety of less serious offenses, the FO men suddenly commit serious offense without prior identified psychological abnormality. --abstainers: Conventional behavior makes them deviant in the teenage world where offending is the norm. shy personality, having few friends, having non deviant families, and highly regarded by their mothers. unpopularity of these social introverts shielded them from group pressure to commit delinquent acts

developmental theories.

--Life-Course Theory assumes that even as toddlers, people begin relationships and behaviors that will determine their adult life course. Some individuals are incapable of maturing in a reasonable and timely fashion due to family, environmental, or personal problems. As people mature, the factors that influence their behavior change. Factors that produce delinquency and crime at one point in the life cycle may not be relevant at another. --disruption promotes criminality: Disruptions in life's major transitions from socioeconomic or family dysfunction can be destructive and ultimately can promote criminality. These negative life events can become cumulative: as people acquire more personal deficits, the chance of acquiring additional ones increases. The cumulative impact of these disruptions sustains criminality from childhood into adulthood. --Changing life influences: As people make important life transitions-from child to adolescent, from adolescent to adult, from unwed to married-the nature of social interactions also changes. According to the life-course view, people begin relationships and behaviors that will determine their adult life course. Life-course theories also recognize that as people mature, the factors that influence their behavior change. (parents in childhood, friends in adolescents, and spouse in adulthood) --Most life course theories assume that the seeds of a criminal career are planted early in life and that early onset of deviance strongly predicts later and more serious criminality. The earlier the onset of criminality, the more frequent, varied, and sustained the criminal career. --causes of early onset: Poor parental discipline and monitoring, Inadequate emotional support, Distance peer relationships, Psychological issues and problems --These influences may follow kids into their adulthood, helping them shift from one form of deviant life styles to another. psychic scars of childhood are hard to erase --Persistence and Desistance --Why do some offenders persist in criminal careers, whereas others desist from or alter their criminal activity as they mature? --One possible answer can be the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development by Farrington. suggested that life experiences shape the direction and flow of behavior choices and that factors that predict crime at one point in the life course may not be the ones that foretell criminality. As they mature, former delinquents are able to desist if they enter adult worlds of work and marriage and relocate to a more hospitable environment in the suburbs

Serial killers, mass murders, and spree killers

--Mass murder Involves the killing of four or more victims by one or more assailants (attacker) within a single event. --Revenge killer seeks to get even with individuals or society at large. Their typical target is an estranged wife and her children or an employer and his employees. --Love killers are motivated by a warped (bent or twisted) sense of devotion. They are often despondent people who commit suicide and take others, such as a wife and children, with them. --Profit killer are usually trying to cover up a crime, eliminate witness, and carry out a criminal conspiracy. --Terrorist killers are trying to send a message --Spree killers: Engage in a rampage (riot) of violence taking place over a period of days or weeks. Unlike mass murderers, their killing is not confined to a single outburst. Unlike serial killers, they don't have a cooling off period between murders or return to their normal identities in between killings --Thrill killers: strive for either sexual sadism or dominance. This is the most common from of serial murder --Mission killers: want to reform the world or have a vision that drives them to kill. They kill under the motive of ridding the world of an unwanted or "dirty" type of person. This unwanted type can be anything - prostitutes, homosexuals, a disliked religion or race. They believe they are actually doing the world a favor by committing these murders --Expedience killers: are out for profit or want to protect themselves from a perceived threat --Female serial killers: 16% of serial killers are women. Males are much more likely than females to use extreme violence and torture. But females are more likely to poison or mother their victim. Women are much more likely to kill family members and acquaintances. They target those who are weak or dependent on them, children and the elderly

merchant privilege laws and Sherman Antitrust Act

--Merchant privilege laws have been Legislated that protects retailers and their employees from lawsuits if they arrest and detain a suspected shoplifter on reasonable grounds --need Probable cause: Fact and circumstances need to exist that would cause a reasonable person with the officer's knowledge and experience to believe that it is more probable than not that a suspect committed a crime or is about to commit a crime --Sherman Antitrust Act is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law passed by Congress in 1890 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. It was aimed at preserving free and unfettered (unrestrained) competition as the rule of trade. Restraint of trade in England and the UK was and is defined as a legal contract between a buyer and a seller of a business, or between an employer and employee, that prevents the seller or employee from engaging in a similar business within a specified geographical area and within a specified period --Price fixing disrupts the normal laws of demand and supply. It gives monopolies an edge over would be competitors. It's not in the best interest of consumers. They impose higher prices on customers, reduce incentives to innovate and raise barriers to entry. One estimate suggests that overcharging costs consumers in poor countries around the same as those countries get in foreign aid. Collusion has been illegal in America since passage of the Sherman Act in 1890 --Deceptive pricing: simply means pricing that seems too good to be true, that consumers will think they are getting a good deal and paying a lower price than what they actually would be paying

Power control theory

--Power: The ability of persons and groups to control the behavior of others, to shape public opinion, and to define deviance --criminal law represents the interests of those who hold power in society. --Where there is power between social groups - the wealthy and the poor - those who hold power will create laws to their benefit. --Law is not an abstract body of rules representing an objective moral code. --Law is an integral part of society, a force representing a way of life and a method of doing things. --Crime is a function of power relations and an inevitable result of social conflict. --Criminals are not simply social misfits but people who have come up short in the struggle for success and are seeking alternative means of achieving wealth, status, or even survival. Social thinkers began to show how in postindustrial, capitalist society the economic system invariably produces haves and have-nots --gender differences used to explain the onset of criminality. Crime and delinquency are functions of class position (power) and family functions (control). Within the family, parents reproduce the power relationships they hold in the workplace. Parents' work experiences and class position influence the criminality of children --This theory explains crime trend in two types of families: paternalistic and egalitarian families --Paternalistic families: --Fathers assume the traditional role of breadwinners while mothers have menial jobs or remain at home to supervise domestic matters. --Mothers expected to control behavior of daughters while granting greater freedom to sons. --The parent-daughter relationship prepares the daughter for "the cult of domesticity." --Girls in paternalistic families are socialized to fear legal sanctions more so than sons. --Boys engage in more antisocial behavior and have greater access to legitimate adult behaviors. --Girls unhappy or dissatisfied with their status are forced to seek role exit behaviors - running away, contemplating suicide --Egalitarian families: --Wife and husband share similar positions of power at home and in the workplace. --Daughters gain a freedom that reflects reduced parental control. --The Daughters' law-violating behavior mirrors that of their brothers. --Daughters may have less need to engage in exit role behaviors. --these relationships also occur in female-headed households with absent fathers. --When mothers and fathers hold equally valued managerial positions, the similarity between the rates of their daughters' and sons' delinquency is greatest

Definition of trajectory, transition, turning point, social capital and cumulated disadvantage

--Repeat negative experiences and social problems create a condition called Cumulative Disadvantage. Those with high cumulative disadvantage risk offending and continue offending. --Once accumulated, it is difficult to remedy as social problems do not simply go away as they mature; they often linger and vex people throughout their lives. Accumulation in childhood hurts people further down the life path

Types of Shoplifters

--Shoplifting often is considered petty theft but depends on the value of the property taken --Petit or petty larceny: misdemeanor --Grand larceny: felony --Each state sets its own boundary between petty and grand larceny. --Categories of larceny have a significant influence on the levels of punishment. --Larceny crimes encompass taking the property with the intention of depriving an owner of the property forever --trespassory or taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with intent to steal

Structural theory

--Structural theorists believe that law is not the exclusive domain of the rich; rather, it is used to maintain the long-term interests of the capitalist system and to control members of any class who threaten its existence. In other words, the law can work against either the rich or the poor as the focus is on preserving capitalism --example would be regarding anti-trust laws that work against rich --antitrust laws were put in place by federal and state governments to regulate corporations. believed to be necessary for keeping companies from becoming too large and fixing prices, also encourage competition so consumers can receive quality products at reasonable prices. According to its proponents, these laws give businesses an equal opportunity to compete for market share. They believe preventing monopolies ensures that consumer demand is met in a fair and balanced way

Occasional criminals and professional criminals

--blue collar crimes, distinction between the occasional criminal versus the professional ones --perpetrator might be tempted to commit crimes of opportunity with Situational inducements present: such as an unlocked car, a purse left out on a counter, or an unobservant store manager.; these are short-term influences on a person's behavior that increase risk taking --Occasional criminals do not view themselves a committed career criminals --Situational inducement is an unplanned opportunity to commit crime --Professional criminals are relatively few in number, professionals engage in crimes that inflict the greater losses on society and perhaps cause the more significant social harm. --Confidence swindling - e.g Home Improvement and Repair Frauds : free inspection but expensive repair/ False Charity Rackets --Counterfeiting- imitating something --professional criminals make a significant portion of income from crime, nonviolent forms of criminal behavior are undertaken with high degree of skill for monetary gain and maximize financial opportunities while minimizing odds of apprehension. Pick pocketing, burglary, shoplifting, forgery, counterfeiting, extortion, sneak theft, and confidence swindling

Criminologists' view about rape

--carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will --other forms of sexual assault, including male-on male and female-on-male sexual assaults. Three states have now revised their rape statutes to make them gender neutral --Currently criminologists now consider rape a violent, coercive act of aggression, not a forceful expression of sexuality

Major premise of critical feminist theory

--focuses on gender differences in the society. Gender differences can be traced to the development of private property and the male domination of the laws of inheritance --In such a society, Men's work tend to be valued and women's work devalued or restricted. --Patriarchy, or male supremacy, has been and continues to be supported by capitalists. Traditional patriarchal families are in steep decline but many remain --topic of Patriarchy and Crime Explains the cause of female crime, gender differences in crime rates, and the exploitation of female victims. links criminal behavior patterns to the gender conflict created by the economic and social struggles common in postindustrial societies --Capitalists control workers, and males control females—"double marginality" which explain why females in a capitalist society commit fewer crimes than males --Women being powerless increases their chances for victimization. Capitalism makes lower class women powerless, they are forced to commit less serious, nonviolent, self-destructive crimes, such as abusing drugs. The female crime rate is restricted because of the patriarchal nature of the capitalist system. Women are also denied access to male-dominated street crimes. Powerlessness also increases the likelihood that women will become targets of violent acts --related topic is masculinity and crime: crime is a vehicle for men to "do gender" because it separates them from the weak and allows them to demonstrate physical bravery. Violence directed toward women is treated as a way to demonstrate manhood. Even in all-male groups, men often prove their manhood by treating the weakest member of the group as "womanlike" and abusing him accordingly. Male efforts to avoid being contaminated with femininity begin in children's play groups and continue into adulthood and marriage

Types of state organized crime

--number of different types of state crime --State (Organized) Crime: Illegal acts committed by elected or appointed state officials within the context of their jobs as government representatives. State crimes arise from efforts to maintain government power or to uphold the race, class, and gender advantages of those who support the government. --Political Corruption: Damages public trust in the government --Illegal Domestic Surveillance: Government agents listen to or monitor telephone conversations or intercept emails without proper approval in order to stifle dissent or monitor political opponents --Human Rights Violations: Denying citizens basic civil rights, holding citizens without trial, and using "disappearances" and summary executions to rid the state of political dissidents Operating correctional systems in nations notorious for depriving detainees of basic rights and using hard labor and torture --State-Corporate Crime: Individuals who misuse their state authority or who fail to exercise it when required. e.g. Environmental agency may fail to enforce laws, resulting in the pollution of public waterway --State violence: Governments using violence to maintain power over dissident groups. Death squads - police armies or armed vigilante groups kill suspected political opponents. Use of torture and water boarding by U.S. interrogators to subdue terror suspects

Substance abuse and violence: psychopharmacological relationship, economic compulsive behavior, and systemic link

--psychopharmacological relationship may be the direct consequence of ingesting mood-altering substances. (example: heavy drinking reduces cognitive ability, information processing skills, and the ability to process and react to verbal and nonverbal behavior. As a result, miscommunication becomes more likely and the capacity for rational dialogue is compromised.) --Drug ingestion may also cause economic compulsive behavior, in which drug users resort to violence to support their habit --systemic link between drugs and violence occurs when drug dealers turn violent in their competition with rival gangs

Crime protection based on left realists' view

--sees crime as a function of relative deprivation under capitalism --view is made by some critical scholars who are addressing the need for the left wing (liberal, socialist, or radical section of political party or system) to respond to the increasing power of right-wing conservative political parties or systems --scholars are troubled by the emergence of a strict " law and order" philosophy, which has as its centerpiece a policy of punishing juveniles severely in adult court, aggressive police patrol, severe sentences for drug offenders and capital punishment. --left realism scholars favor pragmatic, community-based crime prevention and control. also focus on abuse of power by the ruling elite. argue that ignoring inner city gang crime and violence, which often target indigent people, is wrong. --John Lea and Jock Young reject utopian views of street criminals as revolutionaries, but as just mere criminals. They take more realistic approach that Relative deprivation equals discontent; discontent plus lack of political solution equals crime --Street criminals, who are usually poor, disproportionately prey on the poor making the poor doubly victims - first abused by the capitalist system then by members of their own class --world in the midst of multiple crisis, all shaping human interaction, including criminality. The crises include lack of job creation, social inequality, social fear, political incompetence, and gender conflict, and family and parenting issues. crises have led to a society in which the government seems incapable of creating positive social change: people have become more fearful and isolated from one another and some are excluded from the mainstream because of racism and discrimination; manufacturing jobs have been exported overseas to nations that pay extremely low wage --These problems fall on the shoulders of young black men who suffer from exclusion and poverty and who now feel the economic burden created by the erosion of manufacturing jobs due to the globalization of the economy. In response, they engage in a form of hypermasculinity, which helps increase their crime rates --Left realists argue that crime victims in all classes need and deserve protection. do not view police and court as evil tools of capitalism. They recognize that theses institutions offer life-saving public services. mainly suggest that police reduce use of force and increase their sensitivity to the public --they suggest preemptive deterrence which means community organization efforts eliminate or reduce crime before police involvement becomes necessary. reasoning behind this approach is that if the number of marginalized youths could be reduced, then delinquency rates would decline. Under existing capitalist system, community-based efforts seems to hold the greatest promise of crime control. Left realists welcome critical ideas but also build on the work of mainstream theories --left realism has been criticized by critical thinkers as legitimizing the existing power structure by supporting existing definition of law and justice. left realists say that it is unrealistic to speak of socialist state lacking a police force or a system of laws and justice. They believe the criminal code does represent public opinion

Latent trait theory

--stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, present at birth or soon after, makes some people prone to criminality over the life course. regardless of gender or environment, those who possess one or more of these latent traits may be at risk to crime and in danger of becoming career criminals. Those lacking a latent trait appear to have a much lower risk of committing crime --Suspected latent traits include defective intelligence, damaged or impulsive personality, genetic abnormalities, the physical-chemical functioning of the brain, and environmental influences on brain function such as drugs, chemicals, and injuries. --Propensity to commit crime is stable, but the opportunity to commit crime fluctuates over time --marrying, having children, working, leaves little time to commit crime --Because latent traits are stable, people who are antisocial during adolescence are the most likely to persist in crime

Causes of crime based on critical criminologist view: surplus value, marginalization, failing social institutions, globalization, & state organized crime

--surplus value: key crime-producing element of modern corporate capitalism is the motivation to create surplus value. Surplus value means the profits produced by the laboring classes that are accrued by business owners. As surplus value increases, more people are displaced from productive relationships and the size of the marginalized population swells. Corporate downsizing results in displaced workers. Due to being thrust outside the economic mainstream, a larger portion of the population is forced to live in areas conducive to crime. This is called Marginalization --Globalization is the process of creating transnational markets and political and legal systems, enhanced by the Internet and communication technology. It began when large companies decided to establish themselves in foreign markets. Some experts believe globalization improves the standard of living in third world nations. But Critical theorists question the altruism and motivation of multinational corporations. They believe their motives are exploiting natural resources, avoiding regulation, and taking advantage of desperate workers. critical criminologists also believe that globalization has replaced imperialism and colonization because globalization has created a fertile ground for contemporary enterprise crimes. By expanding the reach of both criminal and noncriminal organizations, globalization also increases the vulnerability of indigenous people leading a traditional way of life. --State organized crime: State crime consists of acts committed by state or government officials while holding their positions as government representatives. Examples include political corruption, Illegal domestic surveillance, Human rights violations, State-corporate crime, state-sponsored violence. Those who study state crime argue that these crimes arise from efforts either to maintain governmental power or to uphold (support) the race, class, and gender advantages of those who support the government. In industrial society, the government might even go to war to support the capitalist classes who need the wealth and resources of other nations.

Types of rape

--types of rapists: three elements which rapists contains - anger, power, or sadism --Types of Rape: Date rape, Marital rape, and statutory rape --Power rape involves an attacker who does not want to harm his victim as much as he wants to possess her sexually --Anger rape occurs when sexuality becomes a means of expressing and discharging pent-up anger and rage. --Sadistic rape involves both sexuality and aggression. The rape experience is intensely exciting to the sadist --Date rape: a rape that involves people who are in some form of courting relationship. Many victims still fail to report date rape. Because many victims blame themselves and do not recognize the incidents as a rape, saying, for example, "I should have fought back harder" or "I shouldn't have gotten drunk." Their histories of excessive drinking and prior sexuality, conditions which may convince them that their intemperate and immoderate behavior contributed to their own victimization --Rape on campus: lower rate of report- one of reasons is many incidents occur in fraternity houses and dorms, involve the victim's voluntary involvement in drinking or substance abuse before the assault occurred and therefore they hold themselves the incident was a " real rape" because they were at fault. Misplaced guilt may also explain why so many college women suffer PTSD and other disorders soon after they were attacked --Marital exemption: the formerly accepted tradition that a legally married husband could not be charged with raping his wife. many women are raped each year by their husbands as part of an overall pattern of spousal abuse. 1980, only three states recognizes marital rapes as a crime. Today, every state recognizes marital rape as a crime --Statutory rape: sexual relations between an underage minor and an adult. sex is not forced or coerced, the law says that young people are incapable of giving informed consent, so the act is legally considered non-consensual --Rape by deception: When the rapist uses fraud or trickery to convince the victim to engage in sex or impersonates someone with whom the victim has been intimate. not universally recognized in American criminal law

Instrumental theory

--views criminal law and the criminal justice system solely as instruments for controlling the poor & benefiting the rich --rich are able to hire top attorneys while the poor cannot. For example, because rich can hire top attorneys to defend them against antitrust actions, makes them almost immune to regulation --poor are arrested and punished more harshly for their crime (the poor may or may not commit more crimes than the rich, but they certainly are arrested and punished more often.) --in a capitalist system, the poor are driven to crime because a natural frustration exists in a society in which affluence is well publicized but unattainable. When class conflict becomes unbearable, frustration can spill out in riots and urban unrest --b/c of class conflict, deep rooted hostility is generated among members of the lower class against a social order they are not allowed to shape and whose benefits are unobtainable. --Instrumental theory's goal for criminology is to show how capitalist law preserves the power of the ruling-class

State dependence

People change and develop as they mature. Life course and trajectory theorists embrace this concept because it can explain continuity and desistance from crime. If past antisocial behavior influences future offending, it is not because they have a similar cause, but because offending disrupts prosocial bonds and informal mechanisms of social control.

Expressive violence and instrumental violence

expressive violence- acts that vent rage, anger, or frustration Instrumental violence- Acts designed to improve the financial or social position of the criminal

Population heterogeneity

holds that because people affect their environment and not vice versa, People who are criminally active in their childhood should remain so in their adulthood, no matter what happens to them in the meantime. Propensity theorists embrace this concept