Chapter 5 Quiz
Steven E. Barkan's seven strategies for reducing crime and delinquency that are structural in nature:
1. Create decent jobs that pay a living wage. 2. Provide economic aid for people who are unemployed or are barely making it. 3. End racial segregation in housing. 4. Strengthen social integration and social institutions in urban neighborhoods. 5. Reduce housing and population density. 6. Change male socialization. 7. Reduce economic inequality.
Four Goals of Punishment
1. Retribution 2. General Deterrence 3. Incapacitation 4. Rehabilitation
social bonding consists of
1. attachment to other people 2. commitment to conformity 3. involvement in conventional activities 4. belief in the legitimacy of conventional values and norms
Four types of political deviance
1. secrecy and deception designed to manipulate public opinion 2. abuse of power 3. prosecution of individuals because of their political activities 4. official violence, such as police brutality against people of color or the use of citizens as unwilling guinea pigs in scientific research
"Risky Shift" phenomenon
A willingness to engage in extreme behavior if condoned in a groupthink situation.
Milgram's Obedience Experiment
An experiment to see how far people would go to follow an authoritative figure. He forced people to "shock" actors with increasing voltages, which they knew were dangerous and could kill them. Showed how "normal" people will obey to an authoritative figures (white lab coats) orders no matter the cost. Rational legal authority holds more weight in society..
clarifies rules
By punishing deviant behavior, society reaffirms its commitment to the rules and clarifies their meaning.
complex interactions with tight coupling
Catastrophes more often than not stem from a domino chain of bad decisions rather than one wrong choice.
Merton's Strain Theory refers to the inherent strain people experience when trying to achieve socially agreed-upon goals such as a large home, a nice car, or a sizable bank account. Which of the following five modes of adaptation suggests achievement of culturally approved goals through culturally approved methods?
Conformity
A behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs is termed
Deviance
What is the functionalist perspective of deviance?
Deviance is natural and serves important societal functions.
promotes social change
Deviants may violate norms in order to get them changed. For example, acts of civil disobedience—including lunch counter sit-ins and bus boycotts—were used to protest and eventually correct injustices such as segregated buses and lunch counters in the South. More recently, this is what organizers of groups such as Occupy Wall Street hoped to accomplish, but their objective of redistribution of some wealth from the richest 1 percent to the bottom 99 percent constituted a very complex issue.
Zimbardo's Prison Experiment
Done at Stanford; assigned a group of students to play either the role of prison guard or prisoner; prisoners were locked up in the basement of the psychology building, and the guards were put in charge of their treatment - students took their assigned roles perhaps too well, and the experiment had to be ended early because of the cruel treatment the guards were inflicting o the prisoners.
What effects whether we conform to group pressure?
Group cohesion and group size
Which feminist perspective views female deviance and crime as a rational response to gender discrimination?
Liberal Feminist Approach
Asch's experiment
Line experiment where whole group except subject gave wrong answer and the subject would agree with group and give wrong answer. Showed conformity to groupthink. 33% routinely conformed 40% conformed ½ the time 25% "stuck to their guns"
strain theory
Merton the proposition that people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they are unable to obtain because they do not have access to culturally approved means of achieving those goals. goals may be material possessions and money; the approved means may include an education and jobs
Which type of crime is a business operation that supplies illegal goods and services for profit?
Organized Crime
Kaylee and her friends recently shoplifted a few small items from a neighborhood convenience store. She had never stolen anything before. This is an example of:
Primary Deviance
Which theory states that deviant behavior occurs when a person weighs the costs and benefits of deviant behavior and concludes that the benefits outweigh the risks?
Rational choice theory of deviance
Which goal of punishment is concerned with returning offenders to the community as law-abiding citizens by providing therapy or vocational or educational training?
Rehabilitation
illegitimate opportunity structures
Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin circumstances that provide an opportunity for people to acquire through illegitimate activities what they cannot achieve through legitimate channels. ( theft, drug dealing, or robbery)
differential reinforcement theory
Ronald Akers suggests that both deviant behavior and conventional behavior are learned through the same social processes.
Control theory discusses how __________ influence deviance and crime.
Social Bonds
According to Robert K. Merton, people experience tension when they are exposed to cultural goals that they are unable to obtain because they do not have access to culturally approved means of achieving those goals. Which theory describes this idea?
Strain Theory
Which type of crime is defined as "the calculated, unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government, organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious, economic, or social objective?"
Terrorism
Sunk Cost
The more money we've spent on something, the more difficult it is for us to change direction. (BP with the oil spill)
Which idea is central to the postmodernist perspective of Michel Foucault?
The powerful control others through discipline and surveillance.
Social bond theory
Travis Hirschi the proposition that the probability of deviant behavior increases when a person's ties to society are weakened or broken.
unites a group
When deviant behavior is seen as a threat to group solidarity and people unite in opposition to that behavior, their loyalties to society are reinforced.
overconfidence bias
When we've had success in the past, it's difficult to believe that things could turn out differently (Challenger ship with NASA)
In their research on illegitimate opportunity structures, sociologists Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin identified three different types of gangs. Which gang is NOT one of the types they described?
Youth Gangs
Organized crime
a business operation that supplies illegal goods and services for profit. Premeditated, continuous illegal activities of organized crime include drug trafficking, prostitution, loan-sharking, money laundering, and large-scale theft such as truck hijackings
misdemeanor
a minor crime that is typically punished by less than one year in jail
plea bargaining
a process in which the prosecution negotiates a reduced sentence for the accused in exchange for a guilty plea
felony
a serious crime such as rape, homicide, or aggravated assault, for which punishment typically ranges from more than a year's imprisonment to death
anomie
a social condition in which people experience a sense of futility because social norms are weak, absent, or conflicting.
panopticon
a structure that gives prison officials the possibility of complete observation of criminals at all times
National Crime Victimization Survey
a survey conducted annually by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that provides data on surveyed households that report they were affected by crime
juvenile delinquency
a violation of law or the commission of a status offense by young people.
deviance is relative
act becomes deviant when it is socially defined as such
violent crime
actions—murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—involving force or the threat of force against others.
community-oriented policing
an approach to law enforcement that focuses on police officers building ties to the community by working closely with other community members
punishment
any action designed to deprive a person of things of value (including liberty) because of some offense the person is thought to have committed.
deviance
any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs
Deviance
any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs.
stigma
any physical or social attribute or sign that so devalues a person's social identity that it disqualifies the person from full social acceptance
behavioral deviance
based on a person's intentional or inadvertent actions. intentional deviance- drinking too much or committing a bank robbery inadvertent deviance- losing money in a casino or laughing at a funeral.
Incapacitation
based on the assumption that offenders who are detained in prison or are executed will be unable to commit additional crimes. This approach is often expressed as "lock 'em up and throw away the key!" In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on selective incapacitation, which means that offenders who repeat certain kinds of crimes are sentenced to long prison terms.
Marxist feminist approach
based on the assumption that women are exploited by both capitalism and patriarchy. Because many females have relatively low-wage jobs (if any) and few economic resources, crimes such as prostitution and shoplifting become a means to earn money or acquire consumer goods.
crime
behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and/or other negative sanctions.
property crimes
burglary (breaking into private property to commit a serious crime), motor vehicle theft, larceny-theft (theft of property worth $50 or more), and arson.
Functions of Deviance according to functionalists
clarifies rules unites a group promotes social change
Merton's five ways in which people adapt to cultural goals and approved ways of achieving them
conformity innovation ritualism retreatism rebellion
Violent crime
consists of actions—murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—involving force or the threat of force against others.
victimless crimes
crimes involving a willing exchange of illegal goods or services among adults.
Cloward and Ohlin's three basic gang types
criminal, conflict, and retreatist. emerge on the basis of what type of illegitimate opportunity structure is available in a specific area
restoration
designed to repair the damage done to the victim and the community by an offender's criminal act
tertiary deviance
deviance that occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant seeks to normalize the behavior by relabeling it as nondeviant.
Criminal gangs
devoted to theft, extortion, and other illegal means of securing an income
conflict gangs
emerge in communities that do not provide either legitimate or illegitimate opportunities. Members of conflict gangs seek to acquire a "rep" (reputation) by fighting over "turf" (territory) and adopting a value system of toughness, courage, and similar qualities.
kinds of sentences or dispositions
fines, probation, alternative or intermediate sanctions (such as house arrest or electronic monitoring), incarceration, and capital punishment.
occupational (white-collar) crime
illegal activities committed by people in the course of their employment or financial affairs.
corporate crime
illegal acts committed by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support. (antitrust violations; tax evasion; misrepresentations in advertising; infringements on patents, copyrights, and trademarks; price fixing; and financial fraud.)
Internet crime
illegal acts committed by criminals on the Internet, including FBI-related scams, identity theft, advance fee fraud, nonauction/nondelivery of merchandise, and overpayment fraud.
political crime
illegal or unethical acts involving the usurpation of power by government officials or illegal/unethical acts perpetrated against the government by outsiders seeking to make a political statement, undermine the government, or overthrow it. graft (taking advantage of political position to gain money or property) through bribery, kickbacks, or "insider" deals that financially benefit them.
Public order crimes
involve an illegal action voluntarily engaged in by the participants, such as prostitution, illegal gambling, the private use of illegal drugs, and illegal pornography. Often referred to as victimless crimes
external social control
involves the use of negative sanctions that proscribe certain behaviors and set forth the punishments for rule breakers and nonconformists. (justice system)
Retreatism
occurs when people abandon both the approved goals and the approved means of achieving them. Merton included persons such as skid-row alcoholics and drug addicts in this category; however, not all retreatists are destitute. Some may be middle- or upper-income individuals who see themselves as rejecting the conventional trappings of success or the means necessary to acquire them.
conformity
occurs when people accept culturally approved goals and pursue them through approved means
Innovation
occurs when people accept society's goals but adopt disapproved means of achieving them. Innovations for acquiring material possessions or money cover a wide variety of illegal activities, including theft and drug dealing.
Rebellion
occurs when people challenge both the approved goals and the approved means for achieving them and advocate an alternative set of goals or means. To achieve their alternative goals, rebels may use violence (such as rioting) or may register their displeasure with society through acts of vandalism or graffiti.
Ritualism
occurs when people give up on societal goals but still adhere to the socially approved means of achieving them. Ritualism is the opposite of innovation; persons who cannot obtain expensive material possessions or wealth may nevertheless seek to maintain the respect of others by being a "hard worker" or "good citizen."
Retribution
punishment that a person receives for infringing on the rights of others. Retribution imposes a penalty on the offender and is based on the premise that the punishment should fit the crime: The greater the degree of social harm, the more the offender should be punished. For example, an individual who murders should be punished more severely than one who shoplifts.
corrections
refers not only to prisons and jails but also to a number of programs and organizations that manage individuals who have been either accused or convicted of crimes. Included in the field of corrections are halfway houses, probation, work release and education programs, parole supervision, counseling, and community service.
General Deterrence
seeks to reduce criminal activity by instilling a fear of punishment in the general public. However, we most often focus on specific deterrence, which inflicts punishment on individual criminals to discourage them from committing future crimes.
Rehabilitation
seeks to return offenders to the community as law-abiding citizens by providing therapy or vocational or educational training. Based on this approach, offenders are treated, not punished, so that they will not continue their criminal activity.
determinate/mandatory/structured sentencing
sets the term of imprisonment at a fixed period of time (such as three years) for a specific offense. established by law and require that a person convicted of a specific offense or series of offenses be given a penalty within a fixed range.
restorative justice perspective
states that the criminal justice system should promote a peaceful and just society; therefore, the system should focus on peacemaking rather than on punishing offenders.
Power Relation theory on Deviance
suggests that the lifestyles considered deviant by political and economic elites are often defined as illegal. According to this approach, norms and laws are established for the benefit of those in power and do not reflect any absolute standard of right and wrong. As a result, the activities of poor and lower-income individuals are more likely to be defined as criminal than those of persons from middle- and upper-income backgrounds.
social control
systematic practices that social groups develop in order to encourage conformity to norms, rules, and laws and to discourage deviance.
Internal social control
takes place through the socialization process: Individuals internalize societal norms and values that prescribe how people should behave and then follow those norms and values in their everyday lives.
terrorism
the calculated, unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government, organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious, economic, or social objective.
primary deviance
the initial act of rule breaking.
criminal justice system
the local, state, and federal agencies that enforce laws, adjudicate crimes, and treat and rehabilitate criminals.
criminal justice system
the local, state, and federal agencies that enforce laws, adjudicate crimes, and treat and rehabilitate criminals. The system includes the police, the courts, the correctional facilities, and the people in myriads of police agencies, courts, prosecutorial agencies, correctional institutions, and probation and parole departments.
secondary deviance
the process that occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior.
labeling theory
the proposition that deviance is a socially constructed process in which social control agencies designate certain people as deviants and they, in turn, come to accept the label placed upon them and begin to act accordingly.
rational choice theory of deviance
the proposition that deviant behavior occurs when a person weighs the costs and benefits of nonconventional or criminal behavior and determines that the benefits will outweigh the risks involved in such an action.
differential association theory
the proposition that people have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with persons who are more favorable toward deviance than conformity.
Differential association theory
the proposition that people have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with persons who are more favorable toward deviance than conformity. criminal behavior is learned within intimate personal groups such as one's family and peer groups.
parens patriae
the state as parent; the state as guardian and protector of all citizens (such as juveniles) who cannot protect themselves
Criminology
the systematic study of crime and the criminal justice system, including the police, courts, and prisons.
racial profiling
the use of ethnic or racial background as a means of identifying criminal suspects
Discretion
the use of personal judgment by police officers, prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice system officials regarding whether and how to proceed in a given situation
retreatist gangs
unable to gain success through legitimate means and are unwilling to do so through illegal ones. As a result, the consumption of drugs is stressed, and addiction is prevalent.
Marxist/critical theory on Deviance
views deviance and crime as a function of the capitalist economic system. based on the assumption that the laws and the criminal justice system protect the power and privilege of the capitalist class.
radical feminist approach
views the cause of women's crime as originating in patriarchy. From this view, arrests and prosecution for crimes such as prostitution reflect our society's sexual double standard whereby it is acceptable for a man to pay for sex but unacceptable for a woman to accept money for such services.
liberal feminist approach
women's deviance and crime are a rational response to the gender discrimination that women experience in families and the workplace. From this view, lower-income and minority women typically have fewer opportunities not only for education and good jobs but also for "high-end" criminal endeavors.
