Criminology Final Exam

Why does profiling continue to be used if it isn't reliable?

1. media glamorization 2. organizational culture (insular police departments) 3. circularity: seen as "good practice" in criminal investigations, so demand substitutes for validity

NJC Chap 4: Five impediments to re-entry

(1.) Housing: • If people have no one to stay with, it is hard to find a place to live. • In the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1998, public housing agencies can develop their own exclusion criteria and deny eligibility for even the most minor offenses. • They follow the "One Strike and You're Out" policy, but this is hard for tenants who did not even know that criminal activity was going on (such as a woman evicted because her daughter had cocaine a few blocks from home). These families are vulnerable and have nowhere to go (2.) Work: • Employers can deny jobs to people even if they were just arrested for, not convicted of, a crime. • Checking the box almost always means a job applicant will not get the job. Many of them already suffer from functional illiteracy and poor education, and the inability to get a job adds to their marginalization. • In addition, if a person does not have a car, this makes getting a job even more difficult. (3.) Debt: • Drug treatment, collection fees, and child support are difficult to keep up with and many people are shackled by this debt. • Some even go back to jail; the threat of parole or probation revocation is used as a debt-collection tool. • Alexander: This is not far from the days of Reconstruction when former slaves and their children were arrested for minor reasons and then had to work off debt in convict leasing. (4.) Food: Thanks to Clinton's restructuring of welfare in 1996, there is a five-year limit on food and clothing benefits, and states have to permanently bar individuals with drug-related felony convictions from federally funded public assistance. (5.) Disenfranchisement • Forty-eight states and D.C. bar inmates from voting, and most states prohibit it on parole or a period of time that sometimes encompasses the rest of one's life. • The United Nations Human Rights Committee calls these restrictions discriminatory and a violation of international law but so far nothing has been done. • For ex-offenders who have the right to vote, the bureaucratic maze of papers and fines can be insurmountable. Some people are told they could not vote when, in fact, they could, and believed this because it made sense.

FBI Fraud Investigation Focus

Falsification of financial information • False accounting entries and/or misrepresentations of financial condition; • Fraudulent trades designed to inflate profits or hide losses; and • Illicit transactions designed to evade regulatory oversight. Self-dealing by corporate insiders • Insider trading (trading based on material, non-public information); Kickbacks; • Misuse of corporate property for personal gain; and • Individual tax violations related to self-dealing. Fraud in connection with an otherwise legitimately operated mutual hedge fund • Late trading; • Certain market timing schemes; and • Falsification of net asset values.

Three Main Perspectives on Crime Stats Within Criminology

Functionalists (positivists): • "Functionalist"is a generic term for a positivist who believes that rigorous observation of criminal acts offers an accurate an unbiased picture of social deviance. • On the basis of this perspective, what would you expect the functionalist stance on crime stats to be? **Functionalists tend to accept crime stats uncritically Labeling theorists • Scholars in this camp argue that "crime" is a social construction, reflecting the values and interests of institutional powers • "Real crime" goes beyond perpetrator-victim discrete acts **Labeling theorists argue that crime stats are unhelpful. Stats are "constructed" to present a distorted picture of reality. **They are more interested in "why" questions: Why are some people/groups seen as more deviant than others? Critical social criminologists (Hagedorn, Reiman) • Scholars in this camp stress that there is systematic bias in favor of wealthy people in the criminal justice system • As a general rule, the higher a person is in society and in corporate organizations, the lower his/her chance of criminal scrutiny and conviction **Critical social scholars, such as Hagedorn (gang studies) and Reiman (white-collar crime) argue that official crime statistics distort the picture of criminal conduct by focusing on poor people and people of color rather than crimes committed by the powerful (financial fraud, for example). **For them, too, official crime stats are of limited use.

Hate Groups Online

KKK online: • According to the author, Klan sites promote white supremacy but also • Christianity • heteronormative masculinity • family values • In other words, these identities intersect Intersectionality: • This is the idea that multiple identities (race, gender, sexuality, etc.) overlap and inform each other • This happens at the individual level and at the group level • Most frequently used by scholars to analyze systems of oppression and domination in society

White-Collar Crime 11/13/17

Key Thinker: Sutherland ❖ Differential association theory (1.) Criminal behavior is learned. (2.) Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons. (3.) Criminals are not fundamentally different from non-offenders (4.) A person becomes a criminal when s/he perceives violation of the law to be more favorable than unfavorable. -White collar crime coined by Sutherland in 1939 - this criminal behavior differs from the criminal behavior of the lower socioeconomic class principally in the administrative procedures which are used in dealing with the offenders; and that variations in administrative procedures are not significant from the point of view of causation of crime. -"[M]any of the defendants in usual criminal cases, being in relative poverty, do not get good defense and consequently secure little benefit from these rules; on the other hand, [wealthy defendants do]."

Hate Crime Law Policy Domain

Key interest groups: -Civil rights activists, women's liberation movement, gay and lesbian awareness & rights movements, and progressive religious groups **One of the major achievements of the anti-hate crime movement is that it unites disparate social movements.

Robert Merton's Deviance Typology

Rebellion: -ignores mainstream goals of profit, professional success -chooses new paradigms of goals, happiness -creates new means of achieving goals -Ex: Chris McCandless who lived in rural Alaska and died alone in an abandoned bus (Into the Wild) Opportunity structures -what makes a person an innovator, a ritualist, a rebel, and so forth? -Post-Merton, sociologists argued that it's not just individual characteristics. -We also have to look at a person's social situation, in particular their access to different opportunity structures. -Basic idea: certain groups have access to the institutions and resources that make conformity a realistic or desirable option. -Some groups are excluded from those institutions and resources (formal education, job opportunities, mentorship, secure housing). They may have to resort to illegitimate opportunity structures.

According to cultural theorists of crime, what do cultural and ethnic background have to do with criminal behavior? (p. 196) What does the principle "people are born equal" mean in this context?

Sellin saw that in early 20th century American immigrants came with new cultures. Conflicts occur when minority culture values differ from the majority. "primary culture conflict refers to those case where the norms of the subordinate culture are considered criminal in the new (dominant culture) Secondary culture conflict refers to instances where segments within the same culture differ as to the acceptability of conduct norms."

Why might a global perspective be important in both understanding and fighting criminal gangs? (p. 200)

Some scholars argue that in order to understand gang activity, must understand it in the context of globalization, urbanization. "as part of a global phenomenon in which global economics has led to the redivision of city spaces across the globe, and urbanization in nations worldwide has provided the prime conditions for the growth of gangs."

UCR/NIBRS vs. NCVS

UCR & NIBRS: • Covers: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, commercial burglary, car theft, larceny-theft, and arson • Sources: monthly police reports, state agencies • Scope: national crime counts, also colleges and universities, cities and towns, counties, N.A. tribal land • Primary objective: to generate reliable data for law enforcement • Reported crimes only • Includes homicide, arson, commercial crimes, and crimes against children • Imputes intent (i.e., burglary = "unlawful entry or attempted entry with intent to commit a theft") • Crime rates are per capita (# of crimes per 100,000 persons) NCVS: • Covers: rape, sexual assault, personal robbery, aggravated and simple assault, household burglary, theft • Sources: US Census Bureau conducts telephone interviews with representative sample of 43,000 households (2x year) • Scope: national crime counts, household and individual level • Primary objective: to generate representative data on victims' experiences • Reported and unreported crimes • Excludes homicide, arson, commercial crimes, crimes against children • Does not impute intent (burglary = "unlawful entry or attempted entry") • Crime rates are per household (# of crimes per 1,000 households)

Chap 9 The Sick Society Summary

the structure of society as a whole can affect human behavior, including deviance Key ideas and people: -Anomie (Emile Durkheim) -Strain Theory (Robert Merton) -Differential opportunity structures(Cloward & Ohlin) -Revised Strain Theory (Robert Agnew)

Counterfeit Money Today

• Counterfeiters are given up to 20 years in prison or up to $250,000 fine. If third-party harm is demonstrated, the sentence is longer. • Counterfeiters of gold coins or gold bars can get up to 15 years in prison. • The sentence varies depending on the specifics of the crime. Title eighteen, US Code, sections 470-514 -This is the main compilation of criminal laws -Counterfeit Deterrence Act of 1992 came before

White Collar Crime Key Thinkers

• Edwin Sutherland defined "white collar crime" and built the basic framework for criminological study of financial fraud • Jeffrey Reiman made the connection between "crimes of the powerful" and CJS biased treatment of street vs. corporate offenders • Francesca Gino and colleagues provide insight into individuals' behavior and the influence of organizational environment

Counterfeit & Criminology

• Fake currency is treated as a serious criminal offense: "economic warfare" • Example: North Korean "supernotes" • It is one of the oldest codified crimes in the US. • It straddles street crime and white collar crime.

Early America: counterfeit as a capital crime

• Farnsworth and an accomplice were tried by courts martial • Guilty: "being found about the Encampment of the Armies of The United-States as Spies and having a large sum of counterfeit Money about them" • Fredericksburg, Virginia, HQ of the Continental Army: General Washington issues the death sentence

US Secret Service

• Founded in 1865 • One of the oldest federal law enforcement bodies • Original mission: combat forgery and fake money • Protection for the President added in 1901 after McKinley's assassination • Today: financial security and fraud investigations

Messner and Rosenfeld pivot from individual characteristics and circumstances to macro-level factors behind strain and deviance. Specifically, they focus on the free market economy. According to Messner and Rosenfeld, how does free market idealism contribute to "anomic" tendencies? (p. 232-3)

"American capitalist society, dominated by a market-driven economy, which permeates all social institutions, allows an unfettered pursuit of needs and desires that pays little attention to the legitimacy of the methods used to achieve them." "institutional anomie theory "holds that culturally produced pressures to secure monetary rewards, coupled with weak controls from non-economic social institutions, promote high rates of instrumental criminal activity." -Policy shifts that could address the problem of profit-making, professional success, and self-dependency contributing to deviance and anomie are limiting unnecessary consumption.

Chivalry Hypothesis

"Female crime is not accurately reflected in official crime statistics because women benefit from the knightly virtue of law enforcement agents." (EC p. 282) *Female suspects and offenders are perceived to be less of a threat than their male counterparts *"slap on the wrist" for female shoplifters; jail time for male thieves *May receive a warning, fine, or community service for the same crime that lands a male offender with a criminal conviction

Gang membership: pushes and pulls

"Pulls" are internal factors that entice people out of gangs -family, work, marriage, moving to another area, family exiting the gang, gang disentegration "Pushes" are external factors that nudge people out of gangs -aging out, police harassment, imprisonment/CJS involvement, and personal victimization

Defining "Prison Nation" (Richie)

"The situation in which a neoliberal, law-and-order-oriented social agenda has supplanted the state's willingness to provide basic material resources and opportunity for self-sufficiency for low income groups" (p. 103) "This trend has been called mass incarceration, lockdown, the prison industrial complex, carceral archipelago, the celling of America, the American gulag, and the New Jim Crow" (p. 103). -Richie's contribution is to extend the discussion to policy choices that end up punishing women who are part of carceral communities but not imprisoned themselves -Low-income Black women, in particular, lose social services support and community level informal support and protection

Beth Richie, Arrested Justice

-In chapter 4, "Buildup of a prison nation," Richie looks at the broader context of what happens to Black women who experience male violence but are let down by social services and the criminal justice system. -Her main thesis: The anti-violence movement has been effective in identifying and denouncing Black men's unjust treatment by the CJS, but at the expense of Black women's rights and protections -The very people who should have advocated for Black women - feminists and Black anti-violence activists - failed them

Francesca Gino

"Under what conditions are individuals most likely to relax their ethical standards and overstate their effort [billable hours] at the expense of their organization, institutions, and clients? Premise 1: Organizational environment affects our behavior • reward systems • norms and culture • codes of conduct • visual stimuli (i.e., reminders of money Premise 2: Organizations have many reasons to create a "wealthy environment' • display individual members' success • competitive advantage over other firms • motivate employees to work hard • assure stakeholders that the firm is thriving ***Organizational environment does encourage cheating according to Gino and Pierce.

White Collar Crime Definition and Elements

"White collar crime is a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." Offender element: high social status individual Offense element: occupationally-based **For Sutherland, it is not necessary to prove criminal intent in white collar crimes, only the criminal act is sufficient. **He knew it was difficult to prove intent when prosecuting a financial fraud. (It still is.) ❖ He recognized that high-status individuals win juror sympathy in a way that ordinary "street criminals" do not. Therefore, he hoped to shift away from individual motives and mental states. ❖ "I didn't know it was wrong" or "Everybody was doing it" not sufficient excuses.

US DOJ Definition of White Collar Crime

"White-collar offenses shall constitute those classes of non-violent illegal activities which principally involve traditional notions of deceit, deception, concealment, manipulation, breach of trust, subterfuge or illegal circumvention."

"Precarious Situations" For Black Women

(1.) Communities are suspicious of law enforcement because of aggressive tactics and occasional maltreatment (2.) A woman's gender performance or family structure threatens normative expectations (3.) A woman attempts to protect herself, physically or legally (4.) A woman is at risk of such extreme violence that she has to choose from among very bad options (p. 101) -African-American teenager, "Tanya" (Arrested Justice Introduction) -High school student in Chicago Unplanned pregnancy; went into labor at school (live birth) -Placed the newborn in a backpack and deposited it in a dumpster near the school. Why would she do this? -Richie: "A dramatic and troubling narrative emerged that portrayed a ruthless, irresponsible, and brutally uncaring young Black woman whose unconscionable behavior was heroically revealed [by the press.]" (p. 5) -On the contrary, she argues, "Childhood sexual abuse, adolescent intimate-partner violence, and racial stigma and isolation [...] resulted in the young woman's feelings of hopelessness" (p. 6) The institutions that should have supported the young woman and her baby were not held accountable.

Unreported crimes by victims: why?

(1.) Mistrust/fear of police ("It will backfire, and I'll end up getting myself into trouble.") (2.) Mistrust/cynicism ("the system doesn't work") (3.) Fear of reprisals (4.) Blame self for the crime (5.) Not convinced that the act was serious enough to interest the police

US: Three Main Crime Data Sources (10/25/17)

(1.) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) -Conducted by Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) -Criminal Victimization in the United States (2.) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program -Conducted by FBI -Crime in the United States (3.) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) -Collected by FBI **All are overseen by the US Dept. of Justice

Three Preconditions for the Buildup of the Prison Nation

(1.) Political and economic divestment from low income communities. -Divestment is the strategic elimination of "services that were designed to provide a minimum standard of income, housing, health, and education" (p. 106) -Evidence: sustained, significant cuts in AFDC, supplemental security income, health care, housing, and public K-12 -Low-income, urban Black communities have been particularly hard-hit **Similar to critical gang studies: Hagedorn rejected social ecology explanations. He argued instead that gangs are not just a byproduct of spatial arrangements, but an instrumental response to political and economic alienation. (EC p. 198) (2.) Co-optation of resistance strategies -Both feminists and Black anti-violence activists have overlooked black women's needs (3.) Isolation and criminalization -Black churches have traditionally been a source of support for Black women and children -That is still true, but they are typically unsympathetic to women who have non-normative families, multiple partners, Same-sex partners, non-conforming gender identities **Women who feel let down or threatened by their neighbors and community members are less likely to report abuse, which can also means that their children are at risk of violence and abuse.

Criticisms of Feminist Theories

(1.) Radical feminism essentializes sex roles and repeats the mistakes of Lombroso (2.) Liberal feminism equates women's empowerment with deviance and crime (3.) Socialist feminism sees women and men as pawns in capitalist structures, leaving out the possibility of self-determination

Who was Robert Merton? How did his theory of anomie differ from Durkheim's? (p. 220)

(a.) Be sure that you can identify and understand the five ways that individuals respond to differential opportunities (pp. 220-2). The main difference between Durkheim's understanding and Merton's was that "Merton shifted the emphasis of anomie from a breakdown of, or a failure to develop, adequate moral or normative regulation to "differential access to opportunity structures" that, combined with the egalitarian ideology, produced relative deprivation." Pg. 219. Think reference group, Merton varies from Durkheim in thinking that human appetites are not natural but culturally defined. MACRO LEVEL (b.) MERTON'S FIVE WAYS TO RESPOND TO OPPORTUNITIES 1. Conformity (goals legit, legit ways to acquire them) 2. Innovation (accept goals, alternative ways to accomplish them) 3. Ritualism (reject GOALS, accept means) 4. Retreatism (reject both goals and means. An option when society's means seen as futile to attain goals). 5. Rebellion (reject goals and replaces them with new ones)

Robert Agnew's "general strain theory" made some important refinements to Durkheim's and Merton's theories of anomie and strain.

(a.) What are the four sources of strain, according to Agnew? (p. 229) MICROLEVEL. Structural and psychological strain. -The four sources: failing to achieve goals, removal of positive stimuli, presentation of negative stimuli, and failure for achievements to meet expectations. (b.) What were his main contributions to strain theory? Why do psychological processes matter in explaining crime and deviance? (p. 230) -teens experience disadvantages in power relations (living with family, schools) and may resort to delinquent behavior to cope. Pg. 230 "analysis of the psychological processes that convert structurally induced frustrations and negative emotions into delinquent actions..."

Gendered Theories in Criminology

*Sex and gender do play a role in crime and punishment, but no single factor (biology or capital) explains everything. -In general, society has different standards and expectations for girls and boys, men and women. Whereas boys are seen as active and adventurous exhibitionists, girls are seen as mature and emotionally manipulative. As a result, boys are policed more for "masculine" criminal activities and girls are policed more for gender-inappropriate deviance -Sex: usually a fixed, physical characteristic (cisgender women, biologically female and socially female, are though to benefit from chivalric treatment in CJS) -Gender: a collection of individualistic characteristics that determine whether an individual is treated as masculine or feminine (feminine characteristics in men can result in abuse within the CJS, such as police treatment, sentencing, and jail time)

Durkheim's theory of anomie

-"Crime is any action that offends the collective feelings of the members of society." (EC p. 213) -Anomie is a "breakdown in the ability of society to regulate the natural appetites of individuals" -including desire for money. -Like Jeremy Bentham, he believed that natural human desires had to be controlled in order to create a well-balanced, harmonious society. Anomie: breakdown in social norms via uncontrolled, natural human appetites Strain theory: "appetite" is the wrong idea. Our goals are socially structured and sanctioned

Hate Crimes Law Evolution

-1981: Anti-Defamation League creates a model hate crime law, which includes 5 statutes: 1. Institutional vandalism 2. Intimidation (assault, trespass, harassment) 3. Civil action for (1) and (2) 4. Data collection 5. Special police training

What is the impact of mass incarceration on families? 11/6/17

-2 in 3 families had difficulty meeting basic needs as a result of their loved one's conviction and incarceration. -70% of these families were caring for their children under 18. -Nearly 1 in 5 survey participants' families were unable to afford housing due to the loss of income resulting from their loved one's incarceration. -On average, families paid $13,607 in court-related costs. These costs amount to nearly one year's income for low-income families making less than $15,000 per year. -83% of family members primarily responsible for these costs were women. -1 in 5 families across income levels reported that they had to take out a loan to cover these costs.

What's a bank run?

-Bank run: In a fractional reserve banking system, it's when so many customers withdraw their money simultaneously that the bank defaults on its loans. -Fractional-reserve system: only a portion of customer deposits are kept on hand in cash. The larger portion is loaned out or invested.

Social Ecology Theory (Chap 8 Crimes of Place)

-Basic idea: certain neighborhoods, homes, and places remain crime problems for years, regardless of the specific people who live there -Social ecology "seeks to explain what it is that makes some geographical areas more prone to certain kinds of crime than other areas—why are certain cities, and certain areas of those cities more prone to gang activity than other areas." Why patterns persist even when people move out. -Take note of the limits of this theory: for example, cities are not exactly like ecosystems found in nature, but instead are shaped by policies and human decisions (pp. 188-189 -Needed to also account for how political and economic power affect their theory. Another criticism was that the theory relied too much on aggregate knowledge of deviance. Didn't show that structural factors led to disorganization --> higher crime rates. Also their study was all from police data and court records; absence of self-reports or victimization data.

Francesca Geno Experiment 2

-But why do people cheat? -What are the mechanisms behind the abundance effect? -Second experiment: 9 valid words of 3 letters (or more) each, done in 2 minutes with 7 letters -PLUS new task: Zodiac and Personality Survey (designed to assess feelings of envy) Results: -The abundance effect was again supported. -Environmental wealth stirs feelings of envy. -The experience of envy ("I wish I had that money") increases people's likelihood to engage in unethical behavior for personal gain.

FBI Core Financial Fraud Classifications

-Corporate fraud -Financial Institution Fraud (mortgages, health care) -Identity theft -Money Laundering -Piracy

John Hagedorn's Insights

-Earlier studies explained urban gangs as a problem of social ecology. Frederic Thrasher, for example, argued that gangs are likely to form in industrial areas where there is "an absence of integrating values." (EC p. 197) -Hagedorn rejected social ecology explanations. He argued instead that gangs are not just a byproduct of spatial arrangements, but an instrumental response to political and economic alienation. (EC p. 198) -The real problem with social ecology theory (SET), for Hagedorn, is that it lets political and financial interests off the hook. • SET sees social structures as naturally occurring via space, population, and historical change • Hagedorn insists that criminogenic conditions are not natural at all, but rather constructed and imposed by policymakers and financiers. Implications of Hagedorn's work and critical gang studies: • Gangs should be understood as social actors. They are dynamic and adaptable. • Gangs are not just for misfits or mean people. They provide a platform to respond to political and economic marginalization. • Alternative normative structures w/in an area • Informal economic activity • And yes, violence. Major take-away: We cannot understand gangs in strictly local or spatial terms. (This is why social ecology theory is of limited use to Hagedorn.) Instead, we have to understand gangs as a global phenomenon linked with transnational processes of capital shifts, population growth, border wars, and climate change.

Early studies of gangs argued that boys and young men were attracted to gangs because they provided comradeship, protection on the streets, and an outlet for youthful aggression. John Hagedorn introduced a very different perspective on gangs. What were the main points to his argument? (pp. 198-199)

-Hagedorn saw gang formation as a response to political marginalization. "angry, alienated political reactions to a loss of identity and community, reflecting both the economics and the politics of deindustrialization." Gangs are organizations of the socially excluded. While gangs begin as unsupervised peer groups and most remain so, some institutionalize in barrios, favelas, ghettos, and prisons. Most gangs share a racialized or ethnic identity and a media-diffused oppositional culture.

Five Specialist FBI Behavioral Analysis Units

1. behavioral analysis unit-1 - counterterrorism/arson/bombing 2. behavioral analysis unit-2 - cyber/white collar crime/public corruption 3. behavioral analysis unit-3 - crimes against children 4. behavioral analysis unit-4 - crimes against adults 5. behavioral analysis unit-5 - (research, strategy, and instruction)

Robert Park and Social Ecology Theory

-Park studied insect ecology as a way to understand human social behavior Competition and social action -Park took inspiration from Charles Darwin. He say competition as an inherent feature of human societies. -Darwin studies species' adaptations to environmental change. -Park studied humans' ability to adapt to social change - especially cities -Park used Darwinian notion of a "web of life" to illustrate the comparison between natural and urban environments -Bottom line: social ecology is not just about competition and hierarchy -The central idea that Park explored: "All parts of the environment are interdependent and are moved by individual, collective, and ecological forces." How does social ecology explain crime? -One of the key ideas of social ecology is the fact that high rates of crime and other problems persist within the same neighborhoods over long periods of time regardless of who lives there. -There must be something about the places themselves, rather than the people living there, that produces and perpetuates high crime rates. Social ecologists have a 4-stage system for describing social processes: (1.) competition: exists at the biological level in that it is universal to all living things (2). conflict: exists at the conscious level in that it is related to periodic disputes over social status or limited resources (3.) Accommodation: involves a temporary suspension of conflict through social control and the subordination of one of the parties involved in the conflict (4.) Assimilation: involves a resolution of the related conflict through assimilation into a common culture. (debated issue)

Recap: How are crime statistics compiled? (11/20/17)

-Police reports -Victim surveys (DOJ official statistics --> UCR & NCVS) -Self-report studies (asking people to report honestly on crimes they have committed, i.e. drug use, theft, tax fraud) What are they trying to measure? -Patterns • A link between one variable and another (for example, gender and type of crime) • A group of two or more crimes linked through unique characteristics (i.e., location, method of crime, victim profile, concise time frame) -Ex: Abduction attempts in October, 2017. Female victims walking alone, approached from behind by suspect wearing hooded black sweatshirt who covered their mouth, but ran after witnesses saw -Trends • A change over time; a persistent, long-term rise or fall in data covering 5 years or more -Ex: Homicide rates in the US

Francesca Geno Experiment 1

-Recruit college students (n = 53) to perform an anagram task under controlled conditions. Ask them to self-correct and self-report. Assess honesty of the participants in self-reporting their performance. -Task: In 2 minutes, create as many words as you can from these 7 letters. Words must be two or more letters long, use each letter no more than once per word; no non-English words or proper names. -Stated goal: 12 words in 2 minutes. Each participant got $3 for each round in which s/he met this goal. Results: -Wealthy environment: • On average, 46.8% of participants actually met the goal. • 77.8% of participants claimed to have met it -Poor environment: • On average, 43.3% of participants actually met the goal. • 57.7% of participants claimed to have met it. -The average overstatement score for participants was significantly higher in the wealthy condition than in the poor condition. Additional interventions in the lab experiment confirmed Hypothesis 1: "The presence of abundant wealth increases the likelihood of individuals to behave unethically for personal gain." **People Cheat More, rather than more people cheating. • Overall, there was about the same number of individual cheaters in both environments (wealthy and poor). • The difference: wealthy environment cheaters overstated their performance by a greater magnitude than did poor environment cheaters.

The New Jim Crow Chap. 4: The Cruel Hand

-What explains the high rate of recidivism? -Alexander examines 5 structural factors, then argues that these constitute a "heavy hand" laid upon (primarily) poor African-Americans • Alexander takes the title of this chapter from an 1853 speech by Frederick Douglass. She begins by arguing that the position of freedmen in the 19th century is not much different to that of felons freed from prison today. • Then as now, freed criminals face intense stigma, surveillance and exclusion, and are constantly at risk of being sent back to prison or being harmed or killed by a police officer. Ex-offenders as second-class citizens -When a defendant is offered a plea deal, they are not told that admitting guilt will rob them of: 1. the right to serve on a jury 2. the right to vote -Alexander describes these as "two of the most fundamental rights in modern democracy" -Similarly, they are not told about the maze of rules they will be subject to as a convicted felon, nor about the stigma that will mark them forever. **The disproportionate number of African Americans in prison fits into larger cultural messages that black people are "not wanted in mainstream society." *At the state level, African-Americans are about 6.5 times as likely as whites to be incarcerated for drug-related crimes.

Gendered Theories of Crime Summary Ideas

-Women commit violent crime at lower rates than men -Female-perpetrated homicide typically involves a male victim -Gendered theories try to explain criminal activity, including motive, by looking broadly at sex roles, gender performance, and social structures

Chicago Crime Patterns

-high population density neighborhoods near factories showed high rates of crime. -less dense, suburban neighborhoods with single family homes far from manufacture sites showed lower rates of crime -Rodney Stark saw that "increased population density brings together people from different backgrounds. This coing together increases the level of moral cynicism in a community, and what previously were private conflicts became public knowledge and poor roldes become highly visible. Dense neighborhoods have crowded homes, resulting in a greater tendency for people to congregate in the street and in other public places, which raises the opportunities for crime -Neighborhoods factors: -maybe the stress of poverty nudges people toward violence or deviance -environmental toxicity may trigger behavioral problems -lack of trees, safe parks may drive sense of bleakness, anger -neglect by city officials may exacerbate ecological issues

"Chicago School" of sociological studies of Crime

1. Robert Park: first person to develop concept of social ecology in relation to city life. A city does not develop randomly. Drew insight from plant and animal life concepts of invasion, dominance, and accommodation. 2. Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay: followers of Park; developed Concentric Zone Theory and Spot maps. -Concentric zone theory: city growth was generated by the pressure from the city center to expand outward. These concentric zones were based on patterns of invasion and dominance common in plant life. Each zone had natural neighborhoods with ethnic and social identity 3. Frederic Thrasher: in The Gang, argued that gang membership provides a substitute for family life. Gang membership provides a substitute for the disorganized and fragmented community, one that develops its own values and traditions of loyalty and support for fellow gang members.

Strain Theory

A typology of criminals and non-criminals on the basis of their rejection or acceptance of (a.) society's cultural goals (wanting to make money) and (b.) the institutional means by which to attain those goals. -Strain theory is basically when an individual faces opposition to reach certain goals based on social or cultural factors. Facing these limitations people may resort to illegal activity to accomplish their goals. 212 "crime is unevenly distributed cross individuals within certain collective groups, therefore, because some persons experience more strain than others." -Social strain theory was developed by American sociologist Robert K. Merton. "Strain" refers to the discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. • Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria: (1) a person's motivations or her adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person's belief in how to attain his goals. • A typology is a classification scheme designed to facilitate understanding. • According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.

RQ: Does environmental monetary wealth drive cheating?

Abundant wealth • Definition: "a large pool of visible money or resources that are either shared by organizational members or possessed by individuals within the organization" (Gino & Pierce 2009: 142) • Hypothesis: "the presence of abundant wealth leads to perceptions of inequity among those who operate in the wealthy environment without sharing in its largesse" (Ibid.) "There's a lot of money around. Someone's getting rich. I want to get mine, too." **ENVY: key to understanding unethical behavior

"Crime is a coping mechanism," according to Agnew (p. 230). What does this position have in common with Merton's idea of differential opportunity structures?

Agnew's idea that crime is a coping mechanism is similar to Merton in that when people face emotional strains whether that be more emotion, as in the case of Agnew, or more a lack of opportunities, as in the case of Merton, people resort to crime to cope these disparities.

Enron Scandal (2001)

Company -Houston based commodities, energy and service corporation. What Happened -Shareholders lost $74 billion, thousands of employees and investors lost their retirement accounts and many employees lost their jobs. Main Players -CEO Jeff Skilling and former CEO Ken Lay How they did it -Kept huge debts off the balance sheets How they got caught -Turned in by internal whistle blower Sherron Watkins; high stock prices fueled suspicions.

What is a Hate Crime?

Definition from the Federal Bureau of Investigation: -A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity." Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties. "Hate itself is not a crime" -Investigators look for two things: (1.) Intent (a speech must qualify as a "true threat" (2.) Capacity (the perpetrator must be shown to have been in a position to carry out the threat)

Anomie" is Durkheim's term for a sense of isolation or disenchantment stemming from a breakdown in social values. It speaks to the phenomenon of social and individual fragility. For Durkheim, what role does anomie play in crime? (pp. 213-4)

Durkheim explained crime because of shift to large scale industrial society, people have to compete rather than act as one of group, --> this leads to a breakdown of the "moral authority of the collective conscious." "such a society is in a state of anomie a " breakdown in the ability of society to regulate the natural appetites of individuals." Competition and individualism as seen in these conditions --> to high rates of crime.

Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Act (2009)

Expanded existing law by: • Removing, in the case of hate crimes related to the race, color, religion, or national origin of the victim, the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school • Giving federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crime investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue • Providing $5 million per year in funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2012 to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes • Requiring the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes based on gender and gender identity (statistics for the other groups were already tracked).

Hate Crimes Law Timeline

Mid-1980s: US Congress holds hearings and debates on hate crime, resulting in three new federal laws: 1. Hate Crimes Statistics Act (1990) 2. Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act (1993) 3. Violence Against Women Act (1994) Reauthorizations of the bills resulted in some important changes. • 1996: protections for persons with disabilities added to HCSA and HCSEA • 2012-12: major legislative battle over VAWA reauthorization over whether to include same-sex partners for protections

Women's rates of criminal conviction are on the rise, but is there anything fundamentally different about violent crimes committed by women?

Miranda Barbour Case: -Known as the Craigslist Killer -Nov. 11, 2013: strangled and stabbed Troy LaFerrara after agreeing on Craigslist to have sex with him for $100 -Assisted by her husband, Elyette Barbour. It was his 22nd birthday -Later claimed that she'd killed 22 people "without regret" -Sept. 2014: Miranda and Elyette sentenced to life in prison without parole -Currently held in Muncy State Prison in Pennsylvania -Investigators found no evidence of the other 22 murders. Why would she lie? Aileen Wuoronos Case: -Murdered 7 men between 1989 and 1990 (cod: gun shot) -Claimed they raped or attempted to rape her (later pleaded no contest) -Received multiple life sentences + capital sentence -Executed by lethal injection, Oct. 9, 2002 (1.) Was she really defending herself? active as a sex worker, but also claimed that the men's sexual advances were not reciprocated (2.) Were these robberies gone wrong? at one point, she claimed that she was only trying to take their wallets, but shot them when the men fought back (3. )Was she insane? scored 32/40 on the Psychopathy Checklist (recall: UK minimum is 25; US minimum is 30) Why'd she do it? Explaining murder with feminist theory -Possibility 1: She was oppressed by a patriarchal system that violently undermined her agency/sense of self -Possibility 2: She was mentally disturbed by years of abuse at the hands of male relatives -Possibility 3: She learned violent behavior from the men in her life; they are the source of innate aggression

Profiling: main criticisms

Officers were unable to discern the difference in the amount of accurate info in two profiles that differed substantially in their descriptions of the offender. -Officers were predisposed to accept the profiles as generally accurate -"Barnum effect," whereby individuals subjectively construct meaning around ambiguous statements -when profiling, officers subjectively interpret various statements in a profile as accurate independent of its objective accuracy -Officers were likely to accept the accuracy of a psych profile at face value if written by a professional profiler rather than another type of investigator

Weak Sports in Official Crime Statistics

Police filtering, "Victimless" crimes overlooked, perpetrator doesn't report, victim doesn't report, white-collar crimes excluded, categories change over time

FBI BAU: How do they work?

Process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves: - reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act - interpreting offender behavior - interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene -FBI-BAU agents look for meaning in every detail of the crime. This can help reveal motives, predict patters, and identify the offender. -Psychological profiling is a method used to generate profiles of offenders (criticism is that it doesn't work).

Chap. 8 Critical Gang Studies

Six criteria used by law enforcement to identify gangs: 1. The group has an agreed-upon name 2. Commit crimes together [key criterion] 3. Has one or more identified leaders 4. Socialize together 5. Display or wear common colors or insignia 6. Turf/territory claim Core findings from Thrasher's and Hagedorn's work: • No two gangs are exactly alike. They vary by membership, leaders, organization, interests, activities, and status in the community. • Gangs are bounded not just by territorial lines, but also by demographics, level of organization, and types of activities in which members participate. • They aren't all highly organized and disciplined, especially youth gangs.

How Hate Crimes Issues become Law (10/30/17)

Social movements and interest group politics (policy domain) ---> Legislatures & policymaking ---> Courts & statutory interpretation ---> law enforcement * policing/prosecution Policy domain: the genesis of law -Policy domains: "Components of the political system organized around substantive issues" -The policy domain framework allows us to observe the "larger processes that identified, defined, and ultimately propelled" the issue to become law. -Range of collective actors + those actors' cultural logics, theories, and ideologies = policy domain.

Chap 8 Crimes of Place Summary

Specific places (city blocks, neighborhoods) harbor conditions conducive to high rates of law-breaking Key ideas and people: -Social ecology theory (Park): study of the social and behavior consequences of the interaction between human beings and their environment. -Concentric Zone Theory: spatial explanation of the distribution of social groups and resources within an urban area. Key thinkers: Ernest Burgess, Clifford Shaw, and Henry McKay -Critical gang studies (Hagedorn) -Divestment from Black Urban Communities (Richie) -Organizational environment (Gino & Pierce)

Early History: US Hate Crimes Law

The 1969 federal hate-crime law extended to crimes motivated by actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin, and only while the victim is engaging in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school.

Money Laundering: 3 Steps

This crime takes different forms but, by definition, always involves the following steps: ❖ Placement (initial funneling of illegal proceeds into a legal or quasi-legal business) ❖ Layering (distribution of funds among several actors, institutions) ❖ Integration ("mainstreaming" income flows, often hybrid financial vehicles)

Data Discrepancies: UCR and NCVS

UCR/NIBRS Unreported crimes stemming from: -mistrust of police -fear of reprisal (no snitch culture) -embarrassment about the crime itself NCVS -False or exaggerated reports (Census workers do not attempt to verify reports) -Unintentional inaccuracies (Memory problems, non-professional witnesses) -Forgotten crimes

What are the core propositions of Durkheim's functionalist analysis of crime?

What does "functionalist" mean? -"functionalist sociologists believe that social roles become specialized and work independently to serve the system as a whole. Social institutions are complexes of particular elements of culture and social structure that perform these basic functions of adaptation, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance."

Gendered Theories of Crime 11/8/17

Why are violent crimes overwhelmingly committed by men? Feminist criminologists have offered three responses: (1.) Radical Feminism: It is in men's biological nature to be aggressive and dominant. Crime is simply an expression of men's need to dominate others. (EC p. 284) (2.) Liberal Feminism: Men are socialized to be risk-taking, self-interested individuals and to use coercive power to win. Women's liberation makes them more like men in this way, and hence more prone to commit crimes. (p. 280) (3.) Socialist Feminism: Class exploitation rests on patriarchy, and this combination oppresses women and triggers violence in men who are exploited by the labor system. (p. 289)

Ernest Burgess and Concentric Zone Theory

Zones: (1.) central business district (2.) Zone of transition (3.) Zone of independent workers' homes (4.) Zone of better residences (5.) Commuter's zone Shaw and McKay saw the city as a kind of ecosystem comprised of "natural areas": (1.) Function-related sections -Social, business, residential, and other essential, practical services for a city (2.) Physical barriers -Rivers, Lakes, Large buildings, Major Roads, Walls (3.) Financial divisions -Refers to both rich and poor areas (4.) Ethnic enclaves *These divisions are "natural" in the sense that they feel inevitable and preordained - even unchangeable - to inhabitants *How does CZT explain crime? -Shaw and McKay argued that crime is caused by a breakdown of institutional community-based controls, which in turn is caused by three general factors: industrialization, urbanization, and immigration -They argued that the innermost zone ("downtown") is where you consistently find the highest rates of crime because people living within these areas often lack a sense of community because the local institutions (schools, families, and churches) are not strong enough to provide nurturing and guidance for the area's children -Pushing back against SET, they argued that the concentration of human and social problems within these zones is not the inevitable "natural" result of some abstract laws of nature, but rather the actions of some of the most powerful groups in city (urban planters, politicians, wealthy business leaders, and so on).

Dark Side of Crime

• In criminology, this term refers to criminal acts that go unreported by victims or eyewitnesses • When there are lots of unreported incidents, criminologists describe a category of crime as under-reported by victims • It also refers to criminal acts that are reported to police, but which police choose not to process as a formal report ("under-recorded") -The difference between the official crime rate and the actual crime rate is called the "dark side" of crime Reported Crimes -50% of violent assaults, 30% of property crimes, 20% of domestic violence Unreported and under-recorded crimes -50% of violent assaults, 70% of property crimes, 80% of domestic violence **Two phenomena contribute to the "dark side" of crime statistics (1.) Under-reporting by victims (2.) Under-recording by police

Counterfeit Money 11/16/17

• Intentional fraud: Producing or knowingly using fake currency is a felony. [18 U.S.C. § 470-514] • Unintentional fraud: Unwitting use of fake currency is also a violation of the law. Defendants must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they didn't know. • Felony charges can also be brought on possession of instruments of counterfeit. *David Farnsworth executed for counterfeiting

Examples of Trends vs. Patterns

• Property crimes in the US have fallen since 2002 (Trend) • Of the 12 mass shootings recorded in the US in 2015 and 2016, 11 involved a "lone wolf" shooter (Pattern) • BLM officials reported an uptick in the number of poaching cases on federal lands (Insufficient info) • More women have been arrested for meth production than men since 2015 (Pattern)

Status Provision

• Recognition of a specific group of people in the eyes of the law • Recognition that the group is eligible to receive certain provisions, such as government financial support, special accommodations, and legal protections • Examples: people with disabilities (ADA), women (Title IX), veterans

Revised String Theory

• Robert Agnew focused on microlevel factors rather than macrolevel ones. • Merton: macro; pervasive, society-wide values • Agnew: micro; individual stresses, including psychological -Sources of microlevel stress: peers, family relationships, work/workplace, individual status -Agnew's basic idea is that strain stems from failure. It can be actual or anticipated failure to achieve certain goals or experience positively valued stimuli. -Strain resulting from these sources manifests in negative emotions and "creates pressure for corrective action, with delinquency being one possible response." (EC p. 229) Agnew's main contribution to strain theory: • analyzed the psychological processes that convert structurally induced frustrations and negative emotions into delinquent action • "If you treat people badly, they might get mad and engage in delinquency." (EC p. 230) • "The ultimate source of crime is negative treatment by others." (EC p. 230)

Under-recording by police

• Severity. The crime may be considered too minor to warrant a formal report • Social status of the victim. Homeless people, addicts, and parolees receive different treatment from the police than do higher-income, non-felon individuals. • Subjective classification decisions. A "minor assault" may be reported locally but not nationally. • Suspect status. Police officers are more likely to let someone off the hook if s/he is deferential, cooperative, stable. (Labeling theory) • Superior officers impact recording rates by the expectations they set for their beat cops. • "Don't bother me with minor stuff" vs. "Be sure you record everything carefully"

James Byrd Jr. Case; Jasper, TX June 1998

• Shawn Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and John King dragged Byrd for three miles behind a pickup truck along an asphalt road. • Byrd, who remained conscious throughout most of the ordeal, was killed when his body hit the edge of a culvert, severing his right arm and head. • The perpetrators drove on for another mile before dumping his torso in front of a predominantly African-American cemetery in Jasper

Matthew Shepard Case

• Shepard was an undergraduate (poli sci major) at the University of Wyoming. He identified as gay. • On the night of October 6, 1998, he met two men in a bar. They chatted for a while, then Shepard accepted a ride home from them. • The men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, drove Shepard to a remote area outside of town -Both subjects tied him to a buck fence and continued to beat and terrorize him while he was begging for his life. The defendant and Mr. Henderson were successful in their attempts to obtain the victim's address from Mr. Shepard in an effort to burglarize his home.

US Currency Security

• The US government issues currency bills in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 • Secret Service works with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to ensure secure, authentic bills • Security features were last enhanced in 2013 • Key tactics: watermarks, microprinting, security ribbon, raised printing **Portrait Watermark -hold the note to light to see the watermark **3-D Security Ribbon -tilt $100 note back and forth, and images of bells change to 100s as the note moves **Raised Printing -move your finger up and down Benjamin Franklin's shoulder (should feel rough to touch) **Microprinting -look carefully to see small printed words

Case Study: Martha Steward

❖ Convicted of 4 counts of obstruction of justice in the government's investigation of ImClone stock sell-off ❖ Stewart was a shareholder ❖ Acting on insider info, she sold $230,000 worth of stock a day before a key FDA decision about an ImClone product ❖ CEO Samuel Waksal sentenced to 7 yrs 3 months "That was a moment in time"

Grattet & Jenness Hate Crimes Law

❖ Hate crimes law came into being when multiple interest groups rallied for special protections from violence ❖ "Status provisions" were articulated in the process of lawmaking ❖ Some groups are not included ❖ elderly, children, red-heads, lefties

US Marshals Service

❖ Oldest law enforcement agency in the United States (created in 1789 under Pres. Washington) ❖ part of the Executive Branch ❖ Enforcement arm of the federal courts ❖ prisoner transportation ❖ fugitive operations ❖ Witness Protection Program

Crime analysis: key terms

❖ count: simple tally (add up the numbers in a single category to get a total) ❖ per capita: by/for each person/unit of population (literally, "per head") ❖ reliability: Consistency, stability, or dependability of the data measurement; if repeated a second time, will give the same results that it did the first time. Reliability does not necessarily indicate validity. ❖ validity: Accuracy of a data measurement. If a measurement is valid, it is also reliable.