SOC 2700
Contingency Principle
- "the procriminal/anticriminal content of the messages communicated by the boys pr the behaviour patters athat are rehearsed and subject to reinforcement and punishment contingencies
Cesare Lombroso
- relied on Darwin's theory of evolution to argue that criminals were biological throwbacks to an earlier evolutionary stage - Atavistic People = more primitive and less highly evolved - Autopsied 66 criminals and presented findings in book L'uomo Delinquente (The Criminal Man) - Several physical characteristics linked to criminal behaviour
Law
- relies primarily on the external application of formal negative sanctions in the form of punishment for wrongdoing - sanctions are supported by the legitimized and authoritative coercion of the state
Natural Surveillance (CPTED)
- remove anything that blocks surveillance eg. trees, high walls
Masculinities Theory (Messerschmidt)
- resort to crime as an expression of masculinity - masculinities vary by class and race -
Role of school in delinquency (Elliot and Voss)
- school dropouts had less offenses when they dropped out than when they were in school - But still had more offenses that graduates
Expressive Social Support (Colvin)
- sharing and ventilation of emotions and the affirmation of one's self-worth and dignity
Territoriality (CPTED)
- showing you own something eg. wearing Guelph merch shows you are a protector of Guelph
Transition
- significant life event that results in shift in roles
Peacemaking Criminology (Pepinsky & Quinney) (Fuller & Wozniak)
- If suffering can be ended, crime will be ended - cannot be evaluated empirically - philosophy rather than theory - opposed to capital punishment -
Differential Opportunity and Delinquent Subcultures (Cloward and Ohlin)
- Individual must be in deviant or conforming learning environments -
Patriarchal Society and Crime
- James Messerschmidt - criminality of women and the violent crime of lower class men both result from their powerlessness whereas corporate crimes and sexual crimes against women are the result of male power
Constraint (Tittle)
- Likelihood that potential controls will be exercised
Robinson's Integrated Systems Theory
- Link between genetic-environmental interaction and early antisocial behaviour - prenatal conditions can impact these variables - Parenting affects the brain through: attachment, discipline, nutrition and peers - Community Characteristics eg poverty, urbanization - Institutional Problems: antisocial behaviour and turning points
Evaluating Marxist Theory
- Marxists argue that the only way to evaluate Marxist theory is to look at history
MAOA "The Warrior Gene"
- Monoamine Oxidase - responsible for the breakdown of of neurotransmitters - LOW MAOA activity results in significantly high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine which may bring about low self-control and heightened aggression
Attachment (Hirschi)
- Most important social bond for the internalization of values and norms
White Murderer with Black Victim
- No life sentence
Instrumentalist Marxism (Quinney)
- Political state as an instrument of the capitalist class
Structural Marxism
- Political state has relative autonomy - Capitalist class isn't entirely monolithic - There is conflict within capitalist class - in the long run however, state does reflect capitalist values
Crime and Punishment in America by liberal author Elliot Currie
- Poverty, income inequality and lack of social services is main cause of crime - lengthy incarceration is not effective - Solutions: preventing child abuse and neglect, enhancing social and intellectual development, multisystemic therapy - interventions based on rehabilitation and combatting poverty
Race Differences in Processing (Bishop and Leiber)
- Race differences in processing are more prominent with juvenile offenders vs adult offenders - BUT the race affect is indirect at best - Discretionary decisions are more likely to produce such disparities in minor offences
Pluralistic Conflict Model (Akers)
- recognize several power centers - admit that criminal law does embody some common values - competing interest groups attempt to uphold their values through legislature and government
Giordano's Life-Course Perspective on Social Learning
- redefinitions can be influential in the desistance process - definitions favourable/unfavourable to the law are learned through socialization and can be redefined over time given new soicla or intimate interactions
Individual Difference Theories (Bernard and Snipes)
- reflect common sense observation that some people are more likely than others to commit crime
Conflict Theory of Law
- why are some acts defined as criminal while others are not - the formulation and enforcement of the law directly and indirectly are more likely to serve the interests of the more powerful groups in society
Economic Marginalization Hypothesis
- women are poor, underemployed and lacking alternatives to criminal means of providing for themselves and their dependents -
The Second Shift
- women in the workforce but division of labour at home still unequal so they come home to face their second shift
The Paternalism Hypothesis
- women offenders are treated more leniently not because of chivalry but because men see them as being too weak and passive to learn from punishment in the justice system
The Jukes (Richard Dugdale)
- worked for the Prison Association of New York - Found six members of one family in a country jail in 1874 - Traced the family back over 200 years and found history of pauperism, prostitution, fornication, and illegitimacy - concluded family had a degenerate nature - wanted degenerates to be sterilized
mala in se
- wrong in themselves
mala prohibita
- wrong only because they have been prohibited by law
Major Classes of Criminals according to Lombroso
-Born Criminals (1/3 of offenders): atavistic reversions to a lower primitive state - Insane Crimnals: Idiots, melancholia patients and other mental patients - Criminaloids (Most offenders): Did not have any specific physical or mental characteristics but their mental and emotional makeup were such that under certain circumstances they engage in criminal behaviour
Crime, Its Causes and Remedies by Cesare Lombroso
-Included environmental factors such as climate, rainfall, price of grain, sex and marriage customs, criminal laws, banking practices, national tariff policies, the structure of church and government and the state of religious belief
Tittle's Control Balance Theory
-draws from differential association theory, anomie, marxian conflict, social control, labelling, deterrence and routine activities theories - the amount of control to which an individual is subject and the amount of control he is able to exercise determines the probability of deviance and type of deviance - Deviance occurs when one attempts to alter his control ratio - Deviance is likely when control ration is imbalanced in any form
Criteria for evaluating criminological theories
-internal logical consistency -scope and parsimony -testability -usefulness and policy implication -empirical validity
End to End Models (Integrated Theories)
-step by step process of theories usually from macro to micro
Endomorphic Physique -----> Viscerotonic Temperament
-tendency to put on fat, -soft roundness through various regions of the body - short tapering of the limbs - small bones - soft, smooth velvety skin Result: - a comfortable person - a softie - still an extrovert
The Great American Crime Decline
1990's to Present Day
Involvement Decisions
= decisions made before the event
Negative Definitions of criminal behaviour
Conventional beliefs
Types of Specialized Delinquent Subcultures (Cloward and Ohlin)
Criminal Subculture: youth gangs committing income-producing crimes - found in lower class ethnic neighbourhoods - provide criminal role models Conflict Subculture: fighting gangs - status gained by being tough - found in socially disorganized lower class neighbourhoods with very few illegal opportunities to replace legal ones - few successful adult role models - unable to achieve economic success so they turn to violent gangs Retreatist Subculture - focused on the consumption of drugs and alcohol - give up on both goals and means
Differential Social Location in Groups
Indviduals' memberships in and relation to primary, secondary and reference groups eg. family, peers, leisure groups, colleagues
Back Cloth
- where convergence of potential offenders and victims occur
Nodal Activity Points
- where large groups of people aggregate
Primary Conflict
- which group's cultural norms get to dominate
Primary Deviance
- prior ro public labelling - unorganized, inconsistent and infrequent law violations
Involvement (Hirschi)
- "idle hands are the devil's workshop". Being busy limits opportunities for delinquent activities
Fully Integrated Model (Integrated Theories)
- pick out concepts from different theories and put them together
The Central Nervous System and Crime
(Raine) - Frontal dysfunction may characterize violent offenders - Temporal Lobe Dysfunction may characterize sexual offenders
Social Learning Theory (Akers)
-
Differential Peer Association
(Jones and Jones, 2000) - Cohesion network: direct communication among peers - Structural Equivalence: consists of people who occupy the same niche in society (Warr, 2002) - mechanisms of peer influence consistent with differential reinforcement - negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, imitation and definitions
Coercion and Social Support
(Colvin, Cullin and Vander Ven) - individuals are intimidated by forces that create fear and anxiety - Strength and Consistency of Coercive Force - Erratic coercion leads to anger due to unjust treatment - consistent coercion reduces criminal behaviour with side effects like depression and low prosocial behaviour - Consistent social support produces trust and moral commitments - erratic social support leads to unhealthy relationships with individual and institutions -best scenario: consistent support with little or no coercion
Delinquent Gangs
(Curry, Decker and Egley, 2002) - gang involvement and even association increases involve in self-reported and official delinquency
Restatement of Social Disorganization Theory
- (Bursick and Gramsick, 1993) claim that Shaw & McKay proposed that social disorganization undermines informal social controls within the community and neighbourood this allowing high rates of crime to occur - the absence of social control is a key concept behind social disorganization - (Sampson and Groves, 1989) preoffered an empirical model of social disorganization - includes external factors affecting social disorganization eg. class, residential mobility, family disruption - includes three other key measures of social disorganization Eg. lack of supervision of teen gangs, informal friendship networks, participation in formal organizations - Most external factors related to social disorganization; measures of social disorganization were good predictors of rates of crime victimization - (Veysey and Messner, 1999) external factors sometimes had stronger effects on crime than the other indicators of social disorganization
Depression and Delinquency
- (Eisenberg) depressed children experience shame and tend to lack empathy for other people - (Capaldi) delinquency causes depression by resulting in rejection in adolescent relationships - (Carron and Rutter) some other factor such as parents' depression causes both depression and delinquency
Association between IQ and Delinquency
- (Gordon) suggested that ineffective child-rearing practices by low IQ parents can cause delinquency among low IQ children - (Hirschi and Hindelang) IQ influences delinquency by its affect on school performance - (Hirschi and Gottfredson) youths with low intelligence tend to seek short-term immediate gratification - (Jane Mercer) IQ tests have cultural bias - (Simons) IQ measures general abilities which are largely determined by a person's environment
Psychopaths
- (Hare) A small group characterized by egocentricity, grandiosity, impulsivity, recklessness, contentment with self and total lack of conscience - (Cleckley) the majority of criminals are not psychopaths and the majority of psychopaths are not criminals -
Delinquent Involvement
- (Wikstrom and Loebe, 2000) delinquent involvement which begun in latter teenage years is related to neighbourhood disadvantage and instability - (Jang and Johnson, 2001) measured social disorganization with perceptions of neighbourhood disorder and tested its relationship to adolescents substance abuse - significant relationship - individuals' religiosity acts as a protective factor for youth in disordered neighbourhoods
Impulsivity and Crime
- (Wilson and Herrnstein) crime is rewarding therefore we would all commit crime if we did not have internal inhibitions against it Other factors that influence impulsivity and crime (Wilson and Herrnstein) - family life (poor child-rearing techniques) - membership in subcultures (street gangs) - Mass Media - Economic System - School - (Glen Walters) lifestyle criminals who believe the world is against them so they must self-indulge to make the best of it - (Moffitt) Life-course persistent - behaviours begin with early neuropsychological problems - Perform poorly in school which limit success through legitimate means - adolescent-limited offenders steer away from crime as they mature
The Juvenile Diversion Movement
- 1970s USA - to divert apprehended juvenile offenders away from further contact with the formal system - justified by reference to labelling theory - avoid the stigma and deviance enhancing effects Deinstitutionalization - youth charged with "status offenses" (truancy, curfew violations) removed from custody - laws changed so that they were no longer considered delinquent violations Decriminalization - status offenders removed entirely from the juvenile justice system
Christiansen Studies Danish Twins
- 67 cases of male identical twins in which at least one was involved in criminal behaviour - in 24 cases of above cases, the other twin was also involved in crime - 14 out of 114 cases for male fraternal twins - 3 out of 14 cases for female identical twins - 1 out of 23 cases of female fraternal twins Criticism: - similarity in behaviour of identical twins could be due to the very similar enviornmental experiences
What is a Deviant? (Becker)
- A deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied
The Principle of Differential Association Theory
- A person commits crime because he/she has learned definitions (rationalizations) favorable to the violation of law over rationalizations to abide by the law
Hegemonic Masculinity
- Adhering to a culturally idealized form of masculinity
Environmentally induced biological components of behaviour
- Alcohol is known to increase aggressive behaviour in low doses (lower serotonin levels) and decrease aggression in higher doses - Opiates are known to reduce violent behaviour temporarily -hypoglycemia (partly caused by excess sugar intake) common among habitually violent criminals - (Jessica Wolpaw Reyes) Exposure to lead ----> chilhood behavioural problems, teen aggression ---> young adult criminality - (Mednick and Colleagues, Copenhagen 1959-1961) head injuries related to criminal or antisocial behaviour - (Kandel and Mednick) Delivery complications related to violent offending. 80% of violent offenders, 30% of property offenders and 47% of non-offenders had greater than average delivery complications
False class consciousness
- Any worker who does not recognize his exploitation and identifies with the bourgeois class
Crime Attractors
- Areas that specifically draw in people intending to commit crime because of it's well-known criminal opportunity Eg. Drug Marketplace, Prostitution Streets
Crime Generators
- Areas where large groups of people gather for non-criminal reasons Eg. Shopping Malls
Hirschi's Social Control Theory (1969)
- Assumes that delinquents are free from conventional order to begin with - conducted self report surveys of 4000 juniors and seniors in high school in San Francisco Bay Area - no relationship between delinquent acts and social class except children from poorest families were slightly more likely to be delinquent - minimal racial differences - close attachment to parents = less likely to be delinquent despite deviant peers - deviants: likely to have low verbal scores, grades and didn't care about teacher's opinions - Boys less attached to peers = more likely to be deviant - delinquents tend to have low aspirations and expectations - youths who worked, dated, watched television, read books and played games were MORE likely to report delinquency
Contextual Discrimination
- race-based decisions occur in some parts at some stages and by some individuals but not by others in the criminal justice system
Stages of Violentization
- Brutalization: Occurs when subject is victimized by a member of primary group (victim subjugation) , witnesses victimization of close relations (personal horrification) and is taught that violence is a preferred response in some situations (violent coaching) - Belligerence (Defiance): Subject decides not to be a victim anymore and reacts - Violent Performances: Tests out new approach by using violence when prompted - Virulency: This occurs after a series of victories when people start to view the subject differently and he/she accepts this new identity - Violent Predation: Exceeds humanity, subject will resort to violence wihtout provocation
Certainty vs Severity of Punishment
- Certainty of punishment is more effective than severity in deterring crime
Typicality Hypothesis
- Chivalry extended to women who commit crimes consistent with traditional feminine stereotypes
Selectivity Hypothesis (Farnworth and Teske)
- Chivalry is extended only to women who are middle class and white
Phantom Community
- Consists of primary figures in the subject's life
Social Controls
- Control of Socially Approved Institutions
Miller and Lynam: Personality and Crime
- Crime and personality may be caused by some third variable such as childhood experiences or parenting style
Conflict Theory on Crime
- Crime is an expression of conflict and results when persons acting according to the norms and values of their own group violate those of another group that have been enacted into law - Who is deemed a criminal depends on which side prevails in the conflict - Most crime is intragroup rather than intergroup
Age and Crime
- Crime rate typically increases in early adolescence, peaks in late teen years and declines in adulthood (Farrington) - The effect of age on crime is invariant across time, place, social and cultural conditions (Hirschi and Gottfredson) - Crime does not always decrease with age for all offenders (Blumstein and Cohen)
The Differential Association Theory (Edwin Sutherland)
- Criminal behaviour is learned - learned by others through communication - occurs within intimate personal groups - learning includes techniques of crime and the specific direction of motives - see legal codes as unfavorable - involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning - Interactional Dimension: the direct association and interaction with others who engage in certain types of behaviour - Normative Dimension: the different patters of norms and values to which an individual is exposed to through this association
Application of Criminal Definitions (Quinney)
- Criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have the power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law
Trajectories
- Different roles/paths we assume over time
(Moffitt and Caspi) Dunedine Multidisciplinary Heath and Development Study
- Early maltreatment strongly predicted future antisocial behaviour - maltreated children more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour if they also had low MAOA levels in their brains
Evelyn Sommers on Women Who Have Broken the Law
- Economic and Financial Need - Drug Involvement - Personal Anger - Fear Conclusion: - Effort to maintain connections with relationships - Personal Quest for Empowerment
Absolute Deterrence
- Effect of the chance of punishment versus no punishment
Relational Control
- Emotional bonds that indirectly constrain deviant behaviour over sons and daughters
Social Learning in the Family and Delinquency
- Family Structure (single parent vs no parent) - Larger social context (economy, polity, church, neighbourhood) - Delinquency found in families that are permissive, neglectful or too highly controlling - youngsters with delinquent siblings (especially LGBT older siblings) are more likely to be delinquent even when taking other family factors into consideration -
Empirical Validity of Routine Activities Theory
- Females more likely to be murdered at home and by a family member (Messner and Tardiff) - routine activity of leaving home at night makes you more vulnerable to crime (Kennedy and Ford) - more time spent online, more likely to be victims of cybercrime (Reyn)
Power- Control Theory (Hagan)
- Gender differences in delinquent involvement and how those gender differences expand or contract depending on parental structure, and degree of parental controls - Types of Families: Patriarchal vs Egalitarian - In both families, mothers more likely to exercise instrumental and relational control - In Patriarchal families, mothers exert greater control over daughters than sons - sons more likely than daughters to pursue risky activities - In Egalitarian families, mothers exert greater control over sons than in patriarchal families - Gender difference in delinquent activities are smaller
Postmodern Feminists
- Gender vs Sex - Gender roles important - crime is secondary problem
Girls in Juvenile System
- Girls more likely to be incarcerated for status offenses than boys - Girls treated more harshly than boys for minor offenses because the system sexualizes their offenses as a threat to traditional sex-role expectations (Chesney-Lind and Shelden)
Empirical Adequacy of Marxist Theory
- Greatest increase in imprisonment rates in American history happened during times of low unemployment and economic growth (1990s) - During the recession the imprisonments stabilized they did not increase
Causal path between aggression and testosterone
- High testosterone levels can cause aggressive behaviour - Aggressive behaviour can produce high testosterone levels Problem: Social variables: high testosterone ---> poor social integration --->crime and deviance Biological Variables: high testosterone levels linked with low serotonin levels: combo can cause impulsivity
Extralegal Variables in Justice System (Steffensmeier)
- Hispanics receive harsher penalties than both blacks and whites - All female defendants benefit from beliefs viewing them as less culpale and less dangerous
Charles Goring
- Refutes Lombroso's "born criminal" claim - Compared prisoners with officers and men of the Royal Engineers in England -Found no anomalies -Only significant difference found was that criminals were one or two inches shorter than the non-criminals of the same occupational groups and weighed less - FAMILY: concluded that criminality (length and frequency of inprisonment) was associated with inherited not environmental characteristics Criticism: Failure to measure environmental influences adequately results in overemphasis of influence on heredity
Virtuous Prison
- Restorative rehabilitation would be practiced - eliminate idleness - minimize pains of inprisonment - engage prisoners in restorative activities - enhance inmate contact with 'virtuous' people
Article on Control Perspective, Reiss (1951)
- Reviewed Official Court Records of white male juvenile probationers - revocation of probation more likely when juvenile was psychiatrically diagnosed as having weak ego or superego controls and when psychiatrist recommended either intensive psychotherapy in the community or treatment in a closed institution
Role Stages
- Role Claiming: super-ordinate seizes role and labels other as subordinate - Role Rejection: Subordinates reject assigned roles - Role Sparring: disputants adopt a variety of dominance claiming strategies - Role Enforcement: Disputants decide whether to use force or threat of force - Role Determination: engagements end in defeat, draw or no decision
Selection Model vs Socialization Model (Delinquency)
- Selection Model: Individuals are already delinquents and therefore associate with other delinquents - Socialization Model: Individuals associate with delinquents and therefore become delinquents
Turning Points
- Significant changes that come with growing older - Eg. getting married, finding employment, increasing social bonds
Submission (Tittle)
- Slavish obedience to others
Structure/Process Theories (Bernard and Snipes)
- Some situations are more likely to generate crime regardless of the characteristics of the individuals in the situation
Discredited Stigma
- Something people know about you revealed or unable to be hidden
Status Deprivation and Delinquent Subculture (Cohen)
- Strain produced by the inability to gain status and acceptance - status deprivation produces status frustration - Delinquent subculture is a direct response to this frustration - status in delinquent subculture gained through reputation of toughness
Radical Interactionism
- Stresses the role of power and dominance in understanding human group life
Instrumental Control
- Supervision
The Family as Primary Source of Social Control for Adolescents (Nye)
- Surveyed 780 boys and girls in Washington - youths in most delinquent group were given either complete freedom or no freedom at all, rejecting their parents - Individuals with mothers who worked outside the home were more likely to be in the most delinquent group - most delinquent behaviour was the result of insufficient social control - Individuals in the least delinquent group more likely to come from families that attend church regularly, move infrequently and from rural backgrounds - oldest or only child from a small family with favourable attitude towards their parents - if all needs could be met adequately, without delay, without violating laws there would be no point in law violation - minimum of internal, indirect and direct control would suffice to secure conformity -
New Jersey Family of Defectives (Goddard)
- The Kallikaks - Illegitimacy with feeble minded bar maid produced feeble minded descendants - Marriage w Quaker woman produced normal descendants - Goddard concluded the criminality and feeblemindedness were two aspects of the same degenerate state - By 1928 Goddard suggested that feeblemindedness could be remedied by education and that segregation was not necessary -
Self-Control Theory (Hirschi and Gottfredson)
- Those with low self-control by the age of 8 are likely to engage in various forms of misconduct - self-control is unlikely to increase after age 8
Loeber's Developmental Pathways Model
- Three Pathways toward Criminal Behaviour Overt Developmental Pathway Covert Developmental Pathway Authority Conflict Developmental Pathway - potential for youth to progress through more than one pathway
Integrative Conflict Model (McGarrell and Castellano)
- Three levels of factors in the process of crime legislation and policymaking - Highest Level Fundamental social-structural conflicts generated by heterogenity and inequality and the symbolic cultural conflicts in public perceptions and myths about crime - MidLevel Rates of victimization, fear of crime and persistent public demands for the punishment of criminals Third Level Immediate events that trigger legislative action Eg. media reports on crime problems, interest-group activities, reform campaigns and political events
William Sheldon constructed physical and mental typology
- Took inspiration from tissue layers of embryo - Endoderm: gives rise to digestive viscera - Mesoderm: gives rise to bone, muscle and tendons of the motor-organ systems - Ectoderm: gives rise to connecting tissue of the nervous system, skin and related appendages -uses numbers 1-7 to describe people's somatype eg. 7-1-4 has many endomorph characteristics, few mesomorph and several ectomorph qualities
Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control (Sampson and Laub)
- Turning points explain why crime decreases with age - marriage and full-time employment decrease recidivism in older groups but not younger (Piquero) - women more likely to report religious transformations (Giordano) - men more likely to attribute prison time to changes in criminal behaviour (Giordano)
White Female Murderers
- Twice as likely to be given life sentences that black female murderers
Moffitt's Developmental Taxonomy
- Types of Offenders Adolescence-Limited Offenders Life-Course-Persistent Offenders - Peer influence for life course offenders is slight - Adolescent offenders strongly influenced by peer association
The Chivalry Hypothesis
- proposes that predominantly male police. prosecutors and judges have traditional, chivalrous attitude toward women and extend this attitude even to female offender
Reasons for Crime Decline in 1990s
- Upturns in economy vs better economy more stuff to take - the gap between the rich and the poor has a direct causal effect on crime - Changing demographics eg aging of 'baby boomers' - prison expansion - decline of crack - decision to legalize abortion - removal of lead from gasoline - quality of policing - hot spots policing -targeting of drug markets
Agnew's General Theory
- Variables that influence motivations and restraints: Life domains Eg. personality traits and family, school, peer and work variables - problems in one domain affect others
Types of Violent Dominative Encounters
- Violent Engagements (Progress to stage 5) - Violent Skirmishes (Progress to stage 4) - Dominance Tiffs (Progress to stage 3 )
Defiance (Tittle)
- When individuals revolt against the norms and violence Eg. violating curfew, vandalism, cheating on partner
Boundary Maintenance (Emile Durkheim)
- When we push norms to determine what is conforming behaviour
Developmental Life Course Theory Questions (Farrington)
- Why do people start offending - How are onset sequences explained - Why is there continuity in offending from adolescence to adulthood - Why do people stop offending? - Why does prevalence peak in the teenage years - Why does early onset predict a long criminal career - Why is there versatility in offending and antisocial behaviour - Why does co-offending decrease from adolescence to adulthood - Why are there between-individual differences in offending - What are the risk factors for onset and desistance and how can they be explained - Why are there within-inidividual differences in offending (long term and short term) - What are the main motives and reasons for offending - What are the effects of life events on offending
Cultural Criminology (Ferrel)
- a framework for explaining or understanding crime and deviance, criminal justice, and societal control - not directly testable - analyzing and accounting for criminal justice, crime control, and societal reaction to deviance
Essential Feature of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD/ Sociopathy/ Psychopathy) (DSM-V) Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and comes into adulthood Diagnosis must have at least 3 of the following characteristics - repeated violations of law - repeated lying, use of aliases - impulsivity and failure to pan ahead - repeated physical fights or assaults - reckless disregard for safety of self and/or others - repeated failure to sustain consistent work behaviour or honor financial obligations - lack of remorse
Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T)
- a prevention program for students with the goals of promoting antigang attitudes, reducing involvement in gangs and increasing positive relations with law enforcement with the expectation that achieving these goals among the students would prevent delinquent behaviour - consists of in-classroom sessions by uniformed officers - developed more positive attitudes towards the police and more negative attitudes towards gangs - gang membership was not prevented by participation
Antisocial Potential (AP)
- a propensity to exhibit antisocial and or criminal behaviour
Master Status
- a trait that blinds us of all other traits a person may have
Crimes of Resistance (Quinney)
- acts deliberately committed by the working class as acts of rebellion against capitalism
Integrated Theories
- alternative to falsification in order to reduce large number of theories
Modalities of Reinforcement
- amount - frequency - probability
behavioural contagion
- an approach that emphasizes similar environments and the performance of behaviours that occur among those who are socially related
Theory of Social Structure and Strain/Anomie (Merton)
- an integrated society means one that maintains a balance of approved social means and approved goals - in USA worth is judged by material and monetary success - more concerned with approved goals than means of achieving these goals - socialized to have high aspirations eg The American Dream but many do not have access to legitimate opportunities to achieve them - creates strain on these groups
The Autonomic Nervous System
- antisocial individuals have lower levels of skin conductance as well as lower heart rates when they are in resting situations -antisocial individuals would show slow recovery of skin conductance response after presentation of punishment PROBLEM: - no firm conclusions from research
Street Orientation
- approves violence - emphasis on respect - lack of police accountability results in a "protect yourself" attitude - they value hard work and self-reliance - superficial sense of family and community - marked by disorganization - some tend toward self-destructive behaviour (drugs, alcohol, abuse) - lack of patience with anyone who irritates them - can be aggressive with children - many children learn to fend for themselves (employed by drug dealers etc) - some parents impose sanctions if a child is not sufficiently aggressive - existential link between manhood and self-esteem - the threat of prison can sometimes be appealing because their reputation and respect goes up -
Hirschi and Hindelang (IQ and Delinquency)
- argued that IQ was as important as class and race in determining delinquency
Republican Normative Theory (Braithwaite)
- asserts limits on use of punishment but no limits on mercy and does not accept retribution as legitimate goals of criminl justice
The Flynn Effect (1980s)
- average IQ has been increasing for at least 60 years - Changes cannot be attributed to genetics - IQ measures problem-solving ability rather than intelligence
Article by Arthur Jensen in the Harvard Educational Review (1969)
- believed that differences in intelligence were mostly due to genetic factors rather than environment
Role of Hormones in Female Crime
- biological changes after ovulation linked to irritability and aggression
The Pinehills Experiment (Empey and Erickson, 1972)
- boys had the responsibility and authority to form groups, orient new boys coming in, set standards for rules and behaviour, determine punishment for rule violation and decide when a boy was ready to be released - boys at Pinehills were much less likely to be repeat offenders
Formal Rationality
- characterized by due process and fair procedure
Overt Developmental Pathway
- characterized by youth displaying low level of aggressive behaviour initially and then subsequently escalating that tendency into more aggressive forms - become involved in serious violent behaviour
(Blumstein, Farrington and Moitra)
- chronic persisters are disproportionately black and poor
LIFT Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers
- classroom-based child social and problem skills training - playground-based behaviour modification - group-delivered parent training - significantly fewer arrests, aggression, drug-use etc -
Concentrated Disadvantage (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, 1997)
- combines measures of percentage of families below the poverty level, percentage on welfare, percentage of female-headed households, percentage unemployed, percentage under age 18, and percentage black - single indicator meant to capture the conditions of blighted neighbourhoods
Elliot's Integrated Theory of Delinquency and Drug Use
- combines strain theory, social control theory and social learning perspectives to explain drug use - Integration of strain and control theories: The probability of delinquency should be higher when an individual experiences both more strain and less control - Social disorganization which is said to reduce social control should also increase strain - Incorporation of social learning theory: Delinquency is affected by the balance between rewards and punishments *Amount of exposure to delinquent attitudes within peer groups is the primary factor affecting delinquency - Alters control theory's view that deviance is caused by weak socialization - strong socialization can encourage both conformity and deviance - Deviance occurs when there are strong bonds to deviant groups and weak bonds to conventional groups
Crimes of Domination and Oppression (Quinney)
- committed by bourgeois to protect their own interests - Corporate crime - Economic Domination
Crimes of Control and Crimes of Government
- committed by criminal justice personnel and government officials to oppress working class
The Gluecks
- compared five hundred persistent delinquents with five hundred non-delinquents Result: - Mesomorphs were more highly characterized by traits particularly suitable to the commission of acts of aggression - Mesomorphs were characterized by a number of qualities not normally associated with mesomorphs eg. susceptibility to contagious diseases in childhood, destructiveness, feelings of inadequacy, emotional instability, and emotional conflicts
Procedure for determining probability of future crime (Monahan)
- comparison of circumstances the offender was likely to encounter in the near future with circumstances in which the offender had committed violent acts in the past - the recently, severity and frequency of violent acts the offender committed in the past - general statistics on crime committed by other people of the similar age, sex, race, class, etc.
Opportunity (Tittle)
- conditions under which it is feasible to commit an act
Marxist Theory of Law and Justice (Richard Quinney)
- conflict is due to underlying struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie - ruling class manipulates media, academic community so that masses continue to believe in the legitimacy of the system - the law is used to subjugate the population - Solution abolition of capitalism to some form of democratic socialism through nonviolent means
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
- constructing and locating building is ways that provide more defensible space, more visibility - make it less inviting for offenders
Provocations (Tittle)
- contextual features that cause people to become more keenly cognizant of their control ratios and possibilities of altering them through deviant behaviour
D.A. Andrews (1980)
- contingency (differential association and reinforcement in groups led by prosocial volunteers) - Quality/modalities of interpersonal relationships in groups - Self-Management (a program of self-monitoring and self-reinforcement by the individual inmates)
Secondary Deviance
- created by the societal reaction and by stigmatizing labels - more coherent, organized deviance
Marxist Feminists
- crime due to class inequality - women commit crime to support themselves and children
Liberal Feminists
- crime due to gender socialization
French Criminal Statistic Data Facts (Quetelet and Guerry)
- criminals commonly resided in wealthier areas with higher education levels - role of opportunity in crime causation
Bernard and Snipes' Approach to Integrative Theories
- criminologists should focus on relationships and variables rather than theories themselves - Move from falsifying to risk-factor approach - Types of Theories: Individual Differences and Structure/Process
Transgression
- crossing boundaries Eg. Martin Luther King
Use of castration on sex offenders
- decreased rates of recidivism for sex crimes -
Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC)
- delinquents who are not to be institutionalized go to fosters homes rather than their original homes bc their parents can no longer control them - resulted in lower rates of delinquency that other community treatment programs
Crimes of Accommodation (Quinney)
- predatory crimes eg. burglary, robbery - reproduce the capitalist system of property acquisition by expropriating the income and poverty of others - Other crimes include rape, assault and murder committed by those who have been brutalized by the capitalist system
Specific Deterrence
- punished offenders will refrain from repeating crimes if they are certainly caught and severely punished
Concentric Zone Theory (Burgess, 1925)
- depicted the city graphically like a target - Consisted of 5 rings that comprised the city - Zone I (The Bullseye): department stores, skyscrapers, large hotels, city government, heavy industry (outer boundary of zone I) - Zone II (Zone in Transition): area of rundown housing mainly occupied by new immigrants and the poor, gradually being invaded by manufacturing industries - Zone III (Zone of working men's homes): skilled workers, employed in factories located in the transition zone reside - Zone IV & V (the residential and commuter zones): where white-collar workers and their families reside
Labelling / Societal Reaction Perspective
- derived from Symbolic Interactionism - labels foster criminal and deviant behaviour - the disgrace suffered by people who are labelled as delinquent or criminal more often that not encourages future deviant behaviour CRITICISM: - (Akers) the deviant behaviour comes before the label - Lack of empirical confirmation
Formulation of Criminal Definitions (Quinney)
- describe behaviour that conflicts with the interests of the segments of society that have the power to shape public policy
Physical Characteristics linked to crime according to Lombroso
- deviations in head size and shape - asymmetry of the face -large jaws and cheekbones -unusually large or small protruding ears -fleshy lips -abnormal teeth -receding chin -abundant hair or wrinkles -long arms -extra fingers or toes -asymmetry of the brain
Masculinity Hypothesis (Freda Adler)
- differences in male and female criminality decreasing rapidly - as women gain equality with men they will assume masculine characteristics which will result in negative outcomes such as a greater tendency to commit crime
Life-Course-Persistent Offenders
- display conduct disorders at infancy or childhood - continue to engage in increasingly serious forms of misconduct
Brathwaite's Theory of Reintegrative Shaming
- draws on labelling, subcultural, opportunity, control, differential association and learning theories - all social processes of expressing disapproval that aim to invoke guilt and remorse - reintegration leads to lower crime rates - stigmatization leads to higher crime rates -
Modifications of Marxist Theory
- effects of economic inequality on crime through alienation, family disorganization, parental socialization practices and other variables from strain and control theories (Lynch and Groves) - Juveniles in all social classes are relatively deprived of access to the labour market and must turn to other means to get what they want (Greenberg's Age Distribution of Crime) - Delinquency decreasing in socialist societies vs capitalist - Parents take workplace attitudes and apply them to the family to teach children (Colvin and Pauly) - Eg. Blue collar workers controlled on the job by material rewards so they raise children in the same way by direct reward and punishment
Delinquency and Drift (Matza and Hirschi)
- emphasize freedom and similarity - mast majority of delinquents are drifters - private interviews revealed that delinquents do not glorify delinquent acts - do not reject convention but neutralize it -
Assessing Social Control Theory
- evidence to support social control theory especially for attachment and commitment - attachment>different objects of attachment >abandonment of social control theory
Social Disorganization Theory (Shawn & McKay)
- examined the geographic distribution of delinquent boys across the city. - also plotted residence of school truants, rates of infant mortality, tuberculosis and mental disorder - rates of delinquents were highest near the inner-city and decreased outwardly to more affluent areas - inner-city maintained high rates of delinquency over decades despite the changing racial and ethnic makeup of the city - The community characteristics of the zone in transition were seen as social disorganization - Those persons who occupy a disadvantaged position are involved in a conflict between the goals assumed to be attainable in a free society and those actually attainable for a large proportion of the population (strain/anomie) -
Theory of Urban Growth
- examined the process of urban expansion - cities do not only expand at their outermost edges, various areas inside the city expand radially forcing surrounding areas to expand outward
Gendered Context Approach
- examines the degree to which males and females encounter different normative expectations and opportunities for offending as well as the degree to which males and females attribute different meanings and thus respond differently to similar events and situations
Athens' Theory of Violentization
- explains why some people become extremely violent and commit violent crimes - Athens was the son of a physically abusive man - His research is qualitative, developed through prison interviews - Violentization is a process all violent criminals go through
Substantive Rationality
- fairness of the outcome of the judging process according to the interests of particular individuals or groups
Natural Access Control (CPTED)
- filter where people go eg. creation of lit pathway through a park
Applications of Restorative Justice
- find ways of shaming apt to creating genuine remorse in offenders - confrontation of the offender with respect - explicit efforts to avert stigmatization - explicit commitment to ritual reintegration - apology and forgiveness are viewed as sincere
Opportunity Hypothesis (Rita Simon)
- focus on property crime - white-collar crimes by women will increase as their presence increases in the workplace resulting in greater opportunities to commit crime
Focal Concerns of Lower Class Culture (Miller)
- focused on delinquency of lower class male gangs aka "street-corner groups" - motivated by the attempt to accomplish approved goals - focal concerns = central values of lower class adults Eg. trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fatalism( being lucky or unlucky) and autonomy
Mesomorphic Physique ----> Somotonic Temperament
- predominance of muscle, bone and the motor organs -large trunk -heavy chest -large wrists and hands -if lean then hard rectangular outline - if not lean then fill out heavy Result: - dynamic person - walks, talks, gestures assertively - behaves aggressively
New Formulation of Social Disorganization (Bursik and Gramsick, 1995)
- focused on differences in neighbourhood capacity to control deviant behaviour of its residents - level of control based on cohesive organization, population characteristics and economic wellbeing - linking different levels of social control may improve crime control but may make things worse eg. state-level imprisonment takes offenders off the streets but undermines cohesion - Identifies informal social control as the primary factor influencing crime rates eg. Neighbourhood Watch Programs -
Seductions of Crime (Katz)
- focused on the meaning of crime for criminals - the criminal action itself is an attempt to transcend a moral challenge faced by the criminal Type of crime and Moral Challenge - Passion Killing .... to escape a situation that is humiliating - Adolescent Property Crime....to cope with feelings of incompetence - Adolescent Gang Violence....humbled by poverty, outcasts and use gangs to be dominant - Robbery....lack of control, robbery gives them control - Cold-blooded killing...vengeance for outcast stigma
Farrington's Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential Theory
- focuses on between-individual differences - Anti-social potential - Crime is a byproduct of short term and long term AP - short term AP being affected primarily by immediate situational factors and criminal opportunities - long term AP influenced by more cognitive and developmental factors - inadequate parenting affects AP
Rational Choice Theory
- focuses on decision to commit crime and the development or desistance from a criminal career
Gendered Pathways Approach
- focuses on the life experiences and developmental trajectories of girls and women who become involved in crime -
The Lucifer Effect (Zimbardo)
- focuses on why good people turn evil - defined evil as "just following orders" - people and situations are in a state of "dynamic interaction" in which situational context transforms character - The Standford Prison Experiments (1971) -
Stakes in Conformity (Jackson Toby, 1957)
- how much a person has to lose when he or she breaks the law
Modalities of Association
- if persons are exposed first (priority), more frequently, for a longer time (duration) and with greater intensity (importance) to law violating definitions that law-abiding definitions they will deviate
General definitions (differential association theory)
- include religious, moral and other conventional values and norms that define the commission of an act as right or wrong
Exploitation (Tittle)
- indirect predation where exploiters get someone else to do their dirty work Eg. contract killings, price fixings, political corruption
Authority Conflict Developmental Pathway
- initiate offending behaviour prior to age 12 - stubborn and disobedient typically towards parents and teachers - escalates to staying out late, running away -
Covert Developmental Pathway
- initiate offending behaviour prior to age 15 and demonstrate early involvement in minor covert criminal activities (lying, shoplifting) - behaviour soon escalates to property damage, and fraud to theft
Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing Demonstration (MTO) Program 1994
- initiated by US Department of Housing and Urban Development in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles - relocating of youth out of socially disorganized neighbourhoods led to noticeable reductions in violent arrests for the boys - improvements in mental health of youth and their parents
Differential Labelling Theory (Heckert and Heckert)
- integration of social learning theory and labeling
Conditions for Success of Reintegrative Shaming
- interdependency (social bonding) - communitarianism (close-knit)
The Teaching Family Model
- involves a married couple (teaching parents) + 6-9 delinquent youths living together - Token system for good behaviour - also operate a peer-oriented self-government system - behaviour modification system did not survive their release from the homes
Oregon Social Learning Center OSLC (Patterson, 1975)
- involves targeting family management skills in parent-focused and parent/teen groups as compared to teen-focused groups and self-directed change - Parent groups: therapy sessions to help parents develop monitoring, discipline, problem-solving and other skills - Teen Groups: improve communication skills, manage self-control, pro-social attitudes
Reparative Probation Program
- largest scale restorative justice initiative in the USA - offender must appear before Community Reparative Board - for the offender to create concrete awareness for the harm he has caused - Negotiation of reparative contract - Offender agrees to take actions meant to restore the victims and help his reintegration into the community
Political Crimes
- law violations motivated by the desire to influence existing public policy, the political system or power relations Eg. Watergate (Nixon)
General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi)
- low self-control - focuses attention on early childhood - how social controls influence self-control - self control instilled in individuals around age 8 and remains fairly constant - immediate gratification - impulsive, insensitive, physical, nonverbal, short-sighted, risk taking - ineffective child-rearing = most important contributor to low self-control - variation in crime has to do with variation of opportunity
Crime in Capitalist Economy
- lower homicide rates in less capitalist societies
Ectomorphic Physique ----> Cerebrotonic Temperament
- predominance of skin and its appendages - lean, fragile, delicate body - small, delicate bones - droopy shoulders - small face - sharp nose - fine hair - little body mass - great surface area Result: - an introvert - full of functional complaints eg allergies, skin trouble, chronic fatigue, insomnia - sensitive to noise and distractions - shrinks from crowds
IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
- preluded by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon's Binet-Simon Scale of Intelligence - IQ developed by William Stern
Deterrence
- primary purpose of criminal law
Institutional Anomie Theory (Messner and Rosenfeld)
- macro-structural perspective - focused on economic, political, family and educational institutions - Devaluation: noneconomic institutions become devalued - Accommodation: noneconomic institutions must accommodate the requirements of the economy - Penetration: economic norms begin to penetrate noneconomic institutions - weakened noneconomic institutions lost their ability to impose external controls - Economically dominant societies produce anomic crimes which involve material gain - Politically dominant societies produce a "moral cynicism" that diminishes personal responsibility for the well-being of others and invites corruption - Societies dominated by kinship or religion tend to develop an "extreme moral vigilance" that produces crimes in defense of the moral order eg. vigilantism or hate crimes Strong achievement orientation: creates a culture where ppl are valued on what they achieve or possess Individualism: encourages people to make it on their own - promotes competition vs cooperation Universalism - creates the normative expectation that all members of American society must desire and strive toward the same success goal "Fetishism" of Money - designates the accumulation of monetary wealth as an end in itself, valued above the possessions it can buy
Target Hardening
- making sure a target is less vulnerable and not targeted
Instrumental Social Support (Colvin)
- material and financial assistance and the giving of advice, guidance and connections for positive social advancement in legitimate society
Hunnicutt and Broidy (2004)
- measures of both economic marginality and liberation are associated with higher female conviction rates - women's economic fortunes are still intertwined with men's - liberation movement released men from the cultural imperative to financially support and protect women
Organic Solidarity
- members integrated by functional interdependence - law is deprivation of liberty through incarceration - Law aimed more towards restitution that punishment
Mechanical Solidarity
- members integrated by their common values and beliefs - law is repressive or punitive
Radical Feminists
- men are naturally aggressive and violent and use crime to control women
Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Programs
- more cost-effective than to alternative justices practices - No significant evidence that they reduce recidivism - Youthful offenders who successfully completed a restorative justice program had lower recidivism rates that offenders in other diversion programs - Participation in systematic bible study has lowered somewhat in-prison disciplinary problems and post-prison recidivism
Late-Stage Capitalism
- name given to highly industrialized democracies by Marxists
Code of the Street (Elijah Anderson, 1999)
- neighbourhood structural inequality fosters the mentality that condones the use of violence - "watch your back" , "Don't punk out" - violence and disorder are normative - - Apparent in inner city African American Neighbourhoods (Stewart and Simmons, 2006)
Disintegrative Shaming
- no attempt to reconcile the shamed offender within the community - This is where stigmatization is expected - Fosters high crime rates
Drift
- occurs in areas of social structure where control has been loosened, freeing the delinquent to respond to whatever convention or criminal forces happen to come along
Crime Pattern Theory (Brantinghams)
- offenders make decisions that form a crime template when their activities become regularized
Criminal Careers
- offense frequency generally peaks at age 16 for self-reports and 17 to 20 for official convictions followed by a decline in late adolescence and early adulthood (Farrington and Blumstein) - Average offender commits about 8 crimes per year (Spelman) - Offenders w prior incarcerations report 30-50 crimes per year (Spelman) - Age of offending onset ranges from 13-19 - Minor forms of offending peaked at ages 13-14 and serious forms of offending peaked at 17-19 (Farrington) - Earlier age onset related to higher offending frequency and longer criminal career (Farrington) - Average age of desistance ranged from age 20-29 and average length of criminal career is 10.4 years excluding one time offenders and 7.1 including one time offenders - Average career length = 25.6 years (Laub and Sampson)
Predisposition (Tittle)
- one's desire for autonomy and one's control ratio
Adolescence-Limited Offenders
- onset of delinquency occuring in early adolescence and desistance from delinquency occurring as adolescent matures into young adulthood
Decent Orientation
- oppose the street code - however reluctantly encourage their children to familiarize themselves with it to negotiate the inner city environment - generally "working poor" - accept mainstream values - see their situation as a test from God
Social Feminists
- oppression stems from patriarchal capitalist societies - combine radical and marxist feminism - women exploited by men and capitalism
Specific definitions (Differential Association Theory)
- orient the person to particular acts or series of acts - Thus one may see theft as morally wrong but see drug possession as a law worth violating
The Looking-Glass Self (Cooley)
- our own self-concepts are reflections of others' conceptions of us - we are or become what others think we are
Expected Utility Principle
- people will make rational decisions based on the extent to which they expect the choice to maximize their profits or benefits and minimize cost or loss.
Reflected Appraisals
- perceptions an individual has of the way others see him or her
Programs that have been identified as restorative justice
- performing community service - making direct apologizes to victims - accepting responsibility for crime caused - participating in conflict management training - joining affinity groups - making restitutions to the victim and community - victim/offender mediation - reparative probation - victim empathy grups - peacemaker courts - sentencing circles -
Population Heterogeneity
- phenomenon of stability in criminality relative to others over the life-course
Left Realism / Critical Realism
- simply refers to the writings of a group of British Criminologists including Jock Young - primarily focused on predatory street crime like robbery - reduce negative effects of technological transformations eg. pornography - root causes of crime, promote crime prevention, institute victim restitution, reform punitive crime control and sentencing policies, and control police excesses
Secondary Conflict
- smaller cultural groups within a larger culture
Meta-Analysis of Cognitive Behaviour Programs (Andrews and Associates)
- social behavioural strategies utilizing the family and peers are the most effective especially when specifically targeting to anti-criminal attitudes - Behavioural treatments had more effect on recidivism that non-behavioural treatments -
Shaming (Braithwaite)
- social disapproval that has the intention or effect of invoking remorse in the person being shamed or condemned by others who become aware of the shaming
General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency (Agnew)
- social psychological approach (micro-level) - crime and delinquency are an adaptation to stress Major types of deviance-producing strain: Failure to Achieve Goals: - Disjuncture between aspirations and expectations - Gap between expectations and actual achievements - Discrepancy between what one deems a fair outcome vs actual outcome Removal of Positive Stimuli: Eg. loss of gf or bf Confrontation of the Individual with Negative Stimuli: - child abuse, victimization - since they cannot legally escape they react in a deviant way
Assessing General Theory of Crime
- some support - low self-control accounts for some but not all crime (Baron) - interpersonal social support as impactful as low-self control (Welch) - Does self-control actually remain stable after age 8? - white-collar crime cannot be attributed to low-self control
Discreditable Stigma
- something people don't know about you but could come out eventually
Hegemony
- sovereign control
General Deterrence
- state's punishment of offenders serves as an example to those in the general public who have not yet committed a crime
Transinstitutionalization
- status offenders are played in psychiatric facilities rather than juvenile justice system
Courtesy Stigma
- stigma applied because of one's connection with another Eg. children of ex-convicts
Hans Brunner MAOA
- studied four generations of an extended family with behavioural issues - they had a mutant form of MAOA which had near-zero functionality
Hutchings and Mednick
- studied records of all nonfamily male adoptions in Copenhagen (born between 1927 and 1941) - 31.1% of boys with no criminal record had biological fathers with criminal records - 37.7 % boys who committed minor offenses had biological fathers with criminal records - 48.8 boys with criminal records had biological fathers wit criminal records RESULT: Adopted boys are more likely to commit crime if their biological father is a criminal Criticism: -adoptive parents engaged in criminal behaviour at much lower rates than the general population, therefore its difficult to generalize about the effects of family environment and to examine the interaction between environment and genetics - several studies found hereditary connections to petty crime offenders and not for more serious crime and property and petty crime offenders are more likely to be frequent offenders
Grove & Colleagues
- studied twins who were reared apart - found evidence that antisocial behaviour could be inherited
Studies on Deterrence
- studies found that provision or absence of the death penalty had no effect on the homicide rate - large deterrent effect on youths who thought their risk of punishment was high (Loughran) - experiential effect stronger than effect of perceptions of certainty on subsequent behaviour - deterrent effects operate similarly for both boys and girls (Carmichael) - being arrested for violent crimes had little effect on youth's subjective probability of punishment for income-generating crimes - informal deterrents have more effect than certainty of punishment (Green, Gramsick and Bursick) - Scared Straight programs: backfired, contact with prisoners resulted in an increase in criminality among the youth - Boot Camps: maintain good discipline among inmates in confinement but no evidence of reduced recidivism after the fact
Reintegrative Shaming
- that which is followed by efforts to reintegrate the offender with the community through words or gestures of forgiveness or ceremonies to decertify the offender as deviant - Fosters low crime rates
MMPI Research
- the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Offenders tend to be low in agreeableness (hostile, self-centered, indifferent to others) - Low in Conscientiousness (lack ambition, motivation and perseverance, difficulty controlling impulses)
Personal Controls
- the ability to refrain from meeting needs in ways that conflicted with the norms and rules of the community
Informal Deterrence
- the actual or anticipated social sanctions that prevent crime Eg. disapproval of friends and family
Intersectionality
- the belief that oppressions are linked and cannot be solved individually
Difference between Social Disorganization Theory and Anomie Theories
- the former proposes that crime comes about bc of the community's weakened ability to control its members - the latter proposes that crime comes about from society's weakened hold on morals and values and laws couples with limited access to economic goals
Causes of inclination to violence (Anderson, Elijah "Code of the Streets)
- the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, - the stigma of race, - the fallout from rampant drug use and drug trafficking, - the resulting alienation and lack of hope for the future.
Proportionality
- the legislature should enact an exact scale of crimes with an exact scale of threatened punishment without regard to individual differences
Reintegration (Brathwaite)
- when the shamers ensures to maintain bonds with the shamed - more likely among offenders with strong social bonds,
Collective Efficacy (Sampson)
- the perceived ability of neighbourhood residents to activate informal social control Dimensions of collective efficacy - social cohesion and mutual support - shared expectations for social control - neighbourhoods with high collective efficacy more likely to call police when confronted with crime or deviance in teh community - Higher the collective efficacy, the lower the crime rate
Certainty of Punishment
- the probability of apprehension and punishment for a crime
Relationship Principle
- the process whereby "interpersonal influence by way of antecedent and consequent processes is greatest in situations characterized by warm, open and enthusiastic communication and by mutual respect and liking"
Commitment (Hirschi)
- the rational investment one has in conventional society
Celerity of Punishment
- the swiftness with which criminal sanctions are are applied after the commission of a crime
Thoughtfully Reflective Decision Making (TRDM)
- the tendency of persons to collect information relevant to a problem or decision, think deliberatively, carefully and thoughtfully about possible solutions - related to healthy outcomes such as higher education (Paternoster and Pogarsky) - useful in reducing violent behaviour only in schools where discipline is lax
Left Idealism (Young)
- the tendency to overlook the reality of the pain and suffering generated by criminal offenders who victimize other humans
Quay (IQ and Delinquency)
- there are other reasons why low IQ could lead to delinquency Eg. school problems, other psychosocial problems - Low verbal abilities could result in failure to develop higher-order cognitive processing eg. moral reasoning, empathy and problem- solving
Event Decisions
- things happen during the event that require spur of the moment quick decisions
The Chicago Area Projects (Shaw & McKay)
- to mobilize local informal social organization and social control among law-abiding residents - to overcome the influence of delinquent peers and criminal adults by providing more opportunities for association with conventional adults and peers - Social organization attempted through restoration of dilapidated buildings, traffic control, improved sanitation - CAP met with mixed success - difficult to show that delinquency rates were reduced due to the project
Folkways and Mores
- unorganized, intuitive principles of right and wrong that have gradually evolved over a long period of time and to which all segments of society subscribe
Decadence (Tittle)
- unpredictable and irrational behaviour Eg. pedophaelia
Maintenance (CPTED)
- upkeep shows someone is looking after the place
Imprisonment in Capitalist Society
- used less as punishment and more for getting rid of surplus labour in population - Imprisonment rates are expected to be high during times of recession and high unemployment
Monahan, Steinberg and Cauffman (2009)
- used longitudinal data - selection effects were restricted only to middle adolescence (age 14-15) - socialization effects were in effect in both middle and late adolescence (14- 20) - By young adulthood (21-22) peer delinquency and antisocial behaviour were unrelated
Bourgeois Positivism
- useless attempts to evaluate marxist theory through empirical methods
Theory of Urban Ecology (Robert E. Park)
- viewed the city as analogous to the natural ecological communities of plants and animals - Example of a plant or animal community that is invaded by a new species, causing rapid changes in the community in that the invading species gains dominance and the original population either migrates or is destroyed
Consensus Theory on Law
- views the formal system of laws as incorporating the norms in society on which there is the greatest normative consensus
Bounded or Limited Rationality
- we only know so much - emotions cloud judgement
Research on Social Threat
- weak to moderate support for positive correlation between the percentage of black or poor and crime control efforts such as police size and funding, use of excessive force and arrest - (Chamlin) race-related riot led to an immediate and lasting increase in robbery arrests - (Ruddell and Urbina) Population diversity increased the rate of inprisonment and decreased the likelihood of abolishing the death penalty among the nations studied
Situational Action Theory (Wilkström)
- when criminal propensity is high (poor moral judgement and low self control), crime is more likely to be committed irrespective of the situation - when criminal propensity is low, the situational factors become significant
Net-Widening
- when diversion has the unintended result of place more rather than fewer youth under involuntary control in the community than would have been the case without a diversion policy in place
Labels as the Dependent Variable
- when it attempts to explain why certain behaviour is socially defined as wrong and certain persons are selected fro stigmitization and criminalization
Labels as the Independent Variable
- when it hypothesizes that discrediting labels cause continuation and escalation of the criminal or delinquent behaviour
Stigmatization (Brathwaite)
- when shaming brings about deviance - likely to occur when there is little societal communitarianism
Racial Disparity
- when such standards are applied but have different results for different racial groups
Theory
A set of interconnected statements that explain how two or more events or factors are related to one another
Tautology
A statement or hypothesis that involves circular reasoning Eg. We know he is an alcoholic bc he drinks excessively; He drinks excessively bc he is an alcoholic
Empirical Falsification
A theory must be open to evidence that may counter or disprove its claims
Macro Theory
A theory that addresses broader questions about differences across societies or major groups in society
Soft Determinism
Acknowledges that various factors influence and limit actions but leave room for individual choices that cannot be completely predicted.
Types of Individuals (Pograsky)
Acute Conformists: - obey the law because it is the right thing to do Incorrigible Offenders: - so committed to crime nothing will deter them Deterrable Offenders: - those who can be persuaded by sanctions
Negative Reinforcement
Allows person to escape negative outcomes
Subordinated Masculinity
Anything other than the ideal
Marxist Theory of Crime
BONGER: Early Marxist Theory of Crime - crime produced by the capitalist organization of crime - Motive found in capitalist societies including egoistic tendencies - fails to promote social instincts to prevent egoistic acts - It is the egoistic actions of the proletariat that are defined as criminal TAYLOR: - Proletariat law breakers commit crimes of "accomodation" - Offenses not related to proletariat class struggle - They are simply surviving the best they can without changing the system QUINNEY: - Working class crime are either "crimes of accommodation" or "crimes of resistance" - Bourgeois crimes are crimes of domination and repression
Positive Definitions
Beliefs or attitudes that make the behaviour morally desirable or wholly permissible
Civil vs Malignant Communities
Civil: disputes resolved without violence Malignant: disputes resolved with violence
Logical Consistency
Claims in a theory do not conflict each other
5 Modes of Adaption (Merton's Strain Theory)
Conformity: committed to goals and approved means Innovation: Committed to goals but find new means (illegitimate) to achieve them Rebellion: Creates their own goals and means, rejecting the system altogether Retreatism: Gives up on goals and the means to achieve them Ritualism: Gives up on goals but continues commitment to approved means
Psychic Costs
Eg. Shame or Guilt
Extralegal Variables
Eg. class, race, age, gender
Analogous Behaviours
Eg. cutting class, drinking, smoking, gambling
Neutralizing Definitions
Favor the commission of a crime by justifying or excusing it
Social Structure and Social Learning Model (SSSL) (Akers)
Four Dimensions of Social Structure - Society, Community - Age, Gender, Class, Race - Social Disorganization, Conflict - Family, Peers, School, Others
Grand Apartheid vs Petit Apartheid (Abeyie)
Grand = racism overtly embodied within government law and procedures Petit = racism covertly embedded within mores and custom
The Highfields & Essexfield Projects (Weeks, 1958)
Highfields - alternative treatment program for delinquent boys - Guided Group Interaction (GGI) - boys had developed attitudes more favorable to obeying the law - Changes more noticeable among black than white youth Essexfield -in a juvenile probation office - same results as highfield - did somewhat better than those sent to state reform school
Affectional Identification
How our actions will be viewed by the people we care about eg family and friends
Testability
If a theory cannot be tested against empirical findings it has no scientific value
Another word for respect on the street (Code of the Streets)
Juice
How Law is Shaped (Sumner)
Law is shaped by the customs of society
Ideology
May be informed by theory an have relevance to the application of a theory but they themselves are not theories
Retroflexive Reformation (Cressey, 1955)
Offenders who join on the side of the non-offenders in attempting to get the other offenders to change their definitions favorable to law violation, actually wind up reducing their own definitions favorable to crime
Micro Theory
One that focuses on smaller groups or individuals
Indirect (Negative) Punishment
Pleasant consequence is removed with behaviour
Phrenology
Study of the external shape of the skull -shape of skull indicated how the mind functioned
Physiognomy
Study of the face
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (Merton)
We become what others treat us as
Criminology
The study of the entire process of lawmaking, lawbreaking and law enforcing (Sutherland, 1947)
Empirical Validity
The theory can be supported by research findings
Direct (Positive) Punishment
Unpleasant consequence associated with behaviour
Routine Activities Theory (Felson and Cohen)
Variables that influence victimization - motivated offenders - suitable targets of criminal victimization - absence of capable guardians of persons or property - Increased rate of victimization when there is a convergence in space and time of the three elements of direct-contact crime
Two Orientations of social organization (Code of the Streets)
decent vs street
Social Capital
features of social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit - the typical measure of social capital incorporates a more general measure of civic participation such as active engagement in political or volunteer organizations
Vicarious Strains
in which the individual witnesses others' experiences with strain
Predation (Tittle)
involves direct physical violence or manipulation to take property Eg. rape, theft, robbery, fraud, homicide
Theoretically Defined Structural Variables
refer to anomie, class oppression, social disorganization, group conflict, patriarchy
Positive Reinforcement
rewarding outcomes eg money, food, praise
Decommodification of labour
social welfare, making people less dependent on economy
Differential Location in the Social Structure
sociodemographic characteristics of individuals and social groups that indicate their niches within the larger social structure Eg. Class, Race, Gender, Ethnicity
Anomie
state of normlessness or lack of social regulation in modern society as one condition that promotes higher rates of deviant behaviours eg suicide
Differential Reinforcement
the balance of anticipated or actual rewards and punishments that are consequences of behaviour
Parsimony
the conciseness and abstractness of a set of concepts and propositions
Classical/Respondent Conditioning
the conditioning of involuntary reflex behaviour
Personality
the emotional and behavioural attributes that tend to remain stable as the individual moves from situation to situation
Discriminative Stimuli
the environmental and internal stimuli that provide cues or signals for beahviour
Scope of a theory
the range of phenomena it proposes to explain
Schedules of Reinforcement
the rate and ratio in which rewards and punishments follow behavioural responses
Differential Social Organization
the structural correlates of crime in the community that affects rates of crime, delinquency Eg. Age composition, population density
Symbolic Interactionism
the theory that social interaction is mainly in exchange of meaning and symbols
Body Count by conservative authors Bennet, DiIuilio & Walters
− Adult homicide rate dropped while teen homicide increased leading up to 1990s − Black males (only 1% of population) represented a significant percentage of homicide victims and perpetrators − Different races commit different levels of crime - Early drug use contributes significantly to crime - moral poverty & moral health was driving force of crime - Solution: Bolder institutions & further use of penal system
