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34 Cards in this Set
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Criminology |
The body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. |
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Theory |
A statement regarding the relationship between two or more variables. |
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Nonscientific Theories |
Theories that emphasize moral weakness and evil spirits as the cause of criminality. |
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Classical School |
The school of thought that individuals have free will to choose whether to commit crimes. |
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Biological Determinism |
The school of thought that says that crime is caused by a biological or biochemical influence over which the offender has no control. |
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Psychological Theory |
The idea that criminal behavior is a result of emotions, drives, and mental defects. |
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Sociological School of Criminology |
The theory that crime is caused by socioeconomic conditions and social interactions and values. |
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Neoclassical Theories |
A contemporary view of Classical School theory that believes that there are mitigating circumstances for criminal acts, such as the age or mental capacity of the offender, and punishment should fit the crime. |
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Cesare Beccaria |
The founder of Classical School theories. |
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Pain-pleasure Principle |
A philosophical axiom that people are rational and seek to do that which brings them pleasure and to avoid that which causes them pain. |
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Neoclassical School of Criminology |
A school of though that is similar to Classical School theories except for the belief that there are mitigating circumstances for criminal acts, such as age or mental capacity of the offender, and that the punishment should fit the crime. |
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Felicitic Calculus |
The balancing of pain and pleasure as a means to discourage criminal behavior. |
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Utilitarianism |
A philosophy stating that a rational system of jurisprudence provides for the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. |
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Scientific Method |
The assumption that repeated testing of a hypothesis should result in similar results. |
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Positive School |
Modern theories of crime, primarily based on sociology and psychology, that people commit crimes because of uncontrollable internal or external factors that can be observed and measured. |
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Determinist |
Scholars and scientists who believe that causes of criminal behavior are not controlled by free-will choice; rather, they are influenced by factors that are beyond the control of the individual. |
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Richard Dugdale |
A psychologist who conducted an early study attempting to link heredity to criminal behavior in his study of the Jukes family. |
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Henry Goddard |
A sociologist who studied Martin Kallikak's family tree attempting to link heredity to criminality. |
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Ada Jukes |
A woman labeled by Richard Dugdale as the "mother of criminals." |
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Concentric Zone Model (Burgess Model) |
A theory developed by Park and Burgess that social environments based on status and disadvantages such as poverty; illiteracy; and lack of schooling, unemployment, and illegitimacy are powerful forces that influence human interaction. |
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Differential Association Theory |
The concept that criminal and delinquent behaviors are learned entirely through group interaction, with peers reinforcing and rewarding those behaviors. |
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Cultural Deviance Theories |
The idea that, for the most part, the values of subculture groups within the society are more influential upon individual behavior and interactions than laws are. |
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Reaction Formation |
A term that describes how lower-class youths reject middle-class values. |
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Honor Killings |
Killings for dis honoring or disrespecting culture or religious values. |
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Social Control Theory |
A theory that focuses on the social and cultural values that exert control over and reinforce the behavior of individuals. |
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Neutralization Theory |
The concept that most people commit some type of criminal act in their lives and that many people are prevented from doing so again because of a sense of guilt, but criminals neutralize feelings of guilt through rationalization, denial, or and appeal to higher loyalties. |
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Strain Theory |
The assumption that individuals resort to crime out of frustration from being unable to attain economic comfort or success. |
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Labeling Theory |
The theory that explains deviant behavior, especially juvenile delinquency, by examine society's reactions to behavior that are labeled as deviant. |
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Conflict Theories |
Theories that the most politically and socially powerful individuals and organizations use the legal system to exploit less powerful individuals and retain their power and privileges. |
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Feminist Criminology |
The proposal that female criminal behavior is caused by the political, economic, and social inequality between men and women. |
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Radical Criminologists |
Those who advocate conflict theories and class and power inequality as the cause of crime. |
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Ethical Standards of Behavior |
Legal sanctions that prohibit experimentation that may harm subjects and regulate the degree of deception of subjects that researchers may use in an experiment. |
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Casual Variables |
Variables that directly influence the outcome of relationships. |
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Correlation |
The state of two variables being associated with each other in that when one increases, the other increases or decrease in a predictable pattern. |
