Criminology Test

Front 1

Social Disorganization Theory (3)

Back 1

1. major cause of criminality/victimization

2. breakdown of " collective efficacy"

3. neighborhood characteristics increase or decrease crime rate

Front 2

collective efficacy

Back 2

the ability of members of a community to control the behavior of individuals and groups in the community

Front 3

Strain Theory (Durkheim) (3)

Back 3

1. social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crime

2. breakdown of social conditions can lead to a feeling of personal loss and dissolution

3. economic crisis = anomie + increase in suicides

Front 4

anomie

Back 4

a state or condition of individuals or society characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values

Front 5

Strain Theory (Merton) (2)

Back 5

1. socially accepted goals put pressure on people to conform

2. when individuals are faced with a gap between their goals and their current status, strain occurs

Front 6

How do people deal with Strain? (5)

Back 6

1. Conformity: pursuing cultural goals through socially approved means.

2. Innovation: using socially unapproved or unconventional means to obtain culturally approved goals. Example: dealing drugs or stealing to achieve financial security.

3. Ritualism: using the same socially approved means to achieve less elusive goals (more modest and humble).

4. Retreatism: to reject both the cultural goals and the means to obtain it, then find a way to escape it.

5. Rebellion: to reject the cultural goals and means, then work to replace them.

Front 7

Class-based Theories (2)

Back 7

1. Crime committed by lower-class males

2. Crime committed by juvenile gangs

Front 8

Middle-Class Measuring Rod (4)

Back 8

1. Cohen

2. Most fall into middle class (teachers)

3. Kids from lower class don't measure up

4. High drop out rates of lower class kids

Front 9

Differential Opportunity Structure (2)

Back 9

1. Colorado and Ohlin (1960)

2. criminal, retreatist, and conflict

Front 10

Social Process Theories (3)

Back 10

1. Interactions between people & society

2. Socialization is the primary cause of learning

3. Criminal behavior is created by peers

Front 11

Differential Association (2)

Back 11

1. Sutherland

2. Values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior learned through interaction with others

Front 12

Social Learning Theory (2)

Back 12

1. Ackers

2. Criminal behavior learned from watching other criminal behavior

Front 13

Techniques ofNeutralization (6)

Back 13

1. Sykes and Matza

2. Denial of Responsibility

ie. 'not me'

2. Denial of Injury

i.e. 'not hurting anyone so it's ok'

3. Denial of the Victim

i.e. 'they deserved it'

4. Condemning the Condemners

i.e. 'well you did so and so'

5. Appeal to Higher Loyalties

i.e. stealing to feed family

6. “radical non-intervention”

i.e. 'Do nothing. Don’t arrest anyone, don’t charge anyone. Let situations sort themselves out '

Front 14

Labeling Theory

Back 14

deviance is socially constructed through reaction instead of action (situation/beliefs define whether an action is deviant or not)

Front 15

"Dramatization of Evil" (2)

Back 15

1. Tannenbaum

2. "an act defined as evil is actually transformed into a definition of the actor as evil"
3. person commits act -> society now views person as 'evil' -> person then associates oneself with others considered 'evil', engaging in similar activities

Front 16

Primary/Secondary Deviance (3)

Back 16

1. Lemert

2. Primary Deviance - infrequent, disappears; standard violations or violations that have little influence on the actor (i.e. speeding)

3. Secondary Deviance - Deviant event comes to attention of society who apply a negative label; Adopt deviant self-image

Front 17

Reintegrative Shamin (3)

Back 17

1.Braithwaite

2. Stigmatic = outcast forever

3. Reintegrative = condemn crime not criminal

Front 18

Social Control Theory (6)

Back 18

1. Hirschi

2. what makes people NOT participate in crime

3. Attachment (family, peers, etc.)

4. Commitment (conformity)

5. Involvement (school, athletics, etc.)

6. Belief (shun/embrace crime)

Front 19

Peer Influence (4)

Back 19

1. Warr

2. Peers primary agent of socialization

3. Criminality learned through groups peers

4. Most significant predictor of official delinquency is delinquent friends

Front 20

Law as an agent of Social Control (3)

Back 20

1. Reflection in types of laws (i.e. Reflection of male power/interests (people more willing to side with man in rape than woman))

2. Unequal enforcement of laws (i.e banker who scammed citizens out of millions of dollars receive more lenient sentence than a lower class citizen robbing a store)

3. Reflected in our punishments (i.e. Overrepresentation of Aboriginal people at all levels of the CJS )

Front 21

Conflict Theory

Back 21

The unequal distribution of power produces conflict (white and aboriginal, male and female, cop and citizen, etc.)

Front 22

Liberal Feminism (2)

Back 22

1. Distinguishes sex from gender

2. Liberation Hypothesis: Frieda Adler; No gender-specific crimes, difference in offending rates due to subordination of women/ girls

Front 23

Radical Feminism (3)

Back 23

1. Locates causes of women’s problems in patriarchy ( Male gender appropriates labour power of women and controls their sexuality)

2. Laws and the CJS favour interests of males (i.e. Stalking laws)

3. Female offender is the victim

Front 24

Marxist Feminism (3)

Back 24

1. Gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and women in capitalist society

2. Criminal behaviour patterns due to gender conflict created by economic and social struggles

3. Powerlessness also increases the likelihood that women will become the targets of violent acts

Front 25

Power-Control Theory (3)

Back 25

1. Hagan, Gillis and Simpson

2. Focuses on family and power related to capitalism

3. Crime/ delinquency are a function of two factors: family ( stay at home mother vs. both parents working ) or class (Middle-class girls are the most likely to violate the law )

Front 26

Ethic of Care (2)

Back 26

1. Morash and Chesney-Lind

2. Girls pressured to care in 3 ways: care for your family, care for your appearance, care for your boyfriend

Front 27

Law in the Interests of Males

Back 27

1. Law historically criminalizes women for sexual misconduct

2. 1983 Rape Law

3. Prostitution (men not charged for buying, but women charged for selling)
4. Blaming the victim instead (woman's fault for putting herself out there)

Front 28

Marginality

Back 28

Social inequalities that condition one’s experiences in life, esp. Involvement in crime (race, gender, income, communities)

Front 29

The lives of Aboriginal youth (8)

Back 29

1. Higher infant mortality rate and lower life expectancy

2. Poorer health, higher incidences of preventable disease and disabilities

3. Over-represented among FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) diagnoses

4. Higher suicide rate

5. Rampant substance abuse

6. Disproportionately victimized by physical and sexual abuse

7.At least 2X as likely to live in poverty

8.Disproportionately undereducated and underemployed

Front 30

Aboriginal Youth vs. Non-Aboriginal (8)

Back 30

1. More charges laid against them

2. Less likely to benefit from legal representation

3. More often detained before trial (and for longer)

4. More likely to be denied bail

5. Experience longer delays before cases disposed

6. More likely to be sentenced to custody

7. Serve longer sentences

8. Higher percentage of victims

Front 31

Racial profiling

Back 31

1. Process of identifying, selecting and applying specific negative attributes to a group and its individual members

2. Examples: Being stopped for no reason by police, more likely to be admitted for drug charges, more likely to be admitted to prison