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118 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Criminology |
the scientific study of the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior |
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Crime v. Deviance |
all criminals are deviant but not all deviants are criminal Crime- intentional act/violating criminal law Deviance- breaking social norms |
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Mala in Se v. Mala prohibita |
Mala in Se- inherently bad/bad in nature Mala prohibita- bad because we say its bad |
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Felony v. Misdemeanors |
Felony- more serious crimes, more than 1 year incarceration Misdemeanor- less serious offense, less than 1 year incarceration |
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Personal v. Property |
Personal- direct harm to others Property- indirect harm to victim through property |
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Determining crime (3 perspectives) |
Consensus view- defined by a majority Conflict view- defined by those in power for themselves Interactionist view- social power define what is criminal by their social values |
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Goals of Law |
-deterrence, social control, maintaining social order, expressing morality, developing equity, punishment, retribution |
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Context and the law (crime varies by) |
-age, gender, what is criminal, geographic place, culture |
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Codified laws and prescribed punishments |
Lex Talionis- "I for an I", sentences equal to crime Blood prices- paid money by murderer to the victims family |
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Classical criminology |
theorizing about the crime itself and the punishment associated punishment is equal to the crime |
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Cesare Beccaria |
-first to develop on why people commit crimes -Utilitarianism -Rational choice and deterrence based theory:what we see today; certain, severe, swift |
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Jeremy Bentham |
-punishment may prevent future offenses -particular prevention- that person won't want to commit again -general prevention- don't want to violate that law because they know what happens -heavy focus on punishment |
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Positive criminology |
use of scientific method human behavior need to test our theory unbias |
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Physiognomy |
persons character can be known by what they look like especially in their face |
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Phrenology |
-Franz Joseph Gull -people touching your head to look for bumps (placement of bumps can determine who they will be) |
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Casare Lombroso |
father of scientific criminology -criminals were cases of avidism (shared characteristics) |
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Emile Durkheim |
-crime was inevitable -differences among people caused crime -crime will never disappear |
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Theory |
-set of logically connected ideas that we develop to explain something -hypothesis: what do we expect to happen |
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Necessary clause |
a factor that must be present for something to occur -dont have 1 necessary clause |
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Primary sources of data (Measurement and study of crime) |
1)official crime statistics 2)victimization 3)self report |
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Official crime statistics |
data originates from criminal justice systems (most common is arrest data from UCR |
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UCR |
most widely used |
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Part 1 offenses- index offenses |
homicide, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson |
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Part 2 offenses |
check fraud, curfew violation, drug use (minor offenses) |
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Crime rates v. counts |
crime rates: how many crimes happen in a specific area to another area counts: not any area but just how many crimes occur |
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NIBRS |
National Incident Based Reporting System -greater amount of data reported |
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NCVS |
National Crime Victimization Survey |
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Data Collection for NCVS |
49,000 households 3 year sample period age 12+ |
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Types of crime for NCVS |
unreported and less serious |
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Self report surveys |
ask to report on themselves |
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Major self report surveys |
MTF: monitoring the future Add Health |
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Research designs |
how do we study and test things |
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Secondary analysis |
studying crime that has already been tested by someone else -predict whose criminal -is quick |
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Longitudinal studies |
studying a group of people or persons over a time |
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Meta-analysis |
all published findings and developing an average affect -study of studies |
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Field research |
embedding yourself in a group of people and collecting data |
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The demonic perspective |
crime is a oviduct of possession |
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psychological theories |
genetically based |
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Intelligence |
lower intelligence=more criminal |
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low verbal IQ |
-thinking -logic -ability to comprehend circumstances -tend to have higher crime -risk factor more than a crime |
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Personality |
reasonable stable behavior patterns -collection of traits -stability |
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Common types of personality |
-negative emotionality -impulsively -extraversion -aggression |
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MPQ higher order categories |
assessing personalities -constraint: negatively correlated with crime -negative emotionality: alienation, aggression, positive correlation with crime -positive emotionality: achievement, closeness, not linked to crime |
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psychopathy |
anti social personality disorder |
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Robert Hare |
expert on psychopathology |
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Arousal theory |
psychopaths need more exciting activities to get the same rush as us |
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Biosocial theories |
Body type and appearance, brain dysfunction, Genetics, |
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William Sheldon |
-body type and appearance -ectomorph: tall, thin, sensitive -least likely to commit crime -endomorph: fat, laid back -mesomorph: athletic, most related to criminology, mind set to commit |
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Brain dysfunction |
focus limbic system and frontal lobes |
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Limbic system |
emotional and amigdala |
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Frontal lobes |
rationality, pre frontal cortex, antisocial trait after trama |
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Arousal |
brainwaves are slow low resting heart rates low skin conductivity can determine at age 15 if they will be criminal all result in crime |
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neurochemistry |
dopamine- behavior acting system serotonin- behavior inabition system |
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Genetics |
predisposed of certain behaviors inheritability |
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Social structure theory |
influence individual behavior |
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Ernest Burgess |
ecology of cities: how cities function -biological-lifecycle |
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Concentric zones model |
Center:business district Transitional zone: not permanent Working Class zone: single family Residential zone: single family with yards Commuter zone: suburbs -Wealth increases as you get outside the circle of zones |
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Shaw and McKay |
-crime relating to zones -hypothesis: crime would be high in transition then decrease by zone five -transition: highest level of crime |
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Poverty |
Zone 2: most poverty less resources=stealing creating subculture greater police presence |
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Heterogeneity |
diversity was a bad thing for crime; it increased it -b/c of cultural differences, couldn't make a community -language barriers |
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Transiency |
frequent population turnover Zone 2: new immigrants wanted to move asap and didnt care about improving the community |
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Sampson |
leading modern theories on social disorganization |
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Crime was a result of |
family characteristics -wouldn't intervene in informal social control -focus on how family was constructed |
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Broken families |
-didn't have 2 parents -children had a higher rate in participating in crime -parents didn't have same resources as a 2-parent household as in the ability to supervise or hold multiple jobs |
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Sampson and Groves |
Characteristics of social disorganization -poverty, residential instability, heterogeneity, and family disruption |
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Sampson and Wilson |
disputed idea that disorganization was just apart of city development -constitution is unequal |
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Collective efficacy |
idea of the resident of a building to control their own neighborhood by using informal social control -trusting neighbors -crime is low when this is high -greater predictor of girls delinquency |
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Social and Physical disorder |
Social-unserpervised youth Physical-broken windows |
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Emile Durkheim |
anomie-absence of norms |
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Normlessness |
rural to industrial cities -increase in anominity -transition time -anomie leads to crime because no establish of norms |
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Civilization and crime |
the more civilized we become, the more crime -increase in less serious crimes |
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Crimes usefulness |
crime is normal and necessary -highlights our norms -if crime is repressed, so is our freedom and creativity |
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Classic strain theory |
anomie and norms -we are selfish |
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Robert Merton |
developed classic strain theory -money is motivation |
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Aspirations and expectations |
Aspiration: what you thrive for Expectation: what you think will actually happen |
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Adaptations to strain |
when aspirations and expectations don't meet, we feel strain |
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Maximization |
get rich or die trying -hybrid of conformity and innovation -acceptance of society goals |
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Institutional Anomie theory |
focus on shaping beliefs and goals -economy is the driving force -brings in family, religion, education forces to determine behaviors |
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Messner and Rosenfield |
high crime rate -deco modification: reducing dominance the economy plays in our behavior |
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General strain theory |
critique of merton's theory |
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Robert Agnew |
sources of strain: -failure to achieve positively valued goals -removal of positively valued stimuli -something we enjoy gets taken away -presentation of negatively valued stimuli -something we don't want gets put before us |
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Path of strain |
strain to crime:negative affect -anger, depression, anxiety -crime=coping with strain low self control and incentive coping =crime -strain is unjust |
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Subcultural theories |
-combine strain and social organization theories -focus on relative deprivation, absolute poverty, and balanced goals -norms of a subculture trump the norms of society |
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Cohen |
Subculture in opposition to middle class -gang participation: can't achieve middle class dream |
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Status frustration |
frustration builds if we can't achieve middle class success |
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Coward and Ohlin |
opportunity structure theory -assumes that participation in crime is unequal -illegitimate success can be blocked -criminal career takes real talent Subculture: -criminal, retreatist, conflict |
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Miller |
Focal concerns: -Trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fatalism, autonomy |
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Anderson |
professor of sociology at yale |
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Code of the streets |
respect is everything
-valued as a person and reputation -hypothesis that respect is a finite resource -take respect from one another -lower social classes |
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Gangs |
influenced by poverty and immigration -not enough money and they form with their own culture |
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Reasons for joining gangs |
obtaining status, respect, power -cheap opportunity -money -offers protection |
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Underlying assumptions |
Blank slate- assume everyone is born with one Role of socialization- assume path to deviance is based on how you are socialized Reinforcement and Punishment- influences choices of behavior Deviant norms to deviant- only after the norms of deviance is learned, the deviance occurs |
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Differential association |
explain both individual and groups rates of offending |
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Sutherland |
develops differential association theory in 1947 -influential -identifies problem with white collar crime rejects idea that only lower class individuals are criminal |
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Nine propositions |
-criminal behavior is learned -learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication -learning occurs within intimate personal groups -techniques, motives, drives, rationalizations, attitudes -definition of legal codes viewed as favorable -delinquency results when definitions favorable to it exceed definitions unfavorable -associations vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity -learning process is the same as other learning processes -criminal behavior is not explained by the general needs and values |
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Akers |
Social learning theory- stressed behavior is governed by consequences -what we think they will be |
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Four concepts of social learning theory |
-Differential association -Definitions -Differential reinforcement -Imitation |
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Becker |
becoming a marijuana user
-1950's during prevention of marijuana |
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3 necessary condition for marijuana using |
-learn techniques from other -learn to perceive the drugs effect's -learn to perceive the effects as enjoyable |
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Neutralization |
idea for how offenders rationalize their behaviors |
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Sykes and Matza |
-based upon observations surrounding delinquents -exist guilt on illegal acts |
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Techniques of neutralization |
-Denial of responsibly -denial of injury -denial of the victim -condemnation of the condemners -appeal to higher loyalties |
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Control theories |
why aren't you committing a crime |
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Underlying assumptions for control theories |
-restraints are holding us back -all inherently selfish: babies -born criminal -acquire restraints from family, mainly parents -breaching: breaking social norms |
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Early social control theories |
assume our behavior is controlled by external forces -public -private -parochial |
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Reiss |
early theory -weak egos -lack self control -sound family environment is key |
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Reckless |
containment theory -inner and outer containment -importance of self image -inner control |
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Toby |
delinquency and gang theory -weak control= more likely to participate in crime and gangs |
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Stakes in conformity |
greater stake=less likely to engage in crime 2 components: -attachment to conventional others -investment in conventional society |
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Social bonds theory |
will not reduce motivation to offend |
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Hirschi |
all animals are naturally capable of committing crime |
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Elements of social bond |
bond is only as strong as its weakest point -attachment -commitment -involvement -belief |
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Self control theory |
rational choice and routine activity -seek pleasure and avoid pain |
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Hirshi and Gottfredson |
builds off of social bond theory -parents and socialization |
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Role of opportunity |
crime to occur -low self control -opportunity to commit crime Age is set at 11 for self control |
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Measuring self control |
marshmallow test self report surveys |
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Characteristics of high and low self control |
High: oriented toward the future Low- oriented toward the present -crime provides quick excitement |
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Alternative specifications |
-ego depletion or muscle model of self control |