Criminology- Theories Test

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CLASSICAL (18th c.)

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Beccaria- argued for just/humane punishments, punishment should fit the crime. Punishments for crime should outweigh benefits (deterrence), should be swift, certain, and appropriately severe.

Bentham- Principle of Utility: laws should be aimed at making sure pains of punishment should outweigh the crime. Estimation of pleasure/pain based on Intensity, Duration, Certainty, and how soon it is derived.

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POSITIVIST (19th c.)

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A movement towards a more scientific explanation of crime-- biological causes. Determinism- the belief that events have causes that precede them.

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LOMBROSO

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POSITIVIST

Criminal Man- Atavism. Inferior with recognizable physical stigmata. After criticism, created other categories of Insane Criminals and Criminaloids (habitual, juridicial, passion).

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GARAFOLA

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POSITIVIST

Argued for “natural” definition of crime- an act is criminal if it universally condemned due to offending sentiments of probity and pity. Believed that punishments should fit the offender and the danger they pose to society due to their peculiarities. Identified Four Categories:
a. Extreme- need to execute them, only way to protect society
b. Impulsive- alcoholics/insane, can be handled with incarceration
c. Professional- normal individuals who choose crime, imprison for life
d. Endemic- Mala prohibita offenses best dealt with thru legal code

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FERRI

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POSITIVIST

believed criminals were characterized by (a) moral insensibility and (b) low intelligence. Social defense: the purpose of punishment is not to deter or rehabilitate, but to protect society from criminal predation

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MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND POSITIVIST

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punishment should fit the crime not the offender.

causes of crime are rational choice/free will not biological, psychological, or social.

purpose of punishment is deterrence not social defense.

criminals and non criminals are the same, criminals are inferior.

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SOCIAL STRUCTURAL THEORIES (DEF)

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Explain Aggregate/group crime rates instead of individual causes of crime.

Social Disorganization Theory (Shaw & McKay)

Anomie (Durkheim)

Strain (Merton)

General Strain (Agnew)

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(NEO)CLASSICAL THEORIES

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Rational Choice

Routine Activities Theory

Deterrence

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SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES

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Symbolic Interactionist Perspective- focuses on how people interpret and define their social reality and the meanings that they attach to their social reality in the process of interacting with one another via language (symbols).

Differential Association (Sutherland)

Social Learning Theory (Akers)

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SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES

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Social control mechanisms are those designed to minimize deviance and nonconformity.
Informal/direct social control is preferable since it can be effective even in the absence of external coercion. Social control theories ask why people refrain from committing crime instead of asking why they commit crime.

SOCIAL BONDING (Hirschi)

SELF CONTROL THEORY (Gottfried & Hirschi)

NEUTRAL AND DRIFT (Sykes & Matza)

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DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES

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Emphasize that the individual criminal’s propensity develops along different pathways. They explore the onset, acceleration, and deceleration of offending. Crime varies across the life course, with most criminal involvement occurring during adolescence. Developmental theories are integrative in that they take into account social, psychological, and biological factors simultaneously.

AGE LIMITED/DUAL PATHWAY (Moffit)

AGE GRADED (Sampson & Laub)

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CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

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LABELING THEORY (Tannenbaum & Lemert)

CONFLICT THEORIES (marx and weber)

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THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

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Consequentialist- actions are morally right if, but only if, they result in desirable consequences.

Deontologist- consider what actions are morally right regardless of their ultimate effects on others. Objective morality.

RETRIBUTIVISM- based on dual premises that humans possess free will and punishment justified when it is deserved (primary deontologist view)

DENUNCIATION- justified as a means of expressing society’s condemnation and relative seriousness of crime. hybrid of utilitarianism and retribution.

Utilitarianism- general deterrence, specific deterrence, rehabilitation. The goal is the most good for the most people, aka decrease crime.

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SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION (Shaw & McKay)

social structural theory

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Considers how delinquency is geographically distributed/what social conditions coincide with high crime rates.

social disorganization = breakdown of informal community rules. This leads to (1) lack of informal controls, which in turn leads to (2) development of values that promote asocial behaviors. *no more collective efficacy

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STRAIN THEORY (Merton)

social structural theory

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Crime is caused by the gap between commonly held cultural goals and the legitimate means available to achieve them. In American culture, monetary success is the predominant cultural goal, but not everyone has the same access to attain it. Some people respond to this disjunction in criminal ways.
Five modes of adaptation:
(1) Conformity- acceptance of goals and means ++
(2) Innovation- acceptance of goals, rejection of means +-
(3) Ritualism- rejection of goals, acceptance of means -+
(4) Retreatism- Rejection of goals and means --
(5) Rebellion- rejection and replacement of goals and means -/+ -/+

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GENERAL STRAIN THEORY (Agnew)

social structural theory

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Strain is the result of negative emotions that arise from negative relationships with others.
Strain leads to crime through fostering negative attitudes about other people.
The impact of strain depends on its magnitude, recency, duration, and clustering.
The presence of strain is less important than how one copes with it

NEGATIVE RELATIONS prevent achievement of positively values goals, remove positively valued stimuli, and present negatively valued stimuli. Can very in magnitude, recency, duration, and clustering. The strain leads to NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. Coping can occur in either a Behavioral, Cognitive, or Emotional way. Can lead to DELINQUENT REACTIONS in the form of instrumental (obtaining what was lost), Retaliatory (committing a violent act as an expression of strain/emotions emitted), or Retreatist (rejecting cultural goals and institutionalized means of attaining them, being in but not of society). However, some people can cope with strain without becoming delinquent.

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ANOMIE (Durkheim)

social structural theory

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Anomie = lack of rules/state of normlessness

Mechanical societies: In Durkheim's theory, these societies were rather primitive with a simple distribution of labor and thus a high level of agreement regarding social norma and rules because nearly everone is engaged inthe same roles...

Organic societies: Societies that have a high division of labor and thus a low level of agreeement about societal norms, largely because everyone has such adifferent roles in society leading to very different atttitudes about the rules and norms of behavior

organic solidarity leads to criminal behavior because of the weakening of social bonds.

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RATIONAL CHOICE

(neo)classical school

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Criminal choices are made in a context of personal/situational constraints and available opportunities.

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ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORY

(neo)classical school

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Considers crime from the perspective of crime prevention and offender.
Crime is the convergence of:
(1) Motivated Offenders
(2) Suitable Targets
(3) Absence of Capable Guardians
* If any of these elements is missing, crime is not likely to occur.

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DETERRENCE THEORY

(neo)classical school, theories of punishment

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Form of utilitarianism
General deterrence- People punished to convince general community to forego criminal conduct.
Specific deterrence
(1) incarceration- prevent person from committing crimes by segregation
(2) intimidation- punishment reminds them of pain for if they commit crime

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DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (Sutherland)

Social Process Theory

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Criminal behavior is learned in intimate social groups.
A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violations of the law over definitions unfavorable to violations of the law.
Peer associations vary by:
(1) Frequency
(2) Duration
(3) Priority
(4) Intensity
Differential social organization in lower class areas leads to normative conflict. Normative conflict leads to definitions favorable to law violation learned from intimate peers. This learning depends on priority, duration, frequency, and intensity of peer associations. This leads to crime and delinquency.

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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (Akers)

Social Process Theory

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Operant psychology can be applied to differential association theory to explain how individuals adopt definitions favorable to crime.
Positive/negative reinforcement, positive/negative punishment, discrimination.

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SOCIAL BONDING THEORY (Hirschi)

Social Control Theory

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Social bonding theory assumes people create social bonds that prevent them from committing crimes.

(1) Attachment- the emotional component of conformity, such as bonds to key social institutions like the family and the school.
(2) Commitment- the rational component of conformity, such as investment of considerable time and energy in the pursuit of a lawful career.
(3) Involvement- refers to the time and energy limitations that result from participation in lawful activities.
(4) Belief- the acceptance of social norms regulating conduct.

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SELF CONTROL THEORY

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Individuals with low self control are more likely to commit crime. Most crimes are spontaneous, impulsive acts undertaken due to the temptations of the moment.
Offender characteristics:
- oriented to the present
- risk taking and physical
- lacking in patience, persistence, and diligence
- self centered and insensitive
Low self-control is established in early childhood as a result of incompetent parenting, and it tends to persist throughout life.
Variation in criminal offending results from the different opportunities people encounter that are conducive to committing crimes.

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NEUTRALIZATION AND DRIFT THEORY

(Sykes & Matza)

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Neutralization (Sykes & Matza)- persons committing delinquent acts know their behavior is wrong, but they are able to neutralize their sense of shame/guilt through justifications.
(1) Denial of Responsibility- shifts the blame for a deviant act away from actor
(2) Denial of Injury- claims no one was harmed so no “real” offense occurred
(3) Denial of Victim- the victim got what they deserved
(4) Condemnation of the Condemners- the condemner’s behavior is just as bad
(5) Appeal to higher loyalties- elevate moral integrity by claiming altruistic motives

Drift Theory: The techniques of neutralization are ways in which adolescents get an “episodic release” from conventional moral restraints.

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AGE LIMITED/DUAL PATHWAY (Moffit)

Developmental Perspective

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There is a distinction between adolescent limited (AL) offenders and life course persistent (LCP) offenders and the “maturity gap” may contribute to AL.

85% of offenders are AL. The maturity gap is the period during which youth have already encountered puberty, but are not yet entering into the work force.

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AGE GRADED THEORY (Sampson & Laub)

Developmental Perspective

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Environmental circumstances and human agency interact with various life course events in a manner that explains deviance. Essentially a social control theory.

Primary focus on desistance. As people build up social capital and encounter key turning points in their lives, they are likely to desist.

High risk trajectory:
Low SES/IQ, difficult tempermant and family disruption → poor bonds to parents and school → serious delinquency → poor marriage and poor job → continued offending → gradual desisting

Low risk trajectory:
Lower level of risk factors → good bonds to parents and school (social capital) → minor delinquency → good marriage and good job (turning points) → desist from offending

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LABELING THEORY (Tannenbaum & Lemert)

critical perspective

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Labeling is the process of being caught and labeled a “criminal”, which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Primary Deviance- the initial nonconforming act that comes to the attention of authorities.
Secondary Deviance- deviance that results from society’s reaction to primary deviance.

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CONFLICT THEORY- MARX

critical perspective

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conflict theories concentrate on power relationships/inequalities as the root of crime and all other problems.

MARX- capitalism leads to class struggle and societal ills. bourgeoise- owners of means of production. proletariat- oppressed working class. lumpenproletariat- third class, scum of society, will not be involved in the revolution.

primitive rebellion hypothesis- crime is often a rational response to the effects of capitalism in societies.

crime is a result of the alienating and exploitive effects of capitalism

altruism vs. egoism

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CONFLICT THEORY- WEBER

critical perspective

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Society is best characterized by conflict originating from several sources.

Main argument: Expanded conflict theory from its focus on value and normative conflicts to include conflicts of interest. Social life is seen as a continual struggle to maintain or improve one’s group interests.

Differs from Marxism on three key points:
Economic systems are molded by cultural ideas, not vice versa
Conflict is not solely rooted in class
The destruction of capitalism will not eliminate conflict

crime is a normal and desirable mode of change.

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SOCIAL CRIMINOLOGY DEFINITION

(Sutherland & Cressy)

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Body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.
-Processes of making laws
-Breaking laws
-Reacting toward the breaking of laws

crimes are defined by society > people commit crimes > society reacts (punishment/treatment) > new info gathered on effectiveness of reaction > informs and amends processes that embody criminology > changes how people define crime.

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WAYS TO MEASURE CRIME

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Official Statistics (UCR and NIBRS)

Victimization survey data (NCVS)

Self Reported Data

The UCR is probably the “best” source of data for murder and serious crime, but not helpful in determining rates of drug use.

Victimization surveys cannot tell us about murder or drug use, but is a good source for rape statistics.

Self-report surveys will provide the best information on drug use, but not serious crimes such as murder or rape

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CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING THEORIES

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Logical Consistency- clearly defined concepts; propositions are logically stated and internally consistent

Scope

Parsimony: Conciseness and Abstractness of a set of concepts & propositions

Testability- can't be tautological, open ended, or immeasurable. have to be viewable with objective repeatable evidence

Empirical Validity- supported by extensive legitimate empirical data/evidence

Policy Implications/Usefulness- can it be helpful to us and guide policy/laws