Intro to Criminology

Exam One, Exam Two

Gemeinschaft

“Community”, small-scale, strong emotional ties, everyone works together for the benefit of the group, fear of repercussions keep them from diverging (NOT the U.S.)

Gesellschaft

“Society”, large-scale, superficial relationships, less connection, contractual, more likely to deviate because people don’t care/don’t need to care about what most people think about them.

Definitions Favorable

Examples: “it’s fun!”, “I need this thing/I can’t pay for it”, Not likely to get caught, Friends are doing it.

Definitions Unfavorable

Example: “Risky”, “I can just pay for it”, Formal penalties, Informal penalties, “it’s morally wrong”

Formal Sanctions/ Penalties

Getting Arrested, getting fined, not being able to work at some places because of it.

Informal Sanctions/Penalties

Mom and Dad are disappointed, seen as a “bad person”, being treated differently afterward.

Mala in Se

Morally/inherently bad

Mala Prohibita

Bad because someone or a law deemed it bad/illegal.

When did we switch to NIBRS

2021

Part I index crimes

mala in se crimes; major felonies

Part II index crimes

less serious offenses, displayed only by arrest data, some examples: simple assault, fraud, vandalism, prostitution.

What is a Correlate of Crime?

A variable that is statistically associated with crime

What is under-representation in arrest data?

Proportion of arrest less than proportion of the population.

What is over-representation in arrest data?

Proportion of arrests more than the proportion of population.

What does NCVS measure?

Property crimes and victimization, demographics on victims and offenders, crime circumstances.

What is the consensus model of law?

Shared morals = shared views on crime.

Structural Level on Analysis

Macro-analysis, a social structure is analyzed.

Major Demographics of Crime

• Gender

• Age

• Race/Ethnicity

• Place/Location

Assumptions of the group conflict of law

• There are many sources of power

• beliefs of law are based on what group you are a part of

• law is a prize awarded to those with power

Qualitative/ field study data measure…

Descriptions of behavior, culture, and place

Limitations of NCVS

telescoping, memory errors, cannot be used for smaller cities.

What is Theory in Social Science

A framework to answer why processes and behavior occur.

Individual Analysis

A person is looked at on a micro level.

DAT view on crime

Crime is learned like other social processes.

Cross Level Analysis

Both social structures and individuals are studied.

Limitations of UCR

it misses dark figure of crime, it doesn’t cross-analyze demographics, it cannot measure victim-offender relationship.

Assumption of the class conflict model of the law

Conflict between the well-off and the less well-off, law is a tool used by the rich, beliefs are based on the class you’re in.

How does Labeling Perspective view crime

Person is labeled as bad so they internalize it and act so, “self-fulfilling prophecy”

Routine Activities Perspective

Victimization is explained by the everyday activities of life activities of life.

Folkways

Norms for behavior day to day, less severe, ex. making eye contact.

Mores

more severe, most not laws but not all.

Most Common Crimes

Offenses; Aggravated Assault, Property Index Crime; Larceny

More than half of crimes don’t get reported to police

yass.

NIBRS limitations

Same as UCR; doesn’t compensate for dark figure.

Triangulation

Variety of methods used to answer the same question.

Part I Property Offences

Four Major Types:

• Larceny-Theft : Most common, stealth not force, petty theft, stealing, attempted or completed taking of property that’s not yours. NO FORCE OR DECEPTION.

• Burglary: Second common, HAS to be a structure

• Motor Vehicle Theft: Attempted or completed theft of motor vehicles: does not include boats, farming equipment.

• Arson: Least common, willfully burning a dwelling, can or cannot be in an attempt to defraud.

Part II Property Offences

Forgery Counterfeiting: Making, altering, or possessing to defraud, making something seem real. Presenting something that is real (that is not actually real) in an attempt to defraud someone else. Example: Frankie’s Sonny’s Angels

Dealing in Stolen Property: Knowingly selling stolen goods

Embezzlement

Fraud: Perversion of the truth to obtain money or property (by false pretenses):

Common Types:

• Identify Theft

• Pigeon drop schemes (You’ve won!!)

• Ponzi Schemes: Creating false businesses

• Welfare fraud/ putting in information and taking Welfare benefits when they don’t need it.

• Check Fraud: writing checks that you know will bounce back to you.

Most Common Property Crime

Larceny/Theft

Occasional vs. Conventional Criminals

Career Criminal- What makes them Special?

Geographical and Demographic Trends of Property Crime

Age: 65% of PC committed by people under 25

Sex: Men commit more than Women

Race/Ethnicity: White people underrepresented

Geographic

Extent of Property Crime: UCR compared to NCVS, differences in both measurement and findings

Variation of Larceny Theft

• Shoplifting

• Pickpocketing, purse snatching

• Thefts from motor vehicles

• Theft of Bikes

• Theft from inside buildings (e.g. schools, businesses—without breaking and entering)

• Employee Theft (technically a white collar crime)

• EXCLUDES property crimes involving deception: most cases a part II offense ex. Fraud

Costs of Larceny/Theft

Average value of Property taken: approx. 1,000

Theories Explaining shoplifting (Occasional vs. Amateur)

Amateurs (snitches): Stealing out of convenience, most shoplifters are these.

• Motives: Thrill, trying to fit in, “I need it right now”, “I won’t get caught”, convenience

• Characteristics: young, impulsive, not planned, keep what they steal

Occupational (boosters): More skilled, planned, big pay off, account for 10% of shoplifters but steal a LOT of money.

• Motives: Technique, tools of trade

• Characteristics: older, operate in groups

  • Role of networks:

    • Fences: less risky than actually stealing

Part I Violent Crime Offenses

Murder: Willful non-negligent killing; the willful killing of one human being by another. Attempts not included.

Manslaughter: The killing of another person through gross negligence. Example: Aggravated Assault resulting in murder. Attempts not included.

Rape:

Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of violence or force and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Aggravated Assault: An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a WEAPON or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

Part II Violent Crime Offenses

Simple Assault: Assaults or attempted assaults where NO WEAPON was used or no serious or aggravated injury resulted to the victim.

• Stalking

• Intimidation

• Coercion

• Hazing

Extent of Robbery in the U.S.

Trends over time and demographics of Robbery

Demographics:

• Gender: 45% are men, strong gender gap

• Race: overrepresentation of Black people, more inter-racial than most crimes

• Place: convenience store most common

Trends over time:

• Follows expected pattern

• General Patterning:

  • Average Loss: approx. 2,000 overall

  • Weapon use: Strong arm tactics: hits, shoves, pushes, pokes (most common) —→ Fire Arms (second most common) —→ use of cutting weapons (less than 10%, least common)

Victim-Offender relationship of Robbery

Stranger, 55% or more identified the Robber as a stranger (some gender factors: when women are robbed it is more likely to know the robber)

Classification for Robbers and how they act

Professional: Long commitment to crime, identify as criminal. Planned, carry guns, work ingroups, want big scores (banks and other “big money” places).

Opportunistic (the amateurs): Little commitment, crimes of opportunity, young, minority background, easy scores, less likely to carry weapons

Addict: substance addiction, commit robbery to support habit, plans stuff

Alcoholic: Actively under the influence, will commit robbery to “keep the party going”, May claim to be intoxicated

Explanations for Robbery

• Professional:

  • Anomie Theory—→ Innnovator

• Opportunity:

Carjacking (definition, extent, and demographics)

• Special kind of Robbery

Intimate Partner Violence

Pattern of abusive behavior that is used by one partner to gain/ maintain power and control over another intimate partner

• Involves physical assaults

• Typical uses of Violence among men: Power and Control

• Typical uses of Violence among women: Self-defense

Forcible Rape

1929 Definition: The carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly against her will.

CHANGED

2012: The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

Shoplifting Theories Extended

“The Booster and the Snitch” by Mary Owen Cameron

• Boosters: professional shoplifting, carefully planning and skillfully executing their thefts and in concentrating on expensive items that can be quickly converted to cash by a “fence” (dealer in stolen goods.

• “Shadow” Professionals: Individuals who in an avocational manner supplement their legitimate incomes by stealing. In between Booster and Snitch

• Snitch/ Amateurs: amateurs or individuals who do not view themselves as criminals. Majority of shoplifters. most steal small, inexpensive items for their own personal use.

“The Amateur”—Professional Distinction:

• Occasional: Don’t view crimes as criminal, short or no criminal record, not planned, short criminal careers, operate alone, committed to legitimate soceity.

• Professional: Identify as criminals, dabble and escalates, vocation found often in property crimes, longer criminal careers, work in groups, economic end goal.

Types of Arson

• Profit-Motivated Arson: “Professional”, insurance fraud, set fire to their own property.

• Revenge Arson: Setting fire to someone’s house or business with intent of getting revenge.

• Vandalism Arson: Intent of showing anger and hatred to specific target

• Crime Concealment Arson: An attempt to cover up another crime, secondary crime

• Sabotage Arson: Secondary, mechanism to escalate a situation. Arson at some type of protest or riot to increase a disturbance

• Excitement Arson: Committed by a Pyromaniac, like to set and watch fires.

HOMICIDE ARSON IS NOT A THING

Aggravated Assault and Murder have similar patterns and dynamics, why?

Aggravated Assault leads to Homicide

Types of Murders

Typical: Killing somebody in the midst of other things.

Hitman: Killing for money.

Mass: Kill in the same location at the same time, multiple killings.

Spree: Kill multiple in short periods of time at multiple locations.

Serial Killers: Kill more than 3 people over a period of time.

Demographics for Homicide

Race: Blacks overrepresented as perpetrators and victims

Gender: Men commit 90% of women victimizations

Location: densely populated areas are more common, south

Age: Young people, 18-24, 14-17

Stranger vs. Non-stranger violence (AA and Homicide)

• Women are more likely to be victimized by someone they know.

• Men are less likely to be victimized by intimate partners

• Clearance Rates (“was there an arrest”): highest with homicides followed by Aggravated Assault

• Report Rates: low, 2/5 victimizations being reported.

Theoretical Explanations for Violence (Macro)

• Wolfgang and Ferracuti’s Subculture of Violence Thesis (1967):

  • Inner-city Philadelphia, Black communities

  • Found violence is a way of life, It’s their culture

    • Historical Framework

  • Violent Reactions = conformity

    • If you don’t respond violently you become further victimized.

  • Critiques:

    • Methods, Stereotyping

    • Largely ignores the role of structure

    • Doesn’t explain origin

• Theories of Oppositional Culture:

  • Similar focus

  • Main premise: (Sub) culture development is an adaption to social structural problems

  • Develop in reaction to:

    • disadvantage

    • legal cynicism

    • isolation

    • promoted development of counter culture

  • Example: Code of the Streets; some develop “code” whereas others know what the code is but do not respond to it.

• Structural Inequality Explanation:

  • Blau and Blau

  • Related to Anomie

  • Hypothesis: inequality based on race, case, sex, or other socioeconomic characteristics is likely to be viewed as unfair

  • Inequality based on ascribed characteristics=more frustration

  • When inequality is beyond our control that leads to frustration, isolation, and alienation which leads to crime

    • Lot of the time inequality inequality is based on race

  • Measured by looking at cities with lots of rich and lots of poor

    • rates of violence low for “equal” inequality ( rich and poor are all demographics)

    • High violence rates for big differences between rich and poor demographics, usually white and black

Theoretical Explanations for Violence (Micro)

• Situational Explanation of Violence

  • Bill Luckenbill’s classic study of Homicide-methods

  • Broader key concepts:

    • Situation Transaction

    • Social Occasion

  • Specific types of situated transactions —> “an exchange between people”

  • Hypothesis: Homicide is often the outcome of intense exchange (a “character contest”) and the likelihood of homicide is influenced by social occasions

  • Social Occasions associated with homicide?

    • Time:

    • Setting:

    • Activity:

    • Relationship: typically escalate when people know each other

  • Stages in the character contest:

    • Offense to “face” BY victim

      • Words or actions can be seen as offenses

      • Refuses to comply with request of the offender

    • The offender views the words/actions as personally offensive

    • the offender attempts to restore or maintain face

    • the victim responds

    • victim and offender share definition of the situation as a “character contest”

    • Termination of the transaction

• Who is the offender and who is the victim is an artifact of the battle

First-Degree Murder

Intending to kill

Second-Degree Murder

Not caring if you kill

Manslaughter

No Malice, Example: shaking a baby when frustrated

Murder

Malice and forethought, more serious

Intimate Partner Violence

Pattern of abusive behavior that is used by one partner to gain/maintain power and control over another intimate partner

Sexual Assault

Any sexual interactions besides sexual intercourse/penetration that was unwanted by the victim.

Limitations of NCVS in VAW

Does not ask questions that constitute rape/sexual assault, only asks “have you been a victim of rape or sexual assault”

Extent of Violence Against Women (IPV and Rape)

Lifetime Prevalence: 1 in 3 women will suffer violence.

IPV: 1 in 4 women, 1 in 10 men

Rape: 1 in 5 women

Trends over time (VAW)

IPV rates SEEM to be going down, mirror general trends

Rape is the only Part I crime on the list

-Women represent an overwhelming majority og victims (approx. 90%) —→ caution with this.

What percent of victims know their offender?

70-80%

Demographic Correlates for IPV

Age: Usually younger women, shift recently to ages 25-34 yrs old, age increasing

Race: Evidence for variation across race and ethnicity groups is murky, No clear patterns, immigrant women seem to be likely for IPV though, when immigrant women start gaining independence significant amount of violent behavior increases, minorities have a harder time getting out because of culture, immigrants have a hard time getting help because of culture, possible language barriers, etc.

Class: poor= 5x risk of experience IPV, IPV transcends social class boundaries, class differences underscore an important consequence of inequality

Marital Status: Risk significantly varies by marital status, strong decline across all marital statuses (1990’s-2000’s) HOWEVER women with marital status as separated are at the highest risk for IPV.

Demographic Correlates for Sexual Violence

Age: risk by age varies between gender, males; highest risk under the age of 12, females; highest risk 12-17 years old

V-O relationship: Majority involves someone they know (approx. 80%)

Circumstances/Outcomes: Minority of them involves the use of a weapon.

• victim service agency report

Rape Types and What’s wrong with the formatting

“Men Who Rape” (1979) reading:

• Anger Rape: a means to express anger and rage, physically assault victims more than necessary

• Power Rape (50% of rapists): a means of domination, just enough to force for power.

• Sadistic Rape (5% of rapists): combines sexuality and aggression, get pleasure from both torture and pleasure. What we think when we think of rapists

• Critiques:

  • Only looked at rapists in prison

  • not ONLY men rape

Misperceptions of Rape

Behavior falls into two categories:

• Real : Aggravated rape; violence, weapons, recognized by the courts.

• Simple: everything else (e.g. Date rape)

Problematic because it dis-values others experiences with their victimization.

Theoretical Explanations for Violence Against Women

Psychological perspective: assumes psychological abnormalities

Sociological Perspective: assumes social structure and cultural roots of VAW ex. gender gaps in these crimes

A theory of IPV/Rape/SA needs to account for…

• The gender gap of the offending

• power, control, entitlement

• widespread belief in rape myths: “she was too ugly to rape”, “he’s too successful”

• The retaliation victims experience for coming forward

• Gender and economic inequality as a driving force behind IPV

Rape Prone vs. Rape Free Societies

Rape Prone:

• Rape is common

• Report rates low

• offenders are supported and victims are stigmatized

• accompanies hostile culture to women and LGBTIA members

Rape Free:

• Rape is uncommon

• Report Rates High

• Victims supported, offenders stigmatized

• Harsh punishments given to offenders

• Accompanies culture that respects women/ LGBTQ; overall greater equality