criminology exam 2 flashcards

What is Rational Choice Theory?

A theory that says offenders make conscious, rational decisions to commit crime by weighing risks and rewards.

What are the 2 key components of Rational Choice Theory?

1. Involvement decisions – the decision to become involved in crime.

2. Event decisions – the specific choice of when, where, and how to commit a crime.

What are the 3 types of Routine Activity Theories?

1. Routine Activity Theory

2. Environmental Criminology

3. Situational Crime Prevention

What is Routine Activity Theory?

Crime occurs when 3 elements converge:

• A motivated offender

• A suitable target

• Absence of a capable guardian

What makes Routine Activity Theory different from other theories?

It focuses on the opportunity structure of everyday life instead of offender motivation.

What is Environmental Criminology?

A theory that examines how geographic and physical environments affect crime patterns and offender decisions.

What are key concepts in Environmental Criminology?

• Crime pattern theory

• Awareness spaces (where offenders know their surroundings)

• Mental maps (offender’s internal understanding of where they can commit crime)

What is Situational Crime Prevention?

A strategy to prevent crime by changing the immediate environment to reduce opportunities for offending.

What are the 5 techniques of Situational Crime Prevention?

1. Increase effort (e.g., locks)

2. Increase risks (e.g., cameras)

3. Reduce rewards (e.g., ink tags)

4. Reduce provocations (e.g., limit crowding)

5. Remove excuses (e.g., clear rules)

What is Deterrence Theory?

A theory that states people will avoid crime if the punishment is certain, swift, and severe.

What are the 2 types of deterrence?

1. General deterrence – prevents the public from committing crimes.

2. Specific deterrence – prevents a particular offender from reoffending.

What is Incapacitation in criminology?

Removing an offender from society (e.g., prison) so they can’t commit further crimes.

What is Selective Incapacitation?

Targeting high-risk offenders who are more likely to reoffend for long-term confinement.

What is the Just Deserts Model?

The idea that punishment should be proportionate to the crime; offenders deserve to be punished as moral accountability.

What philosophy does Just Deserts reflect?

Retributive justice — punishment based on fairness, not deterrence or rehabilitation.

What is Target Hardening in crime prevention?

Strengthening physical security to reduce crime opportunities (e.g., locks, fences, surveillance).

How does Target Hardening relate to Situational Crime Prevention?

It’s a direct technique used to increase the effort required to commit crime, discouraging offenders.

What are Crime Hot Spots?

Areas with high crime concentration — often targeted for patrol and focused intervention.

What is Psychological Positivism?

A theory that links criminal behavior to internal psychological issues, such as personality traits, mental illness, or developmental problems

What are the 3 components of Freud’s personality theory?

1. Id – Instinctual, selfish drives (pleasure principle)

2. Superego – Moral conscience

3. Ego – Rational decision-maker (reality principle)

What happens when there’s an imbalance in Freud’s personality structure?

• Overactive Id: Impulsive, selfish crime (e.g., theft for pleasure)

• Weak Superego: No guilt or moral restraint (e.g., violent crime)

• Overactive Superego: Neurotic guilt, may lead to self-sabotage or confession

What is Bowlby’s Attachment Theory in criminology?

Bowlby believed that children need a strong emotional bond (attachment) to a caregiver; lack of this can lead to antisocial behavior.

What are the consequences of poor attachment in childhood?

Poor empathy, inability to form healthy relationships, increased risk of aggression and criminality.

What did Adrian Raine’s 1997 study on brain activity find?

Murderers pleading not guilty by reason of insanity showed reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, which affects impulse control and moral reasoning.

What is psychopathy?

A personality disorder marked by lack of empathy, shallow emotions, manipulativeness, and antisocial behavior.

What was Eysenck’s theory in “Crime and Personality”?

Criminals score high on psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism — making them impulsive, thrill-seeking, and emotionally unstable.

What was Burt and Simons’ view on nature vs. nurture in criminal behavior?

They argued that genes and environment interact — meaning genetic predispositions can be activated or suppressed based on social conditions.

What is Durkheim’s concept of anomie?

A state of normlessness where social norms break down, often during rapid social change, leading to increased deviance and crime.

What is a mechanical society (Durkheim)?

A small, traditional society where people share common values and roles; crime is rare and harshly punished.

What is an organic society (Durkheim)?

A modern, complex society with specialized roles and less shared values; more room for deviance and moral flexibility.

What is Park’s theory of human ecology?

Cities function like ecosystems—social groups compete for space and resources, leading to patterns of segregation and social disorganization.

What are key ecological concepts Park applied to cities?

Invasion, dominance, succession, and segregation.

What is the Concentric Zone Theory?

A model of urban growth where cities expand in rings, with crime concentrated in the Zone of Transition (just outside downtown). In ring 2 what causes crime is Poverty, population turnover, ethnic diversity, and lack of community control.

What is Social Disorganization Theory?

Crime is caused by the breakdown of social institutions (family, schools, community) in poor, unstable neighborhoods.

What are the 3 main conditions of social disorganization?

1. Poverty

2. Ethnic heterogeneity

3. Residential mobility (people moving in and out often)

What is Collective Efficacy?

A community’s ability to maintain order and achieve common goals through trust and informal social control.

How does Collective Efficacy reduce crime?

Neighbors watch out for each other and intervene to stop disorder, reducing opportunities for crime.

What is the Broken Windows Theory?

Minor signs of disorder (like broken windows or graffiti) invite more serious crime if not addressed early.

What’s the key policing approach from this theory?

Order maintenance policing — cracking down on small offenses to prevent bigger crimes.

What is Merton’s Strain Theory?

Crime occurs when people can’t achieve society’s cultural goals (like wealth) through legitimate means.

What are Merton’s 5 modes of adaptation to strain?

1. Conformity – accept goals and means

2. Innovation – accept goals, reject means (crime!)

3. Ritualism – reject goals, accept means

4. Retreatism – reject both (e.g., drug users)

5. Rebellion – replace both with new values

What is Institutional Anomie Theory?

U.S. society is dominated by the economy, weakening other institutions like family and education, which leads to high crime.

What does “American Dream” have to do with crime in this theory?(instiutional anomie)

It puts too much pressure on success at any cost, encouraging people to break rules to achieve it.

What is General Strain Theory?

Strain comes not just from blocked goals, but also from negative experiences (like abuse or loss), which create negative emotions leading to crime.

What are Agnew’s 3 major sources of strain?

1. Failure to achieve goals

2. Loss of positive stimuli

3. Exposure to negative stimuli

What is Cohen’s Middle-Class Measuring Rod?

Working-class boys are judged by middle-class standards they can’t meet, leading to status frustration and delinquent subcultures.

What do boys do when they face status frustration? (Cohen middle class measuring rode)

They form delinquent groups that reject middle-class norms and gain respect through deviance.

What is Differential Opportunity Theory?

Crime depends on access to illegitimate opportunities, not just blocked legal ones.

What are the 3 subcultures Cloward & Ohlin describe? Differential opportunity theory

1. Criminal subculture – organized crime

2. Conflict subculture – violence, turf wars

3. Retreatist subculture – drug use and withdrawal

What are Miller’s 6 focal concerns of lower-class culture?

1. Trouble

2. Toughness

3. Smartness

4. Excitement

5. Fate

6. Autonomy

What did Wolfgang & Ferracuti propose in 1967?

Some groups, especially young urban males, have a subculture that sees violence as acceptable or necessary in certain situations.

What is Anderson’s “Code of the Street”?

A set of informal rules in inner-city communities that demand respect and often encourage violence to defend it.

What’s the difference between “street” and “decent” families in Anderson’s view?

• Decent families value education, hard work, and law-abiding behavior.

• Street families emphasize survival, toughness, and enforce the “code.”

What is Classical Conditioning?

A learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a response due to repeated pairings (Pavlov’s dogs: bell = salivation).

What is extinction in classical conditioning?

The conditioned response fades when the stimulus is no longer paired with the reward (e.g., bell with no food).

What is generalization in classical conditioning?

Responding to stimuli similar to the original one (e.g., reacting to all bells, not just the one used in training).

What is discrimination in classical conditioning?

Learning to respond only to a specific stimulus (e.g., only reacting to one bell tone, not others).

What is Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning?

Learning behavior through consequences: rewards increase behavior, punishments decrease it (B.F. Skinner).

What is Skinner’s “Law of Effect”?

Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated

What is Positive Reinforcement?

Adding something good to increase a behavior (e.g., praise, money).

What is Negative Reinforcement?

Removing something bad to increase a behavior (e.g., taking aspirin to remove headache).

What is Positive Punishment?

Adding something bad to decrease behavior (e.g., adding jail time).

What is Negative Punishment?

Taking away something good to decrease behavior (e.g., losing phone privileges).

What is extinction in operant conditioning?

When a behavior stops because it is no longer reinforced (e.g., tantrum stops when no longer gets attention).

What is generalization in operant conditioning?

Behavior learned in one situation is applied to similar ones.

What is discrimination in operant conditioning?

Learning to behave differently in different situations (e.g., acting one way in class, another at home).

What is Observational Learning (Bandura)?

Learning behaviors by watching and imitating others (e.g., Bobo doll experiment).

What’s key in observational learning?

Modeling, reinforcement, attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.

What is Differential Association Theory?

Crime is learned through interaction with others who support criminal behavior.

: What’s the most important factor in Differential Association Theory.

Frequency, duration, priority, and intensity of criminal associations.

What is the Neutralization Theory (Sykes & Matza)?

Delinquents temporarily drift from moral values using excuses to justify crime.

What are the 5 techniques of neutralization?

• Denial of responsibility – “It wasn’t my fault”

• Denial of injury – “Nobody got hurt”

• Denial of victim – “They had it coming”

• Condemnation of condemners – “Everyone’s corrupt”

• Appeal to higher loyalties – “I did it for my friends/family”

What is Social Learning Theory?

Crime is learned through observation, imitation, and reinforcement of deviant behavior.

What are the 4 elements of Social Learning Theory?

• Differential association

• Definitions (attitudes)

• Differential reinforcement

• Imitation (modeling)

What is Containment Theory?

People are pushed and pulled toward crime, but inner and outer containment keeps them controlled.

What are inner and outer containment?

• Inner: self-control, good self-concept

• Outer: social supports like family, school

What is Social Bond Theory?

People don’t commit crime when they’re bonded to society in positive ways.

What are the 4 elements of the social bond (Hirschi)?

1. Attachment – to family, school, etc.

2. Commitment – to goals like school/work

3. Involvement – in prosocial activities

4. Belief – in moral validity of laws

What is the General Theory of Crime (Hirschi & Gottfredson)?

Crime is due to low self-control, usually caused by poor parenting.

What are traits of low self-control?

• Impulsivity

• Preference for easy/quick rewards

• Risk-taking

• Insensitivity to others