Crim Final

learning is central for (3)

the acquisition of specific skillsets, conforming to social norms, acquiring a conscience

classical conditioning

* learn through stimulus-response (innate behavior i.e salivation, fear response)
* J.B Watson

operant conditioning

* learning to produce or withhold a particular response due to its consequences
* learn through consequences of behavior (rewards/punishments)
* B.F Skinner

social learning

learn through social environment (conversation, observational learning, imitation)

unconditioned stimulus

something that automatically elicits a psychological response (food)

unconditioned response

the response to the unconditioned stimulus that is not dependent on learning (salivation)

neutral stimulus

something with no innate association with a response (bell)

conditioned stimulus

something that began as netural but over time is learned to be associated with a response (bell)

conditioned response

the learned response to the conditioned stimulus (salivation to bell)

classical conditioning and antisocial behavior connection?

* Not so good at explaining antisocial behavior in general
* good for certain deviant sexual behavior (sexual fantasies AFTER first offence)
* used for intervention

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reinforcement

seeks to increase the likelihood of a specific behavior

punishment

seeks to reduce the likelihood of a specific behavior

positive reinforcement

gains something desirable as a consequence of a certain behavior

negative reinforcement

avoids an unpleasant stimulus as a consequence of a certain behavior

positive punishment

receives an unpleasant stimuli as a consequence of a behavior (slap)

negative punishment

something desirable is taken away as a consequence of a behavior

extinction

nothing

operant conditioning connection to antisocial behavior

* antisocial behavior is learned through reinforcement/punishment

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2 mechanisms to social learning

* observation/limitations: skills
* conversation: values, beliefs

Pattersons coercion theory

* An aversive interaction between 2 indivduals that escalates over time
* instigated by poor parental practices

Pattersons definition of poor parenting

poor monitoring, ineffective discipline, poor problem solving skills, poor communication skills, and lack of reinforcement

child temperament

* individual differences in emotional and behavioral responses to the environment (nervous, happy, angry)
* imp characteristics: genetic component, relatively stable, emerges early in life, interacts with environment)

Important child temperaments in crim? (2)

* negative affect
* callous/unemotional traits

negative affect

* prone to negative emotions such as: hostile, angry, irritable
* difficulty initiating/maintaining emotions
* reacts quick/intensely
* takes longer to calm down

negative affect connection to antisocial behavior

* more easily provoked by their environment
* more likely to provoke negative reactions from their environment

callous/unemtional traits

* lack of remorse over misdeeds, absence of empathy, callous use of others for personal gain

3 deficits associated with CU traits

* bio deficits
* emotional deficits
* cognitive deficits

CU traits connection to antisocial behavior

Difficulties in socialization

* slower to learn social norms
* slower to learn empathy

ADHD (attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder)

* Neurodevelopmental disorder
* link to antisocial behavior: hyperactivity-**impulsivity**

ODD (oppositional defiant disorder)

demonstration of negative, hostile, and defiant behaviors towards authority figure (for at least 6 months)

CD (conduct disorder)

* persistent pattern of behavior that violates the basic rights of others and/or major age-appropriate social norms
* agressive conduct, destructive conduct, deceitfulness
* leads to typologies

Childhood/early onset subdivisions (2) of CD

Callous/unemotional group

* lacks empathy
* proactive antisocial behavior (sadism, psychopathy)
* frequent offender, violent crimes

Emotional dysregulation group

* difficulty controlling emotions
* reactive antisocial behavior (drugs)
* less severe crimes than CU group

APD (antisocial personality disorder)

adult CD that is more pervasive/serious

* ODD > CD > APD

Psychopathy

personality disorder that results in sig impairment in…

* Affective: lacks empathy
* interpersonal: manipulative
* behavioral: impulsive/sensation-seeking

What are the two elements of typologies for conduct disorders?

Age of onset and temperament 

Chicago School idea (from Durkheim)

Crime is not randomly distributed throughout cities

concentric zone theory

* parks & burgess
* objective was to describe how cities develop

concentric zone theory ZONES (5)

* central buisness district
* zone of transition *(CRIME!)*
* working class zone
* residental zone
* commuter zone

Key limitation of concentric zone theory

does not explain WHY crime is highest in the zone of transition

Social disorganization

* Shaw & Mckay
* community characteristics
* poverty
* ethnic heterogenity
* residential mobility
* family disruption
* Meditating factors
* inability to supervise teen groups
* inability to form social ties

social disorganization theory limitation

the mediating risk factors are not well defined/measured

collective efficacy

* sampson, raudenbush, earls
* 2 components
* social cohesion (connection of neighbors)
* informal social control (likelihood of neighbors trying to stop criminal behavior)

Diff Association theory

* seeks to explain HOW people become criminals
* Crime is learned!!
* 9 propositions
* key: crime occurs when there is an excess of defs favourable of crime

Diff Association theory LIMIT

does not explain HOW we learn

techniques of neutralization

* Sykes & Matza
* delinquents subscribe to the dominant social norms
* they know crime is wrong so they develop cognitive defenses to avoid shame/ guilt

5 techniques of neutralization

* Denial of responsibility
* accident/not my fault
* Denial of injury
* no one was hurt
* denial of victim
* victim is indirect or deserving
* condemnation of the condemner
* police abuse their power
* appeal to higher loyalties
* gang values > social values

Techniques of neutralization LIMITS (2)

* the techniques were arbitrairly identified
* little empirical evidence that these techniques are primary causes of crime

Control theories def

collection of theories based on the idea that humans are naturally HEDONISTIC and need to be controlled to not commit crimes

social bond theory

* Hirschi
* weak bonds to prosocial institutions = crime

social bond theory 4 bonds

* attachment
* not wanting to hurt parents, teachers
* commitment
* to wanting to risk connections
* involvement
* time spend doing extracurriculars
* belief
* agree with social values

Social bond theory limits

* for minor delinquency not serious crimes
* focuses on adolescent development
* examines prosocial bonds, what about ANTIsocial bonds

general theory of crime

* gottfredson & hirschi
* low self-control causes crime and analogous behavior

general theory of crime- characteristics of low self-control

* here-and-now orientation
* more physical
* pleasure seeking
* irritable
* self-centered

general theory of crime- what causes low self-control?

ineffective parenting

* not monitoring behavior
* not recognizing deviant behavior
* not punishing deviant behavior

general theory of crime LIMITS

* parenting is not the only causal factor for self-control
* ignores the existence of crime specialization
* downplays relevance of peers

age-graded theory of informal social control

* sampson & laub
* emphasize the entire life-course
* seeks to understand persistence/desistence in offending

key explanatory variables of age-graded theory of informal social control (2)

* social capital
* social control/social ties
* family
* school/employment
* peers
* state sanctions
* major life-events
* turning point that changes path
* marriage/divorce, birth/death

general strain theory

* agnew
* focuses on how various strains/stressors can lead to antisocial behavior

general strain theory- what is a strain?

* inability to achieve positively valued goals
* removal of positively valued stimuli
* present a threat w/ negatively valued stimuli

general strain theory- internal/external constraints

* constraints: risk/protective factos that shape the expression of the internal negative reaction

general strain theory- internal negative reactions

refers to the emotional reaction to the strain

general strain theory LIMITS

* constraint variable is vague


* not very good at explaining non-reactionary antisocial behavior

labelling theory

deviant labels cause crime (labels influence our self-concept, deviant labels=stigma)

stigma

a powerfully negative master status that affects a person’s self-concept, social identity, and interactions with others

labelling theory prim and sec deviance

* primary: violation of norms does not result in any consequences > self image undamaged
* secondary: self-concept changes due to label

labelling theory LIMITS

* not helpful for understaning onset of delinquency
* not helpful for understanding desistence
* accounts for a small proportion of explained variance

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rational choice theory

* clarke & cornish
* Crime = if the expected benefits outweigh the expected costs

rational choice theory- bounded rationality

decisions are often made imperfectly with offenders rationality not common rationality

rational choice theory- 3 types of poor decisions

* Impulsive decisions
* imperfect decisions
* impaired decisions

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rational choice theory - scripts

acquired through social learning

* composed of tracks (restaurant script: bar track, family res. track)

rational choice theory- crime scripts

criminal behaviors = pattern

* pattern shows: motives, signature, how crime can be targeted by prevention strats

rational choice theory- serial sex offender: victim search method (4)

* Hunter
* Poacher (travel)
* Troller (opportunistic, daily routine)
* Trapper (brings victims to home base)

rational choice theory- serial sex offender: method of attack

* raptor (immediate attack)
* stalker (follows for good moment)
* ambusher (dependent on location)

Coercive scripts (2)

* home-intrusion rape track
* outdoor rape track

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manipulative scripts (2)

* sophisticated rape track
* family-infiltrator rape track

non-persuasive script (1)

direct action rape track

routine activites theory

* Cohen & Felson
* crime is due to lifestyle
* crime more likely to occur when a MOTIVATED offender and SUITABLE TARGET come together in an environment that LACKS A CAPABLE GUARDIAN

aggression

any behavior that harms another person physically, psychologically, or socially

physical aggression

a behavior causing, or threatening to cause, bodily harm towards others

verbal aggression

a destructive form of communication involving an attack on ‘self-concept’ of others. the intended negative result can be psychological or social

overt / covert aggression

* open, direct, obvious
* secretive, indirect, not obvious

reactive aggression

response to environmental stimulus (emotional)

proactive aggression

unprovoked, deliberate, goal-directed

aggression vs. violence

aggression: harm others as its goal

violence: extreme harm to others as its goal

aggression across childhood

physical aggression: highest @ 2

verbal, relational, covert aggression: increase @ 5 (with cognitive ability)

chronic physical aggression

* more likely to persist in physical aggression
* to diversify in their conduct problems
* to increase the frequency of conduct problems
* to escalate the severity of conduct problems

Dual taxonomy theory

* Terrie Moffitt
* seeks to explain the full continuum (minor>severe)

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dual taxonomy theory- 2 taxonomies

* life course persistent offender (LCP)
* adolescent limited offender (AL)

dual taxonomy theory- 2 dominant risk factors for LCP offender

* neuropsychological deficits
* environmental risk

dual-tax theory- AL offender etiology (why)

* motivated by situational/external forces not by antisocial propensity
* key constructs
* maturity gap = strain
* social mimicry

dual tax theory LIMITS

* not clear is LCP offenders are actual LIFE-LONG offenders or just persist into early/middle adulthood
* not clear the extent to which this taxonomy applies to girls
* weak explanation for AL group

how to estimate sex crimes (3)

* self-report
* official data
* victimization surverys

paraphilia

sexual deviance

* intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors generally involving
* 1) nonhuman object
* 2) the suffering/humiliation of oneself and ones partner
* 3) children or other nonconsenting persons
* that occur over a period of 6+ months

pedophilia

* medical diagnosis
* 6 months
* recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child
* acted on urges or urges have caused distress or interpersonal difficulty
* at least 16 years of age and at least 5 years older than the child

Quadripartite model of sexual aggression

Hall & Hirschman

* physiological sexual arousal
* cognitions that justify sexual aggression
* affective dyscontrol
* personality problems

Integrated theory of the etiology of sexual offending

marshall & barbaree

* bio risk domain
* sex and aggression are biologically linked
* environmental risk domain
* negative childhood experiences
* socio-cultural messages
* situational factors

integrated theory of the etiology of sexual offending - bio risk domain - sex and aggression (3 links)

* neuroanatomy
* neurotransmitters
* hormones

children must learn to seperate/regulate

social learning is required to separate these drives

integrated theory of the etiology of sexual offending - environmental risk factors (3)

* negative childhood expereinces
* socio-cultural messages
* situational factors

precondition theory of sexual offending (2 components)

finkelhor

* etiology of child molestation
* criminal event