Criminology Final

positivist school

Which school of criminological thought that developed during the 19th century was the first to use the scientific method of the natural sciences and to suggest that external forces that can be measured are the cause of crime?

consensus

According to the _______________ view of crime, there is general agreement among members of society as to which behaviors should be considered crimes.

crime

offense against society, punishable by the state

3 theories of law

consensus, conflict, interactionist

consensus view

widespread agreement

conflict view

law reflects power (powerful groups and elites make laws that protect their own interests)

interactionist view

subjective interpretations of moral entrepreneurs

consensus

Laws against murder show what view

conflict

Laws against homeless show what view

criminal law

a system of law concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes is the definition of what?

code of Hammurabi

the oldest recorded legal code, established in ancient Babylon, which prescribed specific punishments for various offenses.

Code of Hammurabi concept

eye for an eye

english common law

The early English law that was developed by judges through precedents, that became the law of the land, and that later became the basis for American criminal law is known as what?

Mala in se vs. mala prohibitum offenses

evil in itself vs breaking laws and norms

example of mala in se

murder, rape

example of Mala prohibitum

traffic offenses

3 categories of mala prohibitum:

victimless crimes, political, regulatory offenses

examples of victimless crimes

prostitutions, drug crimes, underage drinking

example of political crimes

treason, espionage

example of regulatory offenses

ensures order and safety like driving laws

5 types of criminology discussed:

- Classical Criminology

- Positivist Criminology

- Sociological Criminology

- Critical Criminology

- Integrated/Developmental Criminology

classical criminology

According to chapter 1 of the textbook, which school of criminological thought, based on the writings of Cesare Beccaria, was the FIRST to develop and suggested that people have free will, weigh the costs and benefits of behavior, and can be deterred from crime through fear of punishment?

positivism criminology

focussing on biological, psychological, or social (external) factors, that if present increase the probability of crime occurring, use of scientific method?

two branches of sociological criminology

social structure vs social process

Karl Marx 1960

critical criminology is based on what thinker and when

integrated/developmental criminology

different things are important at different stages of our lives and combine all theories into one

True

True or False Most criminologists agree that crime peaks in adolescence and then declines rapidly thereafter.

expressive crimes

Offenses that are not committed for profit but to vent anger, rage, or frustration are known as:

Compared to the crime rate in 1991, the current crime rate in the United States is:

lower

What season has the highest crime rate?

summer

National Crime Victimization Survey

What source of crime data, compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is designed to address the issue of victims not reporting their crimes to the police by asking people if they have been the victim of crime?

3 primary data sources:

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

self-report data

Who puts together the UCR

the fbi

Advantages and Disadvantages of Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

UCR strength: easily accessible, higher reported rate of violent crimes, easy to compare

UCR drawbacks: does not cover unreported crimes

what research question would have you running to the UCR:

comparisons geographically or temporally of crimes

NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey)

collected by

the Bureau of Justice statistics (BJS)

Advantages and Disadvantages of National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

NCVS strength: gets unreported crimes

NCVS drawbacks: honesty, hard to compare, memory

Advantages and Disadvantages of self-report data

self report surveys strength: helpful for victimless crimes like underage drinking and speeding

self report surveys drawbacks: honesty, more serious crimes are less likely to be reported

8 part 1 offenses

murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, arson, larceny, and motor vehicle theft

Crime Trends: crime decreased throughout

1990s and 2000

Crime Trends: crime was relatively flat in

2010's

Crime Trends: crime now

about half of what it was in the 90s

Crime Patterns:

-warm months (summer)

-cities

-south and west

-poor

- 15-24 years old

-males

-people of color

-weekends

Wolfgang's chronic 6%

commit 52% of all offenses

cohort study

Following a subset of a population over a lifetime

"Chronic 6%" =

career criminal

According to Routine Activities Theory, victimization is likely to occur when what three things occur at the same time and in the same place?

motivated offender

suitable target

lack of capable guardians

Members of which age group are the most likely to be victims of crime?

Teenagers and young adults

Victimization's toll on society (5)

1) Economic Loss (system and individual)

2) Abuse by the system

3) Long term stress

4) Fear

5) Antisocial Behavior

Nature of victimization: ecology; household; victim traits

-open, public areas

-day time

-central cities

-larger houses, renters

-African Americans

-western and southern

-males

- 15-24 years old

-poor

-never married

women usually kill

men

Which theory of victimization suggests that victims may initiate, either actively or passively, the confrontation that leads to their victimization?

Victim Precipitation Theory

Victim Precipitation Theory: active vs. passive precipitation

Active precipitation- aggressive or provocative behavior of victims that result in their victimization

Passive precipitation- personal or social characteristics of victims that make them attractive targets for criminals

Lifestyle Theories

According to which theory of victimization are people more likely to become victims when they are engaged in behaviors that increase their exposure to criminal offenders, such as taking a lot of risks, being in college, or being criminals themselves?

Deviant Place Theory

Which theory of victimization suggests that there is little one can do to later his/her chances of victimization because the neighborhood in which he/she lives is socially disorganized and has a high rate of crime?

Routine Activities Theory

Motivated offenders. Lack of capable guardians, suitable target have to occur at the same time and the same place for victimization to take place

defensible space

What is the name for the concept developed by Oscar Newman that suggests crime can be prevented by modifying the physical environment in a way that reduces criminal opportunity?

According to general deterrence theory, people will be less inclined to commit crime and crime rates should decline when what THREE qualities of the legal sanctions increase?

certainty

severity

swiftness

John Donohue says in his article

It is unlikely that the death penalty deters murder

specific deterrence

According to _________________, we should punish offenders in order to convince those we are punishing to fear the consequences of crime and thus not to repeat their criminal conduct.

When will crime occur according to RCT?

when the benefits outweigh the costs

Situational Crime Prevention

neutralizes a criminals crime of choice/ minimize criminal opportunities

examples of situational crime prevention

security cameras, dogs, fences

General deterrence vs Specific deterrence

specific deterrence= punishment inflicted on criminals to discourage them from reoffending

general deterrence = punishment of criminals that is intended to be an example to the general public and to discourage others from committing crimes

Incapacitation

________________ suggests we should keep criminals locked in prison to prevent them from being able to commit future crimes.

childhood maltreatment or abuse

According to the article by Caspi, et al., children with low levels of MAOA activity are more likely to commit anti-social behavior than children with high levels of MAOA activity if they have experienced what?

sociobiology

What terms refers to the idea that biology, environment, and learning are mutually interdependent factors that influence criminal and anti-social behavior?

Id, Ego, Superego

What are the three different parts of the human personality according to Freud's psychodynamic perspective?

true

true or false Identical twins reared apart are about as similar to each other as identical twins raised together.

According to the article by Kevin Drum: What is America's real criminal element?

lead

gasoline exhaust

What was leads primary source in earlier generations?

Lombroso

father of criminology

atavistic anomalies

According to Lombroso, the physical characteristics that distinguish born criminals from the general population and are throwbacks to animals or primitive people.

Sheldon and the Somatype School

related body build to behavior

what was the criminal body type

mesomorphic

Contemporary Trait Theory

the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits

two branches of contemporary trait theory

biological/biosocial and psychological

What is the term for the social control exerted by well organized communities that is based on mutual trust and strong interpersonal ties and that Sampson, et al. discovered was correlated with lower neighborhood crime rates?

Collective efficacy

Which branch of social structure theories suggests that crime is actually the result of conformity to a set of values and traditions that are at odds with conventional society?

cultural deviance theory

According to this branch of social structure theories, crime occurs when members of the lower class experience anger or frustration over their inability to achieve success.

strain theory

According to _____________ 's theory of ________, many lower-class youths join gangs and engage in crime because they experience status frustration due to their inability to positively impress authority figures, who judge them by standards that he refers to as the "middle class measuring rod."

Cohen, Delinquent subculture

Park & Burgess Ecological Model and Concentric Zones (5)

center= core/zone 1 : business and industries, factories

Just outside the core= zone 2/transitional : immigrants would live here, did not stay long here very long, not from area and leave once they have enough money

Zone 3 = single family zone: working class lives, still poor but have been here longer and stronger community ties

Zone 4 = residential zone: white collar middle class managers would live, more comfortable life

Zone 5= commuter zone: suburbs would be here today but suburbs don't exist yet, very wealthy, very well off and have ability to commute in and out

USA

according to studies, this industrialized nations social safety net provides the least poverty relief

social disorganization theory

Which branch of social structural theories suggests that crime flourishes in areas where institutions of social control have broken down and can no longer perform their expected functions?

3 variables that lead to social disorganization:

residential instability, high rates of poverty, and high rates of ethnic heterogeneity

social disorder leads to serious crime. If you do not crack down on little crimes like littering, then it will send a statement that nobody cares

Broken Windows

Strain Theories:

Merton's Anomie/Strain

Agnew's General Strain

Messner & Rosenfeld's Institutional Anomie

Relative Deprivation

hypothesized causal link for Merton's Anomie/Strain

gap in the goal-means gap leads to strain which leads to deviance

3 sources Agnew believes strain can be produced?

1) failure to achieve positively valued goals

2) removal of positively valued stimuli

3) presentation of negative stimuli

hypothesized causal link for Messner &Rosenfeld's Institutional Anomie

American dream values leads to weakened non-economic institution which leads to anomie with leads to high crime Rates

hypothesized causal link for Relative Deprivation

inequality leads to crime

Cohen's status frustration (or Delinquent Subculture) causal link

ability to achieve status as measured by the middle class measuring rod leads to status frustration. YOU CANNOT STEAL STATUS so you create deviant subcultures, flipping rights and wrong upside down and do the exact opposite

Cloward & Ohlin's Illegitimate Opportunity Theory causal link

delinquent subcultures lead to access to illegitimate opportunities leads to deviance

Anderson's Code of the Street causal link

gain respect through physical violence, if you lose respect you are seen as an easy target

social learning theories

there are three branches of social process theories. Which branch of social process theory assumes that people are born good and that crime is the result of acquiring the techniques and attitudes of crime from close relationships with criminal others?

Sutherland's Differential Association

The view that people commit crime when their social learning leads them to perceive more definitions favoring crime than favoring conventional behavior. (learned through interaction with others)

According to Sykes & Matza, law breakers actually drift back and forth between legal and illegal behavior and must learn justifications for crime prior to engaging in it.What term do they use to refer to these justifications?

techniques of neutralization

What are the five different justifications they identify in their article?

denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, appeal to higher loyalties, condemning the condemners

Burgess & Akers' Differential Reinforcement

behavior is reinforced by being either rewarded or punished while interacting with others

What is central question of control theories?

what causes conformity?