CJC 201 Theories Test 1

Deviance

Violation of shared social norms.

Crime

Behavior defined as illegal by society and punishable by law.

Social control

Methods used to encourage people to follow social norms; can be informal or formal.

Mala in se

Acts considered inherently wrong or harmful, such as murder or theft.

Mala prohibita

Acts considered wrong because society has made them illegal.

Status offense

Behavior illegal only when committed by a juvenile, such as truancy or running away.

Delinquency

Illegal behavior by juveniles that would also be illegal for adults.

Theory

An explanation of relationships between observable phenomena.

Hypothesis

A possible explanation that can be tested empirically.

Macro-level theory

Focuses on groups, institutions, places, and time.

Micro-level theory

Focuses on individuals and small groups.

Parsimony

A good theory explains a phenomenon with as few assumptions as possible.

Testability

A theory must be capable of being tested with evidence.

Correlation

A statistical relationship between two variables; correlation does not prove causation.

Classical School

Believes people have free will and rationally choose behavior based on pleasure and pain.

Hedonistic calculus

The idea that people weigh the potential pleasure/reward of crime against its potential pain/cost.

Cesare Beccaria

A classical theorist who argued criminals are rational and have free will.

Deterrence

The use of punishment to discourage crime.

Three elements of deterrence

Swiftness, certainty, and severity.

Specific deterrence

Punishment intended to prevent the individual offender from committing crime again.

General deterrence

Punishment intended to discourage other people from committing crime.

Swiftness (celerity)

How quickly punishment follows the crime.

Certainty

The likelihood that an offender will be caught and punished.

Severity

The seriousness/harshness of the punishment.

Rational Choice Theory

Crime is viewed as a choice in which offenders weigh risks, rewards, and effort.

Bounded rationality

People make rational decisions, but their decisions are limited by available information, experience, and perceptions.

Crime scripts

The steps or actions involved in committing a crime, often learned through experience.

Routine Activities Theory

Crime occurs when a motivated offender, suitable target, and lack of capable guardianship come together.

Situational Crime Prevention

Reducing crime by changing specific situations, places, or opportunities for crime.

Target hardening

Increasing the effort required to commit a crime through locks, security, or access control.

Hot spots

Small areas where crime occurs frequently or predictably.

CPTED

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design; reducing crime by changing the physical design of an environment.

Displacement

Crime moves to another place, time, type, or target because of prevention efforts.

Diffusion of benefit

Crime prevention benefits spread beyond the specific area or crime originally targeted.

Positivist School

Explains crime through biological, social, or psychological factors that influence behavior.

Cesare Lombroso

Positivist theorist who argued that some criminals were biologically predisposed to crime.

Atavism

The idea that some criminals possess evolutionary throwback characteristics.

Biosocial criminology

Examines how biological and environmental factors interact to influence crime.

Freud's Id

The irrational, unconscious part of personality focused on immediate desires: “I want.”

Freud's Ego

The conscious part that balances the Id's desires with reality and social expectations.

Freud's Superego

The part of personality containing learned morals and values: “I can't have that.”

Kohlberg's moral development

Three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

Preconventional morality

Behavior is based on avoiding punishment and gaining rewards.

Conventional morality

Behavior is based on social approval, rules, and maintaining social order.

Postconventional morality

Behavior is based on social contracts and universal moral principles.