CRJS 240: Test 1

Criminology

The interdisciplinary, scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including its causes, manifestations, legality, and control

What are some examples of disciplines that can fit into criminology?

Psychology, sociology, biology, history, economics, and chemistry

In the definition for criminology, what does manifestations mean?

How and why crime starts

Consensus Model

Laws reflects society’s shared values about what is right and wrong

Conflict Model

We don’t all agree about what should or shouldn’t be against the law, but lawmakers make laws that benefit themselves

Theoretical Criminology

Rather than simply describing crime and its occurrences, it offers explanations for criminal behavior

Criminologist have developed many ____ to explain and understand crime

Theories

Theory

Made of clearly stated propositions suggesting relationships (often casual) between events and occurrences being studied

What do criminological theories help do?

Come up with potential means of prevention

What does criminology help us do?

Develop a better understanding of the causes of crime, strengthen our ability to solve crimes, and protect people from being victimized and effectively deterring by examining existing laws and policies and practices of law enforcement

Criminologist

Someone trained in the field of criminology who studies crime, criminals, and criminal behavior

Criminologists may be involved in what?

Crime-pattern analysis, study normal/abnormal behaviors, threat assessment, public advocacy, and serving as expert witness

What is a criminalist?

One who is a specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of a crime

What is an example of a criminalist?

Crime Scene Investigators

All criminalists are __________, but not all ________ are criminalists

Criminologists

Are crime and deviance the same thing?

They often overlap, but they’re not the same

Deviant Behavior

Behavior that violates social norms

Crime

An intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law, committed without defense or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a misdemeanor or felony

What is an example of an omission in violation of criminal law?

Not paying taxes or negligence of children

Who decides what is considered crime?

Legislatures

What is the area of controversy when deciding what is considered a crime?

Consensus vs. conflict perspectives on crimes like prostitution

The Dark Figure of Crime

We are still missing a lot of criminal activity that goes unreported to the police and is not captured in surveys or other methods of data collection

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

An annua survey of randomly selected American household by the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Justice to determine the extent of criminal victimization - especially unreported victimization in the U.S.

In the NCVS, interviewers ask about what offenses over the last six months?

Rape, personal robbery, aggravated and simple assault, household burglary, personal and household theft, and motor vehicle theft

What are the advantages of the NCVS?

Victims may be more comfortable reporting crime in an anonymous survey than to police and may capture crimes that were never reported to authorities

What are some criticisms of the NCVS?

Victims can’t report crimes they’ve forgotten about or were unaware of, difficult to verify any of the incidents disclosed by survey participants, and crime definitions in NCVS don’t necessarily correspond to other federal/state statutes

When was the UCR created?

1930

UCR

An annual publication produced by the FBI consisting of voluntarily submitted data from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, that provides a summary of the incidence and rate of reported crimes in the U.S.

What does UCR stand for?

Uniform Crime Report

In the UCR, crime is reported as a rate per how many people?

100,000

In the UCR, how are crimes categorized?

Part I and Part II

What are the advantages of the UCR?

Provides a convenient reference for national data on reported crime and arrest rates and one can compare crime rates to geographic locations and different points of time

What are the criticisms of the UCR?

Incomplete due to the dark figure of crime and lacks information about victims and offenders

What is considered Part I Offenses according to the UCR?

Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny (theft), motor vehicle theft (grand theft auto), and arson which was added in 1979

What is considered Part II Offenses according to the UCR?

Mainly misdemeanors and summary offenses

Self-Report Surveys

Questionnaires administered to various sample populations that allow participants to anonymously report criminal activity they may have committed or anyone else

What types of sample populations are self-report surveys given to?

Prison inmates, high school, and college students

What are the advantages of self-report surveys?

Surveys are anonymous therefore no penalty which could facilitate truthfulness, and it can reveal crimes only the perpetrator knew about

What are the criticisms of self-report surveys?

People can easily lie or exaggerate making it hard to verify information, participants may still be suspicious, and participants may not be able to recall accurately

NIBRS

A new and enhanced statistical reporting program that collects more data on each single and arrest beyond what the UCR traditionally included

What does NIBRS stand for?

National Incident-Based Reporting System

What does NIBRS do better than the UCR?

It has 22 more crimes and provides a better insight into demographical information on both victims and offenders

What were the trends/changing crime patterns of 1933-1959?

Crime decreased sharply

What were the trends/changing crime patterns of 1960-1989?

Increase in most forms of crime

What were the trends/changing crime patterns of 1990-Present?

Decrease in the rates of most major crimes

Even though crime has been decreasing for the past 35 years, what has been on the rise in terms of crime?

Cybercrime

Evidence-Based Criminology

A form of contemporary criminology that makes use of rigorous social scientific techniques, especially randomized controlled experiments, and the systematic review or research results

What was the Enlightenment based on?

The idea of rational thought and the application of reasoned scientific principles

What did the Enlightenment lead to within criminology?

The development of the Classical School of criminological thought

In the beginning of the Classical School of criminological thought, what did crime and deviance come to be understood as?

Products of the exercise of free will

Who were the two thinkers of the History of Classical Thought?

Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham

What did Cesare Beccaria publish?

Essays on Crimes and Punishments (1764)

What did Beccaria claim punishment should be based on?

The degree of injury caused by the offender

When Beccaria talks about “degree of injury,” what kind of injuries is he talking about?

Physical, financial, mental, etc.

To Beccaria, what should the purpose of punishment be?

Deterrence rather than retribution, and punishment should be imposed to prevent offenders from committing new crimes

Retribution

The idea that we should punish offenders, so they get what they deserve

To Beccaria, punishment should be…

Swift, certain, and severe

What did Jeremy Bentham publish?

Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)

What was Jeremy Bentham?

A jurist and economist

What did Bentham argue?

The pain associated with crime commission must outweigh the pleasure to be derived from criminal activity

Bentham believed that human beings are fundamentally what?

Rational

Bentham’s ideas are termed as what?

Hedonistic Calculus

Hedonistic Calculus is also known as what?

Utilitarianism

Hedonistic Calculus

When considering undertaking a particular action, an individual considers the amount of pleasure or pain that this behavior can be expected to produce for him/herself

How were panopticons structured?

A circumference of cells with a watchtower in the middle

What did Bentham recommend about panopticons?

They should be constructed near or within cities, serving as examples to others who may commit crimes

What were panopticons an example of?

General deterrence

What was positivism based upon?

An acceptance of hard determinism, or the belief that much of human behavior, and therefore crime, results from forces that are beyond the control of the individual

Hard Determinism

Offenders were not responsible for their crimes and suggested that crime could be prevented by changing the conditions that produce criminality

What is an example of hard determinism?

Poverty

How did determinism develop throughout history?

Free will → Soft determinism → Hard determinism

How did positivism develop?

Studies emerging in the 1970s showed offenders could not be rehabilitated, no matter what method was tried to change their attitudes

During the period of positivism, what did the growing and widespread public fear of crime lead to?

“Get-tough-on-crime” policies

Neoclassical criminology is focused on what?

The importance of character, the dynamics of character development, and the rational choices that people make as they are faced with opportunities for crime

Who is the thinker of the neoclassical phase?

James Q. Wilson

What did James Q. Wilson publish?

Thinking About Crime (1975)

What is Wilson’s ideas about crime?

Crime is not a result of poverty or social conditions and cannot be affected by social programs

What did Wilson argue for?

Lengthy incarceration of offenders and for the elimination of criminal opportunity also known as incapacitation

What is permanent incapacitation also known as?

Death Penalty

What does rational choice theory mirror?

Many principles found in classical criminology

Constitutional Theories

Explain criminality by reference to offenders’ body types, genetics, or external observable physical characteristics

What body type is most likely to be criminal in terms of constitutional theories?

Mesomorphs

What are the four Sheldon body types?

Endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph, and balanced type

Endomorph

Soft and round, and “digestive viscera are massive and highly developed” (that is, the person is overweight and has a large stomach)

Mesomorph

Athletic and muscular, and “somatic structures are in the ascendancy (that is, the person has larger bones and considerable muscle mass)

Ectomorph

Thin and fragile, and “long, slender, poorly muscled extremities, with delicate pipestem bones”

Balanced Type

Average build without being overweight, thin, or exceedingly muscular

According to early biological explanations, criminal nature tended to be what?

Inherited

What are examples of inherited criminal nature?

The Kallinak Family and Buck v. Bell

The Kallinak Family

One side of the family was polite and well-mannered, and the other was feeble minded and degenerate

Buck v. Bell

Feeble minded mother and daughter coming from the effects of rape and birth. First bloodline to be sterilized by the U.S. Eugenics movement without consent.

What is the XYY supermale also known as?

Klinefelter or Jacob Syndrome

What are the physical characteristics of XYY supermales?

Tend to be especially tall, have male genitalia, but are frequently sterile and may have evidence of breast enlargement

What are the behavioral characteristics of XYY supermales?

Learning disabilities, impulsivity, and behavioral problems (not necessarily uncontrollable violence)

What were XYY supermales originally thought to be biologically predisposed to?

Violence

What have studies twins demonstrated?

The role of heredity in determining behavior

What are dizygotic twins also known as?

Fraternal twins

What type of experiments are criminologists most interested in terms of monozygotic twins?

Twins who grew up in separate environments

Rational Choice Theory

Claims that criminals make conscious, rational, and at least partially informed choice to commit crime

Routine Activities Theory

Criminal activity is likely to occur if three factors are present: motivated offender, suitable target, lack of capable guardian