Criminology Exam 2

Labeling theory can be considered part of which two paradigms?

interactionism and critical

Interactionism:

how people or groups react to behaviors, leading to some individuals being labeled as criminals based on societal reactions

• state definitions of and reactions to crime are critically analyzed

Critical:

the power elite define crimes and operate social control agencies to protect their societal position

• state definitions of crime are rejected

What is the focus of labeling theory?

what happens after the action, not what preceded or caused the action

What is the secondary deviance?

deviant behavior that occurs as a response to the reactions and labels imposed on an individual after an initial act of deviance (primary)

What is Becker’s typology of deviant behavior?

• falsely accused

• pure deviant

• conformist

• secret deviant

Moral entrepreneurs:

people or groups that try to impose their moral values onto society by defining what deviance is (not always bad people)

What did Schur’s theory of radical nonintervention contribute to labeling theory?

once someone has been labeled, we look back on earlier behaviors

What are examples of policies related to labeling theory?

• diversion program: programs intended to reduce labeling and stigmatization, avoid lost opportunities, and reduce the overall caseload for the system (rehab, community service)

• person-first language: a person with a criminal record rather than a criminal

Link’s Modified Labeling Theory:

withdrawal is the most harmful - increases the likelihood of future events

According to Defiance Theory, what four conditions must be met for a defiant response?

1. the offender perceives the punishment as unfair

2. the offender feels stigmatized by the punishment

3. the offender does not feel shame

4. the offender does is not well bonded to society

Net widening:

widen the net of people involved in the criminal legal system

Stigma:

the primary mechanism through which people experience the collateral consequences of crime

• losing house or job or friends

Ban the Box:

policies that restrict employers from inquiring about criminal histories on initial job applications

What are reasons why formally incarcerated people might self-select out of employment?

• anticipatory stigma: the anticipation of being devalued by others if a person’s identity becomes known

• application burnout

• perceptions of unfriendly occupations or industries

What was the main finding from D’Alessio and colleagues (2015) study?

Ban the Box worked and lowered the odds of repeating offenses - work similarly for black and nonblack people

Consensus Model vs Conflict Model:

• society is stable, where most people share common values (consensus)

• society has competing groups with different levels of power and conflicting interests (conflict)

What are the four forms of alienation?

1. worker lacks control over the products of labor

2. worker lacks control over the process of labor

Instrumental Marxism:

the state uses law to coerce people to obedience

Structural/Symbolic Marxism:

it does not do that - people internalize how important the law is and how people should follow the law

• tool of organizing consent

What types of crimes are best explained by Vold’s group conflict theory?

thought his theory applied best to 4 types of crime

• political protests

• labor disputes

• union disputes

• racial/ethnic clashes

In Turk’s theory. the probability of criminalization is highest when:

enforcers and resisters have high agreement between cultural and social norms

Social Reality of Crime theory principle:

construction of criminal conceptions: conceptions of crime are constructed and spread throughout society by various means of communication

• what we consider crimes are constructed by media

Bureaucracies are characterized by what five features?

• rigid hierarchies

• rules and standardized procedures

• self-preservation and expansion

• impersonal decision-making

• selective enforcement

Goal substitution:

replace with that increases power and resources

• not trying to protect and serve - trying to get more resources

What is the gap in the law? Consider examples.

• law-on-the-books: written-down laws, regulations and legal customs

• law-in action: how law is actually applied and practiced in society

  • ex: copyright laws, tax envision, labor laws

Selective (non)enforcement:

laws are written to be neutral - the way it’s enforced is not neutral

• stop and frisk = neutral

• racial minorities are being stop and frisk = not neutral

What does Left Realism focus on, that other critical perspectives do not?

care about street crime (robbery, theft)

What are focuses of the three major feminist perspectives?

• radical: focus on patriarchy

• marxist: focus on capitalism

• socialist: focus both at the same time

What are early examples of integrated theories?

• shaw and mckay integrated social disorganization theory and social learning

• cloward and ohlin’s opportunity theory integrated strain theory and social learning

• anderson’s code of the street integrated social disorganization theory, strain theory, and labeling theory

What are the three conditions for establishing causality?

1. X and Y must be correlated (association)

2. X before Y (temporal)

3. alternative hypotheses must be ruled out (non-spurious)

In a casual model, what are the dependent variable and the independent variables?

• X = independent

• Y = dependent

What did Glueck find in their study of juvenile delinquency?

positive relationships between past delinquent and future criminal behavior

What are examples of turning points?

life events; getting married or securing stable employment, can alter criminal trajectories

In what four ways do turning points contribute to desistance from crime?

• “knife off” the past from the present

• supervision, monitoring, and social support

• changes in routine activities

• opportunity for identity transformation

Stability:

the consistency of behavior over time

Absolute stability:

stability of behavior within individuals

Relative stability:

stability of behavior between individuals

Cumulative continuity:

antisocial behavior produce negative consequences. in turn, these consequences promote the stability of antisocial behavior

• ex: kid gets suspended —> falls behind school —> hangs with delinquent peers —> increases chance of future offending

• Interactional continuity:

1. traits cause people to interact with their environment in certain ways

2. individuals tend to create the same social situations repeatedly

3. the stability in their interactions creates stability in individuals’ behavior

• teen who is defiant towards authority figures gets labeled as a troublemaker by a police, leading to more criminal opportunities

State dependence:

early antisocial behavior indirectly increases the likelihood of later antisocial behavior

• crime is self-reinforced through life experiences

• cause of persistence: consequences of past crimes

• possibility for change: yes, through turning points

Population heterogeneity:

early antisocial behavior is linked to later antisocial behavior through underlying traits or propensities for antisocial behavior

• crime results from stable, individual differences

• cause of persistence: underlying personality traits (impulsivity, low self-control)

• possibility for change: no because traits remain stable over time

What is Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control?

• people with strong positive social bonds can desistance from deviant behavior

• social bonds: if you know your parents would be disappointed if you commit a crime, you may not commit a crime then

• structural factors: poverty, unemployment, etc. has an impact on deviant behavior

Validity:

the accuracy of a measurement

Reliability:

the consistency of a measurement

Cross-sectional:

large group of people and things at a single point in time - cannot use to establish causality ex: public opinion poll, U.S. Census

Longitudinal data:

same groups of people at a different time (measure someone at age 15 then again at age 20) ex: ADD health, Gluck and Gluck study

Hierarchy Rule:

when multiple offenses are committed during the same incident, only the most serious offense is reported

How is a crime rate typically measured?

(number of reported crimes / by total population) x 100,000

What are advantages of UCR data?

• coverage: most law enforcement agencies submit data

• uniformity: comparisons can be made across state and local jurisdictions

• history: data are reported monthly, since January 1930

What are complications with the definition of assult?

• don’t clarify if weapons were involved

• don’t describe the extent of injuries threatened or inflicted

Dark Figure:

unreported or unrecorded crimes

What are reasons for the underreporting of crime?

• interviewer effect: the presence of an interviewer can influence what people report

• series offenses: some offenses have no exact beginning or end, so they are difficult to count

• recall error and telescoping: interviewees have trouble remembering details

What are some correlates of crime reporting?

• severity of the crime - more serious the crime, more likely to be reported

• offender characteristics - age, race, criminal history

• victim characteristics

• ecological factors - people in high crime areas = less likely to report

What was the main findings from Gutierrez and Kirk’s (2015) study?

increases in immigration are negatively associated with crime reporting

What is legal cynicism?

distrust of the law - people who don’t call the cops even when victimized because they don’t believe the cops will do much

What are differences between UCR data and NCVS data?

• data on victimizations (crimes)

• data complied from interviews (law and enforcement agencies)

• includes crime reported and not reported to police (only crimes reported to police)

• crime rates calculated per household (per capita)

• covers fewer crimes with greater detail (lots of crime with little detail)

What are disadvantages of self-reported crime data?

• sampling - can be limited

• selective loss - can interview freshman but they later drop out

• falsification - people make stuff up

• memory decay

• interviewer measurement error