CRIM EXAM 2

PHRENOLOGY

study of the shape/size of cranium

LOBROSOS “born criminal”

anatomically identified (sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, etc.)

ATAVISM

reemergence of primitive, genetically inherited traits

SOMATOTYPE THEORY

body types related to criminal behavior (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph)

ECTOMORPH

long and lean, little body fat, little muscle; seen as anxious, self conscious

MESOMORPH

muscular appearance, seem intimidating; street crime

ENDOMORPH

friendly, tolerant, comfort-loving, peaceful, good humored; overweight

XYY “supermale”

men with this syndrome were thought to be overly aggressive and lacking empathy; RARE

OTHER TYPES OF CRIMINALS

insane, criminaloids, passion

INSANE

idiots, druggies, moral degenerates

CRIMINALOIDS

project respectable, upright facade in attempt to conceal a criminal personality

PASSION

love, hate, honor

CHARLES GORING

defective intelligence

DEFECTIVE INTELLIGENCE

mental deficiency = greatest source of crime

EARNEST HOOTEN

biological predisposition = deviant behavior; physiologically inferior

EARNEST HOOTEN

“class of hereditary degenerates ruin society and must be brought under control through sterilization, euthanasia, and cutbacks in welfare”

SEPERATING NATURE & NURTURE

genes do not determine criminal acts, but can produce a tendency or inclination towards anti-social behavior

biological factors can influence criminality, interaction of certain genetic components with specific environmental situations

EUGENICS (policy implication)

practice/advocacy of improving human race by selectively mating people with specific desirable hereditary traits

TWIN STUDIES

comparing monozygotic (identical) & dizygotic (fraternal) twins

TWIN STUDIES (FINDINGS)

monozygotic twins have greater urge to commit crime, crimes encoded in DNA???

NEUROLOGICAL FACTORS

differences in frontal lobe exist between criminals & noncriminal groups

PREFRONTAL CORTEX

cognition, attention, impulsivity

MRI & PET SCANS

analyze brain structure and activity

NEUROCHEMICAL MEASURES

low serotonin levels are sometimes linked with impulsive/aggressive behavior

HANS BRUNNER STUDY

“likely that the defect in the gene (MAOA) which causes flawed serotonin metabolism is the cause of intellectual disability and thus the aggressive behavior exhibited in the males”

MAOA GENE

all of us have the gene — some different variation = interaction with crime

MONOAMINE OXIDASE A DEFICIENCY

mutations cause mild intellectual disability and behavior problems i.e., aggressive and violent outbursts

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

how brain reacts to stimuli

criminals = lower resting heart rate

criminals potentially have low levels of arousal

PRENATAL RISKS LINKED WITH CRIMINALITY

smoking, alcohol, delivery complications, low birth weight

BIOLOGICAL HARMS

prenatal risks, unstable families, environmental factors

LEAD EXPOSURE

serious health/behavior problems; linked to delinquent

FEMALE DELINQUENCY

early onset puberty = criminal behavior

BIOSOCIAL THEORY

environmental and biological risk cause criminal behavior

LIFE-COURSE-PERSISTANT OFFENDING

chronic offenders start early in life

PERSONALITY BASED THEORY

people commit crimes because of certain personality traits

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

two stimuli repeatedly paired (pavlov’s dog)

AVERSION THERAPY

type of behavior therapy designed to make a patient give up an undesirable habit by causing them to associate it with an unpleasant effect

OPERANT CONDITIONING

reinforcement

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

increases target behavior by rewarding

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

increase target behavior by removing unpleasant stimulus

PUNISHMENT

reduces odds of target behavior being repeated

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

learning through observation (bobo doll)

COGNITIVE STRUCTURE

how people think — what we don’t think leads to trouble

COGNITIVE CONTENT

what people think — what we do think leads to trouble

DEFENSE MECHANISMS (FREUD)

used to reduce anxiety

TYPES OF DEFENSE MECHANISMS

repression, rationalization, denial, projection

3 ELEMENTS OF PERSONALITY (FREUD)

id, ego, superego

ID

“if it feels good, do it”

SUPEREGO

conscience — “stealing is wrong”

EGO

decision making component of personality

“psychological thermostat that regulates wishes of the id w/ social restriction of superego”

TELLEGEN AND WALLER (1987)

5 factor model of personality

5 FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY

extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience

EXTRAVERSION

talkative, energetic, outgoing

AGREEABLENESS

putting others needs before their own

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

careful and diligent

NEUROTICISM

sadness, moodiness, emotional instability

OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

intellectually curious, appreciative of art, sensitive to beauty, aware of feelings

MPQ

multidimensional personality questionnaire

CONSTRAINT

traditionalism, harm avoidance, control

NEGATIVE EMOTIONALLY

aggression, alienation, stress reaction

POSITIVE EMOTIONALLY

achievement, social potency, well-being, social closeness

PSYCHOPATHY

“criminal personality”

one of the oldest concepts in criminology

PSYCHOPATHY FEATURES

manipulative, superficial charm, smarter, no anxiety, no remorse, no emotional depth, trivial sex life, untruthful, antisocial

SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORY (EMILE DURKHEIM)

deviance exists in all societies, needed to establish moral boundaries and to distinguish between those who obey and those who disobey societies rules

DURKHEIM’S LEGACY

human nature = selfish and insatiable; need to cap/control

rabidly changing society “industrial prosperity” — anomie (norms are weakened — the anomie/strain theory/tradition

ANOMIE

lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual/group; condition whereby exerts pressure on the individual to achieve culturally define goals but doesn’t provide resources

ANOMIE/STRAIN THEORY

anomie produces strain

crime results from economic and other problems in how society is structured and from poverty and other problems in neighborhoods

CHICAGO SCHOOL (1930s)

the idea that crime was caused by individual biological genetic control shifted to idea that crime was a result of social factors

tied to Durkheim: city/societal growth

worry over lack of integration and control

PARK AND BURGESS (1925)

concentric zones

• residential zone (largest)

• zone in transition (middle)

• industrial zone (smallest)

WHY DOES MOST CRIME HAPPEN IN TRANSITIONAL ZONE?

experiences most anomie — discrimination, causing struggle to adapt to stresses and demands of new society

SHAW AND MCKAY

juvenile delinquency in urban areas (1942)

disorganization of the community is a contributing factor to crime

SHAW AND MCKAY IMPLICATIONS

stable, despite multiple waves of immigrants

only certain areas of the city (why??)

physical dilapidation, poverty, and higher levels of ethnic and cultural mixing — in common with areas w/ high crime rates

THE OG SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY (1960-80)

ecological factors that lead to high crime in communities = high school dropouts, unemployment, deteriorating infrastructures, single-parent homes

CRITICISMS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION

use of “official data” (police bias)

are the neighborhoods really disorganized???

can’t measure intervening variables

chicago specific (not all cities have rings)

SAMPSON AND COLLEAUGES

their version of disorganization — blacks constitute large proportion of current members in “zone in transition”

COLLECTIVE EFFICACY (SAMPSON AND COLLEAUGES)

willingness to exercise control and willingness to help each other — lack of collective efficacy increases crime rates

COGNITIVE LANDSCAPE (SAMPSON AND COLLEAUGES)

when violence is a regular part of reality, t seems more “normal” as a response

W.J. WILSON AND THE “TRULY DISADVANTAGED”

race and poverty in the United States

CULTURAL ISOLATION

reduced access to own culture group — no contact with “mainstream individuals/institutions

ANDERSON CODE OF THE STREETS

decency, violence, and moral life of inner city

respect & disrespect

RESPECT

being treated right or granted the deference one deserves

DISRESPECT

not being treated right or granted the deference one deserves

MERTON — STRAIN THEORY

institutional norms are weakened in societies that place intense value on economic success

“when an individual has a goal and the legitimate means of achieving it are blocked, they’re under pressure to resort to illegitimate means to achieve the goal”

The American Dream

CRITICISMS OF MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY

weak empirical support

why do people “adapt” differently?

can’t explain “expressive” crimes

is crime a lower class phenomena?????

AGNEW: GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

3 sources of strain

1. failure to achieve valued goals

2. removal of valued stimuli

3. can’t escape noxious stimuli

STRAIN

negative affective states

• anger, fear, frustration, depression

• charge or motivate towards crime

• in lieu of “coping mechanisms”, anger and frustration can produce delinquency

• coping can be “behavioral” or “cognitive”

MESSNER & ROSENFELD

social institutions as building blocks of society

economy, polity, family, education

KEY ISSUES - MESSNER AND ROSENFELD

the institutions sometimes have conflicting goals and values

all societies can therefore be chracterized by their distinctive arrangements of institutions

the US economy dominates “market society”

THE AMERICAN DREAM CAUSES ANOMIE

SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES

focuses on crime that unfolds over time (through a process)

how individuals interact with environment

process of socialization

SUTHERLANDS DIFFERENCIAL ASSOCIATION

disputed the term “social organization”

asks a “chicago school” question based on shaw and mckay theory

criminal behavior is learned

learning involves techniques and attitudes

vague concepts and phrasings

difficult to test empirically

TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALIZATION (SYKES AND MATZA)

denial of responsibility

denial of injury

condemnation of the condements

appeal to higher loyalties

RONALD AKERS SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

early version — differential reinforcement

• revision of differential association theory

• added concepts of operant conditioning & imitation to explain how behavior was learned

4 ELEMENTS IN THEORY

1. differential association

2. definitions

3. differential reinforcement

4. imitation

TYPES OF CONTROL

direct — direct punishments, rewards from parents, friends

indirect — refrain from deviance because you don’t want to risk friends, job, etc

internal — good self-concept, self-control, coscience

HIRSHIS SOCIAL BOND THEORY

bond indicates “indirect control”

attachment (emotional)

commitment (rational)

involvement (opportunity)

belief in validity of law

GOTTFREDSON & HIRSHI (1990)

theory of self-control

• internal control result of direct control from parents

explains all crime and analogous behaviors

ANALOGOUS

same nature as criminal acts

SAMPSON AND LAUBS AGE GRADED THEORY

take hirshis 1969 theory and made it age graded

KEY CONCEPTS IN ADULTHOOD IS ADULT SOCIAL BONDS

quality marriage, job, military service, different targets for different ages, importance of adult bonds

BASIC LABELING PROCESS

tannenbam, lemert, and becker