Exam 1

Purpose of Theory

1. What are the causes of crime?

2. How is the unequal distribution of crime explained?

3. Are other social problems related to crime?

4. Why is some deviant behavior considered criminal while others is not?

Origins of Theory

• Code of Hammurabi

• The Bible

• Family Revenge Model

• The Enlightenment

Enlightenment Ideas

• Social Contract

• Classical Criminology

Social Contract

Sacrifice personal freedom, endorse government law enforcement, live more safely

Contemporary Criminology

1. Positivism

2. Determinism

3. Chicago School

Positivism

Observable patterns lead to reliable predictions

Determinism

• Human behavior is caused

1. Internal causes

2. External causes

Chicago School

Social Ecology

Social Ecology

These theories focus on causes of crime like neuropsychological deficits, a person’s peer group, mental defects, or ineffective deterrence

What is Theory?

• It establishes

1. Explanations

2. Observations

3. Relationships

Dependent Variable

Crime, itself

Independent Variable

• Cause of Crime

• Correlation of Crime

Criminality

Frequency of offending by some group

Crime Rate

Level of crime in some area

What Makes a Good Theory?

• Correlation

• Time Order

• Spuriousness

Correlation

• Direction: Positive or Negative Relationship

• Strength: Degree of Change

Time Order

The time sequence of cause-and-effect elements

Spuriousness

When an apparent relationship between two concepts is actually the result of some third concept (confound) influencing both of them

Micro-Level Analysis

Individual or small group

Macro-Level Analysis

Structural/Societal

Theory’s Role

1. Provides scientific orientation

2. Presents a basis for logical, systematic analysis

3. Enhances human knowledge

4. Generates policy implications

Theory Construction

• Creating new theories

• Refining existing theories

Hypothesis Testing

• Collect data

• Analyze data

• Confirm or reject based on whether a causal relationship is observed

Theory Competition

1. Systematic comparison of two or more theories

2. Rank ordered the amount of empirical support and scope of coverage

3. Allows choice of the better of two explanations

4. Generates knowledge for theory construction

Classical Theory

1. One of the oldest explanations of crime

2. Social contract between free citizens

3. Harm prevention of moral retribution

4. Deterring crime is the primary purpose of justice

5. Crime reflects irrational and ineffective law, not the presence of evil

Cesare Beccaria

On Crimes and Punishments

On Crimes and Punishments

Rejected supernatural, brutality, inequality, and unpredictability

Assumptions of Classical Theory

People had free will and were rational actors

Rational Justice System

1. Presumption of innocence

2. Equality before the law

3. Guaranteed due process

4. Fair judgment with rules of evidence and procedure

5. Jury trial by peers

6. Equal punishment for equal crime

Human Nature

People take action to achieve some benefit

Three Components of Human Nature

1. Free will

2. Hedonism and egoistic behavior

3. Rationality

What Replaced Classical Criminology?

Positivism

Neoclassical Criminology

• Rising crime rates led to dissatisfaction with positivism

• Social conditions renewed interest in information processing and decision-making

• Recognition that free will is limited

Three Components of Deterrence

1. Certainty

2. Celerity

3. Severity (proportionate)

Specific Deterrence

Direct experience with punishment reduces the likelihood of re-offending (avoid re-punishment)

General Deterrence

Indirect experience with punishment reduces the likelihood of offending to avoid punishment

Brutalization Effect

An opposite pattern from the predicted deterrence effect, one in which more punishment seems to lead to more crimes

Biosocial Criminology

• Combination of perspectives

• Interdisciplinary

Combination of Perspectives

• Environmental influences

• Biological predispositions

Interdisciplinary

• Molecular genetics

• Neuroscience

• Social sciences

Four Main Influences on Criminal Behavior

1. Biological factors

2. Genetic factors

3. The brain

4. The environment

What is Positivism?

• Attempt to scientifically identify specific causes of crime

• Compare criminals and non-criminals

Three Core Assumptions of Positivism

• Individuals are biologically unique

• Differences in makeup explain behavioral differences

• Criminal “characteristics” can be identified

Cesare Lombroso

The Criminal Man

The Criminal Man (1876)

• Early Criminological Theory

• Atavism

• Argued that criminals are essentially less evolved forms of humankind

Atavism

• As less-evolved examples of humans, criminals were likely to display a number of physical characteristics that were common and pronounced among apes but not among “evolved” people

• Atavistic people were criminals because of their less-evolved nature

Three Types of Criminals

1. Born criminals

2. Insane criminals

3. Criminaloids

Criminaloids

• Considers social, economic, and political factors

1. Occasional criminal

2. Criminal by passion

Hormones

• Hormones are associated with emotions/aggression

• Artificial increases are associated with crime

Men have higher levels of

Testosterone, thus criminality

Criminal Women Have

Higher hormone levels

Nutrition

• Diets high in starches are associated with shorter attention spans, reduced learning ability, and delinquency

• Prenatal diets high in fatty acids lead to children who are more intelligent and less antisocial

Prenatal Nutrition

• Breastfed babies have fewer behavior problems

• Malnourished children are more aggressive and hyper

Behavioral Genetic Theory

• Identify genetic overlap between two people

• If crime is influenced by genes, the genetically similar people will be similarly criminal

Genetic Predisposition

Inherited

Heritability Coefficient

The degree to which a trait is influenced by genes

Twin Studies

• Behavioral Genetics

• Highlight the relative impact of the environment

• Equal environment assumption

• Strong support for the heritability of crime

Molecular Genetics

Behavioral genetics attempts to explain the degree to which crime is heritable while molecular genetics attempts to identify specifically which genes play a role in this heritability

True or False: There is a Crime Gene

False

Genes and Crime

• Genes have been associated with violence, arrest, victimization

• Men with XYY sex chromosomes are lower in intelligence, bigger, more aggressive

• Genes have been associated with violence, arrest, victimization

The Brain

• Abnormal brain development or traumatic injury is associated with crime

• Elevated neurotransmitters - impulsivity

• The brain is responsible for behavior

Positivistic

• Something can be identified, about the criminal, that contributes to crime

• This also means that the causes of crime can be targeted and treated or prevented

True or False: Psychological issues are assumed to be associated with crime and violence

True

The law doesn’t always do a good job of defining “psychological issues”

• Mental illness?

• By judgment? By treatment history?

• Prescribed certain medications?

Psychological perspectives propose criminals have some _____ in their personality or thinking

Deficiency

Sources of Thinking Errors/Personality Issues

• Socialization

• Traumatic experiences

• The brain (physical or chemical)

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Id

• Superego

• Ego

• Neo-Freudian- desire immediate gratification, lack control of ego and superego, and lack guilt over their misdeeds

What is the Source of Crime in the Psychoanalytic Theory

Overactive component of the personality

Id

• Instinctual drive for immediate gratification

• Disregard for the law to pursue pleasures

• Without socialization, people won’t be able to regulate their immediate gratification pursuits 

Superego

• Conscience, socialization away from id

• Attention seeking, atone for lingering guilt

Ego

Mediator between the others, conscious awareness

Personality Theories

1. Personality

2. Criminal Personality

3. Lifestyle Perspective

4. Dual Systems Theory

Criminal Personality

• People are born with predisposition to ways of thinking

• Ways of thinking influence the decision-making process

• 52 listed traits or thinking processes included

Dual Systems Theory

• Sensation-seeking

• Impulsivity

• An argument that different parts of the brain mature at different rates. Sensation-seeking increases in adolescence and decreases in adulthood due to these maturation patterns.

What Mental Illnesses are Associated with Crime?

• Schizophrenia

• Antisocial personality disorder (psychopath/sociopath)

• Affective Disorders (depression, anxiety)

• Intelligence (intellectual disability)

Social Development Model

• Social bond through agents of socialization

• Everyone is exposed to both prosocial and antisocial opportunities

• Individual makes a subjective rational choice

Risks for the Social Development Model

1. Poverty

2. Impulsivity

3. Poor child-rearing experiences

4. Criminal parents

5. Delinquent peers

Catalano and Hawkins

Developed the Social Development Model

Sampson and Laub

Developed the Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control

Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control

• Explain onset, persistence, and desistance

• Trajectory

• Transitions

• Different social bonds matter at different points throughout the life course

Trajectory

Long-term behavior pattern

Transitions

Life events that can be turning points

Moffitt

• Two types of offenders

• The differences in these types are explained through neuropsychology and developmental psychology

Two Types of Offenders

1. Adolescence-limited

2. Life-course persistent

Adolescence-Limited Offenders

• Engage in delinquency only during adolescence

• Maturity gap, peer influence, peer pressure

Life-Course Persistent Offenders

• Problem behavior begins in childhood and criminal behavior persists throughout life

• Hyperactive, low verbal ability, impulsiveness, maternal drug use, poor prenatal nutrition, exposure to toxins

The Maturity Gap

The disconnect between biological maturity and social maturity

Age-Crime Curve

Most crime is committed during adolescence and most offenders fit into the adolescent-limited category

Assumptions of Social-Ecological Theories

• Macro Theory

• Social Organization

• Crime is not due to “defective” people

Why are Social-Ecological Theories Macro?

Attempt to explain why some communities have higher crime rates than others, rather than why some individual people commit crime and others do not

Social Organization

• Schools, churches, businesses, police, informal networks of friends and neighbors, and government

• When functioning normally enables a community to deal with problems of crime

• Effective neighborhood crime control is not really a matter of individual choice

• Instead that a collective effort on the part of the community is necessary

Why Does Crime Occur According to Social-Ecological Theories?

Happens in communities of otherwise normal people who live where larger social institutions have failed

Social Conditions During the Time Social Disorganization Theory was Created

• Shift from rural to urban areas

• People were struggling in a community of mutual dependance

Two Principles of Social Disorganization

1. The idea that people compete for resources

2. That people exist in a world of mutual dependence

Sources of Social Disorganization

1. Residential instability

2. Racial or ethnic heterogeneity

3. Poverty

Residential Instability

Communities with a lot of population turnover

Racial or Ethnic Heterogeneity

Communities where many different cultures and races lived in close proximity tended to have higher crime rates

Poverty

Communities with high poverty tend to lack the resources needed for effective community organization

Concentric Zone Model

• Zone 1: Central Business District

• Zone 2: Transitional Zone

• Zone 3: Working-Class Zone

• Zone 4: Residential Zone

• Zone 5: Commuter Zone

Zone 1: Central Business District

• Inner city

• Contained numerous railroads, slaughterhouses, large factories, and stockyards for hogs and cattle.

• Few people would voluntarily choose to live in this area

• Almost exclusively industrial