Criminology theories (final)

victimology & opportunity theories of crime

Victim precipitation theory; Routine Activities theory

victim precipitation theory

argues that some victims may initiate the criminal event that leads to their own victimization

• active and pasive

active precipitation

Occurs when victims act provocatively or attack first

• using threats or fighting words

passive precipitation

Occurs when the victim shows some personal characteristic that unknowingly threatens or encourages the attacker

• dressing “provocatively”

routine activities theory

If there’s an opportunity to take a risk, someone will take it and commit a crime; entails:

• motivated offenders → teen boys; unemployed people; addict populations

• lack of capable guardians → police officers; homeowners; security systems

• suitable targets → unlocked homes; expensive cars; easily transportable goods

choice theory

Rational choice theory; Situational crime prevention; deterrence theory

rational choice theory

delinquent and criminal behaviours result from a rational decision-making process

• Rooted in classical criminology and Beccaria’s work

Offenders choose to engage in criminal behaviour after considering… (rational choice theory)

• one’s personal needs → “I need money to feed my family” “revenge”

• One’s situational factors → “The targeted person has a bodyguard” “factors interfering with doing a crime”

• Risk of apprehension → how likely it is to get caught

• The seriousness of the punishment → the sentence received if the crime is done

• Potential value of criminal enterprise → “Is this worth the repercussions?”

• The immediate need for criminal gain → “are u desperate o commit this crime?”

choice structuring (rational choice theory)

the decision to commit a crime depends on where it occurs, the characteristics of the target, and the available means

Situational crime prevention

A proactive approach to crime prevention that tries to reduce opportunities for crime by increasing risks and decreasing awards

• identifies crime factors, predicts criminal behaviour, and reduces opportunities for the crime to occur

• Crime occurs when: there’s a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a lack of capable guardianship

crime prevention strategies

1. Increase the effort required to commit the crime

2. Increase the risks of committing the crime → the law; locks on the doors

3. Reduce the rewards for committing the crime

4. Reduce the provocations → reducing access to porn

5. Remove the excuses for engaging in crime

Crime prevention through environmental design

Identifying and implementing changes to the physical environment to reduce the risk of victimization

• Target hardening → making a target more secure against intrusion (fencing; door security)

problems with situational crime prevention

• displacement: when efforts to control crime in one area send those illegal activities to another area

• Extinction: a crime prevention method with immediate impact that disappears as criminals adjust to new conditions

Advantages of situational crime prevention

• Diffusion of benefits: efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevent another

• Discouragement: Limiting access to one target reduces other types of crime

deterrence theory

using the threat of punishment to deter people from engaging in crime because ppl are rational beings

• specific and general

specific deterrence

direct experience of punishment will discourage future violations of the law

• “i will not do this crime again because i didn’t like the punishment”

general deterrence

feeling fear of the criminal penalties convinces potential offenders that the pain of crime will outweigh the rewards

• being aware of the severity of the punishment of a crime

criticisms of deterrence

not all crimes are equally deterred; presumes a population that’s aware of the punishments; specific deterrence has a very high recidivism rate

social structure theories

disadvantaged economic/class position is the primary cause of crime

• Social disorganization theory; Anomie theory; General strain theory; Subcultural focal theory; Theory of delinquent subcultures; Differential opportunity theory

Social Disorganization theory

Focuses on what happens in disorganized areas

• Residents of disorganized areas experience conflict and despair, which results in antisocial behaviour

indicators of social disorganization

high unemployment and school drop-out rates; deteriorated housing; low-income levels; and many single-parent households

socially disorganized neighbourhoods

the efforts at social control are weak

cohesive communities with high levels of social control develop collective efficacy

anomie theory

When people feel alienated from life, so two elements of culture interact to create potentially anomic conditions → culturally defined goals; socially approved means of obtaining them

• people are going to adapt by conforming or deviating

general strain theory

Argues that crime is caused by conflict between people's goals and the means available to obtain them.

• looks at the relationship people have with each other

• focuses on negative relationships with others and the resulting emotions

sources of strain

• When we think others are preventing us from achieving our goals

• Disjunction of expectations and achievements → persons who compare their situation with others who seem better off.

• Removal of positive stimuli → something that's taken from you and you blame it on someone else → Ex: a friend stealing your boyfriend.

• Presentation of negative stimuli → When our relationships with others lead us to experience a negative life event

cultural deviance theory

Argues that criminal behaviour is an expression of conformity to lower-class subcultural values and traditions, not a rebellion against conventional society.

• combines effects of social disorganization and strain as people interact in small groups like gangs

subcultural focal concerns

How do subcultural values increase the likelihood of criminal conduct?

• Lower-class male youth are obedient to values that have evolved and allowed them to live in poor places

focal concerns

• Characteristics of lower-class culture, especially young males → expectations that others have on them

  • Getting into trouble

  • physical toughness

  • street smartness by outplaying the law

  •  excitement through gambling or getting drunk

  • Fate → spiritual forces are controlling how my life is going to turn out; no control over their life

  •  autonomy -> people valuing their personal freedom; not control by anybody

Theory of delinquent subcultures

Argues that delinquency is the result of protest against the norms and values of middle-class culture

• when you grow up in a middle-class culture, you obtain a way of understanding the world with low standards

• these people can’t achieve success through legitimate means because of a feeling of status and frustration turns to delinquent subculture

differential opportunity theory

Legitimate and illegitimate means for achieving success

• how people get involved in gangs → criminal gangs, conflict, realist

types of gangs

criminal → monetary success through criminal org

conflict → success through the display of toughness and aggression

retrealist → double failures

social process theories

criminality is a function of people's interactions with various organizations, institutions, and societal processes.

• Differential association; neutralization theory; containment theory; theory of bond; labelling theory

differential association theory

Criminality is learned through contact with pro-crime values, attitudes, definitions, and other patterns of criminal behaviour.

• people learn to become criminals through differential association

principles of differential association

• Criminal behaviour is learned

• Learn criminal behaviour through interactions

• Learning mainly from intimate relationships

• Learn techniques, motives, drives, rationalizations

• Direction of motives/drives is learned from perceptions of the legal code as favourable/unfavourable (“culture conflict”)

• Become criminal if excess of definitions in favour of violating laws and norms versus against violation

• Differential associations can vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity

• The criminal learning process is the same as any other

• Criminals aren’t so different from you and I.

Neutralization theory

Delinquents often use linguistic constructions to reduce the guilt that's produced from their delinquent behaviour

• i.e. excuses

techniques of neutralization

Denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appeal to higher loyalties.

denying responsibility

 Claiming that the delinquent act wasn't a result of ill will but from forces beyond the offender's control.

• “The Devil made me do it”

Denying injury

Claiming that the crime wasn't harmful to others

• “They’re rich! They’re not going to miss the money”

Denying the victim

When offenders accept responsibility for their actions and acknowledge the harm done, but blame the victims for what happened.

• “He deserved it!” “He shouldn’t have left the keys in the car”

Condemning the condemners

Questioning the legitimacy of those who are blaming them (blaming the offender) → Reverse blame

• “Everyone commits crimes, they just don’t get caught”

appeal to higher loyalties

When offenders maintain that their actions were necessary to meet more important obligations.

• “I have to take care of my family”

Social control theory

Crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened or broken.

• People are born bad and they must be controlled to be good

containment theory

 Many factors can "pull" or "push" people into crime → internal and external forces towards crime.

• Internal forces of the person → Psychology traits

• External forces outside the person → Peer pressure

Theory of bond

The ties binding people to conventional society are weakening, which causes criminality.

• 4 social bonds → attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief

Labelling theory

People become criminals when they're labelled as such; they accept the given labels → too much control might be the problem.

• people are controlled by others’ reactions

• Based on symbolic interactionist theory

• Crime isn’t a behaviour, but instead how society chooses to respond to a behaviour

consequences of labelling

• Causes stigma, which produces exclusion and reduced opportunities for the labelled people.

• Changes the self-image of labelled people to criminals.

• Labelled people might join deviant cliques.

• Retrospective reading -> people who know the labelled person go back into the past and reflect on the reasons that might have led to their labelling -> "signs"

social conflict theory

marxist theory; peacemaking criminology & restorative justice

radical (marxist) theory

Crime is a product of the capitalist system

• The Industrial Revolution had the proletariat oppressed by the bourgeoisie

• the proletariat ended up turning to drugs/alcohol, prostitution, theft, etc.

• this led to the passage of laws to control the behaviour of this underclass

implications of the Marxist theory

• each society produces its own types and amounts of crime

• each society has its own distinctive ways of dealing with criminal behaviour

• each society gets the amount and type of crime that it deserves

types of marxism

instrumental: criminal law and the justice system are only an instrument to control the poor, have-not members of society

Structural: Argues that law isn’t the exclusive domain of the rich

• it’s used to control members of any class that threaten the interests of the capitalist system; defends and preserves the capitalist system

peacemaking criminology & restorative justice

Peacemaking crim: promotes a peaceful, just society; but the efforts of the state to punish and control encourage more crime

Restorative justice: humanistic, non-punitive strategies to amend wrongs, restore social harmony, and prevent and control time

• the justice system as a healing process that removes victim/criminal labels

trait theories

somatotype theory; psychodynamic perspective

somatotype theory

associated with a person’s temperament

• endomorphic: soft, round

• mesomorphic: muscular, triangular → more prone to crime

• ectomorphic: fragile, thin

psychodynamic perspective (sigmund freud)

we all carry the residue of the most important childhood emotional attachments

• human personality is controlled by an unconscious mental process developed in early childhood

• involves the interaction of → id, ego, superego