Criminology Quiz 1 (Chapter 1,2,3, beginning of 4)

perceived trends in crime

misrepresented greatly, big difference between media and actual numbers

fear of crime

numbers do not tell the whole story, does not account for changes in population and makes it look like crime is happening faster and faster

criminology

scientific study of crime

scientific method

develop predictions based on prior knowledge then test it

theory

a set of concepts linked together by a series of statements to explain why an event or phenomenon occurs

theories provide

explanations of why the world works the way it does

two things to keep in mind about theory

accurate predictions can be made using theory and theories can be erroneous

crime

definition constantly changing

mala in se

evil in itself, dont need laws to say its bad, murder

mala prohibita

evil because its against the law, illegal but not inherently bad, speeding

deviance

not against the law but considered to be immoral, cheating/ being late to class

act that is criminal but not deviant

jwalking

act that is deviant but not criminal

farting in public

paradigm

distinctive theoretical model/perspectives, vary on their assumptions of human behavior

4 major paradigms

classical school, positive school, conflict/critical perspective, integrated theories

classical school

individuals have free will and choose to commit crime based on rational decisions, weigh the costs and benefits

positive school

individuals do not have free will or rationality to make decisions to commit crime, behavior determined by individual factors

positive school individual factors

genetics, IQ, education, employment, peers, parenting, economy

conflict/ critical perspective

those in power or authority use laws to enforce restraints on others

integrated theories

combine the best aspects of explanatory models into a single framework, has logical inconsistencies between perspectives

micro level

personal level of analysis

macro level

aggregate of group level

consensual classification

everyone agrees on laws

conflict classification

different groups disagree about fairness of laws

human nature classification

are people born good or bad

parsimony

simple

scope

how much variation in crime is explained by the theory

logical consistency

does the theory make sense

testability

can the theory be put to empirical, scientific testing

empirical validity

is there empirical support for the theory

policy implications

is there practical guidance for changing society based on the theory

x

predictor variable

y

explanatory variable

3 criteria for determining causality

temporal ordering, correlation, spuriousness

temporal ordering

the predictor (x) must precede the explanatory variable (y)

correlation (covariation)

the extent to which a change in x is associated with a change in y

positive correlation

a change in x leads to a change in y in the same direction

negative correlation

an increase in x leads to a decrease in y

spuriousness

when other factors explain both x and y

3 major measures of crime in us

UCR, NCVS, self report data

uniform crime report

oldest, most widely used, produced by fbi, collected and turned by police departments

fbi defines crimes in 2 categories

index crimes and non index crimes

index offenses

4 violent crimes and 4 property offenses

4 violent crimes

murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault

4 property offenses

burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, arson

non index offenses

reported only if arrest is made

strengths of ucr

great for examining crime prior to 1970, useful for examining clearance rates

weaknesses of ucr

crime counting, dark figures, hierarchy rule, hotel rule, police bias

dark figures

crimes not reported to police

hierarchy rule

only the most serious crimes are counted

hotel rule

a property owned by one person is only counted as 1 crime

national crime victimization survey

collected from households once every 6 months, asks about victimization, addresses dark figure crimes

strengths of ncvs

gets at dark figures crimes, high completion rate

weaknesses of ncvs

doesnt account for children and homeless, does not include businesses, does not collect on homicide, reliability of victim accounts

self report studies

individuals report the extent of their own past criminal offending or victimization

industrialization crime

population more dense, more crime

wwii crime

substantial decrease in crime

baby boom crime

increasing crime

todays crime

as low as they were 50 years ago

regional and city differences

south and west typically have the highest rates

other crime differences

time of day, age, sex, informal vs social controls

time of day

juvenile crimes peak at 3pm and summer

age

peak offending between 10-17

sex

men commit most crime

race and ethnicity

most victimized are native americans then blacks

intra racial vs inter racial

offending tends to occur within (intra) racial groups, not between (inter)

primitive cultures

believed in supernatural causes of crime like thunderstorms, full moon

preclassical religious takes on crime

the devil made me do it, often performed exorcisms

pre classical types of punishments for offenders

corporal, inhumane punishment, public spectacle

thomas hobbes

rational theory 1651

rational theory ideas

individuals are at war with each other, are rational, will create a common authority out of fear, must democratically create rules that all citizens should follow, rule breakers should face punishment by government

shared beliefs during the enlightenment

social contract, fairness in sentencing

social contract

people invest in the laws of their society with the guarantee that they will be protected from rule violators

fairness in sentencing

people who stole a loaf of bread were sentenced to death

other contributions from enlightenment

people should have a say in government, focused on democracy, people had right to pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, individuals were rational and could consider the consequences of their actions

classical school

beccaria

beccaria

father of classical school and father of deterrence theory, wrote on crimes and punishments at 26, student of law

on crimes and punishment

1764

beccarias ideas

social contracts, legislatures should define crimes and punishments, must examine harm of crimes to society, no secret accusations, torture should not be used against defendants, defendants should be tried by peers, make justice systems more public and understood, education was the surest way to prevent crime, against the use of capital punishment

utilitarianism (beccaria)

greatest happiness shared by the greatest numbers

legislatures should define crimes and punishments

judges should not have the authority to interpret laws

must examine harm of crimes to society

crime was just as harmful regardless of ones intent

no secret accusations

one should be able to confront and cross examine witnesses

against the use of capital punishment

violated social contract, brutalization effect, ineffective deterrent

three key elements of punishment

swiftness, certainty, severity

swiftness

helps to solidify the connection between crime and punishment

certainty

most important quality, if certain it will have stronger effect of punishment that is worse but not certain

severity

possible punishment must outweigh the benefit of the crime but must not be excessive, too much severity will lead to crime, not enough and people will actively engage in crime

specific deterrence

punishment focused on the individual alone and stopping them from further criminal behavior, being arrested

general deterrence

punishment that focuses on stopping other offenders from criminal behavior, knowledge of death penalty

beccaria and us criminal justice

emphasis on deterrence, due process and individual rights

due process rights

cross examinations, right to speedy trial, right to be informed of decisions of justice

jermey bentham

1748-1832

bentham

helped reinforce beccarias ideas, hedonistic calculus, popularized classical thinking in Britain, known for panopticon

hedonistic calculus

the weighing of pleasure vs pain

panopticon

prison design popular in Europe and early pennsylvania penitentiaries

neo classical school

circumstances of the individual or situation are taken into account in sentencing, school of theories lost prevalence in 19th century after Darwins origin of the species

neo classical school policy implications

death penalty is used as a deterrent, adding more police officers to deter crime

rebirth of deterrence theory

resurgence in the late 1960s, studies of severity of punishment were different, analytic issues

resurgence in the late 1960s

aggregate studies showed that increased risk of punishment was associated with less crime, ratio of crimes reported to police vs number of arrests in a certain jurisdiction