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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
