Final

crime

A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties.

Deviance

Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society

Mala in se

offenses that are wrong by their very nature

Mala Prohibita

offenses prohibited by law but not wrong in themselves

Classical School of Thought

the belief that people have free will to choose to partake in criminal behavior

Positive School of Thought

crime is the result of factors already present before the crime is committed

Conflict School of Thought

Conflict (Marx & Weber)

Resources (e.g. wealth, power) unevenly distributed

Society is divided in terms of class (economic) or status (e.g. race, gender)

These divisions lead to conflict

More likely to focus on inequality.

This is the predominant belief held amongst Sociologists

Micro Analysis

personal level of analysis (individual test scores)

Macro Analysis

aggregate of group level (comparing test scores)

Characteristics of Good Theories

parsimony

scope

logical consistency

testability

empirical validity

policy implications

How is casualty determined in research?

temporal ordering correlation

correlation ≠ causation

Strengths of UCR and NCVS

Sheer numbers of offenses reported

UCR reports on crime cleared by arrest (someone has been charged).

Can be compared across years

NCVS is random and gathers information on crime that may not have been otherwise reported.

Weaknesses of the UCR and NCVS

UCR:

Crime counting

Non-index that occur but no arrest are not counted

Estimated to only capture ~10% of non-index offenses

Dark figures - crimes not reported to the police

Hierarchy rule - only most serious crime is counted

Hotel rule

Property owned by 1 person is only counted as 1 robbery

Does not account for police bias

NCVS:

Children, under 12, and homeless not accounted for

Does not include business. does not collect on homicide

Reliability of victim accounts

Crime Trends since the 1900s

1900s; data collections begin industrialization; population increases and so does crime

WWII; crime decreases bc men at war

baby boom; increase young people increase crime

today; rates as low as 50 y/a

Pre-classical Perspective of Crime

supernatural causes of crime (thunderstorm, drought, full moon)

religious takes on crime (devil made me do it, exorcisms)

corporal, inhumane punishment

Shared Beliefs During Enlightenment

social contract, fairness in sentencing

Cesare Beccaria

believed that punishment should fit the crime, in speedy and public trials, and that capital punishment should be done away with completely

"father" of classical school and deterrence theory, wrote On Crimes and Punishments at 26

Utilitarianism

legislatures define crime & punishment, no judge can interpret laws alone, greatest happiness shared by greatest numbersexamines how crimes harm society

Mens Rea

guilty mind

Actus Reus

guilty act

Beccaria's Three Key Elements of Punishment

swiftness

certainty

severity

General Deterrence

punishment of criminals that is intended to be an example to the general public and to discourage the commission of offenses

Specific Deterrence

punishment inflicted on criminals to discourage them from committing future crimes

What led to the rebirth of the deterrence theory in the 1960s?

aggregate studies showed that increased risk of punishment was associated with less crime

experiential effect

Experiential Effect

extent to which previous experience affects individuals' perceptions of how severe criminal punishment will be when deciding whether or not to offend again

Vignette Research

asks study participants to estimate likelihood of being caught in given hypothetical situations

Seductions of Crime

the idea that crime is often pleasurable for those committing it and that pleasure of one sort or another is the major motivation behind crime

Routine Activities Theory

The view that victimization results from the interaction of three everyday factors:

the availability of suitable targets

the absence of capable guardians

the presence of motivated offenders

Modern Policy Implications from the Classical Perspective

broken windows theory stop & frisk

3-strikes law

Early Positive School of Thought

Cesare Lombroso

father of modern criminology

positive criminology; considered individuals as criminaloids or born criminals

Criminaloid

One of Lombroso's criminal types. They had none of the physical peculiarities of the born or insane criminal and were considered less dangerous.

Born Criminal

According to Lombroso, a person born with features resembling an earlier, more primitive form of human life, destined to become a criminal.

Lombroso's Stigmata

individuals looks make them more or less likely to offend;

asymmetrical face

large ears

receding chin

twisted nose

long arms

skin wrinkles

all features of criminals

H.H. Goddard

IQ used to deport, incapacitate, sterilize, and target low

IQ individuals

Goddard believed that IQ could not be changed

Labeled a low IQ as "feeble-mindedness"

Feeblemindedness

technical, scientific term in the early 1900s meaning those who had significantly below-average levels of intelligence

Sheldon's Somatotypes

1\. Endomorph

2\. Mesomorph

3\. Ectomorph

Based on Sheldon's Body Type Theory, who is most prone to crime?

somotonic

What is the purpose of twins and adoption studies?

coordinance to see if twins are similar;

used to see if crime can be based within genetics

Monozygotic Twins (MZ)

identical twins, share 100% of genes

Fraternal Twins (DZ)

Twins who develop from separate eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment

concordance rate

indicates the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same disorder

XYY Factor

"supermale" gene that is associated with committing crime, thought to be 13x more likely to have behavior disorders; only studied prisoners, once people outside of incarceration were studied 1/1000 men had it, ultimately disproved

What does substance use do to the brain's neurotransmitters?

cocaine and meth increase dopamine production; higher likelihood of crime

Which part of the brain appears to have the strongest association with offending (after injury)?

temporal lobes; controls memory and emotion

What level of analysis do social structural theories typically use?

Macro Analysis

Social Statistics

Aspects of society that relate to stability and social order; they allow societies to continue and endure.