ch 1 + ch 2 3/10

Theories of Crime

• just world: adaptive way of thinking that is rational,

  • general just world: maladaptive when people generalize things and disagree with social justice programs.

• Classical: rooting in choice theory, I am in charge of my own safety.

• Deterrence: people only adhere to social norms because of surveillance and deterrence

• Positive Theory: analyzing and compartmentalize antecedents, social justice programs stem from this because this type of thinking analyzes the root

  • Biological antecedents

  • Social antecedents

Theoretical perspectives

• Conformity perspective: humans want to conform to their/society’s expectations and wants

  • Strain theory

• Nonconformist: humans would commit crimes if there were no rules

  • Social control: we are being watched

• Learning perspective: humans are newutal and learn overtime

  • Social learning theory: our parents and community teaches us

  • Differential association: criminal behavior doesn’t emerge from badness

Disciplinary Perspective in Criminology

• sociological criminology

  • Structuralists vs. culturalist

  • Structuralists look at underlaying foundation in society, for example: lack of resources

  • Culturalists look at the culture and community around people (the mob)

• Psychological criminology

  • Cognitive, biological, development, and trait approaches

  • Cognitive distortion is thinking in a way that is skewed that justifies criminal behavior (“it’s just a picture” head ass)

  • Biological approaches look at thinks like head injury, brain trauma, and temperament

  • Developmental approaches look at developmental events that affect people and are likely to commit crimes, like being homeless as a child or food scarcity

  • Trait theory, introverts v extroverts

  • Psychiatric criminology, looks at chemical imbalances

Defining and Measuring Crime

• Crime: intentional behavior that violates a criminal code

• 3 measures of crime

1. Official police Reports of reported crime and arrests

• UCR uniform crime reports

  • Supplementary homicide report

  • Violent crimes

  • Property crimes

  • Other common offenses

  • Dark Figures, stats that are unreported and undocumented

  • Hierarchy rule: only one of the type of crimes gets reproted, like a burglar who murders and rapes

• Nation Incident based Reporting System (NIBRS) 1970s ucr upgrade

  • Group A (Maurer, arson, assault, fraud) there’s more details in nibrs than ucr

  • Group b (passing bad checks, dui, disorderly conduct)

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2. Self reports

• People report their own criminal activity to researchers

• People don’t have consequences so report their own crimes

• Noted examples: domestic violence or employee theft

3. National or regional victimization surveys

   • Interviews have to consider trauma

Cumulative Risk Model (CRM)

• Exposure to multiple risk rafters

• Addictive approach: the more risk factors, the higher the risk

Focuses on environment, social relationships, and protective factors

Developmental Cascade Model

• How a person reacts to things depending on their developmental stage

• Risk factors and how they play out within a persons developmental stage

• 13 year old that’s hit with electric cable reacts different to a 3 year old being spanked

• Interventions n

Social environmental risks

• Poverty is one of the most robust predictors of adolescent violence for not sees

Peer Rejection and Antisocial Peers

• Early rejection in 1st grade is linked to antisocial behavior by 4th grade

• Cascade effects of rejection

• Aggression and socialization skills

• Kids would rather hang out with friends may be prone to join a lil gang of delinquents