CJ101: Introduction to Law and Justice - Notes

Learning Objectives

  • Define and differentiate the major criminological theories
  • Identify major demographic variables in crime
  • Identify risk factors for victimization
  • Outline the process for compiling national crime statistics in the United States
  • Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Summary Reporting System, the National Incident-Based Reporting System, and the National Crime Victimization Survey
  • Broadly describe historical trends in U.S. crime

Mohamed Atta

  • Ringleader of 09/11 attacks.
  • Born 09/01/1968 (33 years old)
  • Egyptian by birth
  • Degree in architecture from Cairo University
  • Radicalized at al-Quds Mosque in Hamburg, Germany
  • Formed Hamburg terrorist cell
  • Met Osama bin Laden in 1999 in Afghanistan
  • Arrived in United States in June 2000 with two others on tourist/business visa
  • July-December 2000: Took flight classes at schools in Florida, earning commercial pilot’s license
  • Coordinated the arrivals, training of “muscle” hijackers
  • Returned to Europe (Spain) in July 2001 to finish planning attacks
  • September 11, 2001: Part of a team of 5 that hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, flew it into north tower of World Trade Center in New York City, killing himself and, ultimately, 1600 others

Why Commit Crime?

  • Choice theories: Reward and punishment.
  • Biological and psychological trait theories: Testosterone, aggression, mental illness, anxiety, low intelligence, need for stimulation, other traits.
  • Sociological theories: Poverty, unemployment, discrimination.
  • Social conflict theories: Racism, classism, power structure.
  • Social process theories: Relations with the people around us lead us to crime or prevent crime.
  • Life course theories: All of these factors are present at different parts in our lives.

Summary of Early Theories

  • Demonology
    • Crime is caused by demons.
    • Policy implications: Religion; Mitigating Treatment or Genocide
  • Classical
    • Crime is caused by Free Will.
    • Policy implications: Deterrence
  • Biological Positivism
    • Crime is caused by Biology/Psychology.
    • There are no universal biological descriptors of criminals; Lots of people still don’t commit crime; Too simple because Can’t be tested
    • Policy implications: Conservative
    • Replaced today by Rational Choice Theory
    • Lives on in the form of Trait/Biosocial Theories
    • Criminals are “evil”; Moral superiority; Racism

Learning Theories

  • Differential association and social learning theories
  • Criminal behavior is learned through interaction with others.
  • Most potent when:
    • It is early in life
    • It happens frequently
    • It happens over a long period of time
    • It comes from sources we like and respect
  • Through them, we learn not only the crime but different conceptions of right and wrong.
  • These interactions create “criminal subcultures.”

Control Theories

  • Self-Control (inner containment)
    • Criminals share societies’ views of right and wrong but overcome them through Techniques of Neutralization
      • Denial of responsibility
      • Denial of injury
      • Denial of victim
      • Condemnation of the condemner
      • Appeal to higher loyalties
  • Social Bond (outer containment)
    • Explains why criminality changes over time
    • Quality of the bond matters
  • Rational Choice
  • Deterrence
  • Perception of: Certainty of Punishment > Severity of Punishment > Swiftness of Punishment
  • Previous experiences with punishment and avoidance
  • Confounding factors: Anger, Intoxication, Mental Illness
  • Perceived Reward:
    • Financial (relative)
    • Psychological
    • Social
  • Neutralizations
  • Risk of Getting Caught
    • Formal
    • Informal
  • Risk of Harm
  • Effort
  • Conscience/Morality

Routine Activities Theory

  • Motivated Offender + Suitable Target + Lack of Guardianship = CRIME
  • Examples of Guardianship:
    • Police officer present
    • Security guard
    • Surveillance camera
  • Examples of Suitable Target:
    • Too open/visible
    • Empty playground
    • Closed bars
    • Valuables removed from cars
  • Examples of Motivated Offender:
    • Offender in jail
    • Offender reformed
    • Offender receiving help

Demographic Factors in Crime

  • Age makes the biggest difference; many criminals “age out.”
  • Sex makes a huge difference; men dominate most crimes
  • Substance abuse dependence highly correlated
  • Low socio-economic status highly correlated for most crimes
  • Race is also high correlated, but mostly through socio-economic variables
    • Black ≠ More Likely to Be Criminal
    • Black = More Likely to Be Poor = More Likely to be Criminal
  • Many of these factors are highly auto-correlated
  • Immigration status is not highly correlated

Risk Factors of Victimization and Repeat Victimization

  • Minority, poor, young (18-24)
  • Separated from domestic partner
    • Especially if seeing new partner or have property/custody dispute
  • Alcohol or drug dependency/habitual use
    • Immediate drinking/drug use at time of event
  • Engaged in sexual trade
  • Occupations: police officers, retail workers, security guards, taxi drivers, cashiers, restaurant employees

Drugs and Crime: Types of Drug Crimes

  • Drug-defined crimes: possession, sale, manufacturing, trafficking of illegal drugs.
  • Drug trade crimes: murders, assaults, thefts, threats, burglaries, auto thefts, etc.
  • Drug-fueled crimes: violence while under the influence.
  • Drug-motivated crimes: thefts, burglaries, fraud, robberies for drug money.

Estimates of Drug Involvement

  • 26% of all arrests in the United States are for drug-defined crimes.
  • 80% of prison inmates abuse either alcohol or drugs.
  • 40% of prisoners incarcerated for property crimes report they committed their crimes to get money for drugs.
  • 14% of violent offenders are under the influence of drugs at the time of their crimes.

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program

  • Summary Reporting System
    • Victim reports incident to police
    • Police dispatcher enters crime into computer-aided dispatch system
    • Police officer or clerk enters crime report into records management system
    • Clerk reviews the report for accuracy and correct coding
    • At the end of the month, clerk counts how many of each type of crime occurred and submits those counts to the state crime reporting unit
    • State compiles, cleans, verifies agency reports and then submits reports to Federal Bureau of Investigation and issues various sate reports.
    • FBI compiles, cleans, verifies, analyzes statistics and issues various reports.

Uniform Crime Reporting Program

  • National Incident-Based Reporting System
    • Victim reports incident to police
    • Police dispatcher enters crime into computer-aided dispatch system
    • Police officer or clerk enters crime report into records management system
    • Clerk reviews the report for accuracy and correct coding
    • At the end of the month, clerk submits a file with data about each criminal incident to the state crime reporting unit
    • State compiles, cleans, verifies agency reports and then submits reports to Federal Bureau of Investigation and issues various sate reports.
    • FBI compiles, cleans, verifies, analyzes statistics and issues various reports.

SRS vs. NIBRS

  • Summary Reporting System (SRS)
    • State and FBI get only counts of crime
    • Only 8 “Part 1” crimes and fewer “Part 2” crimes (arrests only)
    • Hierarchy rule applied: only most serious offense counted
    • Easy for agencies to implement—no electronics needed
    • Few data quality standards (just crime definitions)
    • Almost all agencies participate
    • Only numbers and a little analysis possible
  • National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
    • State and FBI get numerous data elements on each incident
    • All crimes are reported, including 49 “Group A” crimes and lesser “Group B” (arrests only)
    • All separate offenses in each incident counted
    • Requires sophisticated records systems
    • Numerous data quality standards on each field
    • Less than half of agencies participating (differs a lot by state)
    • Detailed analysis possible

“Dark Figure” of Unreported Crime

  • Why don’t victims report crimes to police?
    • Sense that the agency doesn’t care
    • Long response times
    • Low professionalism of responding officers
    • Sense that the police can’t do anything
    • Don’t want to waste police time
    • Personal embarrassment
    • Fear of coming to attention of police
    • Victim culpability in immediate incident
    • Prior experiences with police
    • Active warrants/restraining orders
    • General fear that victim will become suspect in crime
    • Fear police in general
    • Not entirely sure crime was committed
    • Fear of retaliation from offender

Measuring Victimization

  • National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
    • Run by Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. DOJ
    • Run annually
    • Samples c. 95,000 households
    • Interviews everyone in each household, c. 160,000 people
    • Asks about personal crime and property crime
    • Generalizes results to national crime rates

Key Terms

  • Criminology
  • Environmental criminology
  • Rational choice
  • Routine activities
  • Uniform crime reporting system (UCR)
  • National incident-based reporting system (NIBRS)
  • National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
  • Part 1/Part 2 crimes
  • Repeat victimization