Inequality, Crime, and Victimization Notes

Positivist Criminology

  • Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874).
  • Applied statistical analysis to crime data published by France.
  • Focused on the social mechanics of crime.
  • Identified three causes of crime:
    • Accidental causes.
    • Variable causes.
    • Constant causes.

Stratification

  • Stratification is an important way in which we are different.
  • It reflects the relative distribution of resources and opportunities.
  • These include economic rewards, political power, social networks, and knowledge.
  • Differences tend to be hierarchical.
  • Systems of stratification tend to perpetuate themselves across generations.

Status Set

  • A status set includes ascribed and achieved statuses. Example: Husband, son, man, X years old, Bengals fan, college professor, American, brother, father, UAH Charger, Buckeye, White.

Wheel of Power/Privilege

  • The Wheel of Power/Privilege illustrates how different social categories intersect to create advantages and disadvantages. Marginalized groups are positioned on the outside, while those with more power/privilege are closer to the center.
  • Examples of categories: Skin color, gender (woman vs. man), language (non-English monolingual vs. English), ability (different bodied disability vs. able-bodied), citizenship (undocumented vs. documented), sexuality (heterosexual vs. LGBTQ+), wealth (poor vs. rich), housing (homeless vs. owns property), body size (large vs. slim).

Opportunity Structures

  • Opportunity structures can be legitimate or illegitimate.

Legitimate Opportunity Structures

  • Example: High-tech Employment Concentration by Metro in 2011, showing the share of total private employment related to high-tech jobs.

Illegitimate Opportunity Structures

  • These are related to crime. Shows places with the most crime zip codes and most improved zip codes.

Four Types of Stratification

  • Age
  • Class
  • Gender
  • Race

Age & Crime

  • Figure 3 indicates the number of offenders in the United States in 2012, broken down by age and offense category.
  • Over 60% of known criminal offenders are under the age of thirty.
  • Individuals ages eleven to twenty make up roughly 27% of offenders.
  • Individuals ages twenty-one to thirty make up an additional 34%.
  • Crimes are categorized as crimes against persons, crimes against property, and crimes against society.

Victimization & Age

  • Victimization is also structured by age.
  • Highest rates of victimization: 12 to 17 year olds.
  • Lowest rates of violent victimization: 65 and older.

Life-Course Perspective

  • Moffitt, Terrie E. 1993. “Adolescent-Limited and Life-Course Persistent Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Taxonomy.” Psychological Review, 100 (4): 674-701.
  • Life Course Persistent:
    • 4 to 9% of population.
    • Related to neuropsychological health.
    • Associated with criminogenic environment.
  • Adolescent Limited:
    • Context-specific.
    • Related to the maturity gap.

Class

  • Social Class: Upper Class, Middle Class, Working Class, Under Class

Class - Opportunity Structures

  • Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Opportunity Structures regarding class.

Class - Victimization

  • "Stay safe - don't be poor."
  • Victimization rates per 1,000 people, by type of crime and annual family income (2008).
  • Rates are shown for:
    • Completed violence
    • Attempted violence
    • Rape/sexual assault
    • Robbery
    • Assault
  • Victimization is highest for those in the lowest income bracket ($0-$14,999).

Class Inequality & Crime

  • Micro-level: An individual’s social location within a structure of class stratification determines:
    • Type and severity of crime an individual is likely to commit.
    • Risk of Victimization.
  • Macro-level: The degree of income inequality (relative wealth possessed by the rich versus the rest of us) also matters.

Inequality Around the World

  • GINI Coefficient, source: CIA The World Factbook 2009

Wealth and Income Inequality

  • Ultra-wealthy take more of the pie. Share of American wealth owned by top 1 percent versus bottom 90 percent.
  • Is this desirable?
  • Is it stable?

Gender

Property Crime Offenders by Gender: 2018

  • Arson, Burglary, Larceny Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft.
  • Men commit more property crimes than women.

Violent Crime Offenders by Gender: 2018

  • Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Assault.
  • Men commit more violent crimes than women.

Gender - Opportunity Structures

  • Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Opportunity Structures regarding gender.

Property Crime Victims by Gender: 2018

  • Arson, Burglary, Larceny Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft.
  • Men and women are affected almost equally

Violent Crime Victims by Gender: 2018

  • Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Assault.
  • Men are more likely to be victims of homicide and robbery
  • Women are more likely to be victims of rape/sexual assault and assault

Characteristics of Rape Culture

  • Objectification of women as sexual objects.
  • Toxic masculinity glorifying men as sexual aggressors.
  • Trivialization & Normalization of sexual assault.
  • Victim blaming (“Rape Myths”).
  • Leniency for aggressors.
  • Brock Turner Convicted on 3 counts of sexual assault.

Race

  • Race in the U.S.: White(75%), Black(12%), Asian(4%), Native American/Hawaiian/Alaskan(1%), Other(6%), Multiple Races(2%). (Source: U.S. Census 2010)

Arrest Data by Race

  • 2008 UCR Arrest Data for Whites and Blacks. Shows percentage of arrests for different crimes.

Race - Opportunity Structures

  • Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Opportunity Structures regarding gender.

Stop & Frisk

  • Stop & Frisk practices unfairly targeted blacks.

Unequal Justice?

  • Pretrial: African Americans were incarcerated in local jails at a rate 3.5 times higher than whites in 2016.
  • Pretrial detention increases the odds of conviction, more likely to accept less favorable deals, more likely to be sentenced to prison.
  • Sentencing: African Americans and Latinos comprise 29% of US population, 57% of US prison population.

Racial Profiling

  • D.A. Harris (1999)

Race, Crime, and Victimization

  • Racial patterns in crime relate to two phenomena:
    • The unequal distribution of opportunity structures due to social inequality that is perpetuated by colorblind racism.
    • Hidden biases among citizens and law enforcement itself that have the effect of criminalizing black bodies.

Defunding the police

  • Based on the video, and drawing upon the theories of crime we have covered in this class, what is ONE way that defunding the police proponents believe it would actually reduce crime?