Untitled Flashcards Set

Criminology (define and explain the field) 

• Criminology is the scientific study of  crime and the reasons why people commit criminal acts.

• The field concentrates on forms of criminal behavior, the causes of crime, the definition of criminality & the social reaction to criminal activity 

• Criminology shows more interest in the causal explanations of crime 

• investigations include criminal behavior, etiology (theories of crime causation), and the sociology of law and societal reaction; related areas include juvenile delinquency and victimology

• Career paths 

  • Police officer/criminal investigator 

  • Law school 

  • Graduate studies 

  • FBI agent 

  • CIA agent 

Criminal justice system (define and explain the field) 

• Criminal justice encompasses the various agencies & institutions involved in maintaining law & order

• The criminal justice includes police, courts and corrections which are all interconnected 

• Criminal justice is more focused on practical, applied concerns 

• The police & criminal justice system are the agency/s of last resort 

• Career paths 

  • Police & correctional officers 

  • Wardens 

  • Detectives 

Scientific method 

• Characterized by the search for empirical proof 

  • Empirical proof is the “information gathered through observation or experiment that can be used to support a claim”

• A systematic way of studying crime & justice in  criminology 

• Steps of scientific method 

  • Define the problem  

  • Review relevant literature

  • Formulate research questions and hypotheses

  • Collect and analyze data

  • Draw conclusions

Forensic Science 

• A more detailed & narrow scope of work that uses the collection of evidence to investigate crimes

• Is confused a technical field & background in science is necessary 

• involves examining evidence from a crime scene, like fingerprints, blood, hair, or DNA, and using different scientific techniques to figure out what happened, who did it, and how

• Forensic scientists collect, preserve, and analyze evidence from crime scenes 

• They use their findings to help lawyers, juries, and judges understand the results of scientific tests 

• They can also testify as expert witnesses 

Deviance (define, explain) 

• Behavior that is outside the limits of social toleration (deviate from societal norms)

• Society may view the behavior as annoying, bizarre, & gross

• Definitions of deviance are relative to the time, place & person(s) making the evaluations & some acts are more universally defined than others

• “ not all deviant acts are criminal, nor are all criminal acts necessarily deviant, assuming that laws against many acts mala prohibita are commonly violated.”

Crime (define, explain) 

• Crime: from legal perspective it refers to  any act/action that violates criminal law 

• Crime can be defined in various ways 

• Crime & its definition are social products since society decides what is or isn’t a crime

• Crimes are defined by laws

Mala in se 

• Acts that are bad in them self, inherently immoral or wrong 

• A latin term that means “evil in itself”

• Universally, everyone  views these acts as bad 

• Example: murder, rape, assault  

Mala prohibita  

• Acts that are considered crimes because they have been prohibited 

• Acts that aren’t viewed as bad, but laws define them as bad

• Acts that are considered crimes primarily because they are prohibited by the legal codes  of a specific jurisdiction

• Examples: traffic violations, gambling

Consensus/Conflict (models of crime)  (know when it emerged & criminologists with it)

• Consensus model: sees laws and their enforcement as reflecting widely shared societal norms and values 

  • Assumes that most individuals agree one what is right vs wrong 

  • People obey laws because they have internalized the norms & view them as appropriate, not in fear of punishment 

  • Was dominant in the early 20th century, but has declined since 1950s 

• Conflict model: the belief that criminal law reflects the conflicts of interest of groups and that the more powerful groups define the law, it asserts that societal groups with different interests are in conflict & the group in power decides what is considered criminal 

  • Emerged in 1950s as a challenge to the consensus perspective 

  • Criminologists like Richard Qunney argue that criminology should focus less on explaining criminal behavior & more on understanding how certain behaviors & individuals are labeled as criminal 

  • Perspective shifts focus to “why are certain behaviors defined as criminal?”

  • Raises questions on if laws and their enforcement benefit society as a whole or serve the people in power

Examples of fads and fashions in crime 

• Temporary trends or societal shifts in criminal activity or perception of crime

• Ex: skyjacking a major problem in the 1960s, but reappeared in the 1980s as an attempt by Cuban refugees to escape their homeland or by sucidal  terrorists to wreak mass destruction 

Emergence of criminology (Comte/Positivism) 

• Comete: believed that knowledge progressed through three stages 

  • Theological (religious explanations) 

  • Metaphysical (philosophical reasoning)

  • Scientific (using observation & experiments) 

• Auguste Comte: french sociologist (1798-1857)- founder of sociology as a discipline

• Comete in the 19th century developed the modern concept of positivism, comparing societal laws to natural laws like gravity  

• Positivism: a philosophy that emphasizes graining true knowledge through observation, reason & logic 

  • Focuses on learning from experiences & date, known as empirical evidence 

  • Intuitive knowledge, metaphysics & theology are rejected as sources of knowledge in positivism 

  • Society is believed to operate according to fixed, general laws

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)

• An Italian philosopher who is considered one of the founders of modern criminology 

• His work “On crimes and Punishments” (1764) argued for reforms in criminal law

• He emphasized 

  • The idea that punishment should be fair, proportionate & serve as something to discourage action rather than revenge 

  • Rejection of torture & capital punishment 

  • Focus on rationality & justice, advocates that laws should prevent crime by promoting greater good  

• Ideas laid the foundation for the classicals school of criminology & shaped modern legal & criminal justice systems

Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950)

• Often called the “dean of criminology” & played a key role in shaping modern criminology as a scientific discipline 

• He contributed 

  • Differential association theory: criminal behavior is learned through interactions with others

  • White-collar crime: crimes committed by individuals in positions of power & trust which was previously ignored 

• His work shifted criminology’s focus from legal/biological explanations to including sociology factor 

Black and Latinx Scholars that have contributed to the field. 

• Focused on racial disparities in crime, institutional racism and contributions of marginalized groups to criminology 

Black 

• W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

• Angela Davis (1944-)

• E. Franklin Frazier (1894-1962)

Latinx 

• Joaquín Marteníz-Bascuañán (20th century)

• Jorge Garcia & Alfredo Mirandé (1944-)

• Rodolfo Acuña (1932-)

William Graham Sumner 

• A sociologist who explored the role of norms & customs in shaping human behavior, including criminal behavior & emphasized the influence of societal structure 

• Identified three types of norms in his 1906 work “Folkways” 

  • Folkways: least serious norms 

    • Traditions, customs, or police behaviors like manners, etiquette, dress styles) 

    • Not strictly enforced & don’t carry serious punishment

  • Mores: more serious norms tied to moral values 

    • Violations involve sanctions like rewards or punishments 

    • Prohibit behaviors seen as threats to a group’s way of like like lying, cheating, stealing or killing 

  • Laws: formalized rules of behavior 

    • Represent the codification of mores in societies with more complex structures 

    • Serve as institutionalized forms of social control 

Theories & Methodology 

• Theories: attempts to develop reasonable explanations of reality ex: What causes crime?

• Methodology: involves the collection and analysis of accurate data and facts ex: Who commits crime? 

• Criminology relies on various theoretical frameworks and research methodologies to understand crime causation. 

Objectivity in research 

• Record & interpret findings 

• Researchers should be neutral or unbiased in examining their subject matter 

Explain Ethics in Criminology Research (introduction of codes of ethics, examples of unethical research, confidentiality, reciprocity) 

• 1998 American Society of Criminology (ACS) & ACJS

• 1998 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) guidelines of code of ethics: requirements that researches behave ethically in conducting research 

  • Strive for the highest technical standards in research 

  • Fully report findings 

  • Make date available to future researchers 

• Confidentiality: ensuring the participants information is kept private 

• Reciprocity : a system of mutual trust & obligation between researcher and subject

Official police statistics (reporting systems UCR, NIBRS, NCVS). Explain trends and changes in reporting systems.

• 1930: Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

  • Police departments submit reports to FBI, but it was voluntary  

  • Participation improved over the years 

  • Retired in 2021 

  • Unclear whether accurate estimates are possible 

  • Unfounded crimes 

• National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) 

  • Redesign of the UCR program 

  • Recorded far more detail on crime incidents 

• NCVS: National Crime Victimization Survey 

  • Collects data from victims about crimes, regardless of whether they were reported to law enforcement 

  • Began in 1972

Alternative Data-Gathering Strategies (Qualitative techniques, methodological narcissism) 

• Qualitative techniques: involve less commitment to quantitative measurement on the part of the researcher, more engagement with field and observational strategies and less direct means of getting information. Ex: interviews, focus groups

• Methodological narcissism : the belief that one’s favorite method is the best, so they over-rely on their preferred research methods 

Experiments and Evidence-Based Research (explain and provide examples) 

• Experiment:  it is the benchmark for comparison with all other research methods 

• Example Scared straight: intended to deter wayward juveniles from progressing into more serious criminal activity by using blunt, heart to hear talks in prison with inmates 

• Evidence-Based Research Definition: an attempt to base knowledge and practice on well-based researched evidence , research findings that are based on replicated, experimental research 

• Example: Campbell Collaboration: a international organization that conducts meta analysis to discover what works in criminology 

Classical Experimental design

• Research design that has equivalence, an experimental & a control group and a pretest & posttest 

Surveys (explain, provide benefits and issues of this method) 

• Definition: Gather information by questionnaires or interviews from a large group of people 

• Benefits: allows for the collection of data from a large diverse group 

• Issues: response may be biased and participants may misunderstand questions 

Victim Survey 

• Surveys that ask individuals about their experiences as victims of crime

• Designed to record an estimate of climate victimizations by a representative sample of the population 

Victim Survey (issues and cautions) 

• National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 

  • 1972: beginning of National Crime Survey 

  • Two step measurement process 

• Issues and Cautions in studying victim data 

  • Hundreds of people may need to be surveyed to find one victim of rape 

  • False or mistaken reports 

  • Memory failure 

  • Sampling bias 

  • Overreports

Dark Figure of Crime (question on it)

• Unreported/unknown crime that isn’t captured by official crime statistics, often due to underreporting by victims or law enforcement  

• Assumption that for every crime that came to the attention of authorities, there was a unspecified # of undiscovered crimes 

Self report measures 

• Attempt to provide alternative to officials statistics 

• Controlling error in self-report surveys

• Surveys where individuals report their own criminal behavior or victimization experiences  

Trends in crime (study in detail notes from 2.11 Slides) 

• Stable between 1930 and 1960 

• Peak in late 1970s 

• Victim surveys report falling rates 

• 2019 and 2020: mixed data 

explain crime wave (lows, highs with years)

• Periods of rising crime rates followed by declines 

• A major crime wave in the US since mid 1960s, since the early 1970s shows only a small increase, stable 

Effects of factors on crime (age, gender, social class, household profile, crime)

• Age and Crime 

  • Most arrested are young 

  • Age-crime debate 

• Gender Differences in Criminality

  • Gender: best predictor of criminality 

  • Male crime rate exceeds female 

  • Gender variation gap narrowing 

  • Cultures conception of gender 

  • Social expectations of women (being ladylike, not rebelling, staying home, unexpected to commit violent crimes)

  • Intimate relationships 

  • Threat of potential sexual victimization 

  • Androcentric bias 

  • Little data on other genders

• Social Class & Crime 

  • Most arrested from lower classes 

  • Traditional crimes higher 

  • Debate in class- criminality relationship 

  • Effect of measuring instruments 

  • Statistics undercount crimes of higher class groups 

• Race & Crime 

  • Eurocentric bias may also exist 

  • Classifications pigeonhole population segments 

  • Crypotracist theories rediscovered 

  • Generational burden on Black Americans 

  • Reasons for disproportionate arrest rates 

• Race & Crime: Racial Profiling 

  • Crime profiling 

  • Discrimination throughout criminal justice system

  • Statistics subject to countervailing pressures 

  • Crime trends 

• Race & Crime: Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups and Crime 

  • Race less crucial than class 

  • Black people in lower-class areas 

  • Contrast with latinos

  • Different immigrant & black experiences 

  • Deindustrialization, racism, segregation & poverty 

• Race & Crime: Immigration and Crime 

  • Crime rates vary by group 

  • 1st generation crime rate usually lower 

  • Increased crime in second generation 

• Race & Crime: Native Americans & Crime 

  • Rate of victimization for Native Americans 

  • Native Americans overrepresented in prisons 

  • Marginalized from society 

Regional variation in crime 

• Crime higher in South and West 

• More urban vs rural crime 

• Crime rates differ across regions due to cultural, economic & law enforcement varrations 

Institutions and crime (family, education, 

• Family & Crime 

  • Family is the most important socialization agent 

  • Studies of U.S. delinquency

  • There is a correlation between delinquency & parental behavior 

  • Characteristics of delinquents’ families 

Family, Education and Poverty 

• Family dysfunction, educational failure & poverty are all linked to higher rates of crime 

Feminization of poverty

• The trend that poverty increasing takes place within female-headed households & often leads to criminal behavior as a survival strategy

• There could also be correlation between this and delinquency   

Spanking and crime

• Research shows correlations between spanking as a punishment to violent behaviors, leads to slower cognitive development & increases in crime & antisocial behavior  

Education and crime 

• Crime decreases as education increases 

• Strong school bonding decreases delinquency 

• Misconduct in school predicts delinquency 

Religion and crime (Catholics) 

• Religion is rarely mentioned as a variable 

• Social class is a hidden variable 

• Catholics have the highest official crime rate because a lot of them are low income

• Overall religious groups tend to have lower rates because of social norms and community structure 

War & Crime Institutionalized Violence

• War encourages solidarity since conflict with outside group tends to increase internal solidarity so conflict within our country decreases 

What happens to domestic crime rates during major wars?

• Domestic crime rate declines 

Economy and crime 

• High unemployment & economic instability often lead to increases in property crime & other offenses 

Mass media & crime impact 

• Media shapes public perceptions of crime & often exaggerates fear or sensationalizing certain criminal acts 

• Ex: Conflicting studies on video game influence  & copycat crimes 

Victimization/Victim/Victimology (define terms and origins, key figures) 

• Victimology: the study of victims includes the study of the causes of victimization, its consequences, how the justice system accommodates and assists victims & how other elements of society like the media deal with crime victims (the study of victims & their role in the criminal justice system) 

  • Benjamin Mendelshon first used the term in 1947 to describe the scientific study 

• Victim: in the sense of someone harmed by another was first used in 1660

  • They can suffer physical, emotional or financial harm b/c of crime 

How do we collect victim data & its role 

• Uniform Crime Report (UCR) since it shows the amount of crimes known to the police each year

• National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) helps show what the most typical victimizations are & who is most likely to be victimized 

• Each year the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) publishes Criminal Victimization in the US, a report about crime victimization that is measured by the NCVS 

Type of victimization crime (characteristics) 

• Violent crimes (aggravated assaults)  

• Property crimes (theft) 

Statistics on crime trends (2015-2019)

• Property crime peaked in 2016, but has been decreasing since 

• Violent crime was stable until 2018 when it peaked, but it has been decreasing since 

• In 2010 12.8 million property crime victimizations occured & the most popular types were theft and simple assault  

Statistics on reporting 

• Less than half of all victimizations experienced by individuals in the National Crime Victimization Survey are reported to the police 

Victim and offender relationship 

• Most victims of violent crime know their offender & often identify their attacker as a friend/acquaintance

• Strangers accounted for 46% of violent victimizations in the NCVS 

Story of ATSEDE NIGUSE 

• She was a 29 year old mother from Ethiopia and  was severely burned and blinded after her former husband threw acid on her

Race, Age, Gender and Victim Risk factors. 

• Gender Victim Risk Factors: 

  • Men and boys are victimized most often (man on man crime is high)

  • Women have a high risk with SA and rape 

  • Women on men with a lower rate 

  • Women are more likely to be victimized by an intimate partner

• Age Victim Risk Factors: 

  • Young people have the highest risk 

  • Risk declines with age 

• Race Victim Factors:

  • Black people have higher victimization rates than other races

  • In 2019 there were no differences between white & Black people rates in violent victimization

Costs of Victimization (direct property loss, medical costs, mental health care costs) 

• Economic costs can result from property losses; monies associated with medical care; time lost from work, school, and housework; pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life; and legal fees.

• All costs

  • Medical costs: includes transporting victims to hospital, doctor, surgery, drugs, etc.

  • Mental Health Care Costs: 10-20% of total mental health care costs are related to crime with the highest ones needing it being victims of SA in both adults & kids, three common responses are depressions, anxiety & reductions in self-esteem

  • System costs: the US spends more than 295 billion annual on the criminal justice system (need of court, law enforcement & corrections, insurance companies & federal government)

Pain suffering and loss quality of life 

• Pain, suffering & lost quality of life: change in their routines & lifestyles- many change their behavior 

• Rape on average costs 87k when its impact on quality of life is considered 

PTSD  

• Psychiatric anxiety disorder caused by experiencing traumatic events like war or violence 

• In order to be diagonosed, the victim must have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event involving actual/threaten death, injury or sexual violence or learned about the experiences happening to someone they know 

• They have to experience symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, images, memories or reliving the event

• To be diagnosed the symptoms have to occur for 1+ month & causes significant distress 

• Around 25% of people victimized have PTSD  

Nuerobiology of Trauma 

• No “normal” response to trauma, how individuals react is influenced by a complex and wide range of outside factors 

• Recognizes that individuals react to trauma both psychologically and physiologically  

Examples of behavioral reactions to victimization 

• Characterological self-blame: when a person blames a non modifiable source like their character 

• Behavioral self-blame: when they blame a modifiable source like behavior

• Learned helplessness: when they believe that they are unable to change their situation & stop trying to resist (puts them at risk for more victimization) 

• Self-harm (not suicidal) 

Fear of crime 

• Scared of crime and can lead to avoidance behaviors, like not going out or defensive/protective behaviors like buying a gun 

• Groups who are less likely to be victimized have higher levels of fear of crime than others 

Benjamin Mendelsohn 

• Father of victimology

• Created classification of victims based on the degree of the victims blame & realized that some victims have no responsibilities while other have full responsibility 

Stephen Schafer

• One of the earliest victimologists 

• Victims in groups based on how responsible they are for their victimization using social characteristics & behavior, victims can provoke others into victimizing or harming them & should actively prevent it from happening 

Routine Activities Theory (motivated offenders, suitable targets, lack of guardianship) 

• Crime occurs when a motivated offender, a suitable target & a lack of capable guardians converge in time and space

• A person's routines affect the risk of being a crime victim 

• Motivated offenders:  people who will commit crime if given an opportunity 

• Suitable targets: based on their attractiveness 

• Capable guardianship: a person or target can be effectively guard so a victimization is prevented (a home w a ring camera and gun are less attractive)

Hot Spots 

• Ares that are so crime prone, areas that have a concentrated amount of crime 

Victim’s Rights 

• Rights have been given through legislation & amendmentents in certain state constitutions

• Goal is to enhance victim privacy, protection & participation

• In all states right to compensation, notification of rights, court appearances & submitting an impact statement   

Victim Impact Statements 

• Statements given by victims in court that describe the emotional, financial , and physical effects of the crime

• Can be submitted by direct victims & those indirectly affected by crime like family members 

• Is submitted in writing or orally  

Remedies and Services

• Victim compensation: right for victim to have money that they lost due to victimization be paid back by the state 

• Family Justice Centers:  centers that provide service to crime victims & their families 

• Victim-offender mediation programs: sessions led by a third party in which the victim and offender meet in person to come up with an agreement on what should happen to the offender 

VOCA (1984)

• The victims of Crime Act that provided federal funding for victim services 

• Increased the funding for state programs & required states to cover all US citizens victimized within the states borders 

Victimization and Covid

• The pandemic increased certain types of crime like domestic violence, homicide, while reducing others due to lockdowns & restricted movement