Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

CCJ2020 Introduction to Criminal Justice > Causes of Crime > Flashcards

Causes of Crime Flashcards

1
Q

TRUE/FALSE

The most influenced discipline to criminology was psychology.

A

FALSE

The most influenced discipline to criminology was sociology.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Most theories can be organized into what four different categories?

A

Classical
Biological
Psychological
Sociological

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Theories of the classical school of crime
causation dominated criminological thought for
much of the late 18th and early 19th centuries

What were the members of The Classical School of thought concerned with?

A

Protecting the rights of humankind from the corruption and excesses of the existing legal institutions.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the name of Cesare Beccaria’s published essays?

A

On Crimes and Punishment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What was Cesare Beccaria’s view on punishment?

A

Punishment should be enough to deter criminal behavior, never excessive.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Cesare Beccaria was in favor of the death penalty and physical punishment.

A

FALSE

Cesare Beccaria wanted the death penalty and physical punishment terminated.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Who devised the “Hedonistic Calculus”?

A

Jeremy Bentham

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Jeremy Bentham’s “Hedonistic Calculus” theory, exercise of free will would cause an individual to avoid committing a crime when the punishment outweighed the benefits of committing it.

A

TRUE

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Who were the theorists that are associated with Rational Choice Theory?

A

Cornish and Clark

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

According to Rational Choice Theory, what is assumed that many people consider before committing a crime?

A

Risks and rewards

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Who was considered as the Founder of American Psychiatry?

He was the first to make the connection between crime and what?

A

Benjamin Rush

Moral insanity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

The insanity-crime connection was formalized in a legal procedure called what? This is also associated with the insanity plea.

A

M’Naghten Rule

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What philosophy was an explicit rejection of the critical and “negative” philosophy of the
Enlightenment thinkers?

A

Positivism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Positivists believe that society is based on conflict, although not on a social contact.

A

FALSE

Positivists believe that society is based on consensus, although not on a social contract.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Who were the first to empirically study the
relationship between various economic
conditions and crime?

A

André-Michel Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Positivism assumed that human behavior is
determined and not a matter of free will.

A

TRUE

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

A fundamental assumption of “The Biological School” is basic determinants of human behavior are not genetically passed.

A

FALSE

A fundamental assumption of “The Biological School” is basic determinants of human behavior ARE genetically passed.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Phrenology was whose approach to predicting human behavior?

A

Franz Joseph Gall

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Gall’s work in cranioscopy sums up that personality can be revealed by the study of the skull.

A

TRUE

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Cesare Lombroso was known for explaining “Atavism”. What does “Atavism” imply?

A

Atavism implies that certain people were born criminals.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Who studied 200 juvenile delinquents in
Boston and concluded that the young men
possessed one of three body types?

What were those body types called?

What are the three body types?

A

William Sheldon

Somatotypes

Mesomorphs
Endomorphs
Ectomorphs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Sheldon wrote that each somatotype was
possessed of a characteristic personality

A

TRUE

23
Q

What was the eugenics movement?

A

sterilization; chemical castration for those who had undesirable traits

24
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Behavior is the main motivational element of crime in The Psychological School.

A

FALSE

Personality is the main motivational element of crime in The Psychological School.

25
Q

The Psychological School views offensive and deviant behavior as a product of what?

A

A dysfunctional personality.

26
Q

Who came up with the theory of Behavioral Conditioning?

A

Ivan Pavlov

27
Q

Behavioral conditioning holds that the frequency of any behavior can be increased or decreased through what?

A

Reward and punishment

28
Q

Freudian theory posits the existence of what 3 things within the personality?

Describe each.

A

Id: the source of the drives (i.e., sex)

Ego: the rational mental entity (derives paths which the desires
of the id can be fulfilled)

Superego: the guiding principle (judges the quality of
alternatives)

29
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Chemical castration is illegal is all states today.

A

FALSE

Chemical castration is legal is some states today.

30
Q

Emile Durkheim argues that the division in labor and a weakened collective conscience creates what? This is the dissociation of the individual from the collective conscience.

A

Anomie

31
Q

TRUE/FALSE

According to Durkheim, lack of regulation can be bound by anomie.

A

FALSE

According to Durkheim, lack of regulation can NOT be bound by anomie.

32
Q

What is lack of integration according to Durkheim?

A

Lack of integration doesn’t take others into account, becomes selfish, doesn’t care about others well being and can’t regulate desires.

33
Q

Who are the holders of Social Disorganization Theory?

A

Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay

34
Q

What is the Transitional Zone according to the Social Disorganization Theory?

A

An area with residential instability and is culturally diverse. More crime happens in this area which makes people want to move out into better neighborhoods.

35
Q

Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson’s

Routine Activities Theory, why are lifestyles that contribute to criminal opportunities likely to result in crime?

A

Because they increase the risk of potential victimization.

36
Q

According to Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activities Theory, crime is likely to occur when there are the what three factors?

A

A suitable target.
A motivated offender
Lack of a capable guardian.

37
Q

According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, anomie is used to describe what?

A

Disjunction between socially acceptable goals and means in American society.

38
Q

TRUE/FALSE

According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, opportunities are distributed equally throughout society.

A

FALSE

According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, opportunities are NOT distributed equally throughout society.

39
Q

According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, most people turn to conformity to adapt to what?

A

Anomie strain

40
Q

Who created the General Strain Theory (GST)?

A

Robert Agnew

41
Q

TRUE/FALSE

According to the General Strain Theory, people may not be as goal directed or as conscious of their goals

A

TRUE

42
Q

What theory argues that higher crime rates in the US are the result of the American Dream?

What two people were responsible for this theory?

A

Institutional Anomie Theory

Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld

43
Q

What theory says that people
learn how to behave by modeling themselves
after others whom they have the opportunity to
observe?

What two people were responsible for this theory?

A

Social Learning Theory

Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers

44
Q

Who was responsible for Differential Association Theory?

A

Edwin Southerland

45
Q

According to the Differential Association Theory, what is crime a natural consequence of?

A

Interaction with criminal lifestyle.

46
Q

According to the Differential Association Theory, what happened to children raised in crime-prone environments?

A

They were isolated and unable to experience the values led to conformity.

47
Q

TRUE/FALSE

According to Durkheim, crime is not normal, but there will always be crime and crime is a function of social order.

A

FALSE

According to Durkheim, crime IS normal, AND there will always be crime and crime is a function of social order.

48
Q

What term encompasses the rejection of middle-class values by status seeking lower-class youths who find they are not permitted access to approved opportunities for success?

Who was responsible for this?

A

Reaction Formation

Albert Cohen

49
Q

TRUE/FALSE

Subculture of violence suggests that violence is a traditional and often accepted method of dispute resolution.

A

TRUE

50
Q

What does Containment Theory assume?

What are the two types of containment?

A

That all of us are subject to inducements of crime.

  1. Outer
  2. Inner
51
Q

Who was responsible for Containment Theory?

A

Walter Reckless

52
Q

Travis Hirschi’s Social Control Theory identified 4 four components of a bond. What are they and which is the most important?

A

Emotional attachments to significant others

Commitment to appropriate lifestyles

Involvement in conventional values

Belief in the correctness of social obligations and the rules of conventional society.

Emotional attachments are the most important of the 4.

53
Q

What does The Labeling Theory see continued crime as?

A

The Labeling Theory sees continued crime as a
consequence of the limited opportunities for
acceptable behavior that follow from the
negative responses of society to those defined
as offenders.

CCJ2020 Introduction to Criminal Justice (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions