Causes of Crime Flashcards
TRUE/FALSE
The most influenced discipline to criminology was psychology.
FALSE
The most influenced discipline to criminology was sociology.
Most theories can be organized into what four different categories?
Classical
Biological
Psychological
Sociological
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?
Protecting the rights of humankind from the corruption and excesses of the existing legal institutions.
What is the name of Cesare Beccaria’s published essays?
On Crimes and Punishment
What was Cesare Beccaria’s view on punishment?
Punishment should be enough to deter criminal behavior, never excessive.
TRUE/FALSE
Cesare Beccaria was in favor of the death penalty and physical punishment.
FALSE
Cesare Beccaria wanted the death penalty and physical punishment terminated.
Who devised the “Hedonistic Calculus”?
Jeremy Bentham
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.
TRUE
Who were the theorists that are associated with Rational Choice Theory?
Cornish and Clark
According to Rational Choice Theory, what is assumed that many people consider before committing a crime?
Risks and rewards
Who was considered as the Founder of American Psychiatry?
He was the first to make the connection between crime and what?
Benjamin Rush
Moral insanity
The insanity-crime connection was formalized in a legal procedure called what? This is also associated with the insanity plea.
M’Naghten Rule
What philosophy was an explicit rejection of the critical and “negative” philosophy of the
Enlightenment thinkers?
Positivism
TRUE/FALSE
Positivists believe that society is based on conflict, although not on a social contact.
FALSE
Positivists believe that society is based on consensus, although not on a social contract.
Who were the first to empirically study the
relationship between various economic
conditions and crime?
André-Michel Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet
TRUE/FALSE
Positivism assumed that human behavior is
determined and not a matter of free will.
TRUE
A fundamental assumption of “The Biological School” is basic determinants of human behavior are not genetically passed.
FALSE
A fundamental assumption of “The Biological School” is basic determinants of human behavior ARE genetically passed.
Phrenology was whose approach to predicting human behavior?
Franz Joseph Gall
TRUE/FALSE
Gall’s work in cranioscopy sums up that personality can be revealed by the study of the skull.
TRUE
Cesare Lombroso was known for explaining “Atavism”. What does “Atavism” imply?
Atavism implies that certain people were born criminals.
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?
William Sheldon
Somatotypes
Mesomorphs
Endomorphs
Ectomorphs
TRUE/FALSE
Sheldon wrote that each somatotype was
possessed of a characteristic personality
TRUE
What was the eugenics movement?
sterilization; chemical castration for those who had undesirable traits
TRUE/FALSE
Behavior is the main motivational element of crime in The Psychological School.
FALSE
Personality is the main motivational element of crime in The Psychological School.
The Psychological School views offensive and deviant behavior as a product of what?
A dysfunctional personality.
Who came up with the theory of Behavioral Conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
Behavioral conditioning holds that the frequency of any behavior can be increased or decreased through what?
Reward and punishment
Freudian theory posits the existence of what 3 things within the personality?
Describe each.
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)
TRUE/FALSE
Chemical castration is illegal is all states today.
FALSE
Chemical castration is legal is some states today.
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.
Anomie
TRUE/FALSE
According to Durkheim, lack of regulation can be bound by anomie.
FALSE
According to Durkheim, lack of regulation can NOT be bound by anomie.
What is lack of integration according to Durkheim?
Lack of integration doesn’t take others into account, becomes selfish, doesn’t care about others well being and can’t regulate desires.
Who are the holders of Social Disorganization Theory?
Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay
What is the Transitional Zone according to the Social Disorganization Theory?
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.
Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson’s
Routine Activities Theory, why are lifestyles that contribute to criminal opportunities likely to result in crime?
Because they increase the risk of potential victimization.
According to Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activities Theory, crime is likely to occur when there are the what three factors?
A suitable target.
A motivated offender
Lack of a capable guardian.
According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, anomie is used to describe what?
Disjunction between socially acceptable goals and means in American society.
TRUE/FALSE
According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, opportunities are distributed equally throughout society.
FALSE
According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, opportunities are NOT distributed equally throughout society.
According to Robert Merton’s Anomie Theory, most people turn to conformity to adapt to what?
Anomie strain
Who created the General Strain Theory (GST)?
Robert Agnew
TRUE/FALSE
According to the General Strain Theory, people may not be as goal directed or as conscious of their goals
TRUE
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?
Institutional Anomie Theory
Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld
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?
Social Learning Theory
Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers
Who was responsible for Differential Association Theory?
Edwin Southerland
According to the Differential Association Theory, what is crime a natural consequence of?
Interaction with criminal lifestyle.
According to the Differential Association Theory, what happened to children raised in crime-prone environments?
They were isolated and unable to experience the values led to conformity.
TRUE/FALSE
According to Durkheim, crime is not normal, but there will always be crime and crime is a function of social order.
FALSE
According to Durkheim, crime IS normal, AND there will always be crime and crime is a function of social order.
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?
Reaction Formation
Albert Cohen
TRUE/FALSE
Subculture of violence suggests that violence is a traditional and often accepted method of dispute resolution.
TRUE
What does Containment Theory assume?
What are the two types of containment?
That all of us are subject to inducements of crime.
- Outer
- Inner
Who was responsible for Containment Theory?
Walter Reckless
Travis Hirschi’s Social Control Theory identified 4 four components of a bond. What are they and which is the most important?
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.
What does The Labeling Theory see continued crime as?
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.
