Chap 6 SG

Question 1

Sociological Theories

Answer 1

suggests that criminal behavior is a response to social circumstances, and that crime is shaped by factors outside of the individual

Question 2

Social structure

Answer 2

Society’s low socioeconomic status and expectations can lead to crime, as these ties do not adequately control behavior in certain cultural aspects (crime by looking at some aspect of the social fabric)

Question 3

Social process

Answer 3

Crime is the product of various processes, especially inappropriate socialization and social learning

Question 4

Social life

Answer 4

social interactions, relationships, and the community environment can influence criminal behavior

Question 5

Social structure theories

Answer 5

These theories and they describe the types of behavior they tend to characterize groups of people rather than individual people

Question 6

Social disorganization

Answer 6

a condition that exists when a society is faced with social change, uneven development of culture, maladaptiveness (the inability to deal with stressors in a positive way), disharmony, and a lack of consensus

Question 7

Human ecology

Answer 7

If we look at where we live, we tend
to self-segregate with humans we have
common ties with

Question 8

Social ecology

Answer 8

We are trying to link the structure and organization of a human community to interactions with its localized environment

Question 9

Social pathology

Answer 9

where some aspects of society are sick—as in unhealthy—and those living in exposure to those sick environments become deviant as a result

Question 10

Cultural transmission

Answer 10

the delinquency stays with
the zone and the attitudes of each generation that comes next

Question 11

Ecological theory

Answer 11

focuses on how neighborhood organization affects criminal activity

Question 12

Criminology of place

Answer 12

Specific types of crime can be tied to certain geographic characteristics and social characteristics that contribute to
the escalated crime rates

Question 13

CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Control)

Answer 13

We can limit your opportunity to offend by thoughtfully designing an area with open sight lines, limited entrance and egress areas, and other things that will limit your ability to offend

Question 14

Environmental criminology

Answer 14

This says that the area matters, and that we see hotspots of crime because of the location

Question 15

Pattern theory

Answer 15

a theory that crime is not random, but rather a result of complex interactions between many variables

Question 16

Broken windows theory

Answer 16

Physical deterioration of an area leads to bigger problems—concerns for personal safety among the residents and higher
crime rates in those areas (Litter, graffiti, overgrown lawns, abandoned cars all send a message that the neighbors don’t care)

Question 17

Defensible spaces

Answer 17

We bring the area back into control through these mechanisms. We have opportunities to bring that area back under control

Question 18

Collective efficacy

Answer 18

is the ability of the residents of a community produce social actions to get the environment under their control

Question 19

Social cohesion

Answer 19

That it can help us meet our common interests

Question 20

Strain theory

Answer 20

there is a disjuncture between people’s goals and their means to achieve those goals

Question 21

Anomie

Answer 21

This disjunction between what I want and the chances I’m going to get

Question 22

Relative depravation

Answer 22

(One problem is that almost all of us are less well off than someone else)
Even wealthy people are jealous of the super wealthy because they are surrounded by wealth that is greater than theirs

Question 23

Distributive justice

Answer 23

is the idea that punishment should be used to fairly distribute pleasure and pain between a victim and an offender

Question 24

Negative affective state

Answer 24

negative emotions that can lead to criminal behavior (general strain theory)

Question 25

Cultural conflict theory (cultural deviance theory)

Answer 25

don’t agree on what is acceptable and proper behavior and what isn’t.
These clashes of values can lead to crime. People in high-crime areas are criminals because that is what they think is acceptable behavior

Question 26

Conduct norms

Answer 26

We have the sets of behavior that we are expected to uphold

Question 27

Subculture theory

Answer 27

You are a criminal because you are part of a subculture—the things that we are socialized to expect—that accepts that behavior

Question 28

Focal concerns

Answer 28

These are our values. This includes the key values to subcultures (trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy)

Question 29

Techniques of neutralization

Answer 29

-Denial of responsibility
-Denial of injury
-Denial of victim
-Condemn the condemners
-Appealing to higher loyalties
-The metaphor of the ledger
-Claim that everybody does it
-Claim of entitlement

Question 30

Legitimate opportunities

Answer 30

communities where young people can find employment and education that allows them to grow professionally

Question 31

Illegitimate opportunity structure

Answer 31

readily available avenues within a community or social group that allow individuals to achieve their goals through criminal activity

Question 32

Reaction formation

Answer 32

measuring you and your behavior based on their idea of what are desirable traits—I have a middle-class measuring rod and use it to see how you measure up to my idea of good

Question 33

Criminal street gangs

Answer 33

Gangs are subsets of the larger population that also participate in at least some criminal behavior

Question 34

Briefly describe the five zones in the social disorganization model. Which one is the most crime-prone?

Answer 34

1. Central Business District
   -Skyscrapers/cityscape
2. Transitional Zone (most crime-prone)
   ** Recent Immigrant Groups
   -Deteriorated Housing
   -Factories
   -Abandoned Buildings
3. Working Class Zone
   -Single Family Tenements
4. Residential Zone
   -Single Family Homes
   -Yards/Garages
5. Commuter Zone
   -Suburbs

Question 35

What are the characteristics of a deviant neighborhood?

Answer 35

-Neighborhoods that are poor tend to be dense—lots of multifamily housing with
-once you are out of the house you will
come upon opportunities to offend.
-kids tend to be unsupervised (in crowded houses).
-poorer school performance, a decrease in the stakes in conformity, and an increase in deviance.
-Poor-dense neighborhoods tend to be mixed-use neighborhoods
-Mixed use increases familiarity with and easy access to places offering the opportunity for deviance.

Question 36

In strain theory, which combination of GOALS and MEANS is a criminal?

Answer 36

We want stuff. We are programmed to want stuff and are bombarded with ads that make us want the stuff even more

Question 37

Why do people join gangs?

Answer 37

-Sense of belonging
-Protection
-Status
-Excitement
-Lack of alternatives
-Family involvement
-Media influence
-Peer pressure
-Making money

Question 38

What policies can we implement that would “work” based on social structure theories?

Answer 38

concerned with the ways societies across the world meet human needs for security, education, work, health and wellbeing