Chapter 4 Flashcards
Micro level theories
focuses on the characteristics of the individual
normative theories
assume that there is a standard or agreed-upon set of societal norms that everyone knows and can therefore live by
Preclassical Ideas
- juveniles were not thought of as different or separate from adults
- middle ages –> bad behavior was attributed to religious factors
- punishments –> focused on driving the evil from individual
Preclassical ideas: natural causes
cycle of the moon was blamed for bad behavior
Thomas Hobbes
2 radical ideas
- individuals are rational beings
-individuals will not give respect or buy into a system of government system that does not offer a certain degree of respect
- citizens follow rules set forth by society in return for protection from harm (social contract).
Classical Ideas
- theories about human behavior focused on man’s capacity as a rational actor
- can choose to participate in crime
- consider the costs and benefits
- Beccaria and Bentham argued individuals weigh the costs and benefits of all of their actions
Rational choice theory
- we are hedonistic (engaged in pursuit of pleasure)
Beccaria 3 things
Certainty – be sure an individual will be caught
Celerity –swiftness
Severity – harsh enough to outweigh benefit of committing crime
Biological determinism
biology is responsible for criminal behavior
Environmental determinism
the view that one’s environment or experiences are responsible for criminal behavior
Eugenics
the movement to improve the human race through selective reproduction
Craniometry (Eugenics)
size of skull predicts criminality
Phrenology (Eugenics)
Bumps on skull is indicator of brain size
Atavistic (Lombroso)
characteristics that were a throwback to earlier developmental stages in evolution
Stigmata (Lombroso)
Asymmetry of the face, large jaws and cheekbones, unusually large or small ears that stand out from head, fleshy lips, abnormal teeth, flattened nose, angular form of the skull, scanty beard but general hairiness of the body, excessively long arms
Lombroso – the born criminal
He believed physical characteristics helped identify individuals who were not as evolved as noncriminals. born into their crime
Somototyping: Sheldon
3 body types:
endomorphic
ectomorphic
mesomorphic
Endomorphic (Soma)
body type is round and soft with small bones short limbs and soft smooth skin.
Called viscerotonic – relaxed and outgoing with a desire for comfort food and affection
Ectomorphic (Soma)
Body is fragile, thin, and delicate with poor muscle and weak bones.
Called Cerebrotonic – introverted, shy, restrained and inhibited
Mesomorphic (Soma)
Body type is muscled and strong with an upright study physique
Called Somatotonic – assertive aggressive motivated and insensitive
- believed majority of delinquents were this
Psychoanalytic theory
- Sigmund Freud
- psychological theory
-early 1900s - behavior was based on 3 elements of an individual’s personality the Id, Ego, & Superego
Id (Freud)
called the “it”
instinctual component of the personality existing from birth
Ego (Freud)
considered the decision-making element of personality that develops to negotiate the impulsive desires of the id in reality.
Superego (Freud)
where an individual conscience reside (ideal self)
August Aichhorn
- used Freud’s techniques to explain the unconscious motives of juveniles engaging in delinquency
Manifest deliquency (August)
delinquency that been acted out
Latent delinquency (August)
had not been performed yet but was still in the mind or unconscious
Biosocial theory
- developmental delays
- prefrontal cortex
- influences are: diet, hormones, toxins
Differential Association
- edwin sutherland
- Chicago school
- the learning of behaviors and norms from the groups with which we have contact, socialization
- nine propositions
- differential association –> delinquent attitudes –> delinquent behavior
9 values (Differential Association)
- Criminal behavior is learned.
- Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.
- The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.
- When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a) techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated and sometimes very simple, and (b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
- The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal code as favorable or unfavorable.
- A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law.
- Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
- The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anticriminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
- Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values because noncriminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.
Differential Association: class
- Reinarman and Fagan examined class
- different socioeconomic areas did not predict individual-level delinquency
Differential association: gender
- differences in delinquency focus on idea that boys and girls are either differently exposed or differently affected by the same conditions
- boys are more likely to have more delinquent friends than girls
- girls seem sheltered from their delinquent associations by their moral values
Differential association: race
- black youth from broken homes were more likely to be exposed to and learn definitions favorable to delinquency than white youth
Social Control/Bonding
- rooted in early classical school thought
- from beccaria and ideas from classical and neoclassical eras
- believed in free will
- Hobbesian perspective (social contract)
2 things –> we need control and 2 forms of control, formal and informal - an alternative view of the criminal. behavior - what keeps us from engaging in crime
- Nye - first theorists to articulate distinction between internal and external social control
Hirschi social bonding theory
- concentrates on indirect controls of behavior
- bonds to conformity that keep us from engaging in socially unacceptable activities
- delinquency activity is a given and it is the absence of delinquency that needs to be explained
- attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief
Attachment (Hirschi)
emotional component of the bond
Commitment (Hirschi)
individuals less likely to engage in delinquency if they have a strong commitment to conventional society
Involvement (Hirschi)
the more one spends in conforming activities the less time one has to deviate
Belief (Hirschi)
ones awareness understanding and agreement with the rules and norms of society, the less one will deviate
Theory of Self-Control
- Gottfredson and Hirschi
- classical school
- crime and deviance are just any other behaviors
- people engage in all behavior to maximize pleasure and minimize pain
Constructs of Low Self Control
- criminal acts provide immediate gratification of desires
- criminal acts provide easy or simple gratification of desires
- criminal acts are exciting risky or thrilling
- crimes provide few long term benefits
- crimes require little skill or planning
- crimes often result in pain or discomfort for the victim
life course theory
- Sampson and Laub
- trajectories (pathway of development over life span) and transitions (shorter specific life event embedded in trajectory)
- opportunities present themselves and individuals may opt to move in a different way
Age Graded theory of informal social control
- bonds between members of society and wider institutions
- life events may affect likelihood to persist or desist with delinquency
1. childhood and adolescence
2. level of stability
3. important life events in adulthood that change the trajectory
moffit and life course
2 offender groups
1. life course persistant group - delinquency stems from neurodevelopmental processes
2. adolescence limited - much larger group and delinquency stems from social process and over time they will stop engaging in behavior
- AGE CRIME CURVE
Control theory - sykes and matza
- explanation for why individuals may engage in delinquency even though they understand it is wrong
1. denial of responsibility
2. denial of injury
3. denial of victim
4. condemnation of the condemners
5. appeal to higher loyalties
General Strain Theory
- Agnew
- pressured into crime
- aspiration of goals and failure to achieve valued goals
- anticipated of actual failure to achieve a goal
- strain encourages negative emotional states - anger, depression and fear. Individual finds a way to cope
General Strain Theory and Race`
- juveniles of color are more likelt to experience a host of strains
- found discrimination fostered anger and depression among juveniles and found that this was a predictor of delinquency
- anti Spanish increase so did violent delinquency
General Strain and Gender
- agnew and broidy
- boys might subject to more stressors or strains than girls
- strains that boys face may be more conducive in delinquency
- genders have different emotional responses to crime
- explored coping strategies both boys and girls have available to them
