Chapter 5: Correlates of Criminal Behavior Flashcards
Definition: Correlate
a phenomenon that accompanies another phenomenon and is related in some way to it
6 Major Correlates to Crime
age, gender, race, drug & alcohol use, socio-economic status, spatial location
Age as a Correlate
criminal activity intensifies in adolescence and young adulthood (except white collar)
Definition: Maturational Reform (3)
theory that people are less likely to commit crimes as they age for 3 reasons
1) Physiological limits
2) Social bonds
3) Responsible trajectory of human agency (ie. getting wasted)
Crime as risk taking behavior (3)
1) Young people concerned more with benefits than costs
2) Immediacy weighs heavily
3) “Limited Rationality”
Reasons Age is related to crime (3)
1) Individual factors: conduct problems; bullying; unemotional
2) Family background: poor parental supervision; physical abuse; child of convicts more likely
3) Institutional: exposure to juvenile court
Romance-crime Nexus
men more likely to offend after breakup
Gender as a Correlate
men more likely to commit crimes (9x more homicide); especially violent crimes & serious property offences. Females only higher for drug possession and prostitution
Women and Crime
female cases more likely to be withdrawn and have shorter sentences. very few dangerous offenders. women more likely to be killed in spousal homicides
Otto Polak’s Explanation for Sex Differences
supposed “greater cunning and deceitfulness” of women
Chivalry Thesis
preferential treatment by law enforcement agents and agencies
Power Control Theory
in patriarchal families the daughters have very strict rules relayed to them by their mothers that deters them from risk taking. This is not the case in egalitarian families
5 Pathways for Women’s Involvement in Crime (Kathleen Daly)
1) Harmed and harming women: endured abuse; difficult family life; substance abuse
2) Battered women: abusive partner is defining factor
3) Street women: suffered serious abuse and are engaged in prostitution, drug selling and theft
4) Drug-connected women: engaged in illicit drug use and sale because of connections
5) Other women: usually engaged in crime for economic gain
Convergence Theory
as women’s roles become more like men’s, crime rates will converge (appears to be stable now); limited to petty theft and fraud
Race as a Correlate
more minorities in the criminal justice system (blacks in the USA, aboriginals in Canada)
Differential Offending Hypothesis
the biological perspective that there are actual differences in racial groups