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female cases more likely to be withdrawn and have shorter sentences.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
Differential Treatment Hypothesis
structural inequality in administration of justice is responsible; police give more attention; social spaces more surveillance;
Cultural Theories
identify traits, characteristics, way of life to explain involvement in criminal justice process; dominant vs subculture idea
2 Strains as to Why Aboriginals are Overepresented
1) the view that they are inherently violent
2) Close to cultural conflict theory: their culture is different from the dominant and they are alienated by the norms, laws etc.
Criticisms of Cultural Theories
1) Presuppose monolithic & static culture
2) Assume there is “Aboriginal behavior”
3) Pathologize their culture
4) Do not engage with bi-dimensional phenomenon: incorporating their cultures without access to legit opportunity
Structural Theories of Crime
situate locus of criminality in historical context and prevailing structures of society; like the distribution of valuable resources (education, jobs etc.). 3 types
Colonial Model
Frantz Fanon: a socio-psychological perspective that focuses on the intersection of structural oppression, alienation and 3 adaptive forms of behavior (assimilation, crime, or protest); results in cultural limbo
Tatum’s 4 Stages of Colonization
1) Territory of one group invaded by another
2) Colonial society formed; cultural imposition, disintegration and recreation occur
3) Native peoples find themselves governed by colonizer’s representatives
4) Colonial society develops a caste system based on race
Definition: Mentacide
deliberate and systematic destruction of a group’s minds with the ultimate objective being extirpation of the group
Historic Trauma Transmission Model
Wesley & Smolewski: focus on how historic trauma manifests itself social and psychologically; acculturation associated with negative outcomes; idea of learned helplessness
4 ways that traumatic memories are passed down
1) Biological channels: presdispositions
2) Story telling
3) Direct result of violence, deficient parenting etc.
4) Psychological avenues: memory, recollections of pain & suffering
Critical Race Theory
Derrick Bell: challenges the policies & dynamics & taken for granted assumptions of institutional power; social constructionist approach; left leaning; legal indeterminacy
Definition: Social Constructionist
questions the idea of observable or measurable social reality, proposes a crime is whatever a society defines it to be
Assumptions of the Critical Race theory
1) Law reflects dominant groups and favors them
2) Enforcement is biased
3) Law interpretation is subjective
4) Law is not colour blind
5) racism in justice system is normal
Definition: Racialization
process whereby categories of the population are constructed, differentiated, inferiorized and excluded
Drug & Alcohol Misuse as a Correlate
correlated with mischief, robbery, murder and auto theft; over half of inmates have substance abuse problems
3 Factors that link Drug use and crime
1) Efforts to support addiction
2) Under the influence
3) Mere possession
Goldstein’s Model for Drug/Crime Correlation
1) Psychopharmacological: drugs can change behavior
2) Economically compulsive: crime committed to feed habit
3) Systemic: violence inherent in involvement with illicit substance (territory disputes etc.)
SES as a Correlate
lower classes = more crime (goes back to 18th century in Europe); however, poverty in and of itself does not cause crime; suggested that inequality, rather than SES, causes crime
3 key variables of SES
education, income and occupation
Wright’s 3 findings for SES-crime link
1) The link is an indirect one: it operates through mediating variables such as attitudes, behavior, neighbourhood etc.
2) Low SES promotes delinquency: because of alienation, financial strain etc.
3) High SES promotes delinquency: less adherence to conventional values; more risk taking/social power
Overall SES-Crime link
negative correlation for serious offences; level of education predicts amount of violence; intimate partner violence higher with less education
Spatial Location as a Correlate
more crime closer to city centre; larger communities; certain high-risk neighbourhoods (lower income/education); more in Western Canada; more in the Southern states
Neighbourhood characteristics
less “collective efficacy” (helping each other out), more immigrants, less opportunities
Highest Homicide rates (world/Canada)
World: Turkey/Ukraine
Canada: Thunder Bay/Winnipeg
