Chapter 8

Question 1

Two explanations for the role of evil spirits in sinful behaviour

Answer 1

1. Temptation- humans have free will but the devil tempts

2. Possession- wrongdoers were possessed, find guilt through trial by ordeal

Question 2

Blaming social problems on the Devil and other evil spirits was a means to achieve two objectives:

Answer 2

1. It diverted attention from the failings of elites and placed blame on individuals who were “possessed” by the Devil
2. Those in power made themselves indispensable by saying only they could stop the Devil

Question 3

Inquisition

Answer 3

half a million put to death in 300 years

Question 4

Witches

Answer 4

• The accused were mostly women, especially independent women not protected by a male
• Witch hunts reinforced the power of the existing social hierarchy

Question 5

The enlightenment

Answer 5

• Scientific Revolution caused a change in thinking
• Focus on systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification of ideas
• Ideas shifted away from fanaticism and religious superstition to naturalistic explanation based on reason and the scientific method (observation)
• This prompted a more scientific approach to understanding crime and criminal behaviour

Question 6

Enlightenment philosophers’ view of society

Answer 6

• Composed of free and rational human beings
• People enter into a social contract: they agree to give up some freedom for a safer society
• This contributed to the movement throughout Europe to reform governance and criminal justice

Question 7

The classical school: Beccaria

Answer 7

• Beccaria criticized the cruelty, inhumanity, and arbitrariness of the current justice system
• • In 18th-century England, as many as 350 offences were punishable by death
• Beccaria helped focus the movement for humanitarian reform in Europe

Question 8

The classical school: reform

Answer 8

• The unjust and inhumane treatment of people ran counter to ideals of the Enlightenment
• • Ideals of the social contract were not realized; most were denied fair and impartial treatment
• • Calls for humanitarian reform
• • Reform should follow ideals of what we now know as the Classical School of Criminology

Question 9

Social contract with the state

Answer 9

• • Give up some freedom for a safer society
• • The state had to provide protection but could not violate the rights of citizens
• -Citizens were required to obey the rules or face punishment from the state

Question 10

The classical theory of crime

Answer 10

Reforms proposed by the Classical theorists were based on radical new theory of the causes of crime

• People broke the law because they thought that doing so would advance their own interests
• This theory was based on the assumption that people are rational beings who calculate the consequences of their actions
  i. e., crime and deviance were not the result of some supernatural force or demonic possession

Question 11

Ideas on crime control emerged from this theory of the rational criminal:

Answer 11

• Penalties will deter people from breaking the law
• Influenced by the Enlightenment and the social contract, justice must avoid excessive and unfair punishment.
• Punishment should fit the crime and should be proportional to the harm done to society
• • This is most effective deterrent and the fairest way to punish; anything more would break the social contract
• • Punishment would be severe enough that it would cost individuals more than they could gain from crime

Question 12

Classical theory of crime: punishment

Answer 12

• To be effective, punishment should be swift and certain
• • If punishment followed too long after the act, or if it was unlikely to happen at all, then the law would not be an effective deterrent to crime
• Laws are most effective in preventing crime if they areclear and simple enough that people can understand them.

Question 13

Specific reforms

Answer 13

• `Stop executing people for minor offences
• Criminal matters should be dealt with in public according to the dictates of the law
• Laws should be accessible to all
• Separate the lawmaking power of the legislature from the role of judges
• • Laws to be set by legislatures while judges determined guilt and administered punishment

Question 14

These reforms provided the foundation for the modern criminal justice system:

Answer 14

Equality before the law
Guarantee of one’s rights
Establishment of fixed penalties
Due process safeguards
Separation of judicial and legislative systems

Question 15

Limitations of the classical school

Answer 15

• Equal punishments for the same crime did not:
• • Allow for flexibility
• • Factor in personal considerations or mitigating circumstances of individual offenders
• Judges had no discretion:
• • e.g., same fine levied to rich and poor
• • Could not individualize sentences to each offender’s circumstances

Question 16

Neoclassical theory

Answer 16

• Sought more flexibility in the justice system, such as individualizing sentences to take into account:
• • Offender characteristics (e.g., age)
• • Mitigating circumstances (mental competence)
• • Motive
• In France, judges were given more discretion

Question 17

Classical school premised on a theory of deterrence…

Answer 17

• However, changes to criminal code penalties are not sufficient to deter many criminal offenders
• Classical theorists view of free and rational human being ignores the objective realities faced by individuals as they make their choices
• • e.g., individuals experience inequalities and other factors that may influence their decision to commit a crime

Question 18

The statistical school: positivism

Answer 18

• Statistical School arose in first half of 19th century
• Associated with positivism:
• • The belief that crime was the result of natural causes that could be discovered through scientific methods and that this behaviour could be altered
• • However, they rejected Classical school ideas that people were rational beings
• –Instead, people’s behaviour was viewed as the result of a number of social structural factors

Question 19

the statistical school

Answer 19

• Gathered data to provide a critical and insightful perspective on the relationship between certain factors (e.g., population density, education, poverty) and crime
• The regularity of crime over time and space meant this pattern was the result of social forces
• • Focused on structural features of society like inequalities
• • People in unfavourable social circumstances have few options available to them
• Limited influence at the time, but their work anticipated the later work of sociologists

Question 20

Lombroso/positive school

Answer 20

• Used the scientific method (controlled observation) to compare criminals and noncriminals
• Crime was caused by biological factors beyond the individual’s control
• These theories were accepted at the time because
• • They were scientific
• • They blamed the individual, not society (unlike the Statistical school), which appealed to the ruling class

Question 21

Lombroso/positive school

Answer 21

• Lombroso observed physical differences between criminals and noncriminals.
• Applied Darwin’s evolutionary theory to criminals who were deemed atavists (less evolved)
• • “These people are innately driven to act as a normal ape or savage would but such behaviour is deemed criminal in our civilized society” (Gould, 1981, 153)
• They are born criminals who can be distinguished by stigmata: the physical signs of their atavism

Question 22

Lombroso/positive school

Answer 22

• Different types of offenders had different stigmata.
• • e.g., robbers have small, shifting, quick-moving eyes
• Women had fewer stigmata than men and were closer to their primitive origins
• • But were less criminal because of their maternal instincts, piety, and lack of passion
• Offenders could be grouped into different categories:
• • Epileptics, criminally insane, criminals of passion, and criminaloids

Question 23

Lombroso/positive school

Answer 23

• Lombroso’s work attracted a large following and was applied in criminal trials
• But his scientific methodology was flawed:
• • Control groups were poorly chosen
• • Statistical techniques were crude
• • Measurements were often sloppy
• • Assumed those in prison were criminals (while free people were not)

Question 24

Contribution of the positive school

Answer 24

• Lombroso’s most lasting contribution was in relation to the criminal justice system
• Classical theorists said punishment should fit the crime, he said punishment should fit the criminal
• • As such, he called for different treatment in the justice system for different kinds of criminals
• Born criminals should be incarcerated to protect society
• • But they should be treated leniently as they have no control over their behaviour

Question 25

Positive School’s contribution to the modern CJS:

Answer 25

Probation
Indeterminate sentences
Mitigating circumstances

Question 26

Crime and physical characteristics 1903

Answer 26

Goring compared “normal” males with English convicts

• • Found no evidence of a distinct physical type
• • But criminals had lower intelligence
• –He theorized that the most important genetically transmitted trait for criminals was mental inferiority
• -His methods were flawed
• –Because he selected criminals exclusively from prison

Question 27

Crime and physical characteristics 1930s

Answer 27

Hooton used same methodology with large samples of prisoners and others

• Criminals were socially and biologically inferior to noncriminals
• Some new stigmata differentiating criminals from others were found
• He advocated for the segregation of “physically, mentally, and morally unfit individuals”
• • This gave rise to the eugenics movement
• His work was discredited on scientific grounds

Question 28

Crime and physical characteristics 1950s

Answer 28

Sheldon developed somatotype theory

• Body types of endomorphs, mesomorphs, and ectomorphs were associated with different personality traits
• Mesomorphs (muscular types with aggressive personalities) were more likely to be involved in delinquent or criminal behaviour
• His research was criticized for lack of rigour

Question 29

Crime and intelligence

Answer 29

• Goddard’s research on the legitimate and illegitimate offspring of Martin Kallikak suggested feeble-mindedness and criminality were inherited
• Goddard later measured IQs of prisoners and found that mostprisoners were at or below the mental age of 12 (imbeciles)
• His research was also roundly criticized

Question 30

Crime and intelligence

Answer 30

• Regardless of poor research, the eugenics movement resulted in sterilizing people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Canada
• More recently, criticisms of the cultural bias of IQ tests have emerged.
• Other recent research has sought to demonstrate a link between individual characteristics and criminality
• • Chromosomes, unusual EEG results, and other pathologies have been investigated

Question 31

Crime and intelligence

Answer 31

• Evidence supporting a link between biological or intellectual deficiencies and criminal behaviour is weak
• Must be careful about using theories of biological differences due to extremes of policy:
• • e.g., eugenics movement and the Nazi ideology
• Assuming biological differences between groups can turn into a rationale for their differential treatment
• • While ignoring social structural variables that contribute to anti-social behaviour