Chapter Nine

Question 1

developmental theories

Answer 1

view that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics

Question 2

criminal career

Answer 2

engaging in antisocial acts early in adolescence and continuing illegal behaviors into adulthood. A pattern of persistent offending across the life course

Question 3

lifecourse theory

Answer 3

theory that focuses on changes in criminality over the life course brought about by shifts in experience and life events

Question 4

propensity theory

Answer 4

view that a stable unchanging feature, characteristic, property, or condition, such as defective intelligence or impulsive personality makes some people crime prone

Question 5

latent trait

Answer 5

a stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, such as defective intelligence or impulsive personality, that makes some people crime prone over the life course

Question 6

trajectory theory

Answer 6

view that there are multiple independent paths to a criminal career and that there are different types and classes of offenders

Question 7

population heterogeneity

Answer 7

the propensity to commit crime is stable; those who have it continue to commit crime over their life course

Question 8

state dependence

Answer 8

the propensity to commit crime is constantly changing, affected by environmental influences and changing life events

Question 9

early onset

Answer 9

view that kids who begin engaging in antisocial behaviors at a very early age are the ones most at risk for a criminal career

Question 10

problem behavior syndrome

Answer 10

antisocial behaviors that cluster together, including family dysfunction, substance abuse, smoking, precocious sexuality and early pregnancy, educational underachievement, suicide attempts, sensation seeking, and employment as well as criminality

Question 11

age-graded theory

Answer 11

a state dependence theory formulated by Sampson and Laub that assumes that the causal association between early delinquent offending and later adult deviant behavior involve the quality of relationships encountered at different times in human development

Question 12

turning point

Answer 12

according to Laub and Sampson, the life events that alter the development of a criminal career

Question 13

social capital

Answer 13

positive, life sustaining relations with individuals and institutions

Question 14

cumulative disadvantage

Answer 14

the tendency of prior social problems to produce future ones that accumulate and undermine success

Question 15

schemas

Answer 15

cognitive frameworks that help people quickly process and sort through information

Question 16

criminogenic knowledge structure

Answer 16

view that negative life events are connected and produce a hostile view of people and relationships, preference for immediate rewards, and a cynical view of conventional norms

Question 17

general theory of crime

Answer 17

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s developmental theory that links crime to impulsivity and a lack of self-control

Question 18

self-control

Answer 18

a person’s ability to exercise restraint and control over his or her feelings, emotions, reactions, and behaviors

Question 19

impulsive

Answer 19

lacking in thought or deliberation in decision making. An impulsive person lacks close attention to detail, has organizational problems, and is distracted and forgetful

Question 20

authority conflict pathway

Answer 20

the path to a criminal career that begins with early stubborn behavior and defiance of parents

Question 21

covert pathway

Answer 21

a path to a criminal career that begins with minor underhanded behavior and progresses to fire starting and theft

Question 22

overt pathway

Answer 22

pathway to a criminal career that begins with minor aggression, leads to physical fighting, and eventually escalates to violent crimes

Question 23

adolescent-limited offenders

Answer 23

kids who get into minor scrapes as youths but whose misbehavior ends when they enter adulthood

Question 24

life-course persisters

Answer 24

delinquents who begin their offending career at a very early age and continue to offend well into adulthood