crim final stuff #3

Question 1

psychological explanations
questions of legal culpability

Answer 1

• not criminally responsible
• they couldn’t see that the act was morally wrong or what they were doing
• James Hadfield’s head trauma from war
• criminal lunatics act of 1800
• M’nagthen rules
• wild beast test before (1800)
  -Less than 25% of people who try to plead insane actually get this verdict 0.25% of cases

Question 2

Claiming a temporary loss of reason in court

Answer 2

• harry thaw case (1906) because his wife was with another man and he killed them
  -R.v. Kummerfield and ternowetsky (1997)
  Claimed they temporarily lost control due to drunkenness (he got manslaughter) he got out in 3 years out of 25

Question 3

Attempts to treat mental illness

Answer 3

-Freud and psychoanalysis
-Emphasis on getting at the repressed thoughts, feelings, and memories of the unconscious
-Efforts to treat mental illness by treating the body
-Shock therapy (1930s - today)
-Lobotomies (1930s - 1960s)
-Psychiatric medications (1950s - today)
-These are thought to treat a chemical imbalance in the body

Question 4

Psychiatry and the criminal justice system

Answer 4

• should be released or on parole
• the need for mental health support to see individual risk
• higher mental health in prison than in the general public
• psychological stress of being in prison
• post incarnation syndrome

Question 5

Sociological explanations

Psychology

Answer 5

• focus on the individual
  -Eg mental processes, personality types, memories, emotions etc
• Explains crime as the result of abnormal mental processes within the individual

Question 6

Sociology

Answer 6

-Focus on society
-Eg institution, interactions, social stigma, distributions of wealth and opportunities, culture etc
-Explains crime as the result of social factors and social conditions external to the individual

Question 7

the Chicago school

Answer 7

-Founded in 1892 very influential in the development of sociological and criminological thought in the early 1900s
-City of chicago treated as a “laboratory” to study social life in an urban setting
-Neutral observation and ethnography
-Robert Park and Ernest Burgess (ecology plants and animals work in environment)
1.Central business district
2.Zone of transition
3.Zone of independent workers’ homes
4.Zone of better residences
5.Commuter’s zone
- ripple effect

Question 8

Social Disorganization Theory

Answer 8

-Cliffrord Shaw and Henry Mckay
-Main arguments:
-Factors contributing to “social disorganization”
-Poverty
-Physical disrepair
-Heterogeneity (high mix of cultural backgrounds and values)
-Transient population
-Social disorganization highest in “zone 2” because these neighborhoods are constantly invaded by businesses and factories
-High social disorganization led to high crime rates in zone 2

Question 9

Impacts and Critiques of social disorganization theory

Answer 9

-Policy implications: build programs to improve the conditions in zone 2 neighborhoods and strengthen ties between community members
-Didn’t address larger economic and political forces contributing to the conditions of zone 2 neighborhoods
-Didn’t ask “who benefits” from the organization of cities

Question 10

Differential Association Theory

Answer 10

-Edwin Sutherland
-Main argument:
-People learn criminal behavior through face-to-face interactions with friends, peers, and family members
-Subcultural theories of crime:
-The values upheld in certain subcultures can encourage criminal and delinquent behavior
-Crime is a learned value and through the culture they are associated with

Question 11

Emile Durkheim

Answer 11

-Functionalist theory of society
-Each of society’s institutions, norms, and structures serve a function in the overall society
-Crime as a “normal” social fact that serves a function in society

Question 12

Collective Consciousness

Answer 12

• Durkheim
  -Collection of beliefs, values, and norms dominant in a society at a certain time
  -Actions that violate the norms and boundaries of the collective consciousness become what is defined as “crime”
  -Defining certain behaviors as “crime” reinforces the collective consciousness and binds society together
  -Shifting to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals

Question 13

Durkheim’s Concept of “Anomie”

Answer 13

-Anomie = weakened collective consciousness (weakened sense of collective beliefs, norms, and values)
-Weakened collective consciousness means that people’s desires and expectations are not regulated enough

Question 14

Merton’s concept of anomie

Answer 14

-Anomie = social condition when there is imbalance between dominant cultural goals in a society and the conventional methods for achieving them
-E.g. the tradition paths for achieving the “American dream” are not available to many people

Question 15

Forms of adaptation to the social condition of anomie

Last crime document (table its on doc study it)

Answer 15

1. conformity
2. innovation
3. ritualism
4. retreatism
5. rebellion
   Cultural goals
   Conventional means

Question 16

Merton and Criminology

Answer 16

-Argues that most deviant behavior is the result of either innovation or rebellion
-Examples of policy implications:
-Vocational training programs
-Efforts to increase educational opportunities
-Programs to help people cope with strain

Question 17

Marxist thought
Review Consensus vs. conflict views

Answer 17

-Defining “crime” from the consensus viewpoint:
-Takes for-granted the formal definitions of crime as laid out in law
-Focuses on how to make fewer people break the laws or break social norms
-Defining “crime form the conflict viewpoint:
-Challenges the very definition of crime
-Understands legal definitions and processes as the outcome of unequal power struggles

Question 18

The industrial revolution

Answer 18

• the expansion of the industry
  -Trade and industry became owned and controlled by private owners who hired workers and competed to maximize profits
  -Carl marx and angles
  -Really important for the development criminology and sociology
  -The punishment of crime was actually set up to appse the rich and powerful

Question 19

Key terms

Answer 19

• “Means of production” = all the tools, resources, and processes used to produce goods in society
• “Bourgeoisie” = the wealthy elite who own and control the means of production (the upper class who own everything)
• “Proletariat” = the working class who generate profits for the bourgeoisie (the working class)
• “Alienation” = a sense of becoming detached from the process of producing something

Question 20

Marx & Engels’ critique of capitalism

Answer 20

• wealth and power come from the bourgeoisie
  -The legal, economic, and political system protect the interest of the bourgeoisie
• Capitalism is criminogenic (it is the root cause of crime)

Question 21

Crimes of the powerful vs. Crimes of the less powerful

Answer 21

-Crimes of the powerful = committed by the bourgeoisie in pursuit of power and profit
-A.k.a “white-collar crime” (e.g. the Bhopal disaster)
-Crimes of the less powerful = committed by the proletariat classes based on either material need or contempt for the social order
-A.k.a “blue-collar crime”
-Capitalism as the cause of both kinds of crime

Question 22

Marxist Critique of Law

Answer 22

• Law supports the system of capitalism that benefits the wealthy bourgeoisie and exploits the proletariat classes
• Law is either formally or substantially equal
• Those with wealth and affluence are privileged in the legal system
• The laws themselves perpetuate inequality

Question 23

Marxism on responding to crime

Answer 23

• Addressing crime in society requires addressing the fundamental inequality and exploitation of capitalism itself
• Explanations of crime that don’t address the inequality and exploitation of the system really just reproduce the status quo and serve the interests of the bourgeoisie
• For marxist the climbing of the corporate ladder is just a glimmer of hope but not really true
• Laws are often put in place to protect the wealthy elite

Question 24

Divide and Rule

Answer 24

-Pitting oppressed and exploited classes against each other so that they don’t unite against the ruling elite
- Examples:
- The pre-emancipation american south
- Trumpism
- Corporations promoting anti-unionism
- The white working class and the slaves were kept from realizing that they were being oppressed by the upper class
- People were convinced black people were the problem not the upper class
- Videos to stop people from unionizing

Question 25

Marxism on Crime

Answer 25

• A focus on punishing blue-collar crimes distracts from the crimes of the powerful and from the social harms of the capitalist system itself
• E.g “tough on crime” legislation focuses primarily on blue-collar crimes
• Criminal treated as a “scapegoat” for society’s fears and problems
• Capitalism is criminogenic - it produces crimes in society
• But it’s difficult for people to see capitalism as the real cause of social problems, such as crime

Question 26

False vs. class consciousness

Answer 26

• “False Consciousness” = proletariat classes do not see themselves as unified class exploited by the bourgeoisie
• “Class consciousness” = proletariat classes recognizing their position in an exploited class
• Support the capitalism and exploitation of the working class

Question 27

Who benefits

Answer 27

• The upper class and the people in control
• Social problems are because of a system of oppression and exploration
• The public and the private things and the exploration of women
• The convict lease system (allows prisoners to lease out prisoners to companies for labor)