crim lecture 14-20

Question 1

Is crime learned? - social learning theory

Answer 1

Social learning theories argue that we learn the norms, values, and motivations engage in crime and deviance → not inherent from birth

“The basic proposition is that the same learning process in a context of social structure, interaction, and situation, produces both conforming and deviant behavior”

These attitudes are learned from families, friends and through imitation
- Primary and secondary sources - ex media and pop culture

Learning pro-crime and deviance attitudes involves the same learning process as learning other behaviour → through interaction - symbolic interactionism

Question 1

Primary socialization

Answer 1

Primary socialization occurs during childhood

Our immediate family are the strongest influence on our behaviours

Through socialization we learn the norms, values, customs and manners of everyday life
→ pro social norms and values usually, but sometimes they can be deviant. This depends on parents and circumstances
- Learn basic concepts of right and wrong

Question 2

Secondary socialization

Answer 2

Occurs during adolescence

Our peers become the strongest influence on our behaviours
- They become a reference group - who we should be in society
- People with a strong peer group do better in school and work, outcasts are less likely to succeed
- Associations with negative peer groups tend to follow us and affect us longer into life

Peer groups can play a positive or negative role in our lives

Peer pressure can contribute to involvement with deviant or criminalized behaviours

Question 3

Learning through differential association

Answer 3

Crime is learned through a process called differential association

Principles of Criminology (Sutherland, 1939)

Crime was not the product of individual traits or socio-economic position

Crime is a product of normal learning processes that can affect anyone

Definitions favourable to crime are acquired through social interaction
- Defined and redefined through social interaction
- Direct association with criminal/deviant peers, secondary sources as well

Question 4

Sutherlands principles of differential association

Answer 4

Crime is learned:
→Crime is learned through interactions with others
→Crime is learned through interactions with intimate personal groups
→Learning crime includes specific techniques and attitudes, motives and rationalizations
→Different groups will have competing definitions of what is criminal, which leads to conflict
- Pro crime norms have been positively responded to in society

Criminal behaviour is seen as having more benefits than an unfavourable consequences

Differential associations can vary in frequency duration, priority and intensity

The process of differential association involves normal human learning process

Crime is an expression of general needs and values , but it is not explained by those general needs and values
- Rewards of crime, ex monetary rewards, respect, etc
→ Can receive the same benefits from law abiding behaviour → both behaviours have the same goals

Question 5

Differential association: how do we acquire definitions?

Answer 5

Definitions comprise our own values, beliefs, and attitudes about what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior
- Can be pro social or pro deviant

Definitions are acquired from primary and secondary sources

Definitions can also be general and specific in nature
- General could be moral/norms/beliefs/values or religious, and specific is depending on the situation -> symbolic interactionism

Question 6

The roles and types of definitions

Answer 6

We come to hold both positive and neutralizing definitions
- Neutralizing makes sense of breaking the law - rationalizing it, positive

The more pro crime definitions we hold, the more likely we are to engage in those activities

Pro crime definitions can be approving or neutralizing

Approving definitions frame crime in a positive light

Neutralizing definitions aid in excusing criminal behaviors

Question 7

Differential reinforcement

Answer 7

A differential association reinforcement theory of criminal behavior
Consistent with psychological theories of operant conditioning
- Hedonistic calculus - maximize pleasure, minimize pain
→ Shaped by direct conditioning
→ Ex negative reinforcement comes from sanctions in relation to behaviour

Behaviour can be learned either directly or indirectly:
- Behaviour is reinforced through both positive rewards and negative stimuli
- Positive reinforcement involves positive reactions to behaviour and achieving positive outcomes

Negative reinforcement can involve the removal of negative consequences or achieving negative outcomes

Differential reinforcement is based on the degree, probability and frequency of its occurrence
Social influences, such as peer groups, churches, friends, other institutions, have the strongest influence on behaviour
- Ex rational choice, the most effective sanction for preventing crime is informal sanctions - shame from peers, loss of respect
Behaviour can be learned through imitation

Question 7

Neutralization theory

Answer 7

Most people hold conventional values and beliefs
We learn techniques that allow them to rationalize and neutralize feelings of guilt that come with crime and deviance
Subterranean values exist alongside conventional values, no one is all good or all bad
People drift in and out of delinquency

Five primary techniques of neutralization:
1. Deny responsibility → “I had no choice”
2. Deny injury → “No one really got hurt”
3. Deny victim → “The victim’s fault”
4. Condemn the condemners → “Who are you to judge me, you’re the one who pushed me to do this”
5. Appeal to higher loyalties → “It was in defense of other social norms” - noble cause corruption ex. Planting drugs on a known drug dealer to convict them

Question 8

Assessing neutralization theory

Answer 8

Neutralization theory has proven to be influential.. But difficult to test

How do we know if someone applied these techniques before or after the act

If someone hold different values or beliefs do they need neutralizations

Despite these concerns, the main tenets of neutralization theory can be seen in different aspects of our criminal legal system
- Ex. criminals meeting the victims, seeing the harm they caused

Question 9

Social Learning Mechanisms

Answer 9

1. Differential association: The balance of people and groups encouraging or discouraging criminal behavior provides the major immediate and intermediate social contexts in which social learning mechanisms operate
2. Definitions –> “For example, peer pressures to go along can increase the odds of delinquency even when a youth defines the activity as wrong. Concern about parental reaction can inhibit delinquency even when a youth does not define the activity as something he or she ought not to do.”
3. Imitation and differential reinforcement –> If the learning process involves observation of the rewards and punishments experienced by others, the social learning mechanism is vicarious learning. If the learning process involves personal or direct experience of rewards and punishment as a product of one’s own behavior, then the process is one of differential reinforcements”

Question 10

SSSL theory

Answer 10

In the SSSL approach, social learning is the principal mediating process by which social structure has consequences for criminal and delinquent behavior.

Social structural variables and factors are the primary macro-level and meso-level causes of crime, while the social learning variables reflect
the primary or proximate causes of criminal behavior that mediate the relationship between social structure and the behavior of individuals that make up group, community, and societal crime rates”

Question 11

Procedural justice

Answer 11

The process is more important than the result

• People can accept bad legal outcomes if they feel that good legal procedures were observed

Question 12

Four principles of justice

Answer 12

1. Fairness is more important than favorability
   - We compare our outcomes to other people
2. Procedure is more important than outcomes
   - Criteria for decisions needs to be visible and accessible to people to accept the outcome - outcomes feel less personal
3. Habits matter more than choices
   - Choices - choosing whether to obey or comply, habits - autopilot, what we do non consiouslsly - better predictors of who will obey the law
4. Legitimacy matters more than force
   - Force - coercion, does not treat the root cause of crime
   - Legitimacy - people are more likely to obey if they believe in the law

Question 13

The instrumental approach to procedural justice

Answer 13

Rational choice theories assume that individuals are:
- We are primarily motivated by self interest
- Calculate potential risks and rewards of courses of actions
- Seek out information that will help us make the best decision

Rational choice theories predict that legal compliance is a calculated response to the consequences for offence
- Although people become irrational when put in a room together (not rational choice)

Question 14

The Asch conformity experiments

Answer 14

Over time, people adapt their views to conform to the group
- People’s perceptions are guided by their surrounding social contexts

We are group animals,
Cognition is an evolutionary development
- Ability to pull information out of environment
- It developed after our ability to form group connections
- Individuals weigh many factors when making a judgment

Question 15

The normative approach: group dynamics matter

Answer 15

The better questions than rational choice:
- When do people make rational decisions?
- What other factors motivate decision making?

Deterrence is a limited tool - telling people not to do something
- What you want is voluntary compliance
- Personal morality/internalized obligations
- Legitimacy

Question 16

Internalized obligations

Answer 16

MADD example - Extending motherly compassion for victims of drunk driving

Linking personal morality to shared social values - safety, care for our children, responsibility for our actions / reputation

Norms are internalized, promoting compliance by pre-empting offense

Early intervention before the relevant decision contexts become real

A focus on shared values and experience

An emphasis on social, not legal consequences for offending
- Different from deterrence theory which is what will happen to you, not the victim

Question 17

Bad vibes, not procedural injustice per se that leads to noncompliance

Answer 17

• When citizens feel that authorities don’t have their best interest in mind, or are receiving unfair treatment, that leads to less belief in the rightousness of the law
• If we feel respected, we feel like we belong and we abide by group norms
• If we feel detested, we feel excluded and are likely to lash out

Question 18

Normative commitment through morality vs normative commitment through legitimacy

Answer 18

“Normative commitment through personal morality means obeying a law because one feels the law is just; normative commitment through legitimacy means obeying a law because one feels that the authority enforcing the law has the right to dictate behavior.”

Question 19

Although legitimacy and morality are similar, they are not the same

Answer 19

Legitimacy enforces the need to follow the law even when they don’t align with personal morals

Question 20

Moral leaders

Answer 20

During social dilemmas, society voluntarily elects leaders
Similarly, groups develop rules governing members’ conduct to preserve valuable social relationships. These informal rules are the precursors of formalized law

Question 21

Likelihood to violate the law under procedural justice

Answer 21

Four such factors are considered: deterrence, peer opinion, personal morality, and the evaluation of authorities”

• “Citizens with higher levels of support for the authorities are less likely to engage in behavior against the system”

Question 22

Police in contemporary society

Answer 22

1. Increase in having private security guards
2. 80% of crimes go unreported to the police
3. Police needs our cooperation and help
4. Special constables- campus safety(earlier known as campus safety)
5. Police are the only public society given the power and authority by us to impose force on us. They have an immense power and with that power comes discretion

Question 23

Social contract perspective - policing

Answer 23

The social contract sees police as a protective force against crime and social disorder.

Police is expected to be neutral and impartial

The police serve to protect society from crime and disorder.

The police role is positive or a net benefit to society.

Question 24

The conflict perspective - policing

Answer 24

1. Critical view of policing
2. Idea- police is not neutral, they do not enforce law impartially
3. Instead, they support the state
4. The police role is to enforce the ‘status quo’.
   - Powerful people misuse police to maintain the social hierarchy in the society.
5. Powerful groups shape which groups the police see as a ‘threat’
   - Involvement in sex work, theft, and so on have more attention of people, therefore crimes committed by the working class

Question 25

Role of the police

Answer 25

1. In a contemporary society is highly complex and diverse
2. They’re being asked to respond to service calls more than the actual emergency calls
3. The police have a unique status as the only 24/7 first-responder for almost any type of situation.
4. They represent the idea of law, safety and security in society. But, for some people police is more negative

Question 26

Police as social agents

Answer 26

1. The primary function of the police is to maintain order and resolve disputes.
2. Police engage in patrol.
3. Police provide referrals.
4. Police complete administrative tasks (paperwork).
5. Community policing.
6. Should be more preventative in nature.
7. 80-20 rule: Most of what they do is conflict resolution, services and administrative paperwork and 20% is “crime fighting”

Question 27

Role Conflict

Answer 27

When people feel overloaded they tend to experience: low self esteem, low job satisfaction

Question 28

Role Ambiguity

Answer 28

• Police rely on ‘discretion’ to do their jobs.
• As a result, police can experience ‘role ambiguity’ when there is a lack of clarity as to what they should do and how they should do it.
• Police training rarely equips officers for the realities of the job.
• Police respond to complex encounters often with minimal information.
• Role ambiguity can lead to confusion, distrust, and withdrawal.

Question 29

Police discretion

Answer 29

• When to enforce law and how to do it depends upon the judgment of the police
• Discretion is necessary
• Abuse can lead to racial discrimination
• Leads to distrust and unwilling to obey law

Police discretion is influenced by:
1. The characteristics of the situation.
2. The demeanour or attitude of the person. (Race, age, and gender.)
3. The characteristics of the neighbourhood.
4. Organizational factors.
{is it a high crime or low crime area}

Question 30

Responding to Police Misconduct: Oversight and Accountability

Answer 30

• Abuses of police discretion are often framed as issues of misconduct.
• High-profile cases of misconduct can impact public perceptions of the police and their legitimacy.
• In response, police have faced increasing demands for transparency and oversight.
• Police oversight can stem from internal sources, external bodies, and the public.
• Police have historically resisted efforts to strengthen oversight and provide transparency

Question 31

Re-Casting the Police Role: Community Policing

Answer 31

• Community policing seeks to move the focus of the police from a more reactive role to crime prevention.
• Through community policing, the police and public are recast as co-producers of community safety.
• Community policing acknowledges that police legitimacy is at the core of the police mandate.
• While popular, community policing is a contested and highly-debated topic.

Question 32

Research Spotlight- Community Policing: Perceptions of Officers Policing Indigenous Communities

Answer 32

Examines perceptions of police work among 827 police officers policing Indigenous communities in Canada.

Officers in 2014 showed decreased support for community policing strategies and did not feel that policing Indigenous communities required a different style.

Question 33

Centralized vs decentralized policing

Answer 33

• National, centralized, singular police forces are organized to enforce the law as if the entire country were a single jurisdiction under one set of laws.
• Decentralized systems of policing, like those that exist in the United States, Germany, Britain, and Canada concentrate police powers in a variety of state and federal locations, allowing each of these centers the authority to craft responses to local problems

Question 34

Policing varies per country

Answer 34

As a society becomes less able to maintain social discipline through informal social processes, both the volume and the character of situations to which the police in different countries must respond will increase

Differences in the countries’ technological capabilities and population size contribute to policing expectations.

With the exception of the United States, where police spend more time processing crime and less time on service than police in similar countries, police in developed countries tend to spend more time engaged in attending to non crime matters and providing service, such a settling disputes

Question 35

Police under democratic law

Answer 35

The principle of accountability to the rule of law requires that police officers serve a variety of functions– as rule enforcers, social servants, moralists, and street fighters– to name several important roles that police officers must fill. In diverse situations, officers must themselves decide which situations require them to play which roles

On the face of it, maintaining order seems to demand that all known violators of the law be arrested. Procedural protections, however, set limits on the manner in which violators may be apprehended.

Some laws cannot be enforced as they violate public mores or expectations → said laws are usually there due to legislative inaction, ex. Law against adultery

Question 36

When do police enforce the law?

Answer 36

Scholars have found that instead of enforcing the law uniformly, police enforce the law selectively, sometimes neglecting to apply the law in situations that the text of the law defines as violations.

Police officers’ decision making has been attributed mainly to two types of factors, situational– based on the characteristics of the situation at hand, and attitudinal factors– linked to the officer’s beliefs and attitudes

Researchers note that police may base their decision to arrest on the severity of the offense; on characteristics of the suspect (sex, race, social, social class, demeanor, sobriety); on the characteristics of the victim; or on the relationship between the victim and the suspect
→ Police selectively enforce in minority communities
→ More likely to stop and search racial minorities and enforce formal sanctions

Question 37

Police using force

Answer 37

When the police do use force, it typically occurs in the context of trying to make an arrest

The study also found that the force used by police is most likely to consist of shoving or pushing a suspect rather that discharging the officer’s firearm

Question 38

Community vs aggressive policing

Answer 38

Community policing: emphasizes community and police cooperation in the maintenance of order. Community policing strives to make citizen and police coproducers of public order in part by increasing police accountability in all areas, including the use of force

Aggressive policing (‘‘broken windows’’ approach), seeks to reduce crime by increasing enforcement of ‘‘quality of life’’ crimes– public drinking, vandalism, and other order maintenance offenses. The emphasis on increased attention to crime and heightened enforcement may make regimes implementing aggressive policing more likely to use or abuse force.

Question 39

Attitudinal factors in law enforcement

Answer 39

When police attitudes about the seriousness of the law determine whether or not it is enforced, police have the ability to nullify the law’s effect through inaction or through misapplication.

Police are more hesitant to respond to domestic violence calls or hate crimes

Female and minority officers have a deeper understanding of systemic factors than their white male counterparts

Question 40

Categories of police encounters

Answer 40

Responding to crime, crime investigation, crime prevention, mediating disputes and quarrels, dealing with non crime situations and traffic control

Question 41

Why do richer people encounter the police in more non-crime situations

Answer 41

Researchers have attributed the tendency of citizens in richer and more developed countries to encounter the police in non crime situations, or in the context of citizen-generated service calls, to two main factors.
→ First, in rural and less developed areas, other social groups may provide support in noncrime-related situations.
→ Second, the absence of communication technology may also make it more difficult for citizens to summon the police.

Question 42

Opinions on differential treatment by police

Answer 42

Black and white respondents agreed that the police treated blacks differently than whites. Whites, however, believed that police officers’ actions were justified, while blacks ascribed officers’ discriminatory behavior to invidious motives

Many of the complaints about racial profiling occur in the context of the investigation of traffic offenses.

When the police treat law abiding minorities as if they are criminal suspects solely because of their race, fear and distrust is bred in these communities

Question 43

Functions of community policing

Answer 43

Has four functions: (1) organizing community-based crime prevention; (2) reorienting patrol activities to emphasize the provision of services in nonemergencies; (3) increasing accountability to local communities; and (4) decentralizing command

When residents share crime-fighting responsibility with the police, the ‘‘successes’’ or blame for increases and decreases in the city’s crime rate is shared as well

Question 44

Increasing police accountability

Answer 44

Liaison officers - The purpose of these officers is to develop relationships with individuals in the community, to build trust between the communities and the police, and to respond to these communities’ unique needs

Another method of increasing police accountability includes programs that allow citizens to observe the police.

Question 45

Non State policing

Answer 45

Individuals engaged in private policing– security guards, private investigators, bouncers– may be performing similar activities to the public police, like investigation of crime, providing property and personal protection, surveillance activity, and order maintenance
→ Private police generally operate almost entirely in the private sphere, maintaining order and minimizing disruption within private spaces.
→ Second, in the vast majority of cases their role enforcing the criminal law is restricted to seeking the assistance of state-oriented police
→ Operating in the private sphere, without the authority to enforce criminal law, deprives private police of the legitimacy for their action that public police possess

Question 46

Alternative policing

Answer 46

Alternative styles of policing need not originate from state inaction. Rather, communities and interest groups may themselves create alternate policing options because they view the state as ill equipped to provide services

Alternate policing styles may also develop because citizens question the state’s legitimacy to intervene in the community.

Question 47

Protection of rights that police may violate

Answer 47

In the United States, attempts to hold police accountable for their actions have included the use of criminal process against officers, civil rights suits seeking dam-ages for violations of individual rights, and suits seeking injunctive relief.

Attempts to hold the police accountable for their actions can also occur when criminal defendants challenge police behavior. These defendants often argue that an individual police officer violated one of their rights under the United States Constitution.

Question 48

Litigation is lawmaking

Answer 48

Litigation - lawsuit using a federal court of canada (fact check)
- Changes the way laws are interpreted and how laws will be used in the future

Lawsuits involve claims made by real people.
Judgements determine outcomes of particular cases
- But their real social impact is much broader
- Civil law pushing back against segregation
- Large boost in legal mobilization in the charter of rights of Canada → gave the government policy to interpret provincial law

Judges “exercise power on the basis of their judgment that their decisions will produce socially desirable results.”

→ Ex. the example of the performer from the beginning of the semester - protecting/owning one’s image → there was no law against image, but property so judges applied pre existing laws to cover the ownership of one’s image

→ The example of the man who got himself arrested to prove discriminatory practices - judge ruled against the man based on the application of pre existing laws

Question 49

What is a case?

Answer 49

Involves a claim on a statute or right to protect against a harm
- Have to be able to point to a law that protects you from what happened (harm)
- Statute → law passed by parliament/legislature, expanding
- Rights → Charter defines rights, very fixed broad policies - signal moral commitments, but hard to use in a claim as they are so broad

Judicial decisions on cases give practical meaning to the statute/right

Decisions are recorded as precedents that inform rulings on future cases
- Precedents - previous rulings → judges use precedents to establish rulings of future cases
- This means that the outcome of any particular case can have implications beyond the case itself

Question 50

How does a court get its cases?

Answer 50

1. It starts with an alleged violation
2. Then, construct a lawsuit
3. Forming alliances - parties interested in the outcomes of your particular case
4. Climbing the ladder of appeals

Question 51

Mark Andrews case

Answer 51

Resident but not a citizen of British Columbia
- Denied admission to the law society of British Columbia - a private organization because of his citizenship status → alleged violation

Constructing a lawsuit:
- Naming: what is the problem
- Blaming: Who is responsible
- Claiming: what is the right that should protect me

In this case, equality rights.
Section 15, section about “in particular”, claim that the list is not exhaustive
- Forming alliances - Organizations for marginalized communities backing Andrews, as if the judges expand their rulings past parts of section 15 to include protections of their groups
→ Interveners - file briefs to the courts, sending previous cases

Rights vs. rights
- Arguing using section 1 using the language of “reasonable limits” and “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society” because they’re a private organization not a state

Climbing the ladder of appeals
- Supreme court of BC: saying this isn’t discrimination
- Then Appeals to British court of Columbia: it is unreasonable
- Supreme court of Canada: weighing in when the court of BC is involved
→ First section 15 case heard by the supreme court

Question 52

The Andrews test

Answer 52

1. There is actual differential treatment
2. Based on one of the enumerated prohibited ground in s.15 or one that is analogous to those grounds
3. Which is discriminatory because of an imposed burden or denied benefit
   → Material basis to be a standard of how we apply section 15

Andrews test was used in Halpern v Canada, 2003
→ Sexuality based discrimination is analogous to gender based discrimination

Question 53

Sum up of legal mobilization lecture

Answer 53

Law enforcement is not just for the cops: citizens play a role by calling in gray areas, contested zones, unruled parts of the law for judges to weigh in

No right is ever final - the can grow, and can also contract

Litigation makes law - assigns meaning to legal protection
- The charter is made, and remade in courts

This means individual problems can make a big impact on what is generally protected by law

Question 54

Litigation

Answer 54

the process of taking legal action

Question 55

Policy activism

Answer 55

• Legal mobilization
  → Legal mobilization has been variously described as a “process by which legal norms are invoked to regulate behaviour”; the translation of policy preferences into specific outcomes through “an assertion of one’s rights”; and a “planned effort to influence the course of judicial policy development to achieve a particular policy goal.”
• Remedial decree litigation → the type of legal proceedings generated by legal mobilization
  1. The trigger (event that initiates case),
  2. Liability (The liability and remedy phases form the core of remedial decree ll litigation. Litigants must develop an adequate record to support the court’s liability findings and subsequent remedial order.),
  3. Remedy → The remedial process may consist solely of negotiations between the parties to produce a remedy that is simply approved by the court. On other occasions, it is necessary for the court to. impose a remedy following an adversarial remedial hearing.
  4. Post-decree phases of litigation. → The post-decree phase is concerned with the implementation, evaluation, and refinement of the initial remedy.
• Judicial policymaking → court decisions that form as a result of remedial decree litigation

Question 56

Development of legal mobilization

Answer 56

Credit for the systematic development of legal mobilization usually goes to two..groups:..the.American..Civil Liberties Union| (ACLU) and the National Association.for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
- Based largely on the NAACP’s experience, conventional wisdom held that the principal reason for legal mobilization was political disadvantage)

• Only repeat-player litigants, with accumulated legal expertise and extensive legal resources, were likely to mobilize the law successfully to achieve long-term programmatic objectives.
• Groups without political and economic resources were also unlikely to possess the legal resources necessary to sustain systematic litigation campaigns.

Litigation could produce social reform at best indirectly, by contributing to a broader process of political mobilization in which interests are activated, organized, and realigned.

Question 57

The charter

Answer 57

Charter has expanded the range of social and political issues within the jurisdiction of Canadian courts.

Litigants have been successful in persuading American federal courts to participate actively in shaping and administering public policy in areas such as zoning and land-use planning, housing, social welfare, transportation, education, and the operation of complex institutions like prisons and mental health facilities.

Question 58

Jordan rule

Answer 58

A unanimous Court set an upper limit of eighteen months on trial delays in provincial courts and of thirty months in superior courts.

Question 59

Four core ideas in the analysis of legal mobilization

Answer 59

1. Studies of mobilizations begin with and focus on actions of legal subjects, especially non-official legal actors → decentering courts and focusing on the individual, especially the perspectives of minorities
2. Studies of legal mobilization tend to identify ligation as just one potential dimension or phase of a larger, complex, dynamic multistage process of disputing among various parties → Most disputes begin with “grievances” but don’t make it to the courts, hence an examination of actors within the dispute that is not centered around the court system

3 . Scholars interested in legal mobilization tend to view the choices of actors who generate litigation as well as their effects or impacts as typically complex, indeterminate, and contingent. → A lot of litigation is threatened with the goal of avoiding a trial. Winning in court can still be extremely costly.

4. Virtually all studies of legal mobilization emphasize the capacity of citizens to mobilize law is highly equal. → Law works to maintain the status quo, thus reproducing inequalities, using hegemony. It is although possible for those of less power to occasionally mobilize law in their favour.

Question 60

Big idea of social stratification lec

Answer 60

Critical criminology is a set of perspectives that challenge mainstream perspectives on law and order

In a socially stratified society, factors such as gender, residential status and race divide groups into social classes

Racialized and gendered hierarchies are embedded in our daily lives and social institutions and serve to structure our interactions

Question 61

Critical criminology perspective

Answer 61

A group of theoretical perspectives that challenge mainstream criminological approaches

Economic, social class, and racial divisions along with power imbalances in society contribute to criminalization
- Strain

Through criminalization powerful groups use the law, the police, and the wider criminal justice system to enforce social control
- The word criminal is not applied equally, disproportionately minority groups making up the composition of the criminal justice system

The criminal justice system is designed to reproduce and maintain the status quo

Question 62

Consensus perspectives on social order

Answer 62

• The consensus perspective argues that most people agree on norms and values
• The law is an expression of those collective norms and values
• The law is applied equally and without preference → Agents of the law should be working to produce the same outcomes for everyone
• The criminal justice system is focused on producing the best outcomes for society
• Breaking the law is a harm against society

Question 63

Pluralist perspectives on social order

Answer 63

• Modern society is characterized by a high degree of diversity and low levels of consensus on shared norms and values
• These differences include divergent viewpoints on the content of the law and how it should be applied
• However, there is agreement in the rule of law as a means of ensuring peaceful coexistence
• This view underscores a significant portion of contemporary criminological thinking

Question 64

Conflict perspectives on social controls

Answer 64

• Modern society is characterized by social conflict
• Dominant or powerful groups are in conflict with marginalized or disadvantaged groups
• The law serves the needs and interests of the powerful few
• The criminal justice system maintains the status quo
• Powerful groups use the law to control ‘dangerous’ groups

Question 65

Marxist perspectives on social class (the two populations)

Answer 65

Proletariat → workers, contribute labour in exchange for compensation
Bourgeois → capitalist ruling class, controls the means and methods of production, have a stake in maintaining the status quo to stay in power and prevent proletariat from gaining power

Social conflict is a natural product of the capitalist economic system…

Question 66

Crime in a capitalist economic system

Answer 66

Crime is a natural byproduct of capitalism
- Wanting items, but unable to afford them

• Capitalism creates the economic conditions related to crime
• In particular, property crime is engendered by capitalism
• Capitalism encourages people to pursue their self interests rather than the interests of the greater good
• Under capitalism, we are encouraged to be consumers seeking unattainable lifestyles
• Wealth is being accumulated with the 1%, lowest and highest class is growing and middle class is shrinking

Question 67

Conflict and criminalization

Answer 67

Social conflict between classes contributes to criminalization

Class based societies are socially stratified

Our class position is based on ascribed and achieved characteristics:
- Ascribed - what we were born with
- Achieved - work one puts in for example to gain education or even through illegitimate means

Social status grants powerful groups the ability to shape the law and how it is applied

The police, the courts, and other arms of criminal justice system work to reproduce pre existing inequalities

Question 68

Race and racialization

Answer 68

Race has historically been seen as a biological construct

Early theories of race were used to justify the oppression of marginalized groups, including practices of slavery and segregation

Racial categories were constructed in relation to ‘whiteness’ → seen as neutral

Race categories as a biological construct have been discredited
- Physical features tell us very little about biological differences between people

Question 69

Race as a social construct

Answer 69

Race categories as a biological construct has been discredited

Race as a social construct has an enormous impact on the structure and functioning of contemporary society

Through racialization certain characteristics and behaviours are associated with people based on their supposed race

Racialization contributes to the perpetuation of social, political and economic hierarchies

Question 70

The racialization of crime

Answer 70

Powerful groups in society have the ability to shape the content of the law and how it is enforced

The criminal justice serves to perpetuate and enforce racial hierarchies

Certain types of crime are associated with racialized groups - this is reflected in the racialization of crime and the criminalization of race
- These groups suffer from over policing

One of the primary harms of racial biases in policing is racial profiling → race is used as a proxy for risk instead of legitimate reasons
- Impacts police legitimacy → less likely to call the police when we have a problem, less likely to report crimes or help police when they ask questions.

Question 71

Feminist criminology

Answer 71

Primarily emerged during the 1960s and 70s
Feminist criminology challenged central assumptions and stereotypes about women’s involvement with crime, both as offenders and victims
- Also as researchers, in criminology fields

The social world is fundamentally shaped by relations of sex and gender
Gender norms serves to structure the nature of our society and the functioning of our social institutions
- Maintain fundamentally gendered hierarchy to maintain the patriarchy over institutions and daily life

Question 72

Multiracial or intersectional feminist theory

Answer 72

Rooted in critical race and black feminist thought

Social and gender relations are shaped by race, socioeconomic status and sexuality - together, these factors shape our social location

People experience both marginalization and oppression in different ways
- The experiences of all women in society are not equal → SES is another factor

The law, the police, the correctional system and the broader criminal justice system are both racialized and gendered

Question 73

Strategies of racializing crime

Answer 73

Two of the most common practices are the over-emphasizing of crimes committed by people of colour, and the use of specific terms and categories in conversations about racialized groups and crime.
→ For example, black suspects are more likely to be represented as superpredators, while black victims are not considered as newsworthy as white victims → stories of racialized people usually include crime in the media
→ Terms like “illegal immigrant” and “gangs” are used to make racialized people the “other”
→ Effect of structural racism, the criminal justice system is the “white man’s justice”

Question 74

The criminalization of racialized people

Answer 74

The Canadian government continues to pursue a crime agenda that includes more numerous and lengthy prison terms, mandatory minimum sentences, and tougher penalties for drug and sex offences
→ The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives argues that Aboriginal people will be hardest-hit by the new legislation

Question 75

Criminalization

Answer 75

refers to “the institutionalized process through which certain acts and behaviours are selected and labelled as ‘crimes’ and through which particular individuals and groups are subsequently selectively identified and differentially policed and disciplined”

Question 76

Populist punitiveness

Answer 76

“politicians encourage punitive laws and sentences and thereby improve their chances of reelection by making such responses to indicators of the public mood or sentiment” → Increased fear of crime resulted in increase fear of the “racialized other”

Question 77

Cycle of racialized other:

Answer 77

Regardless of whether one sees the problem as one of “bad people,” “bad decisions,” or something more complex, the disproportionate representation of racialized people (primarily black and Aboriginal) in the Canadian criminal justice system reinforces and increases the fear of crime for the white majority, who are then more likely to implement criminal justice reforms that continue to disadvantage racialized groups.

Question 78

Domestic violence in a racialized context

Answer 78

Efforts by judges to be more culturally aware have arguably relied on an impoverished notion of culture that exists in a “timeless and unchangeable vacuum outside of patriarchy, racism, imperialism and colonialism,” resulting in the re-victimization of women

Aboriginal women have pointed out how current models of restorative justice, or Aboriginal justice, are male centred and culturally inappropriate, and therefore, do not correspond to the values and justice practices of the communities to which they are being applied

Question 79

Canadian media in racialization of crime

Answer 79

The media’s complicity in bolstering political agendas that consistently frame racialized people as outsiders to the Canadian polity stands in stark contrast to the omnipresent rhetoric of inclusiveness and multiculturalism.

By creating a culture of fear about criminal victimization and suggesting that racialized people are to blame, politicians are able to capitalize on middle-class anxieties.

Question 80

Impacts of racialization

Answer 80

Employment and unemployment rates for racialized and non-racialized Canadians highlight how the labour market is “colour coded,” where racialized women experience the highest rates of unemployment and are more likely to be paid less when they are employed

Prisons and jails are composed disproportionately of non-white populations. Imprisonment is the default solution for capitalism’s expendable, surplus, and predominantly racialized population

Question 81

Difference between orthodox and critical criminologists

Answer 81

An important difference between orthodox and critical criminologists is the focus on the flaws in the fabric of societies that breed, create, and sustain criminality, rather than flaws in the makeup of individuals who commit crime

Includes crimes of the affluent - such as human rights violations, corporate price fixing, and political corruption

Question 82

What do all critical criminologists reject?

Answer 82

All critical criminologists reject repressive policies and unjust criminal justice practices such as:
- “zero tolerance policing” (e.g., criminalizing incivilities like panhandling),
- Widenet police “stop and frisk” practices that target suspects primarily on the basis of race and social class,
- “three strikes and you’re out” sentencing,
private prisons, and
- coercive counselling therapy.

In contrast, they regard major structural and cultural changes within society as essential steps to reduce crime and to promote justice.

Question 83

What do critical criminologists call for

Answer 83

Radical social transformation → essential in reducing the crime rate and calling for reform in the criminal justice system, critical criminologists also propose progressive short term policies that target the major political, cultural, and economic forces that propel people to crime, such as poverty, sexism, and deindustrialization.

Question 84

Critical criminologists perspective on social change

Answer 84

Recognize that change is unlikely to be immediate, and endorse a number of short term, progressive policy proposals that “chip away” at the political–economic status quo

Question 85

Critical Criminologist policies:

Answer 85

• Full and quality employment;
• A higher minimum wage;
• Quality healthcare and affordable higher education;
• Eliminating the physical punishment of children;
• Integrating families into a network of kin and community;
• Promoting racial/ethnic and gender equity in the workplace;
• Housing subsidy and refurbishment programs;
• Improved public transportation;
• Quality state sponsored childcare.

Question 86

The left and tough on crime policies - left realism

Answer 86

The general failure to acknowledge working class crime came at a great price to the left. It indirectly helped conservative politicians in several countries to claim opposition to street crime as their own issue, giving them room to generate ideological support for harsh “law and order” policies.

Moreover, the left’s minimization of the seriousness of the inner city crime and/or drug problems helped “to perpetuate an image of progressives being both fuzzy minded and, worse, unconcerned about the realities of life for those ordinary Americans who are understandably frightened and enraged by the suffering and fear crime brings to their communities and families”

Question 87

Feminist Criminology

Answer 87

Older theories tended to exclude women when studying criminality, which is now changing

It is misleading to paint all feminists with the same brush. There are at least 12 distinct brands of feminism, and there are major debates within each one → Feminism defined as “a set of theories about women’s oppression and a set of strategies for change”

Feminist criminologists have conducted extensive theoretical work on a myriad of important problems, including female gangs, violence against women, women and girls’ pathways to crime, drugs, and moral panics about female youth violence

Yet, since feminist theoretical work challenges “male centered” ways of explaining deviance, crime, and social control, it is constantly challenged and often ridiculed by conservative students, practitioners, and academics.

Question 88

The bridge/big idea of is law for everyone?

Answer 88

• Structural barriers - law actively discriminates,
• Cultural barriers - the way the law is interpreted that reproduces inequality in the court system
• What does the justice system offer its victims - used to be seen as a narrow minded question
• Issues of access are issues of justice
• Courts try to replicate similar outcomes for similar cases - contributes to people’s view of the law
  → Social inequalities outside the courtroom make it difficult to reach the courtroom
  → Structural inequalities inside the courtroom produce unequal outcomes from the courtroom
  → Courts may aim for impartiality, but court actors may not be able to check their biases at the door → can influence outcomes, cannot be stopped by rules and procedures
  → Courts have a monopoly on solving disputes - maintain legitimacy by being the only governing body on procedural justice

Question 89

Why wouldnt a victim of sexual assault report the crime

Answer 89

83% of all sexual assaults in Canada are not reported to the police
- This is an estimate, likely much higher as people not reporting to the police are not likely to report on victimization surveys

1. Hypothesis one: the victim is not aware of their rights
   A sense of guilt (misplaced) or shame may lead to not reporting
2. Hypothesis two : victim may not believe that courts will take their case seriously → against the law
3. Hypothesis three: The costs of even a successful criminal trial may be too high
   - Social and cultural costs, not necessarily financial

Question 90

Harvey Weinstein

Answer 90

Surrounding knowledge about how he was sexually abusive, although no legal repercussions

New york times article → harvey had connections within politics and reporting, aggressive against critics, the first person to come forward gets the brunt of the social impacts so mass reporting gives a layer of protection

Question 91

Growth in reporting due to ___

Answer 91

When me too movement grew popular, reporting of sexual assault incresed (october 2017)

Increase in reporting over ten years later because of how the movement helped bring sexual assault into focus

Increase in Quebec’s reporting, likely due to the french version of the hashtag which translates to “name your pig” → emphasis on solidarity and mobilization against assaulters

Question 92

The court process may create more trauma than it resolves

Answer 92

Court procedures can be time consume and resource intensive
- Time, emotional bandwidth, exhaustive processes

Trials are also very public affairs and expose victims to social stigma
- Anita hill and Christine ford report against powerful men → example of stigma and public scrutiny

Secondary victimization: prosecuting a crime can mean reliving trauma
- Rape kit, answering questions to officers, the trial itself and its outcome

Question 93

The criminal justice system frequently delivers unsatisfactory outcomes - is law for everyone?

Answer 93

Criminal sentences are rare, of cases that do go to trial, only 42% result in a guilty verdict
- This leads to only around 3 or 4 percent of cleared cases

Most alleged assaults have no witnesses other than the accuser and the accused
- Criminal courts are beyond a reasonable doubt

Criminal courts are for sanctions, rather for the benefit of victims → protection of societal values, less focus on the victim
Survivors are turning to civil alternatives → more about restitutions for the accuser

Question 94

Problems with civil trials too in reporting sexual assault

Answer 94

• Structural players - money, resources, experience → one shotters/ repeat players
• Harm vs intent
  → Have to demonstrate intention
• How do you prove discrimination leads to the harm?
• The role of unconscious bias

Question 95

Statistics for sexual assault cases

Answer 95

Sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada that is not in decline, according to the Canadian Women’s Foundation. What’s more, only a small minority of survivors report their assault, according to a Statistics Canada study on self-reported sexual assault released in July 2017.

The Globe and Mail’s Unfounded investigation reported earlier this year that Canadian police dismiss one in five cases as baseless—these dismissed cases represent hundreds of people who may have never have had their voices heard.

Question 96

Reasons sexual assault cases are dropped

Answer 96

As the Statistics Canada report shows, cases can be dropped for any number of reasons. It could be due to lack of evidence. It could be because the accused completed a diversionary program, like Talusan’s attacker did, and won’t face prosecution or have a criminal record. It could also be because the parties involved opted to pursue restorative justice.

Question 97

Benefits of civil trials for sexual assault

Answer 97

In the civil process, the case is about what happened to the survivor and how it affected them. Most importantly, they call the shots. If at any time they decide they’ve had enough, Hishon can assess where she is in the litigation and if it’s time to start discussing settlement.
→ Financial compensation can be put towards the survivor’s healing and make up for time taken off of work to heal

Question 98

Criticisms of criminal trials for sexual assault

Answer 98

The Crown attorneys doesn’t represent survivors, they actually represent the state. “It is not the complainant’s case,” Dale says. “She is merely a witness to the crime, albeit a witness in the most direct and personal sense, because the crime was literally on her body.”

A large amount of cases don’t even make it to trial, then it is possible if they do that the survivor experiences secondary victimization by reliving their trauma on the stand

Question 99

Workplace discrimination

Answer 99

In interviews, plaintiffs recounted how they quickly found themselves in what seemed a maze of manipulative lawyers, judges in cahoots with employers, and unreasonable or mysterious rules that prevented them from ever telling their stories. → Legal jargon that is hard for the everyday person to understand and work with

Under the current system, people who believe they have been targets of discrimination must file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or a state or local agency, and then pursue litigation

Some of the rise in litigation in 1998 can be explained by the 1991 Civil Rights Act and the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—legislation whose track record of helping its intended beneficiaries is mixed, but which nonetheless spurred attention. → workplace litigation has since dropped in 2006

Just 2 percent of cases filed actually result in a plaintiff win

Question 100

Employment discrimination laws

Answer 100

Although employers complain about the hassles of employee lawsuits, employment discrimination law favours employers in both overt and subtle ways

Formal legality can make the law work to an employer’s benefit.
→ Judges treat the mere existence of personnel practices, non-discrimination policies, and diversity programs as evidence discrimination hasn’t been taking place. They fail to question whether these practices are really implemented or truly effective at protecting workers from discrimination.

Question 101

Promising alternatives

Answer 101

Job segregation, for example, can be mitigated when employers formalize their processes for posting job openings, establish clear criteria for selecting candidates, and hold administrators accountable for improving the representation of women and people of color.

Some employee involvement programs adopted by companies to increase worker efficiency actually end up helping white women, black women, and black men enter managerial ranks → more opportunities to demonstrate their skills to try to mitigate racial stereotypes

What this sociological research shows us, however, is that law has both real payoffs and serious limitations as a strategy for promoting equality.

Question 102

The discrimination frame

Answer 102

Miranda Massie, a civil rights attorney argued political activism and class-action lawsuits together can create disincentives for discrimination

Question 103

Social science and the law

Answer 103

Judges, too, tend to minimize or ignore social scientific literature. And, many basic legal concepts are at odds with sociological findings on inequality, workplace discrimination, and effective solutions. → Scientific evidence doesn’t always fit neatly within a legal framework

Sociology reveals the subtleties, nuances, tensions, and contradictions that abound when law is put into practice in the real world. The value of sociology lies in its ability to complicate our assumptions about law and demonstrate both its promises and pitfalls.

Question 104

Police as crime fighters

Answer 104

Police is expected to be enforcing the law
- Police investigate crimes.
-. Catch criminals and lay charges.
- Respond to emergencies.
- Use force, when needed.
- More reactive in nature.