Criminology Chapter 4 Flashcards
Define quantitative
Relating to the measurement of something - its quantity- rather than its qualities
Define qualitative
The study of phenomena based not on measurement but an exploration of the reasons for human behavior and the qualities of subjective experience
Data from media and criminological research are which type of data? Quantitative or qualitative data?
Quantitative
Data from people’s words and methods that emphasize interaction with research participants are which type? Quantitative or qualitative data?
Qualitative
What does quantitative data do? 2 things
They help show overall patterns
Their consistent structure allows for comparisons to be made between groups, times and places.
What are two things qualitative data do?
They help serve to strengthen statistical results and help to put them into context for better understanding.
Define convergent methodology
Using two or more methods
Define triangulation
Combining methods
Which methods gives us a more comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon?
Triangulation
How does triangulation help improve the results in research? 3 things
It makes it more complete, holistic and contextual.
What are 2 factors that contribute to the complexity of measuring crime?
- The inherently theoretical nature of “crime” as a construct and
- The practical challenge of knowing where crime occurs, what to count, and how to count it.
How many bases on which an act can be defined as “criminal” are there and what are four of them?
11 bases 4 of them include: Prohibition based in law Violation of moral values Violation of social convention An act that has behavioral consequences
Who offered 11 bases on which an act can be defined as “criminal”?
Muncie
What is the Criminal Code and when was it developed?
A federal statute and a code that defined criminal and came into force in July 1, 1893.
What are the four general approaches theories?
The structuralist, positivist, constructionist and integrationist approaches.
Define conflict theories
Theories, originating primarily with Marx, that focus on the unequal distribution of power in society - for example, due to class, race, or gender. Conflicts between classes or groups are driven to a large extent by this unequal power and unequal access to resources.
Structuralist perspective fall within the general scope of _____ ______?
Structuralist perspectives fall within the general scope of conflict theories
What are two examples of the structuralist perspective and what are they about?
Marxist theories (which focus on inequities in the distribution of capital in society) Feminist theories (which focus on gender inequity in societies organized on largely patriarchal lines)
Which perspective is likely to pay attention to power structures and ideological influences that play out in a wide array of social context?
Structuralist perspective
What do structuralist view the Criminal Code as?
As a contemporary scorecard that reflect who has the power to create the laws that define what is and is not criminal. They believed that Criminal Code is a battleground where crime statistics are irrelevant because the statistics reveal more about the distribution of societal power than the distribution of societal misconduct
What are two things feminists fought?
They fought to make abortion legal and they fought to turn wife assault into something illegal
What do structuralists’ perspective focus on? 2 things
Research from this perspective tend to focus on activities around the creation and implementation of laws and/or on what happens in the absence of law that the structuralist advocate deems desirable.
Those who advocate for legal reform from a ______ perspective strive to ensure that the changes they seek do not unfairly advantage or disadvantage identifiable groups based on factors such as gender, culture, race or socio-economic status
Those who advocate for legal reform from a structuralist perspective strive to ensure that the changes they seek do not unfairly advantage or disadvantage identifiable groups based on factors such as gender, culture, race or socio-economic status
Positivist perspectives fall within the general scope of ______ ________
Positivist perspectives fall within the general scope of consensus theories
Define consensus theories
In opposition to conflict theories, consensus theories which originate with Durkheim, hold that society functions through social bonds and collective beliefs, and is characterized by widespread acceptance of values, norms and laws
How do positivists tend to take the Criminal Code as?
They tend to take the Criminal Code as a reflection of societal consensus about what is and is not criminal. They assume that the Criminal Code is a reflection of a society’s collective social values and therefore consider crime statistics generated by the criminal justice system and governmental agencies unbiased measures of societal crime and criminality
Fun fact: John Lowman and Ted Palys note “Such records are still the most lengthy time-series crime data available to us, having been collected in parts of Europe and North America since the early nineteenth centry”
wow
In Canada, since when was police-recorded crime statistics first collected and published? What were two problems with the early data collected?
Police-recorded crime statistics have been collected and published since 1921. Two problems with the early data was that it was inconsistent due to small number of police agencies that submitted information and the lack of consistency from year to year and place to place for crimes reported.
When did the most significant improvement for crime statistics occur and what was it?
The most significant improvement occurred in 1962 when Canada implemented UCR.
What is the UCR and what is one of its problems?
The Uniform Crime Reporting Survey had a goal of providing police-reported crime statistics that were complete, accurate and standardized to facilitate temporal (time to time) and spatial (place-to-place) comparisons. A problem with the UCR is that the variations between how crime data were collected and counted produced results that seem to obfuscate what was “really” going on.
What has always been a problem in measuring crime and what is it and how does it affect crime reports?
Dark figure of crime (crimes that occur that are never reported to police) has always been a problem in measuring crime. Dark figure of crime refers to the variation between the number of crimes that occur and the number of crimes that are actually reported to the police. This figure highlights the large number of unreported crimes and makes the collected data both erroneous and incomplete.
What do constructionist theorists believe in and suggest?
Constructionist theorists do not disagree with the wisdom of trying to minimize error but suggest that we cannot fully understand crime and its causes and consequences unless we also accept that the identification, coding, and counting of crime is a social process that says as much about our society and justice system as it does about the amount of “crime” that occurs. Interpreting crime statistics is a technical and theoretical problem that can be overcome by identifying the sources of error and finding ways to correct them.
What do constructionist argue for?
They argue that crime and crime rates cannot be fully understood unless we understand the justice system response to crime, criminality and deviance.
How do constructionist view police report?
They view the crime statistics as more of a measurement of police activity and attention on a particular group while other criminal groups escape attention.