Exam 1 Flashcards
Beccaria’s Classical School of Thought
- Individuals have free will and weigh the benefits/costs of a crime
- Are hedonistic and pursue self interests
Beccaria’s “On Crime and Punishment”
- Text that criticized the justice system; claimed deterrence was the most effective strategy to stop crime
The three elements of deterrence (punishment)
Severity, Certainty, Celerity
Beccaria claimed this was the most effective part of a deterrent punishment
Certainty
The “right” amount of punishment according to Beccaria
Punishment that is proportional to the crime
- Too little of punishment does not establish deterrence
- Too much may backfire and lead to additional crimes
Criticisms of Beccaria’ Classical School
- Criminals have other motivations besides their self-interests
- Not all offenders are rational
- Only the justice system can truly deter crime
Lombroso’s “Positivist School”
- Crime is due to forces of nature beyond the individual’s control
- Not rational behavior
- Criminals are biologically/genetically different from regular citizens
The Father of Criminology
Phillip Lombroso is known as
Atavism
- Criminals are primitive, genetic throwbacks
- Have physical deformities (large lips, twisted nose, long arms)
Lombroso and the Scientific Method
- First Criminology theory to use the scientific method
- Empirical observations and data collection to formulate theories
Criminaloid
Someone normal who commits a minor crime; opposite of atavist
Social Disorganization “Chicago School”
- Crime can also be caused by characteristics of a neighborhood or community
- Poverty, weak social ties, legal cynicism
Factors of social disorganization
- Rapidly growing cities
- “Transitional neighborhood”: a neighborhood that is growing rapidly but has little social structure
- Police/social services overwhelmed
The 5 Concentric Zones
1(Most inner) - Central Business District
2 - Transitional Zone
3 - Working Class Area
4- Residential Area
5- Commuter Zone
Cliffard Shaw & Henry McKay
- Found social environment is the primary cause of crime
- Disorganized neighborhoods were affected by poverty, lack of social services, etc
- Leads to a tolerance or acceptance of criminal values
Collective Efficacy
- Willingness to report a crime or wrongdoing
- People have social cohesion and trust and want to help one another
Legal Cynicism
- Belief that laws and enforcement are illegitimate
- Community belief rather than individual belief
Learning Theories
People learn to engage in criminal behavior
The big 3 in Criminology
- Strains: What pressures someone to commit crimes? (Money, boredom, etc)
- Controls: What restraints do we have against committing crime? (Family, school, work)
- Values: What causes an attraction towards crime? (Money, status)
Differential Association Theory (DAT)
- First truly sociological explanation for criminal behavior
- Criminal behavior is not the result of something abnormal
- Accounts for all types of crimes: a general theory
9 Propositions of DAT
- Criminal behavior is learned
- In interactions with others
- Occurs primarily within personal intimate groups
- Learning of crime includes specific directions of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes
- Accumulation of unfavorable vs favorable definitions of crime
- Favorable > unfavorable
- Associations vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity
- Learning crime is the same as learning anything else
- Criminal behavior is not explained by general needs (ex: money or food)
Criticisms of DAT
- Definitions are vague
- Few people unconditionally approve of crime
- More likely to justify crime in certain circumstances
- Does not describe the process of learning
Aker’s Social Learning Theory
The process of learning crime and the content of what is learned of crime
4 major concepts of differential association
- Definitions (general, specific, positive, negative, neutralizing)
- Differential Reinforcement (Rewards/punishment that follows behavior, positive/negative reinforcement)
- Imitation (See crime-think it’s acceptable-commit crime)
- Correlation vs Causation
2 most important social predictors of future criminal behavior
- Prior criminal behavior
- Who they associate with
Code of The Street
- informal rules that govern public behavior
- Most people are not invested in the code
Heart of “The Code”
- Respect
- Status
- Reputation
Why did the code originate?
- Disadvantages
- Limited opportunities
-Legal cynicism
Decent vs Street Families
Decent - Instill prosocial and middle-class values; usually never adhere to the code
Street - Taught street smarts aka the code
Anomie Theory
- Macro-level Theory
-A breakdown of previously shared norms or values that regulated social interactions - Occurs when one loses their sense of belonging
- Ex: Organized theft due to lack of employment opportunities
Strain Theory
- Micro-level Theory
- An individual’s inability to achieve culturally-valued goals (such as work, school, etc) leads to frustration (strain) and deviant behavior
- Ex: A child is unable to afford flashy shoes so they decide to steal them
Merton’s 5 Adaptations to Strain
- Conformity - Accepts culturally approved goals & pursues them through culturally approved means.
- Ritualism - Abandon society’s goals but conform to approved means of achieving them.
- Innovation -
Accepts society’s goals but adopts disapproved means of achieving them. - Retreatism - Abandon both approved goals and the approved means to achieve them.
- Rebellion - Challenges both approved goals and means to achieving them & create an alternate set of goals/means.
3 Sources of Strain
- Failure to achieve positively valued goals
- Presentation of negative stimuli
- Removal of positive stimuli
Why/When does Strain lead to crime?
- Produces negative emotions and thus an intense need for corrective action
- Crime is easier than prosocial means (criminal coping)
- Lowers the cost of crime; feels justified
Neutralization Theory
- Attempts to explain why criminals feel justified in deviant behavior
- Sykes & Matza claimed people learned to neutralize controls over criminal behavior
5 Neutralization Techniques
- Denial of Responsibility - Views themselves as a victim of circumstance. “It wasn’t my fault”
- Denial of Injury - The offender doesn’t believe they have caused any/much harm to the victim. (Stealing from Walmart because they can “afford” to lose it)
- Denial of Victim - Believes the victim of their crime deserved it
- Condemnation of the Condemners - Shifts focus onto those judging the offender (an officer) “Everyone drives drunk”
- Appeal to Higher Loyalties - The offender is conflicted between violating the law and violating a trust “I did it for my mother”
Social Bond Theory
- Prosocial bonds deter criminal behavior (Work, school, family, etc)
- Everyone is capable of committing crimes, no special motivation is required
4 Elements of social bond theory
- Attachment - affection towards others, conscience (strongest support)
- Involvement - “Too busy to commit crime”(weakest support)
- Commitment - Rationality, conformity, fear of consequences
- Belief - Morally good, belief of rules and laws
Do social bonds reduce the motivation to offend?
No.
- Theory claims everyone has the motivation to offend
- Instead dictates how much control one has over deviant behavior
Low Self-Control/General Theory of Crime
- Main source of criminal behavior is low self-control
- People commit crimes because they have low self-control and lack of foresight of possible consequences
4 Ways to instill self-control
- Attachment of parent to child
- Parental supervision
- Recognition of deviant behavior
- Punishment of deviant behavior
Labeling Theory
- Certain labels can affect one’s behavior
- A child labeled a criminal is more likely to conform to that label
Primary deviance
Commits a crime without a label
- First-time offenses
Secondary Deviance
Commits a crime having been labeled deviant prior
- Negative reaction to being labeled deviant
Criticisms of Labeling Theory
- Subjectivity of what behaviors/crimes are labeled
- ## The term “criminal” is too subjective; is someone who jaywalks a criminal?
Reintegrative Shaming
- Shaming is necessary to deter crime, but doesn’t need to be stigmatizing
- The act is evil, the person is not
- Your mistakes don’t define you
- Less crime rates
Disintegrative Shaming
- Tough on crime approach
- Labels the offender as criminal
- More likely to lead to increased crime
