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Crim Theory > Exam 1 Flashcards > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Beccaria’s Classical School of Thought

A
  • Individuals have free will and weigh the benefits/costs of a crime
  • Are hedonistic and pursue self interests
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2
Q

Beccaria’s “On Crime and Punishment”

A
  • Text that criticized the justice system; claimed deterrence was the most effective strategy to stop crime
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3
Q

The three elements of deterrence (punishment)

A

Severity, Certainty, Celerity

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4
Q

Beccaria claimed this was the most effective part of a deterrent punishment

A

Certainty

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5
Q

The “right” amount of punishment according to Beccaria

A

Punishment that is proportional to the crime
- Too little of punishment does not establish deterrence
- Too much may backfire and lead to additional crimes

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6
Q

Criticisms of Beccaria’ Classical School

A
  • Criminals have other motivations besides their self-interests
  • Not all offenders are rational
  • Only the justice system can truly deter crime
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7
Q

Lombroso’s “Positivist School”

A
  • Crime is due to forces of nature beyond the individual’s control
  • Not rational behavior
  • Criminals are biologically/genetically different from regular citizens
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8
Q

The Father of Criminology

A

Phillip Lombroso is known as

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9
Q

Atavism

A
  • Criminals are primitive, genetic throwbacks
  • Have physical deformities (large lips, twisted nose, long arms)
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10
Q

Lombroso and the Scientific Method

A
  • First Criminology theory to use the scientific method
  • Empirical observations and data collection to formulate theories
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11
Q

Criminaloid

A

Someone normal who commits a minor crime; opposite of atavist

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12
Q

Social Disorganization “Chicago School”

A
  • Crime can also be caused by characteristics of a neighborhood or community
  • Poverty, weak social ties, legal cynicism
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13
Q

Factors of social disorganization

A
  • Rapidly growing cities
  • “Transitional neighborhood”: a neighborhood that is growing rapidly but has little social structure
  • Police/social services overwhelmed
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14
Q

The 5 Concentric Zones

A

1(Most inner) - Central Business District
2 - Transitional Zone
3 - Working Class Area
4- Residential Area
5- Commuter Zone

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15
Q

Cliffard Shaw & Henry McKay

A
  • 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
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16
Q

Collective Efficacy

A
  • Willingness to report a crime or wrongdoing
  • People have social cohesion and trust and want to help one another
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17
Q

Legal Cynicism

A
  • Belief that laws and enforcement are illegitimate
  • Community belief rather than individual belief
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18
Q

Learning Theories

A

People learn to engage in criminal behavior

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19
Q

The big 3 in Criminology

A
  • 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)
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20
Q

Differential Association Theory (DAT)

A
  • 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
21
Q

9 Propositions of DAT

A
  1. Criminal behavior is learned
  2. In interactions with others
  3. Occurs primarily within personal intimate groups
  4. Learning of crime includes specific directions of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes
  5. Accumulation of unfavorable vs favorable definitions of crime
  6. Favorable > unfavorable
  7. Associations vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity
  8. Learning crime is the same as learning anything else
  9. Criminal behavior is not explained by general needs (ex: money or food)
22
Q

Criticisms of DAT

A
  • Definitions are vague
  • Few people unconditionally approve of crime
  • More likely to justify crime in certain circumstances
  • Does not describe the process of learning
23
Q

Aker’s Social Learning Theory

A

The process of learning crime and the content of what is learned of crime

24
Q

4 major concepts of differential association

A
  • 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
25
Q

2 most important social predictors of future criminal behavior

A
  • Prior criminal behavior
  • Who they associate with
26
Q

Code of The Street

A
  • informal rules that govern public behavior
  • Most people are not invested in the code
27
Q

Heart of “The Code”

A
  • Respect
  • Status
  • Reputation
28
Q

Why did the code originate?

A
  • Disadvantages
  • Limited opportunities
    -Legal cynicism
29
Q

Decent vs Street Families

A

Decent - Instill prosocial and middle-class values; usually never adhere to the code
Street - Taught street smarts aka the code

30
Q

Anomie Theory

A
  • 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
31
Q

Strain Theory

A
  • 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
32
Q

Merton’s 5 Adaptations to Strain

A
  1. Conformity - Accepts culturally approved goals & pursues them through culturally approved means.
  2. Ritualism - Abandon society’s goals but conform to approved means of achieving them.
  3. Innovation -
    Accepts society’s goals but adopts disapproved means of achieving them.
  4. Retreatism - Abandon both approved goals and the approved means to achieve them.
  5. Rebellion - Challenges both approved goals and means to achieving them & create an alternate set of goals/means.
33
Q

3 Sources of Strain

A
  • Failure to achieve positively valued goals
  • Presentation of negative stimuli
  • Removal of positive stimuli
34
Q

Why/When does Strain lead to crime?

A
  • 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
35
Q

Neutralization Theory

A
  • Attempts to explain why criminals feel justified in deviant behavior
  • Sykes & Matza claimed people learned to neutralize controls over criminal behavior
36
Q

5 Neutralization Techniques

A
  1. Denial of Responsibility - Views themselves as a victim of circumstance. “It wasn’t my fault”
  2. 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)
  3. Denial of Victim - Believes the victim of their crime deserved it
  4. Condemnation of the Condemners - Shifts focus onto those judging the offender (an officer) “Everyone drives drunk”
  5. Appeal to Higher Loyalties - The offender is conflicted between violating the law and violating a trust “I did it for my mother”
37
Q

Social Bond Theory

A
  • Prosocial bonds deter criminal behavior (Work, school, family, etc)
  • Everyone is capable of committing crimes, no special motivation is required
38
Q

4 Elements of social bond theory

A
  1. Attachment - affection towards others, conscience (strongest support)
  2. Involvement - “Too busy to commit crime”(weakest support)
  3. Commitment - Rationality, conformity, fear of consequences
  4. Belief - Morally good, belief of rules and laws
39
Q

Do social bonds reduce the motivation to offend?

A

No.

  • Theory claims everyone has the motivation to offend
  • Instead dictates how much control one has over deviant behavior
40
Q

Low Self-Control/General Theory of Crime

A
  • 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
41
Q

4 Ways to instill self-control

A
  • Attachment of parent to child
  • Parental supervision
  • Recognition of deviant behavior
  • Punishment of deviant behavior
42
Q

Labeling Theory

A
  • Certain labels can affect one’s behavior
  • A child labeled a criminal is more likely to conform to that label
43
Q

Primary deviance

A

Commits a crime without a label
- First-time offenses

44
Q

Secondary Deviance

A

Commits a crime having been labeled deviant prior
- Negative reaction to being labeled deviant

45
Q

Criticisms of Labeling Theory

A
  • Subjectivity of what behaviors/crimes are labeled
  • ## The term “criminal” is too subjective; is someone who jaywalks a criminal?
46
Q

Reintegrative Shaming

A
  • 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
47
Q

Disintegrative Shaming

A
  • Tough on crime approach
  • Labels the offender as criminal
  • More likely to lead to increased crime
48
Q
A

Crim Theory (1 decks)

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