Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards
principles of life course criminology
Relation to other events; potential effect of any life event is determined by its relation to other events and its timing in the life course.
The meaning and consequence of any event for an individual is related to the prevailing social context and the life history of that person
importance of principles for biosocial criminology
Principles highlight the non-uniform response of individuals to similar social processes
career criminal
Crime is your career; started committing crime young and continued to commit crime.
life course criminology
the interconnection of trajectories influenced by societal changes and short term developmental transitions
relative behavior
Behavior is relative to what everyone else is doing
absolute behavior
…
measurement of stability
Different models place varying emphasis on levels of stability and change across time, the direction of stability, and the timing of stability and change
Empirical findings of stability
Virtually every study that includes measures of early problem behavior reveals that measurable individual differences predict variation in frequent, serious adult criminal behavior
Youths who engage in extremely high rates of misbehavior early in life are more likely to continue to engage in antisocial behavior
(Density hypothesis )
Youths who show ASB across settings, such as school and home, are more likely to continue their antisocial conduct
Youths who engage in a variety of antisocial acts, as opposed to a limited number of acts, are at increased risk of continuing ASB into the future (Variety hypothesis)
The earlier the onset of ASB, the more likely it is to continue
Highly aggressive behavior is found not only within individuals across settings but within families across generations
(Intergenerational continuity )
Levels of stability are higher for certain youths
continuity of antisocial potential
Continuity refers to the psychological structures, to the personality traits, or to the learned behaviors that carry forward from one developmental time period to the next
State Dependence
SD refers to the ability of past behavior to influence future behavior
Population Heterogeneity
PH states that differences between individuals in their participation in crime and ASB are a direct result of variation in the underlying propensity to engage in crime.
Why study Biosocial Criminology
Most criminological theories - including most of life course theories - exclude any mention of biology and genetic
Common Misconceptions about biological explanations to CB
How could bio matter to the explanation of crime if laws are ever changing
Mala in se(Crimes that are inherently evil (Ex: rape))
Mala prohibita (Socially prescribed crimes (Ex: prostitution))
SSSMs
Standard Social Science Methodologies
Problem with SSSMs
spuriousness
correlation
Correlation coefficient “r”
Just because two variables are related, does not mean that one causes the other
“Correlation does not equal causation”
spouriousness
when two variables seem to be related, but it is through a third variable
Nature vs Nurture
Most criminologists assume variables can be neatly divided into these that are social and those that are biological
Problem with Nature vs Nurture
Almost all variables are biosocial: due to the effect s of both the environment and biology