Final Exam Flashcards
1
Q
Origins of critical criminology
A
- Came into prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s
- These criminologists lived through the social turmoil of the 1960s
- Protesting the Vietnam war, Kent State, Attica, Watergate scandal, etc.
- Realized inequality was deeply entrenched and those in power wished to reinforce, not change, work to maintain the status quo, does not live up to the ideals they promote
- Argued traditional theories are intellectually sterile and dangerous because it ignores political powerful interests
- Ignored and left unchallenged the powerful interests that benefited from this inequality
- Also called conflict, radical, and Marxian criminology
2
Q
Main focus of conflict theory
A
There are many versions of conflict theory. All, in one way or another, are critiques of the relationship between power & crime. Focused on power dynamics.
3
Q
Conflict theories have 2 polar opposite types:
A
Pluralist conflict: Many groups exert power, tend to have brief power, and work together for brief moments
Radical, Marxist conflict (and 2 major classes in society): Proletariat & Bourgeoisie have substantial conflict of interest. Main focus of our class.
4
Q
Marxist Conflict: Perspectives in Criminology
A
The political and economic structures of capitalism promote conflict. This precipitates conditions (for example, unemployment) that allow crime to occur.
5
Q
2 stands of Marxism, instrumental and structural
A
- Instrumental marxism assumes the state and legal and political institutions are a direct reflection of the interests of the ruling/capitalist class. The state and legal system are instruments of the capitalist class.
- Structural marxism oppose the instrumental marxist assumption that the state is the direct servant of the ruling class. Instead, it argues that state institutions function in the long term interests of capitalism (to reproduce capitalist society). The state and its institutions have a certain degree of independence from specific elites in the capitalist class (relative autonomy)
6
Q
Distinguishing features of corporate crime
A
- Made up of complex or technical actions, how do we know a corporate crime when we see one vs a robbery
- Intermingled with legitimate behaviour, street crimes tend to be illegal wholly while corporate crime is practices that just went too far.
- Victimization tends to be diffuse, harm spread out thinly across different victims.
- Monetary sums quite large, successful corporate criminal takes more than all robberies in same year.
- Rarely prosecuted, hard to investigate and prosecute, penalties light, unlikely to lead to lengthy prison sentence.
- Does not fit the stereotype of a real crime.
- Corporate criminals rarely see themselves as criminals.
- Media tends not to cover it. A lot of money could be at stake, overly exciting but intrinsically unexciting not as newsworthy.
7
Q
Central themes of critical criminology
A
- Concepts of inequality and power are integral to understanding crime
- Building off the work of Karl Marx, critical criminology notes that capitalism enriches some and impoverished many
- Produces a wide economic gap
- The state operates to legitimize and protect social arrangements that benefit those profiting from capitalism
- System is designed so rich can escape prosecution, by bail etc
8
Q
Critical criminology sees _____ as the root cause of criminal behaviour
A
Capitalism.
Under capitalism, the human needs of the poor are ignored: The poor face demoralizing living conditions that foster crime by stunting healthy development. This creates fertile environment for crimes by corporations.
9
Q
Critical criminology sees the criminal justice system as serving the interests of the _______________
A
Capitalist class.
Set up to process poor and minority offenders and ignore rich and corporate offenders.
Criminal justice officials break the law as well, ex. Police brutality, receiving payoffs, etc. Capitalist class uses power to commit crimes against its own dissident citizens.
10
Q
Critical criminology: the solution to crime is _______________
A
The creation of a more equitable society.
Support humane policies aimed at preventing harm. Engage in political activity advocating a fairer distribution of wealth and power. For many, the goal of this reform effort is a socialist economy combined with a democratic political system sensitive to the needs of all citizens. Replace capitalism with socialism where means of production are commonly held.
11
Q
Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat
A
Bourgeoisie: Those who own the means of production. Often exploit the workers as they do not feel morally tied to them.
Proletariat: Workers who did not own the means of production and must sell their labor for wages.
Capitalism results in the demoralization of the working class. This condition is only alleviated when workers bond together, revolt, and create a socialist class.
12
Q
Bonger: Criminality and economic conditions
A
Willem Bonger was the first to apply Marxist thought to crime. Central thesis: The capitalist mode of production breeds crime. Key proximate cause of criminality is the mental state of egoism, egoism is rooted in economic relations and crime is a form of egoism.
13
Q
Different types of Capitalism (compassionate, keiretsu, contingent)
A
- Compassionate capitalism—stresses social solidarity, equity, and community values. Bottom-up approach, seen in Scandinavia.
- Keiretsu capitalism—paternalistic. Top-down, hierarchal approach. Seen in Japan.
- Contingent or harsh brand capitalism—seen in the United States. Leads to socially isolated and economically impoverished minority communities that are highly conducive to crime
14
Q
What is a market society? (Currie: Crime in a Market Society)
A
Market society: The pursuit of personal economic gain becomes increasingly the dominant organizing principle of social life.
Argues market societies are Darwinian societies as they offer few “cushions” against the labor market and minimal public provisions of social support. They are sink or swim societies and a breedin ground for violent crime. Sees the market economy as an amoral force that robs people of their jobs, fails to care for at-risk kids and families, and acquits the government of doing much about the human costs of inequality.
15
Q
7 pathways where the market economy creates high rates of serious crime in the US
A
- Breeds violent crime by destroying livelihoods (ppl are overworked, long term unemployment)
- Has inherent tendency toward extremes of inequality and material deprivation
- Weakens other kinds of public support (no universal care, parents must take multiple jobs to support their children)
- Withdraw public supports while simultaneously eroding informal social supports and networks of care (rapid geographical mobility, thin networks, social impoverishment)
- Promote a culture that exalts atomized and brutal individual competition and consumption over values of community and productive work (normal brutality as people are un-bonded from society, craft values have declined)
- Deregulate the technology of violence
- Weaken and erode alternative political values and institutions
16
Q
How to alter the pathways of crime created by the market society
A
- Attempt to have full employment at socially meaningful work with good wages
- Reasonable work hours
- Expand employment in public and nonprofit sectors of the economy
- Work-sharing and reduction of work time policies
- Have health and mental health care, public schooling, child care, and skills-training programs
17
Q
Hegemonic Masculinity
A
- The version of masculinity that is set apart from all others
- Considered dominant or ideal within society
- Often associated with toughness, bravado, aggression, and violence
18
Q
Emphasized Femininity
A
- The acceptance of gender inequality
- A need to support the interests and desires of men
- Womens traits are opposite of mens traits
- Often associated with empathy, compassion, passivity, and focused on beauty and physical appearance
19
Q
Intersectionality Theory (Kimberly Crenshaw)
A
- Coined by Kimberly Crenshaw speaking to lived realities of African-American women
- A concept to describe the ways in which various aspects of identity interconnect on multiple and often simultaneous levels. Can form interlocking systems of oppression: Criminal justice system, Government, Jobs especially male dominated ones
20
Q
Rise of feminist criminology
A
For much of its history, criminology has focused on men. Empirical studies used male-only samples, Theories constructed to explain why men and boys broke the law.
Early analyses of women were sexist. Viewed female criminality as a departure from “natural” female behavior that is maternal, passive, and gentle. Female lawbreakers had a pathological defect in their biological makeup or within their psyche and social factors (e.g., inequality) were given little or no importance
21
Q
Otto Pollak’s Chivalry hypothesis and it’s contrasting theory
A
Chivalry hypothesis: police and courts deal leniently with women offenders
Research shows this to be a myth
Contrasting theory: Evil women hypothesis, women actually treated more harshly because they are departing more from norms and seen as more deviant
22
Q
Rita Simon’s Women and Crime (1975)
A
Believed that a major byproduct of the women’s rights movement will be a high proportion of women who engage in criminal behaviour. Women’s entrance into the workforce would also increase their probability for white-collar crime.
23
Q
Impact and critiques on liberation and crime
A
- The empirical research doesn’t support its predictions. Increase in female arrests has occurred in traditionally female crimes and occurred before women’s right movement
Also increase may be a result of changes in police practices - Crime is more common among those women who did not achieve gender equality, those trapped in economically marginal positions, liberation movement did not affect them, true equality may reduce crime
- The liberation thesis did not consider the structural roots of inequality between men and women, did not address patriarchy
24
Q
In what ways did female violence change between 1960 and 1990
A
- Women in 1990s less likely to act on their own, more likely to have partner
- More likely to use guns
- More likely to be motivated by a need for money or drugs
- More likely to report they have a family member who has been incarcerated
- Less likely to have been arrested before 21
25
Short answer question: How does gender intersect with race/ethnicity and class to affect crime?
- Saints and roughnecks
- Female crime treated differently
- Gender differences often ignored
- Existing theories cannot explain female crime
- White collar crime ignored, females often cannot commit white collar crime due to "boys clubs"
- Abuse as a pathway to crime for girls. Run away from sexual victimization, runaways are often returned home by the state. Once on the street, they are forced to commit crimes to survive by stealing money, food and clothing, prostitution. Their survival strategies are criminalized.
- GANGS AS A MALE PHENOMENON - The tendency NOT to focus on females while talking about gangs (Cohen, Miller, etc).
- Intersections of race and class: Dual problems faced by racialized women, racism and sexism become magnified due to blocked legitimate opportunities. Ex of race criminology readings that politicians further marginalize communities through mass incarceration and break up families.
- Race is often a control variable and also ignored
- Mass incarceration hasn't affected all communities equally but is concentrated among poor, minority males
- Harder for women to take advantage of market society due to wage and hiring inequlaities
- Intersectionality theory
26
Gendering of general strain theory
- Broidy and Agnew explain the gender gap with general strain theory
- Males and females experience similar amounts of strain
- Males more likely to experience strains conducive to crime
- Males often react to strain with moral outrage, females react with depression and guilt
- Males more likely to cope through crime because they have higher negative emotionality, lower constraint, more deviant associations, lower social and self control, more beliefs favourable to crime
27
Gendering control theory
- Costello and Mederer (2003) argue women are more controlled than men and thus have lower crime rates
- Women are socialized to exercise more self-control and show more concern for others
- Women are more closely supervised and are more likely to be sanctioned by others when they display aggression
- Women are more involved in non criminal activities like childcare and household work
28
Patriarchy and Crime
* Radical feminism places patriarchy at the center of its analysis
* Has especially illuminated disparities in sentencing and crime control and victimizations of women by men and their sanctions
* The oppression of women, including their criminal victimization, is seen as a major cause of female offending
* Argues a need for gender-specific theories that take into account the role of patriarchy and the gendered experiences of women
29
Chesney-Lind: “A Feminist Theory of Female Delinquency”
* Existing theories cannot explain female crime
* Focus exclusively on men without taking into account female social experiences
* Does not agree with the liberation perspective
* Argues girls are frequently the recipients of violence and sexual abuse and can do little to fight back against their abusers
* Patriarchy is conducive to such abuse because females are, in general, objectified as sexual property
* Girls are easily defined as sexually attractive by older men and must "utilize" their resource (physical desirability)
* In addition, official action of the juvenile justice system is a major force of oppression and reinforces women’s place in society. Parents likely to insist on daughters arrest
30
Two schools of thought on female gangs
Passive: female gang members are merely girlfriends, lovers, little sisters of male gangsters
Active: girls are becoming more independent, assertive, aggressive tough and brutal like boys, especially with women increasing involvement in workforce/public sphere
31
Common traits of gang members
General rule-gang members have high dropout rates, school performance continues to be a strong predictor of chronic deviance. Gang becomes a surrogate family to young people with challenging lives with abuse at home and trauma.
32
Video: What would you do, Vandals racism in America
- White kids clearly vandalizing car in broad daylight, people ignored it and only one person called
- Black teenagers sleeping in cars or vandalizing, people called police on them. More people called police for them than White children
- 10 calls for Black vandals, 1 call for White vandals
33
1/11 Black adults 18+ compared to 1/45 White adults under correctional supervision in the US, why is there such racial disparity?
- No racial differences using or selling of drugs, however, Black people are sent to prison more often and for longer prison terms
- Tonry argues that the racial disparities in prison are a result of the war on drugs
- Black people are more involved in serious violence offences: 6x more likely to be murdered than White people, Firearm homicide rates for Black people is 14.6 per 100,000 compared to 1.9 per 100,000 White people.
34
Arguments for and against collecting race-based statistics of crime
Arguments in favour
- Help identify discrimination in CJS
- Identify areas of concern for particular communities
- Help challenge biological arguments of race
Arguments against
- Problems in measuring race, race is a social construct
- Role of police in creating statistics
- Could be used by racists to justify differential treatment
35
What is racial profiling
Any action undertaken for reasons of safety, security or public protection that relies on stereotypes, rather than on reasonable suspicion to single an individual for greater scrutiny or different treatment
36
The homicide rate for Indigenous people more than ____ times the rate for non-Indigenous Canadians and Indigenous ________ are most likely to be murdered
6-8, males
37
Racial invariance thesis
Says that race holds no credibility as a cause of violence, may not be true
38
Racial animus and Crime (DuBois)
- DuBois, in the Philadelphia Negro, addressed the role of racial animus (meaning racial discrimination) in crime. Although subtle, still dangerous.
- Black people unfairly blocked from advancement, which breeds an atmosphere of rebellion and discontent
- Enduring effects of racial oppression seen in persistence of racially segregated and impoverished neighborhoods
- Still have discrimination today: 2/3 Black people believe discrimination is a big problem today and are more likely to see the CJS as unjust than white people
39
Social disorganization within an ecological area contributing factors
Poverty, ethnic heterogeneity and residential instability lead to a breakdown of norms and social control and a cultural transmission of criminal behaviour which is passed down through generations.
Theories that support: anomie theory, social disorganization theory
40
Social disharmony and racial injustice (graph by W. E. B. DuBois)
Legacies of slavery and failed reconstruction lead to urbanization and migration to cities. This creates a social environment of exclusion as well as poor housing conditions, economic exclusion and racial prejudice. Results in structural strain and rebellion.
Examples of this occurring: redlining and carding. Black people fleeing the south, thousands of people migrating to the north, creating urbanization. Can be used to talk about Indigenous people in Canada. Differential responses from the police who arrest Black people more.
41
Black Criminology and its three assumptions
Proposed by Unnever and colleagues. Race is a starting point to explain Black people's involvement in crime.
Three assumptions
1. White people purposefully constructed a racially stratified society that oppresses Black people
2. The US has been and is a racialized society
3. Assumes that a minority of Black people commit crimes because of their inimitable past and current racial subordination
42
_______ victims of homicide were reported as a visible minority
30%. And of those, 50% were Black.
43
Clears: Coercive mobility hypothesis
- Incarceration -> Breakdown in informal controls and exacerbate social disorganization -> More crime
- Mass incarceration hasn't affected all communities equally but is concentrated among poor, minority males
- In highly impoverished communities, as many as 1/5 of all men are incarcerated which creates family and economic problems and reduces political participation, all of which reducing the level of control in an area
- Going to prison is seen as a "rite of passage" for young Black men and a bedrock experience
44
Clears: Coercive mobility four central points
1. The growth in the US prison system, sustained for over 30 years, has had a small effect on crime
2. Growth in imprisonment has been concentrated among poor, minority males who live in impoverished communities
3. Concentrated incarceration in those impoverished communities has broken families, weakened the social control capacity of parents, eroded economic strength, soured attitudes toward society and distorted politics as well as increased crime
4. Any attempt to overcome the problems of crime will have to encompass a combination of sentencing reforms (diversion, mental health courts, legalization) and philosophical realignment (restorative justice)
45
Incarceration may not decrease crime because (specific offender reasons)
- The person incarcerated is replaced on the street
- Almost all who imprisoned are eventually released
- Labeling effects of those who go to prison
- There has been a discontinuity between imprisonment rates and crime rates
46
Effects of going to prison on the individual include
- Earning less money during their lifetimes
- Making it harder to stay employed
- Making the person less likely to marry
- Having more psychological or medical problems
47
Basis of developmental theories
* Human personality and behavioral patterns emerge through a developmental process that unfolds from birth onward
* What occurs early in life may shape what occurs later in life
* Criminology had traditionally ignored the work on the life course. It focused on sociology and had little interest in how individuals developed over time.
* Rather, focused on what happens when an
individual is placed in a certain social context
48
Developmental perspectives are ________, traditional criminological theories are _______
Dynamic, static. Developmental theories study whether an individuals behaviour remains stable or changes over time while traditional theories assume contexts have stable and enduring effects on people and pays little attention to what occurred in childhood.
49
The lack of focus on the childhood by traditional criminological theories is probably a result of two factors:
1. Participation in crime peaks in the teenage years (around 17-18), thus the relevance of childhood was not apparent. It made sense to ask about the teen/juvenile years.
2. Studying juveniles was practical. Teens were an ideal population to investigate because it was easy to survey them in school and get self-report data.
50
Most early research on adolescents was _________. _____________ research studies subjects over time.
Cross sectional, meaning it did not follow youth over time but studied different subjecrs at one point in time. This is time and cost effective but cannot consider factors that occur over time.
Longitudinal can see how early events in life impact later life event. This is difficult and requires teams of researchers and is cost and time intensive.
51
Glueck and Glueck: Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency, important contributions
The Gluecks’ work showed the importance of highlighting the differences between delinquents and nondelinquents
This research had three important contributions:
1. Embraced a multifactor approach where the causes of crime were driven by the data, not a single theory
2. Showed early antisocial behavior was related to later criminal behavior and thus criminal involvement was a dynamic developmental process. There was a good deal of stability from youth to early adulthood. Said criminal involvement is developmental; what happens at one stage in life influences what happens at the next
3. Showed antisocial youths not only are shaped by their circumstances but also impact the social world
52
Critiques of Glueck and Glueck: Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency
Sutherland attacked this work, saying it was atheoretical and downplayed sociological factors. Sociologists rejected the work, saying it was flawed methodologically and portrayed offenders as biologically deficient.
53
Three theoretical implications of developmental/life course theories
1. Central causes of crime lie in childhood
2. Theories focusing on what happens in the teen years are incomplete, if not incorrect as relatively few youths become serious, chronic offenders during juvenile years
3. Link between childhood and later deviance shows a dynamic developmental process
54
Developmental theories use the term __________ to describe how people vary in their orientation toward criminal conduct
heterogeneity
55
Developmental theories tend to agree that childhood is a time during which a criminal
trajectory starts, which they call _________
onset
56
Developmental theories of crime attempt to explain various stages of criminal offending:
* Onset
* Frequency
* Insistence
* Duration
* Desistance
57
Developmental (or Life-Course) Theories: Three Categories
1. Theories of continuity: Behavior is continuous and stable
2. Theories of continuity OR change: Behavior is either continuous/stable or begins on one pathway and departs, heading in an alternative direction (micro theory)
3. Theories of continuity AND change: Behavior is continuous/stable but can also begin on one
pathway and depart, heading in an alternative direction
58
Theories of Continuity
Individual trait perspectives tend to be theories of continuity
* Argue that once a trait emerges or becomes part of someone’s personality, this trait is hard to get rid of
* The person carries the criminogenic trait across time and social contexts
* Since the trait is enduring, the involvement in crime is also enduring
* Sociological theories are implicitly continuity theories
* Imply once a person is criminal, he or she remains criminal
* Rarely address desistance; however, some do (Sampson and Laub)
59
Theories of Continuity or Change
These theories argue there are two different pathways, with one marked by continuity and
the other marked by change
* Moffitt argues the peak of crime in the teenage years seen in the age–crime curve conceals two groups that take different developmental pathways into crime
* Her two-group taxonomy includes:
1. Life-course-persistent offenders (LCPs)
2. Adolescence-limited offenders (ALs)
* During adolescence, the age–crime curve peaks because both the LCPs and the ALs are offending
60
Moffitt's two pathways (example of theory of continuity or change)
Life course persistent offenders (LCPs)
- Continuity of offending, start early and continue past adolescence
- Small percentage of population (5%)
- Antisocial behaviour stable across social contexts
- Offender alone
- Expression changes in new social opportunities
- Neuropsychological deficits
- Often born into disadvantaged families and criminogenic environments
- Cumulative continuity
Adolescence-limited offenders (ALs)
- Change of offending, criminality restricted to teenage years and adulthood brings desistance
- Large percentage of population
- Antisocial behaviour not consistent across contexts
- Offend in groups, social mimicry
- Consequences of crime escalate, when conventional roles are available they stop engaging in crime
- No neurological deficits
- Age out of crime when they achieve social and biological maturity
- Most do not continue although can become trapped into crime
61
Neuropsychological deficits in life-course persistent offenders
- Brain development is disrupted through exposure to drugs, toxins, poor nutrition leading to poor self control and low cognitive ability.
- Verbal and executive functions are particularly important and have been found to be associated with antisocial behavior across the life course
* Verbal deficits affect listening, reading, problem solving, expressive speech, writing,
and memory
* Executive functioning produces a compartmental learning disability, includes inattention and impulsivity
62
Neuropsychological meaning (from Moffitt's pathways in the life course to crime)
Neuropsychological refers to anatomical structures and physiological processes within the nervous system that influence psychological characteristics such as temperament, behavioral development, and/or cognitive abilities
* Neuropsychological deficits impact a child’s cognitive, motor, and/or personality development
* Low birth weights and symptoms of brain dysfunction have been shown to be related to difficult temperaments at ages 1-3 and other problems as the child ages (e.g., overactivity,
impulsivity, temper tantrums, poor attention, poor school performance), which is linked to even further antisocial behavior in the future
63
How individual traits/neuropsychological deficits are linked to misconduct and social failure throughout life
Lock individuals into crime by the way they interact with the social environment to create disadvantage and ensnare individuals in an antisocial life
* Often evoke harsh/erratic parenting (evocative interactions) because they are more difficult and have more deficits
* Interpret ambiguous situations as hostile and people as having harmful intent (reactive interactions)
* Select and create environments that support their deviant lifestyles (proactive interactions). Research has shown they associate with, and even marry, deviant others
64
In addition to neuropsychological deficits, these children are often not born into intact, wealthy families:
* Rather, these vulnerable children are born into disadvantaged families
* Often raised in criminogenic environments and see stability in aggression across generations
* Parents and children resemble one another on temperament, personality, and cognitive abilities
* Parents often lack the physical and psychological resources to handle a difficult child
65
Overall, individual deficits or traits produce stability of offending in LCPs in two interrelated ways:
1. By the traits’ constant, contemporary effects/consequences which carries the same underlying traits from childhood to adulthood
2. By the way the traits foster cumulative continuity by leading to lost opportunities, failures, and poor choices that prune
away the options for change (snowball effect)
66
There are two sources of continuity that narrow the options for change for life-course persistent offenders
1. Failing to learn conventional prosocial behavior
* Behavioral repertoires consist almost solely of antisocial behaviors
* Miss out on opportunities at each stage of development to acquire and practice prosocial alternatives
2. Becoming ensnared in a deviant lifestyle by crime’s consequences
* Often make irrevocable decisions that close off opportunities
* Teenage parenthood, drug/alcohol addiction, patchy work histories, time incarcerated
* Labeled “bad” and get a bad reputation
Interventions with LCPs have not been successful. The theory of LCPs emphasizes the constant process of reciprocal interactions between personal traits and the environmental reactions to them
67
As youths enter adolescence, their developmental challenge is to overcome
___________ created by the mismatch between their adult biological development and modern society’s expectation that they refrain from adult behaviors for several years (e.g., sexual activity, smoking, drinking)
the maturity gap, the gap between social and biological maturity is their motivation for delinquency
68
Role of social mimicry in adolescent limited offenders
* Motivation for delinquency is translated into social mimicry. During adolescence, LCPs often become popular because they are role models for the AL youth
* The ALs often offend in groups, while LCPs will offend alone
* Delinquency is self-reinforcing in that it shows, symbolically, autonomy from adults and maturity and is seen as a statement of independence and maturity
69
Unlike their life-course persistent counterparts, most adolescence-limited offenders desist from crime
* Causal factors of ALs are proximate and specific to the period of adolescent
development, so adulthood brings desistance
* The maturity gap closes; adult conventional roles become available
* Consequences of crime escalate and there is a decrease in the appeal and reinforcements
of delinquency (e.g., can lose job, spouse, kids)
* Thus, their antisocial behavior is characterized by discontinuity, or change, and is limited to their adolescent years
* Exempt from contemporary consequences and cumulative continuity
70
Adolescents who do not engage in crime may not have:
1. Experienced the maturity gap
- Late puberty or early initiation into adult roles
- Lack the motivation for experimenting with crime
2. Had access to antisocial role models
- Fewer opportunities in rural than urban areas
- Have personalities that make them unattractive to other teens (ex. Tense, overcontrolled, lack personal skills, timid)
71
Sui generis (critical criminology)
The merchant must buy labour to be able to produce labour
72
How paid labour negatively influences young people
- They think of only their own interests
- They are brought into contact with bad/immoral people
- They become independent in an age where they need guidance
73
How does ignorance create crime?
A person who is ignorant does not learn, for example at school. Ignorant people are also moved by impulse
74
How does "Maslov's hierarchy of needs" relate to critical criminology?
Poverty kills the social sentiments in man and destroys all relations. If people cannot fulfill survival needs like food (first step in the hierarchy of needs), then they cannot revolt or protest over mistreatment (a higher step in the hierarchy of needs)
75
What did Wilson believe were the root causes of crime, was he correct? What was Currie's response?
Wilson believed that root causes of crime don't exist or are beyond the control of government and argued that social welfare policies would not reduce crime, saying that the only answer is prisons. This is incorrect.
Currie responded and explained that increasing prison populations do not decrease crime. Lack of government support results in bad economy and inequalities and creates crime. Early intervention and other programs can also reduce crime.
76
Adler: Sisters in crime theories
Believed that female equality would increase female crime. Although this did not happen. Believed that social experiences shape life choices and crime choices that women make, not biology.
77
What did Chesney-Lind say is the main master status?
Said that gender is master status in virtually every social interaction and most defining feature of gender roles is patriarchy.
78
What is one of the main pathways to crime for women?
Escaping physical/sexual abuse and living on the street, having to resort to prostitution and theft. Thus criminalizing girls survival.
79
Power-control model of delinquency
Says that girls commit less delinquency in part because their behaviour is more closely controlled by the patriarchal family. Authors also say mothers entering work force increases daughters delinquency.
80
Escalating process in life course offending
Growing up in a negative environment = negative traits = increased exposure to more negative environments
81
Difference between Moffitt's theory and traditional crime theories
Moffitt's theory describes how traits and social environments interact to make persistent antisocial behaviour. Traditional crime theories only look at adolescent crime and don't explain patterns of offending over time
82
Examples of early factors in life that result in lifelong deviance
- Infant neural development being affected by poor nutrition and toxic agents
- Complications during delivery
- Deprivation of stimulation and affection
- Child abuse and neglect
83
Reactive vs proactive interaction (developmental theories)
Reaction: When different youngsters exposed to the same environment experience, interpret and react to it in accordance with their particular style
Proactive: when people select or create environments that support their own styles
84
Cumulative vs contemporary consequences (developmental theories)
Cumulative: every individual difference may snowball into cumulative consequences. For example tantrums predict lower educational attainment. Without longtime offending, there is less snowball.
Contemporary: arises if life course offender carries into adulthood the same underlying constellation of traits that got them into trouble as a child. For example they used to be impulsive and they still are.
85
Restricted behavioural repertoire (developmental theories)
Theory of life course offenders that says causal sequence begins very early and formative years are dominated by both cumulative and contemporary continuity. As a result they are given little opportunity to learn prosocial alternatives.
86
Have interventions for life course offenders been successful?
Interventions for life course offenders have dismal results because they begin relatively late in the chain of cumulative continuity and the offenders just use those opportunities just to do further crime
87
What does life course theory say about nature vs nurture causing crime?
It is the constant process of interaction between traits and environmental reactions that cause crime continuity
88
When must the pattern of crime be established by for a life course persistent offender?
Must be established by late adolescence
89
3 conditions for adolescent delinquency
Motivation, social mimicry and reinforcement
90
Four features to the structural turning point process
1) experience a structural turning point
2) as a result, the offender is subjected to increased informal social control and is offered support
3) routine activities are transformed
4) commitment to new life
91
What is an important factor in whether or not structural turning point stops a person from offending?
Structural turning point provides opportunity to change but does not enforce conformity in a deterministic way. Human agency is an important element into life course offending.
92
Becker: Side Bets
When men make commitments without realizing and then realize how much time and energy they spent and don't want to lose it (ex. marriage)
93
Common traits of persistent offenders
Residential, marital and job instability. Failure in school and military. Long periods of incarceration. Unstructured routines.
94
Critique of structural theories (from race and crime chapter)
They don't look at why the structures are like that and what political choices are being made to further marginalize communities
95
Critical factor that underlies crime-inducing cognitive landscapes
Social isolation resulting in a lack of interaction with individuals that represent mainstream society
96
Racial inequality is the product of:
Concious political decisions and macro-sociological changes. For example residential inequality that creates social isolation and an ecological concentration of the disadvantages which leads to adaptations that undermine crime control
97
2 most important determinants of the relationship between race and crime
1) Structural social disorganization: from low economic status, ethnic heterogeneity and residential mobility
2) Cultural social isolation: culturally transmitted social norms and lack of prosocial individuals
98
Why does higher rates of incarceration in Black communities increase crime
- Breaks up families, resulting in less child supervision and support
- Creates economic problems as there are less employees and people cannot find jobs when they get out of jail, meaning more poverty and lower human capital
- Money spent on prisons is less money spent in the community on social welfare
- Political disconnect as ex-convicts cannot vote
- Weakened social control in communities when many people are behind bars
99
Goals of community justice
Restoration of victims losses, maintaining offenders in communities, punitive sanctions
100
Community justice strategies
1) Focus on high incarceration places
2) Attention to norms in the places where crime is prevalent
3) Attempts to improve schools, jobs, housing
