Intake Flashcards
Describe in 1-2 sentences how life course research on crime differs from traditional sociological research on crime
Traditional sociological research on crime looks at between-individual differences. Life course research looks at within-individual differences.
In their article Elder et al (2003) list five life course principles. Name and describe four life course principles and give an example of each in relation to criminal behavior.
1) Social-historical time and place
Principle: Historical and societal context can influence patterns of CB
Example: Economic recession increases property crimes as people turn to theft for financial survival
2) Human agency
Principle: The capacity to exercise control over our lives.
Example: Despite a high-crime neighbourhood, an individual chooses education and avoids CB
3) Linked lives
Principle: Individuals are linked with each other
Example: Peer group involvement influences an individual to adopt CB
4) Timing
Principle: The age at which events occur affects trajectories and transitions.
Example: Early exposure to CB leads to CB in later life.
Define both self-selection and cumulative continuity, and explain in 1-2 sentences how these concepts compare/contrast.
Self-selection: Is when an individual looks for people with the same characteristics/traits, leading to CB.
Cumulative continuity: Is when certain events have causal effects on CB.
Cumulative continuity changes over time, while self-selection does not.
Steffensmeier et al (1989) argue that different types of offences have different age-crime curves. Based on their findings what type of offence is fraud and why? And what does the age-crime curve for fraud look like compared to another crime such as burglary?
According to Steffensmeier, fraud is a property offence, which is committed by older people and requires more skill. The age-crime curve for fraud starts later at around 25, instead of 16 for burglary.
According to Moffitt (1993), there are two types of offenders each with different characteristics for their offending behavior. First, name and describe the age-crime curves for these two types of offenders. Second, describe the mechanisms of onset for both types of offenders.
LCP
Age-crime curve: Early onset and stays stable over their lives.
Mechanisms: More serious offences, antisocial behavior in all domains. Interaction between neuropsychological dysfunctions and poor childhood socialization
AL
Age-crime curve: Starts at around 16 and desist by mid 20s
Mechanisms: No prior behavioral problems, minor offences, inconsistent.
According to Moffitt (1993), patterns of persistence and desistance also differ between these two types of offenders. Explain how CB might persist for both types of offenders.
LCP: can persist because of cumulative continuity, negative snares like failure in school, or peer rejection.
Al: Als can get caught in snares like addiction, dropout.
Explain two key similarities and two differences between the frameworks of Moffitt and Sampson & Laub.
Similarities
- Actors are autonomous
- Moffitt talks about social roles in AL desistance
- And how LCPs can go to cumulative continuity
Differences
- Informal social control does not talk about AL & LCPs.
- Moffitt doesn’t talk about individual differences (low self-control)
According to Ruiter (2017), connectors are important for understanding where crime occurs. Describe and give an example of how a connector can influence the likelihood of crime.
The presence of connectors can increase the likelihood of crime. Example: criminal peers.
Non-deviant mothers should be encouraged to divorce deviant fathers. First use two mechanisms of intergenerational transmission to argue why this might be helpful. Second, use two mechanisms to explain how this will likely have no effect on the child’s behavior.
And give the two mechanisms that are debatable.
Helpful
- Negative environmental context: is when the police arrests the dad, this has negative influence on the child.
- Social learning: when the father is removed the child won’t see CB from a role model anymore.
Not make a difference
- Genetic transmission: it won’t make a difference because the child has the same aggressive genes as the father.
- Assortative mating: the child has the tendency to form social bonds/relationships with people who are similar to them.
Debatable
- Official bias: it’s only the father that is criminal, so not the whole family.
Exposure to criminogenic risk factors: this is debatable because it also leads to more poverty & unstable housing.
In week 5 we learned that adolescents are disproportionately involved in crime. This can be partially explained by the effect of peers. There are two dominant ways (theoretical frameworks) in which peers may affect adolescent CB. Define both, then compare and contrast the two.
Social influence & opportunity.
Social influence = (antisocial) norms in peer group, pressure to conform
- Ridicule from peers
- Status
- Identity
Opportunity = time spent outside home (no guardianship), independent of peer deliquency
Comparison: social influence can have protective and negative effects, if peers deliquent -> more deliquency. In contrast opportunity effect is independent of peer deliquency.
At the same time, it has been shown that the trend of adolescent CB has declined over the past few decades. How can this be explained
We’ll use the opportunity framework:
Last few decades there has been a change in routine activities, increased internet use. -> less time with peers
