MIDTERM II Flashcards
What is theory and how does it help us?
- Set of verifiable principles about a thing or behaviour.
- our world, our behaviours, things we encounter in out being
- Make the familiar seem strange (goes without)
- should it be the way it is? and if not, what then?
- It helps us to explain the world in which we live
- always us to think differently about the world around us
- allows us as individuals to engage with the world around us
What were Pre-Enlightenment Theories of Crime Like?
- Theories of crime were inspired by religious beliefs and superstition
- There was widespread belief in evil spirits and magic.
- People ascribed various unusual phenomena of nature to the activities of evil spirits
- This led to the belief that any pathology in human behaviour must also be due to evil spirits
- Church dominated life
- People who committed crimes were “tempted” by the devil to do so
-> DEMONOLOGY - everything that happened was a result of forces of good and evil.
- Led to very harsh punishments of offenders who were seen as threats to religious order as well as to the social order. -> torture and capital punishment for hundreds of offences; trial by ordeal (hot water, hot iron, dunking) or combat.
What were the two explanations for the role of evil that spirits played in sinful behaviour prior to the enlightenment era?
- Temptation
- The Devil tempts; righteous believers are told they can resist the Devil through their faith.
- Those who are sinful are weak and morally inferior
- Possession
- Wrongdoers are possessed by evil spirits and no longer able to chose between good and evil.
- Evidence of guilt determined through trials is intended to differentiate between the righteous and the sinner.
- Severe and often fatal methods used to rid a person of such spirits.
Why did people use demonology in the pre-enlightenment era?
- Religious and political elites sought to silence rebellious people in times of social upheaval.
- Blaming social problems on the Devil and other evil spirits was a means to achieve two objectives:
- It diverted attention from the failings of elites and placed blame on individuals who were “possessed” by the Devil.
- Those in power made themselves indispensable by saying only they could stop the Devil.
→ eg. Witches → set out as the reasons why things weren’t going well → became a scapegoat
- Those challenging the status quo were branded as heretics and subject to extreme punishment
- Witches became a scapegoat for anger:
–The accused were mostly women, especially independent women not protected by a male.
–Witch hunts reinforced the power of the existing social hierarchy - Women had natural lustful and weaker natures that could be tempted to sin
- Feared women independence → many men and women found them threatening → attack them to get rid of “the devil within”
- Women pushed against the roles set for women → omg witch!
What was the Enlightenment about/what did it bring?
- The scientific revolution brought about during the Enlightenment caused a change in thinking.
- The focus was on systematic doubt, and empirical and sensory verification of ideas.
- Scientific method
- Ideas shifted to naturalistic explanation based on reason and the scientific method (observation).
- Which prompted a more scientific approach to understanding crime and criminal behaviour
- What Is Enlightenment?’ (1784), the German philosopher Immanuel Kant summed up the era’s motto in the following terms: ‘Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!’
- We can question what we think we know!
What is the Enlightenment Philosopher’s View of Society?
- Society is comprised of free and rational human beings. This view leads to calls for more individual rights and freedoms.
- People enter into a social contract: they agree to give up some freedom for a safer society
- This contributed to the movement through Europe to reform governance and criminal justice.
What was Classical Theory of the Enlightenment Period Like?
- RADICAL DEPARTURE FROM DEMONIC THEORIES ~
- CRIME IS THE RESULT OF FREE WILL NOT POSSESSION (DETERMINED BY OUTSIDE FORCES)
- HUMANS ARE HEDONISTIC
- CESARE BECCARIA (AND HOBBES) SAID PEOPLE ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE STATE FOR THEIR MUTUAL BENEFIT.
- Beccaria criticized the cruelty, inhumanity, and arbitrariness of the current justice system.
- In eighteenth-century England, as many as 350 offences were punishable by death.
- Eg. kid in pre-enlightenment Montreal → stole some bread → they cut of his hand
- So Beccaria wanted to create a criminal justice system that was fair, transparant and that ppl knew what the punishments associated with such actions
- Punishment ought to be focused on prevention
Who was Cesare Beccaria and what did he say?
Who was the FIRST criminologist.
- Classical Theory (enlightenment period)
- He said/advocated for:
-> Fairness
-> Proportionality → punishment should fit the crime
->Trials should be public
-> The law should be public and widely available
-> Should outlaw capital punishment
-> Everyone is equal before the law
What were reforms proposed by classical theorists based on?
- Reforms proposed by the Classical Theorists were based on radical new theory of the causes of crime.
- People broke the law BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT DOING SO WOULD ADVANCE THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
- people are hedonistic
- This theory was based on the assumption that people are RATIONAL beings who calculate the consequences of their actions.
- People broke the law BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT DOING SO WOULD ADVANCE THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
- Therefore society needed a system of punishment that was severe enough to deter, but not so harsh that rights were violated.
- Crime could be prevented if punishments were
- Swift
- Certain
- And slightly greater than the pleasure gained from the action
→ The biggest deterrent of crime happens right after you get caught → bc it’s embarrassing → immediate impact of “oh shit i just got caught” has the biggest benefit to deterring crime and criminality.
- Crime could be prevented if punishments were
- the further into the system you go and the further removed the punishment is from the crime
- punishing according to deed
What was Early Punishment like?
- Death
- Fines
- Corporal punishment
- Shaming: Stock, Pillory
- No prisons as such - more as ‘holding’ cells
What was the Penal Treadmill and who created it?
- William Cubitt, a civil engineer raised in a family of millwrights, created the treadmill—which was also called the treadwheel in the early days—in 1818
- Caused many deaths → having heart attacks and things like that
- If you got caught, they would make you walk on this treadwheel → like a stair stepper → the wheel would grind up grain to make wheat/grain etc.
- But Beccaria said you couldn’t do this → bc it could give ppl pleasure → grounding grain was productive
- Punishment should be punishment for punishment sake → should not have a totalitarian factor
What is the Modern Legacy of Classical Theory of Crime?
- Successful deterrence is a function of:
- Certainty of punishment
- Celerity of punishment (speed - prompt)
- Severity of punishment
- And, the exemplarity
- We should make an example out of that individual so others learn
- If nobody knows about it, it is not going to have effect
- Need to have public face → ppl need to know what the punishment for certain crime is
- 3 types/forms of deterrence
- General deterrence
- gram of coke → we will sen this individual to jail for a year → to say that this behaviour is unacceptable and making them an example of everybody else
- Specific deterrence
- eg. person gets picked up for shoplifting → we want to deter that individual from engaging in that type of behaviour in the future → specific to that individual
- eg. person gets picked up with a gram of coke → we say this behaviour is unacceptable and we say they will spend 3 months worth of weekends in jail
- Restrictive deterrence
- trying to control crime and criminality in a very specific area. → restricted to a specific area → trying to deter behaviour in general in that space
- eg. photo radar → on Whitemud → eg. everybody knows that truck will be there from time to time → everyone will slow down → the idea is to slow ppl down
- General deterrence
What are the three types/forms of deterrence?
- General deterrence
- Specific deterrence
- Restrictive deterrence
What is General Deterrence?
gram of coke → we will send this individual to jail for a year → to say that this behaviour is unacceptable and making them an example of everybody else
What is specific deterrence?
eg. person gets picked up for shoplifting → we want to deter that individual from engaging in that type of behaviour in the future → specific to that individual
- eg. person gets picked up with a gram of coke → we say this behaviour is unacceptable and we say they will spend 3 months worth of weekends in jail
What is restrictive deterrence?
- trying to control crime and criminality in a very specific area. → restricted to a specific area → trying to deter behaviour in general in that space
- eg. photo radar → on Whitemud → eg. everybody knows that truck will be there from time to time → everyone will slow down → the idea is to slow ppl down
Why is deterrence such a controversial topic?
- ruining someone’s reputation
- not everybody who commits a crime is doing it for the same reasons
- utilitarianism → we should treat people as ends in themselves and not means to some further end
- we should just deal with the person for what they’ve done, not for the greater good → we should treat that person on the basis of what they’ve done → shouldn’t try to make an example of a person to benefit others
→ Prevention → we need to make it such that an individual who engages in certain behaviour is certain to be caught
- we should just deal with the person for what they’ve done, not for the greater good → we should treat that person on the basis of what they’ve done → shouldn’t try to make an example of a person to benefit others
What were Common Features of the Positive School (of Criminology)?
- Belief in the perfectibility of society progress
- Society was also infinetely flawed
- Assume body and mind differences between people
- Not just hedonists
- Differences in experience → ppls bodies and experiences are different → if we can understand why certain “body types” and “experiences” lead to criminality, we can solve the problem.
- Belief that punishment should fit the individual criminal, not the crime
- eg. instead of punishing the crime of speeding, what we ought to do is figure out what is going on in the life of that individual.
- punishment according to need
- Belief that the CJS should be guided by scientific experts
- back in the old days juvenile court judges did not have any legal training eg. ministers, principals of school → training they had was in humanity and human behaviour → principals were working with youth for years
- who better to understand the individuals needs than a principal or minister?
- Assume criminals can be treated, rehabilitated, corrected, reintegrated.
- no longer looking at deterrence as main philosophy
What was the contrast of the positive school with the classical school of criminology?
- No biological/physical/mental differences among offending groups
- rational/calculating actors
- hedonistic
- motivated by self interest
- maximize pleasure, but avoid pain
- the reason your friend took the last piece of pizza
- therefore, deterrence was accepted and dominant mode of punishment
Who was Cesare Lombroso?
- Often referred to as the “father of modern criminology”
- Most important work on “the Criminal Man”
- Suggested there are basic differences (physical) compared to criminal offenders and non-criminals
- said we could identify different kinds of criminals based on their physical characteristics (eg. those who do theft, those who do violent crime)
- appealing idea bc population in cities were increasing → and it gave an ‘easy’ way to determine who were criminals or not! → all you have to do, is find these physical characteristics! → which would make society better
- influenced by Eugenics (from social darwinism)
- “people become criminals because they were born out of sync with social evolution”
- They are atavists ~ throw backs to an earlier evolutionary period which is marked on the body
- bc offenders were part of an earlier stage of human evolution
- connected; Degeneration → offenders have characteristics of primordial humans → deformed compared to those evolved humans
- measured ppls heights, weight, sizes of hands, etc.
- according to him, the offender was a different type of human → different characteristics that made them different form other ppl → large jaw, asymetric face, epilepsy. etc.
- “born offenders”
- did not agree with the philosophy of free will
- His work was influenced by:
- Darwin
- Lavater
- Gall
What is an Atavist?
throw backs to an earlier evolutionary period which is marked on the body.
- popular concept of Lombroso and Positive School
What was the main point of Lombroso and the Positive School?
- Main point
- To understand early positive theories of crime that focused on Biology
- Objectives:
- Understand the meaning and influence of “positivism”
- Learn about the different “positive theories” that look to biology to explain criminality, including:
- Physique and crime - body type theories
- Mental deficiency and feeblemindedness
- XYY Chromosomes and Criminal Behaviour
- Psychological Models of Deviance
- Characteristics:
- Protruding brow bone, sinister look
What was the 2nd Influence on Lombroso’s Work?
Physiognomy.
- Making judgements about people’s character from appearance of their faces
- Outward appearance can predict the hidden inclinations or dispositions of the soul.
- Founder G. Baptiste della Porte (1535-1615) associated following with criminals:
- small ears
- bushy eyebrows
- small noses
- large lips
- If we can map human faces on animals, we can map who might be criminals
- eg. this person has a hooked nose like a crow → they will share characteristics
What was the 3rd influence on Lombroso’s work?
PHRENOLOGY
- study of the external characteristics of a person’s skull
- indicator of his or her personality, abilities, or general propensities
- bumps on their skull map out certain characteristics
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p099tghy/is-phrenology-the-weirdest-pseudoscience-of-them-all-
- some bumps on the skull indicate lower brain function
- e.g. combativeness
- other bumps represent higher functions and propensities
- e.g. morality
- crime occurs when the bumps indicate that the lower propensities are winning out over the higher propensities