Short Answer Questions Flashcards
Identify and describe Merton’s “modes of adaptation” to strain. Provide examples of each mode
- The conformist (average person): they buy into the goals
- The innovator: doesn’t have access to legitimate means (ex. scarface)
- The ritualist: doesn’t buy into institutionalized means but they have access (ex. working a 9-5)
- The retreatist: Doesn’t care about cultural goods or have access to institutionalized means (ex. drug subcultures)
- The rebel: they think our current system contributes to inequality and they don’t buy in (ex. protestors)
CIRRR
What is a subculture? According to Albert Cohen, what is the “middle-class measuring rod” and how does it contribute to delinquency?
- A subculture is a group of people who share culture beliefs and behaviours that differs from of the larger society
- Albert Cohen’s middle-class measuring rod is a set of standards for guiding day-to-day conduct, life aspirations and measures of success
- His theory contributed to delinquency because he found that boys who came from middle-class families could adapt to these rules, boys from lower-class families had no parents who could help them or read them bedtime stories
Example: raising your hand
Compare and contrast the concepts of primary deviation and secondary deviation
- Primary deviation: the initial incidence of an act causing an authority figure to label an individual deviant
- Secondary deviation: the internalization of a deviant label
Comparison
* A label is applied
Contrast
* The label sticks with secondary deviation and can amplify
Identify and describe the major techniques of neutralization. Provide an example of each technique.
- Neutralization Techniques: a way of rationalizing deviant behaviour
DDBAC - NEAUTRALIZATION
- Denial of Responsibility: that a deviant act was not your fault and beyond one’s control (ex. peer pressure)
- Denial of Injury: that a deviant act did not result in the harm to the victim (ex. shoplifting)
- Blaming the victim: the victim is responsible for their own victimization (ex. “you shouldn’t have been walking in that neighbourhood”)
- Condemnation of the Condemners:
that one is not at fault because the system itself is corrupt (ex. a student who plagiarizes blames the school system) - Appeal to higher loyalties: Individuals suggest that their actions were for a ‘greater good’ (ex. committing a crime because they think its for the best of the enviornment)
According to Travis Hirschi, what is the social bond? Identify and describe the four major aspects of the social bond
- The social bond refers to the various ways in which society exerts control over us
1. Attachment: to violate a normal act contrary to the wishes and expectations of others
2. Commitment: if a person invests time and energy into a certain line of activity (education, business, sports) then they must think of the risk of losing what they committed to
3. Involvement: people are too busy doing conventional things to find time to engage in deviant behaviour
4. Belief: internalization of social norms
CABI - SOCIAL BOND
Identify five basic assumptions of Conflict Theories
- Society is divided by conflict
- Groups > Political and Economic Power
- Power and Law-Making
- Crime is an outcome of conflict between those who have and those who have not
- The criminal justice system protects the interests of the dominant class
- Capitalism produces greedy and predatory behaviour
GPSCTC
Compare and contrast Instrumental and Structural Marxism
- Intrumental Marxism: the state and its legal and political institutions directly serve the interests of the capitalist class (ex. direct influence - bribing someone)
- Structural Marxism: the institutions of the state must ensure the ongoing viability of capitalism (law is an ideological means of domination)
Compare: both serve in the interest of capitalism
Instrumental theorists view the state as the tool for the capitalist. Whereas, structural theorists believe that the law is not an exclusive domain of the rich but rather used to maintain the long-term interests of the capitalists’ system and control members of any class of threatening its existence.
According to Foucault, what is power? How does power transform people into more governable subjects?
Michel Foucault suggested that we have embedded power in areas outside of the government. We have been socialized to be easier to govern and control
Power: extends beyong states as it is not quantity to hold or possess but rather is relational, meaning that it is not only evident in its exercise
What is a risk society? How is the concept of a ‘risk society’ observed in criminal justice practices?
- A Risk Society: a societal form charcaterized by the (a) increased awareness of human-made ‘risks’ and (b) the management of risks (ex. overprotecting our children)
- Role of Criminal Justice Professionals: increased focus on collection and aggregation of risk data
Compare and contrast organizational crime and occupational crime.
Corporate crime refers to situations where corporate officials commit criminal or harmful acts for the benefit of the corporation, while occupational crime refers to situations where individual employees commit crimes against the corporation, workplace, or consumer during the course of employment
Compare: they are both crimes committed involving employement
What is executive disengagement? How can the structure and/or social organization of corporations facilitate criminal activity
- Executive Disengagement: lower-level employees assume that executives are best left uninformed of certain decisions and actions of employees
- Social organization of corporations facilitate criminal activity due the pyramid structure
Identify and describe major characteristics of criminal organizations
- Structural
* Systemic patterns of relationships
* Insulation
* Transnational - Institutional
* Continuity
* Exclusive membership
* Transnational - Commercial
* Legal commercial activities
* Consensual and predatory crimes - Behavioural
* Rationality
* Rules, Codes
Compare and contrast the Alien Conspiracy and Economic Theories of organized crime?
- Alien Conspiracy Theory: argues that organized crime in America is the result if the importation of criminal societies that are from foreign culture
- Economic Theory of Organized Crime: criminal organizations come into existence to supply goods and services that are demanded by the public but declared illegal by the state
Compare: they are simliar because they both involve underground secret criminal acts of supplying goods and resources
Contrast: Alien Conspiracy Theory involves the importation of people, Economic Theory of Organized Crime involves the imporation of goods
Compare and contrast the Organized and Disorganized Killer.
- The Organized Killer plans, maintains self-control and control over victim, and commits crime out of need for power
- The Disorganized Killer does not plan, is unorganized, is not prepared and careless
Compare: they both are serial killers with cooling off periods
Identify and describe the three major categories of stalkers
- The Simple Obsessional Stalker: prior knowledge between victim and stalker
- The Love Obsessional Stalker: no prior knowledge between the victim and stalker
- The Erotomaniac Stalker: no prior knowlege between the victim and stalker however the stalker believes a relationship exists
