Test 3

Question 1

Social process explanations

Answer 1

peer influences, socialization, social interaction. Explain why many people turn to crime.

Question 2

9 propositions of D.A.

Answer 2

1. Criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned in a process of communication.
3. Learning occurs within intimate personal groups.
4. When criminal behavior is learned, it includes techniques, beliefs and ideas.
5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6. A person becomes delinquent because they learn definitions favorable to the violation of law over definitions unfavorable to the violation of law.
7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
8. Criminal behavior is learned the same way any other behavior is learned.
9. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by these general needs and values, because noncriminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

Question 3

Definitions favorable to violation of law:

Answer 3

people will break the law if they develop more lawbreaking attitudes than law-abiding attitudes.

Question 4

Frequency, duration, priority, and intensity:

Answer 4

Frequency – how often one spends time with friends. Duration: how much time on the average one spends with them during each association. Priority: how early in life the associations occur. Intensity: how much importance one places on one’s associations.

Question 5

Delinquent peers

Answer 5

having delinquent peers influences delinquency, and delinquency increases involvement with delinquent peers.

Question 6

Albert Bandura:

Answer 6

founder of social learning theory.

Question 7

Social learning theory

Answer 7

Bandura. Said aggressive tendencies are learned rather than inborn. We see friends/family act aggressively, or on TV. Can learn aggression is acceptable behavior. Used classical and operant conditioning.

Question 8

Burgess Akers

Answer 8

Developed differential reinforcement theory of crime and named it social learning theory. Said criminal behavior and attitudes are more likely to be learned if they are reinforced, or rewarded. When the rewards for criminal behaviors outweigh the rewards for alternative behaviors, differential reinforcement occurs and the criminal behavior is learned.

Question 9

Personal and social controls

Answer 9

personal controls – concern things as individual conscience, commitment to law, a positive self-concept. Social controls – concern attachments to and involvement in conventional social institutions such as the family, schools, and religion.

Question 10

Sykes and Matza

Answer 10

Developed neutralization theory. Said adolescents need to neutralize any guilt or shame they feel before committing delinquent acts.

Question 11

Techniques of neutralization

Answer 11

precede delinquency and comprise an important part of the definitions favorable to law violation.
Allow them to persist in criminal behavior but not think of themselves as criminals.

Question 12

Techniques of neutralization - Denial of responsibility

Answer 12

adolescents say they are not responsible for the delinquent acts they intend to commit. Blame abusive parents/deviant friends/peer pressure.

Question 13

Techniques of neutralization - Denial of injury

Answer 13

they reason that no one will be hurt by their intended illegal behavior.

Question 14

Techniques of neutralization - Denial of victim

Answer 14

may reason their target deserves the harm.

Question 15

Techniques of neutralization - Condemnation of condemners

Answer 15

offenders question the motives and integrity of police, parents, teachers, and other parties who condemn the offenders’ behavior. My parents used marijuana when they were my age, so why can’t I ex.

Question 16

Techniques of neutralization - Appeal to higher loyalties

Answer 16

offenders reason that their illegal behavior is necessary to help people dear to them.

Question 17

Travis Hirschi

Answer 17

Founder of social bond theory.

Question 18

Social bond theory

Answer 18

said human nature is selfish. The key question is why people do not commit crime. Their bond to society keeps them from breaking the law – it produces conformity.
Tested among high school students - asked about minor juvenile deliquency through self-reported surveys.

Question 19

Elements of the bond

Answer 19

All four elements are connected. Someone with a strong tie in one element tend to have strong ties in the others.

Question 20

Elements of the bond - Attachment

Answer 20

the most important social bond element. Refers to the degree to which we care about the opinions of others. The more sensitive we are to their views, the less likely are we to violate the norms and the other way around.
Do you love your parents? If yes, not likely criminal behavior.

Question 21

Elements of the bond - Commitment

Answer 21

refers to an individual’s investment of energy and emotion in conventional pursuits, such as getting a good education. The more committed people are, the more they have to lose if they break the law. People with low commitment are more likely to deviate.
Measured through GPA

Question 22

Elements of the bond - Involvement

Answer 22

the amount of time an individual spends on a conventional pursuit. More time spent, the less opportunity to deviate.
Questions about number of extracurricular activities.

Question 23

Elements of the bond - Belief

Answer 23

refers to acceptance of the norms of conventional society. People who believe in these norms are less likely to deviate than those who reject them.
Are the rules of society just and fair? If yes, not likely criminal behavior.

Question 24

Gottfredson and Hirschi

Answer 24

presented a general theory of crime. + self-control theory.

Question 25

General theory of crime

Answer 25

said all crime stems from one problem: lack of self-control, which results from ineffective child rearing and lasts throughout life.

Question 26

Self-control

Answer 26

people with low self-control act impulsively and spontaneous, value risk and adventure, and care about themselves more than they care about others. More likely than people with high self-control to commit crime because all crime are spontaneous and exciting and require little skills.

Question 27

Life-course theories

Answer 27

pay attention to the onset and termination of antisocial behavior, delinquency, and crime at different stages over the life course.

Question 28

Longitudinal studies

Answer 28

studies that follow a subject for a long time.

Question 29

Sampson and Laub

Answer 29

founded age-graded theory. interested in change and stability in criminal behavior.

Question 30

Age-graded informal social control theory:

Answer 30

recognize the importance of the many factors outlined in other life-course perspectives, such as bonds to parents and school during childhood and adolescence, the quality and effectiveness of parenting, influence of one’s friends.

Question 31

Turning points:

Answer 31

events helping people to desist from crime. Marriage, stable employment, military service.

Question 32

Life-course persistent offenders

Answer 32

begin to misbehave during childhood and continue into adulthood. Chronic criminals. Commit crimes because of biological problems(brain dysfunctions in prefrontal lobe), genetics(MPA ex line in palm, space b/w eyes), environmental factors. Ex. drug/alcohol abuse by mother when in belly, poverty and lack of nutrition, exposure to led/mercery in childhood, learning disabilities.

Question 33

Adolescent-limited offenders

Answer 33

begin their offending during adolescence and largely end it once they leave adolescence. Commit crime because influenced by life-course offenders. Mimic life course-offenders.

Question 34

Neuropsychological deficits

Answer 34

life-course persistent suffer from neuropsychological problems that often begin during the prenatal period and then lead to psychological problems during childhood and that lead to serious misbehavior.

Question 35

Critical perspective:

Answer 35

highlight the ways in which people and institutions respond to crime and criminals. Consider the definition of crime problematic, meaning that the definition of a behavior as a crime and the defining of individuals as criminals are both something to explain.

Question 36

Labeling theory

Answer 36

called one of the most significant perspectives in the study of crime and deviance. Addresses three major issues. 1. The definition of deviance and crime. 2. Possible discrimination in the application of official labeling and sanctions. 3. The effect of labeling on continued criminality.

Question 37

Primary deviance

Answer 37

deviant behavior that does not have long-term consequences and does not result in the person committing the act being labeled as a deviant.
Ex. A 15 year old male is caught vandalizing or using illegal drugs. His arrest, fingerprinting and other legal measures make him think of himself as a young criminal. People hear about his crime. Maybe friends are told not to spend time with him. Might have trouble finding job for extra money outside of school. He gets angry and thinks if they are all going to treat him this way, then why not act this way.

Question 38

Secondary deviance

Answer 38

deviant behavior that results from being labeled as a deviant by society.

Question 39

Discrimination in application

Answer 39

applicant with criminal records were called back by the employers only half as often as those with a clean record.

Question 40

Labeling and future offending

Answer 40

says labeling causes or increases a deviant self-image which makes them more likely to commit crime in the future.

Question 41

Absolutist vs. relativist definitions of crime:

Answer 41

absolutism – deviance is something real that is inherent in behavior. Relativist – nothing about a given behavior automatically makes it deviant. Deviance is not a property of behavior, but rather the result of how others regard the behavior.

Question 42

John Braitwaite

Answer 42

argues that the type of shaming, or social disapproval, involved in labeling makes a crucial difference for continued deviance.

Question 43

Disintegrative shaming

Answer 43

e.g. Stigmatization. Occurs when offenders are treated like outcasts and no effort is made to forgive them and to involve them in community affairs. Promotes continued deviance because it humiliates and angers offenders, denies them legitimate opportunities, and forces them to associate with criminal peers.

Question 44

Reintegrative shaming

Answer 44

occurs when efforts are made to bring offenders back into the community. Reduces continued deviance, because it encourage offenders to feel ashamed. Most common in communitarian societies marked by a high degree of concern for the welfare of others, such as Japan.

Question 45

Conflict and Radical theory

Answer 45

argue that law is the key part of the struggle between powerful interests and the powerless – to preserve their dominance, the powerful use the law to control the powerless.

Question 46

Proletariat

Answer 46

people who work for the bourgeoisie. Primary interest is to eliminate its oppression by overthrowing the bourgeoisie.

Question 47

Bourgeoisie

Answer 47

the ruling class. Own the factories and other modern means of production. Primarily interest is to maintain its dominance by exploiting and oppressing the proletariat.

Question 48

Vagrancy laws:

Answer 48

laws prohibiting begging and loitering.

Question 49

Differential association

Answer 49

Says juveniles influence each other.

Question 50

Terrie Moffit’s taxonomy

Answer 50

Life-course theory