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WJEC Criminology > Theories of crime > Flashcards

Theories of crime Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 5 biological theories of crimes that can be evaluated? (Genetic and physiological)

A

Twin studies, adoption studies, Jacobs XYY theory, Sheldon and Lombroso’s theory.

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2
Q

Describe twin studies:

Procedure, not findings.

A

Twin studies supports the idea that a heritable trait increases the risk of criminal behaviour.

Lange studied 30 pairs of same-sex twins to see if criminality was inherited. He studied 13 monozygotic (MZ) twins - twins who share all genetic info - and dizygotic (DZ) twins - twins who only share half of the genetic info.

At least one twin from each pair was known to have committed a crime.

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3
Q

What did Lange find?

A

He found that 10/13 MZ twins had bot committed crimes, so where therefore criminals, whereas only 2/17 DZ twins were both known criminals.

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4
Q

For twin studies, it was found that the chance of one twin taking part in criminal behaviour when the other twin was criminal was … among MZ twins but only … among DZ twins.

A

For twin studies, it was found that the chance of one twin taking part in criminal behaviour when the other twin was criminal was 50% among MZ twins but only 20% among DZ twins.

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5
Q

Criticisms of twin studies:

A

It is difficult to separate the influence of genetics from the influence of social factors.

Small sample size used so the ppts may not be representative of the general population.

Lange’s twin studies lacked validity - the twins were categorised into MZ and DZ twins based on their appearance, not their actual DNA so we cannot be certain that the MZ twins were MZ and the DZ twins were DZ.

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6
Q

Describe Jacobs XYY study:

Intor ( What is it? what it causes? )

A

This theory suggests that some crimes are due to chromosomal abnormality.
Theorists believe that an extra ‘Y’ chromosome ‘hyper masculinises’ men, which leads them to be more aggressive. This aggression is possibly due to higher levels of testosterone.

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7
Q

Statistics for XYY study:

A

Early studies suggested that XYY men are 10x more likely to be found in criminal populations than XY men.

15 XYY sufferers per 1000 in prisons and 1 per 1,000 in the general populations.

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8
Q

Criticisms of Jacobs XYY study:

A

Was found that XYY men tend to commit non-violent crimes, not violent crimes as the study suggests. This shows that we should take into account other influences such as social, psychological and environmental factors.

Conflicting research - Thielgaard (1984) researched the traits of XYY men compared to XY men. He found that the characteristic of aggression was not associated with the XYY men

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9
Q

strengths of Jacobs XYY:

A

Supporting research - One study by Jacob et al. (1965) found that a significant number of men in prisons had XYY sex chromosomes instead of the normal XY.

Adler et al. (2007) indicated that it’s possible that aggressive and violent behaviour is at least partly determined by genetic factors.

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10
Q

Strengths of twin studies:

A

Twin studies are natural experiments - biological relationships between the twins is a naturally occurring variable.

Twins are generally raised in the same environment, so the impact of the social environment is seen as equal and controlled.

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11
Q

Describe adoption studies:

Why the studies were done?
2 studies:

A

Studies were done to see if criminality is a consequence of nature (genes) or nurture (upbringing).

Research has shown that an adoptee with a biological parent who is a criminal is more likely to partake in property crime than other adoptees, and this effect is stronger for boys.

A study in Iowa showed that adopted individuals who were born to imprisoned female offenders had a higher rate of criminal convictions as adults.This evidence supports that antisocial or criminal behaviour is linked to inheritance of genes.

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12
Q

Strengths of adoption studies:

A

Its easier to separate genetic and environmental factors as adopted children are exposed to a different environment to their biological family.

Studies have concluded that there is a correlation between adopted children and their biological parents.

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13
Q

Weaknesses of adoption studies:

A

Th age of adoption may mean that adopted children have already been influenced by either their biological parents or foster environment so it is still hard to determine whether its nature or nurture.

Info about bio family is not always available.

Adoption process is not always random, children are often placed with families that are similar to their bio families.

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14
Q

Lombroso’s theory:

A

Lombroso argued that criminals are a aeparate species and a throwback to an early stage of evolution.
He said that criminals possess several ‘atavistic’ (ancient) characteristics that can be used to identify them as criminals.
These features include: a monobrow, large ears, large jaw, long arms, upturned nose etc.
Men need to have 5 characteristics and women only need 3.
Lombroso compared Italian prisoners to Italian soldiers and found that the prisoners were physically different.
Lombroso said that we should use these features to help us identify criminals so we can move them from society.

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15
Q

Strengths of Lombros’s theory:

A

several pieces of research suggested that less attractive people are more likely to be considered guilty.

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16
Q

Weaknesses of Lombroso’s theory:

A

Scientifically racist - DeLisi (2012) indicated that many of the atavistic characteristics defined are specific to people of African descent.

Not everyone with atavistic features is a criminal and not all criminals have them.

Extremely deterministic and assumes that we cannot escape destiny.

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17
Q

Describe Sheldon’s theory:

A

Sheldon argued that criminal behaviour links to a persons physical form.
He classified people into 3 body type, which each type having a corresponding personality type.
Ectomorphic (thin and fragile frame) - self-conscious and introverted.
Endomorphic (fat and soft frame) - Sociable and outgoing.
Mesomorphic (muscular and hard frame) - Confident, assertive and aggressive.
A correlation study found that mesomorphs are more likely to commit crimes and ectomorphs are the least likely. Isn’t surprising as most violent crimes are carried out by violent men.
Aggression levels are possibly due to high testosterone levels.

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18
Q

Strengths of Sheldon’s theory:

A

Glueck and Glueck (1956) found in their research that in a sample of delinquents, 60% were mesomorphs, while in a non-control sample, only 31% were delinquents.

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19
Q

Weaknesses of Sheldon’s theory:

A

Does not take into account that peoples body types are not fixed, they change constantly. If Sheldons theory is applied to real life, then wouldn’t personality types change when body does?

Not all mesomorphs are criminals.

Endomorphs and ectomorphs can also commit violent crimes.

Theory is harmful as it could lead to mesomorphs being targeted.

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20
Q

What are the individualistic theories of crime?

A

Psychodynamic - Bowlby, Freud, Megargee, Bandura.

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21
Q 
Key terms for Freud:
id =
ego =
superego =
psyche =
A 
id = desires
ego = makes decisions
superego = conscience
psyche = personality
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22
Q

Freud believed that criminal behaviour is a results of ….

The psyche is determined in the …, which means that … is developed then too.

A

Freud believed that criminal behaviour is a results of poor development of the psyche.
The psyche is determined in the first few years of life, which means that criminal behaviour is developed then too.

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23
Q

What’s the pleasure principle?

A

The pleasure principle is id dominated so therefore seeks immediate gratification of needs.

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24
Q

What dominates in the reality principle?

A

The ego is dominated. Superego tells you what is right and wrong.

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25
Q

Criminals are children who …

A

don’t make the transition from the pleasure principle to the reality principle.
So, the criminal acts in a way that will immediately satisfy their needs.

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26
Q

Three reasons why a child does not make the transition from the pleasure to reality principle…

A

weak superego
deviant superego
strong superego

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27
Q

What does a weak superego mean?

A

The individual doesn’t really know right from wrong. They are happy to act in a way that satisfies the desires of their id, even if its wrong.
This develops as a results of poor/strange relationships with family members.

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28
Q

What does a deviant superego mean?

A

The superego develops in a normal way but it has deviant values.
The superego is meant to punish behaviours that the same sex parent would find unacceptable, but if the same sex parent is a a criminal themselves, the child won’t understand that these acts are wrong.
The child will not see these criminal acts as wrong.

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29
Q

What do the 2 types of strong superego mean?

A
  1. An excessively powerful superego will make the individual feel guilty most of the time as it would feel the need to punish them. This can be over even the smallest things. As a result of this, the individual may commit a crime in order to get caught and punished, easing the guilt they feel.
  2. An excessively strong superego can prevent an individual from expressing their desires, causing them to build up. This could build up until it becomes strong enough to overwhelm the ego and is expressed violently and suddenly through acts such as murder or rape.
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30
Q

Limitations of Freud (3 of them):

A
  1. Difficulty testing the theory due to intangible concepts such as the unconscious mind, so such theories are no longer accredited by psychologists.
  2. Unscientific and lacks objectivity as he knew his patients.
  3. Lack of quantitative data.
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31
Q

What did Bowlby state that separating a child from their mother would cause?

A

Bowlby stated that separating a child from their mother for more than 6 months in their first few years of life could cause them to struggle to form relationships with others.

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32
Q

What did Bowlby say that maternal deprivation can cause?

A

Maternal deprivation can cause individuals to lack empathy towards others creating an affectionless psychopath.

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33
Q

What was the study of 44 thieves about?

A

Bowlby studied 44 thieves and found that 39% of them had experienced maternal deprivation in the first few years of life. He compared this to a non-criminal group and found that only 5% of them had experienced maternal deprivation.
These results support the idea that maternal deprivation causes criminality.

34
Q

Limitations of Bowlby’s affectionless psychopath (3 of them):

A
  1. A small sample size was used so results are not representative of entire population - cannot be generalised to everyone.
  2. He is now thought to have overestimated the impact of early life experiences on criminal offences.
  3. His theory only explains behaviour after it has occurred so is unscientific and unhelpful in preventing crime.
35
Q

What is Megargee’s overcontrolled offender?

A

The individual will show no signs of criminality. Their desires will build up until they snap, acting in a violent way that goes against the nature of their personality.

36
Q

How did Megargee come up with their theory?

A

Megargee (1966) documented a series of cases of violence who9 were committed by people who were described as being passive or harmless. An example is the case of an 11-year-old boy. The boy stabbed his brother 34 times yet was described as being polite and well spoken with no history of violence.

37
Q

What did Megargee argue about overcontrolled offenders?

A

Megargee argued that they represent a small group of offenders whose shared characteristic is the inability to express their anger in normal ways who eventually “explode”, releasing all of their aggression and anger at once.

38
Q

Limitations of Megargee:

A
  1. The theory only explains crime after it has occurred.
  2. subjective - different researchers could come to different conclusions.
  3. Approach doesn’t separate whether such offenders do not experience anger normally or whether they experience it but don’t express it.
39
Q

Why did Bandura conduct the study?

A

Bandura wanted to investigate whether social behaviours such as aggression are learnt and imitated.

40
Q

How was the study conducted?

A

Bandura tested 72 children: 36 boys and 36 girls. 24 children watched an aggressive model, 24 watched a non-aggressive model and 24 didn’t watch a model (control group).
The model was of an adult playing with a Bobo doll.
The aggressive model involved the adult kicking and hitting the doll.
After the demonstrations, the children were left to play with the doll themselves. Their behaviour was observed.

41
Q

What did Bandura find?

A

Bandura found that children who were exposed to the aggressive model tended to copy such behaviour. They even came up with new ways to hurt the doll. For example, using a toy gun to shoot at it.
The children who watched the non-aggressive model also tended to copy that behaviour.

42
Q

Differences between girls and boys when playing with the Bobo doll(4 to remember):

A
  1. The girls in the aggressive model showed more physical aggressiveness if the model was male, but more verbal aggression if the model was female.
  2. Boys were more likely to imitate the same-sex model than girls.
  3. Boys imitated more physical aggression than girls.
  4. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.
43
Q

What conclusion was reached?

A

The study supports Bandura’s Social Learning Theory - children learn social behaviours such as aggression through observational learning.

44
Q

How do Banduras findings link to crime?

A

Criminal behaviour can be learned through observation - it can be learned from watching family members, the media, friends, cultural symbols.

45
Q

How does Sutherland support Bandura?

A

Sutherland (1992) suggests that people learn their values and techniques for criminal behaviour from associations with different people
If more favourable attitudes about crime are learned. rather than negatives, then people see criminal behaviour as acceptable.
The process of learning criminal behaviour is no different from the learning of any other behaviour.
This theory accounts for the high reoffending rates of released prisoners - prisoners learn from each other so can become more versed in criminal techniques. This is why prisons are referred to as ‘universities of crime’.

46
Q

Limitations of Banduras social learning theory:

A
  1. Cumberbatch (1990) found that children who had never played with a Bobo doll before were 5x more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour due to the novelty of the doll.
  2. The effects of the model were demonstrated immediately. Such snapshot studies cannot discover whether the model has a long term effect on the child. Therefore we cannot be sure if the children learned the aggressive behaviour and repeated it in the future.
  3. Unethical as it exposes children as young as 3 to aggressive behaviour. There are issues concerning protection of the children from both physical and psychological harm.
  4. low ecological validity - experiment is a laboratory study of imitation. It’s unnatural.
47
Q

What are the 3 sociological theories of crime?

A

Marxism, functionalism, interactionism.

48
Q

What 3 things do Marxist’s believe about crime?

A
  1. they believe that crime is an inevitable consequence of a capitalists society and its used by the bourgeoisie as a means of social crime.
  2. Gov fabricates crime statistics to suit their purposes. 42% are false or misleading.
  3. White collar crime is ignored, blue collar is over-policed. Makes it seem like the working class commit all crime.
49
Q

What is a capitalist society?

A

The social system by which the means for producing and distributing goods are controlled by a small majority of people for profit.

50
Q

What is ideology?

A

A system of ideas and beliefs.

51
Q

What do marxists believe about ideology?

A

They believe that ideology suits the powerful and their interests, and it makes sure that the working class stay in their place.

52
Q

How is the ‘capitalist ideology’ forced upon us?

A

Through formal and informal social control. Its seen as fact.

53
Q

What is alienation?

A

A concept used by Marxists to describe a sense of powerlessness, lack of control and disconnectedness felt by the working class through exploitation at work and capitalism . This can drive people to commit crime.

54
Q

What does sociologist Bonger say?

A

There is a link between crime and economic conditions. Crime is caused by poverty, poor living conditions and scarcity of resources.
Also, capitalism creates competition and inequality of resources, promoting greed.

55
Q

Marxists say that crime is a …?

A

Crime is a rational response to situations that someone is in. As capitalism creates an inequality of resources, people are sometimes forced to turn to crime for the bare necessities, e.g. stealing food fro family.

56
Q

What does sociologist Chambliss say?

A

Chambliss says that capitalism creates both the desire to constantly want the latest things and the inability to earn enough money to get these things, which lures people into committing crime.

57
Q

Evaluation of Marxism(4):

A
  1. Too extreme and far-fetched.
  2. Ignores other non-class inequalities such as gender or ethnicity.
  3. Overstates the amount of crime in working class communities. for instance, not all working class people commit crime. Moreover, not all capitalist societies have high crime rates (e.g Japan and Switzerland).
  4. There are laws that do protect all e.g. murder, rape, theft and human rights.
58
Q

What does interactionism refer to?

A

Refers to how people on society interact with one another.

59
Q

What do interactionists believe?

A
  1. They believe that crime statistics are socially constructed and crimes are also socially constructed.
  2. Interactionist Becker believes that crime is a subjective concept; agents of social control label certain acts and behaviours as deviant or criminal behaviour.
  3. Crime only becomes deviant when its labelled as such.
60
Q

What types of deviance did Lemert refer to?

A

Primary deviance - An act o deviance that has not been socially labelled as such.
Secondary deviance - Act act that has been labelled as deviant.

Essentially, Lemert argues that an act does not become deviant until it has been labelled as such.

61
Q

What happens once an act has been labelled as deviant according to Becker?

A

Becker argued that Label becomes the individuals ‘master status’ - they cannot get away from the label.
It can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy - the individual starts to live up to the label.

62
Q

How does the media react when someone is labelled.

A

The media contributes to demonising the individual with the label, making them out to be a folk devil.

Demonising can also create moral panic, which can lead to deviancy amplification - amplifies the situation, making it harder for the individual to get rid of the label.

63
Q

Malinowski’s study for labelling theory - use as an example when talking about the 2 types of deviance.

A

Malinowski (1996) studied Trobriand islands in the South Pacific. Incest between cousins was seen as deviant but was still common and people turned a blind eye to it.
However, when a man had a relationship with his cousin and was publicly accused, it created uproar and the man committed suicide.
Becker said that it was only when the public accusation was made that the behaviour became a serious issue.

64
Q

Limitations of interactionism:

A
  1. Fails to explain why deviant behaviour takes place in the 1st place.
  2. Ignores the victim and focuses on the criminal. There is potential to romanticise crime.
  3. Criminals do not need labels to know when they’re doing wrong.
  4. Labelling doesn’t always self-fulfilling prophecy.
65
Q

What do functionalists believe about crime?

A

They believe that it’s inevitable and needed in society.

Crime is considered as functional and only becomes dysfunctional when there is too much or too little.

66
Q

What did Emile Durkheim think about crime?

A
  1. Durkheim imagined a ‘society of saints’ where no one committed crime. This would be dysfunctional as petty actions such as swearing or burping would be considered as crimes.
  2. Durkheim argued that crime leads to social solidarity - communities come together in outrage over a crime - social cohesion. E.g. Shannon Matthews.
  3. Durkheim stated that too much crime can lead to a state of anomie. This is when the value consensus breaks down and society is in a state of chaos. Anomie threatens the stability of the whole of society.
67
Q

Functionalism and boundary maintenance:

A

Crime and deviance is needed to show members of society the boundaries of what is right and wrong. This is done by publicly punishing those who step outside of these boundaries.

68
Q

What did Davis say about deviance?

A

Davis said that deviance can act as a ‘safety valve’ allowing an individual to ‘let of steam’ to prevent further deviance. Davis used the example of prostitution. He stated that prostitution can provide a safe outlet for men’s sexual urges in a way that’s less dangerous for the family.

69
Q

Limitations of Durkheim:

A
  1. Doesn’t say why people commit crime.
  2. If we all share a value consensus then why do some people break the law?
  3. Doesn’t consider the victim.
70
Q

What does Merton say about why people commit crime?

A

People commit crime because they do not have the means to reach their goals.

71
Q

What is Merton’s strain theory?

A

Crime and deviance occurs when goals are emphasised more than the acceptable means.
If alternative means to achieve the goal start to become acceptable and preferred, than anomie will occur. Merton calls this a ‘strain towards anomie’.
Example of this is the American dream.

72
Q

What is a real life example of a strain towards anomie?

A

Example of this is the American dream - the goal of success and money has become the root of society. The goal has been emphasised more than the means.

73
Q

What do the modes of adaption mean?

A

Different responses to the goals of success.

74
Q

What are the 5 modes of adaption?

A

Conformity - Accept the norms of society. This can include going to work and getting an education.

Innovation - People bend the rules to reach their goals. This can be in a legitimate way or illegitimate.

Ritualism - Lower ambitions.

Retreatism- Dropping out of society.

Rebellion - Reject societies goals and replace them with alternative deviant ones. Fight back against society.

75
Q

What modes of adaption lead to crime?

A

Innovation and rebellion.

76
Q

Limitations:

A
  1. Goal of financial success isn’t universal,
  2. Other goals may lead to deviant behaviour.
  3. A person may fall into more than 1 mode of adaption.
  4. Deviance can be communal.
77
Q

Strengths of Bandura:

A

The bobo doll experiment showed the model did have an effect on the child’s behaviour. Thus, it showed cause and effect

The study has been replicated with slight changes and similar results have been found so high internal validity.

78
Q

Strengths of Freud:

A

psychodynamic theories have contributed to research about crime ad behaviour.
In particular, they have highlighted the importance of childhood experiences on future behaviour.

79
Q

Strengths of marxism:

A

Highlights the impact of selective law enforcement and how white-collar crime is under-policed.

Demonstrates how that law reflects differences in power between social classes. Also how inequality in society can lead to criminal behaviour.

80
Q

Strengths of interactionism:

A

Highlights the consequences of labelling

Highlights the role of the media in defining and creating deviance and for producing moral panic

WJEC Criminology (17 decks)

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