Theories of Crime - Week 10 Flashcards
What View of Human Nature?
Hobbesian
- That is, everyone is understood as basically self interested and amoral at heart and all people are naturally motivated to commit crime because fulfilling ones desires can usually be accomplished most efficiently and pleasurably by violating the law.
- Assume that deviance and crime are normal and to be expected in society of self-interested individuals
Albert J. Reiss Jr
- Personal controls are defined as the individuals ability to refrain from meeting their own needs using means that conflict with the norms and rules of the community. Includes individual adopting and accepting non-deviant social roles that conform to the expectations of the larger group and espousing personal value and ideals that make deviance unacceptable
- Social controls are defined as the ability of the social group to make their norms or rules effective in constraining the behaviour of their individual members. Social control, according to Reiss, depends on group solidarity, clear expectations for group members behaviour and a lack of conflict or confusion about rules and expectations
Albert J. Reiss Jr
- Argues that delinquency and crime are the results of one or more of the following factors
1) Lack of proper personal controls developed during childhood.
2) Breakdown of personal controls.
3) Lack of effective social control
Albert J. Reiss Jr
Primary groups such as family, neighbourhood, and schools are basic institutions which support the development of personal controls and exercise social control over children. If primary groups fail to provide children with non-delinquent roles and values and fail to exercise control over children’s behaviour, the children will not learn to accept or submit to the pro-social expectations and delinquency or deviance will results.
Conformity
Conformity is the result of either acceptance of pro-social rules and roles or submission to the rules and roles
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
Reckless is trying to identify the factors that might “push” or “pull” a person toward particular kinds of crime and deviance and that factors that insulate against criminal behaviour and deviance. As a control theorist, Reckless believes that all people are susceptible to criminal and deviant behaviour, given the right motivation. However, he notes that there are containment factors which can mitigate and prevent individuals from committing crimes.
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
External Pushes
External pushes and pulls: Reckless identifies that there are a number of social factors external to individual that may draw them toward crime. He refers to these as “pushes” and “pulls” and suggests that they provide the necessary motivation to engage in criminal or deviant activities. Some examples of these include poverty, unemployment, lack of education, social expectations of achievement, expectations of material consumption
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
Despite the “pushes” and “pulls” toward crime and deviance that many people are exposed to, the majority of people do not become criminal. Reckless believed that people are insulated from crime by the forces of Inner and Outer Containment
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
Inner Containment
Inner containment is defined as internalized norms and values; characteristics of inner containment include a high level of “self-control” in the face of difficulties or temptation, a well-developed conscience and sense of morality, a high tolerance for frustration, an orientation toward achieving one’s goals, and a sense of personal responsibility
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
Outer Containment
Outer containment is defined as external sources of sanctions and disapproval or reinforcement and approval that motivate conforming and pro-social behaviour. In other words, individuals behaviour is constrained by the external punishments and rewards offered by their social group. Some of the sources of these punishments and rewards are family, law enforcement (criminal justice system), schools, and meaningful roles and activities such as involvement in community groups.
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
Reckless argued that inner containment is stronger and more effective at controlling crime. Individuals with a high degree of inner containment do not need external forms of containment
Walter Reckless - Containment Theory
What Theory is this not?
NOT a casual theory in the sense that Reckless is not trying to explain the causes of crime. He assumes that everyone is motivated to commit crime, given the right circumstances. The forces of containment are insulators against the draw of deviant behaviour and their presence can keep someone who lives in a negative environment from becoming criminal.
Ivan Nye - Family and Social Control
- Theory of social control emphasizes the family’s role as an agent of socialization.
- Nye believes that are all humans are born with the same tendencies toward deviance
- Nye places theoretical focus on what he refers to as weak controls.
- Some forces or conditions propel individuals into crime or deviance but only when combined with weakened controls.
Ivan Nye - Family and Social Control
- Believes all conformity is learned, children are not born with the instinct to conform. But they are born with the will to do those things that give them pleasure and meet their needs and desires.
- He argues that behaviour that is defined as delinquent or criminal does not need any kind of special explanation since these kinds of behaviours generally allow individuals to achieve their goals more quickly and easily.
- More interested in the process of social control and the relationships that prevent individuals from always attempting to meet their needs use expedient and illegal means.
- Identifies four types of social controls; internal conflict, indirect conflict, direct control and legitimate need satisfaction
Ivan Nye - Family and Social Control
Internal Conflict
Internal conflict: control that is exercised through individuals own value system and conscience. Children learn the values and norms governing acceptable social conduct through their parents through process of socialization. Children are conditioned through rewards and punishments to internalize the family and social values and thus develop a conscience
If parents socialize their children properly than a child’s conscience will exert considerable controlling power over him or her as they nature. A good conscience will make people feel good about themselves when they conform to pro-social expectations and behaviour (that nice feeling when you perform a good deed). Internal control operated even in the absence of direct external regulation. In other words, even when there is not possibility of punishment, internal control will prevent people from doing harm to others or breaking the law.
