Topic 1: Course Introduction and Definitions of Crime Flashcards
What is crime?
none of the many definitions that have been offered has met with universal acceptance
most of the essential features can be found in Tappan’s (1947) definition: “an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed without defense or excuse, and penalized by the state as a felony or misdemeanor”
intentional? criminal law? indefensible?
What is the central problem of defining crime?
crime is largely a social construct
this makes definition difficult; e.g., what is justifiable or legal in one jurisdiction may be an offence elsewhere
this is equally true from one point in time to another
hate crimes, stalking, intimate partner violence, terrorism, cyberstalking, have all been considered non-crimes in the past
What is the Ullman & Krasner (1976) definition of crime and what are the problems with it?
“criminal behavior refers to antisocial acts that place the actor at risk of becoming a focus of the attention of criminal and juvenile justice professionals”
circular? i.e., “antisocial acts”
doesn’t escape the problems of cultural and chronological specificity
to do that, you would have to invoke a super ordinate and universally held value system
What is the legal approach to defining crime?
a crime is an act prohibited by law, and punishable by law
What is the moral approach to defining crime?
a religious principle is violated
punishment may be exacted by a supernatural being, or its Earthly representatives (e.g., religious police)
What is the social approach to defining crime?
community norms and customs are violated, the community applies the punishment
What is the psychological approach to defining crime?
crime is an act that is agreeable to the actor, but painful to the victim
it is punished by individuals
What are important aspects to consider when conducting research with criminal populations?
if you conduct research with criminal populations, group membership is defined by the courts
this means you are comparing groups on the basis of what they have done, and how they are being punished; nothing in this guarantees any psychological homogenity
on the other hand, it is highly impractical to organize subjects on the basis of psychological variables if they haven’t been referred through the courts
What is problematic to study in criminal populations?
psychopathy
anger problems
locus of control effects
over controlled hostility
What is least problematic to study in criminal populations?
it’s least problematic when you’re looking for commonalities among groups of individuals that fit into certain offence categories
often, this is exactly what we do
What are the characteristics of official statistics used as sources of information in research on criminal populations?
most jurisdictions record aggregate crime rates
e.g., how many murders were cleared (i.e., resulted in conviction) in Canada during the year 1996? –> 663 (it seems like a lot) or 2.8/100,000 (which seems small)
official stats tend to underestimate
tell little about individual offenders
What are the characteristics of victim reports used as sources of information in research on criminal populations?
complaints made to police, but without formal charges being laid, or without conviction where charges are laid
obviously result in higher crime estimates than conviction records
may be false
correlate well (about 0.95) with official records
What are the characteristics of surveys used as sources of information in research on criminal populations?
ask a target group of individuals about their offending history, usually with assurances of anonymity
individual accounts may be inflated or minimized, but accuracy can be checked
also allows the researcher to systematically include data such as age, gender, SES, etc.
What are the characteristics of longitudinal studies used as sources of information in research on criminal populations?
examine the same group, or cohort, of individuals at several developmentally relevant points in their lives
may use official records as well as self or caregiver reports
allows for more precise identification of risk factors and age of onset
What was the Wallerstein & Wyle (1947) study?
91% of subjects (not chosen on the basis of criminality) admitted to committing one or more indictable offenses
average was 18 offences
What was the Short & Nye (1957) study?
n = about 3000 high school students, anonymity guaranteed
also admitted to unexpectedly high numbers of crime, but the real surprise was in how evenly the different SES groups were represented
mostly pretty nonsense
young age of subjects likely elevates this figure due to the preponderance of status offences
What is the “dark figure”?
the amount of crime that is taking place in a community that we don’t know, can’t say how much or who did it
What population prefers simple, one-dimensional explanations of crime?
most (lay) people like simple, one-dimensional explanations
these are incomplete
lead to equally incomplete and ineffective solutions: throw more money at the problem, lock them up and throw away the key, calls for stiffer sentencing (including capital punishment), give them a hug and a ticket to Disney Land
What population prefers complex explanations of crime?
abstract nature makes info difficult to translate into practical solutions
most (lay) people hate complexity
What is the conformity assumption of human behavior?
people are inherently good by nature, but can stray for a variety of reasons
e.g., Merton’s Strain Theory: there is agreement between people on what is worth doing and having, but some are more capable of getting/doing these things than others
the inability of some individuals to achieve these things sets up a discrepancy (or strain) between expectation and reality
non-conventional (potentially criminal) means of achieving those things are employed by some
What is the non-conformity assumption of human behavior?
we’re born as hedonistic, undisciplined barbarians; only rules and regulations seperate us from antisocial behavior
e.g., Hirschi’s Social Control Theory: crime occurs when the individual refuses to be bound by those rules
What is the social learning (neutrality) assumption of human behavior?
we’re neither good nor bad by nature; we do what we’ve learned to do, period
obedience is a predictable consequence of prosocial learning; hence, those around you are the key, since they decide which of your behaviors will be reinforced
J.B. Watson’s Social Learning Theory, Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory
What is psychological criminology?
concerned with the behavioral and mental processes of those that commit crime
personality, biology, genetics, experiences, etc.
What is sociological criminology?
focus is primarily on the individual rather than the society as a whole
in truth, the distinction between this and psychological criminology is sometimes hard to maintain
