Unit 1, Chapter 3 Flashcards
Choice theory
Theory that young offenders choose to engage in antisocial activity because they believe their actions will be beneficial and profitable. They have little fear of getting caught, and if they are apprehended, discount the legal consequences. Rational.
Trait theory
Theory that links delinquency to biological and psychological traits that can control human development. Impulsive and instinctual.
Free will
View that people are in charge of their own destinies and are free to make personal behavior choice unencumbered by environmental factors.
Classical criminology
Theory founded by Cesare Beccaria. Crime is a result of free will and rational decision-making, weighing benefits and costs with illegal behaviors. Let punishment fit the crime. To deter crime, pain of punishment most outweigh benefit of illegal gain. Punishment must be severe, certain, and swift.
Routine activities theory
This theory suggests that the volume of predatory crime is influenced by the interaction of: lack of capable guardian, suitable target, and motivated offender.
Predatory crime
Violent crimes against people, and crimes in which an offender attempts to steal an object directly from its holder.
General deterrence
The choice to commit delinquent acts is structured by the threat of potential future punishment.
Specific deterrence
The more severely offenders are punished, the less likely they are to repeat their illegal acts.
Situational crime prevention
Increase effort, risk; reduce reward, provocation; remove excuses
Target hardening
Making it harder for them to commit crime (e.g., locking doors, surveillance systems, etc.)
Diffusion of benefits
idea that efforts made to prevent one type of delinquent act may have an effect on others
Trait theories
biopsychosocial, Cesare Lombroso, positivist criminology
Positivist criminology
Theory that choice was influenced by determined characteristics, emerged with data (scientific method, research). There is something uniquely different that makes someone more at risk.
Cesare Lombroso
Believed that delinquents were biologically and physiologically similar to primitive ancestors, known as criminal atavism. Criminals were less evolved.
Criminal atavism
Delinquents manifest physical anomalies that make them biologically and physiologically similar to primitive ancestors, savage throwbacks to an earlier stage of human evolution
Contemporary biosocial theory
Combines nature and nurture. Vulnerability vs differential susceptibility. Sociobiology, equipotentiality (nurture). Biochemical factors. Neurological dysfunction.
Vulnerability
Idea that some people are born more vulnerable because of certain traits that make them more at risk
Differential susceptibility
Nature & nurture. Some are born with risk factors and are more susceptible to environmental factors (orchids and dandelions example)
Sociobiology
Concept that certain inherited characteristics are shaped by your environment which will determine the extent to which you act out
Equipotentiality
Nurture perspective. Everyone is born equal, with the same risk and likelihood. Environmental factors.
Biochemical factors
Smoking and drinking, environmental contaminants, lead contamination, diet, hormones.
Neurological dysfunction
Focus on brain and nervous system, learning disabilities (treated differently -> acting out), ADHD, arousal theory
Arousal theory
The belief that aggression is a function of the level of an individual’s need for stimulation or arousal from the environment. Those who require more stimulation may act in an aggressive manner to meet their needs.
Genetic influences direct view
Antisocial behavior is inherited, genetic makeup of parents is passed on to children, and genetic abnormality is directly linked to a variety of antisocial behaviors
Genetic influences indirect view
Genes are related to some personality or physical trait that are also linked to antisocial behavior; parent-child similarity
Evolutionary theory
Human traits producing violence and aggression have been nurtured and produced through human evolution. Competition for scarce resources has influenced and shaped the human species.
Psychological theories of delinquency
Psychodynamic theory, attachment theory, mental disorders, behavioral theory (behaviorism, social learning theory), cognitive theory, personality, intelligence and delinquency: nature theory, nurture theory
Psychodynamic theory
Human personality is controlled by unconscious mental pressures developed early in childhood. Sigmund Freud: id, ego, and superego. Erik Erickson: identity crisis. Latent delinquents
