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criminology > Unit 2 - Criminological Theories > Flashcards

Unit 2 - Criminological Theories Flashcards

1
Q

criminal behaviour (social definition)

A

action which goes against community norms

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2
Q

criminal behaviour (legal definition)

A

harmful act against the law therefore punishable by state in criminal proceedings. must have actus reus and a mens rea

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3
Q

actus reus

A

guilty act

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4
Q

mens rea

A

guilty mind

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5
Q

what are formal sanctions against criminals

A

penalties law hands out to those convicted of a crime

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6
Q

formal non-court sanctions against criminals

A
  • cautions
  • conditional cautions
  • penalty notices
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7
Q

cautions (formal non-court sanctions)

A

cautions: administered for minor crimes (spraying graffiti) - not a criminal conviction

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8
Q

conditional cautions (formal non-court sanctions)

A

conditional cautions: cautions administered by police with restrictions set in place (eg. repairing damage to property)

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9
Q

penalty notices (formal non-court sanctions)

A

penalty notices: given for shoplifting/possessing cannabis. penalty notices only given if 18 or over.

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10
Q

formal court sanctions against criminals

A
  • custodial sentences
  • community sentences
  • fines
  • discharge
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11
Q

custodial sentences (formal court sanctions against criminals)

A

custodial sentences: immediately sent to prison. mandatory

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12
Q

community sentences (formal court sanctions against criminals)

A

community sentences: combination order (unpaid work, probation, curfew)

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13
Q

fines (formal court sanctions against criminals)

A

fines: financial penalties (vary)

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14
Q

discharge (formal court sanctions against criminals)

A

discharge: either conditional/given alternative sentence/absolute (if defendant reoffends during set time given alternative sentence, or absolute when defendant guilty but morally blameless)

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15
Q

police sanctions (formal non-court sanctions)

A
  • cautions (warnings, 10+, minor offences only)
  • conditional cautions (set of conditions put in place alongside caution)
  • penalty notices (for minor crimes, no conviction, pay penalty)
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16
Q

other implications of committing a criminal act

A
  • exclusions from jobs
  • placed on Violent and Sex offenders Register
  • banned travelling certain countries
  • restrictions on adoption
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17
Q

deviance

A

behaviour that goes against societal norms

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18
Q

(deviance) norms, moral codes, values

A

unwritten rules of acceptable behaviour

(eg. UK mourning colour black, China mourning colour white)

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19
Q

informal sanctions against deviance

A
  • frowning upon behaviour
  • labelling behaviour
  • ignoring behaviour
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20
Q

formal sanctions against deviance

A
  • fines
  • imprisonment
  • detention
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21
Q

forms of deviance

A
  • admired behaviour
  • odd behaviour
  • bad behaviour
  • some acts deviant not criminal (cross-dressing)
  • some acts criminal not deviant (watching movies on illegal sites)
  • some acts both (murder)
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22
Q

What is the impact of reporting on public perceptions of crime and deviance?

A

news dramatic portrayal can distort public understanding and lead to misconceptions = shape public opinion and increase support for harsher penalties

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23
Q

strict liability

A

mens rea (guilty mind) not required. factory owner negligent + fails to safegaurd dangerous machinery

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24
Q

self defence

A

assaulting someone (actus reus - guilty act) with intention to harm (mens rea - guilty mind) if done in self defence means person cannot be found guilty

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25
Q

how has capital punishment changed over time

A
  • 18th century: executing someone as punishment in practice (pick pockets, shooting rabbits)
  • law made by rich to protect property
  • view faded
  • people given equal rights and opportunity to progress in society
  • cases of miscarriages of justice
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26
Q

how has double jeopardy changed over time

A
  • double jeopardy: law prevented someone tried again for same offence
  • Ann Ming’s campaign abolished double jeopardy got serious offences
  • change necessary, law inadequate to bring justice
  • medical knowledge advanced = certainty of evidence
27
Q

how have laws concerning prostitution changed over time

A
  • world’s oldest profession
  • prostitution legal but connecting activities illegal
  • (kerb crawling, owning brothel)
  • prostitution used to be seen as immoral
  • now calls for it to be decriminalised and destigmatised
  • decline in religion
  • more occupations + training available
  • increased moral tolerance in society
28
Q

how has vagrancy changed over time

A
  • Vagrancy Act 1824: law passed to clear streets of beggars to prevent more crime
  • Act fell into disuse
  • society accepted legitimate reasons for homelessness and not just laziness
  • increased prosecutions for people pretending to be homeless
  • since 19th century: no longer looked down upon
  • now sympathy + acceptance for reasons for homelessness
29
Q

how has the possession of cannibis changed from culture to culture

A
  • illegal in England and Wales
  • calls to decriminalise it for medical reasons
  • Colombia + Uruguay cannibis legal
  • Durham don’t prioritise, Cumbria police prosecute
  • some countries view it as recreational drug
  • others argue it should be decriminalised for medical use
30
Q

how has jaywalking changed from culture to culture

A
  • offence in urban areas: USA, Canada, Singapore, Poland
  • UK not offence + considered personal responsibility to cross road safely
31
Q

how has female genital mutilation changed from culture to culture

A
  • FGM: deliberate mutilation of female genitalia (non-medical reasons)
  • UK illegal: painful nature of operation, health implications, mental health problems recognised
  • parts of Middle East and Asia legal: cultural, religious, social reasons
  • seen to benefit girl + preserved virginity got marriage
32
Q

How are laws applied differently according to circumstances in which actions occur (how are laws applied in regards to age)

A
  • law states: everybody should be applied to equally
  • instance law applied differently: age
  • age of criminal responsibility:
  • UK: 10
  • Canada: 12
  • Bangladesh: 9
  • China: 16
  • occasions (muder) if actus reus and mens rea taking place allows alternative charge to be added
33
Q

How media and campaigjs for change contributed to social constructions of criminality and unreported crime

A

?

34
Q

genetic theories

A
  • adoption studies
  • twin studies
  • jacobs - XYY study
35
Q

adoption studies

A
  • Crowe (1972)
  • (F) if adopted persons biological mum had a criminal conviction they had a 50% chance of having conviction
  • (F) if adopted persons biological mum didn’t have a criminal conviction they had a 5% chance of having a conviction
  • Mednick et al. (1994)
  • (F) no relationship between adopted childen and adoptive parents
  • (F) huge correlation between biological parents and offspring
36
Q

twin studies

A
  • made contention that a heritable trait increased risk of criminal behaviour
  • Lange (1929)
  • (F) MZ (100%) had higher concordance rates than DZ (50%) for criminal behaviour
  • Christiansen (1977)
  • (P) studied pairs of twins from Danish islands
  • (F) Male: MZ (35%) DZ (13%)
  • (F) Female: MZ (21%) DZ (8%)
37
Q

Jacobs XYY study (1965)

A
  • suggests criminal behaviour may be caused by chromosomal abnormality
  • suggest men with extra ‘Y’ chromosome inclined to be more aggressive
  • Jacob et al. (1965)
  • (F) XYY men more aggressive than XY men
  • studies suggest XYY men over-represented in prison population
  • John Wayne Gacy has XYY syndrome: SA’ed, tortured, killed min. 33 men in USA
38
Q

phsyiological theories

A
  • Lombroso
  • Sheldon
39
Q

Lombroso - ‘Father of Modern Criminology’

A
  • Italian psychiatrist
  • claimed criminality heritable
  • claimed criminals had atavistic primitive features
  • (P) examined 300+ living criminals, 3000+ dead criminals
  • (F) 40% criminals had atavistic features
  • (eg. murderers bloodshot eyes + curly hair, sex offenders thick lips + protruding ears)
40
Q

Sheldon

A
  • (P) examined 4,000 men
  • somatotypes: endomorphic, ectomorphic, mesomorphic
  • endomorphic: fat and soft
  • ectomorphic: thin and fraglie
  • mesomorphic: muscular and hard
  • (F) aggressive acts mostly linked to mesomorphics, least likely to be aggressive ectomorphic
41
Q

individualistic theories

A
  • Bandura - Bobo doll study
  • Eysenck - Personality theory
  • Freud - Psychonalaysis
42
Q

Bandura - Bobo doll study (social learning theory)

A
  • Learning theories
  • believes people can learn watching behaviour of others
  • more likely to imitate behaviour if model’s actions rewarding
  • (P) 1961 - kids watched adult (model) beat bobo doll
  • (F) kids imitated model almost exactly the same
43
Q

Eysenck - Personality theory

A
  • Psychological theory
  • believed personality types more likely to commit crime
  • extroversion/introversion (E/I): level stimulation person needs
  • neuroticism/stability (N,S): level emotional stability
  • most likely personality type (E) (N)
  • psychoticism (P): cold, uncaring attributes to person
44
Q

How did findings of bobo doll study account for criminality?

A
  • prison criminals learn from people around them
  • ‘universities of crime’
  • Osborn and West (1979) found sons of criminal fathers more likely to have criminal conviction than sons with fathers without a criminal conviction
45
Q

Freud - Psychoanalysis

A
  • Psychodynamic theories
  • believed early childhood experienced linked heavily to criminality
  • believed most of our mind unconscious (iceberg - only tip seen)
  • three parts of psyche: id, ego, superego
  • id: selfish animalistic urges
  • ego: rational sensible control
  • superego: moral conscience.
46
Q

Bowlby (1944) link to Freud

A
  • (P) Maternal deprivation
  • Freud states child needs stable home to successfully make transition
  • most criminals from unstable homes
  • (F) 37% delinquents experienced complete separation from mothers 6 months+ in first 5 years of life
47
Q

sociological theories

A

• social structure: marxism, functionalism
• interactionism theory: labelling theory
• realism: left and right

48
Q

social structure

A
  • theoy assumes disadvantaged social class primary cause of crime (marxism, functionalism)
49
Q

interactionalism theory

A
  • labelling theory (Beckner)
50
Q

marxism

A
  • different social classes policed differently
  • proletariat: WC, heavily policed
  • bourgeoise: RC, less policed
  • government fabricate statistics to be false and misleading
  • capitalism criminogenic
  • dog eat dog society
  • WC exploited driven into poverty with crime being the only thing to survive
51
Q

functionalism

A
  • each part of society contributes to the stability of whole society
  • parts all depend on each other
  • crime only dysfunctional if rate high or low
  • Durkheim (1895)
  • identified positive and negative side of crime
  • Merton’s strain theory
  • argues society encourages goals of material success
  • not everyone can gain qualifications or access jobs
52
Q

anomie (functionalism)

A
  • too much crime has negative consequences
  • weakening/collapse of collective conscience sky rocket crime rates
  • situation brought back into control by reinforcing collective conscience
53
Q

labelling (Beckner)

A
  • interactionalism
  • crime statistics socially constructed
  • Beckner named two types of deviance: primary deviance (not socially labelled deviant), secondary deviance (act labelled as deviant)
  • internalising label = self-fulfilling prophecy
  • media contributes to ‘demonising’ people
    ^ deviancy amplification
  • labelling leads to sterotyping
  • Malinowski - publically accused of incest
54
Q

realism

A

practical view of crime and deviance

55
Q

right realism

A
  • right wing, conservative
  • emphasises ‘zero tolerance’
  • ‘Broken Windows’ (1982) James Q. Wilson: crime flourishes where social control breaks down (littering, vandalism, rowdy behaviour)
56
Q

left realism

A
  • left wing
  • crime due to inequalities in society
  • Lea and Young (1984): poverty/unemployment do not cause crime directly, Great depression in Britain crime rates considerably lower
57
Q

marginalisation

A

certain groups more likely to suffer economic, social, political deprivation

58
Q

different types of crime

A

white collar crime, corporate crime, state crime, honour crime, hate crime, domestic crime

59
Q

individual criminal behaviour (Robert Napper)

A
  • relevant theories of criminality:
  • bowlby’s attachment theory: (1944) child needs stable home environment to develop approriately. argue separation lead to affectionate psychopathy (individuals feel no remorse)
  • social learning theory: Bandura suggest Napper learned from those around him. age 12 raped in woods near home.
60
Q

individual criminal behaviour (Fred West)

A
  • relevant theories of criminality:
  • social learning theory: Fred’s mother introduced him to sex at early age
  • Freud’s personality theory: Fred unable to transition. Continued to need instant gratification from sexual acts (pleasure-seeking id to reality principle where ego dominant)
  • brain damage: result of Fred’s motercycle accident. Damaged pre-frontal cortex, impacts persons ability to control impulsive behaviour
61
Q

individual criminal behaviour explanation for Nick Leeson

A
  • Eysenck’s personality theory: argues criminals more likely to be extroverted and thrill seeking (could argue Leeson runnubg risk of being caught but enjoying thrill of making money)
  • social structure theory of Marxism: Leeson wanted to avoid falling into disadvantaged WC. He avoided detection for so long because WC heavily policed unlike white-collar crimes which aren’t monitored by police (fraud)
62
Q

Evaluate the effectiveness of criminological theories to explain causes of criminality
(Individualistic)

A

• Bandura:
- (L) low ecological validity
- (S) controlled study, greater accuracy
- (L) ethical issues

• Freud:
- (L) difficultly testing concepts so psychodynamic theories are no longer accredited
- (L) theories very unscientific and lack objective interpretation
- (L) very subjective process (may draw different conclusions)
- (S) link between childhood experience and adult characteristics

• Eysenck’s:
- (S) research on soldiers, Eysenck predited most traumatised soldiers score high on neurotic
- (L) lack of reliability, people may not respond exactly the same every day or every time
- (S) could lead to interventions baded on parenting to help reduce crime
- (L) relies on self-report measures which can be biased or deliberately false answers
- (S) DeYoubg (2010) releaze of dopamine linked to extroversion, high levels of testosterone linked to psychoticism
- (L) theory suggests personality is genetic but personality can change overtime

63
Q

Evaluate the effectiveness of criminological theories to explain causes of criminality
(Biological)

A

• Lombroso:
- (L) Lack of a control group so no comparisons can be made
- (L) Bath Spa University suggests less attractive individuals are more likely to be considered guilty
- (L) Atavistic featres specific to people of African descent, Lombroso’s work began offender profiling
- (L) Extremely deterministic, suggests we can’t escape reality
- (S) First person to give criminology scientific credibility

• Sheldon:
- (L) Couldn’t explain how ectomorphs and endomorphs could be criminals
- (L) Failed to take into account that people’s somatotypes not fixed
- (S) Used a decent sample (200)

• XYY theory
- (S) Large number of criminals imprisoned for aggressive behaviour have XYY syndrome
- (S) Jacob et al. found significant amount of men in prison had XYY chromosomes
- (L) Adler et al. (2007) found it’s possible aggressive and violent behaviour least determined by genetic factors. Argued XYY study focused to heavily on genetics ignoring behaviourist approach

• Twin studies:
- (L) Lange (1929) Inadequately controlled and lacked validity. Whether twins DZ/MZ based solely on appearance, not DNA
- (S) Christiansen (1977) supports view criminality has genetic component. The samall sample used in twin studies may not represent general population.
- (S) Criminality could be easily linked to nurture as to genetics

• Adoption studies:
- (S) Adopted kids grew up in different environment easier to separate genetic + environmental factors
- (L) Age of adoption may influence results of whether they’re convicted or not
- (L) Biological family info not always available and the adoption process isn’t always random

64
Q

Evaluate the effectiveness of criminological theories to explain causes of criminality
(Sociological )

A

• Marxism:
- (L) Ignores non-class inequalities (gender/ethnicity)
- (S) Highlights selective law enforcement and how white-collar crime is under policed
- (L) Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates (Japan)
- (S) Shows how inequality can lead to criminal behaviour

• Interactionism - Labelling theory:
- (S) Shows how law often enforced in discriminatory way and highlights the impacts of labelling
- (L) Fails to explain why deviant behaviour happens
- (S) Highlights weaknesses in official statistics which allow bias in law enforcement
- (S) Sheds light on how there is a potential to romanticise crime
- (L) Labellibg does not always lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• Right realism:
- (S) Helped produce gov.’s research into crime, stimulated victim survey and practical measures to combat crime
- (L) Too readily accepts crime statistics
- (L) Fails to explain white-collar crime and focuses on young males/street crime
- (L) ignores wider structural causes of crime like poverty
- (S) Flood-Page et al. (2000) found males from lone-parent households more likely to offend than those in the nuclear family
- (L) Ignores increasing gap between rich and por creating resentment (relative deprivation)

• Left realism:
- (S) Explores role of victim of crime than any other criminological theory
- (L) Fails to explain why everyone in relative deprivation fails to turn to crime. Fails to explain white-collar or corporate crime
- (L) Neither glorifies or attacks police (avoids worst excesses of both right and left wing approaches)

criminology (1 decks)

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