UNIT 3 QUIZ Flashcards
Labeling Theory
-people’s behavior are influenced by the label attached to them by society.
-Labeling offenders as “criminals” and/or “delinquents” via state intervention may have unanticipated (& ironic) consequences of causing the behavior it was meant to address.
-The state faced “legitimacy crisis”; citizens no longer trusted competence of government officials.
Frank Tannenbaum
the first to state that interventions “dramatize evil”
* The individual is tagged, defined, and treated as a criminal and acts accordingly.
Labeling Theories: Social Construction of Crime
Labeling theorists urged criminologists to abandon the idea that
behaviors are somehow inherently criminal
* What makes an act criminal is not necessarily the harm that it causes
* Instead, an act is criminal only based on whether act is labeled by the state
* It is the nature of society that determines whether a crime has occurred
* Changes over time, across societies, etc.
Karl Heusenstamm: Black Panther Bumper Stickers experiment
15 students without any driving violations selected (5 White, 5 Black, 5 Hispanic)
* Within just 17 Days, the students had 33 driving citations
Chambliss: Saints and Roughnecks study
Study of two groups of high school boys
* “Saints” came from middle-class families
* “Roughnecks” came from lower-class families in poorer neighborhoods
* Both engaged in delinquency—skipping school, fighting, vandalism–but different consequences
OUTCOME: Most “Saints” went to college and earned professional careers
* Many “Roughnecks” never graduated high school
* Many ended up in prison or dead
Labeling Theory individual characteristics?
Race
Gender
Class
Lemert two types of deviance
- primary deviance
- secondary deviance
Primary deviance
- The criminal rationalizes their behavior as a temporary or sees it as part of an acceptable role
- Does not accept a deviant status or label
Secondary deviance
Caused by the responses of others to the initial illegal conduct
- As societal reaction intensifies, the criminal is stigmatized through “labeling and stereotyping”
- Accepts the deviant status as part of identity
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A false definition of a situation that evokes a new behavior which makes the originally incorrect conception become true
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy stages
Our actions (towards others) IMPACT
Others beliefs (about us) CAUSE
Others actions (towards us) REINFORCE
Our beliefs (about ourselves) INFLUENCE
Braithwaite’s Reintegrative Shaming Theory
- Has the intention of invoking remorse in the person being shamed
- Shaming can be disintegrative or reintegrative
disintegrative shaming
negative labeling by the justice system that
tends to stigmatize and exclude targeted individuals
reintegrative shaming
involves expressions of community disapproval
followed by reacceptance into the community of responsible law- abiders
Four major policy recommendations: for Labeling Theory
- Decriminalization
- Diversion
- Due process
- Deinstitutionalization
Decriminalization
the reduction of penalties for victimless offenses such as drugs and prostitution.
Diversion
seeks to prevent individuals from criminal justice sanctions.
examples: Welfare/mental health agencies, substance abuse programs, job training classes
* Home incarceration and other community sanctions
Due Process
extends legal protections to offenders.
policies result in fairer and shorter
sentences and reduce the extent and effects of state intervention.
Deinstitutionalization
advocates the use of alternative sentencing
options to lessen the amount of individuals sentenced to prison.
the U.S. has abandoned deinstitutionalization and
chosen instead to incarcerate offenders at unprecedented
numbers
Conflict Theory
Focus on power differentials that exist between individuals and groups
* Roots in sociological and political perspectives
Karl Marx, is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engles
- Crime was a result of a decrease of social unity
- Could only be reduced if harmony could be regained
- Problem seen in economic terms
- Division of labor is the unjust exploitation of one social class by another
- Proposed a revolution against the system to encourage socialism
- Marx & Engles were at the forefront of conflict sociology
Capitalism
- Conflict is increased by inequality in the distribution of scarce resources
- Those receiving less resources would eventually question the legitimacy of the arrangement
The Communist Manifesto (1848)
destroy capitalism and build socialism
Georg Simmel
Saw conflict as a normal part of life.
- Not a problem, but rather a typical aspect of social order and interactions
- Focused on the consequences of conflict instead of the causes of it
Willem Bonger
Crime must be traced to an unfavorable environment that distorts human nature
* Saw an unfavorable environment generated by the rise of Capitalism
* Created division between the “rulers” and the “ruled”
“Egoism” made people more capable of committing crimes against one another
* Individuals seek pleasure by any means possible without regard for others
Conflict theory: Micro or Macro?
Macro theory (community level theory)
Conflict Theory: Morality
The system legalizes the egoistic actions of the powerful and penalizes the egoistic actions of the powerless
Three factors contributed to the rise of criminological conflict theory development:
- The Vietnam War
- The growth of the “counterculture”
- The protests over discrimination and police use of power to suppress dissent
Four factors behind the shift to new conflict theory:
- Skepticism toward theories that trace crime to individuals
- Shift from assumption that criminal justice problems were due to individuals and to the idea that they are inherent in the system
- Rejection of the assumption that criminal laws represented the collective will of the people
- Official crime rates did not reflect the amount or nature of
criminal behavior that was actually present in society
William Chambliss
The criminal justice system tended to treat those of lower social
class position more harshly than those of higher class for the same offense.
Steven Spitzer
Increase efficiency
* Using technology makes work faster and cheaper and can increase profit
* Reduce labor force
* A company that runs on the least amount of labor has the greatest profit
Instrumental Marxism
the capitalist elite are an all-knowing few who
knowingly pull the strings to ensure that their interests are served
Structural Marxism
the basis of law resides in class relations in
general rather than within the conscious control of the capitalists
The rich and the poor are equally subject to punishment if they threaten the stability of capitalism.
Peacemaking Criminology
Accepts the notion that conflict is at the root of crime
* Advocates policy response using positive mediation policies
* Build trust and a sense of community
Critical Theory
Shares the perspective that the sources of crime stem from the fact that unequal class, race/ethnic, and gender relations control society
Green Criminology
Refers to the study of environmental harm, laws and
regulation
EXAMPLES: pollution, illegal trade of species,
illegal harvesting, irresponsible disposal of toxic materials,
ecological consequences of technologies, etc.
“Environmental justice”
refers to how social practices and hazards impact
specific populations defined by class, gender, age, and ethnicity
“Ecological justice”
refers to the relationship between human beings and
the rest of the natural world
“Speciesism”:
the practice of discrimination against nonhuman animals
Convict Criminology
Empowered and gave voice to ex-cons & prison workers in research
