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Criminological Theory

Terms in this set (40)

Criminology
scientific study of crime.
It includes the incidence and forms of crime and criminal behavior, their causes and consequences, the social reaction to it, the control of it, and its prevention
The study of crime has two main dimensions?
-Behavioral
-Definitional
Guide to Criminological Research
-Define the problem
-Review the literature
-Formulate a hypothesis
-Collect and analyze the data
-Develop a conclusion
-Share the results
Theory
a set of concepts or propositions linked together by a series of statements to explain why an event or phenomenon occurs
Characteristics of Good Theories
-Parsimony
-Scope
-Logical consistency
-Testability
-Empirical validity
-Policy implications
Hypotheses
Ideas about the world that are derived from theories and that can be disproved when tested against observations
Principle of falsification
To be scientific, a theory must lead to testable hypotheses that can be disproved if wrong (Karl Popper)
Validity
The degree to which a measure actually reflects the phenomenon under study
Reliability
The extent to which a measure is consistent in producing the same results over and over again
Consensus view
Crime is a social phenomenon that is generally agreed to be harmful, undesirable, and disruptive
Criminal law thus defines as criminal all behavior believed to be repulsive to all individuals in society
Conflict view
Crime and deviance are products of unequal power relationships
Crime control thus becomes a tool of the powerful to control the behavior of the less powerful
Legalistic approach
Crime is behavior that violates criminal codes and statutes.
*Mala in se=Evil in itself
*Mala prohibita=Evil because it is against the law
Bennett's Crimewarps
Crimewarps (Bennett, 1987) was a study of what crime might look like during the next 20-50 years
Crimewarp
refers to the bends in today's trends that will affect the way we live tomorrow

*The key point to take away from Crimewarps is that it is impossible to understand criminological theory outside of its social context (e.g., factors such as time and place)
Spiritualism
Stressed the conflict between absolute good and absolute evil; people who committed crimes were thought to be possessed by evil spirits (referred to as sinful demons)

*To avoid family feuding, methods were constructed for dealing with those accused of committing crimes:

Trial by battle: Victory would go to the innocent

Trial by ordeal: Subject the accused to life-threatening or painful situations

Compurgation: Reputable people swear an oath the accused was innocent

"Devil made me do it" explanations
Problems With Spiritualism
The major problem with spiritualistic explanations is that they cannot be tested scientifically or validated empirically
Naturalistic Explanations
*Due to the inability to test spiritualistic theories scientifically, modern theory often rely on explanations based in the physical world, which are called, naturalistic explanations

*Naturalistic theories and spiritualistic explanations have in common their origins in the ancient world

*By focusing on the physical world of facts, naturalistic theories seek explanations that are more specific and detailed than natural explanations

*Naturalistic explanations persisted in spite of the spiritualistic perspective's dominance, and by the 16th and 17th centuries, several scholars were studying and explaining humans in terms know to them
The Classical School
*The most important feature of the classical school of thought is its emphasis on the individual criminal as a person who is capable of calculating what he or she wants to do (free will to do what they please)

*Individuals were guided by a pain and pleasure principle calculating risks and rewards

*The punishment should be suited to the offense

*Basis of the U.S. legal system - equal treatment before the law
Cesare Bonesana Marchese de BECCARIA
Leader of Classic School of Criminology
Beccaria's Argument
1.To escape war and chaos, individuals gave up some of their liberty and established a contractual society

2.Because criminal laws placed restrictions on individual freedoms, they should be restricted in scope

3.The presumption of innocence should be the guiding principle in the administration of justice

4.The complete criminal law code should be written and should define all offenses and punishments in advance

5.Punishment should be based on retributive reasoning because the guilty had attacked another individual's rights

6.The severity of the punishment should be limited and should not go beyond what is necessary for crime prevention and deterrence

7.Criminal punishment should correspond with the seriousness of the crime, the punishment should fit the crime, not the criminal

8.Punishment must be a certainty and should be inflicted quickly

9.Punishment should not be administered to set an example and should not be concerned with reforming the offender

10.The offender should be viewed as an independent and reasonable person who weighed the consequences of the crime

11.The aim for every good system of legislation was the prevention of the crime
Jeremy Bentham
*Punishment should be a deterrent

*Behavior is the result of free will and hedonistic calculus
Problems with the Classical School
*The argument that all criminal behavior could be explained by hedonism was weakening as the importance of aggravating and mitigating circumstances increased

*The new laws did not provide for the separate treatment of children

*The rather uncomplicated view of the rational man did not fully answer the question of what caused crime
The Positivist School
*The most significant difference between the classical school and the positivist school is the latter's search for empirical facts to confirm the idea that crime was determined by multiple factors

*The 19th century's first positivists wanted scientific proof that crime was caused by features within the individual

-Particularly the mind and body
-Neglected social factors external to the person
Lombroso's Theory of the Criminal Man
For Lombroso, the objective search for explaining human behavior meant disagreement with free will and philosophy


Developed his interest in biological explanations when he was an army physician

Claimed diseases contributed to mental and physical deficiencies which could result in violence or homicide

Measured 3,000 soldiers to document physical differences

Role of tattooing as a distinguishing characteristic of criminals
Lombroso's Central Tenet
By 1876, Lombroso published his findings in On Criminal Man, which contained not only a biological focus but an evolutionary one as well

-Criminals represent a peculiar physical type distinctively different from that of noncriminals

Criminals represent a form of degeneracy that was manifested in physical characteristics reflective of earlier forms of evolutions

Big ears, sloping foreheads, long arms, receding chins, twisted noses

Criminals are atavistic, throwbacks from an earlier form of evolutionary life
Lombroso's Contribution
Gave attention to a multiple-factor explanation of crime that included not only heredity, but also social, cultural, and economic variables

Credited with pushing the study of crime away from abstract meta-physical, legal, and juristic explanations of as the basis of penology "to a scientific study of the criminal and the conditions under which he commits crime"

Showed the importance of examining clinical and historical records

Took the topic of the causes of crime away from sin and placed it in the realm of science
Four major categories of criminals
Born criminals: People with atavistic characteristics

Insane criminals: Idiots, imbeciles, paranoiacs, epileptics, and alcoholics

Occasional criminals/criminaloids: Explained by opportunity

Criminals of passion: Commit crime because of anger, love, or honor and are characterized by being propelled to crime by an irresistible force
William Sheldon
Shifted attention away from adults to delinquent male youths

-Two hundred males between ages 15 and 21 years of age

Classified physiques into three categories:

Endomorphy: Soft and fat

Mesomorphy: Muscular and athletic

Ectomorphy: Skinny and flat


*Concluded the factors that produce delinquency were inherited
Enrico Ferri
The Theory of Imputability and the Denial of Free Will

Attack on free will arguments and contained a theoretical perspective that was to characterize Ferri's later work

Emphasized the interrelatedness of social, economic, and political factors that contribute to crime

Crime could be controlled by social changes (e.g., advocated subsidized housing, birth control, freedom of marriage, divorce, and public recreation facilities)
Ferri's Classes of Criminal
-The born or instinctive criminal

-The insane criminal

Clinically defined as mentally ill

-The passion criminal

Crime was the result of prolonged or chronic mental illness or an emotional state

-The occasional criminal

Product of family and social conditions

-The habitual criminal

Acquired the habit from the social environment

-The involuntary criminal
Progressives
argued that the system should be arranged not to punish offenders but rather rehabilitate them
Robert Park
Concluded that the city's development and organization were not random

Rather development is patterned and could be understood in terms of the basic social processes

The nature of social processes and their impact on human behavior could be ascertained only through a careful study of city life
SOCIAL CONTRACT
people invest in the laws of their society with the guarantee that they will be protected from rule violators.
3 significant characteristics of punishment that would influence decision to commit crime
o Swiftness
o Certainty
o Severity
Swiftness
How quickly the justice process moves.
System at time of Beccaria seriously lacked swiftness
Helps to solidify the connection between the crime and punishment.
Certainty
Most important quality of punishment
Even if punishment is moderate (less severe), if it is certain it will have stronger effect
Severity
Possible punishment must outweigh the benefit of the crime
Too severe and it will lead to crime
Not severe enough and people will actively engage in crime
Shaw and McKay's Theory of Juvenile Delinquency
Persuaded that a model of the city formulated by Ernest Burgess provided a framework for understanding the social roots of crime

Neighborhood organization was instrumental in the preventing or permitting delinquent careers
Burgess's Concentric Zone Theory
Cities grow radially in a series of five concentric zones

Competition determined how people were distributed spatially among these zones

The zone of transition was a cause for concern and study

Deteriorating houses, displacement of residents, and waves of immigrants lead to weakened family and communal ties and resulted in social disorganization
Shaw and McKay's Disorganization and Delinquency
-Delinquency flourished in the zone in transition and was inversely related to the zone's affluence and corresponding distance from the central business district

-The nature of the neighborhood, not individuals within the neighborhood, regulated involvement in crime

-Neighborhood organization was the main factor determining juvenile waywardness

-Growing up in a disorganized area, it is this combination of:

1, A break down of control

2. Exposure to a criminal culture that lures individual youngsters into crime
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