SOCL- Shihadeh- Notes PDF

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Most of the semester for Criminology with Prof. Shihadeh...

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Lecture 2: Definition of Criminology 

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What’s the difference between deviance and crime? o DEVIANCE is the violation of social norms not codified by law; All violations are deviance, only a subset of these violations are crimes (if they violate enacted laws) o CRIME is violation of enacted laws of criminal offenses What is Criminology? o Scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon (as opposed to a legal or forensic phenomenon) o The study of LAW MAKING, LAW BREAKING, & SOCIAL REACTIONS TO LAW BREAKING  LAW MAKING  Why do certain laws come into being? Sociopolitical forces, the dynamic aspects of law creation, timing of law creation  The consensus model of law: (robbery, murder) o There is a widespread agreement that robbery and murder are crimes, as there is a unanimous understanding of the desire to protect life and personal property  The conflict model of law: Outcome of group conflict o The group that is strongest, most organized, and has the most resources is the one who is ultimately in control of the law, both creating and removing laws o Ex. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) > DUI, Smoking, Gun Control, Abortion, etc.  How law interacts with social factors o Ex. Cocaine – at one time was legal. In 1890, the SEARS catalog used to sell syringes and cocaine for $1.50. It was also present in Coca Cola  Change in category of users from middle class users, mostly white women. Cocaine linked to crime among Blacks and Chinese immigrants. Led to Harrison Narcotics Act, 1914, outlawing its use o Ex. 1960s Anti-war, Feminist, and Civil Rights Movements linked to a younger generation of hippies. There was a rise in recreational drug use, which led to a government crackdown  LAW BREAKING  Documentation of different kinds of crime, examining rates, trends, & differences (e.g. differences by gender, race, age)  Explanations for these trends, differences, etc. – developing theories; This course is about law breaking  SOCIAL RESPONSE TO LAW BREAKING

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Social institutions have responses to law breaking o Criminal Justice System  Police, Courts, & Correctional Systems (Jail/Prison)

Lecture 3: Epistemology & Scientific Inquiry  

EPISTEMOLOGY – the study of knowledge; Justified Belief vs. Opinion How do we know what we know? (or even better, How do we know when we’re wrong?)p o Renaissance  An awakening that began in the 14th century, in Florence, Italy; a rediscovery of Roman and Greek ideas, art, philosophy, etc.  As humans, we were unconcerned with our own bodies and minds, instead concerning ourselves with the soul  Humanist – focused on humans and real world, not the metaphysical, religious fixation of the middle ages  Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore – Duomo  A massive technological accomplishment to build the massive domes of the Cathedral. Following the completion of the building, it was celebrated by the Medicci family, who were leadership of the city, and provoked the start of the Renaissance revolution o Enlightenment  Around 1700, the Enlightenment is considered the Age of Reason, a period of scientific advancement that is responsible for many of our modern advancements  Science creates knowledge; the only knowledge that matters is knowledge gained through scientific means  Focused on evidence; If there isn’t evidence for something you don’t necessarily have to disbelieve it, merely suspend belief until evidence is presented  Emphasized the power of the individual, the importance of which replaced the power of the state and the power of the church  Undermined the monarchy and religious authority at the time  Really worked in favor of constitutional government democracy, a democracy that represented the feelings of the will of the individuals in that state o Science  Variable – the factors that change; Constant – the factors that doesn’t change  Hypothesis – educated guess based on a theory, the evidence at hand, and how the variables might be related to each other  Theory – An informed explanation about how two or more variables are related to one another; has to be testable and potentially falsifiable  Holds an exalted position in science, has not been falsified

Testing/Falsification (How do we know if we’re wrong?) o Most of our pre-tested beliefs are wrong (has been tested and proven). We need a system to weed out false ideas = scientific method. o Ex. Evolution – grandfather of all theories; has not been falsified but has been tested and proven in countless settings and experiments. Theory that underlines all of our thinking in major fields like biology, physiology, genetics, medicine, and even our thinking o Ex. Creationism / Intelligent Design – life is too complicated to have evolved from a process of natural selection, therefore it must be the result of intelligent design; It isn’t necessarily false, it’s just not FALSIFIABLE. Cannot achieve the same status as a scientific theory as it isn’t testable THEORY (EXISTING) > HYPOTHESIS (GUESS BASED ON EXISTING THEORY) > TEST HYPOTHESIS (WITH MANIPULATION OF VARIABLES AND MEASURED RESULTS) Theories vs. Belief System 

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Lecture 4: Fallacies in Reasoning 

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Confirmation Bias o Selecting evidence favorable to your beliefs and ignoring evidence unfavorable to your beliefs; Focusing on the hits and looking over the misses  Ex. Karma – the idea that good and bad behavior leads to the universe delivering good and bad outcomes  Instead of focusing on trying to confirm your beliefs (confirmation bias), don’t try to prove yourself right – always try to prove yourself wrong; This tactic weeds out false ideas in the mind  Ex. Astrology – horoscopes describe specific personality types and try to ascribe events in life to very specific details of a person’s character. Those that believe these horoscopes select particular features that support their belief.  In an experiment with participants guessing the astrological signs of each other, their guesses were only equivalent to 50%, the same as flipping a coin. Scientifically, no more accurate than random chance. Argument from Ignorance o Something is true because it has not been proven false o Because we are ignorant of a particular cause of an event, we don’t know what it explains it, therefore we falsely consider our argument to be true  Ex. “I spoke to your dead relative” – claims about speaking to a dead grandfather met with a question of how all of the knowledge about his

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grandfather could have possibly come from anywhere else (“well how would you explain how I know all of this if not for speaking to him”, “I don’t know”, “well I must be right.”)  Ex. Elvis / Tupac is still alive, Loch Ness Monster, Ancient solar eclipses o The claimant assumes the burden of proof; you should not just believe something because it hasn’t been proven false. You should instead withhold belief until such time as evidence is presented either supporting or disproving it o Not knowing is okay, don’t just make something up Conspiracy Theories o Ex. Moon landing is a hoax, crack cocaine comes from the CIA (not testable or falsifiable), Birther movement (Obama), 5G (Radiophobia from early 20 th century, fear of microwaves, fear of cell phones) o People who believe in conspiracy theories have a general distrust of humanity, of the government, and of society in general  These individuals are very suspicious of the world around them, and many of them border on paranoia (people are out to get them, there is a government/corporate agency that is conspiring against society  These theories require to believers to undergo confirmation bias, cherrypicking the details that support their belief and ignoring anything that supports it o Common Traits of Conspiracists  Attribution Fallacy – every event has to have a specific cause, illogically assumed to be a human cause; in reality, sometimes things just happen  Proportionality Bias – big things have to have big causes  Ex. JFK assassination – couldn’t have been simply one, ordinary guy with a gun – “the implications were too big to have a small cause”  Creating Significance  Gives the believer the sensation of knowing secret knowledge, gives significance to individuals without strong social circles or healthy lifestyles, community-oriented nature of conspiracy theories gives believers social satisfaction and significance  Ideological Motives  There may be ideological motives to engage with conspiracy theories – we want to believe something ideologically, searching for evidence in support of that goal  Ex. Birthers against Obama, stuck to the goal of disproving Obama’s U.S. citizenship based on ideological motivation for it to be proven true In life, you have to have a clear head and be able to make rational decisions without fallacies in reasoning, it’s extremely important to make proper decisions and to be willing to get rid of those beliefs that are wrong. Try to disconnect from your beliefs, try to disprove your beliefs. See how many you hold onto. You’d be surprised.

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Keep an open mind. An open mind is not to believe things that are not proven just to say I’m open minded. That’s not true. What open mindedness actually means is the willingness to listen to new evidence. Always be open to new evidence.

Lecture 5: Official Statistics / the UCR 

Criminological Data – 2 main types, pros and cons to either o Official Statistics – Comes from an official regulatory or law enforcement agency of the state o Unofficial Statistics o Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) – managed by the FBI, combined data of national police departments and their police reports, including arrest reports, offense reports  Often takes a long time to compile all of this data, for example as of 2020 there was only data released through 2018  Started in 1930, J. Edgar Hoover, wanted to make the bureau responsible for gathering national statistics on crime, adding to its professionalism  Lots of offense categories, (28-29)  Top 8 Index Crimes (Serious Crimes)  Violent: o Homicide – The willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another o Robbery – The taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force and/or by putting the victim in fear o Rape – Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim o Aggravated Assault – an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury  Property: o Burglary – the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft o Larceny Thef – the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another o Auto Thef – the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle o Arson – willful or malicious burning or attempting to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling, house, public

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building, motor vehicle or aircraft, person property of another, etc. National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) – also managed by the FBI Crime Rates  Began to rise in the mid 60s, levelled off in the 70s, then started to lower in the mid 80s  Major Social Variables o Age (low in UNDER 15, highest in 15-24, then increasingly lowers into 65 or OLDER) o Race / Ethnicity – Highest in Blacks, then latinos, then whites, then others o City Size – highest in larger cities, then progressively lower, slightly increased in cities under 10,000 residents  The Changing Social Definitions of Crime o DUI & Fraud are now defined differently than they once were  CRIME RATE is equal to (# of OFFENSES / # of PEOPLE EXPOSED (to risk)) multiplied by 100,000 (Ex. murder rate 10 in 100,000)  CLEARANCE RATE, the number of offense cleared by an arrest, is equal to (# of ARRESTS / # of Offenses) multiplied by 100 o Used as a measure of police practice, or police efficacy FBI.GOV (CRIME RATES)

Lecture 6: NIBRS, NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey), Trends in Crime 

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National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) o Contains much more information than the UCR o While the UCR is a summary reporting system, NIBRS is an incident-based system with more information  While NIBRS has far more information about crimes, the process of switching smaller and medium-sized agencies over to NIBRS reporting has been a long and ongoing process  Composed of an offense segment, property segment, victim segment, victim segment, arrestee segment, and an offender segment, all of which report numerous SPECIFIC qualities about these different categories  This distinguishes NIBRS from the UCR by documenting much more specific qualities that could have potentially influenced crimes committed  GROUP A (more serious) and GROUP B offenses Unofficial Data o Not from an agency of the state, completely independent

o National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)  While the UCR and NIBRS are mostly concerned with arrests and offenders, the NCVS is primarily concerned with gathering information on victims themselves  Did you report it & why or why not  A sample of, give or take, 95,000 households, comprising some 160,000 persons (age 12 or older), on criminal victimization in the United States  PERSONAL CRIME – Rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, and purse-snatching  Does not report murder statistics as murder victims cannot selfreport victimization data; this is somewhat of a downside to the NCVS as homicide is considered one of the most egregious violent crimes  PROPERTY CRIME – Burglary, motor vehicle theft, theft, and vandalism  ABOUT VICTIM – age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, marital status, education level, and income  ABOUT OFFENDER – age, race and Hispanic origin, sex, and victimoffender relationship  Only reports information about offenders that is known by the victim  ABOUT CRIME – time and place of occurrence, use of weapons, nature of injury, and economic consequences  EXPERIENCE WITH CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM  REPORTED or NOT REPORTED TO POLICE; WHY or WHY NOT?  The main factors in reporting the crime to police, besides merely notifying them that a crime has been committed, are: o Financial Benefit to Victim: There is a $$$ interest to victim o Seriousness of the crime: More serious crimes get reported more frequently  Violent (more serious) vs. Property crimes  Acquaintance (more likely) vs. Stranger o Most frequently reported crime? Motor Vehicle Theft (nearly 80%) (FINANCIAL BENEFIT IS MAIN FACTOR) o Who are the victims of crime?  GENDER, most likely male  Lifestyle adaptation – males are more likely to be out and about and be in positions where they can be the victim  AGE, most likely young, aged 15-24  RACE, most likely black  Black communities have a higher rate of offenders, leading to them having a direct correlation with victim rate  MARITAL STATUS, most likely single or divorced  INCOME, most likely poor

PROTOTYPICAL VICTIM OF CRIME: Unemployed, poor, young, black, male, single, and lives in the central city o Trends in Crime  Technology has led to more efficient policing. When considering individuals aged 60-75, many of the crimes committed by individuals in this age group likely have gone unreported  Increase in # of law enforcement as part of government expansion  Increased hiring of clerical staff, better collation of data, offense records, and organizational surveys like UCR and NIBRS  FBI adopted new, easier form in early 60s, so more departments got on board  Social problems. Vietnam. Youth movement. Gender movement. Social Unrest. 

Lecture 7: Trends in Crime contd., Baby Boom, Race and Crime  

1963, Murder rate began to rise, spiking in the 1980s, precipitous drop in the 1990s, then level since then (perhaps going back up?) Baby Boom – Age Curve in crime and how that relates to the Baby Boom o Peak in crime through ages 18-24; The crime prone age group is 15-24, dropping off exponentially after this age group o Age Curve of Crime – Why? – The changing character of the family  Pre-industrial family, young adults stayed with parents. Worked on the homestead. Produced most of what it consumed.  Essentially, the family was economically-independent and productive social unit. There was no big change in your life when you turned 18, much of your and this adjustment period occurred in adolescence in the pre-industrial household  Along comes industrialization, which moved economic production out of household to factories in cities  When you turn 18, there is a sudden social pressure to leave home, leading to a very abrupt sudden change into adulthood  Produces a sharp discontinuity between youth and adulthood  No more old friends around to reinforce high-risk, criminal behavior  The compounding responsibilities that occur during the period of adulthood often make crime be too costly of a decision (i.e. the value gained from robbing an individual do not equal the costs weighed in committing the crime); When you enter into your 20s, crime drops off very sharply AND rapidly  This age curve of crime is far less steep in lesser-developed societies, primarily because the adjustment into adulthood is less dramatic than developed, industrialized societies

Likewise, increased industrialization creates a sharper and sharper spike in crime that occurs between ages 15-24 o Because crime rates are so age-dependent, if a large portion of the population reaches that crime-prone age group simultaneously, there will be a dramatic effect on the overall crime rate in that society o Rise in birth rates post WWII (1947). The leading edge of baby boom o HISTORY LESSON - Following the financially prosperous and fiscally conservative 1920s, the 1930s were characterized by a period of widespread economic downturn that became the Great Depression. This was followed by the massive WWII, a large-scale, nationwide war effort. Ultimately, these two periods comprised some 15 years of uncertainty and the destruction of economic stability – following the victory of WWII, nearly 60% of the manufacturing worldwide came from the United States. Many people felt the need to “make up for lost time” and began starting large families and settling down in the late 1940s (~1947). Thus began the Baby Boom that caused the upswing in crime of the 1960s  Thus, baby boomers reached 16 in 1963, just when crime rates began to rise  The baby boomers were similar to a lump in a snake, on a clear passage through time with predictable social results for the group of people born in this generation.  The effect of baby boomers on the crime rate in the 1960s was statistically understandable, and just as predictable is the current strain of baby boomers on the healthcare system  Birth rates leveled off in 1960, the trailing edge of the baby boom  Thus, baby boomers reached age 15 in 1975, just when crime rates leveled off  Thus, major cause of crime increase between 1963 and 1975 was increased birth rates several decades before  It bloated the crime-prone age group (15-24) Race & Crime o Discrepancy in terms of the number of burglaries (whites are far more likely to be the victims than blacks), however murder and robbery numbers carry a similar rate of victimization  While these crimes have similar rates, the population differences are very important, Blacks only comprise ~13% of the total US population. These rates need to be considered when determining RISKS as well  Blacks, as a result of percentages, are far more likely to be the victims of crime, in-general o Claude Brown, researcher who wrote the article Man-child in Harlem about his childhood in New York in the early 1960s, returning to the city nearly 25 years later. Ultimately, he concludes that it has changed dramatically, for the worse, in the generation that he was away from the city.  His article is a WHAT? article, not a WHY? article 

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While we may have nearly 15,000 murders per year in the US in 2021, during the 1960s-70s when our total population w...