Study sheet for criminology - Google Docs PDF

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Used this study sheet for the final exam...

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Chapter 1: Intro Deviance includes: any behavior or characteristic that is improper, illegal, weird, bizarre, immoral or contaminating cultural norms in the society or group in which it occurs Deviance is the violation of norms that a society agrees upon Deviance is relative: vary from place to place, from time to time, and from one group to another Deviance is ambiguous: good and bad definitions vary so much that sometimes it is difficult to consider what is deviance and what is not. Deviance varies with degrees: it ranges from mild transgressions of folkways (sexual overtones) to serious infringement of law (rape) Violates social norms, Is subject to social control ;Formal and Informal Controls, Not all crime is deviant; Marijuana use, Speeding?, Not all deviance is criminal; Bystander apathy, Cross dressing. Characteristics of Deviance: - Deviance is linked to time - Deviance is linked to cultural values - Deviance is a cultural universal - Deviance is a social construct 1. Voluntary deviance: acquired status i.e. (junky, thief, liar, cheat) 2. Involuntary deviance: i.e. (physically handicapped, mental disability, the blind) Crime: is an act that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and other sanctions “Crime is a violation of societal rules of behaviour as interpreted by a legal criminal code created by people holding social and political power. Individuals who violate these laws are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of status.” -Siegel and McCormick Crime’ encompasses a variety of behaviours, Some focus their definition of crime on the violation of social norms, Others look to the level of harm involved, Others look much more broadly at moral codes and the violation of human rights Overall: It depends what perspective you are coming from! Juvenile delinquency: refers to a violation of the law by young people under the age of 18 (in Canada). Social control: systematic practices developed by social groups to encourage conformity and to discourage deviance John Hagan’s Typology of Deviance and Crime: 3 interacting variables - Evaluation of harm; Very harmful, somewhat harmful, not very harmful - Agreement about the norm; Strong agreement, strong disagreement, confusion or apathy - Severity of societal response; Very severe, moderate, mild

Types of crimes: - Consensus crimes; murder, rape, robbery - Social deviations; alcoholism, mental illness - Conflict crimes; pornography, prostitution, illegal drug use - Social diversions; body piercing, cross-dressing

Common law: Has been called the major source of modern criminal law, Refers to a traditional body of unwritten legal precedents. A body of unwritten judicial opinion that was based upon customary social practices of Anglo-Saxon society during the Middle Ages. The Canadian Constitution: Defines the rights of individuals. Defines the power of the federal government and the provinces to create laws and prosecute offenders. - Sets limits on punishment. Factors that influence the law: - Public; Public behaviours change norms, Public opinions influence politicians, Public awareness influences definitions - Politicians; Provincial and Federal - Media; Shaping public and private understandings & perceptions of criminal events - Moral Entrepreneurs; Ex. Interest Groups MADD Conflict view: Law is tool of ruling class; Crime is politically defined; “Real crimes” are not defined; Law controls the underclass Consensus view: Law defines crime; Agreement exists; Laws apply to all equally Interactionist view: Moral entrepreneurs define crime; Crimes are socially defined; Labels transform lives Purposes of the law: - General 1. Channels and constrains human behavior. 2. Regulates the flow of human interaction (Max Weber). 3. Maintains values and upholds established patterns of social privilege. 4. Supports social order. - Social Engineering. 1. Roscoe Pound's jural postulates state that laws are the product of shared social needs experienced by the majority of members in the society where they arise. - Social Conflict 1. William Chambliss's conflict theory (law is the tool of powerful individuals and groups acting in their own interests). Types of laws: - Private Law: That portion of modern law that regulates contracts and other obligations involving primarily personal interests.

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Result: Private wrong Financial compensation only Victim initiates action Both parties may appeal Victim receives compensation Guilt is based on balance of probabilities

Quasi-criminal Law: Discuss the powers of provinces and municipalities to enact laws and attach penalties to them. Discuss how this differs from the federal government’s criminal law making power. Public Law : That area of law that regulates the functioning of the state and the relationship between the state and the individual in society. 1. Constitutional Law: The branch of law that outlines the obligations and practices of the various levels of government, and the rights of the individual as against the government. 2. Constitutional Law: The law regulating the relationships between the various branches of government, and also the law that restricts the powers of the government in relation to the individual. 3. Criminal Law: That branch of modern law which concerns itself with offences committed against society, members thereof, their property, and the social order. Note that, in Canada, criminal law will have a typically criminal public purpose, which separates it out from the provincial power to enact laws.

Result: - Public offence - May result in fines and imprisonment - The government initiates action - Government (usually) does not appeal - Fines go to the state - Guilt must be “beyond a reasonable doubt”

Chapter 7: Social Construct Theories Economic structure & crime - Social stratification • Unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige. Changes in stratification: - Reduced poverty among the elderly • Access to health care, pensions, social security. - ⦿ More poverty among full-time workers - ⦿ 16% of children live in poverty Poverty 5 million people live below the poverty line (16%). ⦿ Child poverty: More than I million children are in poverty (2012). Significant impact on academic achievement, health, behaviour. • Rates are highest among recent visible minority immigrants and Aboriginal children.

Inequality Lower class: Problems of housing, health care, family breakups, underemployment, despair. Blocked aspirations. High levels of dropping out, teenage pregnancy. Immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be poor. More likely to be victims of crime.

THE UNDER CLASS The underclass, according to Lewis, has "a strong present-time orientation, with little ability to delay gratification and plan for the future“ A group who do not "assimilate“ Described by Dennis Gilbert as the most disenfranchised socio-economic demographic with the least access to scarce resources. - The passive poor, usually long term welfare recipients; The hostile street criminal, drop-outs, low-class prostitutes, and drug addicts; The hustlers, dependent on the underground economy, but rarely involved in violent crime; The traumatised drunks, drifters, homeless bag ladies, and released mental patients. 3 Social Structure theories 1. Social Disorganization Theory. • Weakened social institutions in urban areas result in crime. Characteristics of Disorganization: Transient population, mixed-use Neighbourhood. Lack essential services. High unemployment, single-parent families, dependence on social assistance, substandard housing Social institutions: Have broken down. Lack authority to control behaviour. Little sense of community: Lack communication, can’t pursue common goals. ⦿ Emphasis on the location. It examines the “kinds of places” (the different type of neighbourhoods) which foster conditions favourable or unfavourable to deviant behaviour. ⦿ Neighbourhoods differ in their capacity to control the behaviour of people which is related to variables such as community friendship groups, family disruptions (one parent families), residential turnover, poverty, unsupervised teenage peer groups. The more socially disorganized a neighbourhood the greater the likelihood of local deviance. Poverty Leads to: A Disorganized Community; A Breakdown of traditional forms of Social Control; Deviant Role Models Emerge; Criminal Areas and Locations Develop; The Cultural of Gangs Gets Transmitted to Youth; Criminal Careers are Created; Gang Culture is a Cycle Difficult to Change; The Cycle goes on…. ---> concentric zone theory by Shaw & Mckay: ⦿ Response to rapid immigration and urban deterioration. ⦿ “Natural areas” of wealth and poverty. ⦿ Transitional areas The outcome of their theory: High population turnover. Defenceless against crime invasion. Criminals are products of their environment, not biology. Constant feature of slums. Ideas led to community action programs. Crime is a normal response to adverse social

Conditions. ⦿ Criticism: Reliance on police records to define crime. May be a measure of police activity rather than delinquency. ⦿ Kids in transitional neighbourhoods; Have deviant role models. Form adolescent gangs. Get into trouble with authorities (value conflict). Street gangs become fixed institutions. Recruit new members and pass on delinquent traditions. Transitional neighborhoods: Many new immigrants; Cheap housing. Undermining of traditional culture; Family and community lack authority. Divergent cultural standards; Intergenerational cultural conflict. Value conflict leads to deviant goals and behaviour ---> Disorganization theory: Lack of essential services, High unemployment rate (95% at peak), Lack of authority, Cannot provide adequate education, health care ---> Anomie Theory: Result of lower class frustration and anger. Same goals with no legitimate means to achieve them, results in use of illegitimate means. Social Ecology: Crime rates reflect; Community deterioration (Disorder, poverty, alienation, disassociation, fear of crime). “Broken window” theory (Abandoned, run-down buildings attract crime and violence). It is a Cross-cultural research supports thesis - The broken window theory: if there is a good amount of monitoring in urban areas then there will be less vandalism and escalation into further, and worse crimes. ⦿Employment opportunities;Lack of jobs undermines family strength. ⦿ Community fear; Residents retreat from the street. More strangers are left. ⦿ Siege mentality; Mistrust of authorities and social institutions. Respond with violence. ⦿Population turnover; Reduces communication and information flow. ⦿ Community change; More singles, rentals, devaluation of property. ⦿ Poverty concentration; Isolated from social mainstream, becomes a ghetto. ⦿Weak social controls; Lack of local organizations and resources to maintain control. ⦿ Collective efficacy; Willingness to intervene and maintain social control through interpersonal, institutional and public action. ⦿ Social altruism; Charitable donations, volunteerism.

2. Strain Theory. • Blocked social aspirations result in despair and crime. Crime is a lower class response to anger and frustration. Based on the work of Emile Durkheim. Anomie: Normlessness results from rapid social change. • People’s wants are unrestrained. Robert Merton's theory of anomie: -Conflict or disparity between the culturally specified goals and the culturally available means to achieve the goals. - Access to the means is stratified; But goals are universal. Lower-class experiences strain between goals and means; Likely to choose illegitimate means. Social adaptations to strain: - Conformity; Law-abiding Innovation; Use non-legal means of achievement= Theft, extortion, drug dealing. Most criminal Ritualism; Love of rules and traditions. Least criminal - Retreatism; Escapism, Withdraw mentally or physically through drugs,transience.

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Rebellion; Call for alternative lifestyle, radical change in society; revolutionaries, hippies. Relative deprivation theory (Judice & Peter Blau): Sense of injustice is based on comparison. • Rich and poor live in close proximity.= Causes discontent.= Violence and crime escalate.= Rich retreat to gated communities. ⦿ Explains • Middle- and upper-class deviance. • Why crime rates go up during times of affluence. General Strain Theory: Robert Agnew (1992) ⦿ Micro theory • Explains individual experience of strain. ⦿ Crime is result of negative affective states (emotions) caused by • Failure to achieve goals. • Achievements not meeting expectations. • Loss of positive things (divorce). • Negative stimuli (abuse). ⦿ Crime (violence) results from: • Continuous or repeated strain. • Few resources for coping with strain. ⦿ Explains • Peaking of crime in adolescence. ⦿ What about women’s lower rates of crime? • Females may be socialized to control and internalize stress.

3. Cultural Deviance Theory. • Unique values of the lower class produces crime. A unique set of values and behaviours which characterize a minority within larger society. • May result in culture conflict when norms are at odds with the dominant group (government). ⦿ Walter Miller (1958) Lower-class culture hasunique value system based on focal concerns. • Trouble • Toughness • Smartness • Excitement • Fate • Autonomy ⦿ Elijah Anderson: Main concern is “respect” Albert Cohen, Delinquent Boys (1955) ⦿ Lower-class boys experience status frustration. • Their parents can’t give them needed social skills. • They can’t get approval in middle-class schools by the middle-class measuring rod. ⦿ They can get attention by Breaking rules.

⦿ “Reaction formation” • They adopt their own rules in opposition those of the middle class • They get status in their own group by these activities. ⦿ Gang members engage in “non-utilitarian, malicious and negativistic” behaviour. ⦿ Cloward and Ohlin, Delinquency and Opportunity (1960) • Communities differ in both legitimate and illegitimate structures. • Illegitimate opportunities are not equally available to all. • Youth join gangs based on the opportunities within the community. Types of gangs: ⦿Criminal • Stable neighbourhood with established illegal activities. ⦿ Conflict • No legitimate or illegitimate opportunities. • Violence establishes turf, provides status in gangs. ⦿ Retreatist • Double failures, turn to drugs, alcohol, skid row. • Pimping, hustling, dealing provide money for drugs. Contributions ⦿ Integrates cultural deviance and social disintegration theories. ⦿ Recognizes different modes of adaptation. ⦿ Gangs may be supportive, rational and profitable. Implications ⦿ Delinquency may be prevented by providing success opportunities. ⦿ Increased gang membership is a natural consequence of transition to low-wage service economy. Social structure theory and social policy ⦿ Public assistance and welfare • Lower crime rates ⦿ Community development • Recreation programs, educational programs, sanitation, work with police to strengthen community. • Head Start, Neighbourhood Legal Services, Community Action Programs.

Chapter 8: Social Process Theories Socialization and crime Basic Premises ● Everyone has the potential to become a criminal. ● Criminality is a function of individual socialization. ● Crime is not limited to the poor and underclass. ● We need to examine the agents of socialization such as family, school, peer groups, and religion. Social Institutions

1. Family Relations ● Conflict and tension. ● Separation and divorce. ● Single parenthood. ● Inconsistent discipline. ● Parent-child relations. ● Parental mental health problems. ● Drug abuse. ● Child abuse and neglect. 2. Educational Experience ● Poor academic achievement. ● “Streaming” or tracking. ● Dropping out. 3. Peer Relations ● Acceptance and popularity affects ● Bullying, aggression, delinquency. ● Falling in with a “bad crowd” ● Influences involvement in deviant activities. ● Antisocial friends ● Increase likelihood of chronic offending. 4. Institutional involvement and belief ● Religious beliefs and values. ● Religious participation. ● Attending services. ● Evidence of impact on criminal behaviour is mixed. ● Cross-national support for the effect of participation. Effects of socialization on crime: ● Social learning theory: Crime learned through interaction with criminal peers. ● Social control theory: Criminal tendencies are controlled by bonds to society. ● Social reaction theory: Criminality is the result of labelling by significant others. Social Learning theories - Differential Association ● Edwin H. Sutherland (1883-1950) ● Introduced the concept of “white collar crime.” ● Challenged the stereotype of crime as a lower-class phenomenon. ● Criminal attitudes and skills are learned: through interaction., with significant others. ● Criminal learning includes skills and motives; Attitudes, values, language. ● Significant others give definitions favourable or unfavourable to law-breaking; Opposing definitions result in culture conflict. ● Too many definitions favourable to breaking the law results in deviance. ● Associations vary in priority, frequency, duration and intensity.

● Criminal behaviour is learned just like non-criminal behaviour; No special processes are involved. ● Criminal behaviour results from general needs and values, not special needs and values; But is not excused by those needs and values. ----> Research shows that: ● deviant friends are particularly important in illegal drug behaviours and: “I had a friend of mine who was an older guy and he introduced me to selling marijuana to make a few dollars.” ● Recently cultivated friendships are more important in deviant behaviours. ------>This theory is difficult to test. ● Research shows that differential association is related to violent behaviour, substance abuse and drug trade, career patterns of crime. ------>Significance of Sutherland’s theory ● Delinquency and crime can occur in any class.

- Differential Reinforcement Theory Differential reinforcement (DR) theory: Akers and Burgess; Combines differential association theory with operant conditioning ● Deviant behaviour starts as imitation. ● Maintained through reinforcement ● Weakened through punishment ● Main influence; Groups that control reinforcement and punishment ● Akers research of teen drug behaviour; Kids who believe they will be rewarded for deviance by those they respect are most likely to be deviant. ● Associates may be chosen because they reinforce deviant behaviour. -----> Differential Enforcement ● Laws are differentially enforced, based on social status and social distance. 1. Favour the rich and powerful. 2. Minorities and poor are more likely to be arrested and charged by police. 3. Judges are more likely to sympathize with middle class youth and “good” families. ● Poor and minorities predominate in crime statistics. - Neutralization Theory: By Sykes and Matza (1957) ● People “drift” between conventional and deviant behaviours: Not involved in criminality all the time. ● Techniques of neutralization of conventional values paves the way for further deviance and crime. ----->Evidence of conventional values ● Criminals express guilt. ● Criminals may have non-criminal “heroes”. ● Criminals define whom they may victimize. ● Criminals also participate in non-criminal social groups and institutions. Techniques of neutralization: 1. Denial of responsibility 2. Denial of injury 3. Denial of victim 4. Condemnation of the condemners

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Appeal to higher loyalties The defence of necessity The metaphor of the ledger The denial of the necessity of the law The claim that everybody is doing it The claim of entitlement

----->Testing this theory ● Inconclusive results from research. ● Evidence is mixed. ● Most adolescents disapprove of violence; neutralizations facilitate socially disapproved behaviour. ● People do drift in and out of deviant behaviour. Are learning theories valid? ● What about impulsive behaviour? E.g. 50% of criminal acts occur under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. ● What about early onset? Lack opportunity to learn criminal techniques and...