Unit 2 Criminology - Lecture notes Unit 2 PDF

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All notes for unit 2, Professor Karen Heimer...

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Unit 2 Criminology 10-5-17 Property Crime Declining property crime o Very high in the 70’s and has had a long term decline since then o Larceny, burglaries, car theft, arson Varieties of property crime o Larceny/theft- most common property crime(s)  Accounts for 68% of all property crime in 2010, FBI o Most types of theft do not include the use of force  Shoplifting, pickpocketing, purse snatching, theft from MV, bikes, taking from inside a building, employee theft o Shoplifting types  On the ends of continuum of involvement  There are people who do this who are on one end, amateurs, and then people on the other end, professionals  Amateurs= impulsive, unskilled, unplanned o Motives  Need, greed, thrill  Occupational shoplifting  Teamwork, shoplifting in teams o Distraction  More skilled, planned, big payof  Motive= major source of income o Ex: about 8% of all shoplifters  Techniques/tools of the trade o Ideas and supplies on the web o Learn how from other people  Booster bag/box/book  Youtube video  How to get the security tags of?  Youtube video  Make your own tools  Again learn how on youtube o “Fencing” the goods=  some pawnshops specialize  solo fences  getting rid of aka selling illegal goods  typical explanations of pickpocketing and shoplifting  routine activities (amateurs)  diferential association (occupational) o other types of property crime  embezzlement, fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, etc.  white collar (in a few weeks) and blue collar o *see book*  burglary  amateur= work alone or in teams o unsophisticated entry  break a window o motivation  Richard Wright’s studies  Quick cash for common things you want  Food, drugs, alcohol  Few good labor market options so they have to steal  Many from poor neighborhoods with high unemployment  Go for quantity over quality  Not well planned  What do they steal?

o Wallet, phone, laptop Sometimes opportunistic  Finding a door that’s always unlocked o Most common explanation  Routine activities theory  Suitable target, lack of guardianship, motivated ofender Professional o Work alone of in teams o Planned, specialized tools, contacts, clients for resale o Most common explanation  Diferential association theory  Learning definitions, skills, techniques, opportunities 

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10-16-17 Exam November 2nd!!!!! Environmental Crime- read chapter in book o Ex: Jacksonville, Arkansas “Dioxinville” chemical byproduct of manufacturing  1970’s this company had been filling metals drums with the byproduct  1979 the EPA investigated and found that these drums were leaking into the ground  gets into the ground water and harms people’s drinking water  were forbidden to continue making the products that had these byproducts  found traces in the creek and fish  companies were sued and the judge ordered the companies to construct a wall around the waste pond  1980’s water was still bad  company starts laying of people  problem is that the residents were constantly getting mixed messages  not unusual after these type of events  by the late 80’s the EPA said dioxin wasn’t as toxic as they thought  all the drums were still in the ground 30,000  started burning it which just put it in the air  cost the gov 150 million dollars by 1998  late as 2007 court cases were still ongoing about this  site is still there, clean-up was never complete proposals for preventing corporate crime o more certainty/ more severe punishments o create more stringent code of corporate ethics  example of the bar exam and medical licenses  breaking code of ethics can cause you to lose your license  need this for top board of executives on corporations o make upper management more responsible for actions of the corporation o *******consumer pressure*********  boycotts Violent Crime o Violent crime- murder, rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated, and simple assault o Murder- willful killing o Manslaughter- malice aforethought  2 types  voluntary non-negligent o a bar fight turned violent o crimes of passion  involuntary negligent o vehicular homicide  texting and driving  drunk driving o robbery- taking or attempting to take one’s procession with acts of force o rape and sexual assault- changed in 2011

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aggravated assault- attack of a person when you are trying to inflict severe bodily injury, can include a weapon most common type of violence simple assault  assault or attempted assault that doesn’t include a weapon, no serious injury, can include stalking  almost 2/3rds

the hierarchy rule o the most serious crime for that event  if there is an assault and a murder that case is labeled a homicide o multiple crimes can happen but they are recording the most serious supplemental homicide report o police spend the most time reporting information when it’s a murder o includes information on victims, the circumstance, what type of homicide, victim ofender relationship types of murder o at a low rate o “typical” murderer- mostly fights that result in a death o hit man or professional murder- murder for hire o mass murderer- Las Vegas tragedy is an example o serial killer- killing people repetitively over a period of time  Jefrey Dahmer  Ted Bundy  Jack the Ripper Age and homicide are highly related o Graph of age groups over time o Group with the highest rate 18-24 o Second highest 14-17, drastic increase  Late 80’s into mid 90’s  Crack cocaine epidemic Stranger vs nonstranger violence o Continued decline o Stranger violence against males is more common than nonstranger violence o Female- stranger violence is lower than nonstranger- people they know o Both male and female rates on this are coming together o Female rates are now higher than the male rates o All lower than they were

10-24-17 Violent crime graph non-lethal victimization o Serious violence and simple assaults o aggravated assaults biggest component on violent victimization o simple assaults most common form of non-serious violence o know patterns for exam o homicide victimization raters 1950-2010  increase slight decrease highest in the 1980’s Wolfgang and Ferracutti’s Subculture of Violence: Macro-level Explanation of Violence Rates o Cultural explanation  Subculture norms= expression of violence appropriate in certain situations  No guilt about violence  Common in many situations  Ex: self-defense, war, protecting someone else, stand your ground law, spanking o Violent subcultures= where there are high crime rates  Where crime is seen as an acceptable answer  Urban areas, southern states, and poor areas o Controversial- Southern subculture of violence thesis:  Violence is a part of culture in the South  History- part of Southern history o Loftin and Hill study of murder across states:

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 Test the thesis with some data  Poverty accounts for the South-North diference in murder o Critique of Subculture of Violence  Social structure NOT culture  Origin is unspecified  Individual diferences not explained because it is a macro-level analysis Structure shapes culture o William Julius Wilson, Robert Sampson, Elijah Anderson o (sub)culture= adaptation to social structure  extreme socioeconomic disadvantage  poverty, unemployment, educational opportunities  social isolation of communities  restricted interaction with advantaged groups  how are these communities isolated? o Extremely poor, high unemployment  District lines for schools and real estate  Lack of opportunities cause people to get stuck in these areas, no means to get out o Merton’s anomie theory  Normlessness  Not everyone has the opportunity to gain economic success  So they find diferent ways to reach that success through unconventional ways Social subculture and subcultures of violence o Disadvantage neighborhoods  Extreme poverty Subculture of violence  Restricted educational opportunities - Violence as survival  High unemployment - Witness violence on  Social isolation =high crime rates basis Another Macro-level explanation: Blau and Blau’s Structural Inequality - Access to weapons Explanation o Related to anomie theory o Inequality can lead to violence  Inequality= the diference between the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich  The gap  Why???  Leads to tension/conflicts between groups  Leads to alienation of groups and anomie aka normlessness o Inequality viewed as fair violence is less likely  The inequality isn’t questioned  Such as a caste system o Inequality viewed as unfair  violence is more likely  Under what circumstance would inequality seem most unfair?  When we are all told we are free and equal but it’s not true o The goddamn US o Blau and Blau hypothesis  Inequality based on race, caste, sex, or other ascribed characteristics is likely to be viewed as unfair  Things you can’t change  Research supports this  Income inequality aka gap explains violence better than the LEVEL of poverty  Racial inequality in income is linked to violence rates High rates of inequality based on ascribed characteristicshigh rates of violence

10-26-17, Exam will not include readings on political crime Individual-level explanations of Violence o Distinction between expressive vs instrumental Violence  Emotional vs goal-oriented

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Examples o Emotional: crime being committed due to one person being upset with another o Goal-oriented: robbery, terrorism o The way we think about violence actually creates a FALSE dichotomy if the 2 are not mutually exclusive  Can goal frustration cause emotion which is linked to violence  Examples o Someone disrespected me and made me look bad in an interaction o what looks like purely expressive violence may be instrumental with goal of improving one’s social position Luckenbill’s Situational Explanation- falls underneath Diferential Association Theory o Individual explanation of situations that lead to violence  Things that may look expressive and hot-headed may be instrumental, might be happening to improve social status o Important study- California  Data= 70 cases of murder (files from police, po, psych, court)  Many victims know their assailant  Builds on the work on Irving Gofman  situated transaction= inner actions are situated o chain of interaction between 2 or more people from the time they enter one another’s presence  social occasion o wider social context in which situated transactions occur  “character contests”? o confrontation in which 1 or more people on the situation try to save face at the other’s expense  outcome  homicide  homicide social occasions  most common between 6pm and 2am on the weekends  leisure settings- homes, bars, hang outs  most= “pleasurable pursuits” happening during recreation time  by intimates, friends, kin  situated transactions= character consents  note- about half of the cases had previous hostile interactions o who is the offender of victim emerges in interaction  “artifact of the battle”  can’t always tell who will be the victim or the ofender since the two are fighting  pattern/stages o 1. Ofense to “face” by victim  words or actions “can” be seen as ofensive  toward the ofender or family/friends  refuses to comply with the request of the ofender o 2. Ofender views the words/acts as personally ofensive o 3. Ofender attempts to restore or maintain face  retaliates via anger/contempt toward the victim  verbal or physical challenge  sometimes the murder happens in this stage  may leave the scene but “loses” the character contest o 4. Victim responds  saving face= respond with anger/retaliation  verbal or physical  victim may leave the scene but loses character contest  some end in murder here, victim actually kills the ofender o 5. Victim and ofender share definition of the situation as a “character contest”  “battle” and escalation  often weapons used here or other objects become weapons o 6. Tarnation of transaction  victim falls- person who ends up dying

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ofender flees, waits for police, or is held by others for police  there are often audiences for these things because it is more ofensive when someone is insulted in front of others

important o most murder= outcome of character contests o whether assault or murder occurs depends on chance o who ends up as the victim can depend on chance o murders are often assaults that went too far and didn’t get difused

Griffiths o Quantitative study of incarcerated women and violence over “trivial matters”  When actors are same status, violence is 4 times more likely  One trying to get higher than the other, isn’t really a contest to see who is of higher status  Audience/bystanders increases odds of violence by 30%- for women Political crime= any legal, illegal, or socially harmful act that is aimed at maintaining or changing the political order o Not distinguished by the crime itself- motivation  Ex: murder, assassinations- motivation behind the crime o Crimes against the state (macro)  Purpose= ultimate goal is social change  Violent o Terrorism, assassinations  Nonviolent o Protests, vandalism o Crimes by the state  Domestic  State corruption o Rigging an election, bribery, election fraud, corrupt campaigns  Political repression o Illegal surveillance, repression of protests, genocide, human rights violations  International  Violation of law (domestic or international) by state officials and the crime occurs outside state’s boundaries

10-31-17 Political crimes against the state o Breaking the law for political purpose with the goal of social change Violence against the state o Throughout history o Example 1:  Workers  change work conditions  Late 1800’s= lots of protests= violence  Labor laws due to bad labor conditions  1886 o factories during industrial period, crazy work hours, children at work o May 4th Rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago turned violent  Workers were striking because they wanted an 8-hour day  Began as peaceful rally, unknown person thru a bomb at the police as the police were trying to get people to leave, gunfire resulted after  Police fired into the crowd  Death of 7 police officers and 4 civilians  8 people were later convicted as anarchists, none set of the bomb but 7 were sentence to death and 1 was sent to 15 years o example 2  British Sufrage Movement  Specific strategies of violence, breaking windows, hurling hammers, arson, threw stones at the Prime Minister’s office on Downing Street  “Deeds not Words “was their slogan

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example 3  US 1960’S-1970’S  Urban riots- Civil Rights  Student protests and violence

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attracted lots of attention with their violence clearly violence against the state

Lot of urban decay, discrimination, poverty, high unemployment, police brutality, inadequate housing, etc.  1965 Watts Riot in LA  April 1976 and continuing thru that year- 159 race riots in the US o Cleveland, New York, Detroit  Deaths and injuries  People became frustrated and things spilled over into violence  Riots resulted into improvements in urban areas  Student protests  Weather Underground o 1969, Function of Students for Democratic Society, used scare tactics and violence o protesting Vietnam War o Backfired and hurt other protestors o Gov. used them as the poster children for all youth protestors o Had their own underground network, even tried to break one of their own members out of jail Violence against the state continued o Terrorism= tough to define, use of violence or threat of violence to coerce the state  Ex: assassinations, kidnappings, bombings  US examples o The KKK o 1995 Oklahoma City bombings  McVeigh and Nichols had their own anti-gov. militia  “Homegrown” terrorism  revenge for deaths of Branch Davidians at Waco (David Koresh)  truck filled with bombs parked next to a building o 9/11, World Trade Center  attack from groups based outside the US o Schlesinger= cycles of terrorism, applied to terrorism  Before WWII, right wing terrorism  Between WWII and the 1970’s, left wing  Since the 1970’s, return of the right wing Non-Violent Protest Against the State o Ex 1  Civil disobedience and nonviolence  Refusing to obey certain laws because they are unjust- group conflict model of the law  Ex: civil rights civil disobedience o Sitting in the front of the bus rather than the back o Martin Luther King Jr. o Gandhi  Liberation from British rule  many view civil disobedience as necessary for addressing gov. injustice o “social movements” o civil rights, student protests, Indian independence movement  may not intend violating the law, but state may impose laws to squelch protest  ex 2 o nonviolent crimes against the state continued o Spying  Mercenary (hired to be spies), ideological, alienated or “get even”

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Ex: Robert Hanssen, FBI Mole 1979-2001

For third paper o LaFree article  What kind of terrorism is most common?  British Home Office- terrorism policy???  Pick a set of countries and collect data on those countries...