Week 5: Homicide Reading Notes - Part. 1 PDF

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These notes go over the first week of focus on sociology and homicide....

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SOCI 250 - Sociology of Crime Week 5: Classical Explanations

Chapter 5 Major Schools of Criminological Thought (pg, 99 -103, 107 - 110, 116-118) There are two major schools of thought within criminology and two minor ones. ● The two major schools of thought are classical and positivist. ● The two minor schools of thought are neoclassical and neo-positivist The classical school of thought (99 -103) Classical school of criminology is the perspective based on the belief that potential criminals are rational human beings capable of freewill and will be deterred by the threat of punishment. This school emerged in response to the overly harsh criminal system in Europe into the 18th century. The age of enlightenment during the renaissance period brought on more rational thinking and defiance of authority. Cesare Bonesana, Marquis of Beccaria wrote an essay titled “On Crimes and Punishment”, where he pleaded for torturous treatment of criminals to end. Becarria believed that criminal would be deterred if three needs were met: ● Certainty of punishment ● Swiftness of justice ● Fairness of penalties in proportion to the crime His doctrine entailed four general principles: 1. Equality - that all criminals are treated equally and on the basis of their crime, not social status. 2. Liberty - no one should be deprived of public protection until guilt is proved 3. Utilitarianism - it is better to prevent crimes than punish them 4. Humanitariansm - punihsment should not obly be fair, but humane (no death penality, torture or cruel treatment) Utilitarianism is the belief that lawshe be of the greatest benefit to the greatest number of human beings ● Punishment is justified when it prevents more social harm than it causes

Modern research on the validity of deterrence theory is inconclusive ● Punishment is an effective deterrent but often more so because of the unspoken social implications of arrest and prison ● Rates of recidivism also show that first time punishment is obviously not always effective in preventing further crime Jeremy Bentham was heavily inspired by Beccaria and created a formula called felicific calculus to determine the ideal level of pain/punishment needed to deter someone from committing a crime. ● Bentham saw prisons as paces for reforms and uncdontionng of crminla behaviour Michel Foucault has somewhat oppositional ideas Beccaria, as he takes a more interdisciplinary approach and sees crime as more dimensional ● Should a woman who murdered her abusive spouse be charged with the same crime as someone who murders for greed? The Rule of Law vs Science (107-110) By the 1900s, the two major schools of criminological thought had been distinguished. Table 5.1 demonstrates their key differences. It should be noted that the CJS is based on law/classical ideology and the lack of integration within the perspectives creates conflict in criminal justice as there is no common strategy used between the two.

The Neoclassical school of criminology was created in the 1800s by Luigi Rossi, Rene Garraud and Henri Joly.

The Neoclassical school of criminology is a system of thought which believes criminals should be treated with leniency when crimes were committed in scenarios where one could not exercise free will. The two major distinctions of this school from its ancestor are: 1. Rejection of rigidity of classical alw system 2. Calling for a degree of subjectivity when assessing criminal responsibility (discretion) Discretion is the power of a legal authority to use their own judgment rather than following a strict set of rules. Just deserts is the idea that those who commit a crime chose to do so and therefore deserves to be punished for it Plea bargain is a deal with the defence and prosecution where the accused agrees to plead guilty in exchange for some benefit, like a reduced sentence Towards an integrated and interdisciplinary school of thought Fortunately, most criminology programs in Canada are staffed by people with a variety of programs contributing to a better capacity to provide interdisciplinary training. A figure of major influence on penal reform is Alexander Maconochie, who believed prisons should shape criminals into ‘useful citizens’ rather than punish, which can reinforce bad behavior. Maconochie came up with five key ideas for prison reform 1. Sentences should not be measured by time but by the ability of a prisoner to complete a specified quantity of labour 2. The quantity of labour should be determined by gravity of crime and the degree to which the inmate improves themselves 3. Prisoners should earn everything they receive while serving their sentence 4. When working in groups, all prisoners should be answerable for each other conduct 5. As prisoners approach their release date, they should be given special attention as to how to prepare them to re-enter society Macanohcie recognized prison as a place not to be punished but to serve one’s punishment, main ideas can be summarized in four points: 1. Reward - prisoners must earn release on merit

2. Individual influence - prison should be constructive and thus not be over crowded 3. Prisons should provide for gradual release (through half-way houses) 4. There should be strict supervision after discharge (parole) Other influential figures on prison reform include: ● John Haviland: designed prisons to be places of reform rather than confinement ● John Howard: instrumental in creating prisoner advocacy groups ● Charles Lucas: laid groundwork for maximum vs minimum sentences based on moral improvement ○ Also emphasized need to separate young offenders from adult offenders (New) Social Defense Movement: Humanistic Criminal Policy? Social defence is a term used by Enrico Ferri who thought that punishment should be based on individual and social considerations The (new) social defence theory in sum is the belief that punishment should not be applied for its own sake, but for the sake of society. C.R. Jeffrey argued that this concept could be better described by the term neopositivism, since the primary goal of this approach is to project society Neopositivism is an approach that was popular through the 1930s - 1960s, which focused on the development of rational penal policy and emphasizing the systematic socialization of offenders through treatment and rehabilitation. Chapter 9 Violent Crime (pg 204 - 208) Homicide Homicide is the act of causing the death of another person, whether directly or indirectly, by an unlawful act or negligence. There are two broad types of homicide: ● Culpable homicide - deliberate and convictable (degrees & infanticide) ● Non Culpable homicide - legally justified (self defence)

There are four classifications of culpable homicide ● First degree: planned and deliberate

● Second degree: deliberate but not planned ○ Or court cannot prove it was deliberate but it likely was ● Third degree: manslaughter, accidental but responsible ● Infancticide - killing of children under 1 year of age Homicide trends in Canada ● Between 1990 and 2001, homicide rates in Canada have been declining ● Saskatchewan and Manitoba tend to have the highest homicide rates, however it should also be considered that statistics may be inflated due to smaller population sizes ● Weapon preference has change: stabbing used to be the most common method of homicide but in 2016, it changed to firearms ● Only 14% of homicides are committed by someone who does not know the victim ● Almost 25% of homicide victims are Indigenous, despite only representing 5% of the population There is much debate as to what causes violent crime, including homicide; ● Is it the social structure of one's environment? ● Is it the biological makeup and temperament of the individual? ● Or is it both? General theory of crime entails that criminal behaviour is a product of defective socialization processes, making it hard for the individual to exert self-control Power control theory focuses on how power dynamics, patriarchy and gender role socialization within the family contribute to delinquency and crime...