Final Exam - Criminological Theory

Final Exam - Criminological Theory

• Exam covers all readings, PowerPoints, and notes.
• Videos included: 13th, Thelma and Louise, The Joker, Capturing the Friedman's.

Unit 1 - Characteristics of Late Modernity

• Late modernity is a period of rapid social, economic, and technological change, marked by interconnectedness and uncertainty.
• The nation-state is weakened by globalization and localizing forces.
• Criminology shifts from welfare state narratives to a penal state, characterized by retribution, tough-on-crime policies, privatization of security, reduced social investment, and increased punitiveness (mass incarceration).
• A key feature is the globalization of surveillance, expanding mass surveillance across national borders.

Unit 1 - Challenges of Globalization in Crime Control

• Globalization increases interaction among people, companies and governments globally.
• This has led to new forms of crime, such as cybercrime, transnational crime, and terrorism, that challenge traditional criminal justice systems.
• Criminal justice systems face challenges as crimes increasingly transcend borders.
• Nation-states face diminished ability to control economic, social, and political systems due to global competition.

Unit 1 - The Welfare State

• The welfare state manages resources and provides basic economic security for citizens.
• Ways in which the state ensures capitalism survives by organizing the relationship between the social and the economic.
• It offers programs like unemployment benefits, healthcare, housing, and pensions.
• The welfare state emerged as a functional response to the problems of urban, industrial, market societies, and the risks and insecurities of unregulated market capitalism.

Unit 1 - Welfare State: Misconceptions & Conceptions

• Misconceptions: welfare state often reduced to "welfare for the poor". Welfare recipients are stereotyped as unproductive scroungers, and the poor are undeserving.
• Conceptions: The welfare state provides social insurance and services, and it has a role in shaping labor policies and promoting market growth.

Unit 2 - Tension Between Conflict & Consensus Theories

• Consensus theories (Durkheim): crime reflects societal norms and behaviors that are considered unacceptable. Society functions through cooperation.
• Conflict theories (Marx): crime is connected to power differentials between groups. Those with power maintain their dominance. Society functions through competition.

Unit 2 - Labeling Theory

• Labeling theory is a "hinge" theory between consensus and conflict theories.
• It argues that labeling an individual 'deviant' or 'criminal' can influence that individual's identity and create a cycle of deviancy.
• Labels can significantly affect how society and those individuals view each other and their behaviors.

Unit 2 - Marxism: Key Concepts

• Surplus value is the difference between the value of a commodity at sale and the value of manufacturing it.
• Mode of production (capitalism) is the social relationships involved in producing the material necessities and amenities of life.
• The superstructure (state, law, religion) is a reflection of material structures and power hierarchies.
• Critiques of capitalism form foundational points for Marxist Criminology and are connected under 'radical criminology', 'left realism', and 'feminist criminology'.

Unit 3 - Classical School of Criminology

• Widely believed that criminology started with the classical school.
• Classical school: Human behavior is rational and people make choices about crime after weighing costs and benefits.
• It assumes free will, deterrence through punishment, and utilitarianism (maximizing happiness or utility).

Unit 3 - Contemporary Classicism

• Rationality (calculating costs and benefits) underlies all decision-making, including criminal ones.
• Certainty and swiftness of punishment influence individuals to choose not to commit criminal acts.

Unit 3 - Contemporary Classicism - Positivism

• Positivism is a scientific approach that studies social causes of crime and deviance.
• Positivists aim to reduce crime by addressing the root causes.
• It is grounded in scientific methodology such as quantitative investigation and social observation.

Unit 3 - Contemporary Classicism - Rational Choice Theories

• Assumes criminal acts result from a conscious calculation of costs and benefits.
• Routine activity theory and situational crime prevention aim to reduce crime by changing situations and opportunities.

Unit 4 - Early Sociological Positivists

• These theories look at the role of social organizations and institutions in encouraging patterns of crime.
• Theories such Adolphe Quetelet and Gabriel Tarde examine societal factors, such as population density, season, and climate, that influence crime rates.
• Examining the influence of poverty, class, and neighborhood differences on crime.

Unit 4 - Socio-Structural Theories

• This approach emphasizes social structure, such as social institutions, patterns of interaction, and differences between social groups, in explaining crime.
• Emile Durkheim's anomie theory focuses on the strain and lack of regulation related to social and cultural norms.

Unit 4 - Socio-Structural Theories: Strain Theories

• Robert Merton's strain theory examines society's norms, cultural values, and the means people have to achieve them.
• The strain is felt by groups who are blocked (or feel blocked) from social goals due to unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Unit 4 - Socio-Structural Theories: Social Disorganization Theory

• Social disorganization theory suggests that crime is a result of breakdown of social structures, such as the family, schools, and local institutions, within a particular community.

Unit 4 - Socio-Structural Theories: Social Learning Theories

• Differential association theory (Sutherland) posits that crime is learned through social interaction with others engaged in crime.
• Differential reinforcement theory (Akers) builds on Sutherland's idea, emphasizing social learning from interactions and reinforcements/punishments.

Unit 4 - Sociological Positivism

• Sociological positivism emphasizes the study of social patterns and forces as factors that shape crime and deviance, including social disorganization, strain, culture, labeling, routine activities, social bonds and differential association.
• Positivist approaches generally reject the individualistic causes of crime and focus more on social and environmental factors.