CRI205 Final Organized Notes PDF

Approaches to Studying Crime Objectivist-Legalistic Approaches - These approaches to crime go along with the consensus view. - We all have an understanding of what should be crime. - That type of theory will study what the rule breakers do and why - Wha...

Approaches to Studying Crime Objectivist-Legalistic Approaches - These approaches to crime go along with the consensus view. - We all have an understanding of what should be crime. - That type of theory will study what the rule breakers do and why - What makes them different? What made them break the law? - Study the rule breakers and ask why? - Alienation and strain links to violence - “Smarter” policy responses - Often use crime statistics - What do they tell us? - Expand “criminal” to “deviance” - The criminal is someone who has been caught, there are probably other people who are deviant who haven’t been caught yet - What is the difference between those who engage in deviance and those who do not - Comes from official statistics Constructivist Approaches - A lot of criminologists at the centre of criminology and sociolegal studies - How do problems become crimes? - How do problems become legal and criminal issues? - How do we talk about the criminal? - Why are we more concerned about some things now than we were before? - Progress? Views on Crime What Makes Something a Crime? Harm Principle - John Stewart Mill - Something that should be criminal is something that only harms others - Criminal Law is in place to protect people from harm Morality and Responsibility - We disapprove of that behaviour. - Crime doesn’t necessarily harm others, but we have a moral issue with these actions.  - Gambling doesn’t physically hurt people, but it hurts your responsibilities, and your life, and morally can’t make you do things you usually wouldn’t do. Norms and Boundaries - Each society has its own norms and boundaries - Societies protect certain people, they create outsiders (prisoners who are marginalized, and stripped of rights) and insiders Consensus View - Crimes are unacceptable to all members of society - Criminal law’s definitions of crimes and punishments reflects the values, beliefs, and opinions everyone holds. - General agreement on what should and shouldn’t be laws - Ideal legal system in place that adequately addresses all classes and types of people On Drugs - How do drugs harm people and society? - How do drugs lead to difficulties? - What characteristics does the user have? - Not just crime that matters but deviance. Conflict View - Crime reflects a dominant, euro-centric, male-centric viewpoint of society - Crime is a political concept - Groups able to assert political power use the law and criminal justice system to advance their socioeconomic interests - They control definition of crime - Criminal law and justice system created to control some and help others - Poor often go to prison for minor law violations while wealthy are given lenient sentences for heinous crimes - Look beyond the individual: power imbalances - Race, class, gender, age On Drugs - Racial control and drug regulation - Often regulation has to do with racial control over certain classes - Laws designed to ‘set them up’ - Who benefits from the drug regulations? - Who is likely to be policed? Interactionist (Social Reaction Theorist) Three main views: 1. People act according to their own interpretation of reality 2. They learn the meanings of things from how others react to it 3. They re-evaluate and interpret their own behaviour according to the meanings and symbols they have learned from others - Based on symbolic interactionism from sociology - Definition of crime reflects preferences of those imposing right and wrong - Criminals are individuals society chooses to label as outcasts because they’re violated social rules - They are outlawed because society defines them that way, not because they are inherently evil - Deviance not inherent in the act - Consequence of label: labeling theory - Other categories are focused on the people breaking the law, interactionist more concerned with who is making and enforcing the rules, and how they are enforced On Drugs - Drugs mean different things in different contexts - Drugs in sports mean different things in different sports (smoking weed is fine in baseball but not in the NFL) Labeling Theory - Application of negative labels leads to damaged identity and then to criminal careers. Moral Entrepreneurs - Behaviour is outlawed when it offends people in socioeconomic power - Unlike conflict theorists, politics are not the motive for defining crime - Criminal law conforms to people who use their influence to shape the legal process how they see fit - Laws against porn, prostitution, drugs… based on morals and ideals rather than any rational judgement. - Shifting moral standards lead to crime having no meaning unless people react to it. History of Criminology History - Mid-18th century: needed more rational approach to punishment stressing relationship between crimes and punishment should be balanced and fair - Utilitarianism: society must provide the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals - Social contract  - People should give up some of their liberty in exchange for social protection. - A violation of another person is a violation of the social contract - Hedonism: people are motivated by pain and pleasure; punishment is not pleasure Cesare Beccaria’s works serve as the basis for classical criminology. - He saw people as egotistical and self-centered, and could be controlled by fear or punishment - Beccaria is the most famous reformer of punishment and criminal justice. - View that punishment for crime should be public, prompt, necessary, least possible in given circumstance, proportionate to the crimes and dictated by the laws - Connects to utilitarianism; we should punish criminals, but proportionately Classical Criminology 1. People will freely choose criminal or lawful solutions to meet needs or settle problems. 2. Criminal choices may be more attractive because they use less work for greater payoff. 3. People’s choice of criminal solutions may be controlled by their fear of punishment. Connects to hedonism; punishment is not pleasurable 4. If punishments are severe, certain, and swift, they will control criminal behaviour. - Rational choice and deterrence theories - Choice theorists argue criminals are rational and use available information to decide whether crime is worthwhile. - Deterrence theory says this choice is structured by the fear of punishment. Four main objectives for punishment within classical criminology: - To prevent all criminal offenses - To convince the offender to commit the least serious crime possible - To ensure that a criminal uses no more force than is necessary - To prevent crime as cheaply as possible Positivism Definition: a branch of social science that sees behavior as a product of social, biological, psychological, and economic forces. - Lead to the questioning of some classical ideas: - If crimes are committed due to factors outside of someone’s grasp, can we punish them? - Early start of the insanity defence During the late 19th century, positivism began to take hold in Europe. 1. The belief that human behaviour is a function of external forces that are beyond individual control. - Some social (wealth, class), some political and historical (war, famine). - Others are more personal or psychological. 2. The use of scientific methods to solve problems.  - Charles Darwin encouraged the view that all human activity should be verified by scientific principles. Looks to explain and ‘order’ (classify) the world Comes from the Enlightenment: scientific method, and the enlightenment focus on developing own knowledge - Evolutionary theory: species, humans includes, and societies in general, evolve in a specific way - Understanding ‘primitive cultures’ to understand normality - Study abnormality to understand normality - Positivism is interested in studying who deviates from the norm and why - Behaviour is determined by biological, psychological, or social traits - Can have testable hypotheses - Rehabilitation is difficult with biological theories - If it is psychological, then that’s where rehabilitation ideas emerge - Sociological positivism - Structural and macro theoretical - Biological and psychological positivism - Processes and micro theoretical - Lombroso — The Criminal Man Criminal Anthropology - Criminologists no longer believe that a single trait or inherited characteristic can explain crime. - Biological and mental traits can still interact with environmental factors to influence human behaviour — including criminal behaviour. - Biological and psychological theorists study the association between criminal behaviour and traits like diet, hormonal make-up, personality, and intelligence, etc. Three Stages of Early Criminology - Criminal Anthropology - The Born Criminal - Feeble-Mindedness Theory - Criminality with ‘mental retardation’ - Theory of Psychopathy - ‘Degenerate’ questions (not just inheritance) - Eugenics faltering Next Comes: the emergence of choice theory. Theories of Crime Theories of Crime are constructed… - Why do people engage in criminal acts? - Why, when they know it harms others? - Criminologists have different orientations - Psychology - Biology - Sociology - It is difficult to understand the “true cause” of crime Choice Theories Rational Choice Theory Wilson and Abrahamse - Took a sample of incarcerated inmates to determine their perceived and actual “take” from crime - Divided the group into mid and high rate offenders - Wanted to find out the motivations for crime - Criminals may be motivated if they know of others who have made big scores and are ‘successful’ at crime - Small subset of criminals are very successful, but crime profits are reduced by costs of a criminal career (legal fees, loss of family income, psychological cost of prison sentence) - Crime pays so little and there are still so many criminals so there must be other factors - Moving away from utilitarianism - Many believe they can’t get a legitimate job - Overly optimistic about short term Distinction between crime and criminality - Crime is an event, criminality is a personal trait. Provides a micro perspective on why individual offenders commit specific crimes Free will getting re-centred in theory - Young people are far from being committed to a deviant lifestyle: actually drift in and out of crime when it is convenient to do so - Involvement decisions - Instrumental — weigh costs and benefits  - Event decisions - Ease of tactics - Crime specific - Each crime has a different (rational) choice structure - Is (all) crime rational? - Trying to bring violence in rationality - Some drug use is rational Concepts of Rational Choice Theory Law-Violating Behaviour: THIS IS MAIN PREMISE - Occurs when offenders decide to commit crime after considering both personal and situational factors - Personal needs - Situational factors involved in the difficulty and risk of committing a crime - Before choosing to commit crime, the reasoning criminal evaluates - The risk of apprehension - Seriousness of expected punishment - Potential value - Need for criminal gain - Explains why high risk youths don’t constantly engage in delinquency Crime Displacement - Police concentrate patrols in particular areas of the city and crime rates increase in adjacent areas - Criminals now perceive that as safer - Decision to forgo crime may be based on perception that benefits don’t outweigh risks - Ex. criminals don’t target well patrolled areas Offence and Offender Specifications in RCT - Looking at the characteristics of particular offences: burglary might involve evaluating target’s likely cash yield (relates to RAT) - How criminals analyze whether they have the skills needed, and may rule out criminal acts if they believe that they can achieve things through legitimate means (or if they fear being caught). - Distinction between crime and criminality - Crime is an event, criminality is a personal trait. - Many personal factors work together that condition people to choose criminality - Ex. Perception of economic opportunity - Offenders are less likely to turn to crim if… - Future criminal earnings will be relatively low - Attractive and legal income-generating opportunities are available - Fluctuating in perceived risk over a lifetime also influences choices - Experiences criminals may not turn to crime when they believe risks are greater than profit: a veteran knows when to taken a chance and when to be cautious  - Personality and lifestyle - People who choose crime over conformity have similar personality traits - Do what they want, less self-control, unaffected by fear of punishment, under stress or facing a personal problem - The decision to commit crime is structured based on location, target characteristics, techniques available for its completion Routine Activities Theory Main Idea: crime and delinquency are a function of the presence of motivated offenders, the availability of suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardians. Overlaps with Rational Choice Theory in saying that crime rates are a product of criminal opportunity. 1. Suitable Targets - If crime is going to happen, crime is inevitable - All we can do is hope to limit opportunities of crime 2. Lack of Capable Guardians 3. Motivated Criminals Requires supply of motivated offenders, absence of capable guardians, and presence of suitable targets.. - These all influence crime trends. Provides a macro perspective on crime: predicting how changes in social and economic conditions influence overall crime and victimization rates. Example of leaving you laptop out unattended, motivated criminals will just grab it because they really need one. Evidence for RAT: - Teens and unsupervised socializing often leads to group offending - Houses most likely to be robbed are those that are easy to rob: close to highways and parks Interaction between RAT and RCT - Motivation, opportunity, and targets are interactive - Motivated criminals will not commit crimes unless they have suitable targets and the opportunity to exploit them - Presence of guardians will deter most offenders Crime Mapping - Crime can be mapped - Crime isn’t random, there are patterns that you can map out  -Ex. break and enters happen everywhere, but tend to be clustered in residential areas - Maps based on police reports can help us understand where the hot spots are and where enforcement would be most effective. - Mathematical geographic profiling system Structure Theories - When society is disorganized or lacking support, then it will tend towards deviance - Strain ➡ gap between goals and means - Rather than a belief that there is something about the way society is build that leads towards deviance, but that there is a gap in the way society wants to achieve the goals in society - Collective response ➡ in face of isolation/poverty - There is a shared response / feeling of isolation, and so these people organize to form a collective response in these subcultures - Disadvantages of economic inequality have been viewed as primary causes of crime - View is focused on lower class: how social forces push them to crime - Lower class crime is often violent, destructive product of youth gangs/marginally employed young adults - Social forces that cause crime begin to affect people while they are relatively young - Crime not caused by any individual-level factor - People living in equivalent social environments behave in similar ways Social Disorganization Theory: Conditions within the urban environment that affect crime rates Strain Theory: Crime is a product of conflict between goals Cultural Deviance Theory: Combines elements of the two - Unique lower-class cultures develop in disorganized neighborhoods, creating a set of values in conflict with conventional social norms Sociological Criminology - Traces back to Quetelet and Durkheim - Individual lifestyles and living conditions directly control criminal behaviour - Those at bottom of social structure cannot achieve success - Structural perspective - How patterns of behaviour exist within the social structure: how they can be predicted/controlled - Social structure because explaining crime on an individual-level fails to account for consistent patterns - Social change and the dynamic aspects of human behaviour - Sociology concerns itself with the benefits of positive human interactions  - Crime is an interaction and should not be studied without concerning all participants in the act: victim, law enforcers, law makers, law violator, institutions Economic Structure and Crime Social Classes - All modern industrial societies are stratified into social classes - Created by unequal distribution of wealth, power, prestige - People within classes have similar possessions and share attitudes, values, norms - Shifts occurring in distribution of wealth affect crime Inequality - Lower-class, underserved areas = sites of inadequate housing and health care, disrupted families, underemployment, depression - Neighbourhood quality decreases, probability residents will develop problems increase - Racial minorities overrepresented among poor urban groups - Other issues regarding racial minorities - Concentration of poor, single-parent, poorly educated Indigenous people in large cities disadvantages them in way that account for overrepresentation in the justice system Culture of Poverty - Living in poverty over extended periods of time becomes a culture within which generations are nurtured and that they cannot easily escape. - Cut off from society — members lack education and skills in demand - Mistrust for institutions can lead to people not taking opportunities to leave - Argument appears to blame poor for their own condition, regardless of lack of structural opportunities and the daily discrimination they face Are the Poor Undeserving? - Important social problem: large percentage of poverty and homelessness - Some people believe poor people deserve their life circumstance - People living in poverty more likely to experience high crime rates, poor schools, excessive mortality - Burden of living in high poverty areas goes beyond being poor: upward mobility difficult (systemic barriers) - Adolescents in these areas more likely to suffer in cognitive development Unemployment and Crime - Crime linked to economic deprivation - More likely to turn to crime if no job - If jobs are available, crime should decrease - Reduces people’s stake in conformity  - This association might be a bit weak: only extremely high unemployment rates are associated with crime, and short term fluctuations in economy may be too short of a duration to have measurable effect - It is offence specific (greatest influence on opportunistic property crime and least influence on violent assault crimes) - It could be that crime ➡ unemployment, not unemployment ➡ crime Routine Activities Theory and Unemployment - Might suggest that although joblessness increases the motivation to commit crime, it simultaneously decreases the opportunity to gain from criminal enterprise - Periods of economic hardship: potential victims possess fewer valuable items and tend to guard them more closely - Unemployed parents may be at home to supervise children and reduce opportunity for them to commit crime Social Disorganization Theory - A reaction to biological trait theories - Crime exists because normal people exist where social institutions and norms have failed them - Links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics - Crime rates elevated in highly transient, mixed use neighbourhoods - These localities unable to provide essential services - Residents trying to leave crime ridden neighbourhoods at earliest opportunity - Sources of control often weak/disorganized - Personal relationships strained by the constant moving of neighbours - Crime from normal people - Why do some communities have higher crime rates? - Why do people commit crime? - Failure of social institutions - The place matters most, not the individual or the culture Concentric Zone Theory Transitional Neighbourhoods - Cities form distinct natural areas, some affluent and others in extreme poverty - Distinct ecological areas comprised of a series of concentric circles or zones with significant differences in crime rates - High rates of population turnover are incapable of inducing residents to remain and defend neighbourhood from criminal groups - The way cities naturally develop in which recent immigrants move into the “transitional zone” outside the business district, but before the working class or residential zones - These areas have residential instability  - Nothing to do with the people that live there as individuals or a cultural group, but there are recent immigrant groups - They are only living there because of affordability - There are no collective, shared bonds or sense of identity in these areas - Ethnic Heterogeneity - People from another country will likely move to an area of the new country where people from their old country live - Destabilized understanding of community and poverty - Weak social control - School system lacking funding, parents working multiple jobs and unable to watch children - “Community unable to realize its values” - Not intrinsic to a specific culture, but it is the city and the structure that produces these outcomes, not those living in them - Most people inside are law-abiding - If it is the structure that is the problem, how do we differentiate between those who are and are not committing crime within that structure? Social Ecology School - Social ecologists developed approach that stressed relationship of community deterioration and economic decline to criminality - Placed less emphasis on value conflict Community Deterioration - Crime rates associated with community level indicators of social disorganization: poverty, abandoned buildings, unemployment - Poverty and single parent homes related to crime - Social support, institutional anomie, general strain perspectives = important explanations for aggregate levels of crime - Gangs flourish in deteriorated neighbourhoods Employment Opportunities - Relationship between unemployment and crime is unsettled - Crime rates sometimes rise during periods of economic prosperity and fall during economic decline - High unemployment can have crime producing effects - Neighbourhoods with few employment opportunities are most vulnerable to predatory crime Community Fear - Disorganized neighbourhoods: rowdy youth, vandalism - Outward ‘signs’ of crime: when present, fear levels increase, people become mistrusting and suspicious  - Fear produces more crime: increase victimization, increases fear (cycle) - Distrust of authorities: areas that are over policed, no good relationship with law enforcement and citizens Siege Mentality - Mindset that results in mistrust of critical social institutions: occurs when police ignore crime in poor areas or are violent/corrupt - Tensions between police and members of ethnic minorities Population Turnover - Urban areas undergoing rapid structural changes in racial and economic composition - Greatest change in crime rate - Change is hallmark of inner city areas - People tend to move if they feel unsafe in their current neighbourhood Community Change - Life cycles of urban areas: begin with the building of residential dwellings, period of decline, marked decrease in SES, increase in population density ➡ final stage gentrification - Gentrification = ‘renewal’ stage - As crime increases, so do disorganization factors - Changing lifestyle is urban neighbourhood associated with high crime rates Poverty Concentration - Concentration effect: middle class/working class people flee the areas of inner city poverty and take away financial resources/support - Results in the most disadvantaged people consolidated in “urban ghettos” - Businesses not inclined to be in these areas ➡ income inequality and social injustice ➡ isolation from social mainstream. - Contradicts Shaw and McKay’s idea that crime rates are highest in transitional areas - Crime prone areas are stable and homogenous, residents trapped in public housing and urban ghettos Weak Social Controls - Social controls operate on primary level (informal): family, peers - Formal would be police - When social control is weak, crime rates increase: transient populations lead to superficial relationships Collective Efficacy - Cohesive communities ➡ high social control - Low collective efficacy suffer high rates of violence - Three forms of social control:  - Informal (peers, families, neighbours) - Institutional (businesses, schools) - Public Social Control (police presence greatest when community organizations/local leaders have sufficient political clout) Social Altruism - Less crime in areas that place greater stress on caring for each other Social Ecology School Summarized: - Social disorganization produces criminality - Quality of community life, including change, fear, incivility, poverty, and deterioration has a direct influence on area’s crime rate Strain Theory - Strain theorists view crime as a consequence of class frustration and anger - Most people share similar goals, ability to achieve these goals is unequal because of socio-economic factors - Rich people feel less strain - To relieve strain, poor people may resort to deviant methods Anomie Theory - Durkheim’s anomie - Norms of behaviour are broken down during periods of rapid social change, most likely in cities moving away from preindustrial methods - Anomic society can’t maintain control over population’s wants and desires - Applied this to criminology: people turn to crime if they don’t have other legitimate means for making money Institutional Anomie - Anomic conditions come from desire to succeed at any cost - Institutions that might be able to control this have been rendered useless - Performance in non-economic institutional settings is assigned a lower priority than the goal of financial success - During conflict, schedules/demands of workplace take priority over home/school/community - Cultural Level: - Desire for material goods cannot always be achieved by legitimate means - Anomie becomes norm, crime becomes strategy for attaining wealth - Institutional Level: - Dominance of concerns weaken informal social control - Churches, family, etc. have lost capacity to regulate bejaviour - Crime rates may rise in healthy economy  - National prosperity makes monetary reward even more attractice Merton’s Strain Theory (social adaptation) - Discovering how social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist conduct - Comes back to a lot of crimes being utilitarian - You want more money, you commit more theft - You want more money, you engage in white collar crime The Five Social Goals Conformity - Embrace social goals and attain through acceptable means Innovation - Accept goals of society but cannot attain them through conventional means - Legitimate entrepreneur or stealing Ritualism - Social goals are reduced in importance - Gain pleasure from practice of traditional ceremonies with no real purpose/goal - Lowest criminal activity Retreatists - Reject goals and means of society Rebellion - Replacing convenient set of goals and means with alternative - Revolutionaries wanting to promote radical change Expanding and Refining Strain - Low SES predicts crime - Doesn’t mean everyone who is low SES will engage in criminality (not causal) - Correlated in particular ways - Policies concerned about alienation  - ‘Priority neighborhoods’: free for people to use specific facilities, to prevent alienation from not being able to partake in things that other people are to do - Diversify symbols of success: don’t give things to people without means, but change what the social goals themselves are - There has to be other symbols of success beyond just the capitalist goal Relative Deprivation - Income inequality is demeaning, criminality fuelled by perceived humiliation - Even affluent people can feel strain when failing their unlimited goals (compared to those around them) - Helps with: - Those who are well off might not think they are well off compared to other people - It helps explain why people who are upper or upper middle class might also engage in criminality (Ponzi Schemes, Fraud) - As crime between ethnic groups decreases, crime among white people increases General Strain Theory - Individual focus ➡ stress, strain, coping - Those who experience strain are more likely to take part in criminality, no matter what SES you are - Disjuncture between what you expect and what you receive, and this is what allows for criminality - Multiple sources of stress: sources of strain are independent but can overlap and become cumulative - Failure to achieve positively valued goals - Disjunction of expectations and achievements - Removal of positive values stimuli from the individual - Presentation of negative stimuli - Some people learn to cope with strain, not all of those with strain become criminals - GST recognizes that certain traits make people more sensitive to strain - Fits in with antisocial personality stuff, age - Research on GST: longitudinal survey data, trying to find storylines for why people commit crimes - GST does not explain gender differences in crime rates: females experience as much strain as males, if not more Supporting Research for Strain Theory - High church membership, low divorce, higher voter turnout = low crime rates - Strong institutional control counteracts influence of economic deprivation - Decommodification Cultural Deviance Theories Conduct Norms - Lower class develops a unique culture in response to strain - Criminal law is an expression of the dominant culture - Culture conflict: rules expressed in the criminal law clash with demands of group conduct norms Focal Concerns Theory Clinging to lower class focal concerns can lead to conflicts with the law - Lower class areas have competing value systems to that of middle class areas Trouble: people evaluated in terms of involvement in fighting, drinking, etc. Toughness: males want local recognition of their physical toughness and refuse to be sentimental/”soft” Smartness: want to maintain image of being streetwise and savvy — essential survival techniques, outsmarting the law, not school Excitement: stresses a search for fun and excitement Fate: more likely to stress that our hands are in the hands of spiritual forces Autonomy: being independent of authority figures Theory of Delinquent Subcultures - Status frustration: legitimate success is difficult - Delinquent for ‘self-worth’ - Kids in lower class feel they can never live up to middle class standards, so they will skip school and hang out with people who also skip class - Gang subculture: has an oppositional value system (takes norms from larger culture and flips them) - Emerging focus on gangs at this time in the 50s - Focus on conservative family values - Because mainstream considers gangs deviant, these delinquent cultures consider this deviant behaviour normal Middle Class Measuring Rods - Why are some crimes non-utilitarian - Strain theory comes back to a lot of crimes being utilitarian - Cohen says some crimes are expressive: - Family structure is important, but newer freedoms for young people - Draw of conformity: peer group you want to conform to can lean towards deviance (gang life) - If you are in this group, you might internalize these values to conform to the group - Working class judged by ‘middle-class measuring rod’ - Working class can never live up to these expectations or attain those particular goals  - Cultural conflict — rejection/protest of dominant culture - Crime happens because of these cultural conflicts - Conformity — response to shared problems - Intergenerational The Formation of Deviant Subcultures - Lower class males facing rejection by middle class usually join one of three subculture: - Corner boy - College boy - Delinquent boy Corner: Loyal to peer group which shapes his values - Not a chronic delinquent, but petty offences - Aware of his failures to achieve the dream and retreats into a world of lower class peers - Eventually becomes a stable member of the niehgbourhood and gets married/emplkoyed in community College: Embraces culture/social values of middle class - Strives to succeed - Almost a hopeless path, because he’s ill equipped socially, financially, linguistically Delinquent: Adopts a set of oppositional norms - Joins gang because it’s independent - Frustrated by his inability to succeed - Reaction formation - Exaggerated response disproportionate to the stimulus Strain and Street Youths - Criminal activity is the primary way for many of these youths to gain material wealth - Culturally produced feelings of failure - Develop new norms, standards, and new criteria. - Crime is seen as okay as other jobs are so undesirable or not attainable. Theory of Differential Opportunity - Delinquent activity often a requirement for fitting in - Youth gangs are an important part of the delinquent subculture Differential Opportunities People share the same success goals, however, those in the lower class have limited means of achieving these goals.  - People who feel like failures will seek alternative ways to gain success with like minded peers who can provide support to deal with these feelings - Opportunity for conventional or criminal careers are limited - Stable, developed areas: youth can be recruited by professional criminals, organized crime - Unstable: fewer opportunities Because of these differential opportunities, there are one of three types of gangs youths will join: 1. Criminal Gang - Stable but poor areas - Close connections among adolescent/adult offenders - Youth recruited and provided training in criminal skills - Novices must prove themselves - Justify illegalities and model for lower classes - Not all have skills to integrate 2. Conflict Gang - Communities unable to provide legitimate or illegitimate opportunities - Highly disorganized areas, marked by transient residents and physical deterioration - Violence to gain status to winning - Lack adult role models for utilitarian crimes 3. Retreatest Gang - Frustration with middle and other lower classes - Unable to gain success through legitimate means and unwilling to do so through illegal means - Have tried crime, but too clumsy/weak/scared to be accepted by criminal/violent gangs Evaluation of Social Structure Theory - Influenced both criminological theory and crime prevention strategies - Some theorists suggest that factors in the general structural model are interdependent - Things causing starin can also cause social disorganization - Doesn’t account for vast majority of urban poor that remain law abiding - Questionaly whether a sharp difference in class cultures even exist - Gang members and middle class youth all value sharing, earning money, etc. Social Structure Theory and Policy Social Policy - Giving poor people direct financial aid through welfare - Neighbourhood recreation programs - Other community improvement initiatives  - Traffic safety, physical conversations, law enforcement Community Policy - Social structure theory has also shaped the criminal justice system - Applying the broken window concept - Designed to reduce social disorder - Concentrating on lifestyle crimes like panhandling/loitering - Police resources deployed where they can encourage public confidence - People feel more safe and cooperate more Community Oriented Policing - Citizen participation is essential - Community climate is influenced by the informal social control - Problem solving is best done in the neighbourhood where issues originated Trait Theories Biological Trait Theories Individual is not like everyone else: from “born criminal” to the “abnormal” - First popularized during emergence of positivism in mid-19th century - “Degenerate family”, “Criminal man” - Different genetic make-ups means that not all humans are born with equal potential to learn and achieve - Sociological criminologists contend that everyone is born equal and that our behaviour is controlled by social forces - Biosocial theorists argue that no two people are alike - People also learn through a process involving the brain and central nervous system Sociobiology: stresses how biological and genetic conditions affect the perception and learning of social behaviours. - People controlled by innate need to ensure their own survival and that of others who share their gene pool. - Biology, environment, learning, and independent factors. - Their behaviours are affected by physical and environmental conditions (biosocial). Somatotype: criminals manifest distinct physiques susceptible to particular types of delinquent behaviour  - Mesomorph (well-developed muscles, active, aggressive: more likely to become criminals) vs endomorph (heavy builds and lethargic behaviour: gluttonous crimes) vs ectomorph (tall, thin, less social, less intelligent: economic crimes) Modern Biological Theories: physical, environmental, and social conditions work together to produce human behaviour. - Environmental forces can trigger antisocial behaviour in people biologically predisposed to deviance Biochemical: Crime is a function of diet, vitamins, hormonal imbalance, food allergies. - Strength: explains irrational violence and how environment interacts with personal traits - Research: diet, hormones, enzyumes, environmental, contaminants, and lead intake. Genetic: Criminal traits and predispositions are inherited. - Strength: Explainswhy only a small percentage of youth in high-crime areas become chronic offenders. - Research: twin behaviour, sibling behaviour, parent-child similarities. Neurological: Delinquents often suffer brain impairment, which is related to antisocial behaviour. - Strength: explains irrational violence and how environment interacts with personal traits. - Research: ADHD, learning disabilities, brain injuries, brain chemistry. Evolutionary: Humanity evolves, traits become ingrained ➡ some of these traits make people more aggressive and predisposed to commit crime. - Strength: explains high violence rates and aggregate gender differences in the crime rate - Research; gender differences and understanding human aggression Psychological Trait Theories Psychodynamic: The development of the unconscious personality in childhood affects lifetime behaviour (Freud) - Criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities - Explains onset of crime and why crime and drug abuse cut across class lines - Research Focus: mental disorders, personality development, unconscious drives Behavioural: People commit crimes when they model their behavior after others being rewarded - Behaviour reinforced by rewards and extinguished by punishment  - Explains role of significant others and family in crime process - Research Focus; effects of media on violence, effects of child abuse Cognitive: Individual reasoning processes influence behaviour - Reasoning is influenced by the way people perceive their environment - Criminal behaviour changes over time as people mature - Development of reasoning powers may explain the aging-out process - Research Focus: perception and cognition Intelligence: Nature Theory: if intelligence is determined genetically, low intelligence will be linked to criminal behaviour. Nurture Theory: intelligence viewed as primarily sociological. - Environmental stimuli can improve IQ level Rediscovering IQ and Criminality - Future study re-examined link between IQ and criminality - IQ holds more weight than race/class when predicting criminality/delinquency Personality: Criminal behaviour is a function of personality. - Personality enables people to interpret life and make behavioural changes. - Certain personality traits affect the tendency to commit crime. - Research Focus: antisocial personality, psychopaths and sociopaths. Psychiatry and Psychopathy: “Psychopathy” emerges early 20th century - Vaguely defined - ‘Psychopath’ as a troublemaker in asylums - Move from bio explanations and degeneracy - Psychiatrization of criminology and criminal justice - Heterosexual masculinity as standard of normality Category (even vague) allows for gathering clinical information. Circularity — “try to treat them, they become better manipulators” Anti Social Behaviour and Cycle of Violence - Association between early victimization and later criminality - Child victims becoming adult criminals - Victims of certain crimes are more likely to commit crimes - Young males more likely to engage in violent behaviour if…  - Target of physical abuse - Exposed to inter-adult violence - Children with high level of punitive parenting and lower parental nurturance - Early drug, alcohol, physical abuse - Children witnessing violence growing up Mental Illness: Many serious offenders suffer from some sort of mental disturbance. - CJS can become substitute for health system when mental illnesses are left untreated - Substance abuse higher among people with mental illness, people with MI more likely to reside in deteriorated, high crime neighbourhoods Policy Implications of Bio and Psychological Theories Biologial/Psychological Theories and Criminal Justice Treatment models - Indeterminate sentencing Psychology informs various stages of the criminal justice system - Risk assessments - NCRMD legal distinction Targeting high risk for mental health of behavioural disorders as young as preschool Chemical castration of sex offenders Prevention Programs - Biological and psychological views of criminality influence crime control/prevention policies - Primary prevention programs - Treating problems before manifest themselves as crime (family therapy, substance abuse clinics, mental health associations) - Secondary Prevention Programs - Psychological counselling to youths and adults after they violate the law - Law recognizes psychological aspects of crime: NCRMD - Therapeutic and preventive treatment - Comparative research shows that they work but people with mental disorders continue to be incarcerated in correctional institutions Biologically Oriented Therapy - Mood altering chemicals (controversial) - Lithium, benzodiazepines - Use of brain surgery (controversial) - Some belive this to be the key to solving chronic reoffending Diversion Programs - Since 1970s; pretrial programs - Divert offenders into non-punitive rehab programs designed to treat, not punish - Based on counseling regime - Commonly used with first offenders of nonviolent offenders Issues with Bio/Psy Theories - Racism and classism - IQ tests - Fads and pseudoscience - Polygraph tests - XYY theory - “Twinkie Defence” Crime Deterrence + Prevention - Crime reduction programs could lead to short term positive effects that later dissipate as criminals adjust - Ex. criminals learning how to dismantle alarms - Efforts to prevent one crime can cause unintended prevention of another, and can have a ripple effect through the reduction of crime in one area leading to the reduction of crime in another The Idea of Crime Deterrence General Idea: Certainty, Celerity, Severity - All work together to reduce crime rate - But if severity increases, and certainty and celerity don’t, the law won’t be taken seriously. - Certainty matters more than the other two: - The fact you will be caught and will be punished matters more than the other two - If probability of arrest, conviction, and sanctioning increase, then crime rates should decline - Rational offenders understand that likelihood of being punished outweighs any potential benefit from crimes - But there is a tendency to focus on severity: - Three Strikes Laws - Mandatory minimums - Zero tolerance policies - The evidence of deterrence based on severity of punishment is minimal - The certainty that you will be punished matter more than the severity in which you will be punished  - Capital punishment research has even shown that after an execution in an area, homicide rates are higher - Known as brutalization effect - There is also little evidence to show that areas with death penalty have lower violence rates General vs. Specific Deterrence General Deterrence - People will commit crime and delinquency if they perceive that the benefits outweigh the risks - Crime is a function of the severity, certainty, and speed of punishment. - Shows relationship between crime and punishment, suggests real solution to crime - Focus on certainty aspect Specific Deterrence - Criminal sanctions should be so powerful that known criminals will never repeat their criminal acts - Punishment works in preventing and reducing crime if there is a connection between planned action and consequence, but this does not seem to work at first glance because most known criminals are not deterred by punishment - Punishment can increase reoffending by eliciting defiance rather than deterrence. - Focus on severity aspect Issues with Deterrence Theory - Research usually involves samples of noncriminals and crimes of minor seriousness - Ex. college students vs people smoking weed on campus - Experienced offenders are less likely to be deterred by perception that they will be punished in the future. Deterrence theory assumes that the offender is rational - Some criminals are desperate, act under the influence, and suffer from disorders etc. - It also relies on offenders perceiving their actions as acceptable - Sometimes white collar crime is thought of as acceptable in certain subcultures and environments: here, the criminal is not seen as wrong, rather, the sanctions are seen as unfair to the offender - Deterrence is not universally effective Crime Prevention Techniques Situational Crime Prevention - Criminal activity and offence-specific  - Criminal prevention should be achieved through policies that convince potential criminals to desist from criminal activities Criminal acts will be deterred if… - Potential targets are carefully guarded - The means to commit crime are controlled - Potential offenders are carefully monitored This would protect a lot against the Routine Activities Theory 1. Increase the effort - Make it harder for a particular thing or area to be targeted for crime 2. Increase the risks - Natural or formal surveillance 3. Reduce the rewards - Conceal or remove targets 4. Inducing guilt - Roadside speed monitors, etc. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and ‘Defensible Space’ - Allocated a university space as “University Space” instills idea that people will know who belongs and who doesn’t - Everything is glass and open: these spaces want to be inhabited by students, and part of bigger space (no private areas) - You can see other people in this space, you know who belongs here and who doesn’t: actively engaging in crime prevention yourself Concerns about SCP or CPTED - Existence of hostile architecture - Class division: - Gated communities help prevent crime - Who can afford to be benefitted from CPTED and who is targeted? - Concerns about privacy Ramifications of SCP - Offenders perpetrate crimes at times seen less risky (temporal), on targets that are easier to hit, high-protected to less-protected areas (spatial), with different tactics, other types of crime, or even with new offenders once others get apprehended. Surveillance and CCTV - People sometimes assure this is bad, but it is limited way of looking at surveillance to immediately assume this is 1984 - A lot of surveillance is automatic, not one guy watching what you do - Personalized ads - Facial recognition software - Automated license plate reader - Privacy rights are still a concern Informal Sanctions - Fear of informal sanctions may have a greater impact than fear of formal legal punishments - Social control rooted in how people perceive negative reactions from personal acquaintances - Two main factors - Personal shame over violating the law - Fear of public humiliation if deviant behaviour becomes public knowledge - Women more likely than men to fear shame and embarrassment - Effect of informal sanctions may vary - Depending on cohesiveness of community and type of crime - Most effective in high unified locales; everyone knows everyone and crime can’t stay hidden - Reintegrative Shaming: countries where conviction of crime brings shame have low crime rates. - Powerful tool of informal social control Target Hardening - Making a home/business crime proof or crime resistant - Based on routine activity theories (RAT) - Place the onus on the victim to preventing crime - Installing alarms, neighbourhood watch, fence, etc. - Rational deterrence - Making a crime difficult will make it unattractive to the criminal - Only certain people can afford security, may lead to displacement Incapacitation Strategies Basically: keeping known criminals out of circulation will reduce crime rates. - Recognizes the role that opportunity plays in criminal behaviour. - Provides a solution to chronic offending. Incarceration - Might lower crime rates, but other factors also contribute. - Canada viewed incarceration with limited effectiveness in the 1990s and moved towards alternatives like rehabilitation. - Evidence suggests incarceration can increase reoffending, criminals commit more crimes after release. - The process can brutalize individuals and stigmatize them. - Incarceration can be financially expensive for correctional services and policing, courts, legal aid. Selective Incapacitation - Suggested by discovery of the chronic career criminal: three strikes and you’re out - If small number of people account for relatively large percentage of crime, then selective incapacitation could reduce crime Stats, Data, and Research Methods Explaining Crime Trends and Patterns 5 Factors (6 if you include actual changes in crime) Affecting Crime Rates Some crimes are report-sensitive: reflects how willing the public is to report the crime Some are police-sensitive: reflects the level of police enforcement - The ways in which police enforce and record delinquent and criminal acts - Boosting police efficiency can increase crime rates Some are definition-sensitive: a change in the law changes the rate Some are media-sensitive: means they are political and cause a feedback loop when they are publicized, thus changing the perceptions of the public and their willingness to report. - Distorted media coverage of sensationalized crime - Can sensitize public to fear crime: drives legislative changes and police approaches - “Bleeds it leads” - Passive or active voice - “Better victims” Methodology Problems: methods of research and data collection. - Cases screened as founded/unfounded - Reports can vary in accuracy and completeness Actual trends in the number of crimes in society, which leads us to ask what causes crime. Things that Affect Crime Trends and Patterns - Social Class - Age - Young people commit more crime, tend to age out  - Gender - Race - No race is more crime prone - Racism exists in the criminal justice system - Race is a social construct - Social Malaise - Single parent families, divorce, related to crime rate Research Techniques Survey Research - AKA cross-sectional research - Surveying people from cross section of the community - Involves sampling - Measures subjects at a single point in time - Can measure attitude/behaviour - Doesn’t show change over time - Difficult to guard against those misrepresenting information Self-Report Surveys - Research approach requiring subjects to reveal their own participation of crime - Shift in focus and theory - Not focused on the criminals, but on those that engage in deviance - New questions: enforcers/processes - Labeling theory - We know certain people get labeled a criminal and others not - A popular theory is that certain groups engage in more crime, but self-reporting surveys tell us a different story than that - Extra-legal factors: 65% of black drug dealers and 35% of white drug dealers have been arrested in their life. - Both groups self-identify as engaging in crime, but clear disparity between who is being caught/pursued by police. Victimization Surveys - General Social Survey (GSS) - Supposed to be getting at “hidden crimes” - A figure of crime that we don’t really know, because we are only getting official stories because of crime funnel - Victimization surveys help us to better understand emotional impact of crime Issues with Self-Report and Victimization Surveys - Truth and verification of responses - Memory (telescoping): you think something happened much more recently - Sampling: marginal populations and missing cases - Ex. high school students: might miss high school aged people not enrolled in school Longitudinal (Cohort) Research - Observing one group that shares a characteristic over time (cohort) - Subjects given repeated tests/surveys - Can indicate which specific experiences lead to crime and delinquency - I.e. coming from broken home - Difficult method: expensive, time consuming - Retrospective cohort study: - Taking a group of known offenders and looking into their backstories. Aggregate Data Research - Uses large databases like Stats Canada - The effect of overall social trends and patterns on the crime rate Experimental Research - Manipulated events to see the effects on a subject - Quasi experiments - Time-series design - Difficult and expensive to conduct, sometimes involving ethical issues, and require long follow-up periods. Analyzing Policy - How policies impact criminals and their lives after conviction, or how policy impacts crime rate - Eg. Sex offenders have to register with authorities - This does not reduce recidivism Observational and Interview Research - Focusing research on relatively few participants - Interviewing them in depth or observing them in life - Helps gather in-depth data that is absent from large-scale surveys - Allows for first-hand observation of criminals - Observational methods can be difficult: - Rich but tough to generalize - Time intensive (trust takes time)  - Ethical issues - Vulnerable participants - Institutional resistance to research (institutions can be concerned what research might say about them) Meta-Analysis - A research technique that uses the grouped data from several different studies Systematic Review - Research using previously conducted studies and collected evidence to address a question Stats and Measurement Systems - What do people who use official statistics accomplish? - Stats tell a very specific story and narrow down what we see/ask - Can get some characteristics (UCR) but in general, do not show characterize the offender and victim. - Instead show trends, shifts. - We rely on court reported stats, but before we can even get these stats, many people have been removed from this system. (crime funnel) - Certainly people getting more violent will impact crime rates but this cannot be the only explanation Uniform Crime Report (UCR) - A count based on police reports, the basis for research, media reports, and policy - Offers information on crimes substantiated through police investigation and is invaluable for studying crime in society - Expresses data through: - The actual number of crimes reported to the police and arrests are expressed as raw figures - The percentage change in the amount of crime between years is computed - Soft indicator of whether society is becoming more dangerous - Crime rate per 100,000 people Crime Rate vs. Crime Severity Index Crime Rate = Crimes ÷ Population x 100,000 - CSI is standardized to base 100 - Allows for comparisons across time and space Ethical Issues in Criminology Research Social Responsibility - The influence their opinions have in policy debates - Some argue for rehabilitation for convicts while others say tough prison sentences Bias - Availability of funding can influence directions of research - When governments give grants, they dictate what should be studied - Certain areas will be left out, skewing results and pushing things in the favour of the funder Participants - Interviews often with poor, minority members of society - Crime in high collar, white areas or governments not scrutinized the same - Ethical issues for BIPOC, who are more likely to be policed Crime in Canada - Not actually that many violent offences - Because there are so few, they are susceptible to rapid change - Not necessarily more offenders or increase in certain crimes: - People are just talking about things more, defining it better, coming forward more - A lot of crime peaked in the 90s, going down toward the 2000s - Motor vehicle theft rates are so high: - Thefts are more reported than other thefts: people are most likely to get insurance from cars - Police don’t want this data but insurance companies do: mandate police to report these thefts Crime Victims Crime Victim Characteristics Gender - Related to risk of crime, fear of crime, sense of control - Women equally likely to be robbery victims and more likely to be assault victims - Overall rates of victimization by gender steady over time - Women higher victimization rates than men - Women more likely to be attacked by relatives - ⅔ of sexual assaults  - Women more likely to be stalked or criminally harassed - Serial murder - Authorities often don’t respond to these crimes fast enough Age - Youths often commit more crimes - 20-24 most likely to be victims - High risk situations: going out at night, binge drinking, taking drugs - Sexual assault rate highest ages 15-24 - Youths greater risk than older person Social Status - Not the same as social class but incorporates income in combination with education and ethnicity - Living in crime prone areas - Inner-city, poor neighbourhoods, etc. - Lifestyle habits putting them at risk - Working late shifts - Social cohesion - Poverty increases risk of child abuse - Poor people likely to be victims of assault vs rich people victims of instrumental crimes Ethnicity - Indigenous people have higher rates of victimization - Overrepresented in violent crimes - Histories of homelessness, drug use, mental illness, etc. (structural historical issues) Relationship - Crimes vary by the relationship between the victim and offender - Crimes by stranger on the rise but many people know their offenders - Assault crimes, offender often known compared to robbery - Women in relationships more likely than men to experience violence - Courts have started to understand that sentencing crime from women must be different than from men - R v. Lavallee (self-defence) - Elder abuse - Spousal homicide rates drop - More equality in relationships, changes in law, better training for police Effects of being a Victim of Crime Victim blaming - Property is often kept for a long time as evidence may never be returned - PTSD often goes untreated - Lost wages because of time spent running around the courts  - Victims are more likely that non-victims to think crime rates have increased - Worry about neighbourhood safety and experiencing lower quality of life - Fundamental changes to personhood - Viewing the world more suspiciously - Feeling a loss of control What Makes Someone a Victim? Three characteristics increase potential: 1. Target vulnerability: victim’s physical weakness of psychological distress makes them easy targets 2. Target gratifiability: victim’s characteristics increase their risk because they have some quality of possession that an offender wishes to obtain 3. Target antagonism: some characteristics increase risk because they arouse anger, jealousy, or destructive impulses in the offender Offenders learn the weakness of victims and what police are less likely to care about Victim Precipitation Theory - Some people may initiate confrontation that eventually leads to their injury or death - Active or passive - Trying to explain why some people and not others become victims Active Precipitation - Victims act proactively, use threats or fighting words, even attack first - Victim is a direct, positive, precipitator in the crime - Applies more readily to violent crimes Nowhere is the concept of victim precipitation more controversial than in sexual assault - Victims can be blamed by unjust systems - Law now bans talking about previous sexual history and reputation of victim Passive Precipitation - Victim exhibits some personal characteristics that unwittingly threatens or encourages the attacker - Threat can arise because of personal conflict - Love interest, job competition - Victim may have never met attacker but attacker feels menaced and acts accordingly - Hate crimes - Merely being a group that “threatens” the attacker - Criminal code has been amended so that if a judge determines hatred to be the motivation in the attack it is not an aggravating factor Reasons for not reporting - People believe the incident is too minor - They deal with it in their own way: depends on cultures and norms of places - “Fight back, shoot back” common in Texas, weird in Canada - Not reporting violent crimes - Personal matter, don't want to get offender in trouble, feared revenge - Many people know their attacker - Sexual assault victims don’t want to bring shame to themselves or family - Police can’t do anything about some crimes - Property crimes The Case of Drugs + Victimless Crime The Case of Drugs - Utilitarianism not concerned with self-harm - Harm to society is lost productivity? - Protestant work ethic - Concern around leisure activities of working class (idleness is a sin) over-enforced during rapid change - New laws emerge to clamp down on particular classes - Related to intersections of race/class Drugs with certain demographics are criminalized differently… War on Drugs - Brick of cocaine gets the same penalty as a tiny piece of crack - Mainly done to target black men in the inner-cities “Victimless Crime”: Criminal Law can Exacerbate Crime Drugs and “victimless crimes” exacerbates crime itself: contributes to the problem it is trying to solve. 1. Crime tariff - Desirable are illegal so profitable 2. Leads to organized crime - It’s a product they find ways to buy and sell - Organized crime groups mirror corporate groups 3. Secondary criminogenic effects - Drugs are expensive so people turn to crime - Demand is inelastic (addiction)  - Can’t will yourself out of wanting something you are addicted to, so people charge more - No money ➡ flourish in property crimes (theft) 4. Criminal subcultures develop - Hang out with likeminded people who engage in same illegal activity ➡ more crime - Predictor of crime is having criminal and deviant peers 5. Taxes the Criminal Justice System - Requires resources to enforce 6. Bribery flourishes - No complaints so less officer regulations Important Terms Anomie: Rapidly shifting moral values produce normlessness, where the individual has little guide to what is socially acceptable, usually associated with Robert Merton. Alienation: Cleared: - At least one person has been arrested, charged, and turned over to the court for prosecution - Some element beyond police control precludes the physical arrest of an offender, such as when a suspect dies or leaves the country Case is considered “cleared otherwise” even if no charge is laid. - Higher for violent crimes than property crimes because the offender is known to the victim. The process of cases being dropped as we process through the system: ⬇ Attrition: Case numbers decrease from report to investigation, from charge, trial, and conviction. Crime Funnel: As cases move farther into the justice system, the number being dealt with drops. Victim Blaming: transfers responsibility away from perpetrator to the victim. - Property is often kept for a long time as evidence may never be returned - PTSD often goes untreated - Lost wages because of time spent running around the courts People Emile Durkheim - Founder of sociology and significant contributor to criminology. - Crime is normal because it has existed in every age, in poverty and prosperity. - Crime can be useful and even helpful. - Implies that a way is open for social change and social structure is not rigid or inflexible. - Universal conformity stifles creative and independent thinking.  - Crime is beneficial as it calls attention to needs for social change. - First to study society empirically - Applying scientific insights to society - Society gets invented - Not to say there was no society before this, but society becomes something to be studied - He is one of the first ones that says there is something to be studied - Specific laws governing societies - An evolutionary view of society - Anomie — breakdown of social norms - What norms are upheld through the punishment process - How do different societies punish and what does this tell us about the process of an evolutionary society? Cesare Lombraso - “Criminal Man” - Studied cadavers of executed criminals to scientifically determine whether law violators were physically different from people of conventional values and behaviour. - Offenders are born criminals. - Atavistic Anomalies: (or traits) the physical characteristics of “born criminals” that indicate they are throwbacks to primitive people Adolphe Quetelet - Belgian mathematician, pioneer for social criminology. - Began cartographic school of criminology. - One of the first to use objective mathematical techniques to investigate the influence of social factors on crime (stats). - Found social forces correlated with crime rates. Cesare Beccaria - Works served as the basis for classical criminology - Saw people as egotistical and self-centred, and could be controlled by fear of punishment Cases R v. Oakes - David Oakes found guilty of unlawful possession of a narcotic - At the time, Narcotic Control Act had reverse onus charge, claimed that anyone found in possession of illegal drugs was presumed to be trafficking unless the defence could prove otherwise - Conflicted with Section 11 of Charter: “Innocent until proven guilty”  - Case best known for its impact on Section 1 of the Charter - Established proportionality test - Basic framework of analysis used by judges to determine whether limitations on rights/freedoms are justifiable R v. Swain - Owen Swain found not guilty of common and aggravated assault by reason of insanity but subject to automatic and indefinite detention - Trial judge and Ontario CoA disagreed on whether this sentence infringed on Swain’s constitutional rights: - Charter sections 7, 9, 15: - Right to life, liberty, security - Right against arbitrary detention - Equality rights - SCC overturned sentence (1991) - Detaining an insanity acquittee indefinitely was unjustifiable - Now part of criminal court instructs courts to impose the least restrictive disposition possible - After taking into account public safety concerns, mental condition, goal of reintegration R v. Stinchcombe - William Stinchcombe charged with criminal breach of trust, theft, fraud - Suspected of wrongfully appropriated a client’s property lawyer - Judge and Crown denied disclosure of witness statements that may have operated in his favour - SCC established general disclosure principals - Section 11 Charter right to make a full answer and defence - Prosecutors now obligated to provide defence with all case information that might be relevant to the accused R v. Askov - Four people charged with conspiracy to commit extortion and several other offences - Charged but not tried until 3 years later - SCC recommended delays not exceed 6-8 months - Led to withdrawal/dismissal of 51,000 cases in Ontario - Powerful incentives for officials to better allocate judicial resources - Prosecutors resolving cases in a more timely fashion R v. Gladue - A section of Criminal Code not properly applied in the case of an Indigenous woman charged and tried for manslaughter - Section based on recognition that Indigenous people are disproportionately incarcerated - USask created Gladue Rights Research Database - Provides resources on effects of settler colonialism  - Residential schools, abuse, child welfare system - Helps writes and social workers understand relevant factors in sentencing R v. Hart - SCC ruled confessions during Mr. Big sting would not be admissible as evidence in criminal prosecution - Police try to trick suspects into confessing in exchange for money/employment - Hart was unemployed and socially isolated - Police befriended him and treated him to a lavish lifestyle until he eventually confessed to killing his daughters