Criminology Lecture Notes PDF

CRIM 104 Lecture 2 From Demons to Psychopaths: Early, Classical, and Positivist Explanations of Crime - "The devil made me do it" - Spiritualistic explanations have been around since primitive times - With rise of power of church - Church determined what is crime and what is...

CRIM 104 Lecture 2 From Demons to Psychopaths: Early, Classical, and Positivist Explanations of Crime - "The devil made me do it" - Spiritualistic explanations have been around since primitive times - With rise of power of church - Church determined what is crime and what is not - Used to explain heinous acts - Methods still used today - i.e. believe there is something wrong to the core of murderers, etc. - Criminals will sometimes offer these explanations for their behaviour - Comes back to mental health - Inquisition - Church power period; not very kind when came to administration of justice: very harsh, barbaric - i.e. being put in pillories, etc. - Will it Float? - Witchcraft seen as significant threat to church - Tied arms/ legs of witches and threw them into the water - Sinking/ drowning = proof of innocence - Floating = proof of guilt - Witch Burnings - 5,000 burned in Strasbourg over 20-year period - 500 burned in Geneva in 3 months - 400 burned in Toulouse in 1 day - The Enlightenment (1689-1789) - Also called "The Age of Reason" - Focused on the critical examination of life, religious beliefs, and society - Greater emphasis on reason and science - Newton's theory of gravity + Locke's notion of the social contract were important ideas - John Locke argues when we are born, we sign a SOCIAL CONTRACT: agree to not do certain things in order to afford protection from state. Caused by FREE WILL and HEDONISM. Argued by classical school as well (i.e. Cesare Beccaria) - Time Lines - Spiritualistic (1400-1700) - Deviance as evil - Caused by temptation + moral weakness - Remedied through exorcism, torture, and/or execution - Classical (1700-1800) - Deviance as violation of social contract - Caused by free will + hedonism - Remedied by deterrence - Responsibility of state to make crime as unattractive as possible; cons should always outweigh pros - Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) - Assumptions - Death penalty and torture were unfair - Can't ascertain innocence or guilt through torture - Presumption of innocence - Need more formal weigh of seeing if someone is guilt, and innocent until proved otherwise - Specific criminal codes - Before: whatever church deemed crime was considered crime - Now: need to clearly define what is bad behaviour - Ignorance of law no longer excuse because criminal code exists - Limitations on severity of punishment - Duration of punishment more effective if deterrent - Putting into correctional institutions rather than death penalty - How to win friends and influence people - Beccaria had the reputation of being lazy and unmotivated - Despite this, his recommendations were repeated word-for-word in the 1791 French Declaration of Independence - Also formed part of 1787 Constitution of United States + part of the English Reform Act of 1832 - Jeremy Bentham - Argued that people were rational and exercised "free will" - People weigh pleasure against pain and act (hedonistic calculus) - Hedonistic Calculus (by Jeremy Bentham): do quick calculation based on information available in their head to determine whether to commit crime for their best interests - Laws should maximize happiness for the greatest number of people - Unnecessary laws were themselves evil - Bentham's Panopticon: - Argued that panopticon is perfect way to lower operation of prisons - Panopticon: Guard towers where guards can see everyone, but prisoners can't see guards to try to police themselves with less guards around (make hedonistic calculations to determine whether or not to misbehave; still exists) - Deterrence - Celerity - Swiftness - Focuses on fact of connecting consequence with bad behaviour by holding accountable immediately after - Certainty - Likelihood - The more interactions with the justice system, the less punishment received - Severity - Make sure punishment is severe enough to make them second guess next time - Need clearly defined punishments + not to severe - Celerity + Certainty = Most Important - Effects of the Classical School - Criminal codes - Accessible everywhere, states exactly what can and cannot do + what will happen if you do - Crime statistics - Used to inform policing in a variety of different ways to direct more resources in certain areas - Hotspots, etc. - Due process - "Innocent until proven guilty" - States responsibility to prove guilty; only time when it is not: when defense must prove illness, etc. of defendant - Modern prisons - Time Lines - Classical School (1700-1800) - Deviance as violation of social contract - Caused by free will and hedonism - Remedied by deterrence - Positive School (1800-1900) - Came to era when people believed medicine could cure all illnesses - Including crime - Deviance as sickness, pathology, inferiority - Caused by bad genes or defects - Remedied by treatment/ elimination (if absolutely necessary) - Positivism and Determinism - Positivism = use of "scientific" methods to explain human (and criminal) behaviour - Determinism = behaviour determined by circumstances beyond a person's control - Abnormality + Genetics - Social and Historical Contexts - Religion: primary influence for spiritualistic explanations of behaviour - Historical/ social contract: religion - The Enlightenment: important factor in the development of the Classical School - Change to focus on science, reason, social calculated decisions to be involved in crime - Advances in science + medicine: important influences on the Positivist School of criminology - Specifically on general abnormalities/ influence - Darwin's Theory of Evolution - Some suggested that Western society was more advanced than other societies - Criminals were thought to be less evolved than law abiding citizens - \*\*both inaccurate interpretations of evolutionary theory\*\* - Fun with CESARE LOMBROSO (1835-1909) - "The Father of Modern Criminology"; founder of Positive School - Medical doctor---measured soldiers, insane people, criminals, and members of the general public - Published *On Criminal Man* (1875) - Argued could tell if person was committing criminal behaviour just by looking at them - Focuses on genetics, etc. - CESARE LOMBROSO cont. - New interest in science, medicine, and evolution led Cesare Lombroso in search of **atavistic man** - Idea that physical features could determine more criminal activity - **Stigmata:** protruding jaws, close-set eyes, unusually shaped ears, sloping forehead, and **especially tattoos** - First attempt to use scientific methods to understand criminal behaviour - Degenerate throwback on earlier forms of evolution - William Sheldon's Somatotypes - Argued physique determined criminal activity - Ectomorph - Lean, introverted - Less likely to be involved in crime due to not wanting to be in public/ large crowds - Endomorph - Extremely extroverted, enjoy luxury, charming, center of attention lovers, humorous - Also less likely to be involved in crime; don't want to risk everything put into charisma, etc. - Mesomorph - More athletic, muscular/ defined build, more aggressive behaviour required to life weights/ build muscle - Most likely to be involved in crime - Freud (1859-1939) - Combined a biological + psychological approach - 3 parts of personality - Id - Pleasure Seeking - Ego - Moderator - Superego - Conscience - Criminal behaviour results from an uncontrolled Id OR underdeveloped/ lacking Superego - Impulsive, no gratitude - No moral compass, lack empathy - Freud's Contributions to Humanity - Psychoanalysis - Set of theories/ therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form and method of treatment for mental disorders - The interpretation of dreams - Unconscious mind + its influence on our dreams - Notion of a subconscious - Part of mind that notices/ remembers information when not actively trying to do so and influences behaviour even though you do not realize it - The pleasure principle - People's psychological processes + actions are motivated by the Id - The Oedipus complex - The attachment of the child to the parent of the opposite sex, accompanied by envious and aggressive feelings toward the parent of the same sex - Notion of a psychopath - A personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, in combination with traits of boldness, disinhibition, and egocentrism - Idea that psychopaths are not all criminals - Effects of Positive School - "Rehabilitation" or "Treatment" instead of punishment - "Indeterminate" sentences to ensure that rehabilitation/ treatment successful - Development of "expertise" and "scientific experts" in criminal behaviour - Introduction of parole/ probation boards - More focus on things, such as Behavioural Modification - Psychotherapeutic intervention primarily used to eliminate/ reduce maladaptive behaviour in children/ adults - Other effects - Eugenics - Selective breeding could deal with the social problems caused by the "genetically unfit" - People were sterilized for being criminals, homosexuals, alcoholics, feeble-minded - Races/ recent immigrants were also targeted by these policies - IQ tested and rate under 70 = not capable of creating a gene pool suitable enough for society: forcefully sterilized - Continued into 1970s, usually directed at lower classes