Criminology Notes PDF

**[CRIMINOLOGY NOTES]** CHAPTER ONE WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? **September 11, 2024** - The scientific approach to study criminal behaviour - Science and social science - Discipline is recent - Before the 1800s, they thought you were possessed exorcism - Canada: mid-20^th^ century...

**[CRIMINOLOGY NOTES]** CHAPTER ONE WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? **September 11, 2024** - The scientific approach to study criminal behaviour - Science and social science - Discipline is recent - Before the 1800s, they thought you were possessed exorcism - Canada: mid-20^th^ century - Sociological WHO ARE CRIMINALS? - We think we know who they are - We think murderers, rapists, etc. - They are not us - Anyone can commit a crime - What shapes our opinions? society. - "common sense" & media shape interpretations - What do criminals look like? - Apparently if you are better looking, you are less likely to commit a crime, and if you do, the judge is more likely to declare you as not guilty HAGAN'S PYRAMID (1991) A diagram of a pyramid Description automatically generated HAGANS PYRAMID: CONSENSUS CRIMES - Most visible, predatory acts as more serious, and on purpose - Mala in se: wrong in themselves (or bad) - Consensus: they are wrong (damaging property, etc) - Examples: murder, assault, rape HAGANS PYRAMID: CONFLICT CRIMES - Controversial crimes: some people think it is crime, some people don't - Mala prohibita: wrong by prohibition - Conflict: public is divided (people are subjective) slavery was legal, not everyone agreed but it still took place - Public-disorder offences (morality as "guide") - Enforcement: over-criminalized and more difficult to enforce (someone wouldn't rat out their drug dealer) - Examples: prostitution, drug use, euthanasia, vagrancy DEFINING CRIME AND DEVIANCE---RELATIVITY - Cultural- differs across cultures (different cultures have different opinions on the same crime ex: drinking ages) - Historical- change over time. Drugs are a major factor in this - Ex: coca-cola used to have cocaine, heroin in cough syrup - Contextual- context shapes our perception (actions/situation) - Example: business clothes- some think one outfit is professional, some think inappropriate - Gender- dependant on the actors gender (women vs men treated different for same acts - "boys will be boys" POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE - Defines crime in power structures - Built into law by powerful groups - Label- undesirable forms of behaviour as illegal (protects certain interests) - Criminal laws- not relation to notions of right/ wrong SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE - Crime- antisocial act - Repression is necessary to preserve the existing system of society - Offence against human relations - Socialization process (conformity/ criminal acts) could start young and influence the way you see crime for the rest of your life PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES - Crime is maladjustment difficulties in childhood, PTSD, etc. - Designated as a difficulty of the individual - Reacting to environment and difficulties LEGALISTIC PERSPECTIVE - Crime is human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the federal government or a provincial, territorial, or local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws - Problem: insistence that the nature of crime cannot be separated from the nature of law, as the one explicitly defines the other - Crime- violation of the criminal law (criminal code- national) - Criminal record - Violation- of provincial, territorial, or municipal laws (by-laws) - No criminal record DEVIANCE AND CRIME - Deviant behaviour: violate social norms (not always criminal) - Crime: violate law, but not always deviant - Delinquency: both crime and deviance, refers to the violation of criminal law and other misbehaviour committed by young people  COMMON LAW - Criminal laws: inherited English common law (& Roman law- only practiced in Quebec) - Traditions: (decisions by judges) -- juries only for 5+ years imprisonment - Judges exercise discretion with detailed legal explanations - Criminal code- constrain those decisions DEFINITION OF CRIME (LEGAL) - Legal statutes: criminal Code of Canada & controlled drugs and substances act, cannabis act - All federal legislations - Components- acts considered crime, procedures, sentences - Criminal Code history- 1892 1^st^ and largely unchanged THE LAW: ELEMENTS OF THE LAW - Magna Carta (1215) "the great charter" - Everyone is equal - Everyone is subject to law - Specificity: rules - Procedural law : arrest, charges, rights, punishment - Uniformity: same for all (extralegal factors should not influence) - Penal sanctions- penalty to fit crime ELEMENTS OF A CRIME (LEGAL) - Criminal procedure (legal system on Judeo-Christian principles and ethics; old system) - Court- lost religious, but tradition remains (judge + lawyers, specially trained) - Criminal court- prosecutor acts on behalf of the state (as victim)- from Norman conquest 1066 - Components of a crime: - Actus reus: physical element/ act or attempted act - Mens rea: guilty mind- about intent + mental culpability - Both required at the same time - Intent vs motive (court doesn't care about the why-the motive- ; only your intent for the act) - Other types of liability: - Commission: doing something prohibited (ex breaking and entering ) - Omission: failed to do something (not pay taxes) - Mens rea and actus reas not required in court (possession offences- no presumption of innocence) THREE FORMS OF LAW - Civil - Exists primarily for the purpse of enforcing private rights and deals with arrangements between individuals, such as contracts and claims to property - Contracts between individuals family court, law suits - Administrative - Regulates many daily business activities - Regulates business activities - Criminal - Regulates actions that have the potential to harm interest of the state - Indictable offences: serious crimes - Summary conviction offences: less serious crimes - Hybrid offences: may be tried either as indictable or summary conviction offences - Against the state (defined objectively by punishment in Canada) TYPES OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES - Indictable offences: more serious ("felonies") - Punishment: 6 months + and \$5000 - Court- superior court (trial or s.469); may have preliminary hearing for trial - Summary offences: minor ("misdemeanor") - Punishment: less than 6 months + less than \$5000 - Court- provincial/mag court, no preliminary hearing, all in provincial territory, few cases go to trial - Hybrid: indictable oor summary (up to Crown) - Looking for more serious offence - Ex driving w no license COMMON LAW- INCOMPLETE CRIMES - Criminal attempt (inchoate crimes) contemplated and unsuccessful - Traced to a specific incidence - Ex: someone tried to burn a house down that he was renting, argued an attempt was not a crime (court rejected) - Defined in Criminal Code today Criminal Code, R.S (1985) c. C-34, s 24 - *Every one who, having an intent to commit an offence, does or omits to do anything for the purpose of carrying out the intention is guilty of an attempt to commit the offence whether or not it was possible under the circumstances to commit the offence* INDIVIDUAL RESPONISBILITY PERSPECTIVE - Individuals are responsible for own behaviour - Argument - Free will - Emphasize a micro approach SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PERSPECTIVE (SOCIAL PROBLEMS) - Crime is consequence of social problems - Advocate for - Free will - Emphasize a macro approach CONCENSUS PERSPECTIVE - Built around the notion that most members of society agree on what is right and wrong and that the various elements of society (religious organizations, schools, government agencies, businesses) work together toward a common vision of the greater good - Laws should be enacted to criminalize given forms of behaviour when members of society generally agree that such laws are necessary - Four principles: - Most members of a society believe in the existence of core values - Laws reflect the collective will of the people - All persons are equal under the law - Law violators represent a unique subgroup with distinguishing features PLURALIST PERSPECTIVE - Mirrors the thought that a multiplicity of values and beliefs exists in any complex society and that different social groups will have their own respective sets of beliefs, interests, and values - Although different viewpoints exist, most individuals agree on the usefulness of law as a formal means of dispute resolution - Peacekeeping tool CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE - Conflict is a fundamental aspect of life and cannot be fully resolved - Those in power must work to stay there - RANDOM DEFINITIONS FROM TEXTOOK - Criminal justice: Defined as the scientific study of crime, the criminal law, and components of the criminal justice system, including the police, courts, and corrections - Criminality: a behavioural predisposition that disproportionately favours criminal activity - Criminal behaviour: human activity, both intentional and negligent, that violates criminal law. It may include a failure to act when there is a legal obligation to do so - Criminalist: a specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of crime - Theoretical criminology: a subfield of general criminology, most often found in community colleges and universities. The explanations for criminal behaviour - Theory: made up of clearly stated propositions that posit relationships, often a causal sort, between events and things under study - Unicausal: the characteristic of having one cause - Integrated theory: an explanatory perspective that merges (or attempts to merge) concepts drawn from different sources - Evidence based criminology: a form of contemporary criminology that makes use of rigorous social scientific techniques, especially randomized controlled experiments, and the systematic review of research results; also called knowledge-based criminology. Very experimental - Research: the use of standardized, systematic procedures in the search for knowledge - Problem identification - Development of research design - Choice of data gathering techniques - Review of findings - Applied research: research based in scientific inquiry that is designed and carried out with practical application in mind - Pure research: research undertaken simply for the sake of advancing scientific knowledge - Primary research: research characterized by original and direct investigation - Secondary research: research based on new evaluations of existing information collected by other researchers - Variable: a concept that can undergo measurable changes - Research design: the logic and structure in an approach to data gathering - Confounding effects: rival explanation, or competing hypothesis, that is a threat to the internal or external validity of a research design - Controlled experiments: an experiment that attempts to hold conditions (other than the intentionally introduces experimental intervention) constant - Quasi-experimental design: an approach to research that, although less powerful than an experimental design, is deemed worthy of use when better designs are not feasible - Survey research: research using a social science data-gathering technique that involves use of questionnaires - Case study: an investigation into an individual case - Participant observation: a data-gathering strategy in which the researcher observes a group by participating, to varying degrees, in the activities of the group - Self-report: a research investigation of subjects in order to record and report their behaviours - Secondary analysis: the reanalysis of existing data - Correlation: a causal, complementary, or reciprocal relationship between two measurable variables - Quantitative methods: a research technique that produces measurable results - Qualitative methods: a research technique that produces subjective results, or results that are difficult to quantify - Verstehen: the kind of subjective understanding that can be achieved by criminologists who immerse themselves on the everyday world of the criminals they study - Data-confidentiality: the ethical requirement of social scientific research to protect the confidentiality of individual research participants while preserving justified research access to the information participants provide - Informed consent: the ethical requirement of social scientific research that research subjects must be informed to the nature of the research about to be conducted, their anticipated role in it, and the uses to which the data they provide will be put - Five major obstacles to evaluation research: - Ideology and intuition - Lack of resources - Resistance from funders - Resistance from funding recipients - Nature of academic discourse - Social responsibility perspective: the belief that crime is a consequence of underlying social problems such as poverty, discrimination, pervasive family violence, inadequate socialization practices, and the breakdown of traditional social institutions. (macro approach) - Individual responsibility perspective: the belief that individuals are fundamentally responsible for their own behaviour and that they choose crime over other, more law-abiding, courses of action. (micro approach) - Social relativity: the notion that social events are differently interpreted according to the cultural experiences and personal interests of the initiator, the observer, or the recipient of that behaviour CHAPTER TWO CLASSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL THEORIES September 16, 2024 EXPLAINING CRIME (THEORY) - Concepts: building blocks that point to aspects of reality and symbolize it (news assign) - Variables (sociology/criminology) - Predictor or explanatory (independent): help predict (experiments not common in crim) - Response or outcome (dependent): presumed effect outcome variable os predicted (ex: age) - Hypothesis; how variables differ in relationship to other variables later tested THEORIZING ABOUT CRIME - All theories aim to answer a specific question - Main tenet: their answer to quest (main argument) - Explanations and concepts may differ, with different concepts, but have things in common (fit into two main concepts) \*\*\*THEORIZING ABOUT CRIME---OBJECTIVIST THEORIES - Traditional positivist- on the conviction that social norms are given and external to individuals, therefore objective (absolute) and can be measured - As individual attribute (inherent)- focus on individual - Behaviour is binary- classified as right/wrong - Consensus- majority agree (absolutist view) - Product of causation- focus on why (if you know why, find solution) - Crimes (best to study): consensus crimes (ex: murder, rape, theft) THEORIZING ABOUT CRIME---SUBJECTIVIST THEORIES - Modern/social reaction: rules are not given, created and interpreted and changed over time (people create rules and they change sometimes) - Label of crime: required for a crime to happen; crime is socially constructed (someone determines if it is criminal not given/absolute) - As subjective experience (choice; choose for same reasons as conforming acts- not binary) - As voluntary act (free will; rational actors) - Power- determining factor of crime (in creation and enforcement of law) - Crimes (best to study)- conflict crimes (drug use, vagrancy, prostitution) INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR Non-scientific explanations (origins of crime explanation) - Myths and legends supported by religion through moral tales - Contemporary urban legends- "friends friend sisters roommate said this" - Demonic perspective- people believed they were possessed if they committed a crime - Witch craze ("agents of the devil" ; burned alive to get rid of the evil) CLASSICAL THEORY - Jeremy Bentham - Philosopher - Founder of modern utilitarianism - Humans have free will (we can make rational choice; hedonistic calculus) - Punishment- require achieve deterrence - Proposed the idea of prison - The two central determining factors of human behaviour are pain and pleasure - Panopticon (Bentham, 1786) - Prison as punishment (alternative to torture and death) - "felicity calculus" (happiness- making; value of conformity) - Punishment measured (proportionate to seriousness of offence) - Principles based on its structure - Structure: - Periphery (annular) - Centre tower - Windows on both sides - Windows both sides - Supervisor in tower - Prisoner alone in cell - Three functions of the design: - To enclose - To deprive - Eliminate ability to hide prevents contact with others - Order: provided (by invisibility- cannot see others/supervisore but you know you can be seen) - Effect: induce inmate sate of consciousness - Power - Visible (prisoner sees tower) - Unverifiable (never know if someone is there or when) - Use of force (unnecessary) - Reality of panopticon prison PANOPTICON TO CRIME TODAY - Surveillance (technology) having cameras around etc. - Dataveillance- algorithms from what you see on your device - Police don't have to be "on the streets" (CCTV/ tech and other crime prevention strategies) CESARE BECCARIA - Philosopher - On crimes and punishments (1764) - Controversial - Condemned torture and death as penalty - Father of modern law and criminal justice (law exists to preserve social contract and beneficial, as society) - Three tenets: free will, rationality, manipulability CLASSICAL SCHOOL (BECCARIA AND BENTHAM) - Enlightenment (1680s-1800s) from religious science/secular (rational) - Central tenets: - We are hedonistic (seek pleasure; avoid pain) - We have free will - People engage in social contract (social order) - Punishment is justified to transform hedonistic calculator - Utilitarianism (move to secular) PUNISHMENT Appropriate to punish: - Outweigh profit - Seriousness of act determines punishment - Discourage all parts of crime - Value to offender - Consistency LEGACY OF CLASSICAL SCHOOL - Codification of criminal offenses - Rights (presumption of innocence, right to fair trial, right to know evidence against you) - Legal concept of mens rea (criminal intent)- linked to free will, rational choice, individual culpability) - Imprisonment as punishment with limitations DETERRENCE THEORY - Main tenet: if penalties are too great, will deter from crime - Absolute deterrence: penalties so quick and terrible (ex: death for a parking ticket) - Relative deterrence: make it riskier or controlled (restrict when alcohol is sold last call) - Cross deterrence: influence another crime (ex: tech, alarms) - Restrictive deterrence: avoid selectively (ex: drug dealers) - General deterrence: the demonstration effect - Requirement judge in court uses individuals to "show" (demonstrate) others what will happen if they do the same - Specific deterrence: personal effect - Requirement need a person punished (threats are not the same as actual punishment) CRITICISMS- CLASSICAL THEORIES **September 18, 2024** - Offenders thinking about crime before they actually commit it - Overestimate proceeds/benefits (Mcdonald's example) - Planning- often little to none - Beliefs about legitimate work (is available) - \*\*Getting caught- most people believe they'll get away without getting caught - Opportunity (without it, there may be no crime) NEO-CLASSICAL: RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY - Why does an individual decide to commit a specific crime? - Roots: economic theories, political theories, sociology, criminology - Actions chosen has more benefits than costs (or outweigh the costs)---classical school & neo-classical (rational choice and no choice theory) BOUNDED RATIONALITY (limited rationality) THEORY (GARY BECKER, 1968) - Decisions are made in imperfect circumstances - Based on utility maximization: making choice where perceived benefits outweigh the perceived costs - Judgement or bias (make errors; we estimate) - Information (rule of thumb)---rely on heuristics (we fill in whats missing) - Intuition plays role in decision making - Crime decisions appear less rational based on limited rational - Benefits greater than risk POOR CHOICES (FARRELL, 2010) - Impulsive decisions: made it quickly, without thinking ("it seemed like a good idea at the time" - Imperfect decisions: based on poor or wrong information ("I didn't know they had an alarm") - Impaired decisions: impaired by emotion, alcohol, drugs or other ("I was so mad I wasn't thinking straight) RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY (CORNISH AND CLARKE, 1985) - Bounded rationality: constrained by limits of time, ability, relevant information - People make decisions without thinking - Impact: self-control, moral beliefs, strains, emotional states, peer pressure - Cost of crime: formal and informal sanctions - Formal- legal CJ punishments - Informal- parents, friends, peers, co-workers - Moral costs- guilt or shame one experiences - Devoted their attention to factors that constrain choice (formal and informal punishment) - View decisions happening in stages (to commit crime) Stage Action Decision ------- ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 Initial involvement Readiness to cmmit offence (decision to commit and crime) 2 Criminal event To commit a specific act (crime-specific focus) 3 Continuing involvement To continue and/or escalate to serious crime 4 Desistance To quit crime (re-evaluate/ life events) RCT---THE EVIDENCE FORMAL FACTORS - Sanctions and punishment vs. benefits - Decision-making through all stages: supported - Effect: small (230% + for a 1.8 reduction) - Expected benefits: effect (perceived benefits- greater) - Can include emotional aspects RCT---THE EVIDENCE INFORMAL FACTORS - Effect: really strong and extra-legal - Sex differences- women are more influenced, but greater risks to commit crime/safety - Personality traits- people with less self-control are more likely to commit a crime, and people with less empathy also more likely - Influence of peers: profound; see them getting away with crimes decreased perceived risks - Social disapproval- most important (informal) - Overall informal factors are stronger than formal RCT---CRITICISMS - Overemphasis on individual's choice (disregard role of social/psychological factors ex; poverty, socialization) - Emotional states on cognitive ability (high arousal levels impair judgement) - Role of impairment (drugs and alcohol impairs judgement) - Assumption that people are the same in rational decision-making (differ by personality and socialization, emotional, unthinking) - Nature of crime and benefits (often not long-term benefits or overestimated) - Planning in criminal activity (most crime has little planning; opportunity is an important factor) - Overemphasis on formal sanctions - Punishment is less effective than theorist/policy makers believe; offenders are impatient, myopic or both - Evidence: informal has greater impact SCRIPTS (CORNISH 1994) - Defined: a coherent sequence of events expected - Decision- making (sequence of actions for an event) - Time: vary (quick to longer) - Crime script: street crime - Media: news or fiction---predictable - Story told: morality play (police as hero---criminal as villain, with victim caught in the middle; act is violation of criminal code - Robbery script example: - Meet co-offenders and agree on hunting ground - Enter the subway system - Travel to hunting ground - Wait/circulate - Select victim and circumstance - Close in/prepare - Confront/attack - Take money, jewellery, purse, etc. - Escape from the scene - Exist from the system - Fence the stolen goods BIOLOGICAL THEORIES MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGICAL THEORIES - Consider: genetics, physical features and hereditary - Scientific tradition: positivismobjectivist approach - Consider: physical traits: notable features of a biological entity (physical, behavioural, or psychological) EARLY BIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM - Phrenology: study shape of the head to determine anatomical correlates of all human behaviour (Franz Joseph Hall) - Four thesmes: - The brain is the organ of the minds - Aspects of personality- specific locations in the brain - Portions well developed- more prominent - Shape of skull corresponds to the brain THE ITALIAN SCHOOL: BIO POSITIVISM - Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909) - Atavism: evoluntionary throwback - Criminals - Males- physical traits - Females- suppressed through natural passivity - Expert witness DETERMINISM (POSITIVIST SCHOOL/ BIO) - Behaviour is determined (deterministic) - Crime is caused- by disease (medical model)- something is wrong with the individual ("born that way") - Requires treatment- drugs, electro-shock (used on prisoners a lot) ENRICO FERRI (1856-1929) - More than biology - Classifications of criminals: - born criminals (atavistic) - Insane criminals (body chemistry, not visual) - Passionate criminals (emotional) - Occasional criminals (drift) - Habitual criminals (career, not look, but act) POLICIES (BIO THEORIES) - Policy - Isolation (incapacitation) - Eugenics: selective breeding (sterilize so criminals cannot have offspring) - Legislation for eugenics began with criminals then "undesirables" (ex: Indigenous women in Canada CRITICISMS (BIO THEORIES) - Methodology: subjects (all prisoners for serious crimes) - Limited: bio and enviro ignored (how do they interact?) - Definition of crime- defined socially (culture/time)- not biologically - Causes TESTING LOMBROSSOS THEORY: CHARLES GORING - British prison system: doctor and medical officer - 1902: collected data - Convicts and control groups (hospital, uni students, military personnel) - Findings: physically and mentally were identical (theory did not hold up) OTHER BIOLOGICAL THEORIES (SHELDON 1949) - William Sheldon: psychologist; studied delinquent males (theory based on males only) - Delinquent vs. non-delinquent- different body types - Somatotypes: body type and personality SOMATOTYPES (SHELDON) - Mesomorphs: big boned and muscular (criminogenic) - Endomorphs: round and fleshy - Ectomorphs: thin, small and boney CRITIQUE OF NEWER BIOLOGICAL THEORIES - Fails to consider the significance of other explanations (culture, social learning, individual experience) - Evidence- genetically based tendencies as explanation (evidence is weak/not credible) - Fail to explain regional and temporal variations in crime rates - Fails to predict criminality FORENSIC SCIENCE - DNA (1986, by Alec Jefferys in the UK) - Wrongful convictions - Warrants for DNA (1995)- hair roots, saliva, blood - DNA Identification Act (Bill C-3) - NDDB (National DNA Databank) - Storage samples and digital info (regulated by RCMP) NDDP - Indexes - Crime scene (unsolved) - Convicted offender (designated by law; primary, secondary) - Missing person or unidentified body parts (kept to identify later) - Offences - A. primary designated offences (most serious/violent) - B. secondary designated offences FORERUNNERS OF CLASSICAL THOUGHT - Folkways: violation is less likely to threaten the survival of the social group - Mores: serious violantion of a groups values - Mala in se: acts that are fundamentally wrong, regardless of the time or place they occur. (rape, killing of children) - Mala prohibita: acts that are wrong in areas where they are prohibited (prostitution, drug use, gambling) TEXTBOOK DEFINITIONS - Code of Hammurabi: an early set of laws established by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who ruled the ancient city of Babylon - Emphasis on retribution, represented an attempt to keep cruelty within bounds - Retribution: the act of taking revenge upon a criminal perpetrator - Twelve Tables: early Roman laws written circa 450 BCE that regulated family, religious, and economic life - Common law: law originating from usage and custom rather than from written statutes. The term refers to non-statutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making - Based on shared traditions and standards - The Enlightenment: a social movement that arose during the 17^th^ and 18^th^ centuries and that is built upon ideas such as empiricism, rationality, free will, humanism, and natural law - Social contract: the enlightenment-era concept that human beings abandon their natural state of individual freedom to join together and form society. The process of forming a social contract, individuals surrender some freedoms to society as a whole, and government, once formed, is obligated to assume responsibilities toward its citizens and provide for their protection and welfare - Natural law: the philosophical perspective that certain immutable laws are fundamental to human nature and can readily be ascertained through reason. Human-made laws, in contrast, are said to derive from human experience and history---both of which are subject to continual change - Natural rights: rights that individuals retain in the face of government action and interests - Neoclassical criminology: a contemporary version of classical criminology that emphasizes deterrence and retribution, with reduced emphasis on rehabilitation. - Situational choice theory: a brand of rational choice theory that views criminal behaviour as a function of choices and decisions made within the context of situational constraints and opportunities - Just deserts model: the notion that criminal offenders deserve the punishment they receive at the hands of the law and the punishment should be appropriate to the type and severity of the crime committed. - Deterrence: the prevention of crime - Specific deterrence: a goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to prevent a particular offender from engaging and repeat criminality - General deterrence: a goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to prevent others from committing crimes similar to the one for which a particular offender is being sentenced - Recidivism: the repetition of criminal behaviour - Recidivism rate: the percentage of convicted offenders who have been released from prison and who are later rearrested for a new crime - Capital punishment: the legal imposition of a sentence of death upon a convicted offender also known as the death penalty - Determinate sentencing: a criminal punishment strategy that mandates a specific and fixed amount of time to be served for every fence category. Under the strategy for example, all offenders convicted of the same degree of robbery would be sentenced to the same length of time behind bars - Truth in sentencing: Collection of different but related public policy stances on sentencing those convicted of crimes in the justice system, focussing on time spent incarcerated prior to conviction - Incapacitation: do use of imprisonment or other means to reduce the likelihood that an offender will be capable of committing future offences **September 23, 2024** CHAPTER 3- PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL STRUCTURAL THEORIES OF CRIME MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES: ASSUMPTIONS - Individual (primary unit of analysis) - Personality (motivational element; drives motives, sources motives) - Crime explanation- result of abnormal, dysfunctional and inappropriate mental processes - Normality- defined by social consensus - Causes: diseased mind, improper conditioning/learning, inner conflict INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES: PSYCHOLOGICAL - Psychiatric/medical model- MD required - Focus on individual attributes- objectivist approach - Rooted in childhood- help structure personality - Treatment: drugs, councelling, psychotherapy PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: PERSONALITY DISORDER - Psychopathology: adaptive failure that affects daily functioning- with impaired sense or self- identify or failure to develop effective interpersonal functioning struggle making relationships - Tests: DSM-5/DSM-5-TR - Gender (3:1 male to female ratio) TEST TO MEASURE PERSONALITY - MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) - Hathaway and McKinley (1930s) made an test that had 566 true or false questions - Clinical scales (ex: hypochondria, despression, hysteria) PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES - Traits: stable personality patterns that endure through the life course anc across social and cultural contexrs - Argued these traits are largely inherited - Presumes: personality remains constant (age, location) - Combined with intelligence and natural ability - Coined three "supertraits". Presents in an individual and accounts for unique personality PERSONALITY TYPES - Extrovert: carefree, dominant, venturesome, high levels of energy - Neuroticism: irrational, shy, moody, emotional - Psychoticism: lacks empathy, tough-mindness, anti-social, delusions, psychosis - Argument: high scores and genetic criminal THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATH - Characteristics: superficial charm, lacks guilt/shame, unreliable, often unemployed - Adolescent behaviours - Represents 1% of the general population, 25% of the prison population - Yochelson and Samenow (1976) - Criticized for biased sample PSYCHOPATH CAUSES - Biological : neuropsychology - Psychological and social: home (conflict and abuse), parents (rejection), childhood trauma CRITICISM OF MODEL - Labelling/diagnostic as problematic- subjective - Overemphasis on childhood- other explanations? Peers? Experience later in life? geography? PSYCHOANALYTICAL MODEL - Founder: Sigmund Freud - Criminality: problems with child-rearing (poor parenting) - ID - Pleasure principle - Unconscious energy, basic instincts, desires - Biological instincts - Ego - Reality principle - Self - Superego - Morality principle - Conscience (should) - Violation creates guilt - Criminals' ego and superego are not fully developed - Neurotic offenders: overactive superego. Commits crimes to be punished because they did something bad and feels they need to be punished - Impulsive offenders: pleasure/hedonistic. Have a weak ego, fails to control behaviour - Psychopathic offenders: superego fails to develop properly, lack of remorse (personality disorder) FRUSTRATION- AGGRESSION MODEL - Proposal: aggression presupposes frustration; frustration leads to aggression. Connected - Experiments: perform a task (rigged to fail) - Modified (Berkowitz): - Frustration produces readiness for aggression - Frustration creates readiness based on expectations BEHAVIOURISM: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (WATSON) - Behaviour is learned (Pavlov's observations of his dog) - Process of association (stimuli) - Stages- before conditioning, during conditioning, after conditioning OPERANT CONDITIONING - B.F Skinner (box) - Process of reinforcement - Rewards with food - Process of shaping reward target behaviour until it's a desired response - Rat SOCIAL LEARNING (MODELLING THEORY) (BANDURA) - Learning process - 1\. Observation: learning by watching others - Pay attention, retention, reproduce behaviour, motivation - 2\. Rewards and punishments PERSONAL, INTERPERSONAL, COMMUNITY-REINFORCEMENT THEORY - Andres and Bonta - Criminogenic needs: risk factors associated with recidivism - Anti-social personality: unsocialized - Pluralistic theories PIC-R - 4 strongest predictors of criminality: - Anti-social attitudes: see peers being rewarded for crime - Anti-social associates: will stop or adopt anti-social attitudes and commit crime with them - History of anti-social behaviour - Anti-social personality pattern- self control and impulsivity FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY - Profiling: attempt to categorize and predict certain types of offenders based on clues provided - Based on probabilities and statistics - FBI & BSU MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE LAW - Legal defence: not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder - Disorders recognized by courts: schizophrenia, dementia, epilepsy, alcohol abuse STANDARD TO THE JUDGE LEGAL INSANITY - The McNaughten Rule - Did not know what they were doing (intent and mens rea) - Did not know what they did was wrong SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES SOCIAL STRUCTURAL THEORY - Social disorganization theory: focus on neighborhoods (culture conflict, lack of cohesiveness, transiency) - Strain theory: focus on conflict caused by not reaching goals through legitimate means (blocked/barriers) - Subcultural theory (gangs): criminal behaviour is conformity to lower class subculture values SOCIAL STRUCTURE: THE CHICAGO SCHOOL - Human ecology model- focused on urban life - Inspired by plant ecology- environment dominance - Biology (invasion and dominance) - Species compete for resources, can become incompatible - Continual process - Urban/ city CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY (PARK AND BURGESS 1925) - The loop, or central business district - The zone in transition - The zone of workingmen's homes - The residential zone - The commuters zone SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION September 25, 2024 - Mapped out juvenile delignquency, crime, illness, poverty and infant mortality in 1920s and 1930s - Found illegal conduct in area- happened most often in transitional zone when highest - Explanation: transient population are not cohesive, high turnover; lack sense of community & ties. Disorganization leads to deviance POLICIES - Police in area - Provide means to encourage organization - Improve education - Quality of life CRITICISMS - Class bias- from middle class pov - Police practice (discriminatory): more police= more crime, more visible, reflect police activity, not criminal activities STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM - What causes deviance? What function does crime serve? - Main tenet: societal structure is a complex system with interdependent parts that work together for social order - Structure: parts and how they fit together - Function: roles of individuals and institutions - Stability creates social order - Consensus (norms and values): assumption all agree and its needed for stability - Deviance/crime- no society is crime-free, therefore it is functional - Functions of crime: - Manifest functions: intended. Set out as institutional goals, done formally punish criminals to send message to obey laws - Latent functions: unintended. Done informally; unforeseen consequences eg learning new crimes in prison FUNCTIONS OF CRIME - Group solidarity function- community standards violated - Promotes social solidarity as outrage brings together - Work together for common cause/crime - Promotes social solidarity - Example: child abduction - Boundary setting function- sets standards for acceptable and unacceptable - Not always clear, so behaviour highlights this line or boundary - Response- deviant behaviour elicits a response; if enough see negative result in a change - Reinforce conformity function- reward and motivate saintly behaviour - Reward to hero status - Socialize us on how to behave- what is rewarded - Aims to give message... be like this - Innovative function (flexibility and change)-promote change and progress - Protest/ civil disobedience - Greater number- consensus changes - Example: civil rights movement E. DURKHEIM - Anomie: state of normalness when social norms and values are unclear or confused; conditions where people perceive norms to be missing - Social solidarity: social cement - Mechanical solidarity: based on sameness - Organic solidarity: based on differences - On suicide: - Social connections and patterns of suicide (Europe 1800s) - Linked religions protestant, catholic, connect to social - Anomic suicide: result of anomie person experiences - Feelings: not belonging from weakened social cohesion - Happens in times of extreme change (society/ persons life)- feel confused - Ex: first year uni students - Altruistic: excessive integration- so strongly use death to achieve collective goals - Suicide benefit cause or others - Often tied to religious/political causes - Example: suicide bombers - Egoistic suicide: become detached from society - Bonds are weakened by event (retirement, loss of family/friends, death, divorce) - Ex: elderly who lose ties are most susceptible - Fatalistic suicide: under conditions of extreme social regulation - Conditions are extremely oppressive - Denial of self and agency. Person would rather die than go through oppressive conditions - Example: suicide among prisoners/ slave CRITICISMS - Not always consensus - Account for social change or conflict- change often occurs through conglict - Preserving status quo STRAIN THEORY/ANOMIE (MERTON 1938) - Adaptation to anomie: - Cultural goals: material wealth (American dream \$\$\$) - Institutionalized means: legitimate ways to achieve education and work - Anomie: conflict between goals and means Adaptation Goals Means Example ------------ ------- ------- ---------------- Conformity \+ \+ "good citizen" Innovation \+ \- Criminal Ritualism \- \+ Bureaucrat Retreatism \- \- Substance user Rebellion +/- +/- Revolutionary Legend: \+ = acceptance -= reject +/- = reject, substitute CRITICISMS OF STRAIN THEORY 1. White- collar crime -- cannot be explained 2. Gender: females opportunities are more blocked but less crime 3. Assumption of value consensus 4. Statistics reflect discretion- police and court decisions 5. Assumption of frustration and anger 6. Explaining crim/deviance for fun GENERAL STRAIN THEORY - Focus on individual experience of strain (focused on teens) - Crime is the result of negative affective states (emotions) caused by: - Failure to achieve positively valued goals (aspirations/wealth) - Achievements not meeting expectations Teens compare themselves vs peers - Loss of positive valued stimuli like death and divorce - Presentation of negative stimuli (ex: abuse, neglect, crime, victimization, physical punishment, school failure) - Crime (violence) results from: - Strain that is continuous and repeated - Resources- few to cope with the strain - Association with criminal peers - Explains peaking of crime in adolescence - Criticisms: what about girls? STATUS FRUSTRATION (REACTION FORMATION) - Explain delinquent lower-class youth - Status frustration (reaction formation) - Focus on teen boys (working class likely to fail) - "middle class measuring rod) - The consequence is status frustration - Subcultures and status DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY - Integrates strain theory, social disorganization, and status frustration - Communities differ in structure- legitimate and illegitimate - Concept of differential opportunities: available to them (neighbourhood) - Subcultures (gangs) - Types of subcultures (gangs) - Criminal subculture: techniques and skills. In organized slums; criminals recruit and teach - Established networks that tend to be generational - Teach techniques and skills & how to avoid detection - Example: mafia, motorcycle gangs (drugs, gambling) - Conflict subculture: violence and fighting for status - Neither legitimate or illegitimate routes available - Violence provides that status - Need combat skills and risk safety - Retreatist subculture: double failure - Failure - Cope - Status CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL PROCESS & CONFLICT **September 30, 2024** SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES - Social process theories: characteristics and assumptions - Roots: symbolic interactionism social psych - Socialization learn to interact with others - Assumptions: crime is learned, through interations with others or small groups, through a process, everyone has potential to violate law DIFFERANTIAL ASSOCIATION - Why are some people more criminal than others? - Some groups process pro-criminal traditions through socialization - Factors: - Cultural traditions---stimulate nonconformity/ conformity - Generation---extent passed from one to the next DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION: NINE PROPOSITIONS 1. Criminal behaviour is learned (like all behaviour; not defect/bio) 2. Learned interaction with other people in the process of communication learn through non-verbal and verbal communication 3. Principal learning occurs within intimate personal groups---learn at greater capacity with those closest to us; family, friends, etc. 4. Learning includes complicated or simple techniques and specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations and attitudes to accept that behaviour 5. Motives and drives are learned from definitions of legal codes as favourable or unfavourable---reference group view of law affects commitment to crime/ conform 6. Become criminal because of excess definitions favourable to violation of law (core of differential association---if associated with more "patterns of ideas" encourage crime, more likely to commit crime) excess is key 7. Varies in terms of frequency, duration, priority and intensity---when frequent message promoting deviance/crime, more likely to deviate 8. By association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involve all mechanisms involved with any other type of learning (process is same- for crime or conformity; only content is different) 9. Criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it cannot be explained by them, because noncriminal behaviour is an expression of the same needs and values (needs are the same; inly difference is by crime/conformity) DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION: IMPORTANT PARTS - Crime is learned - Through interactions of others - In process of communication - Intimate groups (more impact) - Learn skills/techniques and justifications TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALIZATION - Delinquency and drift---as extension of DA (evidence=good) - Argument: people are not criminal or deviant all the time - When confronted with criminal self-image ("I am not one of THOSE people" want to keep non-criminal identity) - Techniques of neutralization: remove deviant identity---justify; "im not criminal" & have a good reason why 1. Denial of responsibility a. Lacking repsonisibility and refuse to accept it b. Blame others or circumstances c. Beyond their control (ex: unloving parents, bad friends) d. Example "it wasn't my fault I was just the lookout" 2. Denial of injury e. To deny injury to others is real f. No harm g. Example "they have insurance, store owner too rich to notice, no one died" 3. Denial of the victim h. Accept responsibility for act and may have injured person but don't see it as wrong due to circumstances i. Not real injury---victim responsible j. Example "they had it coming" 4. Condemnation of the condemners k. Shift focus to motives of accuser l. Authroities corrupt with power m. Example "if I don't do it to them, they'll do it to me, they do it too theyre just hypocrites" 5. Appeal to higher loyalties n. Sacrificing demands of larger society to smaller group o. Motivations are honorable and for the greater good p. Example "had to fo it for my family, only cowards back down, I was just following order" DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION- POLICIES - Reduce ratio of non-deviant to deviants---especially minor crimes - Contact with conforming (mentorships) - Minor vs major crimes DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION- CRITICISMS - Learning skills and motives: does not require group context - Lack of skills. Some argue that many times do not require skills - Which comes first? - People seek out others with similar predispositions or do they become deviant after being around others? (chick vs egg) SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY - What causes us to conform? - Main assumption: we would break the rules without social control - Inner control: acquired through socialization usually in childhood; creates feeling sof guilt - People conform because it makes them feel good - Causes of deviance: inadequate socialization (weak control) - Outer control: potential loss of rewards - Indirect control: feel better---don't want to hurt/disappoint people attached to - Direct control: from conforming others (restrict acts through rules, curfews, leisure, etc.) SOCIAL BONDS - Attachment: to conventional persons (parents, conforming friends) - Commitment: to conventional institution and goals (education and careers) - Involvement: conventional activities (job, sports, hobbies) - Belief: acceptance of system (laws, rules, norms) SOCIAL CONTROL- POLICIES - Promotion of education and work - Promote: recreation/conforming activities youth at risk---involved in conventional activities and help with school - Fits with commonsense notions GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME - From in direct to direct controls - Main tenet: crime is the result of low self-control and increased opportunities - Formation of self-cot=ntrols acquired through socialization process - Evidence: good. Link between low self-control and crime increased opportunity - Dimensions of low self-control: - Crime provides immediate gratification (impulsivity) - Crime provides easy or simple path to gratification (preference for simple tasks) (crime is easier and faster) - Criminal acts are exciting, risky or thrilling (risk-seeking, tend to be adventurous) - Low self-control leads to unstable relations (unreliability). Street crime provides few long-term benefits---jobs, relations unstable - Most crimes require little skill or planning (physicality) "anyone can do it; about self control) - Tend to be self-centred and indifferent to others (self-centeredness) crimes result in pain/discomfort to victim; indifferent to suffering and pain LABELLING THEORY - 1960s- origins of labelling theory - Teachers labelling students - Social psych theory - Not the act itself, but the contextual meaning attached to it - Context: people determine; based on power - 3 questions: who gets labelled as deviant/criminal? How does process occur (focus of criminal justice system)? What are the consequences of being labelled deviant? - Power (social status). Those who label vs those who are labelled - Subjectivist theory - Types of labelling: - Formal labelling: formal agents (police, courts, doctor, psychiatrist). Greater consequences - Informal labelling: peers or family. Lesser consequences STATUS DEGRADATION - Any communicative work process that lowers a person's social status - Public identity is transformed - Purpose: to shame people for violating norm, rule or law - Within sociological scope: moral indignation and public denunciation (may reinforce group solidarity) - Common in celebrities and pro athletes BECKER---THE OUTSIDERS - Moral entrepreneur: person with power to enforce moral norms, translated into law - On moral crusade (drinking, drugs, gambling) - Actively seek public approval - Media and police reactions - Deviant career: sequence of social statuses passed during "employment" deviant/criminal - Ex: drug dealers, prostitutes, thieves - Stages: novice, new recruit, veteran, and retiree each with own identity and status - Master status: overrides all others, regardless of context in which person is located - Affects peoples reaction (positive/negative) - Ascribed: born with and not easy to change (ex: race, disability, homosexuality) - Achieved: on own through merit (ex: doctor, ex-convict) - Consequences were negative: gossip, avoidance, discrimination EDWIN LEMERT - Primary deviance - Requirement: initial violation of rules or norms - If occasional/hidden or no strong social reaction - Label (informal) - Deviancy- often produced by accident, experiment, pressure, unusual situation - Common - Secondary deviance: severe/continuous- through formal labelling - Result of social reaction - Self-fulfilling prophecy- person internalizes label and becomes label - Consequence: master status or stigma STIGMA - Stigma: differentness that is given negative evaluation (distorts and discredits public identity, therefore not given full social acceptance) - Types: treated diff than non-stigmatized people - Stigma of character traits: individual as weak will/unnatural (ex- dishonesty) - Physical stigma: physical diff/deformity of body - Stigma of group identity of specific group based on race, nation, religion CRITICISMS- LABELLING THEORY 1. Career criminal without label 2. Result in deterrence 3. Ignores causes of primary deviance 4. Psychological issues before label is applied 5. Treats deviant as passive receptor---some may reject the label 6. Susceptibility if label---who is more susceptible to internalize label 7. Formal labels---focus on formal and ignore informal, which may be more influentialrational choice POLICIES - Reduce official labels---reduce labels and stigma process - Limit institutionalization (prison), especially for non-violent offenders - Diversion programs from criminal justice system---before official processing (youth) - Minor offences---focus on community service to minimize labelling - Probation and parole to reduce stigma (minimize incarceration; limit to more serious offenders) - Decriminalization: non-violent minor offences especially non-conflict crimes - Example: youth (12-17) o not publicly identify except certain conditions; diversion CONFLICT THEORIES MARXIST THEORIES - Conflict and structural - During industrial revolution - Relations of power determine structure of society based on class conflict - Conflict: material forces of production (manufacturing of goods and social relations of productions) MARX AND SOCIAL CLASS - Bourgeoisie: own the means of production- factory - Proletariat: sell labour power for subsistence- workers - Middle class- non. Too few to be significant; called them the petit-bourgeoisie CONTEMPORARY MARXISTS - Reaction to deprivation thesis - Response to capitalism (rational, result of system, hurts some) - Property crime- earns income - Violent crime- to steal or vent frustrations CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY - Legitimacy of authority leads to social order - Faith political leaders and institutions (social order) - There is a crisis ("turning point")- brought about by the convergence of events over time to create new threats and require actions. Builds from past grievances - Applicable to social situation: dramatic changes, conflicts, tensions - About perception- if define situation as real, they become real in their consequences - If there is erosion of faith in leaders and institutions (crisis in confidence)- breakdown of social control - This creates a crisis of legitimacy - Consequences: protests, riots, rebellion - Decision: be more coercive, or result in change LIBERAL CONFLICT THEORIES Control of law & society Application of law Criminal activity Defined as criminal -------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ Economically powerful control---creation of law and agencies Law favours powerful---written by them in own interests (protect them and their power\-- \$) Controlled by state for those in power Rebel or don't conform---criminalized or menial work CULTURE CONFLICT - It is the conflict of conduct norms as a result of group differentiation - Conduct norms: how to behave (unwritten rules learned through socialization)---each culture as its own - Within cultural systems; contact of norms may be drawn from different cultural systems; this may create conflict - Dominant group: translates their conduct norms into law (control others) and largest resources - Culture homogeneity: less conflict, values and norms tend to be the same for all (greater consensus) - Culture heterogeneity: more conflict, differing conduct norms that may contradict GROUP CONFLICT - Compelled by necessity to form groups (achieve best interest in groups better than individual) - Collective action -- the best way to achieve - Conflict/competition; interests in conflict with the interests of other groups - Political process: lobby sate to create laws (or group can be in the state) - Ex: teachers go on strike- government sends them back to work JEFFERY REIMAN - The rich get richer and the poor get prison - Reality of crime helps maintain class relations - Typical criminal: characteristics: he is a he - Fear of crime/ criminal: tied to typical criminal - Threats: greater threat of harm (occupational injury, disease, bad medical services, pollution) POLICIES - Decriminalization of non-violent crime (especially morality crimes) - Criminalize harmful acts by power - Disadvantaged groups- strengthen their ability to protect themselves from the state - Orthodox Marxist change societal structure (workers own means of production/socialist) CRITICISMS - Crime disappearing under socialism is problematic- crime existed pre-capitalism; and probably in any new system - Lacks realism- requires privilege to forsake power (doesn't hurt capitalist) LEFT REALISM - Need to focus on crimes of rich and poor (marx too idealistic) - Street criminals: prey on poor and powerless (state does not always help/ respond) many crimes are intra-class FEMINIST THEORIES - Three main factors: - Critical or radical feminism: radical change---control of women and sexuality - Liberal feminism: gender equality and opportunity (existing system) - Socialist/Marxist feminism: gender and capitalism - Key issues: - Gender gap (gender ratio): gap between males and females (crime and social/ political- all connected) - Generalization problem: using research about males to generalize for females involved in crime FEMINISM AND CRIMINOLOGY - Patriarchy: social system organized around father/male rule (males as authority figures) systemic domination of women by men; include law; eg women as property - Sexual assault: explained by patriarchal dominance (explain low enforcement and prosecutions) - Paternalism: CJS make decisions for its own good (not capable/weak/ child-like---not full adult) FEMINISM AND CRIMINOLOGY: CONTROL OF SEXUALITY - Patriarchal system: rewards obedience from women (to male authority; and nurturing and good moms) - CJS uses girls' sexuality and criminalizes them - Connection to victimization and survival strategies in CJS - Youth runaway---girls from sex abuse CHIVALRY HYPOTHESIS - Three ways to explain female crime---not in the system because nicer: - Women are inherently deceitful and it allows them to commit more crimes and get away with it - Women are vengeful and commit more crime, especially during menstruation - Differential reinforcement is "being nice". Problem chivalry is not equal - Contradict gender norms---CSJ is harsher and starts younger - Race/ethnicity and social class, less leniency, social class POWER CONTROL THEORY - Class and family - Traditional (patriarchal) family - Working class households - Daughters are more controlled and more supervised therefore less delinquent - Modern (egalitarian) - Middle-class households - Daughters are encouraged for risk and found to be more delinquent - Criticisms: evidence (power vs control), blame for delinquent girls---mothers often blame - Research: mothers are more likely to be parental control SOCIALIZATION AS EXPLANATION FOR FEMALE CRIME 1. Expectations for appropriate behaviour (boys vs girls taking risks) 2. Social control (boys are given more freedom) 3. Opportunity for delinquency (girls have more surveillance) 4. Career models (boys response to failure) 5. Attitudes as pro-social (girls more likely to follow rules) - The best evidence CHAPTER 5: VICTIMOLOGY AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE **October 7, 2024** VICTIMOLOGY - Categorize as direct (suffering to person involved) or indirect (adjacent to victim) - Primary victims: injured party (direct) - Secondary victims: at the scene (experience as witness, indirect, hurt psych by events) - Tertiary victims: connected to victim (indirect), not at crime scene DIRECT (PRIMARY) EFFECTS - Psychological and psycho-soicla effects (even physical)- depression, fear, hostility, avoidance - Rape trauma syndrome - Child abuse and sexual abuse trauma (drugs and alcohol to cope; girls runaway/prostitution) INDIRECT (PRI, SEC, OR TERT) EFFECTS - Witnesses---including police - Family homicide (trauma) - Partners - Mothers - Revictimization (CJS and hospitals)---primary victim VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS (VIS) - Western courts - Court information (psych, physical, financial) - Influence (sentence + parole) - Goals (heal "second wound") RESTORATIVE JUSTICE - Victims rights (relational justice) - Meeting between parties (victim, offender community parties) - Communication between parties to discuss the offence, affects, and harm done - Agreement by both parties - Apology as option to make amends - Restitution: offender makes reparation or return equilibrium - Function/purpose: to change offender's behaviour - Respect to all parties ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY - How doe social and economical changes influcene opportunities for crime? - Cannot choose choices available (in response to rational choice theory) - Crime rates from 1960-1970s - Explained: - Opportunities increased - Modern lifestyles - Macro analysis with crime trends and analysis - Particular type of victimization (predatory street crim) - Chart ways everyday living creates structure of opportunity for crime - Main tenet: motivated offenders, suitable targets, and lack of guardianship come together in time and place to provide opportunity for crime - Motivated offender: young male - Suitable target (object or person) - Reflect things as value (symbolic or material), physical visibility, access, and inertia (weight, size, how well can move or overtake) - Absence of a capable guardian: degree to which targets are protected---can be person or technology like alarms - Technological advances like surveillance, cameras, alarms, etc. - Highly suitable targets are "CRAVED": Conceivable Often small and easily hidden when stolen ------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Removable Portable and not a permanent fixture Available Not locked away and can be accessed Valuable Usually have monetary value Enjoyable Are enjoyed by offenders (ex smart phones) if not stolen for money Disposable Can be disposed of (fenced or sold) - Facets of time dimesnsion: - Rhythm (periodicity): regular cycles of behaviour - Tempo: number of events per unit of time - Timing: co-ordination among different activities ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY -- CRITICISMS - Offender and motivation---problematic. Why some commit crime and others don't under the same circumstances - Weight of components---not clear which is most important (target, guardian, or offender) - Excessive crime: cannot explain CRIME PATTERN THEORY - Main tenet: crime follows reasonable predicatable pattern and frequently localized and target selection is influenced by awareness of space, defined by nodes and paths in routine activities - Movement in urban areas - Assumptions: - Crime events are complex - Crime is not random - Offenders and victims are not pathological---in use of time and space (do conventional things) - Opportunities and criminal events are structure---crime script - Crime generators: bring together sufficient number of people - Time and space create opportunities for crime - Attracted to are for reasons unrelated to crime - Explained: low guardianship and high activity... most likely in crowds - Examples: sport stadiums, concerts, airports, downtown, transportation hubs, malls - Crime attractors: places that attract offenders because they have a reputation for illicit criminal activity - Motivated offenders: target known; outsiders - Example: prostitution strolls, malls, public transit, bars - Crime-neutral areas: neither attract offenders nor produce crime opportunities - There are occasional crimes by neighborhood insiders - Nodes: central places we live or travel to and from - Paths or pathways: routes take between nodes (criminals and non-criminals/victims) - Edges: are between land uses of different types\-- where crime is more likely - Ridges: areas where crime often groups (form a pattern) WEEK 7- MEDIA CONSTRUCTIONS OF CRIME **October 29, 2024** SOCIAL REALITY OF CRIME - Crime is the definition of human conduct created by authorized agents - Power defines what is/ isn't crime (subjectivist) - Criminal definitions describe behaviours. Often conflict with interests of those with power to share public policy - Criminal definitions are applied by those with power for enforcement and administration of criminal law (police and courts) - Behaviour patterns are structured in relation to criminal definitions, and some people engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal. They lack power - Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by various means of communication (media, education, politics) - Social reality of crime is constructed by formulation and application of criminal definitions (socially constructed; media street crime) SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM - Grew out of labeling theory and social reality of crime - Process: constructing social problems - Defined: activities of individuals or groups making assertions of grievances and claims with respect to some putative conditions (as problem) - Concepts: - Claim: any verbal, visual, or behavioural statement. To take problem seriously - Claim makers: person making claim - Claims-making activities: in combination to persuade an audience. It is constructed to be persuasive LANGUAGE: 4 RHETORICAL DEVICES - Importance of language in framing of a claim - Rhetorical idioms: situation condition in "moral universe" (good vs evil) that use common sense notions - Example: "smoking is bad for your health" - Counterrhetorics: counter claim made by setting up two sides. On is the good side (don't want to be on bad side) - \*\*\*\*\*Example: "if youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem" - Motifs: figures of speech that aggrandizes problem - Example: "war on crime" "war on drugs" "epidemic overdoses" - Claims-making styles: a sstyle of speech; scientific style - Example: "facts of the case" (use of statistics) make it seem real/factual CONSTRUCTIONS OF CRIME - Crime in media---tend to report mainly on street crimes (conventional) - Emphasis on violence - Stranger danger risk *CULTURE OF FEAR* - Glassner (1999; 2009) - Crime vs media---distorted - Background: Rodney King - As crime rates decrease, media reporting increases, especially violence PUBLIC ARENAS MODEL - Social problems - Competition in public arenas - Value is scarce - Reality: carrying capacity had limitations - Carrying capacities: - Newspaper: constrained by space in newspaper, reporters, editors, time to write and review, story, travel budgets - Television news show: constrained by time limit, budget constraints, reporters, camera operators - Non-profit organization: constrained by budget, staff, volunteers, time PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION - Drama: depicted in dramatic ways - High premium - Emotional rhetoric - Novelty and saturation: new images and new ways to capitalize on events and avoid saturation - Culture: certain problems fit with broad cultural concerns and cultural preoccupation - Most popular: loss of life; women and children in need of protection - Politics: some problems are advanced as they are powerful political and economic interests (law and order) *MORAL PANIC (COHEN, 1972)* - Mods & Rockers (UK)---media amplifying youth deviance (subcultural) - Defined: a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests - Presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion (media) - Folk devils---target - 5 features: - Media take ordinary event and present as extraordinary - Deviance amplification---authorities demonize perceived wrong do-ers - They clarify moral boundaries in society - They occur during periods of rapid social change - Young people usually targeted as they symbolize the future of socity (also are without power) - Characteristics of a moral panic: - Exaggeration in reporting: facts overblown; quotes out of context or used incorrectly - Reporting (repetition of fallacies): more repeated, more likely believed - Misleading pictures and snappy titles: draws reader in (sensationalize it) - Stages of moral panic: - Definition of a threat (viewed as dangerous; to values or interests) - Easily recognizable form (media) - Rapid build of public concern (amplified multiple sources; social media) - Demand for response from authorities to do something - Panic recedes or results in social change UNDERSTANDING NEWS MAKING PROCESS - News is created by two models: market model (public interest) and manipulative model (news agency oners) - Crime news is considered prepackaged and popular MEDIA REPORTING OF CRIME - Conventional street crime: - Over reported - Easier to personalize - Individualize - Context - White collar crime - Under reported - Difficult to personalize - Not labelled crime or criminal NEWS REPORTING OF CRIME October 30, 2024 - News stories (large proportion of news is crime) - Type of crime: violence adults 80%, youth 90-95% - Crime stories are localized. More likely to hear about crime close to home - Framing: law and order from law enforcement - Strengthen position as crimefighters and competent REPORTING JUVENILE CRIME IN CANADA - JDA (1908) - Court closed and no media reporting unless early---sketchy/unreliable - YOA (1984) - 12-17 years, no identification - Media---sensationalize it and focus on violent crimes - YCJA (2003) - No identification - Exception (16 and 17 years) - Presumptive offences (murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, aggravated sexual assault) - W adult sentence - Quebec exception (no ID) KIDS CRIME VS ADULT CRIME - Placement (print): where story is located in same as both but for kids there is more - Broadcast news: first block (90s vs 60s) more attention on juvenile crime - Murder as crime of choice (52% vs 28%) - Other violent crime reporting (27% vs 37%) - Female crimes: news reporting (15% vs 7%) - Stranger danger (9% vs 26%) - Victimization (female-more often as adults and kids more for males) CONSTRUCTIONS OF VICTIMS (GREER, 2017) - Ideal victim: person or category of individuals who are given complete and legitimate status of victim - Perceived as vulnerable and innocent - Worthy of sympathy - Ex: elderly and young children - Extends CJS - Hierarchy of victimization: pecking order representing different status---types and categories of crime victims in media - Ideal victim: garner massive media attention and collective mourning (drive social change) - Non-deserving victims: receive little media attention. Influenced by demographics. (class, gender, sexuality, race) MISSING WHITE WOMEN SYNDROME - Western media: focus on murder, kidnapping or disappearance of white women (usually attractive, upper class) - Exclusion---males, minoritiesm indigenous women, non-heterosexual, poor, disabled - Examined 4 news outlets (American) - Compared to FBI national database om missing people - Found that race and gender is important (women more likely covered, white women especially) - Ariel Castro case---impacted (25% of missing Latinas were in this case with 2 white women) - Reasons why in newsroom---decision makers and money! UNDER REPRESENTED VICTIMS OF CRIME---CONVENTIONAL STREET CRIME - Young people - More as offenders; few as victims (unless young white women/innocent) - Race/ethnicity: non-white are erased - Black youth: demonized in media as offenders often connected to gangs UNDER REPRESENTED VICTIMS OF CRIME---WC AND CORPORATE CRIME - Lack of prevalence in media reporting - Where common people are victim - Morally ambiguous - For crime, criminal and victim (unfold slowly) - Ideal victim is difficult to establish (or not seen as worthy) RHETORICAL APPEAL OF RANDOM VIOLENCE - What does randomness mean? - As central cultural theme - Media: ideal victim targeted by stranger for no reason. It is random - Paternlessness and pointlessness: violence is deterioration (view getting worse). Pointless - Violence is not patternless (age, social class, race and gender) - Melodrama is powerful---it is unsettling, disturbing, and frightening - If random, we get scared and demand action. We continue to tune in/read NEWS VALUES (12) 1. Threshold: meet level of importance or drama (local, national, global) 2. Predictability: what we expect of crime; what is unique and extraordinary (breaks predictability or confirms myths) 3. Simplification: must be reducible to a minimum number of parts or themes (not open to interpretation) 4. Individualism: connect simplification and risk---need individual definitions and rationalize of crime and responsibility 5. Risk: highlight risk of crime a. Focus on stranger danger (can highlight dangerous locations) 6. Sex: over-reporting crimes of sexual nature; built on rape myths (stranger target innocent victim, tries to fight off, dark alley) 7. Celebrity or high status person: obsession over the celebrity 8. Proximity: spatial and cultural proximity; and individual actors of crim (get global coverage) 9. Violence: fulfills the media's desire for dramatic events (only the state can use violence) b. If it bleeds it leads 10. Visual spectacle or graphic imagery: quality images give greater credence and truth 11. Children: associated with crime story (victim or offender) 12. Conservative ideology and political diversion: emphasis on law and order policies of crime (deterrence and punishment---more police, more prisons) THE CSI EFFECT - Perceptions and outcomes - Jury expectations---provide same as tv - Legal changes like asking jury members questions - Defined: unrealistic expectations public has---regarding what forensic science can accomplish based on watching CSI - Myths: - Science is precise and correct - Can do all jobs---police, scientist, collect at scene - Belief in DNA (always available, proves guilt) - Have all equipment and training to analyze - Can test everything because time and money don't matter - Suspect always confesses - Who does this affect? - Police---over collect evidence which takes more time - Prosecutors---demand unnecessary tests (costs money) - Defence attorneys---client can be hurt by mistakes - Juries---require excessive tests. Takes longer - Forensic scientists---receive brunt of backlogs (takes time and money) - Relation to crime---decreasing since early 1900s VIOLENCE IN FILM - Ritualistic - At center of genre (horror, action, etc) - Purpose: spectacle - \*\*\*\*\*\* EXAM Example: saw, spiderman, avengers, Deadpool - Symbolic: - Give meaning; reflection - Example: mystic river, saving private ryan, hunger games - Hyper-real - Ultra-violence in dramatic storytelling - Appeal to primal emotions - Senseless - Example: natural born killer, kill bill CHARACTERISTICS OF CONVENTIONAL STREET CRIME **November 4, 2024** - Offenders---(common person-anyone) - Location: residence, open street, commercial establishments like schools - \*\*Street crime does not happen on the streets - Responsibility at its individual level - 2 main categories: - Violence---happen against the person that causes physical harm - Property---crime against property like vandalism - Dealt with CJS---deals with conventional crime because it is high enforcement CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME - Offenders---connected to their social class (more likely middle/upper class) - Location---in marketplace occupation, may or may not be physical - 2 main categories: - White collar---individual as part of occupation does something against their company (money embezzlement) - Organizational/corporate---corporate level and target consumers - CJS rarely deals with (low enforcement)---internal or civil court RESEARCH DESIGN: MAIN PURPOSES OF RESEARCH - Need to be explicit in your research. What do you want to know? What is the best way to answer that? - Exploration: Explore a topic---usually new or hasn't been researched very much. Set the groundwork; market research - Description: describe events (observe & describe data) - Explanation: explain (getting at the why). Providing an explanation like why Canada has higher rates of burglary than the states? Because you can be shot MODES OF OBSERVATION - Experimental - Variables: independent (cause) and dependent (effect) - Pre-testing & post-testing - Experimental & control groups (control groups don't get variable---helps determine whether or not there was an effect. If there was a different result between groups then there was an effect) - Uncommon in crime---unethical to make people commit crime (most likely court/jury) - Advantages: get to isolate variables that you want to test out, can be replicated (strength in findings and more confidence in results) - Disadvantages: It is done in a laboratory setting which is artificial - Quantitative - Most common in criminology - Empirical---what can be counted - Surveys: many are done online, even the census - Reliability is good: whether we can repeat results/replication - Strengths: populations can be generalized, can be flexible like changing questions to fit your research topic or taking away things if they are no longer relevant, reliability is high - Weaknesses: have to fit in a particular category that is predetermined, superficial so people can't explain their answers---they jusx t pick their option and move on, low validity - Qualitative - Subjective results - Participant/non-participant observation with a group - In-depth interviews that are open-ended; you ask questions that are usually life histories, experiences, descriptive - Case studies in small groups that are focused - Ethnography---live with and as the people under study - Field research. Usually non-participant and not for extended periods of time---common occupations - Not much validity, but greater than quantitative - Strengths: populations can be unable to fill out surveys; cannot connect via normal channels, data is very rich and descriptive, with lots of information, the setting is natural, get to see how people act in the real world - Weaknesses: sample and generalizations are small, dangerous situations, the presence of an observer may alter the patterns of behaviour (Hawthorne effect) ETHICAL REQUIREMENTS - Prohibit and protect from harm (including emotional, psychological harm or distress - Minimize deceit as much as possible - Informed consent---anyone who participates needs to be informed before research begins, a person can stop at any time & told - Right to privacy which is especially true in areas of crime and deviance where people do not want to be outed CONTENT ANALYSIS - Media and communication studies - Allows you to compare the same medium, across media, media vs statistics - Quantitative - Manifest content: surface, can be counted - Count occurrences---crime, gender, victims, police quotes, etc - Crime---what we know, tends to be violent - Qualitative - Latent content: unintended or ideological; under the surface. Focuses on social construction and words in telling a story - Context, language, meaning and ideology (social constructionism, framing analysis) MEASURING CRIME - Official statistics - Police, courts & corrections (CJS) - All three provide to Statistics Canada - Uniform Crime Reporting -- data we get from police - In the USA, it is collected by the FBI UCR - Police are aware of crime in many ways: - Proactive: on their own undercover (about 20% of what we know that comes into the system) - Reactive: responding to public calls (about 80%) - Report-sensitive crimes: entirely reactive. If people don't report these then the police will not find out about it (sexual assault, domestic violence, petty theft) - Policing-sensitive crimes: proactive, no direct victim (drug crimes) - Media-sensitive crimes: manipulative model (robbery, car theft) - Strengths: compare across time, compare across place/country - Weaknesses: underestimate true number of crime (only reported and counted by police), dark figure of crime---unreported and underreported; unfounded (police), most underreported crims (sexual assault, domestic violence and theft \