Intro Criminology Week 3B Theory PDF

INTRO CRIMINOLOGY WEEK 3B  EXAM Exam will cover: History of Criminology, Policing, CJS and Theory Overview All Readings Everything that we have covered in Class Format – Online in Brightspace Mix of Multiple choice, true and false and essay questions There will not be...

INTRO CRIMINOLOGY WEEK 3B  EXAM Exam will cover: History of Criminology, Policing, CJS and Theory Overview All Readings Everything that we have covered in Class Format – Online in Brightspace Mix of Multiple choice, true and false and essay questions There will not be a “review class” on Monday, but you do have the regular class time to study. UNDERSTANDING CAUSAL THEORIES What do criminology theories want to know? What are the motivations for criminal behaviour? Are some more acceptable; Do they change? What is a ‘typical offender’ profile? 18-24 Male profile – how can this limit understanding? Is a ‘general theory’ possible? Does one size fit all?  UNDERSTANDING CAUSAL THEORIES Nature or nurture? nature – brain, education levels, biology, personality that is a factor Nurture - external factors like family, unemployment, or a disorganised neighbourhood OR- Is there a relationship between internal and external, fixed and dynamic factors? What kind of relationship? What is the role of gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity in explaining criminal behaviour? Can criminal behaviour be stopped? Individually or collectively?  PERSPECTIVES & CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES Individual Structural Social Post Modern Processes Demonological Social Social Constitutive Ecology Learning Classical Edgework Strain Social Control Positivist Sub-cultural Differential theories Association Conflict Drift Labelling  IS HUMAN BEHAVIOUR DETERMINED OR FREELY WILLED? Individual perspectives are most concerned with the source of human behaviour: Demonological – Evil spirits Classical – Man is Hedonistic Positivist – Criminal Man Individual theories like classical and rational choice theories assume humans to be - independent, aware, reflective, self interested, in control, rational decision- makers.  CLASSICAL - THE FREELY ACTING AGENT  Hedonism: “No man ever gave up his liberty merely for the good of the public. Such a chimera exists only in romances. Every individual wishes, if possible, to be exempt from the compacts that bind the rest of mankind”  Free will & rationality: Laws are the conditions under which men, naturally independent, united themselves in society. Weary of living in a continual state of war, and of enjoying a liberty which became of little value, from the uncertainty of its duration, they sacrificed one part of it, to enjoy the rest in peace and security.  Punishment: “If an equal punishment be ordained for two crimes that do not equally injure society, men will not be any more deterred from committing the greater crime, if they find a greater advantage associated with it.”  (Beccaria, C. 1764 On Crimes and Punishments)  DO WE CHOOSE FREELY? - The idea of free choice is based on a string of assumptions: - Able to act as individual units - That there are range of possible actions to take (everyone has same choices) - We can tell the difference between an action and alternative - That we can control our actions (and the consequences of our actions) - Have the capacity for reason - That selection is based on rational principles  POSITIVISM: THE CRIMINAL MAN Biological (in the body) ‘Atavism’ (evolutionary throw back) & biological abnormality Body type - Lombroso Inherited ‘feeblemindedness’ Psychological (in the psyche) Unconscious forces shaped in childhood Criminal Personality  STRUCTURAL THEORIES  Are people influenced by internal or external forces?  Structural theories assume that people’s actions are influenced by external factors:  Economic strain  Disorganised communities  Class, race or gender inequalities  Major social systems (e.g. Capitalism/communism)  Social structures act as severe social constraints that in themselves are criminogenic.  STRUCTURAL FACTORS STRAIN THEORY C. LATE 1930S (ROBERT MERTON) "people who commit crimes have basically the same values as everyone else. Primarily among these values is an emphasis on achievement and success. According to this theory, the avenues for the achievement of success are greatly restricted for people in the lower class. Thus, they are faced with a cruel dilemma; either they abandon the major American values of success and prosperity or they abandon another--obedience to the law" (Leighninger 1996: 331) STRUCTURAL THEORIES Strain Theory: Merton There is a disconnect between desire and ability to achieve goals (American Dream) People develop different one of 5 different means of achieving desired goals because of the frustration they encounter SOCIAL ECOLOGY  SUB-CULTURAL THEORY Certain groups of persons are marginalised by society, not just individuals (Strain) Criminality in these perspectives wasn’t simply about achieving monetary success, but also about expressing frustration (Cohen) and developing alternative networks of opportunity through gang membership (Cloward and Ohlin). Groups develop out of collective marginalisation (youth gangs, etc)  CONFLICT THEORY: MARX Crime is a byproduct of capitalism: products out of reach of the working classes whose production power is exploited (low wages & high cost of living) Domination of the lower classes by the upper class results in injustice CJS is a tool of injustice and unfairly targets lower classes while ignoring or minimising more serious harms of the Upper class  SUMMARY: INDIVIDUAL AND STRUCTURAL CAUSATION. ANYTHING MISSING? Individual Pathology / or Individu al + Decision making Prostitutio n Structural External factors Individua Prostitution l  SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES Deviance is learned behaviour. ‘People are not born with preformed repertoires of aggressive (Bandura 1979 in Psychology behaviour. They must learn them’ of Crime and Criminal Justice, p. 200). It is learned behaviour in interaction with significant others. HUMAN NATURE IN SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES Human nature is a ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate): “any person inevitably assimilates the surrounding culture unless other patterns are in conflict” (Edwin Sutherland 1947, p. 6) How do people learn to offend? How do people learn to not offend? How do people adopt the identity of ‘deviant’?  SOCIALISATION PROCESSES INTO OFFENDING Poor Weak I + primary relation- bonds or ships poor self- control Labeling & Rationalis Situational adoption of es deviant learning & deviant behaviour reinforceme identity nt SOCIAL LEARNING People engage in criminal behaviour through learned interaction with intimate social groups (friends, family) The learning includes being rewarded/punished for certain behaviours, observing what happened to others for engaging in certain behaviours and in having personal pride in certain behaviours  DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION Very Similar to Social Learning Recognises a difference in behaviour when associating with different groups (parents vs. university colleagues) Sees criminality as fluid, not static  SOCIAL CONTROL (BONDING) we are all capable of committing crimes and engaging in anti-social behaviour, It is only by virtue of our bonds with others that we don’t commit harm. Strong social ties (close to family, school, community) mean that a person is more invested in what others think of them and are more likely to conform to collectively held values.  DRIFT AND NEUTRALISATION - MATZA Matza argues that gang members were not solely committed to their sub-cultural identity, but that they were able to drift in and out of that social group. Conventional and delinquent value systems tend to overlap (for example the emphasis on excitement and risk taking in mainstream culture and those who engage in train-surfing). ‘techniques of neutralisation’ or rationalisation enable problematic activities (such as drug dealing) to be redescribed in a way that doesn’t threaten conventional values.  LABELING - BECKER Labelling refers to the social processes through which certain individuals and groups name and classify the behaviour of others. criminality as such doesn’t exist – behaviours only become deviant because they are so labelled. (for example graffiti as ‘vandalism’ rather than ‘art’) Labels set in motion a range of social reactions: being charged by police future activity is interpreted through the label of vandal, rather than artist ongoing surveillance by police, or being known to police Labels can also be internalised as an agent of marginalisation giving the object little choice but to conform  Purpose of Law and Societal Perspectives Conservative: Liberal: Radical: Individual Strain & Sub Conflict Theories Culture Product of consensus Symbolic function Product of political (exclusion/inclusion) domination by elite Reflects shared group values Outcome of diversity and compromise Product of dominant Reflects normal economic class behaviour  Applying Theory: Sex Work from Different Theoretical Individual Perspectives Structural Social Proc. Post Modern Cause of Psychological Economic/ Strain Deviant peers Social reality Crime deficiency justifies the consumption of women Social Conservative Liberal Liberal Radical order Purpose of Punish & Resocialise Resocialise Justify its law Rehabilitate existence, Reproduce social order CJS Early Social reform, Develop Decriminalize sex Response identification& Viable exit alternative social work and other intervention, networks morality crimes, strategies Psychiatric Cultural change treatment, Imprisonment WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF A CAUSAL EXPLANATION (THEORY)? Implications for all areas of criminal justice Law enforcement practices (policing) Crime prevention (Law and Policing) Diversion Programs (Courts) Punishment (Prisons) KEY THEORISTS & TEXTS INDIVIDUAL  Classical Cesare Beccaria: Essay on Crimes and Punishment (1764) Jeremy Bentham: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1765; 1789)  Neoclassical, Rational Choice & Routine Activities Von Hirsch: Doing Justice (1976) Cornish and Clarke: “Rational Choice Theory” (1987) Felson: “Routine Activities, Social Controls, Rational Decisions and Criminal Outcomes” (1986)  Positivism (Biological) Cesare Lombroso: The Delinquent Man (1867). [Biological anomalies] Richard Dugdale: The Jukes: A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and Heredity (1877). [Familial feeble- mindedness and criminality] William Sheldon et al.: The Varieties of Human Physique (1940) [association between body type and personality traits] Sheldon and Elinor Glueck: Unravelling Juvenile Delinquency (1950)  Positivism (Psychological) Freud: Civilisation and its Discontents (1927) Abrahamsen: Crime and the Human Mind (1944) Eysenck: Crime and Personality (1964) Yochelson and Samenow: The Criminal Personality (1976) STRUCTURAL  Social Ecology of Crime Park and Burgess: The City (1925) Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas (1942)  Strain Theory Durkheim: The Division of Labour in Society (1893) Merton: “Social Structure and Anomie” (1938) Cohen: Delinquent Boys (1955) Cloward and Ohlin: Delinquency and Opportunity (1960) Agnew: “A Revised Strain Theory of Delinquency” (1985)  Conflict and Marxist theories Sutherland: “Crime and the Conflict Process” (1929) Turk: Criminality and the Legal Order (1969) Quinney: The Social Reality of Crime (1970) Chambliss & Seidman: Law Order and Power (1971) Taylor, Walton and Young: The New Criminology (1973) SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES Social Learning, Differential Association and Social Control Sutherland: Principles of Criminology (1939) Cressey: “The Theory of Differential Association: An Introduction” (1960) Bandura: Social Learning Theory (1977) Akers: Deviant Behaviour: A Social Learning Approach (1985) Hirschi: Causes of Delinquency (1969) Gottfredson and Hirshi: A General Theory of Crime (1990) Neutralisation, Drift and Labeling Theories Sykes and Matza: “Techniques of Neutralisation” (1957) Matza: Delinquency and Drift (1964) Lemert: Social Pathology (1951) Becker: Outsiders (1963) Cohen: Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) CULTURAL CRIMINOLOGY Edgework and Cultural Criminology Katz: Seductions of Crime (1988) Ferrel and Sanders: Cultural Criminology (1995) Lyng: “Dysfunctional risk taking: Criminal behaviour as edgework” (1993) Presdee: Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime (2000) Constitutive Henry and Milovanovic: Constitutive Criminology (1996) Feminist Criminology Smart “The Woman of Legal Discourse” (1998) in Daly and Maher Daly and Maher: Criminology at the Crossroads (1998) Naffine Feminism and Criminology (1997)