Chapter 1 Crim PDF

Navarro, File AP Images/Karel NATALEE Natalee Holloway, 18, from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, celebrated her high school graduation by going on a holiday to the Caribbean island of Aruba with about 100 classmates and several parent chaperones...

Navarro, File AP Images/Karel NATALEE Natalee Holloway, 18, from the Birmingham, Alabama, suburb of Mountain Brook, celebrated her high school graduation by going on a holiday to the Caribbean island of Aruba with about 100 classmates and several parent chaperones. On the night of May 30, 2005, she went to a local bar and was later seen leaving with three men—two brothers from Surinam and a local boy, the son of a high-ranking Dutch judicial official. Holloway never returned to her hotel nor did she appear in any security camera footage of the hotel lobby in the course of the night. When she did not show up for the flight home, her passport, luggage, and mobile phone were found in her hotel room. The three suspects in the case, Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak Kalpoe and Satish Kalpoe, were arrested on June 9, 2005. However, the police could not come up with sufficient evidence to make the charges (continued on page 4) Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Crime and Criminologyy Chapter Outline What Is Criminology? Criminology and Criminal Justice Criminology and Deviance What Criminologists Do: The Criminological Enterprise Criminal Statistics and Crime Measurement RACE, CULTURE, GENDER, AND CRIMINOLOGY: Crime in Other Cultures Sociology of Law, Law and Society, Socio-Legal Studies POLICY AND PRACTICE IN CRIMINOLOGY: Are Sex Offender Registration Laws Effective? Theory Construction and Testing Learning Objectives Criminal Behavior Systems and Crime Typologies Punishment, Penology, and Social Control 1. Understand what is meant by the “field of Victimology: Victims and Victimization criminology” How Criminologists View Crime 2. Be familiar with the various elements of the The Consensus View of Crime criminological enterprise THINKING LIKE A CRIMINOLOGIST AN ETHICAL 3. Know the difference between crime and deviance DILEMMA: Cody Watson 4. Discuss the three different views of crime The Conflict View of Crime The Interactionist View of Crime 5. Know what constitutes the different categories Defining Crime of law Crime and the Law 6. Discuss the different purposes of criminal law A Brief History of the Law 7. Trace the development of criminal law Common Law The Law in Contemporary Society 8. Describe the difference between a felony and a Shaping the Criminal Law misdemeanor PROFILES IN CRIME: Conspiracy Does Not Pay 9. Recognize the relationship between the criminal The Substantive Criminal Law law and the U.S. Constitution THE CRIMINOLOGICAL ENTERPRISE: The Elements 10. Be familiar with the ethical issues in criminology of Criminal Law The Evolution of Criminal Law PROFILES IN CRIME: The Mother of All Snakeheads Ethical Issues in Criminology What to Study? Whom to Study? How to Study? 3 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  stick, and the Kalpoes and Van der Sloot were released. Van der Sloot was required to stay within Dutch territory and he returned to the Netherlands to attend college. The three young men had told the police that they took Holloway to Arashi Beach, on Aruba’s northern tip, and at 2 A.M. dropped her off at her hotel, where they saw her being approached by a security guard as they drove off.1 This was one of several stories circulating about the case, including claims that Holloway had been sold into sexual slavery and that she had died on the beach and her body was dumped at sea. The case remains unsolved but not forgotten. In 2010, it was suddenly back on the front page: Van der Sloot approached Natalee Holloway’s family in an effort to extort money from them in exchange for information on their daughter, including the location of her body. After being paid $15,000 for information that turned out to be false, Van der Sloot used the cash to travel to Lima, Peru. There, on May 30, 2010, the fifth anniversary of Holloway’s disappearance, a local girl, Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez, 21, was found dead in the Hotel TAC; the room had been registered in the name of Joran van der Sloot! Witnesses put the unfortunate young woman and Van der Sloot in the hotel together, and a video showed the two playing cards at the same table at a local casino. Ramírez’s jewelry, ID, and credit cards were missing, as well as over $10,000 she had won earlier that evening at the casino. Captured in Columbia, Van der Sloot was returned to Peru where he remains in a high-security Peruvian prison. He is said to have admitted killing Ramírez because she used his laptop without permission. How can we explain the behavior of a Joran van der Sloot? How this field developed, its major components, and its What motivates a young man to become a multiple killer? relationship to crime law and deviance are some of the top- Tall, handsome, educated, and wealthy, he hardly fits the ics discussed in this chapter. profile of a cold-blooded murderer of young women. He This text analyzes criminology and its major subareas of was not a “product of his environment”; his crimes were not inquiry. It focuses on the nature and extent of crime, the “gang related.” Is it possible that his violent behavior was causes of crime, and patterns of criminal behavior. This a function of some psychological abnormality or biological chapter introduces and defines criminology: What are its defect? Yet, those who knew him did not suspect he had a goals? How do criminologists define crime? How do they murderous side, nor did the police in Aruba describe him as conduct research? What ethical issues face those wishing to mentally disturbed or deranged. conduct criminological research? The questions about crime and its control raised by the Natalee Holloway/Joran van der Sloot case and other high-pro- file criminal incidents have spurred interest in criminology, an academic discipline that uses the scientific method to study the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior. WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? Unlike political figures and media commentators—whose opinions about crime may be colored by personal experi- Criminology is the scientific approach to studying criminal ences, biases, and election concerns—criminologists remain behavior. In their classic definition, preeminent criminolo- objective as they study crime and its consequences.2 gists Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey state: Criminology is a multidisciplinary science. Crimi- nologists hold degrees in a variety of diverse fields, most Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime commonly sociology, but also criminal justice, political sci- as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope ence, psychology, public policy, economics, and the natural the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of sciences. reacting toward the breaking of laws.... The objective For most of the twentieth century, criminology’s primary of criminology is the development of a body of general orientation was sociological, but today it can be viewed as and verified principles and of other types of knowledge an integrated approach to the study of criminal behavior. regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment.3 4 PART ONE | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  Sutherland and Cressey’s definition includes some of the of crime and its causation. It is common, therefore, for most important areas of interest to criminologists: criminal justice programs to feature courses on criminol- ogy and for criminology courses to evaluate the agencies of Crime as a social phenomenon. Although some criminolo- justice. gists believe that individual traits and characteristics may play some role in the cause of criminals’ antisocial behavior, most believe that social factors are at the root cause of crime. Even the most disturbed people are in- Criminology and Deviance fluenced by their environment and their social interac- Criminology is also related to the study of deviant tions and personal relationships. behaviors—those actions that depart from social norms, The processes of making laws. Sutherland and Cressey’s values, and beliefs. Included within the broad spectrum of definition recognizes the association between crime and deviant acts are behaviors ranging from violent crimes to the criminal law and shows how the law defines crime. joining a nudist colony. However, significant distinctions How and why laws are created and why some are can be made between these two areas of study because strengthened and others eliminated is of great interest many crimes are not unusual or deviant, and many deviant to criminologists. acts are neither illegal nor criminal. Breaking laws and reacting toward the breaking of laws. At Take, for instance, substance abuse. Selling and/or pos- its core, the purpose of criminology is to understand sessing recreational drugs, such as marijuana, may be ille- both the onset of crime and the most effective meth- gal, but can it actually be considered deviant? A significant ods for its elimination. Why do people commit illegal percentage of the population have used or are using drugs; acts, and what can be done to convince them—and more than half of all high school students have tried drugs others who are contemplating crime—that it is in their before they graduate.4 Therefore, it is erroneous to argue best interests to turn their back on criminality? These that all crimes are deviant behaviors that depart from the concepts are naturally bound together: it is impossible norms of society. to effectively control crime unless we understand its Similarly, many deviant acts are not criminal even cause. though they may be both disturbing and shocking to the Development of a body of general and verified principles. conscience. Suppose a passerby witnesses someone floun- Sutherland and Cressey recognize that criminology is a dering in the ocean and makes no rescue attempt. Most social science and criminologists must use the scientific people would condemn the onlooker’s coldhearted behavior method when conducting research. Criminologists are as callous, immoral, and deviant. However, no legal action required to employ valid and reliable experimental de- could be taken since a private citizen is not required by law signs and sophisticated data analysis techniques or else to risk his or her own life to save another’s. There is no le- lose standing in the academic community. gal requirement that a person rush into a burning building, brave a flood, or jump into the ocean to save someone from harm. They may be deviant and not share commonly held values, but according to the law, they are not criminals. Criminology and Criminal Justice In sum, criminologists are concerned with the concept Although the terms criminology and criminal justice may seem of deviance and its relationship to criminality, whereas those similar, and people often confuse the two or lump them to- sociologists who study deviant behaviors often want to un- gether, there are major differences between these fields of derstand and/or identify the line that separates criminal from study. Criminology explains the etiology (origin), extent, merely unusual behaviors. The shifting definition of deviant and nature of crime in society, whereas criminal justice re- behavior is closely associated with our concepts of crime. fers to the study of the agencies of social control—police, The relationships among criminology, criminal justice, and courts, and corrections. While criminologists are mainly deviance are illustrated in Concept Summary 1.1. concerned with identifying the suspected cause of crime, criminal justice scholars spend their time identifying effec- The principal purpose of the Office on National tive methods of crime control. Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is to establish Since both fields are crime-related, they do overlap. policies, priorities, and objectives for the nation’s drug Some criminologists devote their research to justice and control program, the goals of which are to reduce illicit social control and are concerned with how the agencies of drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking; reduce drug- justice operate, how they influence crime and criminals, related crime and violence; and reduce drug-related health consequences. For more information about the and how justice policies shape crime rates and trends. United States’ program for controlling drugs, visit the Conversely, criminal justice experts often want to design Criminal Justice CourseMate at cengagebrain.com, then effective programs of crime prevention or rehabilitation access the “Web Links” for this chapter. and to do so must develop an understanding of the nature CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 5 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  perspectives are now contained within the broader arena CONCEPT SUMMARY 1.1 of criminology. Taken together, these subareas make up the criminological enterprise. Criminologists may specialize in a subarea in the same way that psychologists might specialize Criminology: Criminal Justice and Deviance in a subfield of psychology, such as cognition, development, Criminology perception, personality, psychopathology, or sexuality. Criminology explores the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society. Criminologists are concerned with identifying the nature, extent, and cause of crime. Criminal Statistics and Crime Criminal Justice Measurement Criminal justice refers to the agencies of social control that handle criminal offenders. Criminal justice scholars engage The subarea of criminal statistics and crime measurement in describing, analyzing, and explaining operations of the involves devising valid and reliable measures designed to agencies of justice, specifically the police departments, courts, calculate the amount and trends of criminal activity: How and correctional facilities. They seek more effective methods of much crime occurs annually? Who commits it? When and crime control and offender rehabilitation. where does it occur? Which crimes are the most serious? Overlapping Areas of Concern Criminologists: Criminal justice experts cannot begin to design effective programs of crime prevention or rehabilitation without Formulate techniques for collecting and analyzing insti- understanding the nature and cause of crime. They require tutional (police, court, and correctional agency) records accurate criminal statistics and data to test the effectiveness of and data. crime control and prevention programs. Develop survey instruments to measure criminal activity Deviance not reported to the police by victims. These instruments Deviance refers to the study of behavior that departs from can by used to estimate the percentage of people who social norms. Included within the broad spectrum of deviant commit crimes but escape detection by the justice system. acts are behaviors ranging from violent crimes to joining a nudist colony. Not all crimes are deviant or unusual acts, and Identify the victims of crime; create surveys designed to not all deviant acts are illegal. have victims report loss and injury that may not have been reported to the police. Overlapping Areas of Concern Develop data that can be used to test crime theory. For Under what circumstances do deviant behaviors become crimes? When does sexually oriented material cross the line example, measuring community-level crime rates can from merely suggestive to obscene and therefore illegal? If help prove whether ecological factors, such as neigh- an illegal act becomes a norm, should society reevaluate its borhood poverty and unemployment rates, are related criminal status? There is still debate over the legalization to crime rates. and/or decriminalization of abortion, recreational drug use, possession of handguns, and assisted suicide. Those criminologists who devote themselves to criminal statistics engage in a number of different tasks, including: Devising accurate methods of collecting crime data Using these tested methods to measure the amount and trends of criminal activity Using valid crime data to determine who commits crime and where it occurs WHAT CRIMINOLOGISTS Measuring the effect of social policy and social trends DO: THE CRIMINOLOGICAL on crime rate changes Using crime data to design crime prevention programs ENTERPRISE and then measuring their effectiveness The media love to sensationalize crime and report on lu- rid cases of murder and rape. The general public is influenced Regardless of their theoretical orientation, criminologists are by these stories, becoming fearful and altering their behavior devoted to the study of crime and criminal behavior. As two to avoid victimization.6 These news accounts, proclaiming noted criminologists, Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti, crime waves, are often driven by the need to sell newspapers put it: “A criminologist is one whose professional training, oc- or increase TV viewership. There is nothing like an impend- cupational role, and pecuniary reward are primarily concen- ing crime wave or serial killer on the loose to boost reader- trated on a scientific approach to, and study and analysis of, ship or viewership. Media accounts therefore can be biased the phenomenon of crime and criminal behavior.”5 and inaccurate, and it is up to criminologists to set the re- Because criminologists have been trained in diverse cord straight. Criminologists try to create valid and reliable fields, several subareas reflecting different orientations and measurements of criminal behavior. They create techniques 6 PART ONE | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. to access the records of police and court agencies and use so- Because the law is constantly evolving, criminologists are phisticated statistical methods to understand underlying pat- often asked to determine whether legal change is required terns and trends. They develop survey instruments and then and what shape it should take. Criminologists may use use them with large samples to determine the actual number their research skills to assess the effects of a proposed legal of crimes being committed and the number of victims who change. Take for instance the crime of obscenity. Typically, suffer criminal violations: how many people are victims of there is no uniform standard of what is considered obscene; crime, and what percentage reports the crime to police. material that to some people is lewd and offensive may be Criminologists are also interested in helping agents of considered a work of art by others. How far should the law the criminal justice system develop effective crime control go in curbing “adult films” and literature? Criminologists policies that rely on accurate measurement of crime rates. might conduct research aimed at determining the effect By using advanced statistical techniques to calculate where the proposed law will have on curbing access to obscene crime will take place, police departments can allocate patrol material such as child pornography. Other relevant research officers based on these predictions.7 issues might include analysis of the harmful effects of view- The development of valid methods to measure crime ing pornography: Are people who view pornography more and the accuracy of crime data are crucial aspects of the likely to commit violent crime than non-watchers? And criminological enterprise. Without valid and reliable crime what about the effect of virtual porn? Is viewing computer- data sources, efforts to conduct research on crime and create generated sexual imagery the same as viewing live actors? criminological theories would be futile. It is also important The answers may one day shape the direction of legislation to determine why crime rates vary across and within regions controlling sexual content on the Internet. in order to gauge the association between social and eco- Computer fraud, file sharing, ATM theft, and cyberstalk- nomic forces and criminal activity. ing did not exist when the nation was founded. Consequently, About 10.5 million crimes were reported in 2009, a drop the law must be revised to reflect cultural, societal, and tech- of more than 4 million reported crimes since the 1991 peak, nological changes. In fact, the Supreme Court has often con- and this despite a boost of about 50 million in the general sidered empirical research supplied by criminologists on such population. Are the crime trends and patterns experienced topics as racial discrimination in the death penalty before it in the United States unique or do they occur in other cul- renders an opinion.9 The research conducted by criminolo- tures as well? This issue is explored in the accompanying gists then helps shape the direction of their legal decision Race, Culture, Gender, and Criminology feature. making. Might the research discussed in the accompanying Policy and Practice in Criminology box influence the shape of the criminal law and how it is applied? Sociology of Law, Law and Society, Socio-Legal Studies Theory Construction and Testing The sociology of law, also referred to as the study of law and Social theory can be defined as a systematic set of interre- society, is a subarea of criminology concerned with the role lated statements or principles that explain some aspect of social forces play in shaping criminal law and, concomi- social life. At their core, theories should serve as models tantly, the role of criminal law in shaping society. Criminolo- or frameworks for understanding human behavior and the gists interested in studying the social aspects of law focus on forces that shape its content and direction. such topics as: Because, ideally, theories are based on verified social The history of legal thought facts—readily observed phenomena that can be consistently How social forces shape the definition and content of quantified and measured—criminological theorists use the the law scientific method to test their theories. They gather data, The impact of legal change on society derive hypotheses—testable expectations of behavior that The relationship between law and social control can be derived from the theory—and then test them using The effect of criminalization/legalization on behaviors valid empirical research methods. For example, social learn- ing theory (see Chapter 7) states that people learn behavior Some criminologists who study law and society consider through both observation and experience. If this statement the role of law in the context of criminological theory. They is accurate, then logically there should be a significant as- try to understand how legal decision making influences in- sociation between observing domestic abuse, experiencing dividuals, groups, and the criminal justice system. Others child abuse, and becoming an abuser. To test this theory, a try to identify alternatives to traditional legal process—for number of hypotheses can be derived: example, by designing nonpunitive methods of dispute res- olution. Some seek to describe the legal system and identify H1: People who are abused as children will grow up to and explain patterns of behavior that guide its operation. become abusive parents. Others use the operations of law as a perspective for under- H2: People who observe domestic abuse in their child- standing culture and social life.8 hood will grow up to become abusers themselves. CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 7 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Race, Culture, Gender, and Criminology Crime in Other Cultures Although the United States once led the conducted in 60 countries and managed by countries, crime rates are back at the level Western world in overall crime, there has the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands, of the late 1980s. One reason is that people been a marked decline in U.S. crime rates, the Home Office of the United Kingdom, around the world are taking precautions to which are now below those of other indus- and the United Nations Interregional Crime prevent crime. Improved security may well trial nations, including England and Wales, and Justice Research Institute, and has have been one of the main forces behind Denmark, and Finland. become a reliable source of cross-cultural the universal drop in crimes such as joyrid- Making international comparisons is of- crime and victimization trends. ing and household burglary. ten difficult because the legal definitions of What do these data sources tell us about What do the cross-national data tell us crime vary from country to country. There crime in other cultures? The ICVS is per- about individual crimes? are also differences in the way crime is mea- haps the best source today on determining sured. For example, in the United States, crime and victimization rates and trends. Homicide crime may be measured by counting crimi- According to the most recent ICVS, an es- Many nations, especially those experiencing nal acts reported to the police or by using timated 16 percent of the population in the social or economic upheaval, have murder victim surveys, whereas in many European nations included in the survey have been a rates much higher than the United States. Co- countries, the number of cases solved by victim of at least one of ten common crimes lombia has about 63 homicides per 100,000 the police is used as the measure of crime. (such as burglary, robbery, theft, assault) in people, and South Africa has 51, compared Despite these problems, valid comparisons the course of the last year. The countries to fewer than 6 in the United States. Dur- can still be made about crime across dif- with the highest scores are Ireland, Eng- ing the 1990s, there were more homicides ferent countries using a number of reliable land and Wales, New Zealand, and Iceland. in Brazil than in the United States, Canada, data sources. For example, the United Na- Lowest overall victimization rates are found Italy, Japan, Australia, Portugal, Britain, Aus- tions Survey of Crime Trends and Operations in Spain, Japan, Hungary, and Portugal. tria, and Germany combined. Why are mur- of Criminal Justice Systems (UNCJS) is one Similar to the United States, there has been der rates so high in Brazil? Law enforcement of the best-known sources of information a distinct downward trend in the level of officials link the upsurge in violence to drug on cross-national data. There is also the crime and victimization during the past de- trafficking, gang feuds, vigilantism, and dis- United Nations International Study on the cade. Also, as in the U.S., some cities have putes over trivial matters, in which young, Regulation of Firearms. INTERPOL, an in- much higher crime rates than others: the unmarried, uneducated males are involved. ternational police agency, collects data from cities in developed countries with the lowest police agencies in 179 countries. The World victimization rates are Hong Kong, Lisbon, Rape Health Organization (WHO) has conducted Budapest, Athens, and Madrid; highest Violence against women is related to eco- surveys on global violence. The European victimization rates are found in London and nomic hardship and the social status of Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Tallinn, Estonia. The drops are most pro- women. Rates are high in poor nations Statistics provides data from police agen- nounced in property crimes such as vehi- in which women are oppressed. Where cies in 36 European nations. Finally, the cle-related crimes (bicycle theft, thefts from women are more emancipated, the rates of International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) is cars, and joyriding) and burglary. In most violence against women are lower. H3: The more serious and prolonged the observed Sometimes criminologists use innovative methods to abuse, the more likely those abused will become abu- test theory. For example, to determine whether abuse is a sive themselves. learned behavior or a function of some biological abnor- H4: Child abuse and domestic abuse are intergenera- mality, criminologists Tatia M. C. Lee, Siu-Ching Chan, and tional. Abusers are the offspring of abusers and become Adrian Raine used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) de- the parents of abusers. vice to assess brain function of 10 male batterers and then compared the results with those attained from a similar To test this theory, criminologists might conduct a lon- sample of non-abusers. Brain scanning revealed that batter- gitudinal study to determine if (a) people who abuse their ers showed significantly higher neural hyper-responsivity spouses and children were abused themselves in childhood to the threat stimuli in a variety of regions of the brain. This and (b) whether the parents of abusers were abused in child- means that when these hypersensitive men experience even hood by their parents. mild provocations from their spouses they are hard-wired to 8 PART ONE | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  For many women, sexual violence starts Vehicle Theft in childhood and adolescence and may Australia, England and Wales, Denmark, CRITICAL THINKING occur in the home, school, and commu- Norway, Canada, France, and Italy now 1. Although risk factors at all levels of so- nity. Studies conducted in a wide variety have higher rates of vehicle theft than the cial and personal life contribute to youth of nations ranging from Cameroon to New United States. violence, young people in all nations Zealand found high rates of reported forced who experience change in societal-level sexual initiation. In some nations, more Child Abuse factors—such as economic inequalities, than 40 percent of adolescent women and A World Health Organization report found rapid social change, and the availability 20 percent of adolescent men report sexual that child physical and sexual abuse takes of firearms, alcohol, and drugs—seem coercion at the hands of family members, a significant toll around the world. In a sin- the most likely to get involved in vio- teachers, boyfriends, or strangers. gle year, about 57,000 children under 15 lence. Can anything be done to help Sexual violence has significant health years of age are murdered. The homicide alleviate these social problems? consequences, including suicide, stress, rates for children aged 0 to 4 years were 2. The United States is notorious for em- mental illnesses, unwanted pregnancies, over twice as high as rates among children ploying much tougher penal measures sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, aged 5 to 14 years. Many more children are than European nations. Do you believe self-inflicted injuries, and, in the case of subjected to nonfatal abuse and neglect; our tougher measures would work child sexual abuse, adoption of high-risk 8 percent of male and 25 percent of female abroad and should be adopted there as behaviors such as multiple sexual partners children up to age 18 experience sexual well? Is there a downside to putting lots and drug use. abuse of some kind. of people in prison? Robbery Gun Crimes SOURCES: Jan van Dijk, John van Kesteren, and Countries with more reported robberies There has been a common assumption that Paul Smit, “Criminal Victimisation in International than the United States include England and the United States is the most heavily armed Perspective: Key Findings from the 2004–2005 Wales, Portugal, and Spain. Countries with nation on earth, but there is new evidence ICVS and EU ICS, 2008,” http://rechten.uvt.nl/ fewer reported robberies include Germany, icvs/pdffiles/ICVS2004_05.pdf (accessed Octo- that people around the world are arming ber 29, 2010); Virendra Kumar and Sarita Kanth, Italy, and France, as well as Middle Eastern themselves in record numbers. Residents “Bride Burning,” Lancet 364 (2004): 18–19; and Asian nations. in the 15 countries of the European Union Etienne Krug, Linda Dahlberg, James Mercy, have an estimated 84 million firearms. Of Anthony Zwi, and Rafael Lozano, World Report Burglary on Violence and Health, (Geneva: World Health these, 67 million (80 percent) are in civil- Organization, 2002); Graeme Newman, Global The United States has lower burglary rates ian hands. With a total population of 375 Report on Crime and Justice, (New York: Oxford than Australia, Denmark, Finland, England million people, this amounts to 17 guns for University Press, 1999). and Wales, and Canada. It has higher re- every 100 people. ported burglary rates than Spain, Korea, and Saudi Arabia. respond with violence. Rather than being a learned behav- made to describe and understand particular crime types. ior, Lee and his associates conclude there is a neurobiologi- Marvin Wolfgang’s famous 1958 study, Patterns in Criminal cal predisposition to spouse abuse in some men.10 Homicide—considered a landmark analysis of the nature of homicide and the relationship between victim and offender— found that victims often precipitate the incident that results in Criminal Behavior Systems their death.11 Edwin Sutherland’s analysis of business-related offenses helped coin a new phrase—white-collar crime—to and Crime Typologies describe economic crime activities. Criminologists who study criminal behavior systems and Criminologists also conduct research on the links be- crime typologies focus their research on specific criminal tween different types of crime and criminals. This is known types and patterns: violent crime, theft crime, public order as a crime typology. Some typologies focus on the crimi- crime, and organized crime. Numerous attempts have been nal, suggesting the existence of offender groups, such as CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 9 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. P o l i cy a n d P r a c t i ce i n C r i m i n o l o g y Are Sex Offender Registration Laws Effective? Criminologists interested in legal studies a Predator” on Dateline NBC), and appease recidivism. And when there was recidivism, also evaluate the impact new laws have the public’s desire to “do something” about there was no significant difference in time on society after they have been in effect child predators, do they actually work? Does to recidivism when comparing those who for awhile. Take for instance the practice registration deter future sex offenses and re- failed to register (2.9 years) with compliant of sex offender registration, which requires duce the incidence of predatory acts against registrants (2.8 years). convicted sex offenders to register with lo- children? These results challenge the effective- cal law enforcement agencies when they To answer this question, criminologists ness of sex offender registration laws. move into a community. These are often Kristen Zgoba and Karen Bachar recently Rather than deter crime, sex offender laws called Megan’s Laws in memory of 7-year- (2009) conducted an in-depth study of may merely cause sex offenders to be more old Megan Kanka, killed in 1994 by sex the effectiveness of New Jersey’s registra- cautious while giving parents a false sense offender Jesse Timmendequas, who had tion law and found that while expensive of security. For example, offenders may tar- moved unannounced into her New Jersey to maintain, the system did not produce get victims in other states or communities neighborhood. Megan’s Laws require law effective results. On the one hand, sex of- where they are not registered and parents enforcement authorities to make informa- fense rates in New Jersey were in a steep are less cautious. tion available to the public regarding regis- decline before the system was installed and tered sex offenders, including the offender’s the rate of decline actually slowed down af- name, picture, address, incarceration date, ter 1995 when the law took effect. Zgoba and nature of crime. The information can and Bachar’s data show that the greatest CRITICAL THINKING be published in newspapers or put on a sex rate of decline in sex offending occurred 1. Considering the findings of Zgoba and offender website. prior to the passage and implementation of Bachar, would you advocate aban- In Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Megan’s Law. On the other hand, passage doning sex offender registration laws Doe (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court up- and implementation of Megan’s Law did not because they are ineffective? Or might held the legality of sex offender registra- reduce the number of rearrests for sex of- there be other reasons to keep them tion when it ruled that persons convicted of fenses, nor did it have any demonstrable active? sexual offenses may be required to register effect on the time between when sex of- 2. What other laws do you think should be with a state’s Department of Public Safety fenders were released from prison and the the topic of careful scientific inquiry to and then be listed on a sex offender reg- time they were rearrested for any new of- see if they actually work as advertised? istry on the Internet containing registrants’ fense, such as a drug, theft, or another sex names, addresses, photographs, and de- offense. SOURCES: Jill Levenson, Elizabeth Letourneau, scriptions. In a 9–0 opinion upholding the In another effort, Jill Levenson, Elizabeth Kevin Armstrong, and Kristen Zgoba, “Failure plan, the Court reasoned that, because the Letourneau, Kevin Armstrong, and Kris- to Register as a Sex Offender: Is It Associated law was based on the fact that a defendant ten Zgoba investigated the relationship with Recidivism?” Justice Quarterly 27 (2010): 305–331; Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. had been convicted of a sex offense, dis- between failure to register (FTR) as a sex Doe, 538 U.S. 1 (2003); Kristen Zgoba and closing their names on the registry without offender and subsequent recidivism with Karen Bachar, “Sex Offender Registration and a hearing did not violate due process. a sample of 3,000 people convicted of Notification: Research Finds Limited Effects in New Jersey,” National Institute of Justice, April But while sex offender registration laws sexually related crimes. Levenson and her 2009, www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225402.pdf may be constitutional and pervasive (they associates found that there was no signifi- (accessed October 29, 2010). are used in all 50 states), appeal to politi- cant difference in the proportion of sexual cians who may be swayed by media cru- recidivists and nonrecidivists with registra- sades against child molesters (i.e., “To Catch tion violations nor did FTR predict sexual professional criminals, psychotic criminals, amateur crimi- on terrorism, trying to determine if there is such a thing as a nals, and so on. Others focus on the crimes, clustering them “terrorist personality.” Among the findings: into categories such as property crimes, sex crimes, and so on. While 50 years ago they might have focused their atten- Mental illness is not a critical factor in explaining terror- tion on rape, murder, and burglary, they now may be look- ist behavior. Also, most terrorists are not “psychopaths.” ing at stalking, cybercrime, terrorism, and hate crimes. For There is no “terrorist personality,” nor is there any accurate example, a number of criminologists are now doing research profile—psychologically or otherwise—of the terrorist. 10 PART ONE | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  Histories of childhood abuse and trauma and themes of perceived injustice and humiliation often are prominent in terrorist biog- raphies, but do not really help to explain terrorism.12 Research on criminal behavior systems and crime types is important © David Robinson/Corbis because it enables criminologists to understand why people commit spe- cific sorts of crime, and using this information, gives them the tools to devise crime reduction strategies. According to the consensus view, crimes are behaviors believed to be repugnant to all elements of society. Do you agree with the artist’s implied sentiment that spraying graffiti on a wall is not really a crime? Why do you think this remains an outlawed behavior? Punishment, Penology, and Social Control Criminologists also are involved in creating effective crime of crime is not complete unless the victim’s role is consid- policies, developing methods of social control, and the ered.14 For those studying the role of the victim in crime, correction and control of known criminal offenders; it is these areas are of particular interest: this segment of criminology that overlaps criminal justice. Using victim surveys to measure the nature and extent Criminologists conduct research that is designed to evalu- of criminal behavior not reported to the police ate justice initiatives in order to determine their efficiency, Calculating the actual costs of crime to victims effectiveness, and impact. For example, should capital Measuring the factors that increase the likelihood of punishment continue to be employed or is its use simply becoming a crime victim too risky? To explore this issue, Samuel Gross and his col- Studying the role of the victim in causing or precipitat- leagues looked at death row inmates who were later found ing crime to be innocent. The sample of 340 death row inmates (327 Designing services for the victims of crime, such as men and 13 women), exonerated after having served years counseling and compensation programs in prison, indicated that about half (144 people) were cleared by DNA evidence. Collectively, they had spent The study of victims and victimization has uncovered more than 3,400 years in prison for crimes they did not some startling results. For one thing, criminals have been commit—an average of more than 10 years each. Gross and found to be at greater risk for victimization than noncrimi- his colleagues found that exonerations from death row are nals.15 Rather than being the passive receptors of criminal more than 25 times more frequent than exonerations for acts who are in the “wrong place at the wrong time,” crime other prisoners convicted of murder, and more than 100 victims may engage in high-risk lifestyles that increase their times more frequent than for all imprisoned felons.13 How own chance of victimization and make them highly vulner- many wrongful convictions might be uncovered if all crimi- able to crime. nal convictions were given the same degree of scrutiny as The various elements of the criminological enterprise death penalty cases? The Gross research illustrates how im- are summarized in Concept Summary 1.2. portant it is to evaluate penal measures in order to deter- mine their effectiveness and reliability. CONNECTIONS In recent years, criminologists have devoted ever- Victimology: Victims increasing attention to the victim’s role in the criminal and Victimization process. It has been suggested that a person’s lifestyle and behavior may actually increase the risk that he or In two classic criminological studies, one by Hans von Hen- she will become a crime victim. Some have suggested tig and the other by Stephen Schafer, the critical role of the that living in a high-crime neighborhood increases risk; victim in the criminal process was first identified. These au- others point at the problems caused by associating with thors were the first to suggest that victim behavior is often dangerous peers and companions. For a discussion of a key determinant of crime and that victims’ actions may victimization risk, see Chapter 3. actually precipitate crime. Both men believe that the study CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 11 Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  substantive criminal law, which is the written code that CONCEPT SUMMARY 1.2 defines crimes and their punishments, reflects the values, beliefs, and opinions of society’s mainstream. The term con- sensus is used because it implies that there is general agree- The Criminological Enterprise ment among a majority of citizens on what behaviors should These subareas constitute the discipline of criminology: be outlawed by the criminal law and henceforth viewed as Criminal Statistics and Research Methodology crimes. As the eminent criminologists Edwin Sutherland Gathering valid crime data. Devising new research methods; and Donald Cressey put it: measuring crime patterns and trends. Criminal behavior is behavior in violation of the crimi- The Sociology of Law/Law and Society nal law.... [I]t is not a crime unless it is prohibited by Determining the origin of law. Measuring the forces that can the criminal law [which] is defined conventionally as a change laws and society. body of specific rules regarding human conduct which Theory Construction and Testing have been promulgated by political authority, which Predicting individual behavior. Understanding the cause of apply uniformly to all members of the classes to which crime rates and trends. the rules refer, and which are enforced by punishment Criminal Behavior Systems and Crime Typologies administered by the state.16 Determining the nature and cause of specific crime patterns. Studying violence, theft, organized, white-collar, and public This approach to crime implies that it is a function of the order crimes. beliefs, morality, and rules established by the existing legal Penology and Social Control power structure. According to Sutherland and Cressey’s state- Studying the correction and control of criminal behavior. Using ment, criminal law is applied “uniformly to all members of scientific methods to assess the effectiveness of crime control the classes to which the rules refer.” This statement reveals and offender treatment programs. the authors’ faith in the concept of an “ideal legal system” that Victimology/Victims and Victimization deals adequately with all classes and types of people. Laws Studying the nature and cause of victimization. Aiding crime prohibiting theft and violence may be directed at the neediest victims; understanding the nature and extent of victimization; members of society, whereas laws that sanction economic acts developing theories of victimization risk. such as insider trading, embezzlement, and corporate price- fixing are aimed at controlling the wealthiest. The reach of the criminal law is not restricted to any single element of society. Social Harm The consensus view of crime links illegal be- HOW CRIMINOLOGISTS havior to the concept of social harm. Though people gener- ally enjoy a great deal of latitude in their behavior, it is agreed VIEW CRIME that behaviors that are harmful to other people and society in general must be controlled. Social harm is what sets strange, unusual, or deviant behavior—or any other action that de- Professional criminologists usually align themselves with parts from social norms—apart from criminal behaviors.17 one of several schools of thought or perspectives in their field. Each perspective maintains its own view of what con- stitutes criminal behavior and what causes people to en- CONNECTIONS gage in criminality. This diversity of thought is not unique The associations among crime, social harm, and moral- to criminology; biologists, psychologists, sociologists, his- ity are best illustrated in efforts to criminalize acts con- torians, economists, and natural scientists disagree among sidered dangerous to the public welfare because they themselves about critical issues in their fields. Considering involve behaviors that offend existing social values. the multidisciplinary nature of the field of criminology, fun- These so-called public order crimes include pornogra- damental issues such as the nature and definition of crime phy, prostitution, and drug use. Though “victims” are itself are cause for disagreement among criminologists. often willing participants, some people believe it is so- A criminologist’s choice of orientation or perspective de- ciety’s duty to save them from themselves. To read more pends, in part, on his or her definition of crime. This section about crime, morality, and social harm, see Chapter 14. discusses the three most common concepts of crime used by criminologists. This position is not without controversy. Although it is clear that rape, robbery, and murder are inherently harmful The Consensus View of Crime and their control justified, behaviors such as drug use and According to the consensus view, crimes are behaviors prostitution are more problematic because the harm they in- believed to be repugnant to all elements of society. The flict is only on those who are willing participants. According 12 PART ONE | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. to the consensus view, society is justified in controlling Crime, according to this definition, is a political con- these so-called victimless crimes because public opinion cept designed to protect the power and position of the holds that they undermine the social fabric and threaten the upper classes at the expense of the poor. Even crimes general well-being of society. Society has a duty to protect prohibiting violent acts, such as armed robbery, rape, and all its members—even those who choose to engage in high- murder, may have political undertones. Banning violent risk behaviors. But are victims always people and how far acts ensures domestic tranquility and guarantees that the should we go to protect non-humans? That is the topic ad- anger of the poor and disenfranchised classes will not be dressed in the Thinking like a Criminologist feature. directed at their wealthy capitalist exploiters. According to this conflict view of crime, “real” crimes would include the following acts: The Conflict View of Crime Violations of human rights due to racism, sexism, The conflict view depicts society as a collection of diverse and imperialism groups—business owners, workers, professionals, students— Unsafe working conditions who are in constant and continuing conflict. Groups able to Inadequate child care assert their political power use the law and the criminal jus- Inadequate opportunities for employment and tice system to advance their economic and social position. education Criminal laws, therefore, are viewed as acts created to protect Substandard housing and medical care the haves from the have-nots. Critical criminologists often Crimes of economic and political domination compare and contrast the harsh penalties exacted on the poor Pollution of the environment for their “street crimes” (burglary, robbery, and larceny) with Price-fixing the minor penalties the wealthy receive for their white-collar Police brutality crimes (securities violations and other illegal business prac- Assassinations and war-making tices), though the latter may cause considerably more social Violations of human dignity harm. While the poor go to prison for minor law violations, Denial of physical needs and necessities, and impedi- the wealthy are given lenient sentences for even the most seri- ments to self-determination ous breaches of law. Rather than being class neutral, criminal Deprivation of adequate food law reflects and protects established economic, racial, gen- Blocked opportunities to participate in political dered, and political power and privilege. decision making THINKING LIKE A CRIMINOLOGIST ❯ An Ethical Dilemma Cody Watson On January 10, 2011, Cody Watson, the starr c court with this summation, “Why were these quarterback of the Los Angeles Hawks pleaded d p practices, which involve the killing of inno- guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy stemming g c