CRJU 3410 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I. What is a Theory?II. Three Elements of a Theorya. Conceptsb. Definitions of Conceptsc. Propositions III. Propositionsa. Implied Relationshipb. Must be testable IV. Theoretical StatementsV. Assumptions VI. Metaphysical Assumptions a. Ontological b. Cosmological VII. Testing Theoriesa. Explanatory power VIII. How are theories tested?a. Verificationb. FalsificationIX. Problems of Theory TestingX. Defining Crime a. Deviance vs Breaking Law XI. Problems Defining Crimea. Social Definitionb. Legal Definition Outline of Current Lecture I. The Classical SchoolII. Neoclassical TheoryIII. Classical Theory IV. Ceseare Beccaria: Crime and Punishment These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.V. Deterrence TheoryVI. Assessing DeterrenceVII. Rational Choice TheoryVIII. Assessing Rational Choice Current LectureI. The Classical Schoola. New theories came out of enlightenment period to switch from church reasoningb. People are FREE WILLED and HEDONSITIC (seek pleasure & born bad)c. Violation of the law occurs when someone thinks that the advantages and rewards OUTWEIGHT disadvantages and punishmentsi. Breaking the law when it is beneficial to themd. People are NOT compelled, forced, or pushed to break the law because of outside influences or forces e. The cause of crime is in the individual, NOT the environment f. Classified in to the ontological assumption and human nature (people born bad)i. Up to the government and society to constrain behavior II. NeoClassical Theoriesa. A hybrid approach between Positivist and Classical approachesi. Not enough to constrain just constrain behavior, need to fix things too. b. Soft determinism: most of the time people do exercise free will, but they are often limited in their choices by their circumstances and environmentsc. Requires a multi- faceted approach to crime control i. Cant just solve one of the problems III. Classical Theory a. Thomas Aquinasi. Church Doctrine-divine law based on god that the king puts into place1. Looking to move from thisii. Positivist law- law through political processes about what the people believeb. Social Contracti. Agreement to give up some freedoms for protection; people agree on what’s right, wrong, and that all men are equalii. John Locke- thought no one should be subjected to political power without consent and that all men are equal and not subject to what they don’t agree with. IV. Cesare Beccaria: Crime & Punishmenta. Influenced the establishment of a more humane system of criminal law and procedureb. Set forth most of what we know as classical criminological theoryi. Father of Crim Theory & our CJ system based on him and other theorists. c. Utility: greatest happiness shared by greatest numberi. Everyone should be happy under social contract; only justified rationale and laws should serve the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. d. Social Contract: Basis of society (consensus)i. Cosmological assumptione. Deterrence: only legitimate purpose of punishment i. It convinced people not to commit crimes because of the bad outcomes and that is the only reason punishments should exist f. Effective and just punishments must be:i. Public- necessary for deterrenceii. Prompt (celerity)- sanction and punishment time is swift. If you wait too long the punishment will not be effectiveiii. Necessary (certainty)-probability that they will be caught and punished needs to be certain so it will deteriv. The least possible in the given circumstances- punishment needs to fit thecrime and give a lesser punishment if possiblev. Proportionate to the crime (severity)- cross over with above; pain must just outweigh the pleasure of the crime vi. Dictated by the laws- based on the social contract that people get the same punishment for the crime1. All criminals get the same kind of punishments for the same crime; eliminates the judge g. 4 other ways to prevent of deter crime: Promote crime PREVENTION over PUNISHMENTi. consensual laws- unbiased, everyone equal, simple, and easy to understand the crime ii. educate the public- the more we educate, the less crimes will be committediii. eliminate corruption- police/justice corruption eliminated, then they will fix crime better and have more respect for the law and justice systemiv. reward virtue- punish for crime is not good enough, we need to reward law abiders as an incentive to keep it going1. public recognition, tax deductions, etc. h. Summary on Beccariai. All men posses free willii. Humans are capable of rational thought- able to look at outcome and decide what is best (deter)iii. Virtual slave to ones own desires- hedonisticiv. A system of just punishments, based on certainty, celerity, and severity, was needed to control peoples conductV. Deterrence Theorya. General vs. Specific Deterrencei. General: stop others (capital punishment)ii. Specific: deterrence to the criminal about future crimesb. Absolute vs. Restrictive Deterrencei. Absolute: applies to all crime, stopped offending behavior foreverii. Restrictive: quit one crime but still doing other crimesiii. Both can be either specific or generalc. Stafford and Warr (1993)i. Modified deterrence model because it can work in 3 waysii. Don’t get caughtiii. Know of people who haven’t gotten caught iv. Personal/vicariously wont commit crime because of deterrence VI. Assessing Deterrencea. Deterrent-effect perceptions: Paternoster et. Al. i. more likely to be a criminal, more likely to be deterredb. Prisoner Studiesi. Found that perceptions of punishment effects deterrenceii. What you heard vs. truthc. Time Discountingi. Near event > far-off eventii. Things that happen sooner have a better effectd. Brutalization Thesisi. Capital punishment encourages homicide, not deter it1. Impulsive homicide increases, but calculated homicide goes down ii. CJ system is doing it so why cant I?e. Strengthsi. Intuitively correct: avoid if bad makes senseii. Widely Supported: NOT empiricallyiii. CJ system reflects it premises: based on deterrence f. Weaknessesi. Hypotheses are hard to test: spuriousnessii. Only works for minor crimesiii. Too narrow: misses points of informal sanctionsVII. Rational Choice Theorya. Modern Neoclassical theoryb. Originally economic based, uses info from memory to make choicesc. Cost/benefit anlaysis based only on what we knowd. Benefit