Crim105 Lecture 1 1 30 14 The politicization of science Science is commonly used to advance political claims racism sexism environmentalism fascism ect Nearly every ism and ALL political groups attempt to claim the legitimacy of science Establishing facts is the key to winning debate The definition of criminology They systematic study of 1 the processes of making law 2 the breaking of the law and 3 the reaction to the breaking of law Politics Theory Criminal Justice study of police courts and corrections Is criminology a science Yes has theory explains why something happens and methods quantitative and qualitative stories Q what role does the field play in shaping policy A negligible Can we imagine major legislative decisions on health policy without careful consultation of doctors insurance executives and health care administrators How about crime legislation w o criminologist Q Why does criminology as a science lack credibility A we lack predictive power Prime example crime decline in 1991 However We ve been able to discredit several proposed solutions such as 1 Boot camps save money put people in camps rather than spending a lot of money on putting them in prison tries to scare them straight not very effective 2 Death penalty Not used as often 3 Three strikes legislation politically appealing but does not have much of an effect in reducing the crime rate 4 DARE most part doesn t work improved view of police look better 5 Scared straight increases odds of re offending 6 Gun buy backs reaches wrong audience people who bought gun illegally try to sell it Nevertheless several of these programs remain Why Ideology def a set of beliefs or values that ALL of us develop usually unconsciously about the way that the world is or ought to be Range of ideology Conservative right punitive and repressive Liberal left forgiving and rehabilitative In a democracy we get to shape policy through voting This is informed by ideology The problem in creating a science evidence the field is NOT a science What is crime The definition is not fixed and unchanging Legal definition nulla poeno sine lege no punishment without the crime Social harm problems loss of clarity victimless crimes The problem with applying knowledge Should the field endorse policy solutions The American society of criminology has issued a statement against capital punishment Is this an ideological or scientific stance Discussion 1 2 3 14 What is criminology They systematic study of 1 The processes of making law 2 The breaking of the law 3 The reaction to the breaking of law Who developed this definition Edwin Sutherland What is a criminologist One who studies the process of making the law breaking the law and reactions to breaking the law One who studies crime criminal and criminal behavior One who attempts to determine the causes of crimes What is illegal mala in se mala prohibita Wrongs in themselves acts that are morally wrong offenses against conscience i e rape murder assault Conduct that is prohibited by law although not inherently evil i e speeding smoking Legal definitions changing Behaviors criminalized as well as those regarded as deviating from non legal norms vary widely across time and locales Slavery Prohibition Spousal rape Abortion Modern day marijuana four loco All of us do not agree on what ought to be treated as a crime and what should not Criminal law reflects the interest of members of the society at large The consensus of society is something should be illegal so it is i e almost everyone agrees that murder should be prohibited so it is Relativity of law Consensus model Conflict Model The criminal justice system and criminal law operate on behalf of the rich and social elites with policies aimed at controlling the poor i e petty street crimes often carry harsher sentences that white collar offenses that steal millions of dollars i e crack v cocaine 100 1 sentencing disparity RICH PEOPLE CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING Paradigms in criminology Five major paradigms Rational choice individuals are able to make rational calculating choices regarding behavior Criminal choices are made when advantageous benefits consequences Positivism many distinct pathological conditions may be the genesis of criminal behavior Looking at biology physical characteristics DNA psychology IQ impulsivity and environmental exposure lead chemicals Interactionism reactions to persons and groups to particular behaviors results in being labeled criminal Labels reduce opportunities and acceptance into social groups and contribute to future criminality Critical criminology power elite define crimes and operate agencies of social control in their own interest preserving their position in society conflict model Integration crime can best be explained by combining two or more theoretical perspectives Lecture 2 2 4 14 Research methodology vocabulary Independent IV and dependent variables DV IV causes of Mental illness Biology DV outcome what we are attempting to explain Greed Poverty Murder rates Sexual crimes Substance abuse Oftentimes more difficult to establish than you would anticipate reciprocal relationships Crime and poverty Correlations and casualty Just because two items are consistently related correlated does not imply a causal connection Ex my having an umbrella handy every time it rains doesn t mean I control the weather Temporal i e time element Cross sectional data data collected at any one point in time Longitudinal data data collected at more than one point in time Ex snapshot Ex movie film Levels of analysis Macro groups Neighborhoods States Micro groups Individual To establish causality 3 criteria Correlation it is a necessary but insufficient condition Temporal ordering Spuriousness must be eliminated Lecture 3 2 6 14 Sources of crime statistics Early sources of statistics Local arrest numbers Court records Jail and prison population counts Medial accounts Contemporary efforts Official reports Victim surveys Self reports Uniform crime reports UCR FBI crime in the United States Started in 1930 18 000 law enforcement agencies reporting representing 95 or population 8 crimes listed index crimes homicide rape robbery aggravated assault burglary theft MV theft arson Results calculated as a rate crimes population x 100 000 to standardize Includes the Supplemental homicide report SHR Mostly consistent definition of crime across jurisdictions National figures can be broken down these are raw counts and represents a census Advantages of
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