Introduction to Criminology Exam 2 Study Guide Presented below is a listing of topics to be addressed on the upcoming 50 question multiple choice examination The list is not exhaustive This is intended as a rough approximation of the subject matter to be included Direct your attention to revisiting the material covered since the first exam Vold chapters 2 3 6 7 and 10 as well as the material covered in lecture and discussion Names Beccaria Wrote An essay on Crimes and Punishments 1764 o Revolutionary document which informed the US Constitution and was banned by the Vatican o First scientific approach to crime fruit of the Enlightenment o Ideas are at the foundation of nearly ALL modern criminal justice Classical Theory In order to deter crime penalties must be made known and applied with o Deterrence punishment to prevent crime from happening General making an example of someone Specific you yourself are punished to keep yourself from committing a crime in the future Swiftness punishment and crime occur closely together Severity imposed with just enough costs to outweigh the benefits of crime Certainty most important His idea s and benefits o A simple model of human choice that was based on the rational calculation of costs o Argued that punishments should be proportional to the seriousness of offenses so that the cost of crime always exceeds its reward Used to lead the criminal to not committing crime Classical Theory in our Legal Institutions o Mens rea and actus reus o Right to a speedy trial o Law is to be applied equally o Punishment designed to fit the crime not the criminal Lombroso Biological Criminology a person s appearance can help determine whether a person is likely to be a criminal Measured numerous physical attributes like sloping forehead shoulders ear placement skull size arm leg jaw length Relied on Darwin s theory of evolution to argue that criminals were logical throwbacks to an earlier evolutionary stage people more primitive and less highly evolved than their noncriminal counterparts atavistic o Atavism biological throwback Three major classes of criminals 1 born criminals atavistic reversions to a lower or more primitive form 1 3 of the total of offenders 2 3 insane criminals grouped idiots imbeciles paranoiacs sufferers from melancholia and those afflicted with general paralysis dementia alcoholism epilepsy or hysteria criminaloids did not have any special physical or mental characteristics but whose mental and emotional makeup were such that under certain circumstances the engage in criminal behavior majority of criminals Problem Determinism fate is determined Durkheim Social disorganization Chicago School Anomie Strain theory anomie is normlessness taking place amid social or economic upheaval Control theory Sociological insight the sum is greater than the tally of the parts o Group dynamics are essential to understanding behavior individual characteristics are only part of the story Laws crime is normal o Mechanical enforces uniformity of the members of the social group and represses any deviation from the norms of the time o Organic regulates the interactions of the various parts of society and provides restitution in cases of wrongful transactions Phineas Gage an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head destroying much of his brain s left frontal lobe and for that injury s reported effects on his personality and behavior Travis Hirschi Causes of Delinquency 1969 o Social control theory emphasizes bonds formed with 1 family 2 school and 3 peers o 4 elements of the bond presence 1 Attachment emotional affective bond psychological 2 Commitment rational component consequences those with nothing to lose can deviate Involvement idle hands weakest element 3 4 Belief in the moral worth of society s laws Thomas Hobbes social contract Argued that people naturally pursue their own interests without caring about whether they hurt anyone else war of each against all social contract something like a peace treaty that everyone agrees to because they are all exhausted from the war of each against all o Agree to social contract then you agree to grant the state the right to use force to maintain the contract Kornhauser 3 attributes of disorganized communities poverty racial ethnic heterogeneity high residential mobility Social disorganization produces delinquent subcultures which sustain delinquent values that are passed on Delinquency results from a community s inability to regulate behavior Robert Merton a definite pressure on certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist conduct the culture of any society defines certain goals that deems worth striving for o Ex American Goal to acquire wealth which is accumulated with personal value and worth is associated with a high degree of prestige and social status all persons cannot be expected to achieve the goals of the culture it is important that the culture place a strong emphasis on the institutionalized means and the necessity of following them for their own value some intrinsic satisfaction for all persons who participate in the culture o ex Athletics the sport itself must provide enjoyment even if the person does not o the phrase it s not whether you win it s how you play the game expresses the notion that the primary satisfaction comes from following the institutionalized means rules rather than achieving the goal winning win Anomie 1 The culture places a disproportionate emphasis on the achievement of the goal of accumulated wealth and maintains that this goal is applicable to all persons 2 The social structure effectively limits the possibilities of individuals within these groups to achieve this goal through the use of institutionalized means High crime rate in America because o cultural imbalance the imbalance between the strong cultural forces that valued the goal of monetary success and the much weaker cultural forces that valued the institutional means of hard work honesty and education o Distribution of criminal behavior is said to be a sort of mirror image of the distribution of legitimate opportunities being relatively concentrated in the lower classes and relatively absent in the upper classes Shaw McKay if a community is not self policing and imperfectly policed by outside agencies some individuals will exercise unrestricted freedom to express their
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