CCJS 105 Introduction to Criminology The Science of Criminology 01 29 13 The politicization of science used to advance claims on racism sexism etc Creating policies based on political affiliation Isms and political groups attempt to claim legitimacy of science Must establish facts to win debate aim to debunk ideas people invoke science for credibility To deny scientific claims is backward thinking theology is wrong Criminology The systematic study of 1 the processes of making law 2 the breaking of law and 3 the reaction to the breaking of law Politics Theory Criminal Justice Criminologists look at crime patterns fascinated by criminal motives Yes Criminology is a science Theory explains why something happens Methods quantitative statistics of crimes committed in past year and qualitative race hair color stories Why does Criminology as a science lack credibility Lacks predictive power Able to discredit several proposed solutions Boot camps doesn t reduce repeat offending death penalty doesn t reduce homicide rate in states that have don t have them three strike legislation DARE aggravates drug use scared straight counterintuitive gun buy backs Why do these programs remain Ideology set of beliefs values that all of us develop usually unconsciously about the way that the world is or ought to be Policy is shaped by voting in a democracy informed by ideology biases presumptions Range of ideology Conservative right punitive and repressive Liberal left forgiving and rehabilitative 01 31 13 The problem in creating a science evidence the field is NOT a science The definition of criminology is not fixed and unchanging Times geographic space cultures etc have different views on expectations of criminology Legal definition nulla poena sine lege no punishment without the law 1 2 Social harm problems loss of clarity victimless crimes Ex American Society of Criminology issued statement against capital punishment Should the field endorse policy solutions Ideological or scientific stance Ex Gun control Measuring Crime Adapted conventional methodologies psychological approach etc Vocabulary Research Methodology Independent IV and Dependent Variables DV IV cause s of motives ex socioeconomic status revenge lack of education biology alcohol drugs DV outcome what we are attempting to explain punishment Oftentimes more difficult to establish than you would anticipate reciprocal relationships crime and poverty poverty causes crime could be reverse Correlation and Causality Just because 2 items correlate doesn t imply causality Ex My having an umbrella handy every time it rains doesn t mean I control the weather Temporal Time Element Cross sectional data data collected at only 1 point in time ex snapshot Longitudinal data data collected at more than 1 point in time ex movie film Levels of Analysis Macro groups Gangs neighborhoods states nations Micro individual Genetic explanation height weight race To establish Causality 3 criteria first one then the other Correlation it s a necessary but insufficient condition Temporal ordering Spuriousness i e lying mirror correlation must be eliminated can make false conclusions based on this no relationship between two events 02 05 13 Official statistics victimization surveys self report use these to help triangulate The Dark Figure of Crime Total crime rate We don t know this but try to estimate it Prison numbers do a poor job of giving crime estimates Prisons discounted Sources of crime statistics Early source local arrest numbers court records jail population counts media accounts Contemporary efforts official reports victim surveys self reports Uniform Crime Reports UCR FBI Crime in the US Began 1930 18k law enforcement agencies reporting representing 95 of pop Official stats Victim survey Self report 8 crimes listed Index Crimes part 1 and part 2 offenses homicide rape robbery agg assault burglary theft MV theft arson kidnaping vandalism vagrancy Burglary breaking into a place and stealing something Robbery stolen off of somebody s person with a threat of force Theft larceny stealing without the threat of force Results calculated as a rate crimes pop x100k to standardize Includes the Supplemental Homicide Report SHR Advantages of the UCR Limitations of the UCR Mostly consistent definition of crime across jurisdictions standardized minimize repetition Trend data crime has bottomed out after declining fears that it may spike National figures can be broken down these are raw count and represent a census Subject to political manipulation unfound crime people in power unfind crimes to make things look better Hierarchy Rule multiple offenses only most serious offense reported Despite best efforts difference remain in definitions Illinois and rape Ecological Fallacy making inference about someone based on where they re from Ex because you re from a low income high crime area you must be a criminal Measure of police activity rather than crime 0 official report crime police can create more crime police discretion Only catches about 30 of actual crime other is called Dark Figure calculated using UCR NCVS and self report data National Crime Victimizations Survey NCVS Began 1972 Household survey conducted by Census Bureau Members older than 12 yrs are surveyed via telephone 3 yr inclusion 6 month intervals Uses sampling to produce national estimates Advantages of the NCVS Eliminate political manipulation reporting bias Gets at the dark figure Removes extenuating circumstance bounding initial interview throw out info call back later and get more info since last interview look below Bounding initial interview of victimization scrapped next interview compared to first interview to look for matching events so they can be reported solution to memory decay and telescoping Memory decay forgetfulness produces downward bias happened long ago can t remember facts of incident Telescoping over inclusion produces upward bias report victimization later or before it actually happened Disadvantages of the NCVS No homicide no victimless crimes can t interview dead people No homeless because only households are interviewed Excludes institutions like jails and businesses Can t interview anyone under 12 yrs may be child molestation going unreported Series victimizations domestic abuse only reported as one person victimized multiple times between reporting abuse person can t remember every instance of abuse over time period NCVS takes most recent victimization record it analogous to UCR
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