Introduction to CriminologyTerms and ConceptsPoliticization: The politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted.Criminology: The systematic study of (1) the processes of making law, (2) the breaking of law (pondering why people break the law), and (3) the reaction to the breaking of law.Correlation and Causation: Just because two items are consistently related (correlated) does not imply a casual connectionExample: my having an umbrella handy every time it rains doesn’t mean I control the weather.Spuriousness: not being what it purports to be must be eliminatedAre their elements outside of the one you are pointing to that are the actual cause.Ideology: basic beliefs or values, usually formed in early life, and through which people filter information.Conflict and Consensus Theory-Conflict: A belief that the law disproportionately reflects the interest of a powerful minority within society.Consensus: A belief that the law reflects the interest of most people in society more or less evenly.The Powerful vs. The MassesThe Dark Figure of Crime: the unknown and unknowable tally.Example: Tallying the number of crimes in regards to prison populationTotal CrimeOfficial ReportsVictim ReportsEcological Fallacy: An ecological fallacy is a logical fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data in an ecological study, whereby inferences about the nature of specific individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which those individuals belong.Example: StereotypesIndex Crimes: Part I of the UCR, consist of crimes known to the police, including both crimes the police themselves discover and crimes reported by citizens. Eight crimes comprise the Part I Index Crimes-Criminal HomicideForcible RapeRobberyAggravated AssaultBurglaryLarceny-TheftMotor vehicle theftArsonBounding as a way of addressing memory decay and telescoping (threaten the validity of a self-report)-Example: NCVS- This procedure produces a panel design that allows the same group of people to be queried over a period of time. It also provides the opportunity to control for the problem of telescoping by comparing the most recently reported victimizations with responses from the previous interview.Is criminology a science?Two essential components of science are its theoretical and its methodological branches.Theory and methods are integrally related in the scientific method of studying crime.Theory represents an effort to explain or make sense of the world, thus revolving around the “why” of crime, criminalization and similar concerns.Methodology refers to the techniques or methods that criminologists use as they attempt to determine the “whys” of crime.Hierarchy Rule and Series Victimization- Underestimate of the amount of crime that actually takes place, only reports most serious crimes. This can have the effect of understanding the extent of certain types of victimization.Quantitative and Qualitative data-Quantitative: statistical data (#), crime statisticsQualitative: stories, provides detailCross-sectional and Longitudinal data-Cross-sectional data: data collected at only 1 point in timeDefinitive point in time.Longitudinal data: data collected at more than 1 point in time.How many times have you been a victim in a crime, repeatedMacro and Micro Level of Measurement-Macro: societal- nations, states, citiesMicro: individualItemsUCR (Uniform Crime Reports)StrengthsConsistent definition of crimeTrend dataNational figures can be broken down—these are raw counts, and represent a “census”.WeaknessesSubject to political manipulation (i.e. unfound crime)Hierarchy RuleUnderestimate of the amount of crime that actually takes place, only reports most serious crimesDespite best efforts difference remain in definitions (ex. Illinois and rape, only state that takes in account male rape)Ecological FallacyMeasure of police activity rather than crime—officially reported crime (66-7)Competing styles of police management- reflects in crime numbers (results into odd figures)National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS)StrengthsEliminates reportingAffects overall countWeaknessesRape question redesign in 1992 produced much higher estimatesHousehold survey excludes institutions, like jails, and businessesFor example, excludes dorms.Victimless crimes and homicide not included (because they are dead, really important element)Series victimizations produces undercounting (similar to hierarchy rule)Self-Report Surveys- National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)Goal #1: To enhance the quantity, quality and timeliness of statistical data collected by law enforcement.Goal #2: To improve the methodology used for compiling, analyzing, and publishing crime data.StrengthsGood context of the crime, gives you more details, evolution of crime, understanding crime through collecting richer data, allows for the reporting of multiple offenses, collects more data on more crimes and more types of victims, individual risk factors.WeaknessesOverlaps the UCR, do not understand the error structure, does not include unreported crime, the program is cumbersome (demands a lot of input), few states have full implemented it, burden put on reporting agencies, voluntary, scope of data, unfamiliarity with the data because there is so much, makes it hard to analyze, huge breath of information, uncertainties with how young the system is.Crime Patterns/Correlates of Offending/Victimization1A. TimeEvening and Nighttime hours have more crimeSummer monthsDecember- holiday season (stress argument), less day light (biological effect)Weekends also have higher ratesFor example: drinking, they can get violent1B. Crime “clock” (UCR)Violent crime every 22 secondsMurder every half-hourRape every 6 minutesRobbery every minuteBurglary every 15 secondsTheft every 5 secondsCrime happens consistently throughout the day.2. Geographical AreaSouthern States: 37% of population/41% of rapes 45% of assaults (UCR)Northeastern States: 18% of population/15% of violent and 12% of property crime (UCR)Geographical- it is coolerLess povertyThe NCVS indicates that the West has the most crime howeverUrban PhenomenonMetropolitan areas have significantly higher crime rates than rural areasMore contact we have with strangersPoverty may be
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