Lewis CalemCCJS105- Sec 0205The “Science” of Criminology- The politicization of scienceo Science is commonly used to advance political claims Racism, sexism, environmentalism, fascism, …o Nearly every “ism” and ALL political groups attempt to claim the legitimacy of scienceo Establishing “facts” is the key to winning- The definition of criminologyo The systematic study of:o 1) The processes of making law 2) The breaking of law 3) The reaction to the breaking of lawo PoliticsTheory Criminal Justice- Is criminology a science?o Theory (explains why something happens)o Methods (Quantitative and Qualitative) Looking for patterns, consistencies. Statistical analysis Comparisons, Personal characteristics, unique aspects to the person/incident- What role does the field play in shaping policy?o 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 criminologists?- The state of criminology’s science: relatively weako We lack predictive powero Crime decline in 1991- However…o We’ve been able to discredit several proposed solutions such as: 1) Boot camps 2) Death penalty 3) Three-strikes legislation 4) DARE 5) Scared straight 6) Gun buy-backs- Nevertheless several of these programs remain. Why?o 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)o In a democracy we get to shape policy through voting. This is informed by ideology- The range of ideologyo Conservative (right): punitive and repressiveo Liberal (left): forgiving and rehabilitative - The problem in creating a scienceo What is “crime”?o The definition is not fixed and unchangingo 1) Legal definitiono 2) Social Harm (problems: loss of clarity, victimless crimes)- The problem with applying knowledgeo Should the field endorse policy solutions?o The American Society of Criminology has issued a statement against capital punishment. Is this an ideological or scientific stance?- Discussion groupso Relativity of crime (mala in se and mala prohibita) Mala in se- wrong because its evil; immoralo Ex/ Murder Mala prohibita- wrong because its prohibited by lawo Ex/ Prostitution; Gamblingo Conflict versus consensus assumptions Conflict (Marx)- laws are a form of repression by a ruling class that prevent people from doing certain things Consensus (Durkheim)- people of society create a set of rules/laws/standards that all should live byo The five ”paradigms” of criminology 1) Rational Choice- people choose to commit crimes when the cost benefit is in their favor 2) Positivism- People are compelled to commit crime by some sort of defect in themselves or it can be a defect in what they learned or who they hang out with. Inherently good people unless something has acted upon the person in a bad way. 3) Interactionalism- behavior is labeled as criminal and the state makes criminals by labeling them and it becomes sort of a self fulfilling prophecy 4) Critical- Any behavior deemed to be illegal is just a form of oppression; about 99% conflict theory. Anything deemed criminal is not inherently bad 5) Integration- takes bits and pieces from all of the different things and combines it to come up with a kind of universal outlook on crime and the role of the state and all that. Accepts both conflict and consensus to achieve a sort of balance of theoryMeasuring Crime- Catching the Wind with a SieveResearch Methodology—Vocabulary- Independent (IV) and dependent (DV) variableso IV: cause(s) ofo DV: outcome (what we are attempting to explain)- Does my assigning a paper produce the heedless death of students’ grandmothers?o Correlation and causality Just because two items are consistently related (correlated)does not imply a causal connection Example: my having an umbrella handy every time it rains doesn’t mean I control the weatherTemporal (i.e. Time) Element- Cross-sectional data: data collected at only 1 point in time- Longitudinal data: data collected at more than 1 point in timeLevels of Analysis- Macro: societal-- nations, states, cities- Micro: individualTo establish causality: 3 criteria- Correlation: it is a necessary but insufficient condition- Temporal ordering- Spuriousness must be eliminatedThe Dark Figure of Crime—The unknown and Unknowable Tally- Crimes Committed- Official Reports- Victim Reports3 general sources of crime statistics- Official reports- Victim surveys- Self-reportsUniform Crime Reports (UCR)—FBI Crime in the United States- Started 1930- 18,000 law enforcement agencies reporting representing 95% of pop.- 8 crimes listed—Index Crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, gag. assault, burglary, theft, MV theft, arson)- Results calculated as a rate (# crimes/population X 100,000) to standardize- Includes the supplemental homicide report (SHR)Advantage of the UCR- Consistent definition of crime- Trend data- National figures can be broken down—these are raw counts, and represent a “census”Limitations of the UCR- Subject to political manipulation (i.e. unfound crime)- Hierarchy Rule- when a number of crimes are committed, only the crimethat is classified as the highest offense is reported- Despite best efforts difference remain in definitionso Ex/ Illinois and rape- Ecological Fallacy- implies that group characteristics accurately portray characteristics about individualso Ex/ Everyone that lives in an area with a high murder rate is a murderer.- Measure of police activity rather than crime—officially reported crime (86.7)o Underestimate of the amount of crime that actually occursNational Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)- Started 1972- Household survey conducted by Census Bureau- Members older than 12 years are surveyed via telephone- 3 year inclusion/6 month intervals- Uses sampling to produce national estimatesNCVS strengths- Eliminates reporting- Design: reduces memory decay and telescoping seen in other self-reports surveys by boundingo Memory Decay: forgotten details, faded memory over timeo Telescoping: thinking of something beyond a time frame. This canoverstate actual crime numberso Bounding: setting boundaries. Tries to reduce telescoping and memory decayNCVS weaknesses- Rape question redesign in 1992 produced much higher estimates- Household survey excludes institutions, like jails, and
View Full Document