03 27 2014 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 10 and 15 as well as the material covered in lecture and discussion Names Beccaria Lombroso factors Durkheim Essay on Crimes and Punishment document that brought science into criminology for the first time Deterrence Classical theory Born Criminal Measured physical traits to see which people would be criminals First biological theory Later on he expands to include mental illness and a few societal Mechanical Functionalism o Society held together by collective conscience o All believe and do the same things Organic Anomie o Worked well because of differences o Division of labor different types of people working together Functionalism o You can try to control crime as much as you want but it will never disappear Crime serves a valuable function purpose Allows people to bind together creates jobs allows for social change o Crime should be regulated Anomie o Crime and suicide increase in sad times and in times of super o This is because of normlessness the norms and regulations that calm society don t exist during super depression or prosperity prosperity Phineas Gage Had a spike driven through his head and turned from this nice law abiding family man to a total drunk criminal asshole First sign that different parts of the brain correlate with different actions behaviors Original support for phrenology Travis Hirschi Control Theory o Everyone is capable of committing crime o There really isn t a difference in their make up o Question is not why people commit crime but rather why people do not commit crime 4 elements of social control Theory of Self Control Thomas Hobbes social contract If benefits outweigh costs you re going to do it Contract unwritten understanding that people will give up some control in order to live in a governmental society with protection Kornhauser Attributed 3 reasons a community could be disorganized and therefore have a lot of crime o Poverty o Racial and ethnic heterogeneity o High residential mobility Shaw McKay Social Disorganization City Chicago into 5 zones o Outer zones more residential areas o 1 city center where businesses and manufacturing taking place o 2 zone of transition Cheap bad housing bad area where poor people live etc Zone of transition b c people move in and out of it a lot The only people who stay are those who cant get out and that s why you see a lot of crime there Robert Sampson Collective Efficacy Concepts Terms Atavism the average person Mechanic and organic solidarity See Durkheim Positivism Criminals are a biological throw back and never fully developed Criminals have more in common with human ancestors than with Everything that is not rational choice Looks at external factors not personal decision that may be causing crime Includes biological and sociological factors Functionalism See Durkheim General and specific deterrence General aimed at everyone ex We re punishing this person for this crime so don t you go and commit a crime or you ll get Specific punishing a specific person ex We re punishing you for punished too this crime don t do it again Human ecology Somatotyping Relationship that humans have with their environment Ecto endo mesomorph Depending on body type you re more likely to be a criminal Essentially skinny muscular and fat Mesomorph muscular criminal Zone 2 the zone of transition See Shaw Mckay Ethnic heterogeneity See K Collective efficacy How close a community is Good community o Comes together to keep crime and delinquency out of the neighborhood o Reprimand neighborhood children for being delinquent etc Characteristic of organized neighborhoods Mens rea and actus reus Mens Rea Mental Actus Reus Phyiscal Person must have motive and physical evidence to be committed Difference between murder mental physical and manslaughter just physical guardian Routine activities motivated offender suitable target absence of a capable Formulated after a lot of societal routines civil rights women starting to work etc How crime happens as a result of these three things From a policy stand point we have to work at limiting these three 3 primary elements of deterrence theory activities Severity Certainty Swiftness Determinism also crime as over determined There is a trait you have that makes you a criminal Societal factors have no impact Crime as over determined because these theories were so wrong more people had these traits than committed crime If these theories were right there would be more crime committed than there actually was 4 elements of social control theory family school peers Attachment emotional attachments stop crime from happening Commitment stakes in conformity Involvement more you do conforming activities less likely to commit crime Low self control Belief faith in the moral background of society s laws Low self control more likely to commit crime Level of self control is established and finalized by the age of 8 Broken windows theory Neutralization and drift common neutralizations Neutralization someone s rationalization of a crime they committed Ways you can avoid labeling yourself a criminal o Denial of victim o OTHER methods Drift o Noun state in between conformity and nonconformity where people can be o Verb action of drifting between Life course persistent and adolescent limited offending Life course persistent offenders begin early continue to spend life as criminals very small percentage of people Adolescent limited everyone else large portion of criminals Follow age crime curve Experience discontinuity in life There is a maturity gap in adolescence and they commit crimes then but later they aren t criminal Adoption and twin studies Nature vs Nurture nature AND nurture are important Probability of kid being criminal was if both biological and adoptive parents were criminal Second most probable criminal was biological Third most probable was adoptive Control theory assumptions about criminal motive Turning points and trajectories Instances between events where there is an opportunity for change Turning points can have either a good or bad influence on likelihood to commit crime If you do these turning points you re less likely to
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