JLC 205 Study Guide Lectures 1 and 2 Lecture 1 Basic Overview behavior Criminology is the study of the forms causes and reactions to criminal The Evolution of Criminology 1 Theological 1200 1600 very spiritual 2 Metaphysical 1700s human choice and rationality 3 Scientific 1800s to present actual scientific research measuring social behavior All by Auguste Comte Deviant behavior is outside of the norm Deviant appearances getting in someone s personal space Deviance does not always mean bad Emile Durkheim French Sociologist 1800 Crime is NORMAL and a healthy part of a functioning society Crime fits into 2 major legal areas 1 Mala in se Crimes to be evil ex murder 2 Mala in prohibita Behaviors that are illegal because we have decided to prohibit them ex speeding gambling Undercriminalization A large group of people believe that a behavior that is legal should have more restrictions EX Michael Duke CEO of Walmart Overcriminialization A large group of people in society that believe the laws against something are just to strict EX England 1960s Music Ban and Radio Rock Models of Criminal Law 1 Consensus Model As a society we have a consensus on what is right and wrong this is then reflected in laws 2 Conflict Model A society made up of many interest groups that are in battle of what should be written in law Who has the most money and control usually gets what they want Methods of Measuring Crime Funnel Effect opportunities for people to get out of this effect Criminal incidents leave the criminal justice process at various points Uniform Crime Report UCR this is standardized Crimes known to law enforcement police have to be notified about crime and then they write a report UCR is divided into 2 parts 1 Part 1 offenses index Include murder rape robbery motor vehicle theft and arson 2 Part 2 offenses Not used in crime report Include prostitution vandalism etc Part 2 has much less stability then part 1 Lots of crimes are not included in this crime rate Weaknesses of UCR Official data is only police reports Hierarchy Rule only counting serious events missing info Aggregate level Street crime emphasis Classification and report changes Redesigning the UCR NIBRS National Incident Based Reporting System included much more detail very few people use this NIBRS takes a long time to report although it is better Dark Figure of Crime All of the crimes that get unreported and no record of them taking place Representing the unknown National Crime Victimization Survey NCVS largest data collections People are randomly picked over 6 months Logic to get a larger idea of unreported crime Weaknesses Answers might not be accurate problems with memory truth also all telephone based National Youth Survey NYS victimless crimes captured more crimes reported Weaknesses Memory problems telling the truth Alternative Data Gathering studies and strategies Participant observations case studies life histories multi method studies Spurious Relationships Relationships where the cause of the relationship is due to a fact not being measured Ex why do teenage boys commit so much crime hormones deviant influences don t care attitude The point HIGH CRIME Lecture 2 Trend and Correlations of Crime The recession and crime some people argue that this makes crime increase by burglary embezzlement etc Could argue that it can cause crime to decrease because there is too much to lose by committing a crime Currently there is a small crime drop during the recession but crime was previously decreasing Crime was increasing until the early 1980s In 2000 to the present the crime rate has been declining like the same in 1965 Four major correlations of crime 1 Age 2 Gender 3 Socioeconomic status 4 Race ethnicity Age and Crime Criminals tend to be young There is a spike in adolescence a peak in early adulthood and rapid decline in adulthood Gender and Crime Crime types matter ex prostitution and child abuse are usually committed by women Males commit more crimes then females Social Class and Crime More controversial because there is more disagreement Bimodal relationship crime is higher with lower class stays low with middle class and goes high again with the rich Typical prisoner is someone of extremely low incomes very little education etc People of higher class can navigate the legal system Race and Crime Positive correlation 1 in 9 black males ages 20 34 are currently behind bars 9 3 2 6 are Hispanic 1 1 are white Latino crime historically has been dropped from sample groups Mass Media and Crime Catharsis hypothesis and perception hypothesis if you involve yourself in violent things video games watching TV commit less crime because you are getting it out of your system Perception exposure to a lot of bad things increases your chance of committing crime Classical Criminology and Deterrence Classical school of criminology Metaphysical Era mid 1700s rejected spiritualistic approach free will and rationality The social contract Thomas Hobbes in society we surrender some freedoms to ensure protection of our natural rights Cesare Beccaria wrote essays on crime and punishment proposed reform Punishments should be certain serve and swift Jeremy Bentham Utilitarianism man is hedonistic a pleasure seeker Early Deterrence Theory Assumptions that humans have free will we make the decision to commit crime what maximizes our benefits Deterrence Theory Research Era 1 objective properties of punishments Era 2 Objective Properties of Punishment Many crime types Era 3 Cross selection perceptions measured self report data Asking people there own perspectives Problem measuring everything at once Era 4 Perceptual Properties of Punishment Longitudinal current perceptions of risks time laps self report Problem Still not capturing perceptions Era 5 Perceptual Properties of Punishments scenario based design Creating a hypothetical situation and asking people what they would do