_________________ DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR: TEST ONE NOTES Chapter One: Criminology and the Sociological Perspective Sociological criminology: an understanding of crime and criminal justice Sociological Perspective… stresses that people are social beings more than individuals - society shapes their behavior, attitudes and life chances Emile Durkheim - social forces influence our behavior and attitudes, even suicide has social roots Social structure: how a society is organized in terms of social relationships and social interaction- horizontal: social and physical characteristics of communities and the networks of social relationships to which an individual belongs- vertical: known as social inequality, is how a society ranks different groups of people example: gender, race, social class, etc. C. Wright Mills Private troubles: if a few individuals are unemployed, then their private troubles are their own fault. But if masses of individuals are unemployed, structural forces must account for their bad fortune Public issues: personal troubles result from the intersection of their personal biography with historical and social conditionsSociological imagination: ability to understand the structural and historical basis for personal troubles - once acquired, one is better to understand and to change the social forces underlying their private troubles Debunking motif: things are not always what they seem and expose false claims about reality - crime and victimization are public issues rather than private troubles Rise of Sociological Criminology Norms: standards of behaviorDeviance: behavior that violates those norms and arouses negative social reactionsCustoms: norms remain unwritten and informalSocial control: how customs are enforced Laws: more formal norms that are written - people would attribute crime to religious forces Classical School of Criminology: Adolphe Quetlet - crime rater where higher for young adults, men and the nonpoorEmile DurkheimSociological paradigm- deviance will always exist because social norms are never strong enough to prevent to all rule breaking - normal part of everyday living Punishment of deviance clarifies social norms and reinforces social ties among those watching the punishing - cannot have social change without having deviance Robert K. Merton: Anomie theorydeviance to the poor’s inability to achieve economic success in a society that highly values itCrime, Deviance and Criminal LawCriminology: study of making laws, of the breaking of laws, and of society’s reaction to the breaking of lawsCrime: behavior that is considered so harmful that it is banned by a criminal lawDeviance is a relative concept: whether a given behavior is judged deviant depends not on the behavior itself but one the circumstances under which it occurred; deviance is not a quality of a behavior, bt what other pople thingk about the behavior example: killing Deviance is relative in time: what is considered deviant in one time period may not be considered deviant in a later period and vice versa example: use of weed and coke Consensus and Conflict in the Creation of Criminal Law Consensus theory: assumes agreement of opinions of different people on what they social norms of behavior are and should beFormal laws represent the interests of all segment of the public People obey laws because they reflect their values When crime and deviance occur, they violate norms and punishment of the behavior is needed to ensure social stability Conflict theory: assumes that members of the public disagree on what’s considered socially appropriate - their disagreement reflects their disparate positions based on inequality of wealth and power Laws represent the powerful and help the ruling majority maintain their social position - powerful may commit crimes, but since they determine which laws are created, they are often ignoredGoals of Criminal Law1. Help keep the public safe from crime and criminals2. Articulate society’s moral values ad concerns3. Protect the rights and freedoms of the nation’s citizenry by preotecting it from potential governmental abuses of power (rule of law)Legal Distinctions in types of CrimeMala in se crimes- evil in themselves- behaviors that violate traditional norms and moral codesexample: violent and property crimes Mala prohibita crimes- wrong only because they are prohibited by law- violate contemporary standards example: illegal drug use and white collar crimes Felonies: crimes punishable by more than 1 year in prisonMisdemeanors: crimes punishable by less than 1 yearCriminal IntentActus reus (actual act): actual criminal act of which the defendant is accused Mens rea (guilty mind): defendant committed a crime knowingly Legal Defenses to Criminal Liability Accident or mistake Ignorance of the LawDuress: narrowly defined to mean fear for one’s life or safety Self-defense: prevent an offender from harming you or someone elseEntrapment: someone commits a crime only because plead insanityInsanityResearch Methods in Criminology Independent variable: variable that does the influencingDependent variable: variable that is influenced Surveys: administration of a questionnaire to some group of respondents who are interviewed either face to face in their homes or another location - we can generalize the results of a random sample to the entre population Used to gather 3 types of info.:1. Public opinion on crime 2. Self-report data on crime and delinquency3. Criminal victimization Experiments are assigned randomly either an experimental group or a control groupLongitudinal studies: same people are studied over time _______________________________________________________________________________Chapter Three: Measurement and Patterning of Criminal Behavior Measuring CrimeUniform Crime Reports (UCR): massive data collection from almost all the nation’s police precincts Part I Crimes (most serious crimes): only cleared if anyone is arrested or death of prime suspect Violent Crimes:- homicide, rape, robbery, assault Property Crimes:- burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson How a Crime Becomes OfficialA crime typically becomes known to the police only if the victim reports the crime60% of crimes are not reported to the police, so, many crimes remain unknown to the police and do not appear in the UCRNot all police report crimes - may be too busy or crime not too serious Crimes appearing in the UCR is smaller than the number that actually occurs