1 10 12 Introduction Human Behavior Human Behavior o This course will expose you to some of the most cutting edge research and it will also provide new and refreshing insights into the study of crime and criminals Explanations to criminal behavior o Neighborhoods Social disorganization theory code of the streets theory Good or bad parents are quintessential variables genetics o Parents o Poverty o Peers o Culture My friends told taught me to do it American dreams and focus on individuality o The list is in exhaustive Dominant criminological theories o Social disorganization theory Chicago o Social bonding theory o Social learning theory o What do all these theories have in common Social aspects of crime Only part of the reason people engage in crime o They all employ social factors as explanations for human behavior Criminological Theories o Why Sociology Most criminologists have received their degree in sociology Sociologists don t like genetics as an explanation of crime Haven t learned anything about personality traits 1 reason social explanations dominate Better and more progressive policies Behavior is changeable Belief Difficult to make policies for this reason Parents are resilient to change the way they raise their children Not your fault Ties in with other explanations These policies are very oppressive Biology genetics is dangerous The environment can patch up genetic problems Once we know the contributing factors then we can do something to fix it Criminology o Thus the study of crime and criminals is guided largely by ideology and disciplinary allegiances o But criminology is supposed to be interdisciplinary In practice this is not necessarily true Less than 2 of articles published in criminology journals are interdisciplinary Dominated by sociology Criminological Theories o Social explanations to crime continue to dominate the discipline of criminology Social bonding theory Hirschi s theory developed in 1969 is criminologists favorite theory Why o Is it supported by research Some support for research but not entire theory some problems too o Is it easy to understand o Sociological theories are not necessarily wrong but in isolation they leave us with an impoverished and incomplete understanding to human behavior o Ex Heart Disease Is it only due to social factors No it s a combination of social factors and genetics The Complexity of Human Behavior o In order to understand the causes of behavior we need to move away from a monolithic explanation of behavior and examine a range of difficult factors including Biology Genetics Environment Human Behavior behavior o We will examine the different biological and genetic components to o Word of caution there is no such thing as a crime gene o We will also examine how environmental and genetic biological factors act in combination to create behaviors Referred to as biosocial criminology o In addition we will also track an offender s life course from conception through adulthood Most criminology theories only examine antisocial behavior in adolescence and young adulthood Why Official offending peaks Adolescents are easy to study o Besides looking at offending in adolescents and adults we will also discuss risk factors during fetal development e g prenatal exposure to drugs alcohol and tobacco early childhood and late adulthood o This class is grounded in empirical research Based on published research Publication process Minimum standard of evidence Important because it leads us away from beliefs Course Material other classes o Some material may go against what you think or what you have learned in o Just remember if we always followed the status quo we would still think the earth is flat and the earth is the center of the universe In the 50s the cause of autism was believed to be from refrigerator mothers because the mothers were too cold during their pregnancy Death penalty o Virtually every criminologist is against the death penalty o Biological research was cited when the death penalty was abolished for juveniles and none was published from criminology or sociology 1 15 13 The Nature of Behavior What is aggression and Crime Classified as Anti social behavior A tendency to exploit or bring harm to others and to disobey common social rules o Direct Aggression overt and typically physical Punching hitting inflicting pain Males o Indirect Aggression Covert and typically verbal Females Some aggressive acts are frowned upon others are not Murder vs NFL Crime doesn t always equate to aggression and vice versa The Nature of Behavior Over the Life Course Now that we have a working definition of aggression we can examine it more directly o Most offenders commit less than 10 acts of crime year o When offenders aren t offending they live antisocially Severe drug and alcohol use on spare time Drinking all the time is antisocial behavior They have bad relationships with close relationships because of constant bad mood from drug abuse Financial problems from drug abuse It s hard to pinpoint actual effects of deterrence The more serious crimes are usually universal First let s look at whether antisocial behavior is stable throughout life o Is it stable or does it change What is Stability A general pattern of offending that persists over time A strong linkage among childhood behavioral problems cid 224 juvenile delinquency cid 224 and adult criminal behavior What do we mean by stability Two types of stability o Absolute stability absolutely no change in behavior 5 crimes committed each year If you score a 5 on a shyness scale today then you will score 5 next year No differences over time Person 1 o 3 felonies at age 18 o 3 felonies at age 35 o 3 felonies at age 50 o like automatons o Relative Stability refers to the rank ordering of individuals correlational analysis We can rank people on some trait or behavior Instead of testing shyness on a scale we rank subjects from most shy cid 224 most outgoing Then we wait 15 years and measure the same subjects Subjects would all rank in the same place as before o Although the absolute values can change o We can have relative stability without absolute o 80 85 of adolescents engage in some type of It s typically normal for adolescents to be stability delinquency deviant Patterns of behavior move in lock step throughout age groups People change WE ARE FOCUSED ON RELATIVE STABILITY Relative stability con t Number of felonies committed at different ages Age 18 A5 B4 C1 Age 25 A12 B10 C5 Age 33 A4 B2 C0