CCJ 3011 Exam 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to the Study of Crime Criminology Scientific study of the nature and extent of criminal behavior Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey core interest of criminologists o The development of criminal law o The cause of law violations o Methods used to control behavior Laws always evolve and change There are historical events that push laws to be what they are today o Ex North Carolina prohibits oral sex because sex is for procreation only Laws are enforced by punishment This is the way to control behavior Crime Any culpable action or inaction prohibited by law and punishable by the state as a misdemeanor or felony o Felony Serious offense such as murder rape and burglary Felonies are punishable by death or imprisonment for more than one year in a state prison larceny and disturbing the peace Typically punishable by less than a year in a local county jail or house of corrections Minor or petty crimes such as unarmed assault petty o Misdemeanor Criminal and Civil Law Criminal Law Violation against the state Punishment death incarceration fines payable to the state Proof beyond a reasonable doubt Civil Law Violation against an individual Punishment fines paid to the individual Preponderance of the evidence Evolution of Criminology Demonology Criminal Justice prior 1789 Arbitrary and cruel sentences Some crimes specified others not Punishments prior to 1789 Branding flogging mutilation drowning banishment beheading o Ex the head crusher guillotine Public punishment Classical Criminology Cesare Beccaria Italian scholar 1738 1794 mid eighteen century o Believed that in choosing behavior people act in their own self interest they want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain In every society people have free will Criminal solutions might be more attractive than lawful ones Criminal behavior is controlled by punishment This classical criminology influenced judicial philosophy and sentences were made so they were proportional to the seriousness of the crime o Let the punishment fit the crime Punishment must be swift certain and severe o American Justice System is not swift it takes 25 years to death Assumptions about humans sentence o Hedonistic o Rational Purpose of Punishment o Deter crime o Two types of deterrence General Deterrence Specific Deterrence General Deterrence The effect of punishment on potential offenders Potential offenders will weigh the cost of punishment in their decision to offend Specific Deterrence The effect of punishment on the individual who is punished The punished individual will weigh the cost of the punishment s he received in his her decision to offend in the future To keep him from doing it ever To keep him from doing it again Positivist Criminology Founder Auguste Comte 1789 1857 also considered the father of sociology o Human behavior is a function of external forces that are beyond individual control o Embraced the scientific method for studying crime Sociological Criminology Adolphe Quetelet o Belgian mathematician o Examined the influence of social factors on the propensity to commit crimes o Found that age sex season climate and population composition along with poverty were related to criminality Emile Durkheim o Views crime as a normal part of society o Author of Division of Labor 1 Mechanical Society Simple Society Small rural society 2 Organic Society more suicides because its more individualistic Modern advanced society Large urban population o As society shifts from mechanical to organic ANOMIE results ANOMIE state of confusion The globe is changing thanks to technology Chicago School Park Burgess Wirth Crime is not a function of personal characteristics but rather a reaction to the environment They challenged the assumption that criminals were biologically or psychologically impaired Places are not just comprised of people they have other things independent of the people that live there Critical Criminology Karl Marx 1818 1883 Conflict theory always a conflict between social classes Described oppressive labor conditions in industrial capitalism Indicted capitalism for producing conditions that support high crime Developmental Criminology Developed by Sheldon Eleanor Glueck Viewed criminality as a dynamic process influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics Integrated biological social and psychological elements Research Methods Survey o Most common type of research method used by sociologists Cross sectional survey at one point in time Longitudinal surveying subjects over time Ethnics in research o Researcher must get informed consent from subjects being studied o Researcher must be honest about reason and purposes of the study o Researcher must cause not harm to subjects being studied Chapter 1 Book terms and information Deviant behavior actions that depart form the social norm Some are considered criminal other merely harmless aberrations Criminal justice system made up of the agencies of social control such as police departments courts and correctional institutions that handle criminal offenders Criminological enterprise the various subareas included within the scholarly discipline of criminology which taken as a whole define the field of study Valid measure a measure that actually measures what it purports to measure factual measurement to another precipitator of the incident Reliable measure a measure that produces consistent results from one Victim precipitated homicide killings in which the victim is a direct positive White collar crime illegal acts that capitalize on a person s status in the marketplace May include theft embezzlement fraud market manipulation restraint of trade and false advertising Penology subarea of criminology that focuses on the correction and control of criminal offenders Criminologists now focus on stalking cybercrime terrorism and hate crimes rather than rape murder and burglary like they did 50 years ago Have found that mental illness is not a critical factor in explaining terrorist behavior and most terrorists are not psychopaths Capital punishment death penalty Victimology the study of the victim s role in criminal events Conflict theory the view that human behavior is shaped by interpersonal conflict and that those who maintain social power will use it to further their own ends Trait theory the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits Decriminalized having criminal penalties reduced rather than eliminated
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