The study of the processes of making laws the breaking of the law Final Exam Study Guide Criminology and the reaction to the breaking of the law Dark Figure Crimes We don t know how much crime takes place because it is not all reported We need better estimations to help fix this can use o Official statistics o Victimization surveys o Self report data UCR Unified Crime Reports Started in 1930 Information is collected by the police then forwarded to the FBI 8 crimes listed index crimes o 4 property crimes Burglary Theft Motor Vehicle Arson o 4 personal crimes Homicide Rape Robbery Aggravated Assault Results calculated into crime rates Strengths o Of crime of population X 100 000 o Standardizes rates which makes them easy to compare among places o Most consistent definition of crime across jurisdiction o Trend and longitudinal data information collected across time allows examining changes over time and for establishing correct temporal order o National figures can be broken down raw accounts and represent a census Limitations o Subject to manipulation stop counting crime unfound crime o Hierarchy rule only count the most serious crime when more than Ex robbery and homicide only count homicide o Ecological fallacy tourists adding to the crime rates even if they don t one happens live there o Measure police activity rather than crime police create more crime NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey Started in 1972 Household survey conducted by census bureau Members over the age of 12 are surveyed over the telephone 3 year inclusion 6 month intervals Use sampling to produce national estimates Strengths o Eliminates report bias o Uses bounding giving the person memorable points in time as markers for them to remember situations ex 911 to fix problems with survey methodology Ex memory decay forgetfulness and telescoping over inclusion o Address dark figures o A lot of information is gained on just a few crimes Limitations o Cannot compare pre and post statistics o Surveys exclude institutions like jail and businesses o Victimless crimes and homicide not included o Under reporting o Series victimization analogous to the hierarchy rule Quantitative and Qualitative Data Quantitative o Taking observations and taking analysis of these to asses the patterns of the facts ask questions and try to relate everything back to the most important fact for the case take surveys o Numbers Qualitative Crime Patterns Age o Investigations to understand stories you cant take surveys o Stories o Most crime committed by young people mostly under 25 o 15 21 highest crime Kids are trying to fit in experimental stage cave into pure Gender pressure o Male dominant o Testosterone is the key men have excess which drives aggression o Females have higher IQs then men so they think things out before they act men cannot do that react with violence Geographic o Rural areas are safer than suburban o Southern states have more crime o Most crime happens in public o Urban inner cities poverty has most crime Race o African Americans make up 39 arrests for violent crime and 50 for homicide Class o The lower the stature the more the crime o Overwhelming connection between poverty and crime Conflict vs Consensus Theories conflict theory says that the system is thought to be run by the wealthy because they own all the resources Conflict Theory Those in power make the laws to maintain their power Consensus theory people united by common interests often against other groups Victim offender overlap Criminal records tend to be the same victims often know their perpetrator Mala In Se Crimes bad in themselves o Murder rape Mala Prohibita Society says its bad o Gambling drugs o Many are victimless crimes Actus Reus Mens Rea The act has to occur Someone thought about it planned it acted it out Intent Criteria to Establish Casual Relationship Correlation necessary but insufficient condition Temporal ordering one proceeds the other Spuriousness must be eliminated o Eliminate lurking variables have so we eliminate it Ideology and Politics Democracy We shape policy by voting Conservative Punitive Repressive Liberal Forgiving and Rehabilitative Independent and dependent variables Ex a third element that is not as relevant as the other two we IDEOLOGY A SET OF IDEAS AND BELIEFS values beliefs and norms Independent stands alone and dependent variable changes if the independent does Cross sectional and longitudinal data Compares age groups at a single time and examines an individual over a span of years respectively Macro micro Large neighborhoods or societies small scale individuals Emile Durkheim Important Figures Modernization of societies the processes of social change as part of the development from the more primitive mechanical form of society into the more advances organic form Crime is normal functionalism o Collective conscience totality of social likeness o There is pressure for uniformity and diversity in society individuals must give up something personal sacrifice inevitable not all will sacrifice Strain and anomie Anomie normlessness happens in periods of social change gap between all the things you want and the things you have increases both crime and suicide rates because people want all this stuff and society takes time to tell them what they can and cant have breakdown in social order as a result of loss of standard o People become dethatched from their normal lives removes them from traditional roles o Normlessness means human goals are unregulated Mechanical Society o Punishment stable not dependent on high or low volume of crime o Uniformity really basic societies simple everyone getting food from animals similar people o Everyone has the same job no fighting for power because all are equal o Each social group is isolated from all other societies o Citizens do the same thing and hold the same values Organic Society anomie o Different groups of people mingling together crime is a function of o Different segments of society depends on each other in a highly organized division of labor law regulates differences o Volume of crime would increase during periods of social change o As more modernized more behavior is tolerated o More diversity in jobs people take on more specialized occupations no longer doing the same job as everyone else o Causes stratification in classes and social status o Gemeinshachft community mechanical Gessellschaft society organic Cesare Beccaria an essay on crime and punishment Deterrence drives
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