Wednesday April 23 2014 6 48 PM Criminology an academic discipline that uses the scientific method to study the nature extent cause and control of criminal behavior Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey core interests of criminologists The development of criminal law The cause of law violations Methods used to control behavior Interdisciplinary involving two or more academic fields Criminal Justice System made up of the agencies of social control such as police departments the 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 a measure that is factual Reliable Measure A measure that produces consistent results from one measurement to another The subarea of criminal statistics crime measurement involves calculating the amounts and tends of criminal activity how much rime occurs annually Who Commits it Sociology of law Law and Society Socio legal studies is a subarea of criminology concerned with the role that social forces play in shaping criminal law and the role of criminal law in shaping society Some criminologist use innovative methods to test theory To test theories for example the theory that income inequality produces high crime rates they create databases that make it possible to investigate the relationship between an independent variable such as percentage of population living in poverty and a dependent variable such as neighborhood violent crime rates White Collar Crime Illegal acts that capitalize on a person s status in the marketplace White collar crimes 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 Chapter 1 Page 1 Penology Subarea of criminology that focuses on the correction and control of criminal offenders Rehabilitation Treatment of criminal offenders that is aimed at preventing future criminal behavior Capital Punishment The execution of criminal offenders the death penalty Mandatory Sentences A statutory requirement that a certain penalty shall be carried out in all cases of conviction for a specified offense or series of offenses Victimology The study of the victim s role in criminal events Using victim surveys to measure the nature and extent of criminal behavior and to calculate the actual costs of crime to victims Calculating probabilities of victimization risk Studying victim culpability in the precipitation of crime Designing services for crime victims such as counseling and compensation programs Criminals have been found to be at greater risk of victimization than non criminals Cesare Beccare 1738 1794 one of the first scholars to develop systematic understanding of why people commit crime Believed in the concept of utilitarianism In their behavior choices people want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain Classical Criminology Theoretical perspective suggesting that 1 people have free will to choose criminal or conventional behaviors 2 people choose to commit crime for reasons of greed or personal need and 3 crime can be controlled only by the fear of criminal sanctions Crime is attractive when it promises great benefits with little effort Crime that is or perceived to be severe certain and swift will deter criminal behavior Auguste Comte 1798 1857 Considered the founder of sociology argued that societies pass through stages that can be grouped on the basis of how people try to understand the world in which they live Primitive societies believe that inanimate objects have life Later social stages people embrace a rational scientific view of the world Positivism The branch of social science that uses the scientific method of the natural sciences and suggests that human behavior is a product of social biological psychological or economic forces Use of the scientific method to conduct research The scientific method is objective universal and culture free Predicting and explaining social phenomena in logical manner Empirical verification Science must be value free Scientific Method The use of verifiable principles and procedures for the systematic acquisition of knowledge Typically involves formulating a problem creating hypotheses and collecting data through observation and experiment to verify the hypotheses Manie Sans Delire denote what eventually was referred to as a psychopathic personality J K Lavater 1741 1801 studied the facial features of criminals and found that the shape of the ears nose and eyes and the distances between them were associated with antisocial behavior Franz Joeseph Gall and Johann K Spurzheim studied the shape of the skull and bumps on the head and concluded that these physical attributes were linked to criminal behavior Cesare Lombroso 1835 1909 known as the father of criminology began to study the cadavers of executed criminals in an effort to determine scientifically how criminals differed from non criminals Lombroso was soon convinced that serious and violent offenders had inherited criminal traits Biosocial Thory Approach to criminology that focuses on the interaction between biological and social factors as they are related to crime Sociological Criminology Approach to criminology based on the work of Quetelet and Durkheim that focuses on the relationship between social factors and crime Anomie A lack of norms or clear social standards Because of rapidly shifting moral values the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable Chicago School Group of urban sociologists who studied the relationship between environmental conditions and crime Crime was not a function of personal traits or characteristics but rather a reaction to an environment that was inadequate for proper human relations and development Socialization Process of human development and enculturation Socialization is influenced by key Chapter 1 Page 2 Socialization Process of human development and enculturation Socialization is influenced by key social processes and institutions 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 Critical Criminology The view that crime is a product of the capitalist system Developmental Theory The view that criminality is a
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