Term
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Definition
| A systematic explanation composed of statements indicating an outcome's causal and associated elements. |
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Term
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Definition
| Starting point for a theory. A statement about human nature assumed to be true, but not tested yet. |
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Term
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Definition
| Proposed cause of crime or reason something happens. |
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Term
| Akers Categories of Theories |
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Definition
| Theories of Making Laws & Theories of Criminal and Deviant Behavior |
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Term
| Theories of Making and Enforcing Laws (Akers) |
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Definition
| Asks: Why is a certain thing allowed and why is it wrong to do something? |
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Term
| Theories of Criminal and Deviant Behavior (Akers) |
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Definition
| Individual level offending, what factors caused the individual to commit the crime. Why is there a higher rate in some areas or among some people? |
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Term
| Theory Evaluation (Akers) |
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Definition
| Empirical Validity, Logical Consistency, Broad Scope, Parsimony, Testability, Usefullness in Implementing Policy |
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Term
| Emprical Validity (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| To be tested, Does the research support the theory? |
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Term
| Logical Consistency (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| Does the theory make sense? Is it internally consistent? |
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Term
| Broad Scope (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| Does the theory have a wide scope in phenomena? Theory can explain more is better than a theory that explains less. |
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Term
| Parsimony (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| Using a few concepts or causal mechanisms is better than many concepts or causal mechanisms. |
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Term
| Testability (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| A theory has to be able to be proven through experiment using empirical (measurable) data. |
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Term
| Usefullness in Implementing Policy (Theory Evaluation, Akers) |
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Definition
| A theory should be able to develop a social policy to fix a problem. |
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Term
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Definition
| Social movement in the late 1700's and early 1800's as a reaction to arbitrariness and brutality of governmental systems of the time. Call for reform due to corruption. Used humanistic concepts of law and criminal justice system, referring to human nature as a rationale to make policy. |
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Term
| Social Contract between States and Citizens (Classical School Features) |
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Definition
| Idea of the government serving the people as a response to how government at the time was served by the people and only small amount of freedom given enough to protect people's rights. |
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Term
| Free Will (Classical School Features) |
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Definition
| All people are guided by their ability to make their own choices. |
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Term
| Hedonism (Classical School Features) |
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Definition
| All behaviors are guided by the pursuit of pleasure and to minimize pain. |
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Term
| Free Will and Hedonism leads to... (Classical School Features) |
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Definition
| ...the reason why all crime is committed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Social movement in the mid-1800's and early 1900's as a reaction to the classical school. Determined that behavior is determined by biological, psychological, and social traits. Scientists, doctors, scientific exploration of human mind used to determine why crime occurs. |
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Term
| Scientific Proof (Positivist School Features) |
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Definition
| The demand for fact and proof determined through objective experimentation and empirical data |
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Term
| Deterministic (Positivist School) |
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Definition
| Behavior is determined by other things. The reason why one thing happens is only because this other thing. |
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Term
| Rehabilitation (Positivist School) |
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Definition
| Idea that people can be treated or changed for the better. |
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Term
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Definition
| Study of human behavior through the use of hypothesis, research methods, systematic observations, gathering of evidence, and objective fact. |
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Term
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Definition
| People choose not to commit crime because people fear legal consequences. Assumptions are that criminals have free will to make calculations and choose to violate the law in order to pursue pleasure. |
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Term
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Definition
| Punishment focusing on the effect on the specific individual. One individuals punishment prevents that person from committing crime. |
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Term
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Definition
| Preventing crime based on punishment that is used as an example for other individuals, where a person doesn't want the punishment someone else received. Focuses on the effect a punishment has on the general population. |
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Term
| Severity (component necessary for deterrence) |
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Definition
| Punishment should be just severe enough to outweigh the potential gain of a criminal act. Most emphasized in the United States. |
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Term
| Certainty (compnent necessary for deterrence) |
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Definition
| Probability of apprehension and punishment must be high for punishment to deter. |
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Term
| Celerity (component necessary for deterrence) |
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Definition
| The quicker the punishment is applied, the more useful it will be. |
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Term
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Definition
| In 1876, wrote “The Criminal Man”, says criminals are physically different from law-abiding citizens. |
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Term
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Definition
| The born criminal. While most individuals evolve, some devolve, becoming primitive. Evolutionary throwbacks are the most violent criminals in society and identified through their visible stigmata. |
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Term
| Insane Criminal (Lombroso) |
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Definition
| A person commits crime due to some kind of mental illness or drug usage. |
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Term
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Definition
| A normal person put in the right situation would cause to commit crime. |
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Term
| Too Deterministic (Criticism of Lombroso) |
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Definition
| Determined that if one had a atavistic stigmata, one must be a criminal, no other option. |
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Term
| Not Objective to begin with (Criticism of Lombroso) |
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Definition
| Problem is that the study determined the characteristics of prisoners as criminals and characteristics of soldiers as law-abiding. Did not take in to account that a lot of prisoners were not actually criminals and assumes all soldiers are high in moral standing. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evolutionary theory describing how all living things reside on a continuum of reproductive behavior between r-selected and K-selected. Both behavior types are used for the purpose to increase chance of genetic material to be passed on. |
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Term
| r-selected (r/K Selection) |
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Definition
| Rapidly producing offspring and investing little into long term care. “Strength in numbers”. These people are self interested, not cooperative, aggressive, deceptive, prone to cheating, and irresponsible. More likely to commit crime, especially rape as an attempt to pass genes to later generations. |
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Term
| K-selected (r/K selection) |
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Definition
| Emphasizes on few offspring and committing a great deal of energy into their upbringing. |
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Term
| Criticism of r/K Selection Theory |
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Definition
| Relatively low number of offspring produced from rape. Since it is not a successful, this behavior should die out. |
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Term
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Definition
| Social structure exert definite structures, not biology. Groups subject to pressures commit crime. The crimes are committed by normal people who are put in these social situations. The “American Dream” is the goal, a goal to be financially stable through accepted ways to achieve these goals. |
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Term
| Disjuncture between Goals and Means (Merton's Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| When the goals in society and the legitimate ways to achieve these goals can not occur together, anomie occurs. Strain comes from this normlessness because capitalistic goals of society encourages crime. |
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Term
| Conformity (Adaptations to Strain, Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| Normal people who accept the cultural goals of success and the legitimate means to achieve them. |
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Term
| Innovation (Adaptations to Strain, Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| People who strive to achieve the cultural goals of success but reject the legitimate means to achieve these goals. Criminals who commit income producing crimes. |
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Term
| Ritualism (Adaptations to Strain, Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| People who reject the cultural goals of success in society, but still performs these legitimate means. These are people who have given up on success and go through the motions of everyday lift. |
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Term
| Retreatism (Adaptation to Strain, Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| People who reject the cultural goals of success in society and the legitimate goals to achieve them. These people are the dropouts of society like homeless and drug addicted people. |
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Term
| Rebellion (Adaptation to Strain, Anomie Theory) |
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Definition
| People who neither accept not reject the goals and the means to achieve these goals. These are people who look for other goals or other means of achieving goals by revolting against the system. |
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Term
| Criticism of Anomie Theory (Merton) |
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Definition
| This theory only focuses on financial strain, while there may be other strains that can attribute to crime. |
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Term
| Agnew's General Strain Theory |
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Definition
| A micro-level theory that expands on earlier strain theories by explaining most types of crime, not just lower class neighborhood crimes. There are other strain other than the disjuncture between goals and means. Strain increases the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions and people adapt to strain by coping or with a deviant adaptation. |
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Term
| Sources of Strain (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| Failure to achieve positively valued goals, Removal of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli. |
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Term
| Failure to achieve positive valued goals - Sources of Strain (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| Disjuncture between aspirations and expectations. Gap between expectations and actual achievements, Discrepancy between fair or just outcome and the actual outcome. |
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Term
| Removal of Positively Valued Stimuli - Sources of Strain (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| A loss of something good in life that causes a negative emotion. Example of losing a loved one. |
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Term
| Presentation of Negatively Valued Stimuli - Sources of Strain (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| Example of coping with an illness, child abuse, or even an argument with someone. |
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Term
| Cognitive Coping (Legitimate Coping) |
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Definition
| Minimize importance of adversity, maximize positive aspects a.k.a. silver lining, accept personal responsibility. |
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Term
| Behavioral Coping (Legitimate Coping) |
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Definition
| Avoidance of the situation that causes strain or substituting the goals with a goal that has less strain. |
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Term
| Emotional Coping (Legitimate Coping) |
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Definition
| Directly addresses the negative emotion. Therapeutic methods, like talking to friends, exercise, listening to music, drinking alcohol. |
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Term
| Constraints and Dispositions (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| The factors that determine legitimate coping or illegitimate coping (crime). |
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Term
| Key Constraints (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| Conventional social support (Friends and family), perception of formal and informal social control (thoughts on getting away with crime), and Community or contextual variables. (available gyms, bars, jobs, etc). |
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Term
| Key Dispositions (Agnew's General Strain Theory) |
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Definition
| Beliefs (what do you believe?), Temperament (impulsive or not?), Prior Learning (habits used to cope), Delinquent peers (friends' behaviors). |
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Term
| Early Biological Theories |
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Definition
| Very deterministic views that describes crime as a result of inborn abnormalities, not a rational choice and ignores social environment. |
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Term
| Physiognomy (Biological Theories) |
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Definition
| In the 1770's, Sought to identify facial features of people who committed crimes. Examples are men without beards, women with beards, weak chins, and shifty eyes as criminal traits. |
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Term
| Phrenology (Biological Theories) |
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Definition
| In the 1790's-Early 1800's, different parts of the brain controlled different activities and thinking. Bumps on the head indicated areas of the brain that were over-developed. Feeling the head could predict behavior. |
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Term
| Somatotypes (William Sheldon 1940) |
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Definition
| A person's body build associated with their behavioral tendencies, life expectancy, disease, and temperament. Experimented on 200 males, age 15-21. |
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Term
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Definition
| Short, soft, and fat people. |
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Term
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Definition
| Skinny, flat, and fragile people. |
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Term
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Definition
| Muscular and athletic, most likely to commit crimes, especially violent crimes. |
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Term
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Definition
| Criminal behavior is inherited and it runs in families. There isn't a bad person, but a group of bad people. |
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Term
| Family Studies (Genetic Theories) |
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Definition
| Evaluated similarities in behavior, assuming a genetic link. Does not take in to account the social and environmental factors. Can't assess genetic vs. environment, both factors are common among the samples. |
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Term
| Twin Studies (Genetic Studies) |
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Definition
| Evaluated biologically identical twins to see if behavior is the same. Concordance rates or frequency of twins having the same behavior was low, even when twins were raised in the same family. Ideal to have twins raised by different families separately, but almost impossible to perform study due to ethical reasons. |
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Term
| Adoption Studies (Genetic Studies) |
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Definition
| Can compare the influence of genes with influence of social environment. Compared adopted child's criminality with criminality of biological parents and adoptive parents. Found that it is only a genetic predisposition, not a deterministic influence. |
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Term
| XYY Supermale (Genetic Studies) |
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Definition
| People with an extra “Y” chromosome. Some studies report having slightly higher proportion of these people in prisons than in general population, commonly in mental institutions. Criticism of this study says that there are just too few of them to explain criminality in general. |
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Term
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Definition
| People who have a low conscious level and shows no remorse for wrongs done. |
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Term
| Antisocial Personality Disorder |
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Definition
| A person who shows a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since the age of 18 years, as indicated by 3 or more of the following: failure to conform to social norms, deceitful, irritable and aggressive, consistently irresponsible, and lack of remorse. |
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Term
| Traumatic Socialization (Causes of Antisocial Personality) |
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Definition
| People who are separated from their mothers at age 1 to 3, have a higher chance of antisocial personality. |
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Term
| Neurological Disorder (Causes of Antisocial Personality) |
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Definition
| Lower skin conductive levels link to autonomic nervous system have higher chance of antisocial personality. |
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Term
| Brain Abnormality (Causes of Antisocial Personality) |
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Definition
| People who need greater brain stimulation have higher chance of antisocial personality. |
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Term
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Definition
| Says that someone “must be” because of some reason |
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Term
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Definition
| Says that someone “could be” or “might be” based on a factor that could attribute to the problem. |
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Term
| Criminal Personality (Caspi and Colleagues) |
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Definition
| Greater criminal participation is positively associated with negative emotionality and negatively associated with constraint. |
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Term
| Constraint (Caspi Criminal Personality) |
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Definition
| Made of measures of traditionalism, harm avoidance, and control. |
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Term
| Negative Emotionality (Caspi Criminal Personality) |
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Definition
| Made of aggression, alienation and stress reaction. |
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Term
| Criteria for Criminal Personality (Caspi) |
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Definition
| Criminal personality does not endorse conventional social norms, does not avoid thrills, does not act in a cautious manner, and does get angry, anxious, and irritable. |
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Term
| Social Disorganization Theory (Shaw & McKay) |
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Definition
| Leads to a breakdown of social control in areas of poverty, high residential mobility, and ethnic heterogeneity. Zone II in the spatial distribution of crime. |
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Term
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Definition
| The study of relations of the organism to environment. |
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Term
| Spatial Distribution of Crime (Burgess and Park) |
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Definition
| Crime in certain areas. Determined concentric circles, where neighborhoods start at a central business district, and then expand. Zone I = central business district, Zone II = worst area to live, Zone III to V become better in regards to living condition. |
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Term
| Poverty (Role in Social Disorganization) |
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Definition
| People who are poor can only afford to live in these areas, people who are immigrants live in these areas as well. |
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Term
| Residential Mobility (Role in Social Disorganization) |
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Definition
| High rates of moving from one home to another causes there to be a lack of community. No consistency in neighbors, so people are not looking out for each other. |
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Term
| Ethnic Heterogeneity (Role in Social Disorganization) |
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Definition
| Different backgrounds and languages make it difficult to form relationships. Many ethnic groups and different cultures lead to lack of community. |
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Term
| Routine Activities Theory (Felson & Cohen) |
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Definition
| Opportunity is a necessary condition for crime to happen. Theory focuses on situations of crimes or situation when a crime occurs. Rate of criminal victimization is high when there is a convergence of time and space of the three elements: Motivated offender, suitable target, and absence of capable guardians. A macro level view that spans space and time and emphasizes victim behavior and decisions. |
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Term
| Motivated Offender (Routine Activity Theory) |
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Definition
| A rational offender who is always assumed to be present and can be anyone. |
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Term
| Suitable Targets (Routine Activity Theory) |
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Definition
| Must be of value in some way, must have inertia or the ability to be moved, can be visible to the offender, and accessible to the offender. |
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Term
| Capable Guardians (Routine Activity Theory) |
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Definition
| Police protection, other people present, security cameras, strength in numbers, time spent at home. |
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Term
| Criticism of Routine Activities Theory |
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Definition
| Neglects the motivations of the offender, doesn't look at why a person is motivated to offend. Most tests of this theory do no directly measure the elements involved and the theory only confirms common sense and doesn't seek to change what is already being done. |
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Term
| Life Course Persistant Theory (Moffitt) |
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Definition
| The age of a typical criminal is ages 15 to 25. There are two types of criminals, ones who commit crime and continues to commit crime throughout life, and ones who commit crime and stops at a certain age. The criminal who doesn't stop are only 5% of the criminal population. Majority of crime occurs with people who stop committing crime at a certain point. |
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Term
| Neurological Problems (Career Criminal, Life Course Persistant) |
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Definition
| Criminals born with or develops some kind of brain or nervous system abnormality that influences temperament, behavioral development and cognitive abilities. |
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Term
| Unsupportive Environment (Career Criminal, Life Course Persistant) |
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Definition
| Criminals born into an environment when either parents have problems themselves, drug abuse, etc. |
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Term
| Adolescent Limited (Moffitt) |
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Definition
| Criminals who have no history of antisocial acts. Commit crimes due to a maturity gap. As the maturity gap closes, the criminal activity goes away. When one gets older, one is allowed to drink and smoke. Young people have opportunities for conventional behaviors cut off, stop when they can get these opportunities. Previously rewarding things become punishing through shame, harsher punishments as adults, and social responsibility. |
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Term
| Maturity Gap (Adolescent Limited) |
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Definition
| When young adolescents are ready to act like adults but society restricts them from being so and the adolescent is painfully aware of this. Starts to imitate older youths, some of who are life course persistent individuals. Criminal behavior is reinforced through the rewards of money, getting high and getting away with it. |
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