Download Why????? Theories of criminal existence

WHY?????
THEORIES OF CRIMINAL
EXISTENCE
CH 3
Adapted from:
Frank Schmalleger’s CRIMINAL JUSTICE TODAY, 9E.PRENTICE HALL, Education Inc. ©2007
Pearson Education, Inc.
EVER WONDER???
“Are people born wicked or is wickedness
thrust upon them?”
~Galinda
from Broadway musical Wicked
CRIMINOLOGISTS
Criminologists search for answers to
Criminally inspired questions.
 Why does a person commit a crime?
 What causes crime and deviance?
 Are people basically good?
 Why are some people violent and
aggressive?
 Are people motivated only by selfinterest?
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CRIMINOLOGY
A science that studies criminals and
seeks to find the cause
of crime and deviant behavior.
 Crime—violation of the criminal law for which
there is no legal justification.
 Deviance—violation of social norms that specify
appropriate or proper behavior under a
particular set of circumstances (often includes
crime).
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CATEGORIES OF THEORY
Explanations of criminal behavior fall into
8 general categories.
1. Classical
2. Biological
3. Psychobiological
4. Psychological
5. Sociological
6. Social Process
7. Conflict
8. Emergent
Interdisciplinary, or integrated, theories could
possibly be a ninth category.
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CLASSICAL &
NEOCLASSICAL
THEORIES
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CHARACTERISTICS
Basic Assumptions
1) Crime is caused by the individual exercise of
“free will.”
2) Pain and pleasure are the two central
determinants of human behavior.
3) Punishment is sometimes required to deter law
violators.
4) Crime prevention = swift and certain
punishment
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CESARE BECCARIA: CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT
In 1784, Beccaria published Essays on
Crimes and Punishment. Beccaria:
 Was considered controversial at the time.
 Felt punishments should be more humanitarian.
 Called for the end of physical punishment and
the death penalty.
 Posited that punishment needs to be:
• Certain
• Swift
• Severe
 Believed that punishment should fit the crime and
not be excessive.
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JEREMY BENTHAM’S
HEDONISTIC CALCULUS
Concept developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

People make “free will” decisions to commit crime by
weighing of advantages versus disadvantages of
action. If advantages outweigh disadvantages, then a
person will likely commit crime.

To deter people from committing crime, the
punishment/disadvantages need(s) to outweigh the
rewards/advantages.

Bentham called this philosophy utilitarianism.
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THE NEOCLASSICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Neoclassical criminology is rooted in
the classical school.
 Emphasizes deterrence and retribution
 Individuals use free will to decide to conform or
commit crime
 Places greater emphasis on rationality and cognition
than classical criminologists
Examples:
 Rational choice theory
 Routine activities theory
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THE NEOCLASSICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Rational choice theory = criminality is the
result of conscious choice.
 Individuals commit crime when the benefits
outweigh the costs
 Lifestyles contribute to the volume and
type of crime found in society
 Motivated offender + a suitable target - a
capable guardian = Criminal Act
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BIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Basic Assumptions
1) Human behavior is genetically determined.
2) Basic determinants of human behavior may be
passed from generation to generation.
3) Some behavior is the result of mutation in
genetic evolutionary process.
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FRANZ JOSEPH GALL (1758-1828):
PHRENOLOGY
Phrenology, study of the shape of the head and its
relationship to human behavior, focused on the
head and brain in what Gall called “crainioscopy.”
 The brain is the organ of the mind.
 The brain consists of localized faculties or
functions.
 The shape of the skull reveals underlying
development (or lack of development) of
areas within the brain.
 A personality can be revealed by a study of
the skull.
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CESARE LOMBROSO
(1835-1909): ATAVISM
Lombroso—the founder of the Positivist School of
criminology. In his work, he:
 borrowed the term “atavism” from the
work of Charles Darwin.
 “Atavism” implies that people are born
criminals
•
characterized by features thought to be common in earlier
stages of human evolution.
 Examples of stigmata: long arms, large
lips, crooked nose, large amount of
body hair, eyes of different colors,
ears lack defined lobes, etc…
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ATAVISM REALLY???
In 1913, Charles Goring and Karl Pearson:
 compared 3,000 English convicts to army
officers
 found NO significant differences between the
two groups using Lombroso’s criteria
In 1939, Ernest Hooten:
 compared 13,000 male prisoners in 10 states to
3,000 National Guard members, firemen, etc.
 found some support for Lombroso’s ideas,
though his methods may have been flawed
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CRIMINAL FAMILIES
Is it all in our heads???
In 1877, Richard Dugdale studied the Juke family.
 Over 75 years, the heirs of Ada Juke included
1,200 persons, mostly social degenerates.
Goddard (1912) studied two lines of the Kallikak
family.
 One line descended from a feebleminded bar
maid.
 Over half of these descendants were feebleminded.
 The second line descended from a “virtuous
Quaker girl.”
 1/3 of these descendants were feebleminded.
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WILLIAM SHELDON
(1893 – 1977): SOMATYPES
Somatotyping—
classifying people according to body build.
 Mesomorph—predominance of muscle, bone, and
connective tissue
 Ectomorph—thinness, fragility, and delicacy of
body
 Endomorph—soft roundness throughout short
tapering limbs, small bones, soft velvety skin
Each body type has a characteristic personality,
and mesomorphs were most prone to
aggression, violence, and delinquency.
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PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Basic Assumptions
Focus is on the relationship of the following to
criminal behavior:
1. DNA
2. environmental contaminants
3. nutrition
4. hormones
5. physical trauma
6. body chemistry in human cognition and
behavior
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CHROMOSOME THEORY
First explored in the 1960s.
 1965—Patricia Jacobs discovered “supermales,”
men with an extra “Y” chromosome (XYY). She
found that “supermales” were more common in
prisons than in the general public.
 Other studies found that XYY males were more
aggressive than other males and had a number of
specific physical and psychological traits.
 Later studies disputed many of these findings.
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BIOCHEMICAL FACTORS
AND IMBALANCES
Biocriminology attempts to link violent or
disruptive behavior to eating habits, vitamin
deficiencies, genetics, inheritance, and other
conditions which impact body tissues.
For example, some studies have linked crime to:






Hypoglycemia
Allergic reactions to foods
High levels of caffeine and sugar
Testosterone levels
Low levels of certain neurotransmitters
A malfunctioning endocrine system
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HEREDITY AND OTHER
PHYSICAL FACTORS
Adoption and twin studies have shown:
 Children adopted at birth have shown a tendency
toward criminality of biological parents.
 Identical twins separated at birth indicate that
they exhibit a greater similarity in terms of
criminality than do fraternal twins, who exhibit
greater similarities than ordinary siblings.
Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) argue that
inherited traits combine with environmental
factors to produce crime.
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Psychological
Theories
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES
Basic Assumptions
1) The individual is the main unit of analysis.
2) Personality is the major motivational
element.
3) Crimes result from inappropriately
conditioned behavior.
4) Abnormal mental processes may
have a number of causes.



Diseased mind
Inappropriate learning
Improper conditioning
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BEHAVIORAL CONDITIONING
Behavioral conditioning is a psychological
principle which holds that the frequency of any
behavior can be increased or decreased through
reward, punishment, and/or association with
other stimuli.
This was popularized through the work of Ivan
Pavlov (1849–1936) whose work with dogs won
him a Nobel Prize.
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FREUDIAN
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Sigmund Freud (1856 –1939) identified three
elements of the personality:
1. Id
2. Ego
3. Superego
Psychoanalysis sees personality as a complex
composite of interacting mental elements.
Crime can result from:



A weak superego
Sublimation/dislike of one’s mother
The death wish
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PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND
CRIME
Psychopathology studies pathological mental
conditions (mental illness).
Psychopath—a person with a personality
disorder, especially manifested in aggressively
antisocial behavior, which is often said to be
the result of a poorly developed superego.
 It is possible for the psychopath to inflict pain
without appreciation for the victim’s suffering.
 Psychopathic people are likely to become
criminal at some point.
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THE PSYCHOTIC
OFFENDER
Psychosis is another form of mental disorder.
Psychotics are people who are said to be out of
touch with reality.
Some psychotics are classified as
schizophrenic—people with disordered or
disjointed thinking in which they make
abnormal logical connections between things.
Psychosis can lead to crime.
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Sociological
Theories
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Basic Assumptions
1) Social groups, social institutions, the
arrangement of society, and social roles are all
appropriate for study.
2) Group dynamics, group organization, and
subgroup relationships form the causal basis of
criminality.
3) The structure of society and the relative degree of
social organization or social disorganization are
important factors contributing to criminal
behavior.
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SOCIAL ECOLOGY THEORY
In the 1920s, Park and Burgess mapped Chicago
based on the city’s social characteristics. They
developed the Concentric Zone Theory.
 Concentric zones are likened to a bull’s eye with the
center of the city being the target.
Shaw and McKay related this theory to crime.
 Crime increased as one moved towards center of the
city, with the highest crime rates in the “zone of
transition,” where there was a lot of poverty, illiteracy,
lack of schooling, unemployment, and illegitimacy
(social disorganization).
 Social disorganization leads to crime.
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ANOMIE THEORY
Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) introduced the term
anomie (normlessness) in the late 1800s.
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) defined anomie as a
disjuncture between societal goals and legitimate
means. He developed a typology of adaptations:
Conformist—accepts goals and means (law abiding)
Innovator—accepts goals, rejects means (property/white-collar
offenses)
Retreatest—rejects both goals and means (addiction/victimless
crimes)
Ritualist—rejects goals, accepts means (repetitive/mundane
lifestyle)
Rebel—rejects goals and means and substitutes his own goals
and means (political crime)
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SUBCULTURAL THEORY

Cohen (b. 1918)—reaction formation, lower
class youth’s rejection of middle class
values, leads to the development of gangs
and reinforces the subculture.

Miller—Lower class priority concerns of
trouble, toughness, excitement, smartness,
fate, and autonomy lead to crime.
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SUBCULTURAL THEORY

Cloward and Ohlin proposed that an
illegitimate opportunity structure allows
delinquent youths to achieve success
outside of legitimate ways.

Wolfgang and Ferracuti coined the term
“subculture of violence” after examining
homicide rates in Philadelphia in the 1950s.
 Here, violence is a traditional, and often
accepted, method of dispute resolution.
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Social Process
Theories
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES
Basic Assumptions
 They highlight the role played by
weakened self-esteem and the lack of
meaningful social roles in crime
causation.
 Relationship of individual to social
group is stressed as underlying cause
of behavior.
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DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION
Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950), in his third
edition of Principles of Criminology (1939),
viewed crime as a product of socialization.
 Crime is learned. It is learned by the same
principles that guide learning of law abiding
behavior of conformists.
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PRINCIPLES OF DIFFERENTIAL
ASSOCIATION
1.
Criminal behavior is learned.
2.
Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of
communication.
3.
The principle part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal
groups.
4.
When criminal behavior is learned, it includes a) techniques of committing the crime,
and b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
5.
The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal
codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6.
A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of
definitions favorable to
violations of the law over definitions unfavorable to violations of the law.
Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and
anticriminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other
learning.
While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not
explained by those general needs and values since noncriminal behavior is an
expression of those same needs and values.
7.
8.
9.
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SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES
Social Learning Theory:
… a perspective that says people learn
how to behave from others whom
they have the opportunity to observe.
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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Ronald L. Akers and Robert L. Burgess applied
learning theory constructs to the theory of
differential association. Their theory of
differential reinforcement is called social
learning theory.
 Primary learning takes place through operant
conditioning.
 People learn how to behave by modeling
themselves after other whom they have the
opportunity to observe.
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RESTRAINT THEORIES
Restraint theories focus on
Constraints—those forces that keep
people from committing crimes.
 Contrasts other theories that look to why people
commit crimes.
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CONTAINMENT THEORY
One restraint theory, offered by Walter Reckless
(1899-1988) is containment theory.
Containment—aspects of social bond and
personality that prevent individuals from
committing crime. There are two types:
1. Outer—elements outside of individual (friends,
law, family, social position) control behavior.
2. Inner—those elements psychological in nature
(conscience, positive self-image, tolerance)
control behavior.
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SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY
Travis Hirschi in Causes of Delinquency (1969)
wrote that the stronger one’s social bond the
less likely the individual would engage in
delinquency.
Elements of the social bond include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attachment (to others)
Commitment (to appropriate lifestyles)
Involvement (in conventional values)
Belief (in correctness of rules of society)
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TECHNIQUES OF
NEUTRALIZATION
In Techniques of Neutralization (1957),
Gresham Sykes and David Matza put forth a
list of escalating techniques of neutralization
that allow a person to commit a delinquent act.
The techniques are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Denial of responsibility
Denial of injury
Denial of victim
Condemnation of condemners
Appeal to higher loyalties
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LABELING THEORY
Labeling theory sees continued crime as a
consequence of the limited opportunities for
acceptable behavior that follow from the negative
responses of society for those defined as offenders.
In 1963, Howard Becker suggested that:
a. Criminality is not a quality inherent in the act
or the person.
b. Crime results from social definition through
law of unacceptable behavior.
c. Deviance is “created” by society.
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THE LIFE COURSE
PERSPECTIVE
Social development theories represent an
integrated view of human development that points
to the process of interaction among and between
individuals and society as the root cause of
criminal behavior.
An example, put forth in 1993 by Sampson and
Laub, is the life course perspective. Crime is linked
to turning points in one’s life.
 Turning points are transitional periods during
which one can either walk toward or away from
crime.
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Conflict
Theories
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
CONFLICT THEORY
Conflict perspective: maintains that crime is
the natural consequence of economic and
other social inequities. Key elements of this
perspective are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Society is composed of diverse social groups, and
diversity is based upon distinctions which people hold
to be significant.
Conflict among groups is unavoidable because of
differing interests and differing values.
The nature of group conflict centers on exercise of
political power.
Laws are tools of power that further the interests of the
lawmakers.
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RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY
Radical criminology sees crime as produced by the
unequal distribution of wealth, power, and other
resources.
 Poverty and discrimination leads to frustration and
pent-up hostilities expressed through crime.
Karl Marx (1818–1883) assumed lower classes
are always exploited by the “owners” of the means
of production.
 Working class suffers under the consequences of a
“false class consciousness”–the poor are trained to
believe that capitalism is in their best interest.
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PEACEMAKING
CRIMINOLOGY
Peacemaking criminology holds that crime
control agencies and the citizens they serve
should work together to alleviate social
problems and human suffering, and thereby
reduce the amount of crime.
 Rooted in Christian and eastern philosophies.
 Referred to as “compassionate criminology.”
 Suggests that social control must also focus on
victims and victimization.
 Popularized by the work of Richard Quinney
and Hal Pepinsky.
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Emergent Theories
New and Developing Perspectives
52
FEMINIST CRIMINOLOGY
Feminist criminology emphasizes gender
issues in criminology and seeks to develop
greater appreciation of the role of women in
crime causation, victimization, and crime control.
 Rita Simon—Women and Crime (1975) and Freda
Adler—Sisters in Crime (1975)
 Attempts to explain differences in rates of crime for women and
men as due primarily to socialization rather than biology
 Kathleen Daly and Meda Chesney-Lind
 Emphasizes need for a “gender-aware” criminology
 Gender—the central organizing principle
53
CONSTITUTIVE
CRIMINOLOGY
Constitutive criminology studies the process by
which people create an ideology of crime that
sustains the notion of crime as a concrete reality.
 George Herbert Mead’s symbolic interaction theory
 William Thomas
 An act’s significance depends on the intentions behind it and the
situation in which it is interpreted.
 Stuart Henry and Dragan Milovanovic
 People shape their world while also being shaped by it.
54
POSTMODERN
CRIMINOLOGY
Postmodern criminology includes a wide variety of
recent, novel perspectives of crime that build upon the
belief that past approaches fail to realistically assess
the true causes of crime and provide workable
solutions to crime. Examples:
 Chaos analysis
 Discourse analysis
 Topology theory
 Critical theory
 Realist criminology
 Constitutive theory
 Anarchic criminology
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