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INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
DEFINING CRIMINOLOGY THE CRIMINAL LAW
DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC CRIMINOLOGYTHEORIES OF CRIMEPOLIT ICS/ IDEOLOGY
DEFINING CRIMINOLOGY
• Edwin Sutherland’s definition • The scientific study of lawmaking, lawbreaking, and the response to lawbreaking • Lawmaking = how laws are
created/changed• Lawbreaking = nature/extent of crime• Reaction = police, courts, corrections
• Science vs. other ways of knowing stuff
CRIMINOLOGY VS. CRIMINAL JUSTICE
• Criminal Justice• The study of agencies related to the control of crime
• Criminology• The study of crime trends, nature of crime, theories of
crime
• Reality? Two sides of the same coin
CRIMINOLOGY VS. DEVIANCE
• Criminology focuses on crimes• Crime = violation of criminal law
• Deviance focuses on violations of societal norms• These may or may not also be law violations
• Can you think of a norm violation that is not a law violation?• How about a law violation that does not violate a
norm?
TYPES OF LAW
• Criminal Law• Procedural vs. Substantive• Statutory vs. Common
• Civil Law• Tort law
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SUBSTANTIVE VS. PROCEDURAL LAW
• Substantive Law• Written code that defines crimes and punishments
• Procedural Law• Governs actors in the criminal justice system (e.g., when
can the police search your vehicle?)
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COMMON LAW V. STATUTORY LAWCOMMON LAW V. STATUTORY LAW
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Common Law is judge-madelaw. The law is found in previously decided cases.
Common Law is judge-madelaw. The law is found in previously decided cases.
Statutory Laws are derived fromlegislative acts that decide the definition of the behavior that iscodified into law.
Statutory Laws are derived fromlegislative acts that decide the definition of the behavior that iscodified into law.
CRIMINAL AND TORT LAW
• A public offense• Enforcement is state
business• Punishment is often
loss of liberties or sometimes death
• Fines go to the state• State doesn’t
ordinarily appeal• Proof beyond a
reasonable doubt
• A civil or private wrong• Individuals bring action• Sanction is normally
monetary damages• Both parties can appeal• Individuals receives the
compensation for harmdone
• “Preponderance of the evidence” is required for a decision.
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SERIOUSNESS OF CRIMES I
Mala in se
• Wrong or evil in themselves• Core of legal code• Homicide • Robbery
Mala prohibita
• Wrong because they are prohibited • Change over time and
across society• Prostitution • Gambling
SERIOUSNESS OF CRIMES II
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More serious offenses
Punishable by deathor imprisonment for more than a year in astate prison.
FELONY
Less serious offenses
Punishable by incar-ceration for less than ayear in a local jail or house of correction.
MISDEMEANOR
A CRIMINAL LAW MUST INDICATE A TYPE OF INTENT AND A SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR
• Actus Reas • Physical act must be voluntary• If crime is“Failure to act,” there must be legal
obligation.• Statutory Obligation, Relationship between
parties, Contract
• Mens Rea• General or specific intent• Transferred Intent
• Negligence• Strict Liability Offenses
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SPECIFIC CRIMINAL DEFENSES
• Deny the Actus Reas (I didn’t do it)
• Deny the Mens Rea• Ignorance / Mistake• Intoxication?• Insanity Defense
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WHO DOES THE LAW SERVE?
Consensus view• Law results from societal agreement on what
behaviors are most harmful• Laws apply to all citizens equally
Conflict view• Law results from conflict over what behavior
should be criminalized• Those with the most power define what is
criminal and often use the law to protect their interests
Which is correct?
CRIMINOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE
Until the 1970s, there was no “criminology” or “criminal justice” degree Sociology became the dominant disciple
Still contributions from biology, psychology, political science
1980-Present Criminology emerging as separate entity
PhD in Criminology/Criminal Justice now the norm Still debate about whether Criminology is a distinct
discipline Organized around a class of behaviors rather than a distinct
way of looking at the world Sociologists still see criminology as a “sub-discipline” of
sociology
SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY—GOOD & BAD
• Good: Focus on social structure and inequality; healthy skepticism (debunking)
• Bad: Ignore/ridicule “outside” disciplines and their focus on individual differences • The Irony? Psychologists and biologists believe that social
forces are as (or more) important than individual differences
• This class will explore crime from a multidisciplinary lens
A CRUDE HISTORY OF CRIMINOLOGY
• Demonic Perspective pre-1750s• Crime as god’s will, result of demonic
possession • Classical School (1750s-1900; 1970s to now)• Utilitarian philosophy (Becarria, Bentham)• A response to an unjust/arbitrary legal
system• Free will, humans use a “hedonistic
calculus”• Rational legal code less crime• Basis of deterrence theory
CRUDE HISTORY—PART II
• Positive School (1900-present) • Crime is “caused” by outside forces (determinism) • Solution is to fix these causes (medical model, rehab) • Scientific research on offenders, crime (not law)
• Different types of positivism• Bio/psych determinism (1900-1920s)• Sociological theory (1920s-Present) • Critical theories (1960s-early 1970s)• Developmental Theory (1990s-present)
CRIME THEORY
• Backbone of criminology • Scientific Theory• Must be able to test theory • A GOOD theory survives empirical testing• Empirical = real world observations
• Some theories are sexier than others • Parsimony • Scope • Usefulness of policy implications
FLOW CHART FOR EVALUATION
Falsifiable?
Logical?
NO = Useless, stop here
YES EmpiricalEvidence?
NO: Modify/Discard
Yes
Evaluate the Following:• Scope• Parsimony• Policy Implications
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE IS THE KEY
• Theories attempt to demonstrate cause-effect• Criteria for causation in social science using a
poverty crime example • Time ordering: poverty happens before crime• Correlation: X is related to Y• Relationship is not spurious (e.g., low self-control causes
both poverty and crime)
METHODS FOR GENERATING EVIDENCE
• Experiment • Key is randomly assigned groups • Only factor that effects outcome is group difference at
start of experiment • Limit = artificial nature
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
METHODS FOR GENERATING EVIDENCE II
• Non-experimental• Survey research• Cross sectional Stimulant Study • Longitudinal
• Limit = how to rule out spuriousness• Upside = ask whatever you want
IDEOLOGY IN CRIMINOLOGY
• Walter Miller• Ideology is the “permanent hidden agenda of
Criminal Justice”
• What is “Ideology?”• American Political Ideology• Liberal/Progressive Ideology• Conservative Ideology• Radical Ideology
DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES IN U.S.
CONSERVATIES
• Value order/stability, respect for authority
• People get what they deserve
• Crime caused by poor choice (Free will)
LIBERALS
• Value equal opportunities and individual rights
• Success depends on outside forces & where you start• Crime is caused by
outside influences
IMPLICATIONS OF IDEOLOGY FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE
• Conservatives tend to fit with “Classical School”• “Neo-Classical” = deterrence, incapacitation • James Q. Wilson’s “policy analysis”
• Liberal/Progressive fit with positive school• Favor decriminalizing some acts • “Root causes” of crime only fixed by social change• Rehabilitation may be possible • Elliott Currie = ample evidence that government can address
social ills and prevent crime
• Radical = Marxist/conflict theory
IDEOLOGY AS “HIDDEN AGENDA”
• Many policies and programs are driven more by ideology than empirical evidence• Intensive supervision probation (conservatives)• Restorative justice (liberals)
THE “MARTINSON REPORT” (MR)
• The “Martinson Report” was review of studies on rehabilitation published in the early 1970s• Concluded that not much is working• Used by politicians as the reason for abandoning
rehab • Social Context of the 1960s• Hippies, Watergate, Attica, Viet Nam, Kent State…• Conservatives? SKY IS FALLING • Liberals? Cannot trust the government
• Reality = liberals and conservatives were both “ready” to pull the plug on rehabilitation
THE LIMITS OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
• Criminologists tend to be cautions with conclusions• All studies are flawed in some way
• Politicians and public tend to “over generalize” from a single study• This can lead to bad policy• RAND Felony Probation study• Domestic Violence Experiments
GOOD THEORY MAKES GOOD POLICY…
• In a perfect world, programs and policies would flow from empirically supported theories of crime• Unfortunately, people often “shoot from hip”• Policy without Theory• The “panacea” problem: scared straight, intensive
probation, boot camps, warm and fuzzy circle…
• Some hope in “evidence-based” movement• Multisystemic Therapy (MST) • Targets for change = parental supervision, delinquent friends,
reducing rewards for deviance…
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