CRIM 200

KEY POINTS

LESSON 1 – CHOICE THEORIES

1. Rational choice theory (choice theory)

 A view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the would-
be offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

 Classical theory that has evolved into modern rational choice theory, which
argues that criminals are rational decision makers: Before choosing to commit
crime, criminals evaluate the benefits and costs of the contemplated criminal
act; their choice is structured by the fear of punishment.
2. Classical criminology
 A theory of crime suggesting that criminal behavior is a matter of personal
choice, made after the individual considers its costs and benefi ts, and that the
criminal behavior refl ects the needs of the offender.
 It was developed by the Italian social thinker Cesare Beccaria, whose utilitarian
approach powerfully influenced the criminal justice system and was widely
accepted throughout Europe and the United States. Although the classical
approach was influential for more than 100 years, by the end of the nineteenth
century its popularity had begun to decline. During this period, positivist
criminologists focused on internal and external factors—poverty, IQ, education—
rather than personal choice and decision making.
3. Offense-specific crime
 A crime in which the offender reacts selectively to the characteristics of a
particular criminal act.
4. Offender-specific crime
 A crime in which offenders evaluate their skills, motives, needs, and fears before
deciding to commit the criminal act.
5. Seductions of crime
 The situational inducements or immediate benefi ts that draw offenders into law
violations.
 Sociologist Jack Katz argues that there are, in fact, immediate benefits to
criminality. These situational inducements, which he labels the seductions of
crime, directly precede the commission of crime and draw offenders into law
violations.
6. Situational crime prevention
 Situational crime prevention involves developing tactics to reduce or eliminate a
specific crime problem (such as shoplifting in an urban mall or street-level drug
dealing). According to Derek Cornish and Ronald Clarke, situational crime
prevention efforts may be divided into the six strategies; Increase the Effort
Needed to Commit Crime. Increase the Risk of Committing Crime. Reduce
Rewards of Crime, Induce Guilt: Increase Shame, Reduce Provocation. Lastly
Remove Excuses.
7. Defensible space
 This approach was popularized in the United States in the early 1970s by Oscar
Newman, who coined the term defensible space. The idea is that crime can be
prevented or displaced through the use of residential designs that reduce
criminal opportunity, such as well-lit housing projects that maximize
surveillance.
8. Crime discouragers
 Marcus Felson argues that the risk of crime may be increased by improving the
effectiveness of crime discouragers
 crime discouragers: people who serve as guardians of property or
people.Discouragers can be grouped into three categories: “guardians,” who
monitor potential targets (such as store security guards); “handlers,” who
monitor potential offenders (such as parole officers and parents); and
“managers,” who monitor places (such as homeowners and garage attendants).
If the discouragers do their jobs correctly, the potential criminal will be
convinced that the risk of crime outweighs any potential gains.
9. Diffusion
 Is the part of Hidden Benefits When efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally
prevent another, like Video cameras set up in a mall to reduce shoplifting can
also reduce property damage, because would-be vandals fear they are being
caught on camera. Police surveillance set up to reduce drug trafficking may
unintentionally reduce the incidence of prostitution and other public order
crimes by scaring off would-be clients.
10. Displacement
 Is a part of Hidden Costs Situational crime prevention efforts and also contain
limit their effectiveness.
 Displacement occurs when crime control efforts simply move, or redirect,
offenders to less heavily guarded alternative targets.75 For example, beefed-up
police patrols in one area may shift crimes to a more vulnerable neighborhood
lacking in police.
 11. Replacement
 is also a part of hidden costs
 occurs when criminals try new offenses they had previously avoided because
situational crime prevention programs neutralized their crime of choice. If every
residence in a neighborhood installs a foolproof burglar alarm system,
motivated offenders may turn to armed robbery, a riskier and more violent
crime, to replace the income they lost from burglaries. Before the effectiveness
of situational crime prevention can be accepted, these hidden costs and benefits
must be weighed and balanced.
12. General deterrence
 A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties, convincing
the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweigh its
benefits.
13. Specific deterrence
 (also called special or particular deterrence) holds that criminal sanctions should
be so powerful that known criminals will never repeat their criminal acts.
According to this view, the drunk driver whose sentence is a substantial fine and
a week in the county jail should be convinced that the price to be paid for
drinking and driving is too great to consider future violations. Similarly, burglars
who spend five years in a tough, maximum-security prison should find their
enthusiasm for theft dampened.
14. Incarceration
 Confinement in jail or prison.
 the act of imprisoning someone or the state of being imprisoned.
15. Recidivism
 is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have
experienced negative consequences of that behavior. It is also used to refer to
the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.
 Repetition of criminal behavior.
16. Incapacitation effect
 The view that placing offenders behind bars during their prime crime years
reduces their opportunity to commit crime and helps lower the crime rate.

LESSON 2 – TRAIT THEORIES

1. Trait theory
 The view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological
traits.
 Lombrosian biological positivism has evolved into contemporary biosocial and ▶
psychological trait theory views. Criminologists no longer believe that a single
trait or inherited characteristic can explain crime, but some are convinced that
biological and psychological traits interact with environmental factors to infl
uence all human behavior, including criminality. Biological and psychological
theorists study the association between criminal behavior and such factors as
diet, hormonal makeup, personality, and intelligence.

2. Sociobiology
 In the early 1970s, spurred by the publication of Edmund O. Wilson’s
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, biological explanations of crime once again
emerged. Sociobiology differs from earlier theories of behavior in that it stresses
the following principles:
 Behavioral traits may be inherited.
 ▶ Inherited behavioral traits have been formed by natural selection.
 ▶ Behavioral traits evolve and are shaped by the environment.
 ▶ Biological and genetic conditions affect how social behaviors are learned and
▶ perceived. Behavior is determined by the need to ensure survival of offspring
and replenishment of the gene pool.
 Biology, environment, and learning are mutually interdependent factors.

3. Hypoglycemia
 A condition that occurs when glucose (sugar) in the blood falls below levels
necessary for normal and efficient brain functioning.
 When blood glucose (sugar) falls below levels necessary for normal and efficient
brain functioning, a condition called hypoglycemia occurs. Symptoms of
hypoglycemia include irritability, anxiety, depression, crying spells, headaches,
and confusion. Research studies have linked hypoglycemia to outbursts of
antisocial behavior and violence. High levels of reactive hypoglycemia have been
found in groups of habitually violent and impulsive offenders.

4. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

  Premenstrual Syndrome The suspicion has long existed that the onset of the
menstrual cycle triggers excessive amounts of the female sex hormones, which
stimulate antisocial, aggressive behavior. This condition is commonly referred to
as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The link between PMS and delinquency was
first popularized more than 30 years ago by Katharina Dalton, whose studies of
English women indicated that females are more likely to commit suicide and to
be aggressive and otherwise antisocial just before or during menstruation.

5. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)

 Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Many parents have noticed that their
children do not pay attention to them—they run around and do things in their
own way. Sometimes this inattention is a function of age; in other instances it is
a symptom of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in which a child
shows a developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, along with impulsivity
and hyperactivity.
 The condition has been associated with poor school performance, retention for
another year in the same grade, placement in classes for those with special
needs, bullying, stubbornness, and lack of response to discipline.

6. Arousal theory
 According to arousal theory, for a variety of genetic and environmental reasons,
people’s brains function differently in response to environmental stimuli. All of
us seek to maintain a preferred or optimal level of arousal: Too much stimulation
leaves us anxious and stressed, whereas too little makes us feel bored and
weary. However, people vary in the way their brains process sensory input.
Some nearly always feel comfortable with little stimulation, whereas others
require a high degree of environmental input to feel comfortable. The latter
group of “sensation seekers” looks for stimulating activities, which may include
aggressive, violent behavior patterns.

7. Psychodynamic (psychoanalytic) theory

  Psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) psychology was originated by Viennese
psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and has remained a prominent segment
of psychological theory ever since.97 Freud believed that we all carry with us the
residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which
then guides our future interpersonal relationships. According to psychodynamic
theory, the human personality has a three-part structure.
 The id is the primitive part of people’s mental makeup, is present at birth, and
represents unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other life-sustaining
necessities.
 The ego is the part of the personality that compensates for the demands of the
id by helping the individual keep his or her actions within the boundaries of
social convention.
 The superego develops as a result of incorporating within the personality the
moral standards and values of parents, community, and significant others. It is
the moral aspect of people’s personalities; it judges their own behavior.
8. Attachment theory
 Attachment Theory According to psychologist John Bowlby’s attachment theory,
the ability to form an emotional bond to another person has important
psychological implications that follow people across the life span.
 Attachments are formed soon after birth, when infants bond with their mothers.
Babies will become frantic, crying and clinging, to prevent separation or to
reestablish contact with a missing parent. Attachment figures, especially the
mother, must provide support and care, and without attachment an infant would
be helpless and could not survive
9. Behavior theory
 Behavior theory maintains that human actions are developed through learning
experiences. The major premise of behavior theory is that people alter their
behavior in accordance with the response it elicits from others. In other words,
behavior is supported by rewards and extinguished by negative reactions, or
punishments. The behaviorist views crimes especially violent acts as learned
responses to life situations, which do not necessarily represent abnormality or
moral immaturity.

10. Cognitive theory

  One area of psychology that has received increasing recognition in recent years
is cognitive theory. Psychologists with a cognitive perspective focus on mental
processes how people perceive and mentally represent the world around them
and solve problems. The pioneers of this school were Wilhelm Wundt (1832–
1920), Edward Titchener (1867–1927), and William James (1842–1920). Today
the cognitive area includes several subdisciplines. The moral development
branch is concerned with how people morally represent and reason about the
world. Humanistic psychology stresses self-awareness and getting in touch with
feelings.

11. Information-processing theory

 Information-processing theory focuses on how people process, store, encode,
retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems.
When cognitive theorists who study information processing try to explain
antisocial behavior, they do so in terms of mental perception and how people
use information to understand their environment. When people make decisions,
they engage in a sequence of cognitive thought processes. First, they encode
information so that it can be interpreted; next, they search for a proper response
and decide on the most appropriate action; and finally, they act on their decision
12. Nature theory
 Proponents of nature theory argue that intelligence is largely determined
genetically, that ancestry determines IQ, and that low intelligence, as
demonstrated by low IQ, is linked to criminal behavior. When newly developed
IQ tests were administered to inmates of prisons and juvenile training schools in
the early decades of the twentieth century, the nature position gained support
because most of the inmates scored low on the tests.
 In 1926, William Healy and Augusta Bronner tested groups of delinquent boys in
Chicago and Boston and found that 37 percent were subnormal in intelligence.
They concluded that delinquents were 5 to 10 times more likely to be mentally
deficient than normal boys.
 13. Nurture theory
 Proponents of nurture theory argue that intelligence is not inherited and that
low-IQ parents do not necessarily produce low-IQ children.Intelligence must be
viewed as partly biological but primarily sociological. Nurture theorists discredit
the notion that people commit crimes because they have low IQs. Instead, they
postulate that environmental stimulation from parents, relatives, social contacts,
schools, peer groups, and innumerable others accounts for a child’s IQ level and
that low IQs may result from an environment that also encourages delinquent
and criminal behavior.
 Thus, if low IQ scores are recorded among criminals, these scores may reflect the
criminals’ cultural background, not their mental ability. In 1931, Edwin
Sutherland evaluated IQ studies of criminals and delinquents and questioned
whether criminals in fact have low IQs.

14. Schizophrenia
 A severe disorder marked by hearing nonexistent voices, seeing hallucinations,
and exhibiting inappropriate responses.
 Research efforts find that offenders who engage in serious, violent crimes often
suffer from some sort of mental disturbance. Female offenders seem to have
more serious mental health symptoms than male offenders, which that includes
schizophrenia, paranoia, and obsessive behaviors.
15. Primary prevention programs
 For most of the twentieth century, biological and psychological views of
criminality have influenced crime control and prevention policy. The result has
been primary prevention programs that seek to treat personal problems before
they manifest themselves as crime. To this end, thousands of family therapy
organizations, substance abuse clinics, and mental health associations operate
throughout the United States. Teachers, employers, courts, welfare agencies,
and others make referrals to these facilities.

16. Secondary prevention programs

 provides treatment such as psychological counseling to youths and adults after

they have violated the law. Attendance at such programs may be a requirement
of a probation order, part of a diversionary sentence, or aftercare at the end of a
prison sentence.