Early Criminological Theories

Early Criminological Theories

The Classical School
First formal school of criminological thought
Ideas of human nature, fairness, justice
Not originally a theory of crime

Early Perspectives on Crime

Classical School
Social heritage
Industrial revolution
Rise of the Middle Class – profits of the mercantilism, Urbanization of society
Protestant work ethic- capitalism
The intellectual heritage
The Age of Enlightenment - time period in which ppl began to emphasize knowledge construction and individual rights ex. The naturalists and secularization, Galileo
The Social Contract – assumption that stipulates an unspecified arrangement among citizens in which they give up some rights and freedoms in exchange for protections and services
The perspective of the classical school
Women and men are rational beings - crime and free will -role of punishment
Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism
Behaviour holds value to any individual undertaking it according to the amount of pleasure or pain that it can be expected to prodice for that person

- Hedonism All actions can be measures on the basis of how much pleasure and how little they produce - Felicific Calculus An algorithm for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that specific action is likely to cause, a schedule of punishments

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)

The Role of Punishment
Deterrence
Three componenets of deterrence – celerity, severity, certainty * Punishment must be necessary
Basis for the states right to punish

The Positivist School Positivism The application of scientific techniques to the study of crime and criminals Empiricism ex. Testable hypotheses, use of comparative methods, systematic classification

Early Posistivism

Craniometry The filed of study that measured the size of the brain or skull to determine mental functioning ability

Phrenology The study of the shape of the head to determine anatomical correlates of human behavior eg. Destructiveness

Physiognomy The making of judgments about peoples character from the appearance of their faces or countenance J. Babtiste della Porte (1535-1615)
Facial expression of criminals; small ear, bushy eyebrows, small noses, and large lips

The “born criminal”
Cesare Lombroso
The Criminal Man
Atavism
A belief that certain characteristics or behaviors of a person are throwbacks to an earlier stage of evolutionary development
The BORN CRIMINAL
- an evolutionary regression
- Violent, primitive urges
Cesare Lombroso
Stigmata
The physical manifestations of atavism eg. Sloping 4head, large abnormally jaw

The IQ-Testing Era
Alfred Binet & THE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT
(Chronological Age x Mental Age)/100
IQ as dynamic, changeable

H.H. Goddard
- Low IQ & FEENLE-MINDEDNESS
- IQ as static (Hereditary)

Born Type Theory
Somatotyping
William Sheldon
Body type determines personality and behaviour
Tissue-layer growth in embryonic stage leads to body type
Endomorphic
obese body type Viscerotonic
Jolly,Lazy,Happy Go lucky
Mesomorphic
Muscular body tyoe
Somatonic
Aggressive
Extroverted
Ectomorphic
-Thin body tyoe
-cerebrotonic
Introverted
Shy
Assumptions of the Positivism School
Determinism
- The assumption that human behaviors is caused by factors outside of free will and ration decision-making

Criticisms and Limitations
Limitations of Empirical Research
Correlation vs. Causation, Validity issues
The Role of Polittical Agendas comparions between racial/ethnic groups colonization and political agenda fascism, Nazi Movement
Eugenics
The study of policies related to the improvement of the human race via discriminatory cntrl ovr reproduction
Lombroso & Policy Implications
Minor Physical Anomalies
Physical features believed to indicate developmental prblms eg. Malformed ears, simian crease

Jan,19,2015
Purposes of Crime Data
How much crime is there?
What are the patters and trends in crime?
Who commits crime?
Does punishment reduce crime?

Sources: OFFICIAL STATS
What is the goal of statistics?
Aggregated indices- the reduction of a large body of complex info & into manageable units

Administrative Records- official records, eg. Police reports
Unit of Court-The decisions of wat to count in administrative records, eg. Arrests, convictions
Levels of Aggregation- how data is combined across multiple sources
Definitions- Consensus about how to define what is being counted, eg. Ciolent crime & crisminal code offences
Data Elements- consensus about wat specific info should be collected
Counting Procedures – Consensus on how to count units and elements eg. Index offence

Where do we get our official crime info?
CANADIAN CENTRE FOR JUSTICE STATS (1981)
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS (1961)
Source- Crimes reported to police Standardized CRIME RATE: (# REPORTED CIRME/TOTAL POP) * 100,000

Limitations of the Uniform Crime Reports
Seriousness Rule- deflates the total crime count
Inflates the relative proportion of srs crimes
Insufficient info

GROSS COUNTS OF CRIME- a count of the total amount of crime in a given community, making no distinction among crime categories
-dynamic nature of “crime”

Dark Figure of Crime- the amount of crime that is unreported or known official stats may underestimate the true prevalence of crime

Crimes and Measurements
Questions
-How do we measure things like “poverty’, underage-drinkin, or social class or a personality type like psychopathy
- latent concepts

CONCEPTUALIZATION ANDOPERATIONALIZATION Concept- A mental image that summarized a set of similar observations, feelings, or ideas

Conceptualization- the process of specifying what we mean by a term
Variables – Characteristics or properties that can vary

Conceptualization & Operationalization

Operationalization- the process of specifying the actual procedure for assigning values 2 a variable for each case
Indicators- a sign od the presence or absence of the concept being studied

Concepts- Binge Drinking
Variables- Frequent of heavy episodic drinking
Indicators- How often within the past 2 weeks did u consume 5 or more drinks containing alcohol in a row?

Concepts- Poverty
Variables- 1.Subjective Poverty 2. Absolute Poverty

Indicators- 1. Would u say u are poor? 2. Fam income below “low income Cut off”(LICO)

Concepts – Social Class
Variables- 1. Income 2. Education 3. Occupational Prestige
Indicators- CRA notice of assessment

Measurement

Reliability Intrrater Reliability
Reliability achieved when similar measurements are obtained by a diff observers measuring the same thing
Split-half Reliability
Reliability achieved when responses to the same questions by 2 randomly selected halves of a sample are roughly equivalent

Validity
Criterion Validity
The type of validity that is established by comparing the scores obtained on a measure to the outcome it has been designed to predict
Construct Validity
The type of validity that is established by showing that a measure is related to other measures as specified in theory

Jan.26, 2015
Psychology of Crime

Brain Dysfunction
-Story of PHINEAS GAGE
-Sept.13th,1848- “no longer gage”

Frontal Lobe
Executive Functions- (eg. Attention, decisisons
Personality (eg. Emotions, Impulse Control)

Frontal Lobe Damage
Deficits in Inhibitory Control
Deficits in Decision-Making and Planning
Rgidity
Interpersonal Inappropriateness

The Limbic System
Emotional drives and info- fight – or flight response EX. AMYGDALA

Criminal Personality
Personality refers to an individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits
Aspects of personality: - consistency, uniqueness Psychoanalytic Perspective
The structure of Personality - Ego - Superego - Id

-Personality Development + PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
A series of age-dependent stages requiring the resolution of particular conflicts or tasks eg. Oral stage
+ FIXATION
The failure to resolve a conflict at a particular stage of development
+ ANXIETY AND DEFNECE MECHANISMS eg. Displacement

The Neurotic Offender