Explaining Crime: Emphasis on the Individual

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Chapter 5

• Explaining Crime Emphasis on the Individual

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Understanding Theories of Crime

• Theories of crime try to answer at least 1 of 3
  questions
• Why are some people more likely than others to
  commit crime?
• Why are some categories of people more likely
  than others to commit crime?
• Why is crime more common in some locations than
  in others?

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• Biology and Psychology tend to focus on first
  question (individual)
• Sociology focuses on last 2 questions (social
  environment)
• Micro smaller picture
• Macro larger picture

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MICRO OR MACRO?

• THE EATING DISORDER ANOLOGY (text p. 133)
• IS CRIME THE RESULT OF SOCIETY STRUCTURE OR
  INDIVIDUAL DISORDER?
• WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE ANSWER?

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• The Classical School of Criminology
• (1738-1794) Cesare Beccaria (father of modern
  criminology), On Crimes and Punishments
• (1748-1832) Jeremy Bentham law was more severe
  than it needed to be to keep rational people from
  committing crime

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Cesare Beccaria

• People act rationally through free will.
• People will chose pleasure and avoid pain.
• Punishment should be minimum to deter.
• Condemned torture and inhumane treatments.
• Influenced U.S. founders constitution.

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Jeremy Bentham

• Focus on deterrence.
• Advocated reform of law in England.
• Influenced the creation of the modern prison
  system.
• Influenced the founders of the modern policing.

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The Rise of Positivism

• Use of scientific method to study human behavior
• Postulated human behavior is affected by outside
  forces
• Founded by August Comte
• One problem is theory assumes criminals are
  different from the rest of us

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Rational Choice Explanations and Deterrence

• Rational-choice theory assumes people choose to
  commit crime after calculating whether its
  rewards outweigh risks
• Deterrence theory assumes potential and actual
  punishment can deter crime

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Types of Deterrence

• General occurs when members of public decide not
  to break the law because they fear punishment
• Specific occurs when offenders already punished
  decide not to commit another crime
• Objective impact of actual legal punishment
• Subjective impact of peoples perceptions of
  likelihood and severity of legal punishment

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Evaluation of Rational-Choice and Deterrence
Theory

• Evidence on deterrence is inconsistent
• Predicts higher arrest and imprisonment rates
  should produce lower crime rates, but this does
  not occur
• Harsher penalties should lower crime rates, but
  this pattern does not occur

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• Offenders caught and punished should reoffend
  less, but evidence of this is mixed
• No evidence that criminals make rational choices
  or weigh consequences of their actions

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Biological Explanations

• Nineteenth Century Views
• Phrenology study of skull size in relation to
  criminality
• Cesare Lombroso, Founder of positivist school
• Atavism criminals are throwbacks to earlier
  stage of evolution

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Tools of Phrenology
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Tools of Phrenology
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Cesare Lombroso

• Atavism Criminals are evolutionary throwbacks.
• Measured prisoners bodies and compared
  measurements to soldiers.
• Criminals generally had longer arms, larger
  skulls and hairy bodies.

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A drawing showing the alleged physical and
psychological relationship between man and
animal. From New Physiognomy or Signs of
Character (1871)
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A 19th century image indicating a suspected
resemblance between appearance and personality.
From New Physiognomy or Signs of Character
(1871)
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Facial characteristics described by Lombroso,
some of which may indicate criminality. From New
Physiognomy or Signs of Character (1871)
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Cesare Lombroso
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Early Twentieth Century Views

• Earnest Hooton, biological inferiority advocated
  sterilization of criminals or exile
• William Sheldon, somatology body shapes affect
  personalities
• Endomorphs
• Mesomorphs
• Ectomorphs

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Group Exercises

• Do group presentations.

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Contemporary ExplanationsGroup 1

• Review and Present
• Family, Heredity, and Genes
• Early research on the Juke family
• Twin studies
• Adoption studies
• Evolutionary biology
• Chromosomal abnormalities

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Neurochemical Factors Group 2

• Review and Present
• Hormones Testosterone and Male Criminality
• Testosterone a cause of male criminality?
• Increase in aggressive behavior
• Hormones PMS and Crime by Women
• Premenstrual Syndrome leads to aggression?
• Neurotransmitters
• Serotonin

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Diet and NutritionGroup 3

• Review and Present
• Twinkie Defense
• Poor nutrition lead to criminal behavior?
• Research concludes at most a relatively minor
  effect on criminality
• Pregnancy and Birth Complications
• Poor nutrition, alcohol, tobacco use during
  pregnancy

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Psychological ExplanationsGroup 4

• Review and Present
• Crime arises from internal disturbances from
  early childhood
• Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis
• Mental disorders derive from conflict between
  society and instinctive needs of the individual
• Id
• Ego
• Superego

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Evaluation of Biological Explanations

• Crime is too diverse for biological explanations
  to account for all behavior
• Methodological problems in research studies
• Cannot easily account for group rate differences
• Social policy implications
• We cannot change biology
• Potential justification for appalling acts

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Evaluation of Psychological Explanations

• Psychoanalytic explanations limited in explaining
  criminal behavior
• Suggests antisocial behavior is mentally
  disordered behavior
• Neglects social factors and overemphasizes
  childhood experiences
• Research in this area relies on case histories
• Sexist in their explanation of females and their
  behavior

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Moral Development and Crime

• Jean Piaget, mental and moral development in
  children four stages of development
• Sensorimotor birth to 2 years. learn through
  senses
• Preoperational 2-7 years. learning language,
  drawing, other skills
• Concrete operations 7-11 years. logical
  thinking and problem solving
• Formal operations 11-15 years. abstract ideas

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Kohlberg Research

• 1960s and 1970s research
• Moral development is more than life experiences
• Universal system of moral development for
  children and adults everywhere
• System of six stages of moral development

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Kohlbergs Model of Moral Development

• Pre-conventional Level moral reasoning
  motivated by concern for self.
• Conventional Level moral reasoning concerned
  with following the rules and fulfilling duty.
• Post-conventional Level focused on determining
  the universal good.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage One
• The Punishment and Obedience Orientation
• In stage one, the right thing to do is to obey
  authority figures in order to avoid punishment.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage Two
• Instrument and Relativity Orientation
• Individuals think of right and wrong in terms of
  what is in it for them. Now, the right thing to
  do is whatever meets the individuals own needs.
  

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage Three
• The Interpersonal Concordance Orientation
• People at this stage tend to be very concerned
  about what others think of them. Now, the right
  thing to do is whatever gets me social approval.
  

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage Four
• The Law and Order Orientation
• Individuals see themselves as being part of a
  larger community or society. Motivation is not
  fear of punishment, but respect for the system
  and the social order. Stage four people think
  that what is legally right and what is morally
  right are the same thing.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage Five
• The Social Contract Orientation
• Moral responsibility is understood in terms of
  the deepest values and principles of ones
  society.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Stage Six
• The Universal Ethical Principles Orientation
• This highest stage is where morality turns more
  personal. There exist universal moral principles
  and rules that apply to all humans.

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• Kohlberg - theory of moral development ability
  to distinguish right from wrong
• In early stages, moral reasoning related solely
  to punishment
• Later stages begin to realize society and parents
  have rules
• People recognize universal moral principles
  supercede laws of any one society
• Not everyone makes it through all stages of moral
  development

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• Intelligence and Crime
• Is low IQ to blame for criminal behavior?
• Low IQ linked to delinquency
• Poor school performance leads to less attachments
  to school
• Lower self-esteem
• Lower ability to engage in moral reasoning
• Less able to appreciate consequences of actions
• Race, IQ, and Crime
• Troubling racial overtones in contemporary
  research
• Differences in IQs between blacks and whites
• Methodological flaws in research

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• New personality research has important
  implications for reducing crime
• Preschool and early family intervention programs
• Address aspects of social environment to reduce
  crime
• Problems with new personality research
• Cannot adequately account for relativity of
  deviance do not help understand why one behavior
  instead of the other is chosen
• Some people with personality problems do not
  break the law

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• Evaluation of Psychological Explanations
• Fill in smaller picture of crime
• Psychological studies often use small,
  unrepresentative samples results should be
  interpreted cautiously
• Generally disregard structural factors (i.e.
  poverty)
• Causal order remains unclear
• Rarely study white-collar offenders

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• Abnormality or Normality?
• Psychological approaches suggest crime/criminals
  are psychologically abnormal
• Can still commit crime and be psychologically
  normal

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Next Week

• Read Chapter 6 Sociological Theories
• Emphasis on Social Structure