Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch. 1 Righteous Slaughter
• People murder to defend what they believe is
  good
• In this way, they justify their actions (at
  least at the moment they act)
• Murderers also justify their actions if they
  feel their property rights have been violated

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• overall, these murders emerge quickly, are
  fiercely impassioned, and are conducted with an
  indifference to legal consequences
• these murderers are unaffected by swift,
  certain, and severe punishment (Classical theory)
• most murders lack premeditation
• most murderers make no attempt to escape and are
  quickly apprehended

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• How these murders occur?
• 1. The would-be-killer interprets that the victim
  is attacking what he regards as an eternal human
  value and that the situation requires a last
  stand in defense of his basic worth.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• a majority of murders occur at home or at
  recreational activities.
• people are able to walk away from conflicts at
  work conflicts at home are harder to walk away
  from
• also, there are much greater emotional
  investments at home
• recreational places are often places of last
  resort escape from other spheres of life

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 2. The would-be-killer then transforms what he
  initially senses as humiliation into rage. Doing
  this blinds the killer to his future. It forges a
  momentary sense of eternal unity with the good

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• First, people who become enraged create their own
  emotions
• Then, they allow themselves to be seduced by
  their emotions in order to act out violently
• Similar to the sociology of emotions
• Humiliation becomes rage when a person senses
  that the way to resolve humiliation is to turn on
  its source
• The goal may not be to kill, but to obliterate
  the source of frustration

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 3. The would-be-killer organizes his behavior to
  implement a particular project. The project
  honors what the killer suffered through violence.
  If death results, it comes as a sacrificial
  slaughter.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• the victims death is not a necessary concern of
  the offender
• through violence the offender defines and
  defends his respectability

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch.2 Sneaky Thrills
• not many criminological theories attempt to
  explain female criminality
• models that have been used are crime specific
• the highest number of property crimes committed
  by women are shoplifting offenses

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Boosters- professional shoplifters steal for the
  money, frequently fencing the items
• Snitches- amateurs or occasional shoplifters
  steal on impulse or if the opportunity presents
  itself
• There is little proof for kleptomania (a neurotic
  compulsion to steal)

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• occasional shoplifters steal for excitement or
  on a dare
• it is also possible that all shoplifters
  experience this thrill

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Three phases to shoplifting
• 1. Generating the experience of being seduced to
  shoplift
• potential shoplifters often dont know exactly
  what they are going to steal
• they are attracted or drawn to particular
  objects (almost a mystical attraction)
• shoplifting is shopping without money
• people are also seduced by how easy it would be
  to steal the item

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 2. Reconquering ones fears in an effort to
  produce normal appearances
• the shoplifter must be on guard that they are
  not being watched or followed
• they must also be careful not to act
  suspiciously
• they must act like they are shoplifting when
  they are stealing

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 3. The euphoric thrill of accomplishment
• what has been stolen is of less importance than
  the psychological boost the accomplishment brings
• often the item is discarded or given away these
  shoplifters do not develop deviant identities
  will stop if caught
• career shoplifters consider being caught the
  price one must pay

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• For various reasons, shoplifting can be
  particularly attractive to adolescents
• Also, the role of social class and shoplifting is
  not clear cut
• both poor and wealthy people steal stealing is
  not always for monetary purposes

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch.3 Ways of the Badass
• The process of becoming a badass or adolescent
  tough guy willing to use violence
• 1. He must appear tough and unwilling to be
  changed or dominated by the opinions of others.
  He must appear to be in command of situations and
  unwilling to back down.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• may be accomplished in many ways
• dress leather or black clothing, heavy boots,
  metal adornments, dark sunglasses
• language use or lack thereof silence is
  important, so are profanities
• doesnt make eye contact, greets others with a
  punch or slap, etc.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 2. He must appear alien and not part of civilized
  society. His dress, demeanor, and behavior must
  reflect this. His presence must be unnerving for
  others.
• body language (walking postures) are important
• tattoos and body piercings
• graffiti writings demonstrate an alien presence

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 3. He must appear mean willing to back up his
  meanness with violence if necessary. He cant fly
  off the handle and risk being labeled a punk
• others must simply believe that physical
  violence is imminent
• must appear as being irrational in their
  commitment to violence, when they arent

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 1. soulful chaos
• Attempt to convince others that their violent
  presence represents chaos take a sadistic
  pleasure in violence
• 2. paraphernalia of purposiveness
• Knives, guns, etc.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Weapon/No Weapon
• Between 1979 and 1991, almost 400,000 youth aged
  15-19 died as the result of firearms
• In 1991 the offender was armed in 67 of serious
  violent crimes
• 4 times as many juveniles were killed with a gun
  in 1994 than in 1984. Guns now account for 82 of
  homicides by juveniles.

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 3. mind fucking
• Use of the phrase fuck you expresses the
  badasss attitude towards others
• The bump can be an excuse to initiate violence
• whachulookinat even unobtrusive invasion of
  space may be considered legitimate grounds for
  reprisal

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch.4 Street Elites
• Being a tough guy is one way gang members
  demonstrate they are bad to themselves and
  others
• The major problem teen gangs face is being taken
  seriously
• These youth may have conflicting roles on the
  street and at home

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Lower-class gang behavior is much different from
  middle-class gang behavior
• Punks come from the middle-class but deny their
  roots they adopt lower-class dress, etc. but
  deny the territory
• Turf wars have escalated with an increase in
  crack dealing

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Middle-class kids deny their higher status and
  adopt lower-class street behavior
• Lower-class gang member consider themselves
  elites (Knights, Kings)
• Middle-class gangs are more likely to include
  girls whereas lower-class gangs are almost all
  male

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ghetto gangs are a major reason such
  neighborhoods are so dangerous
• Kids join gangs to protect themselves from gangs
• Violence is a way of showing elite status

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Gangs as childlike
• They stick to their own neighborhoods
• Turf wars suggest child-like king-of-the-hill
  games
• Graffiti are used to mark territory

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch.5-7 Robbery as Learned
• Explains the persistence of robbery (stick-up) as
  learned behavior
• Persistent robbers cannot be called professional
  criminals their robberies result in little money
  and they dont improve their technique with age
  or experience

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Robbery cannot be equated with extreme poverty or
  lack of opportunity to obtain money another way
• Katz discounts drug addiction models there are
  other ways to get money at a lower risk
• Most robbers also commit other crimes (burglary,
  drug sales, etc.)
• The thrill of robbery often makes it difficult
  for people to stop

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Robbery requires more skill and guts than
  mugging
• Muggers want to grab a persons valuables and
  quickly get away
• Robbers declare their intentions to the victim
• They must appear threatening and committed to the
  use of violence if necessary

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Moral philosophy of the hardmancommitment that
  his will must prevail, regardless of danger to
  himself
• Victims do frequently resist (24 of those who
  face a robber with a gun)

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Robbers are usually
• Unemployed
• Unmarried with few family obligations
• Use hard drugs
• These factors are part of an overall pattern of
  acceptance of a learned transcendent way of
  life
• Robbery is part of a larger commitment to a
  hedonistic lifestyle

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Chaos is a force that threatens to overwhelm the
  robber at any time
• Things can always go wrong during a robbery
• The only way to deal with chaos is through
  control
• He sticks up for himself (literally and
  figuratively)

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Robbery is largely a male activity
• Katz rejects the notion that females are too
  incompetent or that they have a distaste for
  violence
• Males and females have different spheres of
  activities
• Male activities allow them to learn violent
  behavior more than female activities males also
  take more risks than females

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• there is a disproportionate number of Black
  males involved in robbery
• the black to white ratio for robbery arrests is
  51
• other minorities do not have such high arrest
  rates
• one Chicago study found 90 Black v 6 Hispanic

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Katz offers a sociological view for the racial
  disparities of robbery
• Other ethnic groups have been able to become
  entrepreneurs, allowing racketeering to develop
  alongside them to exploit their own groups
• They dont need to resort to robbery to make
  money
• While equally criminal, their crimes will not
  become part of official statistics

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• The Black community lacks its own businesses
• Asians control most ghetto establishments
• Most black robbers victimize other blacks trapped
  in the ghetto with them

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Katz also offers a phenomenological explanation
  for Black robbery
• nigger and bad nigger
• when blacks use these terms it is a special form
  of insult
• nigger represents a non-person status it
  implies that he is nothing and is therefore
  invisible

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• the term bad serves to negate the non-person
  status and replace it with being
• for a bad nigger robbery is a way to show that
  one is willing to risk his life for small gain
  and unafraid to make threats and use violence

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Ch.8 Cold-Blooded Senseless Murder
• these murders cause the greatest public concern
  and puzzlement
• they often occur in the midst of a robbery or
  kidnapping the victim is a stranger
• however, this killing is not an attempt to
  eliminate witnesses

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• The following are not examples of senseless
  murder
• 1. righteous slaughter
• 2. berserk killers who enter a building and shoot
  randomly
• 3. serial murders which have sexual or sadistic
  motives
• 4. killing a robbery victim when they are in the
  act of resisting the assailant

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Katz includes
• The Onion Field murders
• Gary Gilmores murderous rampage
• In Cold Blood, etc.
• these murders usually occur in the event of a
  robbery or kidnapping, the individuals offer no
  resistance, and witnesses are often allowed to
  escape

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• Three part explanation for such murders
• 1. such individuals hope to have others fear
  them to react to them with a sense of primordial
  fear or dread
• cold-blooded killers are the equivalent of
  ancient deities
• they are to be feared and approached only with
  great caution and respect

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• the wrath of the killer is feared just as Gods
  is
• the badasss dress, tattoos, and language
  conveys a message that one must avoid this
  individual destruction may follow if you dont

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 2. cold-blooded killers are frequently those who
  have spent most of their lives in reform schools
  and prisons they have trouble accepting
  conventional morality
• they lack social and work-related skills
• when released from institutionalization they are
  under much pressure to conform

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• the individual may feel trapped by the pressure
  to conform
• they may want to act bad to prove they cant be
  controlled it is a way of regaining self-esteem

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• the killings emerge from a dizziness in which
  conformity is the greatest spiritual challenge
  and deviance promises the peace of transcendent
  significance
• killing is the ultimate act of transcending the
  morality of the community and thus creating a
  transcendent identity

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• 3. there must be a proper killing scene or
  opportunity for the potential killer to actualize
  his fantasies
• many of these killer, while in prison, fantasize
  about what they will do once out
• most of these murders occur late at night
• some occur in specific locations

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Seductions of Crime Jack Katz

• it would be easy to explain such killers in
  psychological or sociological terms
• most were isolated individuals before the
  murders (antisocial personality disorder)
• or their actions could be a result of a lack of
  social ties
• Katz rejects these theories as too simplistic