NATURE AND CAUSES OF CRIME

1
NATURE AND CAUSES OF CRIME

• INTRODUCTION

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Fundamental Issues in Criminology

• Scientific Method
• Ideology
• Hegemony
• Praxis

3
What is a Theory?

• An assumption (or set of assumptions) that
  attempts to explain why or how things are related
  to each other.

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Criteria For Evaluating Theory

• Logical Consistency
• Scope and Parsimony
• Testability
• Empirical Validity
• Usefulness Policy Implications

5
Criminological Theory

• Schools of Thought
• Disagreement on why crime occurs
• Crime is multifaceted and multifactored
• Macro and micro levels

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Tautology

• Needless repetition of the same thing in
  different words, redundancy
• A statement composed of simpler statements in a
  fashion that makes it true whether the simpler
  statements are true or false
• e.g., Either it will rain tomorrow or it will
  not rain tomorrow

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Tautological Qualities in Theories

• Define criminality in terms of the same factors
  they posit as causes
• We know that all criminals are abnormal because
  crime is abnormal therefore those who commit
  crime must not be normal

8
Social Learning Theory

• Reinforcement proposition is tautological
• Reinforcement occurs when the behavior has been
  strengthened.
• True by definition and cannot be disproved for if
  the behavior has not been strengthened, then it
  is not reinforced

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Theoretical Obstacles

• Ecological Fallacy
• Fallacy of Autonomy
• Fallacy of Intractability

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PRECLASSICAL PERIOD

• Crime was attributed to the devil, demons,
  witches, and other evil spirits.
• Rationale for punishment was retribution or
  revenge.

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CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

• Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
• Father of Modern Criminology
• On Crime and Punishment (1764)
• It is better to prevent crimes than to punish
  them

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According to Beccaria

• Laws should maintain the social contract
• Legislators should create laws
• Judges impose punishment in accordance with the
  law
• Judges should not interpret the law
• Punishment should be based on pleasure/pain
  principle

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According to Beccaria

• Punishment should be based on the act, not the
  actor
• Punishment should be determined by the crime
• Punishment should be prompt effective
• All people should be treated equally
• Capital punishment should be abolished except for
  a few crimes

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Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

• Punishment as Deterrence
• Utilitarianism
• Hedonistic Calculus

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Positive School

• Scientific Method
• Darwinism (1859)
• What Causes Crime?

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Key Assumptions of the Positivist School of
Thought

• Human behavior is determined.
• Criminals are fundamentally different.
• Social scientists can be objective.
• Crime is caused by multiple factors.
• Society is based on consensus.

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Problems in the Positivist Theories

• Over-prediction
• Ignores the criminalization process
• Assumes a consensual worldview
• The belief in determinism
• Inability to be objective and value-neural