assess the relationship between culture and crime as proposed by anomie theory
this is valuelessness. people feel the social contract has failed them and crime is justified. chaotic lives.
it is that societal breakdown leads to crime. valuelessness and hopelessness leads to crime.
could you make the argument that psychology is not really a science?
Yes, it is somewhat a humanities subjects. Not all its doctrines or provable or falsifiable to a scientific standard.
5.5
is crime and deviance simply a product of bad thinking ? if so can these errant thought processes be corrected?
No, not entirely. crime harms people. it involves actions. thought do not always become actions
there are wrongful thought processes that lead to crime. these include not thinking of repercussions. it can be egotism. denial of victim.
5.6
in popular psychology and in many people’s estimation of what criminology is or should be the field of forensic pathology and tacking down the serial killer predominates. and who or what is the serial killer? here we often regard the figure of the psychopath as without consience. could and seemingly unemotional but not that even those doctors who believe in those who are unable to empthaise with other humans. does the psychopath exist?
yes he is well documented. there is a clear definition. this is determinable by fairly objective criteria. there is a spectrum for psychopathy.
self assessment
are we at risk or is this a cultural fiction?
It is largely fictive. psychopathy is mostly innate and only a little environmental.
example charles manson
he was an icon and an incarcerated serial killer. he never killed by his own hand. he is said to be pure evil
is this term useful or apt?
Yes he is. Anyone with any sense of morality must recognise that there is evil. One should not be too quick to label something evil. we ought not be manichean. But when it comes to mass murder this is evil.
if so was he made evil by the juvenile reformatory?
It was a contributory factor.
is manson a psycho?
Very probably. there is no rational explanation for his crimes otherwise. He did not show a normal emotional reaction to what he did.
outline the main differences and similarities between the four psychological explanations of crime.
That his crime was innate
that it was by conditioning
some do not know right and wrong.
some know right and wrong but do not care and are willing to kill for gain or thrill despite knowing what this causes the victims.
draw a list of diverse crimes that range in seriousness from petty crimes to murder. which of the above theories do you think account for each?
peaceful protest up to mass murder.
Peaceful protest – no theory applies.
mass murder – psychopathy. denial of victims. they are not human or they deserve it. self preservation.
a. identify an every day example of a situation where social and behavioural learning seems to determine people’s behaviour. Are there any factors which would prevent such learning take place?
supporting a football team. follow the crowd. family and peers. socual pressure. copying. adulation for that. group solidarity. persecuting non conformists.
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b. think about some of your own characteristics traits and behaviours. to what extent have these behaviours been learned either via positive reinforcement,
differential association
or via the observation of cultural symbols and media role models?
positive reinforcement the avoidance of tendentious topics.
differential association – accent and dress sense
observation of cultural symbols and media role models – being clean shaven. shortish hair.
criminological imagination
Giuliani and the NY miracles.
a. do you find the broken window theory persuasive?
Yes. small crimes grow. People sense impunity. but one must not be too hard on misdemeanours
b. do you think a zero tolerance approach would improve crime rates or make them worse because people who would previously not have records would not be considered criminals and so are more likely to commit crime than they otherwise would?
more crimes would be detected. it would be bad if people who did very trifling things were stigmatised and made unemployable.
c. in the NY case study do you believe that the city was safer i.e. no street prozzies on Lexington Ave or do you think the rise in the number of police patrols and other measures lulled people into a perceived or false sense of security?
the city was safer but prozzies are not a danger.
d. why do you think mainstream US criminologists only look at local trends rather than crime as a worldwide phenomenon?
they are v US centric.
e. why does young suggest that mainstream criminologists only use cultural explanations as a last resort?
Yes he does. He says look at crime as crime not culture. But he says there is a socio political context. ordinary activities are demonised by the establishment.
f. in the light of revelations made by young on the grouping of ethnicities and races do you consider popular terms such as black on black crimes to be myths?
No it is no myth . the racism industry says that it is.
g. why do you think the UK did not react the same as the USA did to its dramatic fall in crime rates?
More rational. less alarmist. less moralistic. less democratic.
h. what are the dangers in terms of accurate states associated with defining deviancy up?
these conflate minor matters with felonies. It leads to an overreaction and a police states.
i. do you think crime rates are indeed linked to anti social behaviour? if so to what extent? is there a point at which they no longer converge?
Yes, they are. minor crimes become major ones. So a small extent. some people do petty things and this never escalates. There is a point when they do not converge. jaywalking is not murder.
a. what did durkheim mean by the social laws of suicide? can you think of any that would be a contributing factor?
Durkheim said that religious attitudes to suicidal affected the rate. There are lots of other factors such as depression, family breakdown and alcoholism, drugs and poverty.
b. why do you think there is such inherent trust in stats and crime rates? why don’t people see them more as guides or guesstimates? what are the dangers of this?
some people respect authority overmuch. people want to think they know the truth. some people do see them as guides.
c. concerning the dark area of crime what proportion of sexual offences do you think go unreported? do you consider there to be any way of significantly improving reporting rates? can you think of other dark areas of crime?
Methinks it is minimal. No. Theft is a dark area of crime. police do nowt.
4.3
a. how easy are they to obtain?
very
b. now search for explanatory notes and criticisms and make notes on them.
they break them down by category and region and show increase and decrease.
c. search for int stats. where does your country rank in various comparisons.
v high for an industrialised country.
a. what advice is given?
to treat these with caution
b. how does the guide explain stats are arrived at and how does it compare with the CSEW?
these are based in crimes reported to the police as opposed to those reported in surveys.
note following assessment of ONS the stats based on police recorded crime data were found not to meet the required standard for designation as national stat.
c. why do you think this might be?
because people do not report crime and the police massage crime down.
d. do you consider these to be A not really affecting the reliability.
No these impact reliablity.
B. minor issues of technical matter
C very serious issues that must be addressed to ensure public confidence in crime states?
e. what were the two categories if crime that the stats authority was most concerned about under reporting?
theft. happens so much . minor. not repoted much
f. what use is made of the CSEW in relation to the crime stats?
to show how so little is reported because police are useless
inutility.
exam Q’s
discuss.
This is somewhat true. The classical school looked at individuals. It also believed that economic factors somewhat explained crime.
The positivist school said that religious forces created or deterred crime. It looked at psychology too that was poorly understood in the 18th century. the positivist school said that government had to do more to tackle the root causes of crime: anomie. It recognised alienation.
Q2. those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. discuss in relation to the academic development of the classical trad in criminology.
This is true as George Santyana said. the classical tradition has largely been discredited but some cling to it because they are punitive and believe that everyone is rational.
3. The classical conception of rational action is unscientific and has survived only because of its ideological utility.
discuss
This is partly true but there is some empirical evidential basis for it. it suits the statists and the prison industrial complex to argue for mass incarceration
4. ”crimes need no fancy explanations; they occur whenever social control is weak and opportunities present themselves.” Discuss.
this is partially correct. There are opportunist criminals at all levels of society. However, there are other explanations such as socio economic ones, family breakdown and childhood trauma.
what makes the assumptions of the classical perspective in criminology so appealing?
it seems that it is fair. Individuals are responsible. Crime can be minimised by harsh enough punishments especially when the chance of being caught is v high. the simplicity is alluring to some. it suits securocrats.
5. positivist criminology never escaped from the basic assumptions of classical criminology. it remained wedded to the need to correct crime and was thereby unable to appreciate the meaning of crime to the offender.
Discuss.
Yes, this is somewhat true. Later thinkers realised the ludic quality of crime. Some like Engels a positivist saw it as revolt against exploitation.
6. the assumption underlying the classical criminological conception of crime as rational action continue to guide the criminal justice system because they accord to a greater degree than those of positivism with our moral intuitions.
Discuss
This is true to a large extent. It is correct that an individual’s actions determine criminality. People are deterred by penalties but to a point. But some are irrational. Classical criminology is judgmental.,
activity 3.2
a. what were the background conditions for the rise of classical criminology? What were the key influences upon Beccaria and how did Beccaria use previous writers to fashion a new legitimacy for criminal justice?
the conditions were Beccaria’s study. his challenge of the belief that morality comes from religion and crimes against property should be harshly punished. Beccaria looked to classical writers such as Greek philosophers. He was an enlightnement thinker.
b. what assumptions concerning human nature underlie classicism? in what way does the classical perspective believe it is possible to control human behaviour? does it seek to eliminate crime or simply manage it?
man is a rational actor. rewards and punishments motivate people. the classical perspective says that incentives and disincentives will control conduct. it seeks to manage it: it is reducible not eradicable.
c. what principles of punishment are inherent in the perspective? are these still appropriate today?
they are that people fear punishment and will seek to avoid it. these are apt up to a point. people do not fear mild punishments particularly when the chance of apprehension is v low.
d. what accounts for the continuing appeal of classicism? why do you think we have seen a redeployment of classical ideas in the last 15 years or so?
it was the first work of criminology. we have seen them come back in as it fairly punitive.
Beccaria. of torture
a. what are Beccaria’s arguments against torture? in particular what is the relationship between torture and truth? why would the innocent confess to crimes they did not commit?
He said it made innocent people confess and tough but guilty people get away with it. he said torture inverts truth. the innocent confess to abate the agony.
b. are they still valid today?
yes
p 33
a. what explains the systematic use of torture by US forces?
they wanted info fast. rage. desire for vengeance. racialism. de humanisation.
b. is the convention against torture useless?
almost. the worst states break it willy nilly with impunity
humane states obey it. but they would anyway.
some baddies have been prosecuted under it.
states are more reluctant to torture due to it. they do it less and less engregiously.
In some senses yes. It is a soft science. It is based on data capture to some extent and classification. It is a social science. There can be experiments. Some of its contentions are susceptible of confutation. Other doctrines are not falsifiable.
2. criminology cannot be a science because its subject matter crime is defined by shifting moral and political concerns. discuss.
This is true. The notion of what a crime varies temporally and geographically. Some things may be obligatory in some states yet felonious in others such as worshipping a certain faith. Science is eternal and universal. It knows no bounds.
3. why has it proved so difficult to agree on the core concepts of criminology?
Because there is disagreement on the core taxonomy such as crime.
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