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26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Major theories of causes of crime
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Classical and Positivist, Biological, Psychological, Sociological, and Life Course theories
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Classical Criminology
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1) criminal behavior is a rational choice
2) people choose to crimmit crimes after weighing the consequences, 3) Fear of Punishment keeps people in check. 4) Punishment should fit the crime not the person 5)Criminal justice ssytem must be predictable |
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Neoclassical Criminology
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Jams Q. Wilson
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James Q. Wilson
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Modified the classical vioew of criminology by nothing that you must taek into account the differences among people.
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Positivist Criminology
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•Used science to study the body mind and environment of the offender.
•Human behavior is controlled by physical, mental, and social factors, not by free will. •Criminals are different from noncriminals |
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Biological Explanations
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Cesare Lombroso
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Cesare Lombroso
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Some people are Crimogenic, and those people have physical traits- canine teeth, high cheek bones, huge jaws.
(Racial connotations,black people) |
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Crimogenic
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a person who is born criminal
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Sinner v. Oklahoma
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the court case that dealt with criminals being steralized because of the belief "criminalizm" was hereditary
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Psychological Explanations
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Sigmund Freud
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Psychoanalytical theory
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-crime is caused by unconcscious forces.
- early childhood experiences effect personality development - personality has 3 parts (id,ego,superego) |
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Id
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sexual drives
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Ego
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desires of behavior
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Superego
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conscious, judges actions as either right or wrong
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Sigmund Frued
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believed criminal behavior was a result of an overdeveloped or underdeveloped superego.
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Psychopath, Sociopath, Antisocial personality
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A perosn unable to control their impulses, cannot learn from experiences, and does not feel emotions
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Sociological Theories
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1)Crime is the result of underlying social conditions, such as poverty, inequailyt, and unemployment
2) Criminals are MADE, not born 3) external factors cause criminality |
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Robert Merton
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Social change often leds to anomie: where rules or norms that guide behavior have weakened or disapperared.
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Social Process Theories
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everyone has the potentioal to become a criminal depending on the influences around them.
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Learning Theory
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Criminal behavior is learned through encountering more influences that view criminal behavior as normal and acceptable
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Control Theory
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Criminal behavior occurs when an individuals bonds to their family and friends are broken, i.e. social links keep people in line in fear of losing their loved ones
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Labeling Theory
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People become what they have been labeled because they beleive that the label is true, (i.e, and poor black kid beleives he must be a criminal because he fits the criminal stereotype)
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Social Conflict Theories
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assume criminal law and the criminal justice system are primarily a means of crontolling the poor and the have notes, rich commit as many crimes but the poor get caught
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Life Course Theories
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this theory identifies the turnin-points in peoples life which have led to criminal behavior. Overlaps with psychological and social structure theories.
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Problems with these theories
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can explain why people become criminals, they can not explain why people exposed to the same influenced or experience the same issues are not criminals.
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NY times article on WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
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fbi lost a lot of crime budget due to the War on Terror, whit ecollar crime has benefited from the FBI's lack of resources
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