III' POSITIVISM and MICROLEVEL CRIMINOLOGY

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III. POSITIVISM
and MICRO-LEVEL CRIMINOLOGY
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A. Introduction

• 1. the rise of Science
• 2. the Age of Enlightenment / Age of Reason
• gt scientific consideration could be
  applied to all facets of
• human enterprise
• 3. the Industrial Revolution
• a. the growth / evolution of
  mercantilism
• b. e.g., Jethro Tull (1674-1741)
• gt creator of the seed drill and
  the horse hoe,
• instruments designed to
  accentuate the
• harvesting of root-based
  crops
• 4. marked the rise of Capitalism

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B. The Positivist Perspective

• 1. basic tenet
• gt all social ills can be remedied
  through the application of enough
• science
• 2. via the Age of Reason the evolution /
  development of the
• intelligentsia, MANpower dedicated to
  thoughtful
• consideration
• gt rise of the modern university
• 3. in the context of criminological
  thought, the application the
• Deductive Reasoning Model to examine
  the origins of
• crime
• 4. rise of Determinism over Volunteerism
• gt belief that all human thought /
  behavior / choices were the
• products of a series of social
  conditions and considerations

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• 5. advancement of technology
• a. with the application of enough
  science all social problems
• could be remedied
• b. eventually this was followed by
  the recognition that all social
• ills cannot be solved nor
  explained scientifically
• (Hegels Dialectic)
• 6. emergence of the Modern Method
  (Positivism)
• a. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
  survival of the fittest
• 1) via On the Origin of Species
  by Means of Natural Selection, or
• the
  Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle
  for
• Life (1859)
• 2) if man is
  to be understood he must be studied in
• 
  conjunction with the ecology he shares with other

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• b. Max Weber (1864-1920) The
  Bureaucracy
• 1) (def)
  goal-oriented organizations designed
• 
  according to rational principles to
• 
  efficiently attain
• 2)
  characteristics
• a)
  hierarchy of authority
• 
  gt specific division of labor
• b)
  impersonal
• c)
  written codes of conduct
• 
  d) promotion based on achievement
• e)
  culture of efficiency

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• c. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• 1) worlds first sociologist
• 2) 1st theory society is bounded
  
• by 2 sources of unity
• a) mechanical solidarity
• shared values
• b) organic solidarity
• respect for social
  roles
• 3) appreciation of these
  structures,
• identifies specific
  societies

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C. The First Criminologies

• 1. the Biological Imperative
• a. individual (personal) physical
  make-up determines all
• subsequent behavior
• b. the intellectual / scientific
  question Is understanding human
• biology important to understanding
  crime?
• gt How important? Crucial ?
  Barely
• c. Leaders
• 1) Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)
• a) criminal anthropology
• b) L/Uomo Delinquente
• gt The Criminal Man
  (1889)

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• gt The Atavist
• 1)
  asymmetrical face
• 2)
  excessive dimensions of jaw and cheek bones
• 3)
  ears of unusual size, or occasionally very small,
  or standing
• out as those of
  a chimpanzee
• 4)
  nose twisted, upturned, or flattened in thieves,
  or aquiline or
• beak-like in
  murderers, or with a tip rising like a peak from
• swollen
  nostrils
• 5)
  lips fleshy, turgid, swollen, and protruding
• 6)
  peculiarities of the palate, large central ridge,
  series of
• cavities and
  protuberances such as are found in some
• reptiles, and
  cleft palate

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• gt Criminal?
  Not Criminal?
• 
  
  
  Lon Horiuchi
• Kobe Bryant

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• 2) the Harvard Approach
• a) E A Hooton
• 1 The American
  Criminal An
• Anthropological
  Study (1939)
• 2 conducted
  anthropological
• examinations of
  17,000
• participants in 10
  Northeastern
• states of whom
  14,000 were prisoners
• gt although his
  methodology was...questionable (he simply
• ignored results
  that conflicted with his perspective
• 3 concluded
• Criminals are
  organically inferior. Crime is the
• resultant of the
  impact of environment upon low grade

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• b) William Sheldon
• 1 Psychology and the
  Promethean Will (1936)
• 2 expanded the
  physiological profile model and
• perpetuated the
  body type theory
• c) Sheldon and Eleanor
  Glueck
• 1 Physique and
  Delinquency (1956)
• gt comparison of
  500 persistent delinquents to 500
• proven
  non-delinquents
• 2 personality traits
  are directly linked to particular body
• types
• a
  endomorphs round, fat, soft, easy-going,
• gregarious,
  self-indulgent

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• b
  ectomorphs slender, fragile, weak, loner,
• 
  introspective, high strung
• c mesomorphs muscular, athletic, lean,
  energetic,
• 
  impetuous, assertive
• 
  3 delinquents were more likely to
  be
• 
  MESOS!!!

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D. Some Contemporary Science Visions

• 1. other biological considerations
• gt twins research (Raine, 1993, Fishbein,
  1999)
• 1) inconclusive, although if one
  twin is criminal, it significantly
• increases the likelihood that
  the other twin will also be criminal
• 2) adoption (Rowe, 2002)
• a) modest support but still
  inconclusive
• b) regardless of behavior of
  birth parent, effect of adoptive parents
• influence is critical

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• 2. factors over which there is modest control
• a) genetics (Mednick, 2000)
• 1) not enough data, but
  inconclusive
• 2) birth defects through central
  nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
• and autonomic nervous system (
  heart, glands) do affect behavior
• b) gender
• c) race and ethnicity
• d) age
• e) diet
• f) sociobiology

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• g) biological harm
• 1) birth mother pre-partum habits
• 2) delivery complications
• 3) exposure to toxic substances
• 4) infant head trauma

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E. Summary

• 1. Science can cure all social ills
• a. society simply has to be willing to
  accept the findings science
• produces
• b. Evidence-Based Programs
• c. explanations evolved as science and
  technology evolved
• 2. Positivism provides the root format for all
  social science
• theory construction
• gt science has crafted crime theories
  that are explanations for why
• individuals engage in crime and why
  society has crafted the crime
• laws it has
• 3. the first attempts at Positivist theories
  related to individual
• human biology and were followed
  immediately by theories
• assessing individual human psychology

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• a. characteristics of the individual over
  which s/he has little control
• b. conditions that are unique to the
  individual possessing them
• c. from a criminal justice
  perspective, led to advances in
• corrections / rehabilitation, and
  the creation of the juvenile justice
• system
• 4. notion that people had potential to
  develop themselves in
• extraordinary ways, criminality was
  simply one area
• 5. as our curiosity became more
  sophisticated, so did the tools
• to advance that curiosity
• a. the Industrial Revolution begat
  the Technological Revolution
• b. The Rise of the
  Information Age