Introduction of Criminal Justice

1
Introduction of Criminal Justice

• Chapter 3
• Understanding Crime and Victimization

2
Objectives

• Describe the problem of violent and economic
  crime, including substance abuse
• Understand the reasons why crime seems rational
• The difference between general and specific
  deterrence
• Discuss the biological and psychological factors
  related to crime
• How media affects violence

3
Objections cont.

• How social and economic factors influence the
  crime rate
• Recognize the socio-cultural factors related to
  crime
• Know the socialization factors related to crime
• Explain how social conflict leads to crime
• Understand the concept of human development and
  crime
• Discuss the behavior patterns that increase the
  chances of becoming a crime victim

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Introduction

• This chapter opens with a story about a log
  running Medicare Scheme that was planned by a
  doctor and his staff. The ripped of the federal
  government for about 20 million dollars. They had
  patients transported to clinics and facilities
  and tests were performed on them that were not
  needed. After the first visit the patients
  records were tampered with to show they had
  multiple visits and tests. It was done so the
  patients records could withstand an audit. Much
  of the money ended up in a Swiss Bank Account.

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The cause of Crime

• Looking at the causes of crime we might ask why
  the doctor committed crimes along with the
  co-conspirators.
• Was it a disturbed childhood
• Poverty
• Impulsive opportunity

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Cause of Crime Cont.

• Despite all the research experts are still not
  sure why people continue to commit crimes
• They also dont understand why some people
  continue to do the things that make them crime
  victims
• Is it unemployment, poverty, or diet?
• Lets look at some crime theories

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Rational Choice Theory

• Snoop Dogg charged with gun, drug counts in
  California
• POSTED 1123 p.m. EDT, April 11, 2007
• Charges stem from an October arrest by Burbank
  police at Bob Hope Airport Charges are gun
  possession by a felon and sale or transportation
  of marijuana If convicted, he faces up to four
  years in state prison

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Risk VS Benefits

• PASADENA, California (AP) -- Snoop Dogg was
  charged Tuesday with felony gun and drug counts,
  Los Angeles County prosecutors said.
• The 35-year-old rap star was scheduled to be
  arraigned Wednesday in Pasadena, California,
  prosecutors said in a statement.
• Snoop Dogg faces charges of gun possession by a
  felon and sale or transportation of marijuana.

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Choice Theory

• People choose to commit crimes after weighing the
  benefits.
• Drug trafficking fits this theory
• If the profit is going to be big and the chance
  of being caught is minimal the drug dealer will
  take the chance
• To deter crime of this nature the punishment must
  be strict to outweigh any benefits

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Rational Criminals

• Crime is an individual choice
• Criminals will not commit crime that will have
  low future earnings
• Criminals may be motivated by other criminals who
  appear to make large profits from illegal
  activities
• The prevailing wisdom is that crime does not pay
• Criminals also delay their activities if the fear
  getting caught, target appears too well protected
  or they cannot find a safe site to break the law

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Rational Crimes

• Crime is rational in that crimes are planned by
  the criminals
• Street criminals plan their acts by reading
  newspapers about weddings and funerals meaning
  homes will be unguarded
• They choose houses that are screened from public
  view
• Dont like thorny shrubbery, barking dogs and
  well lighted areas

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Rational Crimes Cont.

• They like houses at the end of a road
• They also like high end houses that dont have a
  burglar alarm
• They monitor traffic and watch people leave for
  work and they prefer to work between 9 am and
  1100 am

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Choice Theory

• People choose to commit crime after weighing
  potential benefits and consequences of a criminal
  act
• To deter crime, punishment must be sufficiently
  strict, sure, and swift to outweigh any benefits
  of law violation

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Violent criminals

• Choose their targets close to their homes or in
  areas they know well
• This gives them knowledge of escape routes
• Neighborhood watch programs disturb some muggers
• They target business that deal mostly with cash
  like bars, restaurants and supermarkets

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General Deterrence

• General Deterrence means people will not choose
  crime if they fear crime
• Fear alone may not be a general deterrence
  because
• Lack of efficiency in the criminal justice system
• Certainty of punishment is minimal
• Concept of general deterrence assumes a rational
  criminal meaning someone who is not under the
  influence of drugs

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Specific Deterrence

• Specific Deterrence means if punishment is severe
  enough, a convicted offender will not repeat
• Assumes a rational criminal
• Failure of specific deterrence may be that
  offenders are impulsive and fail to learn from
  prior experience

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Situational crime prevention

• Situational crime prevention means to achieve
  crime prevention by reducing opportunities for
  people to commit crime
• Achieved by creating strategy or overall plan to
  reduce specific crimes
• Developing specific tactics to achieve these
  goals
• Close bars early
• Cut off beer early at a football game

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Specific Crime Prevention Cont.

• Four main tactics in use today
• Increase effort needed to commit crime
• Photos on credit cards, fences, locks and other
  target hardening methods
• Increase risks of committing crime
• Have cameras present
• Reduce rewards for committing crime
• Removable car stereos, and mark property so if it
  is stolen it cannot be sold to a pawn shop
• Induce guilt or shame
• Put the offenders in the newspapaer

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Specific Crime Prevention cont.

• Seeks clearly defined solutions to specific
  problems
• Example-If there is a house of prostitution in
  the neighborhood publish all the car tags that
  frequent the location and send the drivers wife
  a letter from city hall
• Goal is to change the environment

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Biological TheoriesCesare Lombroso

• Credited with origin of scientific criminology
• Criminals have atavistic anomalies
• Physical characteristics such as protruding
  forehead, receding forehead, prominent
  cheekbones, long arms, twisted nose etc..
• This causes them later to have inadequate social
  functioning which causes them to commit crimes

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Biological underpinning of crime

• Assume variation in human physical traits can
  explain behavior
• Each person maintains a unique biochemical,
  neurological, and genetic makeup
• Develop physical or mental traits at birth that
  affect social functioning and influence behavior
  choices
• Today, linking physical traits with violence,
  aggression, and other antisocial behavior

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Biochemical factors

• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Improper diet
• Environmental contaminants
• Allergies
• Hypoglycemia
• Hormonal imbalance

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Neurological problems

• Abnormal EEGs found among significant number of
  offender
• Minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) and
  attention-deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD)

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Genetic Factors

• Focus on the role of heredity
• Twin studies used to measure relationship between
  heredity and crime
• Some evidence genetic makeup is better predictor
  of criminality than social or environmental
  variables

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Psychological TheoriesPsychodynamic theory

• Offenders have damaged egos and superegos that
  render them unable to control their impulses and
  urges
• The development of personality early in childhood
  influences behavior for the rest of a persons
  life.

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Social Learning or Behavioral Theory

• People commit crimes when they model their
  behavior after others they see being rewarded for
  the same acts
• If they see someone rewarded by using violence
  their antisocial behavior can be triggered by
  verbal taunts and threats
• Behavior is enforced by rewards and extinguished
  by punishment

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Cognitive

• Individual reasoning processes influence behavior
• Reasoning is influenced by the way people
  perceive their environment and by their moral and
  intellectual development

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Social Structure Theories

• Social disorganization
• The conflicts and problems of urban social life
  and communities control the crime rate
• Crime is a product of transitional neighborhoods
  that manifest social disorganization and value
  conflict

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Strain

• People who adopt societys goals but lack the
  means to attain them seek alternatives, such as
  crime

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Social Process TheoriesLearning

• People learn to commit crimes from exposure to
  antisocial behaviors
• Criminal behaviors depends on the persons
  experiences with rewards for conventional
  behaviors and punishments for deviant ones
• Being rewarded for deviance leads to crime

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Social Control

• A persons bond to society prevents him or her
  form violating, social rules
• If the bond weakens, the person is free to commit
  crimes

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Conflict TheoriesConflict

• People commit crimes when the law, controlled by
  the rich and powerful, defines their behavior as
  illegal
• The immoral actions of the powerful go unpunished

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Radical Feminism

• The capital system creates patriarchy, which
  oppresses women
• Male dominance explains gender bias, violence
  against women, and repression

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Peacemaking

• Peace and humanism can reduce crime
• Conflict resolution strategies can work

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Integrated TheoriesLatent Trait

• General theory of crime
• Crime and criminality are separate concepts
• People choose to commit crime when they lack
  self-control
• People lacking in self-control will seize
  criminal opportunities

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Developmental

• Criminals go through lifestyle changes during
  their offending career
• As people mature, the factors that influence
  their propensity to commit crime change
• In childhood, family factors are critical
• In adulthood, marital and job factors are key

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Differential Association Theory

• Edwin Sutherland invented this
• Kids learn by watching other kids ride a bike or
  swim and then they learn to ride a bike or swim
• If they choose to associate with deviant peers
  they will take on the criminal attitudes of their
  peers
• If you lay down with dogs with flees you too will
  have flees.

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Victimization Theories Victim Precipitation

• Victims trigger criminal acts by their
  provocative behavior
• Active precipitation involves fighting words or
  gestures
• Passive precipitation occurs when victims
  unknowingly threaten their attackers

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Lifestyle

• Victimization risk is increased when people have
  a high-risk lifestyle
• Placing oneself at risk by going out to dangerous
  places results in increased victimization

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Routine Activities

• Crime rates can be explained by the availability
  of
• suitable targets
• The absence of capable guardians
• The presence of motivated offenders

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• The End
• The End
• The End