Title: Highlights of Chapter 1 Siegel
1Highlights of Chapter 1(Siegel)
- Overview of Criminology
- Classical Criminology
- The Positivist School
- The Chicago School
2What is Criminology?
- In Middle Ages, learning was typically divided
into four areas
- Law
- Medicine
- Theology
- Philosophy
318th 19th Centuries.
- Natural and Social Sciences became full fledged
disciplines
- Today, teaching and learning distributed over 20
or 30 disciplines
- Criminology, as a sciencehas been known for a
little more than a century.
4Raffeale Garofalo. . .
- Coined the term criminology (1885)
- Criminology is an empirical science
- It is one of the social, or behavioral sciences.
5But How is Criminology Defined?
- Criminology has been defined in various ways by
scholars, but we will place emphasis on
Sutherlands definition.
6Edwin H. Sutherland. . .
- Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding
crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within
its scope the process of making laws, of breaking
laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of
laws. . .The objective of criminology is the
development of a body of general and verified
principles and of other types of knowledge
regarding this process of law, crime, and
treatment.
7What does this definition mean?
- development of a body of general and verified
principles
- This means that Sutherland mandated that
criminologists, like other social scientist,
collect information for study and analysis in
accordance with the research methods of modern
science.
8The Making of Laws. . .
- Deviance
- Norms vs. Laws (dogs supermarket)
- Criminologists are interested in all deviant
behavior, but primary interest is in criminal
behavior, that which violates the law.
- The Concept of Crime
- Who in a society decidesand when and under what
circumstanceswhich acts already considered
deviant in that society should be elevated to the
level of gross deviance or crime, subject to
punishment?
9Consensus View (or Model)
- ? criminal acts reflect public opinion
- Certain acts deemed so threatening to the
societys survival that they are designated
crimes
- Assumes that members of a society by and large
agree on what is right and wrong
- Codification of social values becomes law.
Durkheim, we can. . .say that an act is criminal
when it offends strong and defined states of the
collective conscience. - Consensus theorist view society as a stable
entity in which laws are created for the general
good
- ?most common approach in criminology
10Conflict Model ( a different theoretical
perspective)
- Criminal law expresses the values of the ruling
class in a society
- Criminal justice system is a means of controlling
the classes that have no power.
- The struggle for power is a far more basic
feature of human existence than is consensus
- Through power struggles various groups manage to
control law making and law enforcement
(regulation vs. incarceration)
- Appropriate object of criminological
investigation is not the violation of laws but
conflicts in a society.
11The Breaking of Laws. . .
- Simple if viewed from a purely legal perspective,
but Sutherland had much more in mind than
determining whether or not someone has violated
the criminal law. - Sutherland was referring to the process of
breaking laws.
- Process encompasses a series of events, perhaps
starting at birth or even earlier, which results
in the commission of crime by some individuals
and not by others.
12Societys Reaction to the Breaking of Laws. . .
- Research on societys reaction to crime is more
recent than research on the causes of crime
13The Criminal Justice System
- Term criminal justice system is relatively new
- Became popular in 1967, with the publication of
the report of the Presidents Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Justice, The
Challenge of Crime in a Free Society. - The United States has well over 50 criminal
justice systems
14Criminology Criminal Justice System
- Criminology
- Focuses on scientific studies of crime and
criminality
- Criminal Justice
- Focuses on scientific studies of decision-making
processes, operations, and such justice related
concerns as the efficiency of police, courts, and
corrections -
15Historical Context
- Classical criminology grew out a reaction against
the barbaric system of law, punishment, and
justice that existed before the French Revolution
of 1789. Until that time there was no real system
of criminal justice in Europe.
16Discretionary Power
- Judges had discretionary power to convict a
person for an act not even legally defined as
criminal.
- As individual could be imprisoned for almost any
reason (disobedience to ones father, for
example) or for no reason at all.
17Unwritten Laws
- Many criminal laws were unwritten, and those that
had been drafted often did not specify the kind
and amount of punishment associated with the
crime.
18No Due Process
- Arbitrary and often cruel sentences were imposed
by judges who had unbounded discretion to decide
questions of guilt/innocence
- Punishments included branding, burning, flogging,
mutilating, drowning, banishing, and beheading.
19In England. .
- A person might receive the death penalty for any
of more than 200 offenses
- Can you imagine receiving the death penalty for
petty theft running the red light
20Torture
- Torture to elicit confessions was common
21 Classical Criminology The Rule of Man vs.
The rule of Law
- social movement that existed during the late
1700s and the early 1800s.
- idea that all crime resulted from a choice that
could potentially be made anyone.
- most crime could be explained through "human
nature"
- Cesare Beccaria Jeremy Bentham
22Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
- In 1764, the unknown Cesare Beccaria wrote one
short treatise called "On Crimes and Punishments"
and the world is still using it to guide criminal
justice. That short essay greatly impacted the
United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and
justice system. Many reforms that Beccaria called
for were incorporated into our system, and his
influence stretches from arrest, prosecution and
punishment. He never wrote anything else or
expanded on his thoughts about crime. Beccarias
work "On Crimes and Punishments" has become the
foundation in which many criminology theories use
to build and expand.
23Cesare Beccaria
- Around the time that Beccaria was writing "On
Crimes and Punishments", the United States was
coming together as a nation. Our founding fathers
were greatly influenced by Beccaria, Bentham and
other classical criminologist. In our
Constitution and Bill of Rights, many of the
rights that we, as U.S. citizens, accept as
fundamental come from the works of classical
criminology. Some of our rights include rules
against vagueness, right to public trial, right
to be judged by peers, right to dismiss certain
jurors, right against unusual punishments, right
to speedy trial, right to examine witnesses,
coerced or tortured confessions are considered
invalid, right to be informed of accused acts and
the right to bear arms. Our Constitution was
greatly influenced by Beccaria, and many of the
rights that he advocated were made the foundation
of the United States.
24According to Beccaria. . .
- The crime problem could be traced not to bad
people, but to bad laws.
- A modern criminal justice system should guarantee
all people equal treatment before the law
- Based on the assumption that people freely choose
what they do and are responsible for the
consequences of their behavior (do the crime, do
the time) - Beccaria proposed the following principles
25Laws Should be Used to Maintain the Social
Contract
- Laws are the conditions under which men,
naturally independent, united themselves in
society. Weary of living in a continual state of
war, and of enjoying a liberty, which became of
little value, from the uncertainty of its
duration, they sacrificed one part of it, to
enjoy the rest in peace and security.
26Only Legislators Should Create Laws
- The authority of making penal laws can only
reside with the legislator, who represents the
whole society united by the social compact.
27Judges Should Impose Punishment Only In
Accordance With The Law
- No magistrate then (as he is one of the
society), can, with justice inflict on any member
of the same society punishment that is not
ordained by the laws.
28Judges Should Not Interpret The Laws
- Judges in criminal cases, have no right to
interpret the penal laws, because they are not
legislators. . .Everyman hath his own particular
point of view, and, at different times, sees the
same objects in very different lights. The spirit
of the laws will then be the result of the good
or bad logic of the judge this will depend on
his good or bad digestion.
29Punishment Should Be Based On The Pleasure/Pain
Principle
- Pleasure and pain are the only springs of
actions in beings endowed with sensibility. . .If
an equal punishment be ordained for two crimes
that injure society in different degrees, there
is nothing to deter men from committing the
greater as often as it is attended with greater
advantage.
30Punishment Should Be Based On An Act, Not On The
Actor
- Crimes are only measured by the injuries done to
the society. They err, therefore, who imagine
that a crime is greater or less according to the
intention of the person by whom it is committed.
31The Punishment Should Be Determined By The Crime
- If mathematical calculation could be applied to
the obscure and infinite combinations of human
actions, there might be a corresponding scale of
punishments descending from the greatest to the
least.
32Punishment Should be Prompt And Effective
- The more immediate after the commission of a
crime a punishment is inflicted, the more just
and useful it will be. . .An immediate punishment
is more useful because the smaller the interval
of time between the punishment and the crime, the
stronger and more lasting will be the association
of the two ideas of crime and punishment.
33All People Should Be Treated Equally
- I assert that the punishment of a nobleman
should in no wise differ from that of the lowest
member of society.
34Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished
- The punishment of death is not authorized by any
right for. . . no such right exists. . .The
terrors of death make so slight an impression,
that it has not force enough to withstand the
forgetfulness natural to mankind.
35The Use Of Torture Should Be Abolished
- It is confounding all relations to expect. .
.that pain should be the test of truth, as if
truth resided in the muscles and fibres of a
wretch of torture. By this method the robust will
escape, and the feeble be condemned.
36It Is Better to Prevent Crimes Than To Punish Them
- Would you prevent crimes? Let the laws be clear
and simple, let the entire force of the nation be
united in their defence, let them be intended
rather to favour every individual than any
particular classes.. .Finally, the most certain
method of preventing crime is to perfect the
system of education.
37 The Bill Of Rights Amendments 1-10 of the
Constitution
- The Conventions of a number of the States having,
at the time of adopting the Constitution,
expressed a desire, in order to prevent
misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that
further declaratory and restrictive clauses
should be added, and as extending the ground of
public confidence in the Government will best
insure the beneficent ends of its institution - Resolved, by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America,
in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses
concurring, that the following articles be
proposed to the Legislatures of the several
States, as amendments to the Constitution of the
United States all or any of which articles, when
ratified by three-fourths of the said
Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and
purposes as part of the said Constitution,
namely
38Amendment I
- Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.
39Amendment II
- A well regulated militia, being necessary to the
security of a free state, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
40Amendment III
- No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
in any house, without the consent of the owner,
nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law.
41Amendment IV
- The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
42Amendment V
- No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except
in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
in the militia, when in actual service in time of
war or public danger nor shall any person be
subject for the same offense to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb nor shall be compelled
in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without
just compensation.
43Amendment VI
- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by
an impartial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation to be
confronted with the witnesses against him to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses
in his favor, and to have the assistance of
counsel for his defense.
44Amendment VII
- In suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
reexamined in any court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.
45Amendment VIII
- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.
46Amendment IX
- The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
47Amendment X
- The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively,
or to the people.
48Jeremy Benthams Utilitarianism
- All human actions are calculated in accordance
with their likelihood of bringing happiness
(pleasure) or unhappiness (pain)
- People weigh the probabilities of present and
future pleasures against those of present and
future pain.
49THE POSITIVIST SCHOOL
- a social movement that existed during the mid
1800s and early 1900s.
50Some of the defining features of the classical
school in criminology include
- All people are guided by free will
- All behavior is guided by hedonism (pleasure/pain
calculation)
- All crime is the result of free will and hedonism
- All punishment should fit the offense (equal
treatment under law)
- Bad people are nothing more than the result of
bad laws
51What is Positivism?
- The term "positivism" refers to a method of
analysis based on the collection of observable
scientific facts. Its aim is to explain and
(most importantly) predict the way facts occur in
uniform patterns. Positivism is the basis of
most natural sciences, and positivist criminology
is the application of positivist methods to the
study of people.
52Some of the common, defining features of the
positivist school in criminology include
- The demand for facts, for scientific proof
(determinism)
- There are body and mind differences between
people (of these, the mens rea, or reasons for
committing crime are important)
- Punishment should fit the individual criminal,
not the crime (indeterminate sentencing,
disparate sentencing, parole)
- The criminal justice system should be guided by
scientific experts (rule by scientific elite,
technocracy)
- Criminals can be treated, rehabilitated, or
corrected (if not, then they are incurable and
should be put to death)
53Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)
- Father of Criminology
- Claimed to have discovered the cause of crime
- Physiognomists/atavism
54Definition
- Atavism
- Atavism means a real or supposed evolutionary
throwback (degeneracy), the unexpected appearance
of primitive traits a reversion, the
reappearance of a trait that had been present in
a lineage in the past, but which had been absent
in intervening generations. - The concept was much more widely used in the
pre-genetic Darwinism of Ernst Häckel, who
proposed a recapitulation theory commonly summed
up in the phrase that ontogeny recapitulates
phylogeny the notion that a developing embryo
revisits the previous evolutionary stages of the
organism in the course of its development, and
resembles the successively more complex organisms
out of which it had evolved. - The notion of atavism was used frequently by
social darwinists, who liked to claim that
inferior races displayed atavistic traits, and
represented more primitive traits than their own
race. Both the notion of atavism, and Häckel's
recapitulation theory, are saturated with bogus
notions of evolution as progress, as a march
towards greater complexity and superior ability,
which we now know to be untenable.
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56The Chicago School
- Social Ecology
- Robert Park
- Ernest Burgess
- Louis Wirth
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58Assumptions of the Chicago School
- 1.Crime and delinquency are caused primarily by
social factors (environmental determinism)
- 2. The facts speak imperfectly for themselves,
but better if fitted into theory (positivism)
- 3. Official statistics are OK, but fieldwork is
better (acceptance of official arrest data)
- 4. The city is a perfect natural laboratory
(cities like Chicago reflect society as a
whole)
- 5. Components of social structure are unstable
(conflict, anomie, social disorganization
conflict or anomie if talking about political
economy or society social disorganization if
talking about cities and neighborhoods) - 6. Instabilities and their effects are worse for
the lower classes (lower class crime focus)
59Social Disorganization Theory
- By comparing the rates from three different time
periods, Shaw McKay believed they could show
whether delinquency was caused by particular
immigrant groups or by the environment in which
immigrants lived.
60If
- high delinquency rates for particular immigrant
groups remained high during their migration
through the citys different ecological
environments, then delinquency could be
associated with their - distinctive constitutional or cultural features
61If
- if delinquency rates decreased as immigrants
moved through different
- ecological environments, then delinquency could
not be associated with the particular
constitution of the immigrants, but must somehow
be connected with their environment.
62Shaw McKay recognized that the pattern of
delinquency rates not only remained constant over
time, but also corresponded to the "natural urban
areas" of Park Burgess Concentric Zone Model.
They came to the important conclusion that del
inquency rates always remained high for a certain
region of the city (ecological zone 2), no matter
what immigrant group lived there.
Therefore, delinquency was not "constitutional"
as Lombroso and his followers had argued but
must somehow be correlated with the particular
ecological environment in which
it occurs. Shaw McKays eventual explanation
of this correlation is their "social disorganiza
tion theory."
63What is a Theory?
- A set of statements that seeks to explain
problems, actions, or behavior (Schaefer, 2006)
- A general statement about how some parts of the
world fit together and how they work (Henslin,
2005)
- a series of interrelated propositions that
attempt to describe, explain, predict, and
ultimately to control some class of events. A
theory gains explanatory power from inherent
logical consistency, and is "tested" by how well
it describes and predicts reality (Oxford
dictionary)
64Research Theory
- According to sociologist C. Wright Mills, without
theory, research is of little value it is simply
a collection of meaningless facts.
- All research must be based on theory
- Theory is the foundation of criminology/criminal
justice
65What makes a Theory Scientific?
- Focus on causal relationships between variables.
66Defining Crime
- What is crime? (After all, you all know crime
when you see it, right?)
- Why is it so difficult to define crime?
- How do Criminologist View Crime?
67The Conflict View
- ? definition of crime controlled by those who
possess wealth, power, and
- position.
- ? critical of the norms and values in capitalist
society
- ?argues that emphasis on working class deviance
is wrong
68- What types of issues do conflict theorist view as
real crimes?
69Interactionist View