Explaining Crime and Delinquency

1
Explaining Crime and Delinquency

• CC200
• Youth Justice
• Chapters 5 and 6

2
Social policy and theory

• Social Responsibility Perspective crime is an
  individual responsibility (nature).
• Social Problems Perspective crime is a
  manifestation of social problems (nurture).

3
Origins of Human Aggression

• Incorporate a biological, environmental, and
  psychological components into an exploration of
  the origins of human aggression.
• NFB title
• 2005

4
Questions to consider

• What are the primary explanations given for
  aggression in children and youth?
• At what age are children most aggressive?
• What factors influence their aggression?

5

• What potentials solutions are discussed in the
  documentary?
• What actions or responses to aggression displayed
  by children may, in fact, encourage greater
  aggression?
• How do biological, environmental, psychological
  components work together in explanations for
  aggression?

6
Theory and Explanation

• Classical School of Criminology develops in the
  18th century.
• Based on belief that people have free-will and
  must be held accountable for their deeds.
• Has as a starting point the idea that individuals
  have equal rights and co-exist in a society held
  together by common goals and beliefs.

7

• Built upon a structural functionalist foundation.
• Individuals are hedonistic beings who seek to
  maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
• Individuals make rational decisions by engaging
  in cost/benefit analyses.
• Crime is repugnant and morally wrong.

8
Cesare Becarria (1819) Italian Philosopher

• One of the most influential of the classical
  paradigm.
• He argued that offenders must be presumed
  innocent, that offences and punishments must be
  defined in a written code of law, and that the
  guilty must be held accountable and punished for
  their wrong-doings.

9
Jeremy Bentham (18th century English Legal
Scholar)

• Built on Beccarias ideas.
• Repeat offenders should be punished more
  severely, and that the punishment should fit the
  crime.
• He also argued that individuals who committed
  similar crimes should receive similar punishments
  (continuity in punishment).

10

• We will return to the classical theories and
  theorists later.

11
Biological Positivism

• Biological and psychological approaches are based
  on the notion of individual pathologies.

12

• This means that certain individuals are
  pre-disposed to criminal behaviors due to either
  biological or psychological abnormalities.

13
Cesare Lombroso (1835 -1909)

• Argued that criminals could be identified by
  physical characteristics and were throwbacks to
  an earlier stage of human development.
• He called this group Atavistic man

14
Physical characteristics of atavistic man could
include

• Asymmetry of the face
• Eye defects and abnormalities
• Excessive dimensions of jaw and cheek bones
• Ears of unusual size, or very small, or ears that
  stuck out
• Lips fleshy, swollen protruding

15

• Excessive length of arms
• Supernumerary fingers and toes
• Nose twisted, upturned, or flattened, or aquiline
  or beaklike
• Receding chin, or excessive long, or short and
  flat
• Abnormal dentition

16

• He first argued that criminals were a throwback
  to a more primitive type of brain structure, and
  therefore behavior.
• He never claimed that the born criminal made up
  more than 40 of the total criminal population.

17
He also looked at the female offender and argued
that

• Most women are not criminal.
• Those that are, are usually occasional criminals.
• But some women are atavistic criminals.
• They are harder to detect than men.
• They are more cunning and more vicious.

18

• More recently research has indicated there are
  specific brain structures that influence
  aggressive behaviors.
• This has led to research in the areas of brain
  damage, epileptic disorders, and endocrine
  disorders and the direct impact that
  psychological disorders may have on criminal
  behaviors.

19
Research has also focused on factors indirectly
related to criminal behaviors.

• This research focus has included
• Twin studies
• Adoption studies
• Learning disabilities
• ADHD
• Perinatal factors
• Family studies
• Minimal brain damage

20

• However, it is important to realize that these
  factors operate and interact with other
  non-biological factors in a complex process to
  create causal chains.
• Biological factors may only be indirectly linked
  to criminal behaviors.

21
Psychological Theories

• Tend to approach the challenge of understanding
  and explaining criminality by focusing on
  theories of personality or learning that account
  for individual behavior in specific situations.

22
Sigmund Freud (circa 1953)

• Is most closely linked to psychoanalytic theory.
• While Freud did not specifically attempt to link
  his work to criminality, forensic researchers
  have used his work to explain the psychology of
  criminal behaviors.

23

• The foundation of this theory is that individuals
  progress through five overlapping stages of
  development.
• As well, personality is made up of three forces
• The id biological drives
• The ego which controls and directs the id
• The super-ego or conscience.

24

• The ego and super-ego are created when the
  individual successfully works through conflicts
  present at each of the five stages of
  development.
• Criminal behavior results when the internal
  controls found in the ego and super-ego fail to
  restrain the primitive, aggressive urges of the
  id.

25
In other words

• If the ego and super-ego do not fully develop
  through the early stages of development, criminal
  behavior is more likely to develop.

26
Jean Piaget

• Theories focusing on the idea of moral
  development supplement psychoanalysis with a
  chronological development argument.
• Piaget (1932) studied children, game playing, and
  rule development.
• He concluded that moral reasoning occurred in
  stages.

27
L Kohlberg (1964)

• Built upon Piagets work and hypothesized that
  moral development occurs in six stages and that
  all individuals went through these stages.
• Some individuals spent more time in different
  stages and some never progressed past the first
  few stages.

28

• Criminal behavior was more likely to occur in
  individuals who had not successfully completed
  all stages of moral development.

29
Hans J. Eysenck (1977)

• Developed a theoretical explanation for the
  psychopathic personality.
• Developed a more behaviorist approach to crime
  and personality.
• He argued that children will naturally engage in
  deviant forms of behavior.
• They will only refrain if they are punished each
  time they engage in the behavior.

30
In other words

• Individuals must be conditioned not to engage in
  certain acts through fear of punishment.
• Individuals who engage in deviant or criminal
  acts have not developed this fear as a result of
  poor conditioning by parents or they are less
  susceptible to conditioning generally.

31
B. F. Skinner

• Work begins in the 1930s.
• Work on operant conditioning argued that
  individual behavior is influenced by both
  positive reinforcement and punishment (negative).
• Behavior that is rewarded will continue.

32

• Behavior that is consistently punished will
  cease.
• Individuals who are rewarded, or escape
  punishment, for deviant and/or criminal behaviors
  will continue to engage in them.

33
Social Learning Theory

• Associated with Albert Bandura (1970s)
• Suggests that aggressive behavior is learned (or
  modeled) from three sources.
• Family
• Social models and peers
• Symbolic modeling uses television (media)
  violence as a model of aggressive behavior.

34
Summary

• Like biological theories, both behaviorist and
  developmental psychological approaches attempt to
  explore the relationship between individuals and
  deviant or criminal behavior.

35

• Findings from this research indicates that
  psychological factors may play a role in
  determining behaviors.

36

• However, these factors operate and interact with
  other social and environmental factors in a
  complex relationship.
• These theories are still based on a primary
  assumption of individual badness and pathology.

37
Okay, now back to the classical theories of crime
and criminality.

• Dont forget, we said that this paradigm argues
  that individuals are hedonistic and seek to
  maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
• And, they make rational decisions by weighing the
  pros and cons of their actions before undertaking
  them.

38
So

• from this perspective, youth will naturally be
  drawn towards activities that bring them the
  greatest pleasure (risk-taking behaviors or
  criminal behaviors).

39

• In order to counter the rational decision by
  youth to participate in delinquent or criminal
  activities, society, through the use of social
  and legal sanctions must create an environment
  when the potential cost of this behavior
  outweighs the pleasure they may gain in
  participation.

40
Deterrence

• This can be accomplished through the
  implementation of either general or specific
  deterrents.

41
General Deterrence

• Is accomplished by the development of a criminal
  justice system that makes evident the
  consequences for anyone who engages in a criminal
  behavior.

42
Specific Deterrence

• Accomplished by the use of punishment and/or
  consequences to the individual who engages in the
  deviant or criminal act.

43
In order for punishment to succeed it must meet
three criteria

• Certainty
• Timeliness
• Proportionality

44
Simply stated

• Those that break the laws much know that they
  will be punished, the punishment should occur
  swiftly, and the punishment should be
  proportionate to the crime.
• If these three conditions are met, deterrence
  will succeed because the cost will outweigh the
  benefits.

45

• From this perspective, the creation and
  implementation of policies or laws to curtail or
  control levels of criminal activity in society
  are the most important aspect of crime policies.

46

• Youth engage in criminal behaviors because they
  are inadequately monitored and controlled.

47

• The solution to the crime problem is to ensure
  they will be caught and punished for their
  criminal activities.

48

• The appeal of this approach is that it addresses
  public sentiment that youth are out of control
  and more dangerous and increasingly punitive
  measures are needed to deal with the issue.

49
Challenges to the theory..

• Do youth rationally weigh the pros and cons of
  their actions?
• For some youth, engaging in criminal activities
  may be the most rational choice they can make.
• For some youth, the greater certainty and
  severity of punishment can increase behaviors as
  a means of increasing status.

50
And a last consideration

• The United States has the highest violent crime
  rate of all industrialized nations.
• They also have the highest rates of
  incarcerations (except that Canada incarcerates
  more youth).
• This contradicts the notion that imprisonment
  will reduce crime the premise that get tough
  on crime policies take that is based on the
  classical perspective.

51
Strain and Sub-cultural Theories

• Strain theory has its focus on the relationships
  between individuals and social structures.
• All social structures exert pressures on
  individuals to conform to certain behavioral
  standards.

52

• These behaviors can either be socially sanctioned
  (conformist) or socially rejected (deviant).

53

• Modern western society encourages/expects youth
  to take on certain behaviors and to accept
  certain expectations.

54
Question

• What are these certain social expectations?
• Obedience.
• A successful completion of at least high school.
• Internalization of a strong, individualistic work
  ethic.

55

• Criminal behaviors result from the strain youth
  face between the goals sanctioned by society and
  legitimate opportunities to meet these goals.

56

• When youth are unable to legitimately meet these
  goals they experience strain.
• They may search for alternative and illegitimate
  ways to meet the goals.

57
Robert K. Merton (1938)

• Argued that there were several potential outcomes
  to strain.

58

• Conformists individuals who accept socially
  determined goals and develop legitimate ways to
  accomplish their goals.

59

• Ritualists individuals who do not particularly
  subscribe to socially sanctioned goals, but who
  maintain conventional, or legitimate, behaviors
  anyway.

60

• Innovators individuals who face blocked
  opportunities to achieve socially sanctioned
  goals and may potentially resort to alternative,
  and often illegal, behaviors to achieve their
  goals.

61

• Retreatists individuals who are unable to
  legitimately meet their goals and who simply drop
  out of society all together.

62
Albert Cohen (1955)

• Built upon and added to Mertons work.
• Cohen observed that much of the crime committed
  by youth appeared to be aimless and malicious.

63

• He argued that youth do not necessarily accept
  the culturally transmitted social goal of
  economic success and financial accumulation that
  appears to motivate adults.

64

• Instead of financial success, these youth were
  searching for the status and respect they could
  not command in their schools and communities.

65

• These institutions were based on middle-class
  values and morals and incorporated middle-class
  measuring rods in order to judge youth.

66

• Status frustration results when working-class
  youth are unable to meet those standards.
• The resulting strain could manifest itself in
  several ways.

67

• Some youth could strive to meet these
  middle-class expectations.
• Other youth could reject these standards and
  develop their own working-class expectations.

68

• Other youth could gravitate towards like-minded
  youth and form their own sub-culture.
• This would allow the participant to achieve the
  status he/she craved.

69

• Achieving this status in the sub-culture might
  mean turning over middle-class values and
  expectations and doing the opposite of what is
  expected from successful middle-class youth.

70
R. Cloward L. Ohlin (1960)

• Added a sub-cultural dimension to the work of
  Merton and Cohen with their theory of
  Differential Opportunity.

71

• Criminal activities resulting from strain could
  actually be motivated by a drive for both
  financial success and gaining status.

72

• Therefore, it is important to consider the issue
  of access to illegitimate opportunities when
  considering motivations for criminal behaviors.

73

• Some individuals live in environments where
  criminal behavior is the norm.

74

• These individuals have to opportunity to learn
  and internalize criminal values and norms as well
  as the techniques needed to engage in deviance.
• This would lead to the development of criminal
  sub-cultures.

75

• There was also the potential for violent or
  conflicting sub-cultures to emerge where there
  were no opportunities (either legitimate or
  illegitimate) for goal achievement or where youth
  could achieve status and relieve frustrations
  through participation in gang violence.

76
Criticisms of Strain/Sub-cultural Theories

• Based on the assumption that all individuals
  accept and aspire to these goals and values.
• Issue of originality where does strain
  originate?
• Fails to deal with social issues which may block
  opportunities or deny access to legitimate means
  of goal attainment.

77

• Fails to discuss why and how some activities are
  defined as deviant/criminal in the first place.
• Fails to address the gendered nature of crime.

78
Edwin Sutherland (circa 1947)

• Differential Association Theory foundation is
  in the idea that criminal activity is learned.
• Argued that all behavior is learned through
  interactions with others in a communication
  process.

79

• Majority of learning happens in intimate groups
  and includes learning the motivations and
  rationalizations for engaging in certain
  behaviors.

80

• These behaviors may be socially acceptable of
  they may be deviant/criminal.
• Sutherland developed concepts to assist in
  understanding how differential associations vary
  in terms of quality and strength.

81
Focus is on the importance of

• Frequency the number of times one is exposed to
  ideas
• Duration the length of time one is exposed to
  ideas

82

• Priority the extent to which people are exposed
  to learning at early stages of their development
• Intensity the importance to the potential
  delinquent of the individual from whom he/she is
  learning.

83

• Sutherland also argued that learning deviant
  behavior was like learning socially acceptable
  behavior and criminal behavior could not be
  explained in reference to the general needs and
  values of criminals as these appeared to be the
  same as non-criminal individuals.

84

• He also argued that is association with criminals
  could lead to an individual learning criminal
  behaviors, then associating with pro-social,
  non-criminal groups or individuals could provide
  opportunities to learn acceptable, non-criminal
  behaviors.

85

• This theory has been extremely influential in the
  study of crime.
• It has highlighted the role of learning and
  relationships with others in regards to criminal
  activities.
• It has provided a way of exploring why, when
  facing similar situations (such as poverty or
  racism) some people engage in criminal behaviors
  while others do not.

86
Challenges to Differential Association Theory.

• One of the most important criticism of this
  theory is based on the concept of causality.
• How do youth come to associate with a criminal
  element? They may seek them out for social
  support and understanding.

87

• By focusing on how individuals learn criminal
  behavior, theorists ignore or deny the influence
  of social structure.
• Learning approaches need to incorporate an
  analysis of the influence of the social
  environment on the process of learning criminal
  behaviors.

88
R.J. Sampson J. Lauritsen (1990)

• Routine Activities Theory argues the potential
  for violent/delinquent activities increases with
  exposure to violent/delinquent activities.
• Individuals who experience violent environments
  and victimization will legitimate the use of
  violence as a viable solution more readily than
  others.

89

• There appears to be a strong relationship between
  violence at home and future anti-social
  behaviors.
• Youth may seek out others who approve and
  encourage the use of violence.
• Same fundamental criticisms that apply to
  differential association theory apply to this
  theory the influence of social structure is
  played down.

90
Ecological Theories.

• Study the impact of social environment on
  communities, individuals, and criminality.
• Chicago School 1920s most famous of the
  ecological theories.

91

• Focused on the ways in which human societies
  resembled the organization and interrelationship
  between plants and animals in nature.

92
C. Shaw H. D. McKay (1930s)

• Applied the theory to the study of youth crime.
• The physical shape and character of communities
  created conditions under which delinquent/criminal
  behavior could take place.

93

• Focused their work on social disorganization and
  links to criminal activities.

94
R. J. Sampson W. B. Groves (late 1980s)

• Defined the links between neighborhood
  disorganization and criminal activity as
• Low socio-economic status.
• A mix of different ethnic groups.
• High levels of social mobility.
• Broken homes and family disruptions.

95

• The fundamental premise is that neighborhoods
  that exhibit high levels of these factors are
  more likely to generate crime because the social
  controls that prevent people from committing
  delinquent/criminal acts are weak or missing.

96

• Shaw and McKay further their explanation by
  stating that the morals and values of the youth
  in these disorganized neighborhoods have been
  culturally transmitted by the greater number of
  individuals who have internalized criminal values.

97
Criticisms to social disorganization approaches

• There may be multiple other factors that
  contribute to youth crime in particular
  communities.
• These may include high levels of unemployment,
  family disruption, and poverty.

98

• These theories do not focus on the roots of
  social disorganization namely inequality,
  systemic racism, and changing economic
  conditions.
• Not all youth in disorganized communities engage
  in delinquent/criminal behaviors.

99

• This perspective has the potential to target
  certain neighborhoods for interventions based on
  factors such as socio-economic status and
  ethnicity.

100

• If working-class or ethnic neighborhoods are
  considered more criminogenic there is a tendency
  to focus crime control policies in these areas.

101
Social Control Theories

• Unlike theories that focus on why youth commit
  delinquent/criminal acts, social control theories
  focus on what stops youth from engaging in
  delinquent/criminal behaviors.

102
Travis Hirschi (circa 1969)

• Fundamental premise is that appropriate
  socialization will create a strong bond between
  the individual and society.
• This strong bond will prevent youth from engaging
  in criminal behaviors.

103
Four elements of the bond.

• Attachment the degree of emotional regard and
  respect one has for other individuals.
• Commitment the degree to which an individual
  entertains and pursues ideas about conventional
  objectives such as a respectable career.

104

• Involvement the time and energy one invests
  participating in conventional activities.
• Belief the degree of respect held by
  individuals for the framework of moral order and
  law of conventional society.

105

• The lower the level of these bonds, the higher
  the likelihood of deviant or criminal behavior.
• Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argue that poor
  parental supervision or ineffective punishment
  when combined with situations that are conductive
  to delinquency lead to poor self-control for
  youth and are the main reasons youth engage in
  criminal behaviors.

106
W. Reckless (1961)

• Containment Theory -a variation on social control
  theory.
• Individuals resist criminal behaviors for two
  main reasons.

107

• Inner containment - they resist because they have
  been socialized to resist temptations and to hold
  a strong belief in conventional goals.

108

• Outer containment individuals resist criminal
  behaviors because of prohibitions created by
  laws.

109
G. M. Sykes D. Matza (1957)

• Yet another version of social control theory.
• Known as Techniques of Neutralization
• Youth lose self control and engage in criminal
  behavior because they are able to
  self-rationalize and justify their activities.

110

• Most youth are fully aware and understand the
  moral implications of criminal behavior and they
  believe, for the most part, in the moral
  standards and laws of society.
• The majority of these youth feel shame and
  remorse over their actions.

111
D Matza (1964)

• Later adds the concept of drift to the theory.
• He suggests that youth drift between conformity
  and deviance and do so because they are able to
  neutralize the impact of their actions.
• They do so be verbalizing about their actions in
  five ways.

112
These are

• Denial of responsibility the youth contends
  that his/her behavior is not his/her personal
  responsibility, but that of another person or
  institution.

113

• Denial of injury the youth contends that no one
  was actually hurt by his/her actions.
• Denial of the victim the youth argues that the
  victim had it coming to them or deserved it.

114

• Condemnation of the condemners the young person
  attempts to turn the tables on his or her
  accusers, with statements like well, you do it
  too, or, youre just as bad.

115

• Appeal to higher loyalties the youth contend
  that his/her commitment and allegiance to the
  group is more important than to society or
  conventional others.
• Or that gangs or friends forced him/her to do
  what he/she did.

116
J. Hagan, J. Simpson A. R. Gillis (circa 1978)

• Power-control Theory attempts to incorporate
  gender into social control theories of crime and
  deviance.

117

• Similar to other social control theories in that
  is assumes that delinquency and criminality are
  forms of risk-taking behaviors.

118

• Goal is to explore sex differences in
  delinquency/criminality by examining the
  influences of variations in parenting styles of
  the behaviors of young males and females.

119

• They argue that parental control and youth
  attitudes toward risk-taking are affected by
  family relations.

120
Two ideal family types are explored.

• Patriarchal male employed outside the home in a
  position of authority and the wife is not
  employed outside the home.

121

• Egalitarian both husband and wife are employed
  in positions of authority outside the home.

122
So, how will power by exercised within the family
unit?

• Patriarchal
• Traditional division of labor
• Fathers, but even more so mothers, are expected
  to control daughters.
• Daughters socialized to concentrate on domestic
  labor, sons to prepare for participation in
  outside workforce.

123

• Egalitarian
• More equal distribution of labor.
• More equal expectations of control between
  parents and children.
• Sons and daughters encouraged to prepare for
  participation in outside workforce.

124

• Based on these assumptions, Hagan et. al. predict
  that patriarchal families will be characterized
  by large gender differences in common delinquent
  behaviors.
• Egalitarian families will be characterized by
  smaller gender differences in delinquency.
• Why?

125
Challenges to social control theories.

• If people are motivated to choose delinquent
  criminal behaviors to meet needs, why in the face
  of temptations of the majority of youth conform
  to social expectations and moral standards?

126

• Why are there not a greater number of youth
  participating in delinquent/criminal activities?

127

• Social control theories also assume that
  delinquent/criminal youth violate norms and
  expectations upon which the rest of society
  agrees.

128

• This assumption is based on a core belief that
  consensus and not conflict is a primary
  characteristic of society.

129

• Finally, one needs to consider the notion of
  causal direction.

130

• Control theories are based on the premise that
  weak bonds to society cause delinquent/criminal
  behavior.

131

• However, we could ask does delinquency/
  criminality result from poor bonds to society or
  is it the other way around?