X' LATE 20th EARLY 21st CENTURY STUFFS

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X. LATE 20th / EARLY 21st CENTURY STUFFS
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A. Introduction

• 1. question arises, Why cant criminology
  explain crime?
• gt what is the value of engaging in
  criminological
• research efforts if crime is still
  largely
• unpredictable, unknown?
• 2. a complementary question is Why cant
  criminal justice
• prevent crime?
• gt given all efforts (resources) to
  eliminate crime, fear
• of victimization is still salient
• 3. The answer to both questions is that it
  can.

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B. Various Directions

• 1. Victimology
• a. social and political changes revived
  victimization
• scholarship
• b. as the 1960s generation matured
  (read aged and
• became less idealistic), their
  ideals shifted away from
• the offender to the victim
• gt scholarly interest grew as to who
  the victim was and
• what to do about him / her
• c. resurrected the work of Hans von
  Hentig (1948)
• The Criminal and His Victim
  Studies in the
• Sociobiology of Crime
• 1) first to examine the role of the
  victim in criminal
• encounters

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• 2) identified and focused on causal
  factors that
• contributed to victimization
  (victim precipitation)
• 3) psycho-social attributes to
  victimization
• a) personal factors
  (characteristics of the victim)
• 1 age 5
  greed
• 2 class 6
  promiscuity
• 3 race / ethnicity 7
  lonesome
• 4 mental competence 8
  martyrdom
• b) situational factors (Crime
  Victim Theory)
• 1 time and space
• gt
  when and where the victim is, matters
• 2 the activity the
  victim is doing, matters

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• c) functional responsibility
• 1 in assigning blame,
  who / what is at fault
• in any criminal
  encounter
• 2 did the victim ask
  for it?
• 3 should the state have
  been more vigilant?
• d. Victims Rights Movement
• 1) backlash to the 60s era
  rights of the offender
• movement seen in various
  Supreme Court
• decisions
• 2) LEAAs interest led to
  creation of National
• Organization of Victims
  Assistance (NOVA)
• 3) culminated in the creation of
  the Office of

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• 5) Crime Control Act of 1990
  integrates Federal
• Crime Victims Bill of Rights,
  National Child
• Abuse Act, and Victim and
  Witness Protection
• Act of 1982
• 6) Violent Crime Control and Law
  Enforcement Act
• of 1994
• gt includes Violence Against
  Women Act,
• enhanced Victims of Crime
  Act funding,
• created a National Child
  Sex Offender
• Registry
• 7) ancillary organizations
  Parents of Murdered
• Children (POMC), Mothers
  Against Drunk Drivers
• (MADD), National Center for
  Missing and
• Exploited Children (NCMEC),
  et al

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• 2. Liberal criminology (Left-Realism)
• (Elliott Currie,1985)
• a. Liberal responses to crime are
• typically
• poorly conceived, ill-equipped,
• and superficial programs that
• demand intensive and sustained
• intervention
• b. most are destined to fail
• exacerbating a vociferous
• political debate as to the
• rationale for any social program
  solution (social
• pathology)
• c. support for education and job
  training is not matched
• with a commitment to job creation or
  the

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• d. while calling for individual
  rehabilitation and treatment,
• the corollary treatment of the
  communities that must
• receive these newly treated
  offenders is left untouched
• e. strategies for improvement
• 1) the family
• a) attention must be paid to
  domestic violence
• with the same aplomb
  directed at stranger
• violence
• b) an increased effort to
  remedy, respond to
• issues of domestic
  violence is necessary
• 2) minimizing extent of criminal
  justice overreach by
• emphasizing community-based
  justice
• gt mandating
  Problem-Oriented-Policing strategies

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• 3) radical non-intervention
• a) increase use of community
  based corrections
• gt Intensive Supervision
  Probation / Parole
• (ISP)
• b) increased use, though not
  limited to, various
• faith-based, and volunteer
  programs
• e. Walkers (2006) Sense and Nonsense
  about Crime
• and Drug
  Policies (now in 6E)
• 1) the Conservative Perspective 2) the
  Liberal Perspective
• a) unleash the cops
  a) COPs
• b) deterrence work
  b) decriminalization
• c)
  lock em up c) treat em

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• 3. Life Course Theory (Robert Sampson and
  
• John
  Laub, 1993)
• a. basically a
  developmental
• extension of
  Hirschis
• social bond
  theory
• b. the basis of
  both formal
• and informal
  social
• control, over
  the course
• of ones life,
  affects the onset,
• persistence, and desistence of
  criminal behavior
• c. as social capital (status in all
  forms) increases, the
• relationships formed because of
  it, affect criminal
• decision-making
• d. who you hang out with and who /
  what is important

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• 1) a take on Glasers
  differential identification
• 2) mattering
• e. as you grow/mature, your motives change
• f. e.g. incidents of police
  corruption occur later in a
• career rather than earlier

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• 4. Robert Agnews (2005) General Theory of
  Crime and
• Delinquency
• a. a fully-integrated theory
• gt includes components of
• social strain, social learning,
• social control, and conflict /
• labeling theory
• b. crime is the product of low
• constraints and high
• motivation
• 1) web of crime
• 2) when various components in an
  individuals life

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• 1) self impulsivity, irritability
• 2) family parenting, self control
  guidance
• 3) school attachment to the social
  order, success
• based on achievement
• 4) peers influence of friends, peer
  group affiliation,
• introduction of
  extra-familial influences,
• absence of adult
  supervision
• 5) work chronic under /
  unemployment,
• disinstitution of the
  Protestant work ethic,
• criminal co-workers
• gt missing popular culture

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C. Whats Next

• gt well, what is?