Intro to Criminology - Exam 1 - Study Guide

• The strain theory suggests that crime is a result of individuals being unable to achieve their goals through legitimate means and resorting to criminal behavior.
• Deterrence Theory


  Behavior governed by consequences, deterrence is the prevention of crime by use or threat of punishment
• Routine Activities Theory


  Crime is result of Motivated Offenders, Suitable Targets, and Absence of Capable Guards.
• Choice Structuring


  Constellation of opportunities, costs, and benefits attaching to crime
• Human Agency


  Humans have the capacity to make choices and responsibility to make moral choices
• Social Defense


  theory of punishment that asserts purpose not to deter or rehabilitate but rather to defend society from criminal predation
• Positivism Raffael Garfalo four categories of offender

  extreme - impulsive - professional - endemic
• pity


  compassion sympathy
• Probity

  integrity honesty
• Criminaloids


  commit crime due to alteration of the brain
• Atavasm


  Born criminals which lombroso (biological positivism) identify criminals through physical features (stigmata)
• Biological Positivism


  The school of thought holding that biological features relate to criminality
• Cartographic Criminology


  The use of maps and other geographic information to determine where and when criminal behavior is most prevalent
• positivism


  scientific method from which more positive knowledge can be obtained
• Principles of utility

  greats happiness for the greatest numbers
• Panopticon


  Prison design by Bentham to enable guards to constantly see their charges without prisoners knowing they were being watched. (self-monitoring)
• Free Will


  human beings deliberately choose to follow a calculated course of action
• Hedonistic Calculus


  The logical weighing of the anticipated benefits of an action against the possible costs
• Rational Behavior


  behavior is consistent with logic
• Hedonism


  A doctrine whose central tenet is that the achievement of pleasure is the main goal of life.
• Classical School

  Beccaria - Father of Classical Criminology - argued for just and humane punishments,believed punishments should be based on crimes and not offenders - punishments should outweigh benefit of crime and they should be SWIFT CERTAIN SEVERE
• What are ruling class crimes according to Quinney's conflict theory? (example)
• What are working class crimes according to Quinney's conflict theory? (example)
• Ho is capitalism and crime related according to Quinney's conflict theory?

  Crimes of accommodation and resistance result in crimes by the powerless in reaction to their social position by the working class; corporate crime, violations of civil liberties, and political crime by the state characterizes the ruling class; we as a society focus on the crimes fo the working class, not the upper
• What are the 6 propositions about the relationship between crime and social order according to Quinney's conflict theory?


  Crime is a definition of human conduct created by authorized agents in a politically organized society

  Criminal definitions describe behaviors that conflict with the interests of segments of society that have power to shape public policy

  Criminal definitions are applied by segments of society that hve power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law

  Behavior patterns are structured in segmentally organizaed society in relation to criminal definitions, and within this context persons engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal

  Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by various means of communication

  The social reality of crimes is constructed by the formulation and paplication of criminal definitions, the development of behavior patterns related to criminal definitions, and the construction of criminal conceptions
• What is the theory of surplus value according to critical/conflict theories?

  The working classes produce goods that exceed their wages in value; the working class creates profit, which goes to the owners, creating a conflict of interests between the working class and capitalist class
• What do critical/conflict theories question?

  Who is in power? Who makes the laws? Questions power and dominance in law
• What are the central themes of critical/conflict perspective?


  Different groups within society are in conflict for power; the most powerful makes the laws that keep the less powerful without power; crime is a label attached to the behavior of the less powerful; capitalism is the root cause of crime
• What are the names associated with critical/conflict theories?

  Quinney, Du Bois, Reiman, Turk
• What are some critiques of routine activities perspective?
• What are 3 key elements that increase one's risk of victimization according to routine activities perspective? (examples)

  Lack of capable guardianship (physical or social)(no security or dog), motivated offender (criminals), suitable target (attractiveness)
• What explains crime/victimization in routine activities perspective?

  People's daily lives put them at risk to be victimized; focuses on situations
• Routine activities perspective level of analysis?

  Individual, micro (technically cross-level, but still)
• What are some critiques of institutional anomie theory?

  Society is not in consensus regarding economic success; crime is not limited to the lower class (white collar)
• What are the policy implications of institutional anomie theory?

  We need to put more emphasis on the other institutions, not just economic institution; if you want less crime, make economics less important and increase access to welfare
• What is the key argument of institutional anomie theory?

  There is more crime in the US because economic institution is prioritized over and effects other institutions
• What are the key assumptions of institutional anomie theory?


  Economics are more dominant in American culture than any other institution, like family, education, politics, etc.
• Institutional anomie theory model of law?

  Consensus
• Institutional anomie theory level of analysis?

  Macro, structural
• What is the difference between Institutional anomie and Mertion's anomie theory?

  Institutional is an extension of Merton's theory, assumes more so that economic disparity is the cause of crime