Crim Theory: Intro

• What is deviant behavior?

  not against the law but atypical, violates social norms
• What is criminal behavior?

  a violation of a law
• What is mala in se crime?


  typically involve serious violence; gut tells you its bad; morally wrong
• What is mala prohibita?


  crimes deemed wrong by the law
• Def of criminology

  study of 3 things, how laws get made, why people break the law, study of enforcing the law and why some places have higher crime than others
• Def of theory


  a general explination for how things work or how they became to be
• Def of criminological theories

  a general explanation for making of laws, breaking of laws, why people do the things they do
• Know/explain the basic differences in the three paradigms (schools of thought) for criminological theories

  Classical school- free will (explains crime/delinquency)

  Positive school- Bio, Psych, Socio factors (explains criminality)

  Conflict/critical perspective- power groups try to control the less powerful (explains both crime and criminality)
• Know/explain the different questions macro-level and micro-level theories ask


  macro- why do some GROUPS have higher crime rates than others

  micro- why are some INDIVIDUALS more likely to offend more than others
• Know/explain the 8 qualities of a good theory

  testable- x and y are measurable

  logical consistency- the link between x and y

  non tautological- not a statement true by definition

  wide scope- can explain a large collection of behaviors

  parsimony- simple

  policy implications- strategy for curbing crime

  helps explain correlate of crime

  empirical support/empirical validity
• What are the big 4 correlates of crime

  sex, race, age socioeconomic status (SES)
• What is the 3 criteria for causality 


  correlation between x and y

  must have the proper temporal order

  must rule out spuriousness
• Know the three main ways we measure crime

  self report surveys- surveys/interviews to ask them to self report crimes+

  official records- UCR

  victimization surveys- NCVS
• Which reports more crime: UCR or NCVS?


  NCVS
• Are the majority of people arrested men or women?  Adolescents or adults?  White or non-white?

  men, adult, white
• The "5-50" Rule


  5 % of criminals account for about 50% of crime
• What percent of ex-prisoners commit a serious offense within 3 years of release from prison

  66%
• What is incapacitation?


  render a person physically unable to commit crime
• What is the general formula for calculating incapacitation


  I= A*S; Lamda=#of crimes per year you would commit if not incarcerated * prison sentence length