Criminology is the study of the etiology of crime – what
causes crime and why. To answer that question, we seek to
detect crime and to measure it in all its dimensions:
 where, when, and why is it distributed in time and place
 where, when, how, why and who is committing it
 where when, how, why and who are the victims
Based on an assessment of that information, a response or a
treatment is prescribed in both a preventative and curative
context if possible. Criminology seeks epistemological
understanding so as to better prevent and respond to crime
in a social/communal context and to minimize its negative
Impacts.
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Macro differentiation/inter crime specificity
Micro differentiation/intra crime specificity
Causality vs. contributing, precipitating,
accentuating, aggravating
Micro responses
Macro responses (risk factors; protective
factors)
Criminology assumes the medical model
(discover the problem, assess its nature and
extent, prescribe a response/a cure), but it falls
short because:
1. There are no accurate diagnostic instruments
(no criminological thermometers, no
criminological x-rays or CAT scans)
2. No body of diagnostic knowledge
3. No evidence-based, generally consistent,
uniformly applicable and effective treatment
modalities
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Macro differentiation/inter crime specificity
Micro differentiation/intra crime specificity
Causality vs. contributing, precipitating,
accentuating, aggravating
Micro responses
Macro responses (risk factors; protective
factors)
It is impossible to speak of one specific
cause for the wide range of behavior
classified as criminal
◦ Macro
◦ Micro
You cannot call something a cause of an
event if it rarely produces the event. Many
factors impact in a non-causal context, and
would more appropriately be called:
 Contributing factors
 Precipitating factors
 Accentuating factors
 Aggravating factors
 Compounding factors
Criminology, like medicine, assumes
conformity and seeks to explain deviance.
Perhaps we should assume deviance and
explain conformity.
- Why do nearly all people, nearly all the
time, refrain from crime?
- What is the cause of virtue?
- How does society build a citizenry of
character?
Level 1 – Fear of Punishment
Level 2 – Promise of Reward
Level 3 – Altruistic Motivation
Justice will be realized only when people
are willing to obey the unenforceable.
An interdisciplinary social science-based
field of study that seeks an etiological
understanding of the preventative and
curative aspects of crime. In so doing, it
seeks to develop better measurement and
diagnostic capabilities and ultimately, better
preventative, control, and treatment options.
Science is constrained due to deep-rooted
social, economic, and political factors (ala Dr.
Goldberger). There are scientific truths and
there are political truths. In the end, political
“leaders” look not to the science, but to the
political palatability coefficient, to the political
truths, to survive. As a result, the science of
criminology is regularly polluted by the
politics of criminology.
Criminologists and justice professionals must:
1. Uncover scientific truths/grow the body of knowledge.
2. Be alert as to when the best time would be to bring
results forward (be attuned to the zeitgeist).
3. Engage in activities that create a palatable
environment/create a setting where truths can be aired
and implemented.
I.)
Demonological Theories
1.) Traditional - Augustine, Gregory I, Gregory VII,
Jerome
2.) Pre-Classical - Aquinas, Luther, Machiavelli
3.) Social Contract - Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire
I.)
Demonological Theories
1.) Traditional - Augustine, Gregory I, Gregory VII,
Jerome
2.) Pre-Classical - Aquinas, Luther, Machiavelli
3.) Social Contract - Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire
II.)
Naturalistic Theories
1.) Classical - Beccaria, Bentham, Blackstone, Burke
Crime is to be prevented through fear of
receiving sanctions. There are some costs
(innocent punished), but we must avert chaos
and maintain security, and these are the
collateral consequences.
There is crime because the state lacks certainty
and severity in its punishment delivery
systems. To stop crime, we need more police,
prosecutors, and prisons.
1. Self determinism
2. Security the over-riding concern; must
avoid chaos at all costs (Utilitarian theory)
3. Deterrence theory/Rational Man Theory
4. Focus on the crime
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Specific vs. General
Swiftness
Certainty
Severity
Clarity
Severity is not a substitute for certainty
I.)
Demonological Theories
1.) Traditional - Augustine, Gregory I, Gregory VII,
Jerome
2.) Pre-Classical - Aquinas, Luther, Machiavelli
3.) Social Contract - Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire
II.)
Naturalistic Theories
1.) Classical - Beccaria, Bentham, Blackstone, Burke
2.) Positivist - Lombroso, Quetelet, Comte
A. Biological Determinism - Galton, Lombroso
1. Constitutional - Gall, Goring, Hooton, Jacobs,
Sheldon
2. Bio Social - Hippchen, Jeffrey, Edward O. Wilson
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Why are there bio-chemical imbalances?
◦ Internally sourced factors:
 Enzyme/hormonal imbalances
 Genetic sources
 Insufficient brain development/brain abnormalities
◦ Externally sourced factors:
 Exposure to externally sourced toxic materials
 General nutrition/vitamin deficiencies
(orthomolecular deficiencies)
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Internal/Latent Bio-Chemical Imbalances
(hormone and enzyme imbalances)
◦
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Serotonin
Dopamine
Melatonin
Testosterone
MAOA
Estrogen/PMS
CSF/serum albumin
Phenethylamine/MAO-B
Oxytocin
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Genes
◦ Violence genes, lying genes, crime genes, morality
genes, alcoholism genes, religiousity genes?
◦ Impulsivity and ADHD (attention deficit and
hyperactivity disorder) are perhaps 75% genetically
based
◦ Variations in the AR gene are associated with
violent crime
◦ Caspi and Trembly studies
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Caspi study
◦ abused/insufficient nurturing + genetically
vulnerable =
85% developed anti-social behaviors
◦ abused/insufficient nurturing + no genetic
vulnerability =
virtually no anti-social tendencies
◦ not abused/sufficient nurturing + genetic
vulnerability =
virtually no anti-social tendencies
Behavior Impacted By
Genetic
Environment
18 months old
82%
18%
60 months old
66%
34%
(Trembly thesis is that the 66% figure will
drop even further as time passes)
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Insufficient brain development/brain abnormalities
◦ Reactive Aggressive Teens: high Amygdala activity and
less frontal lobe activity
◦ Pedophiles: lower volume of gray matter in the
orbitofrontal cortex, the cerebellum and the ventral
striatum
◦ Pedophiles: abnormal serotonin subsystem in the brain
◦ Men v Women: low volume of gray matter in the
orbitofrontal cortex is highly correlated with violent and
anti-social behaviors; in the aggregate, men have lower
volumes than women
◦ Antisocial individuals: damage in the dorsal and ventral
prefrontal cortex and angular gyrus
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Insufficient brain development/brain abnormalities
…continued:
◦ High norm compliance individuals: high activity in the lateral
orbitofrontal cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
(areas not developed until early 20s)
◦ Violent offenders: large white matter volume in the occipital,
parietal lobes and left cerebellum; large gray matter volume in
the right cerebellum
◦ Violent offenders: atrophy in the postcentral gyri, frontopolar
cortex and orbiofrontal cortex
◦ Youth Brain Shrinkage: frontal and pre-frontal cortex shrinkage
◦ Violent youth: slower neurological transmission issues
◦ Novelty seeking individuals: fast firing dopamine neurons in
the brain
◦ Prenatal alcohol exposure: alters white matter structure in the
frontal and occipital lobes
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Externally Sourced Causes of Bio-Chemical
Imbalances
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Lead, cadmium, mercury, PCBs (heavy metals)
Sugar/hypoglycemia
Manganese
HCD (hexachlorobenzene)
Prenatal nicotine exposure
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Nutritional Deficiencies/Orthomolecular
Deficiencies
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General vitamin and nutritional deficiencies
Prenatal protein deficiencies
Cholesterol deficiencies
Zinc deficiencies
Fatty acid deficiencies (Omega 3, Omega 6, DHA)
Iron deficiencies
Vitamin B and Chromium deficiencies
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How do we respond?
◦ Eat healthy substances/orthomolecular therapy
(take good things in)
◦ Eat substances that will remove the toxic
substances from the body (get the bad things out)
◦ Move away from toxic sources (don’t let any more
bad things in)
◦ Bio-chemical interventions in serious cases
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Ritalin
Rebuifin
Lithium
Thorazine
Metoprolol
Galvanic skin implants
Depo-Provera/MPA
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Crime is caused by bio-chemical imbalances. These imbalances have:
◦ Internally sourced origins:
 Enzyme/hormonal imbalances
 Genetic sources
 Insufficient brain development/brain abnormalities
◦ Externally sourced origins:
 Exposure to externally sourced toxic materials
 General nutrition/vitamin deficiencies (orthomolecular
deficiencies)
To
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reduce crime, we need to:
Take good things in
Get the bad things out
Don’t let anymore bad things in
Engage in physical interventions and drug therapy in serious cases
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Ignores the Constitution
Ignores Durkheim (society of clones)
Ignores Durkheim (faulty intelligence to crime
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assumption)
Alpha error (explains violence, but little else)
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Extreme potential for abuse
I.)
Demonological Theories
1.) Traditional - Augustine, Gregory I, Gregory VII,
Jerome
2.) Pre-Classical - Aquinas, Luther, Machiavelli
3.) Social Contract - Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire
II.)
Naturalistic Theories
1.) Classical - Beccaria, Bentham, Blackstone, Burke
2.) Positivist - Lombroso, Quetelet, Comte
A. Biological Determinism - Galton, Lombroso
1. Constitutional - Gall, Goring, Hooton, Jacobs,
Sheldon
2. Bio Social - Hippchen, Jeffrey, Edward O. Wilson
B. Cultural Determinism - Quetelet
1. Psychological - Tarde
a. Cognitive Theory - James, Menninger, Piaget
b. Freudian Theory/Psychoanalysis - Freud, Jung
c. Learning Theory - Bandura, Skinner
2. Sociological - Durkheim, Ferri
a. Social Structure Theories - Burgess
1. Culture Conflict - Miller, Sellin
2. Differential Opportunity - Cloward, Ohlin
3. Relative Deprivation - Blau and Blau
4. Social Disorganization - McKay, Shaw, Thrasher
5. Strain - Agnew, Merton
6. Subculture Conflict - Cohen
2. Sociological - Durkheim, Ferri
a. Social Structure Theories - Burgess
1. Culture Conflict - Miller, Sellin
2. Differential Opportunity - Cloward, Ohlin
3. Relative Deprivation - Blau and Blau
4. Social Disorganization - McKay, Shaw, Thrasher
5. Strain - Agnew, Merton
6. Subculture Conflict - Cohen
b. Social Process Theories - Sutherland
1. Bonding - Hindelang, Hirschi
2. Control - Durkheim, Gottfredson, Hirschi, Reckless
3. Differential Anticipation - Glazer
4. Differential Association - Cressy, Sutherland
5. Differential Reinforcement - Akers
6. Drift - Matza, Sykes
7. Labeling - Allport, Braithwaite, Lemert, Rosenthal
8. Life Course - Laub, Moffitt, Sampson
9. Social Development - Weis
1.
2.
Labeling stigmatization
Medical model knowledge base lacking:
a. Diagnostic instruments
b. Body of diagnostic knowledge
c. Consistently applicable, effective treatment
modalities
3.
4.
External factors (prisonization)
Re-habilitation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Transferability
Limited exposure
Too late
Constancy dictum
Nihil Nocere
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Not enough research to date.
Same rate of success as oncologists.
A life-long cure not reasonable and not
expected in medicine in particular.
The need for inter-crime and intra-crime
specificity only now beginning to be realized.
The problem is often not the program, but
implementation issues.
Internal motivation/cognitive orientation of
the individual. Need an internal conversion.
Even when you have a good program/a good seed, we still need
(in a farming analogy):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Internal conversion of the treated
(fertile ground)
Proper timing/Zeitgeist
(palatable environment)
Capable program personnel
(knowledgeable and skilled farmer)
Dedicated and persistent program personnel
(hard working farmer)
If any one of these is missing, the program
fails/the crops fail.
3.) Conflict - Marx
A. Class Conflict - Bonger, Vold
B. Economic Determinism - Becker, Ehrlich, Mayr, Stigler
C. Radical - Chambliss, Quinney, Turk, Young
Every society is based on the coercion of some of its members by others.
Law is a function of political power. It is used by the more powerful to maintain
control over the less powerful. The more threatened a ruling group feels, the
more rigorously it tends to enforce the law.
Laws are the codification of ruling class interests. Laws become legitimate
simply because the ruling class has the power to enforce them and the ability to
create the ideology by which they are made to appear justified.
The police, the courts and the correctional systems are all instruments utilized
by the ruling class to insure adherence to their laws.
People who are socio-economically close to the power group tend to develop
normative behavioral systems that are similar to members of the power group.
The further away a person is from the power group, the more likely they will
possess different normative behavioral systems, and the greater the likelihood
that those different behaviors will be defined as criminal.
Crime is not an inherent quality of any act. All behavior patterns in fact
have the potential to be defined as criminal. Criminality is merely a
label given to certain behaviors by the ruling authorities.
The ability to confer criminal status is a privilege enjoyed by the
powerful classes, to the broad detriment of the less powerful.
Generally, criminal behavior is merely behavior that threatens the
interests of the powerful.
Law and definitions of crime may be modified from time to time, but
never to the extent that existing political and economic relationships
are jeopardized. As a rule, law changes are a reflection of changes in
the needs and interests of the powerful.
The freedoms that laws confer grant a great deal more freedom to
some groups than to others. The freedoms allegedly protected by law,
are only protected for those who can afford it. In the end, legal
efficacy reigns supreme, not the law.
Rather than being an independent arbitrator of conflict, the state is in
fact the prize for which different groups compete in order to gain
control.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Capitalism is the root of all crime and
needs to be abandoned as an economic
system.
Restructure society, moving toward a
classless, utopian, socialistic state.
The restructuring may require a revolution.
Tear down the prisons.
Abolish police forces.
Adopt a non-interventionist strategy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ignores Durkheim (after the revolution
there will still be deviance, just new
definitions)
There is a value to deviance
High cost of the revolution, and it would
ironically be born by the very people it is
suppose to help.
Capitalism is the root of much crime, but
not the root of all crime.
Give no insight into how deviances arises
initially.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Catalyst for change and progress.
Forces a re-examination and modification of
values and behaviors.
Redistributes opportunities for leadership.
Refines the truth (forces opposing parties to
better prepare).
Promotes community cohesion by drawing
people together in mutual condemnation
Responses to deviance inculcates values into
society.
Removes bureaucratic red tape/provides for
quicker responses.
Without deviance, we would be a society of
clones, incapable of dealing with the
variation around us. Diversity is mandatory
to confront the tumultuous, ever changing
world in which we live. The question, is how
what types of deviance should be allowed,
and how much?
Crime is a natural by-product of capitalism, like automobile exhaust. It is an
inevitable artifact. Why?
A. Unemployment:
1. Capitalism by its very nature does not yield stability but rather volatility. We
often talk of business cycles in a very detached fashion, but business cycles
means, there are times when people will be out of work. The cyclical nature of
capitalism with its risk-based orientations, results in economic instability and
periodic unemployment.
2. Capitalism needs a core number of people to be unemployed for two reasons:
a. Some number of unemployed people are needed as a threat, to potentially
take over the jobs if workers threaten to quit due to low wage and working
condition concerns.
b. Some number of unemployed people are needed to turn to in times of peak
production needs.
The optimum unemployment rate from the capitalist point of view is thought to be
roughly 3% - 4%. In a nation of roughly 500 million workers, that is 15 million – 20
million people unemployed, and with unemployment comes crime, for a variety of
reasons.
A.
B.
Capitalism results in a small number of people accumulating great
wealth and others, a large number, living in or near poverty levels.
Capitalism, and particularly un-regulated and un-controlled
capitalism, yields a large socio-economic inequity coefficient.
Nations with a high socio-economic inequity coefficient have high
property and violent crime rates.
The basic econometrics of business results in workers being paid
less than what is necessary for them to buy all of the goods and
services they need in life, let alone to be able buy the things they
are told to buy by the capitalist marketers, so many resort to
illegitimate means to make ends meet.
C.
Planned obsolescence
D.
Conspicuous consumption
E.
Monopolistic tendencies
Capitalism seeks monopolies and exploits the
poor. By very definition, many lack the capital
needed to obtain basic needs and wants.
When wealth is equated with success, the
problem becomes more acute. Crime is
normal in a society that stresses wealth and
simultaneously restricts legitimate
opportunity to acquire it. The market culture
accentuates the crime problem.
Every program and proposal carries within it
a potential for failure and abuse, equal and
opposite to the program’s potential for
success.
3.) Conflict - Marx
A. Class Conflict - Bonger, Vold
B. Economic Determinism - Becker, Ehrlich, Mayr, Stigler
C. Radical - Chambliss, Quinney, Turk, Young
4.) Neo-Classical - Van den Haag, DiIulio, James Q. Wilson
There is crime because the state lacks certainty
and severity in its punishment delivery
systems. To stop crime, we need more police,
prosecutors, and prisons.
Crime is to be prevented through fear of
receiving sanctions. There are some costs
(innocent punished), but we must avert chaos
and maintain security, and these are the necessary
and acceptable collateral consequences.
1. Self determinism
2. Security the over-riding concern; must
avoid chaos at all costs (Utilitarian theory)
3. Rational Man theory
4. Deterrence theory
5. Focus on the crime
Crime Control Model
Aggravates long-term stability
Apprehend the guilty
Assumes deviance and explains conformity
Authoritarian, trained police
Burden of proof on defense to demonstrate
innocence at beyond reasonable doubt
Closed bureaucratic justice structures
Corporal punishment
Criminal intent of little concern
Discretionary power to police and
prosecutorial officials
Emphasis on efficiency
Emphasis on training
Few confession extraction guidelines
Few search and seizure rules
Frequent use of the death penalty
Harm, frighten, scare, intimidate
Harms innocent persons
Harsh sentences
High certainty of apprehension/justice system
processing
Large, demeaning prisons
Due Process Model
Aggravates short term contingencies
Protect the innocent
Assumes conformity and explains deviance
Social service, educated police
Burden of proof on prosecutor to demonstrate
guilt at reasonable doubt
Open, linking-pin justice structures
Non-interventionist treatment
Criminal intent of an overriding concern
Discretionary power to judicial and
correctional officials
Emphasis on effectiveness
Emphasis on education
Completely voluntary confessions
Strict search and seizure rules
Abolition of the death penalty
Encourage, help, aid, assist
Allows known guilty to go free
Lenient sentences
Low certainty of apprehension/justice system
processing
Community-based corrections
Crime Control Model
Large private sector police force
Legal counsel provided on rare occasions
Maintain the status quo
Mandatory, determinate sentencing
Many law enforcement officers
Many penalties
Maximize level of offender intrusion into system
National, centrally organized police force
No pretrial discovery for defense
Plea bargaining emphasis
Presumption of guilt
Preventive deterrence policy
Protect society from evolutionary change
Protect society in the short run
Punish the guilty
Punishment fits the crime
Quick, informal justice
Rational, economic man theory
Social order
Supervision of offenders
Swift, certain punishment
Due Process Model
Small private sector police force
Legal counsel provided as a right at all stages
Respond to social inequities
Indeterminate sentencing
Few law enforcement officers
Few penalties
Minimize level of offender intrusion into system
Local, autonomous, decentralized police force
Unlimited pretrial discovery for defense
Complete adjudication
Presumption of innocence
Curative rehabilitation policy
Protect society from revolutionary change
Protect society in the long run
Protect the innocent
Punishment fits the criminal
Formalized, individualized justice
Crime a psycho-sociological entity
Individual liberty
Advocate of offenders
Treatment, but only when needed
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Specific vs General
Swiftness
Certainty
Severity
Clarity
Certainty is the key factor
Severity is not a substitute for certainty
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pragmatic logistic limitation of low certainty.
Human rights concerns - macro.
Human rights concerns – micro
Certainty/Severity Reciprocity Phenomenon
Inherent irrationality of some behavior
a. Temporary insanity/acts of ration vs. acts of
passion
b. Permanent Mental illness
c. Aware of the odds of capture/punishment
1. worth the cost
2. have a death wish
3. excited by the challenge
6. Displacement:
a. geographic location
b. nature/substantive offense
c. offender
7. Pragmatic operational limitation
8. Overkill phenomenon
9. Overthrust irony
10. Potential for abuse
3.) Conflict - Marx
A. Class Conflict - Bonger, Vold
B. Economic Determinism - Becker, Ehrlich, Mayr, Stigler
C. Radical - Chambliss, Quinney, Turk, Young
4.) Neo-Classical - Van den Haag, DiIulio, James Q. Wilson
5.) Chaos - Lorenz, Poincare, Walker
1.
2.
3.
4.
Casual links are so obscure, so convoluted, that
the outcomes appears to be random,
serendipitous, by chance. The causal links are
there, but they are so enmeshed and entangled,
we cannot figure it out.
Small, seemingly innocuous, insignificant events
can have a tremendous impact on long-term
trajectory.
Small differences in the initial stage in particular,
at the starting point if you would, can result in
significant long-term outcome variations.
Ensemble forecasting
1.
2.
3.
4.
Alpha error (micro and macro differentiation)
Inter and intra treatment specificity
Death and crime analogy
Scientific criminology is still in the late 1700s in a
medical analogy context (lack instruments,
diagnostic understanding, consistently successful
treatment modalities)
5.
6.
7.
Nihil Nocere
Implementation problems
Political criminology vs. Scientific criminology