CRIME CAUSATION
Project Guidelines
150 Points
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THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
In groups of three, you will closely examine one of the six major groups of theories that attempt to
provide answers to the age-old question: “Why do people commit crimes?”
Project Guidelines 150 Points
Using the appropriate chapter from Criminology: The Core (3rd ed.) as your baseline resource, your
group will create and present a Keynote/Powerpoint presentation that includes but is not limited to the
following components:
1.
INTRODUCTION to your group of theories (e.g., development of your group’s approach, influence of
theories on social policy, etc...) 30 pts.
2.
SUMMARY of each of the specific theories discussed in your assigned chapter 30 pts.
3.
ANALYSIS of both the strengths and weaknesses of your group of theories 30 pts.
4.
EXAMPLES of crimes/criminals used to support your theories 30 pts.
5.
OTHER RESOURCE MATERIAL that aid in explaining your group of theories (e.g., video clips, graphic
statistics, supporting research, etc...); sources in addition to Siegel should be cited uniformly 30 pts.
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PROJECT TIMELINE “Start to Finish” 13 Days
Project Introduction/Team & Topic Assignment
1 day
Research & Project Assembly in Lab
Presentations, Discussions, & Activities
4 days
6 days
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Rational Choice Theory
•Individual Choice
•Cost-Benefit Analysis (Personal and Situational
Factors v. Perceived Consequences)
•Crime Prevention
•General v. Specific Deterrence
•Incapacitation
•Policy Implications of Choice Theory:
“Three
Strikes” sentencing policy, the death penalty
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Rational Choice Theory
1. Which would concern you more should you be caught shoplifting: receiving legal punishment or
having to face the reactions of your friends and family? Would the reactions of your friends be
different than the reactions of your family? In what way?
2. Is it possible to create a method of capital punishment that would actually deter murder—for
example, by televising executions? What would be the positive and negative consequences of such
a policy?
3. Consider the recent shooting death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch captain
George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Make a list of elements that might suggest that
Zimmerman, who faces a grand jury investigation next month, acted rationally. Share your analysis
with the class.
4. Your friend has decided to build a house and wants it to be secure from crime. Advise your friend
about the type of crime prevention or defensible space strategies that can be incorporated or
implemented to make the home secure.
5. Think about times you or your friends might have broken the law or considered breaking the law.
Did any of you consider doing so for "the thrill of it?” If so, what type of crime? Were any particular
“risk assessment” factors weighed before engaging in the criminal behavior or before considering
whether to engage in the illegal behavior?
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Rational Choice Theory
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
•Biological Trait Theories
Trait Theory
•
Biochemistry, Diet, Hypoglycemia, Hormones, PMS, Lead Exposure, Environmental
Contaminants
•
Neurophysiology, ADHD, Brain Chemistry, Arousal Theory
•
Genetics
•
Evolutionary Views of Crime
•Psychological Trait Theories
•
associations between intelligence, personality, learning, and criminal behavior
•
Psychodynamic Perspective (Freud)
•
Attachment Theory
•
Behavioral Perspective: Social Learning Theory)
•
Cognitive Theory
•
Personality, Intelligence, Mental Disorders and Crime
•Social Policy and Trait Theory
•
Primary (before crime) and Secondary (after crime) Prevention Programs
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Trait Theory
1. If research were to significantly indicate that the tendency to commit crime is inherited, what
should be done about or for the children of violent criminals? What programs would students
implement and why? What would be the social, policy, and ethical implications?
2. Discuss the role of the media in terms of influencing violent behavior in society today. Direct
students to perform a library search for articles pertaining to violent media's impact on aggression in
society. Have students present their findings in class.
3. Ask students to consider junior or senior high school classmates who engaged in delinquent or
criminal acts. Did these teens exhibit any of the "traits" discussed within the chapter?
4. A variety of mental disorders have been linked to criminal activities. Have students discuss
whether criminals who have been deemed mentally ill should be incarcerated for their offenses or
housed in a mental health facility. Is it appropriate to incarcerate someone with a mental illness? Are
they "getting away with crime" if they are housed in a mental health facility instead of a prison?
5. Ask students to develop arguments supporting the link between intelligence and crime and against
any supposed link between intelligence and crime. Students can be directed to read Murray's Bell
Curve (see link) prior to debating the IQ-crime link.
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
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•
Social Structure Theory
Economic Structure and Crime
• Stratification of American society
• Problems of the Lower Class
• Child Poverty
• Minority Group Poverty
3 Branches of Social Structure
Theory
• Social Disorganization Theory &
The Social Ecology School
• Strain Theories
• Anomie Theory
• Institutional Anomie Theory
• Relative Deprivation Theory
• General Strain Theory
• Cultural Deviance Theory
• Theory of Delinquent Subcultures
• Theory of Differential Opportunity
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Social Structure Theory and
Policy
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Public Assistance/Welfare
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•
Head Start
Kennedy and Johnson’s
on Poverty”
Weed and Seed Program
Public
“War
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Social
Theory
1.Is there a “transitional” area
in yourStructure
town or city? Does
the crime rate remain constant
there, regardless of who moves in or out? Are there any clear physical signs of
disorganization?
2.Is it possible that a distinct lower-class culture exists? Do you know anyone who has the
focal concerns--trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy--Miller (Cultural
Deviance Theory) talks about? Were there “focal concerns” in your high school or college
experience?
3.Albert Cohen (Theory of Delinquent Subcultures) suggests that subcultures develop due
to a lack of recognition from middle-class decision makers such as teachers, employers,
and police officers. Identify additional middle class decision makers and why their
recognition might be important to lower class citizens.
4.Could “relative deprivation” produce crime among college-educated, white-collar workers?
Explain why or why not.
5.Have students explain how they may have benefited from collective efficacy while growing
up. What made factors made their neighborhoods cohesive?
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
• SOCIALIZATION and
Crime Process Theories
Social
• Social Process Theory
• Institutions of Socialization
•
Family
•
Education
•
Peers
• Religion
•
3 Branches of Social Process Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Social Control Theory
• Social Reaction/Labeling Theory
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Social Process Theory and Public Policy
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Residential Treatment Programs
Education Programs (e.g., Head Start)
Diversion Programs
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Social Process Theories
1. Have students identify and list the social bonds they maintained as adolescents and that
they will maintain after high school. Ask students to compare their social bonds with
those students they knew to be antisocial in middle school and those they may know to be
antisocial now. What social bonds might account for the differences in behavior?
2. Ask students if they have ever been given a negative label, and, if so, did this negative
label cause them harm? How did students lose the label or did it become a permanent
marker that still troubles them today?
3. After considering the topic in item two, ask students about positive labels that might
have been applied to them. How did the positive label improve their social standing and
self-concept? Which type of label do students think has more "power" - a negative label
or a positive label?
4. Direct students to consider their own peer relations. Ask if students have had any
delinquent friends. If so, why did students not also become delinquent? Have students'
delinquent peers continued their delinquency? What do students feel accounts for the
difference between their law abiding behavior and the delinquent behavior of their peers?
5. Direct students to identify recent accounts of crime. What neutralization techniques do
students see being used by the offender, by the offender's attorney, and others (such as
neighbors and relatives of the offender)?
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
• SOCIALIZATION and
Crime Process Theories
Social
• Social Process Theory
• Institutions of Socialization
•
Family
•
Education
•
Peers
• Religion
•
3 Branches of Social Process Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Social Control Theory
• Social Reaction/Labeling Theory
•
Social Process Theory and Public Policy
•
•
•
Residential Treatment Programs
Education Programs (e.g., Head Start)
Diversion Programs
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Social Process Theories
1. Have students identify and list the social bonds they maintained as adolescents and that
they will maintain after high school. Ask students to compare their social bonds with
those students they knew to be antisocial in middle school and those they may know to be
antisocial now. What social bonds might account for the differences in behavior?
2. Ask students if they have ever been given a negative label, and, if so, did this negative
label cause them harm? How did students lose the label or did it become a permanent
marker that still troubles them today?
3. After considering the topic in item two, ask students about positive labels that might
have been applied to them. How did the positive label improve their social standing and
self-concept? Which type of label do students think has more "power" - a negative label
or a positive label?
4. Direct students to consider their own peer relations. Ask if students have had any
delinquent friends. If so, why did students not also become delinquent? Have students'
delinquent peers continued their delinquency? What do students feel accounts for the
difference between their law abiding behavior and the delinquent behavior of their peers?
5. Direct students to identify recent accounts of crime. What neutralization techniques do
students see being used by the offender, by the offender's attorney, and others (such as
neighbors and relatives of the offender)?
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
•
Social
Conflict
and
Critical
Criminology
Origins of Critical Criminology
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•
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Marx, Conflict, and Crime
1960s-1970s
• National Deviance Conference (NDC)
• The New Criminology (Taylor, Walton, and
Young)
• Law, Order, and Power (Chambliss and
Seidman)
• The Social Reality of Crime (Quinney)
Contemporary Critical Criminology
• issues of social class, crime, social, control, role
of government, personal and group power, race
and gender bias, threat of global capitalism to
the working class, misuse of
political/social/media power
• Defining Crime
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socio-economic structure
state (organized) crime
political corruption
illegal domestic surveillance
human rights violations
state-corporate crime
state violence
• Cause of Crime
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GLOBALIZATION
• Related Theories in Critical Criminology
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Instrumental v. Structural Theory
Left Realism
Critical Feminist Theory
Power-Control Theory
Peacemaking Criminology
• Critical Theory and Public Policy
•
Restorative Justice
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Conflict
Critical
Criminology
1. How wouldSocial
a conservative
reply to and
a call for
the increased
use of restorative justice?
How would a restorative justice advocate respond to a conservative call for increased
imprisonment?
2. Considering recent changes in American culture, how would a power–control theorist
explain recent drops in the U.S. crime rate?
3. If Marx were alive today, what might he think about increasing globalization and the
concepts of surplus value and exploitation of the working class? Do students feel Marx
would see replication of the capitalist processes of his day or would he adjust his vision
of capitalism and conflict?
4. While many convicted murderers await execution on death row, few, if any, have gained
the international notoriety and support that Mumia Abu-Jamal has. What seems to
explain his becoming such a cause célèbre?
5. Ask students to describe their family environment based on Hagan’s power-control
theory. Do they see their behavior as being affected by coming from either a
paternalistic or egalitarian family?
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Developmental Theories: Life Course and Latent Trait
• Foundations of Life Developmental Theory
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integration of biological, psychological, and
sociological factors
Life-Course Theory: crime is dynamic and
multifaceted
Latent-Trait Theory: “master trait” and propensity
to commit crime
• Life-Course Theories
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•
Basic Precepts
• Problem Behavior Syndrome (PBS)
• Pathways to Crime
• Authority-Conflict Pathway
• Covert Pathway
• Overt Pathway
Age-Graded Theory
• discrete factors at different stages of
development
• social capital
• trajectories, transitions, and turning points
• Latent Trait Theories
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•
Basic Precepts
• latent traits and criminal propensity
• more biological and psychological (personal
traits) than social (external influences)
• persistence (stability of criminal propensity)
• desistence (opportunity for crime fluctuates)
General Theory of Crime
• propensity to crime linked to two traits
• impulsive personality
• lack of self-control
• combination of poor parenting
(intergenerational) and biological
factors(inherited, prenatal factors)
• Public Policy Implications of Development
•
variety of programs directed at children from preschool
through early elementary grades
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Development Theories: Life Course and Latent Trait
1. Do you consider yourself the holder of social capital? If so, how? Compare your level and
quality of social capital with that of high school students you knew to have been deviant.
2. Do you believe there is a latent trait that makes a person crime prone, or is crime a function
of environment and socialization? How are these two perspectives integrated or related?
3. Do you agree with Loeber’s multiple pathway model? Do you know people who have
traveled down those paths? Describe those individuals and how their behaviors fit Lober's
pathways.
4. Sampson and Laub offer several examples of important “turning points” that can have a
dramatic effect on one’s behavior. Can you think of other turning points?
5. Problem behavior syndrome suggests that crime is one behavior among a cluster of
antisocial behaviors. Think of someone you know who has a criminal history. Does he/she
possess a cluster of antisocial behaviors? Describe those behaviors.