Lesson 10 – Violent Crime
Robert Wonser
Introduction to Criminology
Crime and Delinquency
1
Introduction
• Violent crime – violence is the end or
the means to an end.
• Spurs fear
• Drives public policy
• Violence occurs between
• Strangers
• Acquaintances
• Interpersonal violence
2
Homicide and Assault
• Murder and non-negligent
manslaughter
• First-degree murder
• Second-degree murder
• Voluntary manslaughter
• Involuntary manslaughter
3
Homicide and Assault
• First-degree murder
• Premeditated
• Malice aforethought
• Felony murder - The unlawful killing of
another human being while engaged in the
commission of or attempted commission of
one of several felonies specified according
to the laws of a particular jurisdiction.
• At common law, the "felony murder crimes"
are burglary, arson, rape, robbery, and
kidnapping.
4
Homicide and Assault
• Second-degree murder
• Offender intended to do serious harm
just short of murder
• Manslaughter
• Killing considered less serious or less
blameworthy
• Voluntary (emotion)
• Involuntary (reckless)
5
Homicide and Assault
• Aggravated assault
• Use of weapon
• Other means likely to produce death
or great bodily harm
• Simple assault
• No weapon
• No serious or aggravated injury to
victim
6
Patterning and Social
Dynamics of Homicide
• Race
• Half of offenders are African-Americans
• Gender
• Males
• Age
• Young people
7
Patterning and Social Dynamics
of Homicide
• Geographic Patterns
• Large cities
• The South
• United States
• Victim-Offender relationship
• 79% killed by someone they knew
8
Patterning and Social
Dynamics of Homicide
• Type of Weapon
• Handguns, used in 2/3s of homicides
• Circumstances
• Spontaneous event
• Argument gets out of hand
• According to Wolfgang, victim
precipitates 25% of homicides
• “Outcome of dynamic interchange”
• Often offender and/or victim have been
drinking
9
Trends in Homicide Rates
• Rise of homicide in mid-1960s into the
1970s
• Rose in the 1980s to a peak in 1993
• Decreasing from 1993 to the present
10
Aggravated Assault
• Dynamics of aggravated assault
resembles those of homicide
• Geographic patterns are similar
between assault and homicide
• Involve people who know each other
• Only one-fourth of assaults include a
weapon
11
Explaining Homicide and
Assault
• Why does the U.S. have a higher
homicide rate than other industrial
nations?
• Inequality
• Handgun ownership rates
• History of violence
12
Explaining Homicide and
Assault
• Why are U.S. homicides and
aggravated assaults more common in
urban areas than elsewhere?
• Social disorganization
• Anomie
• Strain
13
Explaining Homicide and
Assault
• Why do men commit almost all
homicides and aggravated assaults?
• Gender differences
• Poverty
14
Explaining Homicide and
Assault
• Why do African-Americans and other
people of color have high rates of
homicide and aggravated assault?
• Anger/frustration
• Social disorganization
• Family and school experiences
• Deviant peers
15
Violence by Women
• Has same roots as male violence
• Focus on African-American females
• When women commit homicide their
victims often were men who abused
them
• Subculture of helplessness
16
Robbery
• The taking or attempting to take
anything of value from the care,
custody, or control of a person or
persons by force or threat of force or
violence and/or by putting the victim in
fear
17
Extent and Patterning of
Robbery
• UCR reports lower number of robberies
than the NCVS
• Young person’s crime
• African-Americans
• Males
• Large cities
18
Explaining Robbery
• Strain theory
• Innovation
• Economic
• Social disorganization
• Routine Activities
• Thrill-seeking
• Subcultural
19
Mass Murder
• The taking of several lives at once or
within a short time frame
• 2-3 or more lives taken
• Usually at a single location
• Predominantly committed by males
• Feelings of isolation
20
Serial Murder
• Methodical taking of life over a period
of days, weeks, months, and years
• 2-3 or more lives taken
• Predominantly perpetrated by strangers
21
Explanations for Serial Murder
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Childhood problems
• Parental neglect
• Physical/sexual abuse
• Region
22
Sociological Explanations for
Serial Killing
• Borrowing Durkheim’s approach, DeFronzo
et al. write:[U]sing a method that assigns a
male serial killer to the state where he
perpetrated his largest number of homicides,
from 1970 to 1992 California had a rate of
18.6 male serial killers per 10 million residents,
whereas Florida had a rate of 10.3, Texas
had a rate of 7, New York had a rate of 6.3,
Illinois had a rate of 6.1, Ohio had a rate of
3.7, and Pennsylvania had a rate of 3.4.
23
Structural Factors
• authors drew on existing literature, positing
seven factors that might increase the rate of
serial killing in a state.
• population density (large, urban, dense cities
allow for greater anonymity and offer more
potential victims) and
• variables that increased individuals’
vulnerability (being divorced, living alone,
and being unemployed).
24
Cultural Factors
• For the cultural factors, the authors considered variables
that might indicate a high tolerance for or presence of
violence. They argue:
• Norms prescribing or tolerant of violent behavior contribute
to shaping the fantasies of the developing serial killer, help
to objectify and dehumanize potential victims, and
consequently provide a necessary link in converting
sexually sadistic urges in the violent behavior.
• As measures of this, they include the overall homicide rate
in the state, whether the state is in the South (see the
“culture of honor” thesis), and the use of capital
punishment.
25
• They figured that the structural variables might
predict the states in which killers killed because they
measured opportunity.
• Whereas the cultural variables might incite young
serial killers, thus they’d be related to the states in
which serial killers grew up.
• All of the relationships are positive – as the rate of
divorce goes up, for example, so does the rate of
serial killing – and about half of the relationships are
statistically significant.
26
Hate Crime
• Crimes committed against people because of their
race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, or
sexual orientation
• Motive is key
• Mostly perpetrated against minority groups
• Can be committed by groups or individuals
• We know little about the groups that perpetrate
these crimes
• KKK, neo-Nazis, etc.
• Is vastly underreported
27
Child Abuse
• We will never know how many children
are abused each year
• Underreporting
• 2011
• 118,825 cases of physical abuse
• 61,472 cases of sexual abuse
• 1,570 children died from
abuse/neglect
28
The Gendered Nature of
Violent Crime
• Before the 1970s, sexual assault and
domestic violence were hardly discussed
• Feminist movement
• Two types of violent crime are much higher
for females
• Rape/Sexual assault
• Domestic violence
• Linked to gendered power dynamics
Defining Rape/Sexual Assault
and Domestic Violence
• Rape - Sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal, or oral
penetration) without the consent of the victim
• Sexual Assault - Sexual contact without both the
consent of the victim and intercourse
• Battering - Physical or sexual attacks committed
by intimates: spouses or ex-spouses, boyfriends,
girlfriends, ex-boyfriends, and ex-girlfriends
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
New Definition of Rape according to the
FBI
• In December 2011, FBI Director Robert S.
Mueller, III, approved revisions to the Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s 80-year-old
definition of rape.
• As approved, the UCR Program’s definition of
rape is “Penetration, no matter how slight, of
the vagina or anus with any body part or
object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of
another person, without the consent of the
victim.”
Extent of Rape/Sexual Assault
and Domestic Violence
• In 2011, the NCVS reports:
• 244,000 rapes and sexual assaults
• 19% committed by intimates
• 121,000 aggravated assaults
• 391,000 simple assaults
• One-fifth of U.S. women assaulted by
husband or male intimate
Social Patterning of Rape/Sexual
Assault and Domestic Violence
• Age
• Young women
• Social class
• Poor
• Race/Ethnicity
• Native-American women
• Minorities
Stalking
• The persistent following, observing,
and/or harassment of an individual
• Generally seen as a violent crime
• Unwanted phone calls
• Unwanted letters/emails
• Following/spying on victim
• Leaving unwanted presents
Arresting Batterers: Deterrence
or Escalation
• Minneapolis domestic violence experiment
and replications
• Arrest increased subsequent violence
• Unemployed husbands/poverty
• Mandatory Arrest Policies?
• Costly
• Lead to more women being arrested
• Effects poor differentially
• Does not reduce IPV