Explaining Crime and
Delinquency
CC200
Youth Justice
Chapters 5 and 6
1
Social policy and theory
• Social Responsibility Perspective – crime is
an individual responsibility (nature).
• Social Problems Perspective – crime is a
manifestation of social problems (nurture).
2
Origins of Human Aggression
• Incorporate a biological, environmental,
and psychological components into an
exploration of the origins of human
aggression.
• NFB title
• 2005
3
Questions to consider
• What are the primary explanations given
for aggression in children and youth?
• At what age are children most aggressive?
• What factors influence their aggression?
4
• What potentials solutions are discussed in
the documentary?
• What actions or responses to aggression
displayed by children may, in fact,
encourage greater aggression?
• How do biological, environmental,
psychological components work together
in explanations for aggression?
5
Theory and Explanation
• Classical School of Criminology – develops in the
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18th century.
Based on belief that people have free-will and
must be held accountable for their deeds.
Has as a starting point the idea that individuals
have equal rights and co-exist in a society held
together by common goals and beliefs.
6
• Built upon a structural functionalist
foundation.
• Individuals are hedonistic beings who seek
to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
• Individuals make rational decisions by
engaging in cost/benefit analyses.
• Crime is repugnant and morally wrong.
7
Cesare Becarria (1819) Italian
Philosopher
• One of the most influential of the classical
paradigm.
• He argued that offenders must be
presumed innocent, that offences and
punishments must be defined in a written
code of law, and that the guilty must be
held accountable and punished for their
wrong-doings.
8
Jeremy Bentham (18th century
English Legal Scholar)
• Built on Beccaria’s ideas.
• Repeat offenders should be punished
more severely, and that the punishment
should fit the crime.
• He also argued that individuals who
committed similar crimes should receive
similar punishments (continuity in
punishment).
9
• We will return to the classical theories and
theorists later.
10
Biological Positivism
• Biological and psychological approaches
are based on the notion of individual
pathologies.
11
• This means that certain individuals are
pre-disposed to criminal behaviors due to
either biological or psychological
abnormalities.
12
Cesare Lombroso (1835 -1909)
• Argued that criminals could be identified
by physical characteristics and were
throwbacks to an earlier stage of human
development.
• He called this group “Atavistic man”
13
Physical characteristics of atavistic
man could include:
• Asymmetry of the face
• Eye defects and abnormalities
• Excessive dimensions of jaw and cheek
bones
• Ears of unusual size, or very small, or ears
that stuck out
• Lips fleshy, swollen & protruding
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• Excessive length of arms
• Supernumerary fingers and toes
• Nose twisted, upturned, or flattened, or
aquiline or beaklike
• Receding chin, or excessive long, or short
and flat
• Abnormal dentition
15
• He first argued that criminals were a
throwback to a more primitive type of
brain structure, and therefore behavior.
• He never claimed that the born criminal
made up more than 40% of the total
criminal population.
16
He also looked at the female
offender and argued that:
• Most women are not criminal.
• Those that are, are usually occasional
criminals.
• But some women are atavistic criminals.
• They are harder to detect than men.
• They are more cunning and more vicious.
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• More recently research has indicated there
are specific brain structures that influence
aggressive behaviors.
• This has led to research in the areas of
brain damage, epileptic disorders, and
endocrine disorders and the direct impact
that psychological disorders may have on
criminal behaviors.
18
Research has also focused on factors indirectly
related to criminal behaviors.
• This research focus has included:
– Twin studies
– Adoption studies
– Learning disabilities
– ADHD
– Perinatal factors
– Family studies
– Minimal brain damage
19
• However, it is important to realize that
these factors operate and interact with
other non-biological factors in a complex
process to create causal chains.
• Biological factors may only be indirectly
linked to criminal behaviors.
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Psychological Theories
• Tend to approach the challenge of
understanding and explaining criminality
by focusing on theories of personality or
learning that account for individual
behavior in specific situations.
21
Sigmund Freud (circa 1953)
• Is most closely linked to psychoanalytic
theory.
• While Freud did not specifically attempt to
link his work to criminality, forensic
researchers have used his work to explain
the psychology of criminal behaviors.
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• The foundation of this theory is that individuals
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1.
2.
3.
progress through five overlapping stages of
development.
As well, personality is made up of three forces:
The id – biological drives
The ego – which controls and directs the id
The super-ego – or conscience.
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• The ego and super-ego are created when
the individual successfully works through
conflicts present at each of the five stages
of development.
• Criminal behavior results when the
internal controls found in the ego and
super-ego fail to restrain the primitive,
aggressive urges of the id.
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In other words…
• If the ego and super-ego do not fully
develop through the early stages of
development, criminal behavior is more
likely to develop.
25
Jean Piaget
• Theories focusing on the idea of moral
development supplement psychoanalysis
with a chronological development
argument.
• Piaget (1932) studied children, game
playing, and rule development.
• He concluded that moral reasoning
occurred in stages.
26
L Kohlberg (1964)
• Built upon Piaget’s work and hypothesized
that moral development occurs in six
stages and that all individuals went
through these stages.
• Some individuals spent more time in
different stages and some never
progressed past the first few stages.
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• Criminal behavior was more likely to occur
in individuals who had not successfully
completed all stages of moral
development.
28
Hans J. Eysenck (1977)
• Developed a theoretical explanation for
the psychopathic personality.
• Developed a more behaviorist approach to
crime and personality.
• He argued that children will naturally
engage in deviant forms of behavior.
• They will only refrain if they are punished
each time they engage in the behavior.
29
In other words…
• Individuals must be conditioned not to
engage in certain acts through fear of
punishment.
• Individuals who engage in deviant or
criminal acts have not developed this fear
as a result of poor conditioning by parents
or they are less susceptible to conditioning
generally.
30
B. F. Skinner
• Work begins in the 1930s.
• Work on operant conditioning argued that
individual behavior is influenced by both
positive reinforcement and punishment
(negative).
• Behavior that is rewarded will continue.
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• Behavior that is consistently punished will
cease.
• Individuals who are rewarded, or escape
punishment, for deviant and/or criminal
behaviors will continue to engage in them.
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Social Learning Theory
• Associated with Albert Bandura (1970s)
• Suggests that aggressive behavior is learned
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2.
3.
(or modeled) from three sources.
Family
Social models and peers
Symbolic modeling – uses television (media)
violence as a model of aggressive behavior.
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Summary
• Like biological theories, both behaviorist
and developmental psychological
approaches attempt to explore the
relationship between individuals and
deviant or criminal behavior.
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• Findings from this research indicates that
psychological factors may play a role in
determining behaviors.
35
• However, these factors operate and
interact with other social and
environmental factors in a complex
relationship.
• These theories are still based on a primary
assumption of individual badness and
pathology.
36
Okay, now back to the classical
theories of crime and criminality.
• Don’t forget, we said that this paradigm
argues that individuals are hedonistic and
seek to maximize pleasure and minimize
pain.
• And, they make rational decisions by
weighing the pros and cons of their
actions before undertaking them.
37
So…
• from this perspective, youth will naturally
be drawn towards activities that bring
them the greatest pleasure (risk-taking
behaviors or criminal behaviors).
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• In order to counter the rational decision
by youth to participate in delinquent or
criminal activities, society, through the use
of social and legal sanctions must create
an environment when the potential cost of
this behavior outweighs the pleasure they
may gain in participation.
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Deterrence
• This can be accomplished through the
implementation of either general or
specific deterrents.
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General Deterrence
• Is accomplished by the development of a
criminal justice system that makes evident
the consequences for anyone who
engages in a criminal behavior.
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Specific Deterrence
• Accomplished by the use of punishment
and/or consequences to the individual
who engages in the deviant or criminal
act.
42
In order for punishment to succeed
it must meet three criteria:
1. Certainty
2. Timeliness
3. Proportionality
43
Simply stated…
• Those that break the laws much know that
they will be punished, the punishment
should occur swiftly, and the punishment
should be proportionate to the crime.
• If these three conditions are met,
deterrence will succeed because the cost
will outweigh the benefits.
44
• From this perspective, the creation and
implementation of policies or laws to
curtail or control levels of criminal activity
in society are the most important aspect
of crime policies.
45
• Youth engage in criminal behaviors
because they are inadequately monitored
and controlled.
46
• The solution to the crime problem is to
ensure they will be caught and punished
for their criminal activities.
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• The appeal of this approach is that it
addresses public sentiment that youth are
‘out of control’ and more dangerous and
increasingly punitive measures are needed
to deal with the issue.
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Challenges to the theory..
• Do youth rationally weigh the pros and
cons of their actions?
• For some youth, engaging in criminal
activities may be the most rational choice
they can make.
• For some youth, the greater certainty and
severity of punishment can increase
behaviors as a means of increasing status.
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And a last consideration…
• The United States has the highest violent crime
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rate of all industrialized nations.
They also have the highest rates of
incarcerations (except that Canada incarcerates
more youth).
This contradicts the notion that imprisonment
will reduce crime – the premise that ‘get tough
on crime’ policies take that is based on the
classical perspective.
50
Strain and Sub-cultural Theories
• Strain theory has its focus on the
relationships between individuals and
social structures.
• All social structures exert pressures on
individuals to conform to certain
behavioral standards.
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• These behaviors can either be socially
sanctioned (conformist) or socially
rejected (deviant).
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• Modern western society
encourages/expects youth to take on
certain behaviors and to accept certain
expectations.
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Question
• What are these certain social
expectations?
• Obedience.
• A successful completion of at least high
school.
• Internalization of a strong, individualistic
work ethic.
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• Criminal behaviors result from the strain
youth face between the goals sanctioned
by society and legitimate opportunities to
meet these goals.
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• When youth are unable to legitimately
meet these goals they experience strain.
• They may search for alternative and
illegitimate ways to meet the goals.
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Robert K. Merton (1938)
• Argued that there were several potential
outcomes to strain.
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• Conformists – individuals who accept
socially determined goals and develop
legitimate ways to accomplish their goals.
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• Ritualists – individuals who do not
particularly subscribe to socially
sanctioned goals, but who maintain
conventional, or legitimate, behaviors
anyway.
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• Innovators – individuals who face
blocked opportunities to achieve socially
sanctioned goals and may potentially
resort to alternative, and often illegal,
behaviors to achieve their goals.
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• Retreatists – individuals who are unable
to legitimately meet their goals and who
simply drop out of society all together.
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Albert Cohen (1955)
• Built upon and added to Merton’s work.
• Cohen observed that much of the crime
committed by youth appeared to be
aimless and malicious.
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• He argued that youth do not necessarily
accept the culturally transmitted social
goal of economic success and financial
accumulation that appears to motivate
adults.
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• Instead of financial success, these youth
were searching for the status and respect
they could not command in their schools
and communities.
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• These institutions were based on middle-
class values and morals and incorporated
‘middle-class measuring rods’ in order
to judge youth.
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• Status frustration results when working-
class youth are unable to meet those
standards.
• The resulting strain could manifest itself in
several ways.
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• Some youth could strive to meet these
middle-class expectations.
• Other youth could reject these standards
and develop their own working-class
expectations.
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• Other youth could gravitate towards likeminded youth and form their own subculture.
• This would allow the participant to achieve
the status he/she craved.
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• Achieving this status in the sub-culture
might mean turning over middle-class
values and expectations and doing the
opposite of what is expected from
successful middle-class youth.
69
R. Cloward & L. Ohlin (1960)
• Added a sub-cultural dimension to the
work of Merton and Cohen with their
theory of Differential Opportunity.
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• Criminal activities resulting from strain
could actually be motivated by a drive for
both financial success and gaining status.
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• Therefore, it is important to consider the
issue of access to illegitimate
opportunities when considering
motivations for criminal behaviors.
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• Some individuals live in environments
where criminal behavior is the norm.
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• These individuals have to opportunity to
learn and internalize criminal values and
norms as well as the techniques needed to
engage in deviance.
• This would lead to the development of
criminal sub-cultures.
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• There was also the potential for violent or
conflicting sub-cultures to emerge where
there were no opportunities (either
legitimate or illegitimate) for goal
achievement or where youth could achieve
status and relieve frustrations through
participation in gang violence.
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Criticisms of Strain/Sub-cultural
Theories
• Based on the assumption that all
individuals accept and aspire to these
goals and values.
• Issue of originality – where does strain
originate?
• Fails to deal with social issues which may
block opportunities or deny access to
legitimate means of goal attainment.
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• Fails to discuss why and how some
activities are defined as deviant/criminal in
the first place.
• Fails to address the gendered nature of
crime.
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Edwin Sutherland (circa 1947)
• Differential Association Theory –
foundation is in the idea that criminal
activity is learned.
• Argued that all behavior is learned
through interactions with others in a
communication process.
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• Majority of learning happens in intimate
groups and includes learning the
motivations and rationalizations for
engaging in certain behaviors.
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• These behaviors may be socially
acceptable of they may be
deviant/criminal.
• Sutherland developed concepts to assist in
understanding how differential
associations vary in terms of quality and
strength.
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Focus is on the importance of:
• Frequency – the number of times one is
exposed to ideas;
• Duration – the length of time one is
exposed to ideas;
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• Priority – the extent to which people are
exposed to learning at early stages of
their development;
• Intensity – the importance to the potential
delinquent of the individual from whom
he/she is learning.
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• Sutherland also argued that learning
deviant behavior was like learning socially
acceptable behavior and criminal behavior
could not be explained in reference to the
general needs and values of criminals as
these appeared to be the same as noncriminal individuals.
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• He also argued that is association with
criminals could lead to an individual
learning criminal behaviors, then
associating with pro-social, non-criminal
groups or individuals could provide
opportunities to learn acceptable, noncriminal behaviors.
84
• This theory has been extremely influential in the
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study of crime.
It has highlighted the role of learning and
relationships with others in regards to criminal
activities.
It has provided a way of exploring why, when
facing similar situations (such as poverty or
racism) some people engage in criminal
behaviors while others do not.
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Challenges to Differential
Association Theory.
• One of the most important criticism of this
theory is based on the concept of
causality.
• How do youth come to associate with ‘a
criminal element’? They may seek them
out for social support and understanding.
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• By focusing on how individuals learn
criminal behavior, theorists ignore or deny
the influence of social structure.
• Learning approaches need to incorporate
an analysis of the influence of the social
environment on the process of learning
criminal behaviors.
87
R.J. Sampson & J. Lauritsen (1990)
• Routine Activities Theory – argues the
potential for violent/delinquent activities
increases with exposure to
violent/delinquent activities.
• Individuals who experience violent
environments and victimization will
legitimate the use of violence as a viable
solution more readily than others.
88
• There appears to be a strong relationship
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between violence at home and future anti-social
behaviors.
Youth may seek out others who approve and
encourage the use of violence.
Same fundamental criticisms that apply to
differential association theory apply to this
theory –the influence of social structure is
played down.
89
Ecological Theories.
• Study the impact of social environment on
communities, individuals, and criminality.
• Chicago School – 1920s – most famous of
the ecological theories.
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• Focused on the ways in which human
societies resembled the organization and
interrelationship between plants and
animals in nature.
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C. Shaw & H. D. McKay (1930s)
• Applied the theory to the study of youth
crime.
• The physical shape and character of
communities created conditions under
which delinquent/criminal behavior could
take place.
92
• Focused their work on social
disorganization and links to criminal
activities.
93
R. J. Sampson & W. B. Groves (late
1980s)
• Defined the links between neighborhood
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2.
3.
4.
disorganization and criminal activity as:
Low socio-economic status.
A mix of different ethnic groups.
High levels of social mobility.
Broken homes and family disruptions.
94
• The fundamental premise is that
neighborhoods that exhibit high levels of
these factors are more likely to generate
crime because the social controls that
prevent people from committing
delinquent/criminal acts are weak or
missing.
95
• Shaw and McKay further their explanation
by stating that the morals and values of
the youth in these ‘disorganized’
neighborhoods have been culturally
transmitted by the greater number of
individuals who have internalized criminal
values.
96
Criticisms to social disorganization
approaches:
• There may be multiple other factors that
contribute to youth crime in particular
communities.
• These may include high levels of
unemployment, family disruption, and
poverty.
97
• These theories do not focus on the roots
of social disorganization – namely
inequality, systemic racism, and changing
economic conditions.
• Not all youth in disorganized communities
engage in delinquent/criminal behaviors.
98
• This perspective has the potential to
target certain neighborhoods for
interventions based on factors such as
socio-economic status and ethnicity.
99
• If working-class or ethnic neighborhoods
are considered more criminogenic there is
a tendency to focus crime control policies
in these areas.
100
Social Control Theories
• Unlike theories that focus on why youth
commit delinquent/criminal acts, social
control theories focus on what stops youth
from engaging in delinquent/criminal
behaviors.
101
Travis Hirschi (circa 1969)
• Fundamental premise is that appropriate
socialization will create a strong bond
between the individual and society.
• This strong bond will prevent youth from
engaging in criminal behaviors.
102
Four elements of the bond.
• Attachment – the degree of emotional
regard and respect one has for other
individuals.
• Commitment – the degree to which an
individual entertains and pursues ideas
about conventional objectives – such as a
‘respectable career’.
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• Involvement – the time and energy one
invests participating in conventional
activities.
• Belief – the degree of respect held by
individuals for the framework of moral
order and law of conventional society.
104
• The lower the level of these bonds, the higher
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the likelihood of deviant or criminal behavior.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argue that poor
parental supervision or ineffective punishment
when combined with situations that are
conductive to delinquency lead to poor selfcontrol for youth and are the main reasons
youth engage in criminal behaviors.
105
W. Reckless (1961)
• Containment Theory -a variation on
social control theory.
• Individuals resist criminal behaviors for
two main reasons.
106
• Inner containment - they resist because
they have been socialized to resist
temptations and to hold a strong belief in
conventional goals.
107
• Outer containment – individuals resist
criminal behaviors because of prohibitions
created by laws.
108
G. M. Sykes & D. Matza (1957)
• Yet another version of social control
theory.
• Known as Techniques of
Neutralization
• Youth lose self control and engage in
criminal behavior because they are able to
self-rationalize and justify their activities.
109
• Most youth are fully aware and
understand the moral implications of
criminal behavior and they believe, for the
most part, in the moral standards and
laws of society.
• The majority of these youth feel shame
and remorse over their actions.
110
D Matza (1964)
• Later adds the concept of ‘drift’ to the
theory.
• He suggests that youth ‘drift’ between
conformity and deviance and do so
because they are able to neutralize the
impact of their actions.
• They do so be verbalizing about their
actions in five ways.
111
These are:
• Denial of responsibility – the youth
contends that his/her behavior is not
his/her personal responsibility, but that of
another person or institution.
112
• Denial of injury – the youth contends
that no one was actually hurt by his/her
actions.
• Denial of the victim – the youth argues
that the victim ‘had it coming to them’ or
‘deserved it’.
113
• Condemnation of the condemners –
the young person attempts to ‘turn the
tables’ on his or her accusers, with
statements like “well, you do it too”, or,
“you’re just as bad”.
114
• Appeal to higher loyalties – the youth
contend that his/her commitment and
allegiance to the group is more important
than to society or conventional others.
• Or that gangs or friends forced him/her to
do what he/she did.
115
J. Hagan, J. Simpson & A. R. Gillis
(circa 1978)
• Power-control Theory – attempts to
incorporate gender into social control
theories of crime and deviance.
116
• Similar to other social control theories in
that is assumes that delinquency and
criminality are forms of risk-taking
behaviors.
117
• Goal is to explore sex differences in
delinquency/criminality by examining the
influences of variations in parenting styles
of the behaviors of young males and
females.
118
• They argue that parental control and
youth attitudes toward risk-taking are
affected by family relations.
119
Two ideal family types are
explored.
• Patriarchal – male employed outside the
home in a position of authority and the
wife is not employed outside the home.
120
• Egalitarian – both husband and wife are
employed in positions of authority outside
the home.
121
So, how will power by exercised
within the family unit?
• Patriarchal:
• Traditional division of labor
• Fathers, but even more so mothers, are
expected to control daughters.
• Daughters socialized to concentrate on
domestic labor, sons to prepare for
participation in outside workforce.
122
• Egalitarian:
• More equal distribution of labor.
• More equal expectations of control
between parents and children.
• Sons and daughters encouraged to
prepare for participation in outside
workforce.
123
• Based on these assumptions, Hagan et. al.
predict that patriarchal families will be
characterized by large gender differences
in common delinquent behaviors.
• Egalitarian families will be characterized by
smaller gender differences in delinquency.
• Why?
124
Challenges to social control
theories.
• If people are motivated to choose
delinquent criminal behaviors to meet
needs, why in the face of temptations of
the majority of youth conform to social
expectations and moral standards?
125
• Why are there not a greater number of
youth participating in delinquent/criminal
activities?
126
• Social control theories also assume that
delinquent/criminal youth violate norms
and expectations upon which the rest of
society agrees.
127
• This assumption is based on a core belief
that consensus and not conflict is a
primary characteristic of society.
128
• Finally, one needs to consider the notion
of causal direction.
129
• Control theories are based on the premise
that weak bonds to society cause
delinquent/criminal behavior.
130
• However, we could ask “does delinquency/
criminality result from poor bonds to
society or is it the other way around?”
131