INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? (p. 3)
Crime is an act that is in violation of the criminal law.
A criminal is a person who has been convicted of a crime. (Not just accused!)
Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminals, and criminal beha
Impossible and ill-advised to separate race from other important indicators of social location
such as gender or class.
Week 5: Age, social class & crime:
Continuation from last week:
Riots and Revenge Cronulla, December 2005
What role did the media play
Different approaches to the study of the meaning for crime:
1. How & why are some people labelled as criminal, and what is the effect on the labelled
person?
2. Can the meaning of crime be situational? (Zimbardo)
3. Why does larger society and/or the stat
What is deviance?
Deviance is behavior that elicits a social reaction by violating the standard of conduct
defined by society.
Deviance is the behavior that violates the normative rules, understandings or
expectations of social systems (Cohen 1968, p.14
Comparisons across jurisdictions:
In theory, more police or presence of capital punishment should equal less crime.
Opposite findings:
More police officers = more crime.
Question of What came first?
States with death penalty = higher homicide rate.
Consis
Origins of LCP:
Difference exists in neuropsychological functions of infant nervous system
What can cause these differences to occur?
Disruption in fetal brain development/brain injury
Maternal drug use
Poor nutrition
Exposure to toxic agents
Birth compli
Criminal subcultures had opportunity, classic gang type behaviours
Conflict subcultures no opportunity, violent behaviour
Retreatist subcultures drop out, hang out.
Is there an over emphasis on male behavior? Do females engage in subcultural deviance?
Key question - how are people freed up to engage in deviance?
What breaks down?
We are all probably the same, its just that something broke down. For Matza its about
internal restrain system. Writes about drift, were all basically bad but we start comp
Please note that LIFT does not warrant the correctness of the materials contained within the notes. Additionally, in some cases,
these notes were created for previous semesters and years. Courses are subject to change over time, both in content and scope
As with Chicago, the study finds that community-based mechanisms that facilitate social
control are important.
Week 11: Conflict/Marxist Criminology and Labelling Theory:
Consensus vs. Conflict:
Consensus theorists assume that there are values held in co
What would you need to create a moral panic?
A suitable enemy
A soft target, easily denounced, w/little power
A suitable victim
You could be next!
Consensus that the act was not an isolated event
School shootings are at epidemic proportions!
The object
INTRODUCTION: THEORIES OF CRIME (p. 63)
TRADITIONAL EXPLANATIONS FOR CRIME (p. 63)
a. Spiritual and Natural Explanations (p. 64)
Spiritual explanations for crime were rooted in peoples religious beliefs and superstitions.
During the Middle Ages, this incl
INTRODUCTION: RESEARCHING CRIME (p. 29)
Chapter 2 examines the nature and extent of crime in the United States, presenting data
on the amount, distribution, and growth of crime.
CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION (p. 29)
a. Survey Research: Quest
ASSAULT (p. 201)
The NCVS reports that each year about 5 million Americans are assaulted. The Legal Dictionary
defines assault and battery as:
Two separate offenses against the person that when used in one expression may be defined as
any unlawful and unp
AN OVERVIEW OF PROPERTY CRIMES (p. 275)
Property crimes include larceny-theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, fencing, fraud, and arson. The
object of these offenses is taking money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the
victim.
7.1 INTRODUCTION: Sociological Theories II (p. 169)
As opposed to social structural theories, which stress breakdowns in society (or dysfunctions)
that cause crime, social process theories suggest that people go through a process of some kind,
done on the
E quity
When a person is victimized, they lose property, time in court, have possible medical bills, and simply feel
victimized and may have psychological issues. Equity is the part of the Criminal Justice system that
makes whole the victim in some way. E
SOCIAL STRUCTURAL THEORIES OF CRIME (p. 143)
The first set of criminological theories we will look at are social-structural theories. The basic
premise with these types of theories is that society is in a state of balance, with a set of interdependent and
E XPLANATIONS FOR ILLICIT DRUG USE AND ADDICTION (p. 350)
Physiological Explanations (p. 351)
Addiction may result from biological or physiological characteristics. Physiological theories of addiction
and alcoholism generally focus on the assumption that
T HE POLICE (p. 380)
The p olice a re an organized civil force that has the important functions of law enforcement and the control
of crime.
Historical Roots of U. S. Policing (p. 381)
U.S. policing and U.S. police departments are rooted historically in t
INTRODUCTION: CORRECTIONS (p. 411)
Corrections involve the treatment, incapacitation, and punishment of criminal offenders who
have been convicted in a court of law. Retribution is the notion that a wrongdoer should be
punished to pay back or compensate f
Soc 150: Criminology
Power I: what is crime?
Week 1, Monday
30 September 2013
Free-write question
What is crime?
How would you define crime?
Agenda
Critical criminology, in brief
The sociological imagination, in brief
What is crime?
Legalistic perspective
Soc 150 - Criminology
Professor: Chris Smith
TA: Matt Thompson
Week 8: Neighborhoods & Crime, Part II
Collective Efficacy
social cohesion among neighbors combined
with their willingness to intervene on behalf of
the common good
Community organizing in Ash
