Everything about Criminology totally explained
Criminology is the social-scientific study of
crime as an individual and
social phenomenon. Criminological research areas include the incidence and forms of crime as well as its causes and consequences. They also include social and governmental regulations and reactions to crime. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in the
behavioral sciences, drawing especially on the research of
sociologists and
psychologists, as well as on writings in
law. An important way to analyze data is to look at
quantitative methods in criminology. In 1885, Italian law professor
Raffaele Garofalo coined the term "criminology" (in Italian,
criminologia). The French anthropologist Paul Topinard used it for the first time in French (
criminologie) around the same time.
Schools of thought
In the mid-18th century, criminology arose as
social philosophers gave thought to crime and concepts of law. Over time, several schools of thought have developed.
Classical school
The
Classical School, which developed in the mid 18th century, was based on
utilitarian philosophy.
Cesare Beccaria, author of
On Crimes and Punishments (1763-64),
Jeremy Bentham, inventor of the
panopticon, and other classical school philosophers argued that (1) people have free will to choose how to act. (2) Deterrence is based upon the notion of the human being as a 'hedonist' who seeks pleasure and avoids pain, and a 'rational calculator' weighing up the costs and benefits of the consequences of each action. Thus, it ignores the possibility of irrationality and unconscious drives as motivational factors (3)
Punishment (of sufficient severity) can deter people from crime, as the costs (penalties) outweigh benefits, and that severity of punishment should be proportionate to the crime. (4) The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective it's in deterring criminal behavior. The Classical school of thought came about at a time when major reform in
penology occurred, with
prisons developed as a form of punishment. Also, this time period saw many
legal reforms, the
French Revolution, and the development of the
legal system in the
United States.
Positivist school
The
Positivist School presumes that criminal behaviour is caused by internal and external factors outside of the individual's control. The
scientific method was introduced and applied to study human behavior. Positivism can be broken up into three segments which include
biological,
psychological and
social positivism.
Cesare Lombroso, an Italian prison doctor working in the late 19th century and sometimes regarded as the "father" of criminology, was one of the largest contributors to biological positivism and founder of the
Italian school of criminology. Lombroso took a scientific approach, insisting on empirical evidence, for studying crime. Considered as the founder of
criminal anthropology, he suggested that physiological traits such as the measurements of one's cheek bones or hairline, or a cleft palate, considered to be throwbacks to
Neanderthal man, were indicative of "
atavistic" criminal tendencies. This approach, influenced by the earlier theory of
phrenology and by
Charles Darwin and his
theory of evolution, has been superseded.
Enrico Ferri, a student of Lombroso, believed that social as well as biological factors played a role, and held the view that criminals shouldn't be held responsible for the factors causing their criminality were beyond their control. Criminologists have since rejected Lombroso's biological theories, with
control groups not used in his studies.
Lombroso's Italian school was rivalled, in France, by
Alexandre Lacassagne and his school of thought, based in
Lyon and influent from 1885 to 1914 . The Lacassagne School rejected Lombroso's theory of "criminal type" and of "born criminals", and strained the importance of social factors. However, contrary to criminological tendencies influenced by
Durkheim's
social determinism, it didn't reject biological factors. Indeed, Lacassagne created an original synthesis of both tendencies, influenced by
positivism,
phrenology and
hygienism, which alleged a direct influence of the social environment on the brain and compared the social itself to a brain, upholding an
organicist position
Rawson W. Rawson utilized
crime statistics to suggest a link between
population density and
crime rates, with crowded cities creating an environment conducive for crime.
Joseph Fletcher and
John Glyde also presented papers to the
Statistical Society of London on their studies of crime and its distribution.
Henry Mayhew used
empirical methods and an
ethnographic approach to address social questions and
poverty, and presented his studies in
London Labour and the London Poor.
Emile Durkheim viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of
society, with uneven distribution of
wealth and other differences among people.
Chicago School
The
Chicago School arose in the early twentieth century, through the work of
Robert Ezra Park,
Ernest Burgess, and other
urban sociologists at
University of Chicago. In the 1920s, Park and Burgess identified five
concentric zones that often exist as cities grow, including the "zone in transition" which was identified as most volatile and subject to disorder. In the 1940s, Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw focused on
juvenile delinquents, finding that they were concentrated in the zone of transition.
Chicago School sociologists adopted a
social ecology approach to studying cities, and postulated that urban neighborhoods with high levels of
poverty often experience breakdown in the
social structure and institutions such as
family and
schools. This results in
social disorganization, which reduces the ability of these institutions to control
behavior and creates an environment ripe for
deviant behavior.
Other researchers suggested an added social-psychological link.
Edwin Sutherland suggested that people learn criminal behavior from older, more experienced criminals that they may associate with.
Theories of crime
Theoretical perspectives used in criminology include
psychoanalysis,
functionalism,
interactionism,
Marxism,
econometrics,
systems theory,
postmodernism, etc.
Social structure theories
Social disorganization (neighborhoods)
Social disorganization theory is based on the work of Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw of the Chicago School. Social disorganization theory postulates that neighborhoods plagued with poverty and economic deprivation tend to experience high rates of
population turnover. These neighborhoods also tend to have high population
heterogeneity. As
working and
middle class people leave deteriorating neighborhoods, the most disadvantaged portions of the population may remain.
William Julius Wilson suggested a poverty "concentration effect", which may cause neighborhoods to be isolated from the mainstream of society and become prone to
violence.
Strain theory (social class)
Strain theory, (also known as Mertonian Anomie), advanced by American sociologist
Robert Merton, suggests that mainstream
culture, especially in the
United States, is saturated with dreams of opportunity, freedom and prosperity; as Merton put it, the
American Dream. Most people buy into this dream and it becomes a powerful cultural and psychological motivation. Merton also used the term
anomie, but it meant something slightly different for him than it did for
Durkheim. Merton saw the term as meaning a
dichotomy between what society expected of its citizens, and what those citizens could actually achieve. Therefore, if the social structure of opportunities is unequal and prevents the majority from realizing the dream, some of them will turn to illegitimate means (crime) in order to realize it. Others will retreat or drop out into
deviant subcultures (
gang members, "hobos": urban homeless drunks and
drug abusers).
Subcultural theory
Following on from the
Chicago School and Strain Theory, and also drawing on
Edwin H. Sutherland's idea of
differential association, subcultural theorists focused on small cultural groups fragmenting away from the mainstream to form their own values and meanings about life.
Albert Cohen tied anomie theory with
Freud's
reaction formation idea, suggesting that delinquency among lower class youths is a reaction against the
social norms of the middle class. Some youth, especially from poorer areas where opportunities are scarce, might adopt social norms specific to those places which may include "toughness" and disrespect for authority. Criminal acts may result when youths conform to norms of the deviant subculture.
Richard Cloward and
Lloyd Ohlin suggested that delinquency can result from differential opportunity for lower class youth. Such youths may be tempted to take up criminal activities, choosing an illegitimate path that provides them more lucrative economic benefits than conventional, over legal options such as
minimum wage-paying jobs available to them.
Control theories
Another approach is made by the social bond or
social control theory. Instead of looking for factors that make people become criminal, those theories try to explain why people do
not become criminal. Travis Hirschi identified four main characteristics: "attachment to others", "belief in moral validity of rules", "commitment to achievement" and "involvement in conventional activities". The more a person features those characteristics, the less are the chances that he or she becomes deviant (or criminal). On the other hand, if those factors are not present in a person, it's more likely that he or she might become criminal. Hirschi expanded on this theory, with the idea that a person with low
self control is more likely to become criminal. A simple example: someone wants to have a big yacht, but doesn't have the means to buy one. If the person can't exert self-control, he or she might try to get the yacht (or the means for it) in an illegal way; whereas someone with high self-control will (more likely) either wait or deny themselves that need. Social bonds, through
peers,
parents, and others, can have a countering effect on one's low self-control. For families of low socio-economic status, a factor that distinguishes families with delinquent children from those who are not delinquent is the control exerted by parents or
chaperonage.
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism draws on the
phenomenology of
Edmund Husserl and
George Herbert Mead, as well as
subcultural theory and
conflict theory. This school of thought focused on the relationship between the powerful state, media and conservative ruling elite on the one hand, and the less powerful groups on the other. The powerful groups had the ability to become the 'significant other' in the less powerful groups' processes of generating meaning. The former could to some extent impose their meanings on the latter, and therefore they were able to 'label' minor delinquent youngsters as criminal. These youngsters would often take on board the label, indulge in crime more readily and become actors in the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of the powerful groups. Later developments in this set of theories were by
Howard Becker and
Edwin Lemert, in the mid 20th century.
Stanley Cohen who developed the concept of "
moral panic" (describing societal reaction to spectacular, alarming social phenomena such as post-World War Two youth cultures (for example the
Mods and Rockers in the UK in 1964), AIDS and
football hooliganism).
Deterrence
Rational choice theory
Rational choice theory is based on the
utilitarian, classical school philosophies of
Cesare Beccaria, which were popularized by Jeremy Bentham. They argued that punishment, if certain, swift, and proportionate to the crime, was a deterrent for crime, with risks outweighing possible benefits to the offender. In
Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crime and Punishment, 1763-1764), Beccaria advocated a rational
penology. Beccaria conceived of punishment as the necessary application of the law for a crime: thus, the judge was simply to conform his sentence to the law. Beccaria also distinguished between crime and
sin, and advocated against the
death penalty, as well as
torture and inhumane treatments, as he didn't consider themselves rational deterrents.
This philosophy was replaced by the Positivist and Chicago Schools, and not revived until the 1970s with the writings of
James Q. Wilson,
Gary Becker's 1965 article titled "Crime and Punishment " and
George Stigler's 1970 article "The Optimum Enforcement of Laws ." Rational choice theory argues that criminals, like other people, weigh costs/risks and benefits when deciding whether or not to commit crime and think in
economic terms. They will also try to minimize risks of crime by considering the time, place, and other situational factors. Rational choice theories also suggest that increasing risk of offending and likelihood of being caught, through added
surveillance,
police or
security guard presence, added street
lighting, and other measures, are effective in reducing crime. A crime opportunity requires that elements converge in time and place including (1) a motivated offender (2) suitable target or victim (3) lack of a capable
guardian. A guardian at a place, such as a street, could include security guards or even ordinary
pedestrians who would witness the criminal act and possibly intervene or report it to police.
Types and definitions of crime
Both the Positivist and Classical Schools take a consensus view of crime — that a crime is an act that violates the basic values and beliefs of society. Those values and beliefs are manifested as laws that society agrees upon. However, there are two types of laws:
- Natural laws are rooted in core values shared by many cultures. Natural laws protect against harm to persons (for example murder, rape, assault) or property (theft, larceny, robbery), and form the basis of common law systems.
- Statutes are enacted by legislatures and reflect current cultural mores, albeit that some laws may be controversial, for example laws that prohibit marijuana use and gambling. Marxist Criminology, Conflict Criminology and Critical Criminology claim that most relationships between State and citizen are non-consensual and, as such, criminal law isn't necessarily representative of public beliefs and wishes: it's exercised in the interests of the ruling or dominant class. The more right wing criminologies tend to posit that there's a consensual social contract between State and citizen.
Therefore, definitions of crimes will vary from place to place, in accordance to the cultural
norms and mores, but may be broadly classified as
blue-collar crime,
corporate crime,
organized crime,
political crime,
public order crime,
state crime,
state-corporate crime, and
white-collar crime.
Subtopics
Areas of study in criminology include:
Juvenile delinquency
Causes and correlates of crime
Crime prevention
Crime statistics
Criminal behavior
Criminal careers and desistance
Deviant behavior
Evaluation of criminal justice agencies
Penology
Sociology of law
Victimology
The International Crime Victims Survey
Comparative criminology is the study of the social phenomenon of crime across cultures, to identify differences and similarities in crime patterns.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Criminology'.
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