Criminology

- the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior and law enforcement.
3 Main School of Thought

1. Classical school
2. Positivist school
3. Chicago school

Classical school - based on utilitarian philosophy developed in the 18th

century. This school of thoughts argues:

1. That 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 avoid pain and a rational calculator weighing up the cost and benefits of
the consequences of each action.
3. Punishment of sufficient severity can deter people from crime as the cost (penalties)
outweigh benefits and that the severity of punishment should be proportionate to the
crime.
4. The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in
deterring criminal behavior.

Prominent Philosophers of Classical school

1. Cesare Becarria - author of crimes and punishment.

2. Jeremy Bentham - inventor of the panopticon - type of institutional building
designed to allow an observer to observe inmates of an institution without them
being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.

Positivist school - presumes that criminal behavior is caused by internal

and external factors outside of the individuals control.
Positivism can be broken in 3 segments which include:
1. Biological
2. Psychological
3. Social - - one of the largest contributors
to biological positivism and founder of
the Italian school of criminology is Cesare
Lombroso.
Italian School

Cesare Lombroso - an Italian doctor and sometimes regarded as the father

of criminology. Considered also as the founder of criminal anthropology. He
suggested that physiological traits such as the measurement of the check bones or
hairline or a cleft palate, considered to be throwbacks to neanderthal man, were
indicative of "atavistic criminal tendencies". This approach has been superseded by
the beliefs of Enrico Ferri.
Enrico Ferri - a student of Lombroso, believe that social as well as
biological factors played a role and held the view that criminals should not be held
responsible when factors causing their criminality were beyond their control.
Sociological positivism - suggest that societal factors such as
poverty, membership of subcultures or low levels of education can predispose people
to crime.

1. Adolphe Quetelet - made use of data and statistical analysis to gain insight into
relationship between crime and sociologicalfactors. He found that age, gender,
poverty, education and alcohol consumption were important factors related to crime.
2. 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.
3. Joseph Fletcher and John Glyde - also presented papers to the statistical society
of London on their studies of crime and its distribution.
4. Henry Mayhew - used empirical methods and an ethnographic approach to address
social questions and poverty.
5. Emile Durkheim - viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of society with uneven
distribution of wealth and other differences among people.

Chicago school - arose in the early 20th century, through the work of Robert Park, Ernest
Burgess and other urban sociologist at the university of Chicago. 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.

Edwin Sutherland - suggested that people learn criminal behavior from older, more
experienced criminals that they may associate with. (differential association).

2 Main difference between the classical and positivist schools ofcriminology

Classical school
Positivist school
1.Free will
1. Determinism
2. Philosophy
2. Scientific methods
De minimis - is an addition to a general harm principle.The general harm principle fails to
consider the possibility of other sanctions to prevent harm, and the effectiveness of
criminalization as a chosen option.
Thanatos - a death wish.
Tagging - like labeling, the process whereby an individual is negatively defined by agencies
of justice.

Criminology Consists of 3 Principal Divisions

1. Sociology of Law - which is an attempt at scientific
analysis of the conditions under which criminal law
influences society.
2. Criminal Etiology - which is an attempt at scientific
analysis of the study of causes or reasons for
crime.
3. Penology - concerned with control crime by
repressing criminal activities through the fear of
punishment.
Crime - is a wrong doing classified by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.
Felony - is a serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison.
Misdemeanor - is a crime for which the punishment is usually a fine and/or up to one year
in jail.
*Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by
the common law.
Etiology - study of causes and reasons for crime.
Atavism - the view that crime is due to a genetic throwback to a more primitive and
aggressive form of human being.
Elements Necessary For A Crime To Occur
1. Desire or motivation on the part of the criminal.
2. The skills and tools needed to commit the crime.
3. Opportunity.
Spree killer - is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on 2 or more victims in a
short time in multiple locations.
Spree killing - killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between
murders.
Spree murder - two or more murders committed by an offender/offenders without a
cooling off period.
Serial murder - two or more murders committed by an offender/offenders with a cooling
off period.
Mass murderer - are defined by one incident with no distinctive time period between the
murders.
Thrill killing - a premeditated murder committed by a person who is not necessarily
suffering from mental instability and does not derive sexual satisfaction from killing victims
or have anything against them and sometimes do not know them but instead motivated by
the sheer excitement of the act.
Victimology -studies the nature and cause of victimization.

Psychology - the scientific study of the human mind and its functions.
Psychiatry - the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental
disorders.
Ecology - the environment as it relates to living organisms.
Demography - the branch of sociology that studies the characteristics of human
populations.
Epidemiology - the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of
disease.
Anthropology - the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of
humans.
Impulse - a sudden strong urge or desire to act.
Kleptomania - is an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of economic motive.
Prototype - is a standard or typical example.
Pathological - is caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition.

Criminology : the study of crime and behavior

Theories to explain criminal behavior have been around
along as recorded history.
Aristotle : poverty is the parent of revolution and
crime. (An environmental view of the antecedents of
crime)
Sir Francis Bacon (1600s) : Opportunity makes a
thief , pointing out the power of the situation to
affect behavior.
Voltaire & Rousseau (1700s) : free will, hedonistic
decision making, and the failure of the social contract in

producing criminal behavior. These explanations are at

the core of the classical theory of criminology.
According to classical theory , people choose to
behave wrongly when they believe the benefits outweigh
the costs.
Classical theorists argued for making fair and
proportionate punishment and reforming Draconian
punishment.
Our Bill of Rights protection against cruel and unusual
punishment is a result of this movements
conceptualization of criminal behavior.
Modern Crime Theories

Positivist School of Criminology : Emphasizes the

understanding of criminal behavior by uncovering factors
which account for criminal behavior.
Positivists use the scientific method and empirical data to
aid in their understanding of crime.
Psychological Explanations
Biological Explanations
Sociological Explanations

Social Biological Explanations

Sociological Theories of
Crime

Examines social and cultural forces that contribute to

criminal behavior.
Structural Explanation : certain groups within a society
have less opportunities to achieve the goals most valued
by a society.
When individuals are prevented from
achieving their goals (prosperity, success, education)
through legitimate paths, they turn to illegal methods of
reaching these goals.
Society places demands on people to reach
these goals, but limits the methods seen as acceptable for
reaching these goals.
Differential Opportunity within society is seen as a key
factor contributing to criminal behavior.
Nettler (1974) Rational Crime : Explains crime as a
function of criminal opportunity :
1. Crimes where objects are easy targets for thefts.
2. Crimes associated with legitimate business.

3. Crime as a preferred livelihood.

4. Business which offer illegal services.

Subcultural Explanations for crime.

Focus on the discrepancy between societal
norms and values and the norms and values of a specific
subculture.
Walter Miller (1958) Theory of Focal Concerns
. Describes the criminal behavior of lower SES teen age
gangs in terms of the values and expected norm of the
Gang subculture.
Miller listed 6 basic characteristics which were highly
valued by the gang. Since these are highly valued, there is
normative pressure for gang members to display these
qualities on a regular basis.
Trouble
Toughness : physical prowess, skill
Smartness : being able to con others
Excitement : risk and danger
Fate : Being lucky
Autonomy : freedom from authority

Criminal behavior is directed towards living up to these

values ; Adolescents fight to show they are

tough, steal to demonstrate cunning, crimes show

autonomy and love for excitement.
The greater the discrepancy between the dominant
cultures values and the subcultures values, the more
opportunity for norm violating behavior.
Biological Theories of
Crime
Some of the earliest positivists were convinced that
criminal behavior was a result of genetic abnormality.

Lombroso : advanced notion of atavism , which stated

criminals represented a savage, earlier form of
humankind.
Hoorten (1939) : Claimed to have found important
biological differences in criminals and noncriminals.
Burglars have : short heads, blond hair, and
nonprotruding jaws.
Robbers have : long wavy hair, short ears, and broad
faces.

Sheldon (1949) : His Somatic Typology listed three major

somatatypes (or body types).

Endomorphs : Obese, soft, and rounded people. Fun

loving and sociable
Mesomorphs : muscular, athletic people. Assertive,
vigorous, and bold.
Ectomorph : Tall, thin, and well developed
brain. Introverted, sensitive, and nervous
Sheldon thought that mesomorphs were most likely to
become criminals.
Despite the apparent ridiculousness of the above two
theories, more recent research has replicated this
perceived link between physique and criminal behavior.
Olweus (1995) : Examined the factors which turn
elementary school boys into bullies.
Why ? because boys classified as bullies in grades 69 (Norway) are four times as likely to be arrested
repeatedly as adults, compared to nonbullies.
Olweus prototypical bully :
Physically Stronger, Hotheaded Temperament
Commonalities in Family Life :
Family lacked warmth
Permissive towards aggressive behavior at home

Physical punishment used as discipline.

The link between overall physique and behavior is

probably best explained as creating a different expectation
for success within physical conflicts.

Genetics and
Criminal Behavior
Twin Studies : Researchers examine both fraternal and
identical twins and examine concordance rate for
criminal activity.
Concordance Rate : The % of pairs of twins sharing the
same behavior.
Dizygotic Twins : Fraternal Twins
Monozygotic Twins : Identical Twins
Discordant Monozygotic Twins : Identical Twins who
were raised apart.
DiLalla and Gorresman (1990) : did a metanalysis of 4
decades of twin research into criminality

Concluded the average concordance rate for fraternal

twins was 22% and for identical twins, 51%.
Influence of heredity is higher for property crime than it is
for violent crime. (Cloninger & Gottesman, 1987)
Adoption Study of Cloninger et al (1982) : Examining
children whose biological parents were criminals, Crime
rate for children was 4 times greater if bio. Parents were
criminals, 2 times greater if adopted parents were
criminals (12% and 6%, respectively)
Psychological Theories of Crime
Freud : Rejected the degeneration theory popular at
the turn of the 19th century.
Freud thought criminal behavior is representative of an ID
that operates unchecked by the ego and the super-ego.
Freud states that improper resolution of the Oedipal
conflict (in which the son must learn to identify with the
father, instead of having sex with his mother)
Criminals suffer from enormous guilt, and perform criminal
acts in order to get punished, which will temporarily relieve
them of their guilt feelings.

Other psychoanalytic positions on the origin of crime

Alexander : Criminals ignore the reality principle,

which is responsible for the delaying of gratification.
Bowlby (1953) Criminal activity is a substitute for love and
affection. Bowlby thought that disruptions in the motherson bond were at the root of most criminal careers.

Do Criminals Think Differently than normal people

?
Yochelson & Samenow (1976, 1984) have studied the
cognitive styles of criminals to look for patterns or
aberrations in how they process information.
These researchers believe thought patters are more
important than biology or environment in determining who
becomes a criminal.
Yochelson & Samenow described the criminals in their
research sample as being master manipulators,
compulsive liars, people in control of their own behavior.
They claim that criminal thinking had an internal logic and
is consistent, but is erroneous and irresponsible.
A serious discrepancy exists between a criminals view of
reality and societies shared view of reality.

They developed this profile based on one-n-one interviews

with hardened and psychologically disturbed criminals.
(limited generalizability)

Personality Defects as Explanations for Criminal

Behavior.
Maybe criminals are just not nice people.
Psychopaths : people who engage in frequent,
repetitive criminal activity. Psychopaths are manipulative
and deceitful, seem to lack any social
conscience. Psychopaths show little remorse when
caught.Psychopaths are superficial, arrogant, and seem
unable to learn from experience.
Antisocial Personality Disorder : a psychopathic
diagnosis much more commonly assigned to men.
Psychopaths commit only a small percentage of all crime,
but a disproportionate amount of violent crime
Possible Causes of Psycopathy:
Reduced Anxiety : Psychopaths have very low levels of
anxiety, may prevent formation of cause and effect
relations with respect to negative outcomes.

Unable to Inhibit Behavior : psychopaths suffer

from an executive function decrement, which leaves
them ill-prepared to plan-out and execute behavior while
being aware of the possible consequences.
Stimulation Seeking : desire physiological arousal and
seeks arousal in non approved ways.
Social Learning Theory of
Crimes
Observational, or vicarious learning is key to picking up
criminal behavior.
Bandura (86) : Claims that violent role models exist in
home, media, and subcultures (gangs)
According to Bandura, Most human behavior is learned by
observing others model a particular behavior.
Bandura (1973) Aggression : A Social Learning
Approach
Family Influence : Discipline provides vivid examples of
coercion and aggression as a means of control and
conflict resolution. Child Abuse and verbal abuse of
spouses and also expressions of family aggression.
Subcultural Influences : certain subcultures (teenage
gangs) promote aggression and value certain antisocial
acts.

Symbolic Models : Media provides a steady diet of

violence. Average child sees 8000 murders and a 100,000
other violent acts by the time they turn 18.
Heroes must typically resort to violence in order to resolve
conflict.
A combined Model of Criminal Behavior
Examining biological, sociological, and psychological
theories of criminal behavior, we can develop a crossdiscipline approach to the development of criminal
behavior.
Four Categories under consideration :

Distal Antecedents : Biological, psychological and

environmental factors which can predispose an individual
towards criminal behavior
Early Indicators ; because antisocial behavior is stable
across time, some signal are given very early. Conduct
Disorder, ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorder are 3
early indicators.
Developmental Processes : How early delinquency is
dealt with can help determine whether an individual
reforms or continues criminal conduct.

Maintenance Variables : If short term payoff seem more

profitable than possibility of punishment, criminal behavior
will continue. Polarization effects
also contribute