Introduction to Criminology CRJ 270 Instructor: Jorge Pierrott

1. Introduction to Criminology CRJ 270 Instructor: Jorge Pierrott

2. 1 What Is Crime?

3. Instructor Introduction Jorge Pierrott Mobile: (775) 232-7036 Please text me for emergency only Email: jpierrott@wnc.edu

4. Chapter Objectives After reading this chapter, students should be able to answer the following questions: • What is crime? What is the definition of crime that the author of this textbook has chosen to use? • What is deviance? How are crime and deviance similar? How do they differ? • Who decides what should be criminal? How are such decisions made? • What is the theme of this book? Upon what two contrasting viewpoints does it build? • What does it mean to say that “criminal activity is diversely created and variously interpreted”?

5. Introduction • Crime-related entertainment extremely popular today. • Inexplicability of crime fascinates people. • This text examines causative factors in effect when a crime is committed. • It encourages an appreciation of the challenges of crafting effective crime-control policy.

6. What are your favorites? 22. Orange is the New Black – Prison Drama 21. Luther – Crime Drama 15. Homeland – Crime/Terrorist Drama 14. Walking Dead – Violent Drama 13. American Horror Story – Horror/Crime Drama 12. Top of the Lake – Mystery/Crime Drama 8. Boardwalk Empire – Crime Drama 7. Archer – Crime/Spy/Comedy 5. The Americans – Crime/Spy Drama 4. Game of Thrones – Fantasy/Crime/Violent Drama 3. Justified – Crime Drama 2. Hannibal – Crime Drama 1. Breaking Bad – Crime Drama List drafted by: Slant Magazine

7. Impact of the Media on Crime • What are the typical images on crime? • How are they distorted by the media? • What types of crimes are normally featured? • How “real” are reality TV shows? • Do you believe crime related shows and information leave viewers with a mistaken impression of law enforcement?

8. Activity 1 • Gather up in your assign groups and discuss the following: • Discuss TV shows such as Cops, NCIS, Blue Bloods, Breaking Bad and provide the following information: • What is commonly the gender and race of the suspects? • The gender and race of the police officers? • The type of crime? • The products being advertised during these programs.

9. What is Crime? • Four definitional perspectives • Legalistic • Political • Sociological • Psychological continued on next slide

10. What is Crime? • Perspective is important because it determines the assumptions we make and the questions we ask • This book uses the legalistic perspective

11. Legalistic Perspective • Crime: • Human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws continued on next slide

12. Legalistic Perspective • Key shortcoming • Yields moral high ground to powerful individuals who can influence lawmaking • Laws are social products – crime is socially relative, created by legislative activity

13. Political Perspective • Crime: • The result of criteria that have been built into the law by powerful groups and are then used to label selected undesirable forms of behavior as illegal • Laws serve the interests of the politically powerful • Crimes are behaviors those in power perceive as threats to their interests

14. Sociological (Sociolegal) Perspective • Crime: • An antisocial act of such a nature that its repression is necessary or is supposed to be necessary to the preservation of the existing system of society • Crime is an offense against human relationships first, a violation of law second

15. Psychological (Maladaptive) Perspective • Crime: • Problem behavior, especially human activity that contravenes the criminal law and results in difficulties in living within a framework of generally acceptable social arrangements • Any behavior which is maladaptive would be considered crime • Includes any harmful or potentially harmful behaviors

16. Crime and Deviance • Deviant behavior • Human activity that violates social norms • Deviance and crime overlap – not identical • Delinquency: Violations of the criminal law and other misbehavior committed by young people

17. Figure 1-2 The Overlap between Deviance and CrimeSource: Schmalleger, Frank J., Criminology. Printed and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

18. What Should Be Criminal? • Lack agreement about appropriate legal status of behaviors such as drug use, abortion, gambling, etc. • Question answered differently by two contrasting perspectives • Consensus • Pluralist

19. Activity #2 • Make a list of five legal behaviors, which you consider deviant. • Compare and contrast the items on your lists. Focus on the wide range of opinions present among a fairly homogenous group (university students studying criminal justice). Discuss possible reasons for differing opinions (e.g., religious beliefs, profession, prior experiences with the criminal justice system).

20. What Should Be Criminal? Consensus Pluralist Behaviors criminalized through a political process, after debate over appropriate course of action Involves legislation, appellate court action Most applicable to diverse societies • Laws enacted to criminalize behaviors when members of society agree • Homogeneous societies • Shared consensus hard to achieve in diverse multicultural societies

21. What Is Criminology? • Wide variety of definitions available • Text definition of criminology: • An interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their manifestations, causes, legal aspects, and control • Includes consideration of possible solutions to crime problem

22. Criminology’s Basic Questions • Why do crime rates vary? • Why do individuals differ as to criminality? • Why is there variation in reactions to crime? • What are the possible means of controlling criminality?

23. What Is Criminology? • Criminology is interdisciplinary • Criminology needs to be integrated • Criminology contributes to criminal justice: • Application of the criminal law and study of the components of the justice system • Police, courts, corrections • Focus on control of law-breaking

24. What Do Criminologists Do? • Criminologist • Studies crime, criminals and criminal behavior • Criminalist • A specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of crime continued on next slide

25. What Do Criminologists Do? • Criminal Justice Professionals • Do the day-to-day work of the criminal justice system continued on next slide

26. What Do Criminologists Do? Academic criminologists Other career tracks Work in CJS Private security or private investigation Law school Work for legislative bodies, provide expertise to civil organizations • Ph.D. in criminology, CJ, related field • Teach in universities • Conduct research to advance criminological knowledge • Publish in journals

27. Theoretical Criminology • Subfield of general criminology mainly found in colleges and universities • Assume explanations for criminal behavior continued on next slide

28. Theoretical Criminology • Theory: • Made up of clearly stated propositions that affirm or assume relationships between events and things under study • Criminologists have developed many theories to explain and understand crime continued on next slide

29. Theoretical Criminology • General theory • Tries to explain all/most forms of crime through a single overarching approach • Unicausal theory • Assumes a single identifiable source for all serious deviant and criminal behavior • Integrated theory • Tries to explain crime by merging concepts from different sources

30. Criminology and Social Policy • Translational criminology • Focuses on translating research results into workable social policy • Sound social policy needs to be linked to objective findings of well-conducted criminological research

31. The Theme of This Text Social Problems Social Responsibility People responsible for own behavior, choose crime over legitimate options Personalized crime-reduction strategies Micro approach • Crime a manifestation of underlying social problems • Public health model to deal with crime • Macro approach

32. The Social Context of Crime • Crime does not occur in a vacuum – every crime has a unique set of • Causes • Consequences • Participants • Crime provokes reactions from many sources • Reactions to crime may affect future criminal events

33. Figure 1-7 Interpreting the Criminal Event

34. The Causes and Consequences of the Criminal Event • Crime is a social event, not an isolated individual activity • Crime is socially relative continued on next slide

35. The Causes and Consequences of the Criminal Event • Crime results from the coming together of inputs provided by the offender, the victim, the criminal justice system, and society • Foreground – features that immediately determine the nature of the crime • Background causes – generic contributions to the crime

36. Crime and the Offender Background Foreground Motivation Specific intent State of mind (drug-induced) • Life experiences • Biology/genetic inventory • Personality • Values/beliefs • Skills/knowledge

37. Crime and the Criminal Justice System Background Foreground Proper system response may reduce crime Presence/absence of police officers Availability of official assistance Willingness of officers to intervene pre-crime Response time • CJS contributes to crime through failure to: • Prevent crime • Identify/inhibit specific offenders • Prevent release of recidivists

38. Crime and the Victim Background Foreground Victim precipitation Active victim participation in initial stages of criminal event Victim instigates chain of events resulting in victimization • Passive presence • Active contributions through lifestyle

39. Crime and Society Background Foreground Distribution of resources Accessibility of services • Legislation defining crime • Generic social practices and conditions • Socialization process

40. The Consequences of Crime • Outputs/immediate consequences affect those parties directly involved • Real impact mediated by perceptual filters • Results in ongoing interpretations before, during, after crime • Everyone associated with a crime engages in interpretations

41. Integrative Approach to Crime • Text takes 3-D integrative view of crime • Try to identify, understand causes of crime • Highlight processes involved in the criminal event • Analyze interpretation of the crime phenomenon continued on next slide

42. Integrative Approach to Crime • Crime seen as emergent activity that • Arises out of past complex causes • Assumes a course building on immediate interrelationships • Elicits formal response from CJS, shapes public perceptions, may lead to changes in social policy

43. The Primacy of Sociology? • Many disciplines have made important contributions to criminology • Many criminologists today operate primarily from a sociological perspective • Many modern theories of criminal behavior based in sociology continued on next slide

44. The Primacy of Sociology? • New and emerging perspectives being recognized, but sociological perspective dominates