Crime and Social Control

1. Crime and Social Control

2. Crime and Social Control…. • According to the official crime statistics, (a) more males than females commit crimes, (b) juveniles and young adults have the highest crime rates, (c) members of the lower classes and racial minorities are more likely to be criminals (not true of white-collar crimes), and (d) those who live in cities. International comparisons show that the United States has the highest rate of violent crime of any industrialized nation. • The official crime rates emphasize certain types of crime and minimize others because of the political nature of crime. Thus, problems with official crime statistics…. • Official crime statistics reflect the actual degree of labeling that occurs.

3. Overview of the Criminal Justice System…. • The system of justice is fundamentally unjust.

4. Reduction of Crime and Violence… • There are many different proposals for dealing with the crime problem.

5. Aggression…. • There are many different proposals for dealing with the crime problem. Cultural factors influence aggression. • To reduce aggression that results primarily from negative emotional arousal (hostile aggression), one approach might be to teach people how to control their negative emotions, such as anger, so aggressive behavior does not necessarily follow from arousal. • To reduce aggression that is designed to obtain a desired goal (instrumental aggression), the most direct approach is probably to teach people alternative, nonaggressive strategies. Another more general approach to reducing aggression would be to reduce aversive environments that cause pain and frustration.

6. Aggression…. • Children often engage in aggression. • Violence also occurs in close relationships. • Erotica is sexually explicit material that depicts nonviolent, consensual sexual activity. • Degrading pornography is sexually explicit material that debases of dehumanizes people, usually women. • Violent pornography is sexually explicit material that depicts aggressive, hostile sexual activity.

7. Aggression…. • Ideas for controlling aggression include controlling anger, teaching alternatives to aggression, and reducing aversive environments (hot, crowded settings elicit discomfort; a slap from another person elicits pain; poverty is associated with hunger, which can lead to aggression). • With regard to anger control, cognitive relaxation coping skills training involves teaching people a series of relaxation skills and introducing them to the idea of cognitive restructuring, which involves modifying their thoughts to reduce anger.

8. Conclusion: Unjust Imposition of the Label “Criminal”…. • (a) The powerless are disadvantaged throughout the criminal justice process; • (b) Research studies show that—a huge proportion of crimes go undetected; • (c) The administration of criminal law consistently works to the disadvantage of the poor, minority groups, and others who are powerless and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy;

9. Conclusion: Unjust Imposition of the Label “Criminal”…. • (d) Once people are labeled, it causes them to participate in additional criminal behavior that is the result of being labeled in the first place; • (e) If the powerless do engage in more deviance than the middle and upper classes, the do so largely in response to society’s differential treatment at every phase of the criminal justice process.