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CRM1300 - Lecture notes all
Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
University of Ottawa
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Lecture 1: INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY WHO IS A CRIMINAL? What do you think of when you hear the word “crime”? ● Stealing ● Illegal acts ● Acts against society ● Punishment of crimes in different cultures What is your image of a criminal? ● Sketchy ● Self-centred Why do you think we study crime? ● Why people commit crimes ● Prevention ● The brain of a criminal ● How crime effects society ● The difference between wrong and right in different societies ● Effects on everyone 1. OUR FASCINATION WITH CRIME Why do we study crime? Crime as a “Public Issue” (C. Wright Mills) ● Crime affects everyone Crime as a sociological problem (Beirne & Messerschmidt) ● Crime is an act that goes against societal norms Expansion of the field: The CSI effect ● Media has made crime into an obsession The fame of crime & criminals: A modern obsession? ● Because of the CSI effect OUR OBSESSION WITH CRIME: Images of violent crime dominate: ● Do not happen often ● CSI effect ● Plays into fears Crime reflects the public culture: ● How society responds to crime ● Example: marijuana becoming legal Crime and media ● Dominated media messages of crime ● Distorted images of crime Crime myths/distorted images of crime ● More people are in jail for petty crimes than violent crimes Our neighbours to the south ● We share some cultural elements ● They have harsher punishments 3. CRIME AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT: Crime is a product of time, society, powerful people views A range of criminality in society ● Some violent crimes punish harshly and others similar violent crimes do not punish as harshly Most of us violate the law ● Not all are violent ● Example: J-walking Hard to distinguish between criminals & non-criminals ● It is a myth that you can differentiate the look of a criminal ● In history, Criminologist used to try to find ways to identify criminals Crime varies across time and space ● There are always crimes on how to handle crime ● Decisions are made by the criminal justice system ● Laws and punishments have changed over history ○ Example: marijuana laws ● In different geographical spaces laws and punishments are different Should we focus on harms instead? ● A severe inequality that people are harmed by Enduring conflicts over definitions: ● No purely ‘objective’ definitions ● No definition of a crime 2. Consensus vs. Conflict Consensus (Functionalist) Conflict 1. Acts defined as a crime because of they offend morals ● There is a general agreement in a society of what is wrong 1. Interests of ruling class define crimes (crime is socially defined) ● Our society is based on diversity ● Factors determine a crime and if it is enforced 2. Guilty offenders punished according to customs/rules ● Rule of law 2. Ruling class violate with impunity; lower class punished ● Upperclass breaks laws, lower class gets punished ● Rule of law is a myth 3. Lower class more likely to commit Crime ● Lower class crimes are most offensive to morals ○ Gangs 3. Lower class more likely to be labelled criminal ● Only labelled 4. Crime is a real problem that needs to be addressed ● Morals everyone needs to have 4. Crime/law is created by powerful ruling class ● Upper class choose what crimes are most heavy 5. Criminal behaviour is learned/ Socialized ● gangs 5. Crime is a reaction to a person’s social conditions ● No positive influences 6. All societies have crime/need crime (right vs. wrong) ● Helps knows what is right and wrong in society ● The organization of a society 6. Crime varies depending on political and economic structures ● Lower class areas Significant viewing of crimes from consensus: ● How we treat criminals ● Right-wing conservatives Significant viewing of crimes from conflict: ● Class structure 3. Seven Ways to Understand Crime Consensus 1. Legal Violations (Paul Tappan) 2. Social Injury (Edwin Sutherland) 3. Conduct Norms (Thorsten Sellin) 4. Anomalous Behaviour (Leslie Wilkins) Conflict 5. Labelled Stigma (Howard Becker) 6. Human Rights Violations (Schwendingers) 7. Protest vs Oppression (Taylor, Walton & Young) 1. Crime as Legal Violations: ● Paul Tappan (1947) ○ “Crime is an intentional violation of the criminal law, committed without defence or excuse, and penalized by the state” ● Four elements of crime: 1. State defined 2. Actus reus (proved the crime occurred) 3. Mens rea (guilty mind) 4. Capacity (can commit a crime) ● Significance ○ Harmful conduct outside the law? ○ Not everyone caught and convicted / state does not always enforce the law ○ Assumes consensus 2. Crime as Social Injury ● Edwin Sutherland’s Principles of Criminology (1945) ○ Argued against Tappan ○ Legal criteria should include “anti-social behaviour” ● Two elements to crime: 1. “Legal description as socially injurious” ○ Civil laws should regulate criminal behaviour 2. “legal provision of penalty” ● Law has to be in place to call to a harm ● Must add unethical and injurious business practices ● Significance ○ Expands the scope of criminology (white-collar crime) ○ But still bounded by law ○ What about non-criminal deviance? The new company opens up – jobs badly needed in the area! The company rushed into production – quick approvals by all levels of government. Soon after opening: company ‘mistakenly’ dumps toxic chemicals into a nearby river. ● ● ● What would Tappan say? ○ Not a crime ○ Have to prove intent ○ Have to prove a crime happened(government approved) ○ Parties need to go to court and prove guilt What would Sutherland say? ○ Talk about it as a crime ○ Needs to have a regulatory offence ○ Needs to have some kind of penalty ○ Could go to civil law What would Wilkens say? ○ Limit of belief because it is not an individual crime ○ Not a serious crime because it just harms some norms ○ Norms are flexiable Lecture 3: W H AT I S C R I M E ? W H AT I S C R I M I N O L O G Y? PA R T I I 5. Crime as Labelled Stigma ● Howard Becker’s Outsiders (1963) ○ Pioneer of critical perspective ○ 1960’s civil right movement ○ “The deviant is one to whom the label has successfully been applied” ■ Can't call you a criminal until you are a criminal ● Social control = crime ○ Label you as criminal by state response ○ Some people decide who is criminal ● Moral entrepreneurs ○ The idea there are certain people who get to have their norms beliefs, values dominated ■ Criminalization of marijuana ● Significance ○ No behaviour inherently criminal ■ Calling something a crime is because it gets labelled as a crime ● But: how much of crime is behaviour & how much social response? ○ Even if there is a process to label as criminal, some behaviours are criminal and need responses ● Is this tautological (“Chicken-Egg” problem)? 6. Crime as Human Rights violation ● Herbert and Julia Schwendinger (1975) ○ Agreed with Becker ● Criminalize political & institutional activities ○ Most harms are a result of political and institutional processes ● Criminalize denial of human rights ○ Criminologist should focus on the fact that there are basic human rights, and denying rights that’s where crimes happen ● Criminologists must defend basic rights ● Significance ○ Oppressive social conditions/inequalities are criminal ○ Moral and political basis of this definition ■ Abandon the definition of the crime told throughout history ● A formula for changing our ideas about crime ○ Change the notion of crime ● Would it work? 6A. CRIME AS SOCIAL HARM ● Beyond criminology (Hillyard & Tombs) ● Beyond crime to harms in life ○ The concept of crime is damaging Lecture 4: OFFICIAL CRIME STATISTICS: LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS 1. World of Criminology: ● Jean Baptiste Della Porta (1535- 1615). ○ The first criminologist? ○ physiognomist ■ thieves have large lips ● Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), ○ criminology’s “founder”. ○ the introduced notion of crime & seasons Criminology is… ● Making sense of a range of crimes ● Seeing crime as a social phenomenon (Sutherland) ● A “scientific” approach to studying crime ● Undertaken in many different venues ● About criminology vs. criminal justice ● Throughout Canadian universities Three Branches of Criminology: ● Sociology of law: ○ Why only some behaviour criminal? ○ Conflict perspective ○ Why do laws change? ○ Laws on books vs. action ● Theories of crime causation ○ Criminogenisis ○ 6 levels of explanation ■ Genetic ■ Physiological, ■ Psychological ■ Sociological ■ Economic ■ political ● Social defence ○ Crime prevention ○ Police science ○ Courts/penology/corrections ○ How do we protect society? ○ How effective is the CJS? ○ Consensus perspective 2. The meaning of Justice: What is (Criminal) Justice? ● ● ● ● ● Social product Justice defies straightforward definition Different images of justice Justice ranges from formal to informal Forms of justice are a reflection of society 5 types of Justice: 1. Criminal Justice: ● Dominate justice ● Based on the notion of consensus 2. Civil Justice ● Systems of rules and laws in place for individuals ○ contracts 3. Regulatory Justice ● Make sure things run smooth ○ business 4. Restorative Justice ● An informal way of taking over wrongs that were done 5. Social Justice ● Profound inequalitites Crime, Law, and Criminal Justice: ● ● ● ● ● Three Types of Law ○ 1. Civil/Tort Law ○ 2. Administrative law (Regulatory) ○ 3. Criminal Law (Indictable, Summary Conviction, Duel Procedure) Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ○ Protect against abuse of power Basic elements of a crime ○ Actus Reus and Mens Rea Four ‘official’ functions of criminal law ○ 1. Social control ○ 2. Discouraging revenge ○ 3. Expressing public opinion/morality ○ 4. Deterring criminal behaviour ■ General and specific deterrence What is deterrence? ○ 1. The pain of punishment > pleasure of crime ○ 2. Certainly better than severity ○ 3. Public, prompt and certain ○ 4. Public symbolism Lecture 5: OFFICIAL CRIME STATISTICS: LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS 1. Understanding Official Crime Statistics: ● Origins of criminological ‘facts’ ● “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” ● “Data do not speak for themselves!” (Beirne and Messerschmidt) ● Offences are known to the police ● Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs) Four Approaches to Crime Statistics: 1. Prima Facie: a. What you see is what you get 2. Constructionist - institutionalist: a. More about institutions that collect stats not a crime 3. Structural: a. Value, beliefs, inequality 4. integrationist: Calculation Crime rates: Problems with Offical Statistics: ● What counts as a crime? ○ Individual Crimes? ○ Offenders? ○ Victims? ● Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) ○ The “Incident” as UCR Measurement Unit (1988) ○ The most serious offence only ○ Victims of violent crime ○ Property crime incidences ○ Crime severity index ● How are crimes counted? ○ “Clearance Rates” measure police efficiency ○ CRs = crimes “solved” / Crimes “known” ■ Pressure to ignore/misclassify unsolvable crimes ○ Proactive versus reactive policing ○ Effect of social factors on police decisions to record crimes (discretion) ● Who gets included in the denominator? ○ Some sex offence rates would double if men only counted ■ Canadian denominator would be 18,000,000 not 36,000,000 ■ 36,000 sexual assaults per year would = 2000/100,000, not 1000/100,000 ● The denominator “mix” changes across time and space ○ Lower crime rates due to an ageing population? ○ Need to break down the denominator (separate out young males?) Theoretical Crime Funnel: ■ ■ Far more crime than know police Limitations: ● Research avoids serious criminality’ ● Under-reporting and misinformation ● Research and legal def don't concede Lecture 6: The making of the “Zoology of the social subspecies” 1. The Classical School ● Developed during the 1700s in Europe ● Free will (not demons) ○ Crime is a product of free will ● Protect the rights of individuals vs. corrupt and arbitrary governments and laws ● Very influential ● In the 18th century: ○ 1000s of Europeans were executed annually ○ As many as 200 offences punishable by death ○ Little due process existed ○ Secret accusations were allowed ○ Torture was used to obtain confessions ○ Judges had almost unlimited discretion ○ Equality before the law was virtually non-existent Cesare Beccaria’s Essay on Crimes and Punishment (1764) Seven Main Ideas: 1. People self-seeking & liable to commit crime = no one exempt from the law ● We make choices to commit crimes for benefits 2. Consensus (shared values) about protecting property and persons 3. We freely enter into a “social contract” with state ● The purpose is to have the state to protect shared values 4. Punishment only by state & only to deter crime ● Property stolen = death 5. Punishment proportional to the interests violated ● Punishment outweighs benefits 6. Little law & as much due process as possible ● Due process = right protected 7. Everyone responsible for their actions & all should be treated equally ● Modern-day rule of law The Impact of Classicism 1. Fewer arbitrary & brutal punishments 2. The idea of equality entered the law & justice “blind” 3. The concept of criminal responsibility emerged 4. Evolution of due process 5. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) O “utilitarians” (greatest happiness principle) O developed prescriptions (penal pharmacy) O deterring criminals who rationally used hedonistic calculus 2. The Positive School of Criminology ● ● Late 1800s Italian school of criminal anthropology Criminology as a ‘penal science ● Dynamic, ● Assertive Aggressive Conduct Most Likely Violent? Twentieth-Century Positivism: J. Rushton’s “Race Theory” of Crime ● Race, Evolution & Behaviour (1995) ● Believes brain size, intelligence, sex drive, crime & violence all related to race ● Alleges “Orientals” more evolved than “whites” &“whites” more than “blacks” ● Questionable selection and analysis of data; crude definitions of “race”; fails to consider cultural and institutional factors Psychological Theories IA: Freud ● Psychoanalysis: biological & psychological theory ● Oral,’ ‘anal’ phallic’ stages of development (people can get ‘fixated’) ● Three components of personality: ○ Id (pleasure principle) ○ Superego (conscience; control over id through socialization’ sometimes guilt and anxiety) ○ Ego (reality principle, negotiating between instinctual id and superego societal demands) ● Pathologies arise from repressed inner drives Psychological Theories IB: The Superego and the “Psychopath” ● Hervey Cleckley (The Mask of Sanity), an underdeveloped superego/conscience = psychopathy ● Called “moral insanity” in 19th century ● Serial murderers & deliberately violent ● Characteristics shared by successful people (business, war, sports & politics) ● Controversies: ○ Psychopathy a separate category, or way of describing evil people? ○ Does society create psychopaths? Psychological Theories II: Eysenck & Criminal Personalities ● Crime and Personality (1977) ○ Extraverts (under-stimulated & seek arousal) ○ Neurotics (over-stimulated, overreact to stress, ‘touchy’ & compulsive) ○ Psychotics (chronic violent criminals) ● Theory is deterministic ● Does not consider social factors (morality, ideology, education) ● Links crimes with personality ● Personality did not fully develop, not properly trained or conditions ● Problems: ○ Theory is deterministic ○ Does not consider social factors ■ Gives us the impression that certain personalities will commit crime Psychological Theories III: Kohlberg’s Moral Development ● 3 stages of moral development: ○ Preconventional (‘Me’)
CRM1300 - Lecture notes all
Course: Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
University: University of Ottawa
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