psychological explanations
questions of legal culpability
- not criminally responsible
- they couldn’t see that the act was morally wrong or what they were doing
- James Hadfield’s head trauma from war
- criminal lunatics act of 1800
- M’nagthen rules
- wild beast test before (1800)
-Less than 25% of people who try to plead insane actually get this verdict 0.25% of cases
Claiming a temporary loss of reason in court
- harry thaw case (1906) because his wife was with another man and he killed them
-R.v. Kummerfield and ternowetsky (1997)
Claimed they temporarily lost control due to drunkenness (he got manslaughter) he got out in 3 years out of 25
Attempts to treat mental illness
-Freud and psychoanalysis
-Emphasis on getting at the repressed thoughts, feelings, and memories of the unconscious
-Efforts to treat mental illness by treating the body
-Shock therapy (1930s - today)
-Lobotomies (1930s - 1960s)
-Psychiatric medications (1950s - today)
-These are thought to treat a chemical imbalance in the body
Psychiatry and the criminal justice system
- should be released or on parole
- the need for mental health support to see individual risk
- higher mental health in prison than in the general public
- psychological stress of being in prison
- post incarnation syndrome
Sociological explanations
Psychology
- focus on the individual
-Eg mental processes, personality types, memories, emotions etc - Explains crime as the result of abnormal mental processes within the individual
Sociology
-Focus on society
-Eg institution, interactions, social stigma, distributions of wealth and opportunities, culture etc
-Explains crime as the result of social factors and social conditions external to the individual
the Chicago school
-Founded in 1892 very influential in the development of sociological and criminological thought in the early 1900s
-City of chicago treated as a “laboratory” to study social life in an urban setting
-Neutral observation and ethnography
-Robert Park and Ernest Burgess (ecology plants and animals work in environment)
1.Central business district
2.Zone of transition
3.Zone of independent workers’ homes
4.Zone of better residences
5.Commuter’s zone
- ripple effect
Social Disorganization Theory
-Cliffrord Shaw and Henry Mckay
-Main arguments:
-Factors contributing to “social disorganization”
-Poverty
-Physical disrepair
-Heterogeneity (high mix of cultural backgrounds and values)
-Transient population
-Social disorganization highest in “zone 2” because these neighborhoods are constantly invaded by businesses and factories
-High social disorganization led to high crime rates in zone 2
Impacts and Critiques of social disorganization theory
-Policy implications: build programs to improve the conditions in zone 2 neighborhoods and strengthen ties between community members
-Didn’t address larger economic and political forces contributing to the conditions of zone 2 neighborhoods
-Didn’t ask “who benefits” from the organization of cities
Differential Association Theory
-Edwin Sutherland
-Main argument:
-People learn criminal behavior through face-to-face interactions with friends, peers, and family members
-Subcultural theories of crime:
-The values upheld in certain subcultures can encourage criminal and delinquent behavior
-Crime is a learned value and through the culture they are associated with
Emile Durkheim
-Functionalist theory of society
-Each of society’s institutions, norms, and structures serve a function in the overall society
-Crime as a “normal” social fact that serves a function in society
Collective Consciousness
- Durkheim
-Collection of beliefs, values, and norms dominant in a society at a certain time
-Actions that violate the norms and boundaries of the collective consciousness become what is defined as “crime”
-Defining certain behaviors as “crime” reinforces the collective consciousness and binds society together
-Shifting to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals
Durkheim’s Concept of “Anomie”
-Anomie = weakened collective consciousness (weakened sense of collective beliefs, norms, and values)
-Weakened collective consciousness means that people’s desires and expectations are not regulated enough
Merton’s concept of anomie
-Anomie = social condition when there is imbalance between dominant cultural goals in a society and the conventional methods for achieving them
-E.g. the tradition paths for achieving the “American dream” are not available to many people
Forms of adaptation to the social condition of anomie
Last crime document (table its on doc study it)
- conformity
- innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
Cultural goals
Conventional means
Merton and Criminology
-Argues that most deviant behavior is the result of either innovation or rebellion
-Examples of policy implications:
-Vocational training programs
-Efforts to increase educational opportunities
-Programs to help people cope with strain
Marxist thought
Review Consensus vs. conflict views
-Defining “crime” from the consensus viewpoint:
-Takes for-granted the formal definitions of crime as laid out in law
-Focuses on how to make fewer people break the laws or break social norms
-Defining “crime form the conflict viewpoint:
-Challenges the very definition of crime
-Understands legal definitions and processes as the outcome of unequal power struggles
The industrial revolution
- the expansion of the industry
-Trade and industry became owned and controlled by private owners who hired workers and competed to maximize profits
-Carl marx and angles
-Really important for the development criminology and sociology
-The punishment of crime was actually set up to appse the rich and powerful
Key terms
- “Means of production” = all the tools, resources, and processes used to produce goods in society
- “Bourgeoisie” = the wealthy elite who own and control the means of production (the upper class who own everything)
- “Proletariat” = the working class who generate profits for the bourgeoisie (the working class)
- “Alienation” = a sense of becoming detached from the process of producing something
Marx & Engels’ critique of capitalism
- wealth and power come from the bourgeoisie
-The legal, economic, and political system protect the interest of the bourgeoisie - Capitalism is criminogenic (it is the root cause of crime)
Crimes of the powerful vs. Crimes of the less powerful
-Crimes of the powerful = committed by the bourgeoisie in pursuit of power and profit
-A.k.a “white-collar crime” (e.g. the Bhopal disaster)
-Crimes of the less powerful = committed by the proletariat classes based on either material need or contempt for the social order
-A.k.a “blue-collar crime”
-Capitalism as the cause of both kinds of crime
Marxist Critique of Law
- Law supports the system of capitalism that benefits the wealthy bourgeoisie and exploits the proletariat classes
- Law is either formally or substantially equal
- Those with wealth and affluence are privileged in the legal system
- The laws themselves perpetuate inequality
Marxism on responding to crime
- Addressing crime in society requires addressing the fundamental inequality and exploitation of capitalism itself
- Explanations of crime that don’t address the inequality and exploitation of the system really just reproduce the status quo and serve the interests of the bourgeoisie
- For marxist the climbing of the corporate ladder is just a glimmer of hope but not really true
- Laws are often put in place to protect the wealthy elite
Divide and Rule
-Pitting oppressed and exploited classes against each other so that they don’t unite against the ruling elite
- Examples:
- The pre-emancipation american south
- Trumpism
- Corporations promoting anti-unionism
- The white working class and the slaves were kept from realizing that they were being oppressed by the upper class
- People were convinced black people were the problem not the upper class
- Videos to stop people from unionizing
