Criminology

FINAL EXAM - REVIEW

Spring 2011

 

 

CH 1

 

Status offenses

 

Theoretical perspectives on crime

consensus

classical

conflict

social constructionist

 

Philadelphia cohort studies, Marvin Wolfgang and his colleagues

 

CH2

 

The classical school of criminology

 

Positivism

 

The FBI's annual Crime in the United States Uniform Crime Reports
            the FBI's eight Part I (crime index) offenses?
            Which of the following is a criticism of FBI crime statistics?
            The FBI's crime index rate:
            If multiple crimes are committed during the same crime incident…

            The FBI justifies its presentation of more detail on Part I (crime index) offenses by…

Victims are especially likely to report crimes to the police when:
            What are the reason that citizens fail to report crimes to the police?

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

Self-report surveys:

            the amount of crime that people report

            findings of self report stuides

            an important problem with research using self-report surveys?

The dark figure

CH 3

 

DEF of crimes:
Aggravated assault differs from simple assault.
Burglary

Carjacking

Larceny

Fraud
Robbery
            A robbery victim is least likely to be injured by a robber who


White-collar crime

            introduced the concept
            The annual cost of white-collar crime (compared to convent. Crime)

 

CH 4

 

Crime rates in the United States:

            fell most dramatically during the:
            began to increase significantly around

Age differences in crime rates

CH 5

 

Phrenologists & Physiognomists

Lombroso & atavisms

Influence of Darwin

 

Moffitt: Adolescent-limited delinquents & life-course-persistent

 

Biological research on sex differences

 

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime

Low self-control is associated with…

            Why do people have low self control?

 

VIDEO: NEW ASYLUMS

 

_____ percent of inmates appear to be mentally ill.

 

Mentally ill inmates were given how much medicine upon their release?

 

CH 6


DEF: White collar crime

 

Why is it difficult to assess blame in white-collar crime?

 

Social Structures and Conventional Crime:

            Modernization

            Economies and opportunities

            Unemployment

            Culture


Relative deprivation

Anomie & Strain

Robert Merton's modes of adaptation to the social structure?
            innovation
            retreatism
            conformity
            rebellion

            ritualism

 

Changes in unemployment rates and crime

General strain theory

 

CH 7

 

Techniques of neutralization
            denial of injury
            condemnation of the condemners
            denial of the responsibility
            appeal to higher loyalties

Social control theory

Elements of a Social Bond: Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, and Belief

 

Life Course Perspective

            Trajectories

            Transitions

            Turning Points

Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that the major cause of low self-control is…

CH 8

 

The influence of machismo on crimes of violence against women can be seen in murders committed in “legitimate defense of honor” in:
 
The idea that prisons are “schools of crime”

DEF: Differential association theory
            When/how are associations more powerful?

            Criticisms

 

Differential identification theory
Rational-choice theory
Social learning Theory
Containment theory


Labeling Theory

            primary deviance/deviation

            secondary deviance/deviation

Status-degradation ceremonies

CH 9

 

Routine activities theory

            Elements of

Guardianship of property

            Reduced or increased (why?)

Factors in choosing targets:

Form of the property

Value of the property

Target vulnerability

Likelihood of victim resistance

Victim proneness:

precipitation / provocation
instigation/ perpetration

facilitation

vulnerability/invitation
cooperation

attractiveness

impunity

The drugs-crime relationship

Explanation for the increase in firearms violence by young people between 1984 and 1993

CH 10

 

Compare/contrast criminal careers and legitimate careers

Criminologists reasons for and against criminal career research

Developmental criminology

Criminal contingencies

The “zigzag path”

Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin's Cohort I study found….
            Compare findings of Cohorts I and II

 

Sampson and Laub's research on crime over the life course

Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi's low self-control theory of crime

 

Neal Shover’s model of exiting a criminal career

            Interpersonal and orientational change

            Modified calculus

Theories on exiting crime
            differential association

            Anomie/ differential opportunity

            the labeling perspective
            social control theory

CH 11


primary and secondary groups
networks
aggregates
bureaucracy

Organization of professional thieves
            business
            picaresque
            craft
            project

What Mary McIntosh refers to as a “business organization” of professional criminals is more commonly called:

Jablonsky:

            the violent gang
            the social gang

            the delinquent gang


Gottfredson and Hirschi on gangs

CH 15

 

Approach to the crime problem/ causes and solutions:

            Radical

            Liberal

            Conservative

 

The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice

            emphasized reducing crime by___

            stressed the __________ approach to crime

 

Issues during the following elections:

1968/1972/1988/1992/1996/2000

 

The 1994 Brady Act

 

“Overreach” of the criminal law is a term most often applied to…

 

Those who oppose / advocate the decriminalization of drugs claim that

 

“Shield laws”

 

During the 1990s, when American crime rates fell sharply, the number of prisoners in the country______

 

Criminology Theories: Study list for tests

 

CH 5: Biological and Psychological

·         Gene Based Evolutionary (Ellis and Walsh)

·         Biological Characteristics (Rowe)

·         Personality (Caspi et al.; ALSO SEE TEXT)

 

CH 6: Social, Cultural, and Economic Sources

·         Relative Deprivation

·         Classical Anomie/ Classical Strain Theory (Merton)

·         General Strain Theory (Agnew)

·         Social Isolation (Sampson and Wilson)

·         Institutional –Anomie Theory (Rossenfeld and Messner)

 

CH 7: Social Control

·         Techniques of Neutralization (Sykes and Matza)

·         Social Control Theory (Hirschi)

·         Age Graded Informal Social Control Theory (Sampson and Laub)

 

CH 10: Criminal Careers

·         Developmental Life Course Criminology

·         General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi)

 

CH 8: Learning Theories

·         Differential Association (Sutherland)

·         Differential Identification

·         Social Learning Theory (Akers and Burgess)

·         Social Structural Social Learning Theory (Akers)

·         Labeling Theory

·         Containment Theory

·         Rational Choice

 

CH 9: Opportunities

·         Routine Activities Theory

·         Victim Precipitation