Fluent Essays

Instructions are in the attached word docs. The reading for this question is also attached. unit_1_discussion_.docx unit_1_read.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview Course: Criminological Theory: CCJ5600_0518_19101 Textbook: Schmalleger, F. J. (2012). Criminology today: An integrative introduction (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Assignment: Comment on this statement- thinking like a criminologist. Respond Min 200 words with 3 scholarly references. APA format but NO COVER SHEET required. “Some criminologists insist that the field of criminology must include behaviors that go beyond those defined as crimes through the political process; not doing so, they say, restricts rather than encourages inquiry into relevant forms of human behavior. Eighth Edition Criminology TODAY T U R N E R , AN INTEGRATIVE INTRODUCTION T A M M Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke Y ISBN 1-323-65050-4 1 5 2 1 T S Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. AF Archive/Alamy CHAPTER 1 T U R N E R , WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions: What is crime? What is the definition of crime that the author of this text 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 text ? Upon what two contrasting viewpoints does it build? ● What does it mean to say that “criminal activity is diversely created and variously interpreted”? 1 5 2 1 T S ISBN 1-323-65050-4 ● T A M M Y Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. 2 CHAPTER 1  t :+$7,6&5,0,12/2*< ■ crime Human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the federal government, a state, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws. T U R N E R , T A M $SKRWRIURPWKHKLJKO\SRSXODU&\%679VKRZNCIS. Shown from left M to right are Sean Murray, Brian Dietzen, and Pauley Perrette. Why do many people like to watch TV crime shows like NCIS? Y on the Internet thought to be secure? While this text may not answer each of these questions, it examines the causative factors in 1 effect when a crime is committed and encourages an appreciation of 5 the challenges of crafting effective crime-control policy. 2 What Is Crime? 1 As T the word implies, criminology is clearly concerned with crime. As we begin our discussion of criminology, let’s consider just what S term crime means. Like anything else, crime can be defined in the several ways, and some scholars have suggested that at least four definitional perspectives can be found in contemporary criminology. These diverse perspectives see crime from (1) legalistic, (2) political, (3) sociological, and (4) psychological viewpoints. How we see any phenomenon is crucial because it determines the assumptions that we make about how that phenomenon should be studied. The perspective that we choose to employ when viewing crime determines the kinds of questions we ask, the nature of the research we conduct, and the type of answers that we expect to receive. Those answers, in turn, influence our conclusions about the kinds of crime-control policies that might be effective. Seen from a legalistic perspective, crime is human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 1-323-65050-4 According to social commentators, people are simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by crime—especially gruesome crimes involving extreme personal violence. The popularity of today’s TV crime shows, Hollywood-produced crime movies, truecrime books and magazines, and Web sites devoted exclusively to the coverage of crime supports that observation. The CBS TV megahit NCIS, for example, was named the number one TV drama in 2014 and received an impressive three nominations for TV’s 2014 People’s Choice Award.1 The show was also nominated as the “Favorite TV Crime Drama,” with individual episodes drawing more than 24 million viewers.2 Earlier, CSI: Miami, which ran for ten seasons until going off the air in 2012, garnered 50 million regular viewers in more than 55 countries. By its eighth season it had become the most popular television show in the world.3 Other widely followed TV crime series, both past and present, include shows such as True Detective (HBO), American Crime (ABC), Fargo (FX), Bones (Fox), Grimm (NBC), Castle (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Without a Trace (CBS), Magic City (HBO), The Unit (CBS), The Killing (AMC), White Collar (USA), The District (CBS), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), The Shield (FX), The Wire (HBO), Cold Case (CBS), NCIS (CBS), and Law and Order (NBC)—along with the Law and Order spin-offs, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. American TV viewers are hungry for crime-related entertainment and have a fascination with criminal motivation and detective work. Some crimes cry out for explanation. Yet one of the things that fascinates people about crime—especially violent crime—is that it seems to be inexplicable. Some crimes are especially difficult to understand, but our natural tendency is to seek out some reason for the unreasonable. We search for explanations for the seemingly unexplainable. How, for example, can the behavior of child killers be understood, anticipated, and even prevented? Why don’t terrorists acknowledge the emotional and personal suffering they inflict? Why do some robbers or rapists kill and even torture, utterly disregarding human life and feelings? People also wonder about “everyday” crimes such as burglary, robbery, assault, vandalism, and computer intrusion. Why, for example, do people fight? Does it matter to a robber that he may face prison time? How can people sacrifice love, money, careers, and even their lives for access to illegal drugs? What motivates terrorists to give up their own lives to take the lives of others? Why do gifted techno-savvy teens and preteens hack sites AF Archive/Alamy Introduction :+$7,6&5,0(   ■ criminalize a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws. Without a law that circumscribes a particular form of behavior, there can be no crime, no matter how deviant or socially repugnant the behavior in question may be. The notion of crime as behavior4 that violates the lawT derives from earlier work by criminologists like Paul W.U Tappan, who defined crime as “an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed without defense or excuse, andR penalized by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.”5 EdwinN Sutherland, regarded by many as a founding figure in American E criminology, said of crime that its “essential characteristic is that it is behavior which is prohibited by the State as an injury to theR State and against which the State may react by punishment.”6 , For purposes of this text, we will employ a legalistic approach because it allows for relative ease of measurement of crimes committed. Official statistics on crime, such as thoseT shown in Figure 1–1, report crime in terms of legislatively Without a law that circumscribes a particular form of behavior, there can be no crime.… A M M Y Per 100,000 population 6,000 1963 First baby boomers reach age 17, entering the crime-prone years 4,000 Dollar limit for larceny is removed; measurement change results in rate increase To make illegal. established categories, and the number of offenses shown reflect statutory definitions of crime categories. A serious shortcoming of the legalistic approach to crime, however, is that it yields the moral high ground to powerful individuals who are able to influence the making of laws and the imposition of criminal definitions on lawbreakers. By making their own laws, powerful but immoral individuals can escape the label “criminal.” While we have chosen to adopt the legalistic approach to crime in this text, it is important to realize that laws are social products, so crime is socially relative in the sense that it is created by legislative activity. Hence, sociologists are fond of saying that “crime is whatever a society says it is.” In Chapter 8, we will explore this issue further and will focus on the process of criminalization, which is the method used to criminalize some forms of behavior—or make them illegal—while other forms remain legitimate. A second perspective on crime is the political one, where crime is 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. Those who adhere to this point 1980 Crime rate peaks at 5,950 1991 Second high of 5,898 1992 First baby boomers reach age 45, leaving the crime-prone years 1 5 2 1 T S 2014 Crime rates drop to a 40-year low ISBN 1-323-65050-4 2,000 0 1933 FIGURE 1–1 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1968 3 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2014 |Crime Rates in the United States, 1933–2014 Source: Schmalleger, Frank Criminology. Printed and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey ISBN 0132966751. Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. 4 CHAPTER 1  t :+$7,6&5,0,12/2*< a threat to the group in power.”7 Galliher points out that, because legal definitions of criminality are arrived at through a political process, the subject matter of criminality will be artificially limited if we insist on seeing crime solely as a violation of the criminal law. Some criminologists insist that the field of criminology must include behaviors that go beyond those defined as crimes through the political process; not doing so, they say, restricts rather than encourages inquiry into relevant forms of human behavior.8 T Adherents of the third perspective, the sociological (also called U “sociolegal”) viewpoint, would likely agree with this statement, seeing crime as “an antisocial act of such a nature R that its repression is necessary or is supposed to be necessary to N the preservation of the existing system of society.”9 Some criminologists have gone so far as to claim that any definiE of crime must include all forms of antisocial behavior.10 tion Ron Claassen, a modern-day champion of restorative justice R (discussed in more detail in chapters 9 and 10), suggested, ,for example, that “crime is primarily an offense against human relationships, and secondarily a violation of a law—since laws are T written to protect safety and fairness TABLE 1-1| What Is Crime? A in human relationships.”11 Depending on how we look at it, “crime” can be understood in various ways. The four A more comprehensive socioM major perspectives useful in defining crime are: logical definition of crime was ofM fered by Herman Schwendinger and 7KH/HJDOLVWLF Julia Schwendinger in 1975: Crime Y According to the legalistic perspective, crime is: encompasses “any harmful acts,” inhuman conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, cluding violations of “the fundamenor a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws. Seen this way, if there is tal prerequisites for well-being, [such 1 no law against it, there can be no crime, no matter how deviant or socially repugnant as] food, shelter, clothing, medical 5 the behavior in question may be. services, challenging work and rec7KH3ROLWLFDO reational experiences, as well as se2 According to the political perspective, crime is: curity from predatory individuals or 1 which are the result of criteria that have been built into the law by powerful groups repressive and imperialistic elites.”12 then used to label selected undesirable forms of behavior as illegal.T Seen this way, laws The Schwendingers challenged crimserve the interests of the politically powerful, and crimes are merely forms of behavior inologists to be less constrained in S that are perceived by those in power as direct or indirect threats to their interests. what they see as the subject matter 7KH6RFLRORJLFDO DNDVRFLROHJDO of their field, saying that violations of According to the sociological (or sociolegal) perspective, crime is: human rights may be more relevant an antisocial act of such a nature that its repression is necessary for the preservation of to criminological inquiry than many the existing social order. From this viewpoint, crime is primarily an offense against huacts that have been politically or leman relationships, and secondarily a violation of the law. gally defined as crime. “Isn’t it time to raise serious questions about the 7KH3V\FKRORJLFDO assumptions underlying the definiAccording to the psychological point of view, crime is: tions of the field of criminology,” a form of social maladjustment, especially one which is against the law, that can be asked the Schwendingers, “when a seen as a difficulty that an individual has in remaining in harmony with his or her social man who steals a paltry sum can environment. Seen this way, crime is problem behavior for both the individual and be called a criminal while agents of for society. the State can, with impunity, legally Source: Pearson Education, Inc. of view say that crime is a definition of human conduct created by authorized agents in a politically organized society. Seen this way, laws serve the interests of the politically powerful, and crimes are merely forms of behavior that are perceived by those in power as direct or indirect threats to their interests. Thus, the political perspective defines crime in terms of the power structures that exist in society and asserts that criminal laws do not necessarily bear any inherent relationship to popular notions of right and wrong. Even though political processes that create criminal definitions are sometimes easier to comprehend in totalitarian societies, the political perspective can also be meaningfully applied to American society. John F. Galliher, a contemporary criminologist, summarized the political perspective on crime when he wrote, “One can best understand crime in a class-structured society such as the United States as the end product of a chain of interactions involving powerful groups that use their power to establish criminal laws and sanctions against less powerful persons and groups that may pose ISBN 1-323-65050-4 Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. :+$7,6&5,0(   5 ISBN 1-323-65050-4 ■ Follow the author’s tweets about the latest crime and justice news @schmalleger. reward men who destroy food so that price levels can be maintained whilst a sizable portion of the population suffers from malnutrition?”13 Jeffrey H. Reiman, another contemporary criminologist, asked similar questions. “The fact is that the label ‘crime’ is not used in America to name all or the worst of the actions that cause misery and suffering to Americans,” said Reiman. “It is primarily reserved for the dangerous actions of the poor.” Criminal behavior Writing about unhealthy andT is typically associated unsafe workplaces, ReimanU “Doesn’t a crime by with personal features asked, any other name still causeR misery and suffering? What’sN such as impulsivity, in a name?”14 While a sorisky decision making, ciolegal approach to under-E standing crime is attractiveR antisocial demeanor, to many, others claim that it , suffers from wanting to crimiand aggression, as nalize activities that cause well as biological and only indirect harm; that is,T it is easier for most people social risk factors to appreciate the criminalityA involved in a holdup or a rapeM that are mediated than in cost-cutting efforts by genes and by the made by a businessperson. M Finally, a psychologicalY social and physical (or maladaptive) perspective says that “crime is a form of environments. social maladjustment which1 can be designated as a more or less pronounced difficulty that 5 the individual has in reacting to the stimuli of his environment in such a way as to remain in harmony with that environ-2 ment.”15 Seen this way, crime is problem behavior, especially 1 human activity that contravenes the criminal law and results in difficulties in living within a framework of generally accept-T able social arrangements. According to criminologist MatthewS B. Robinson, “[t]he maladaptive view of crime does not require any of the [traditional] elements in order for an act to be a crime: no actual harm to others; no prohibition by law before the act is committed; no arrest; and no conviction in a court of law. Any behavior which is maladaptive would be considered crime. If criminologists adopted this view of crime,” said Robinson, “the scope of criminology would be greatly expanded beyond its current state. All actually or even potentially harmful behaviors could be examined, analyzed, and documented for the purpose of gaining knowledge about potentially harmful behaviors and developing strategies to protect people from all harmful acts, not just those that are called ‘crime’ today.”16 As this discussion shows, a unified or simple definition of crime is difficult to achieve. The four points of view that we have discussed here form a kind of continuum, bound on one end by strict, legalistic interpretations of crime and on the other by much more fluid, behavioral, and moralistic definitions. No matter which definition we choose, it is important to recognize that most criminal behavior is typically associated with personal features such as impulsivity, risky decision making, antisocial demeanor, and aggression, as well as biological and social risk factors that are mediated by genes and by the social and physical environments.17 Hence, in seeking to understand crime and its causes, we must also examine the various kinds of behavior that are most likely to be associated with it. In other words, while aggression and risk taking are not necessarily against the law, they are also characteristic of many types of crime, and their understanding can provide insight into criminal motivation. A poster for the movie Training Day. What is crime? What definition of crime does this text use? How might crimes vary between jurisdictions? Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, Eighth Edition, by Frank Schmalleger. Published by Pearson. Copyright © 2017 by Pearson Education, Inc. 6 CHAPTER 1  t :+$7,6&5,0,12/2*< ■ deviant behavior Human activity that violates social norms. Sociologically speaking, many crimes can be regarded as deviant forms of behavior—that is, as behaviors that are in some way abnormal. Piers Beirne and James Messerschmidt, two contemporary criminologists, defined deviance as “any social behavior or social characteristic that departs from the conventional norms and standards of a community or society and for which the deviant is sanctioned.”18 Their definition does not count as deviant, however, any sanctionable behavior that is not punished or punishable. Hence, we prefer another approach to defining deviance. The definition of deviant behavior that we will use in this text is as follows: Deviant behavior is human activity tha ... Purchase answer to see full attachment