Criminology as a Behavioural or a Social Study - Coursework Example

CRW Assignment 1 Q. What is Criminology? It is an advanced of study, where crime is discussed interms of reasoning, theory, ethics, it’s meaning in terms of law and social reaction. Q. What is the difference between a criminologist and a criminalist? A criminalist is a person who is far off involved on a crime scene to gather evidences and propose ideas of what possibly could have happened. Whereas, a criminologist is a person who studies the possible reasons of an occurrence of a crime, possible reasons of why a criminal may commit a crime or the patterns that describe the root cause of prolonged crimes. Assignment 1-2 Q. In Edward Sutherland's definition of crime, there are three areas that form the foundation of specialty areas in criminology. List and discuss each of the three areas. In order to discuss the founding areas of Sutherland’s definition of crime, I’ll paste the definition as it is. "Criminality is a probabilistic event determined by the frequency and quality of interaction with persons holding definitions favorable or unfavorable to violation of the law." According to this definition “Criminality is a probabilistic approach”, something that describes the probability of committing a crime, something that is not instinctive but occurs with a potential threat in the society or a matter of self tolerance. “Probabilistic event”, explains that nothing can be proven with a 100% guarantee. In an experiment carried on 10 people to determine how many out of those 10 commit crime when exposed to a potential threat, if the ratio turns out to be 51%, the probable explanation of the theorist is proved and hence the theory as well. “Frequency and quality of interaction with persons holding definitions favorable or unfavorable to violation of the law”; this factor of the statement describes the possible root of committing a crime, a proposed tendency to adopt criminal thoughts or criminal approaches if the person has more interaction with people who are involved in such acts, the depth or strength of the relationship with such people. Q. Discuss the importance of theory. Your answer should include the aspects and fundamental issues of theories. The most important thought that this theory puts forward is the fact, that a person is not born with a tendency to commit a crime. Biological factors might only have a 50% effect on a man’s nature but his social inclination towards people who have a history or background of crime increases a man’s potential to commit a crime. Social or civil discrimination or other such factors are also the reasons which cause a rise in criminal activities. Q. Define "cause". Theorist always present words in a way that don’t really present the fixation of their thoughts. ‘Cause’ of a possible crime can be explained by playing with words, providing general interpretations of what could be the possible factors. A ‘cause’ can be defined as a possible reason or a factor that may provoke a potential crime. Q. List and briefly discuss four of the definitional problems in defining crime. The first definitional problem in defining crime is its failure to specify it with determinance. Explaining an act on probable grounds does give a ratio of high regard but it still isn’t 100% guaranteed. Secondly is the relationship between the frequency and the quality of the relationships between individuals. Both frequency and quality set to give an entirely different outlook to the behavior of attempt of crime. The favorable and unfavorable definitions on the attempt of crime vary differently on different occasions; hence, it cannot be a standard to determine crime. Q. What is the difference between criminology and criminal justice? Criminology is described more as a behavioral or a social study that intends to describe the social causes of crime or the reaction to crimes. Criminal justice on the other hand, is the field that deals with the collective aspect of criminal policy making. Or in other words its practical description or application. Assignment 1-3 Q. What is the purpose of theories of deviance? To present theories for deviance is a hard end task, as a deviant act in one society might not be considered sinful enough in another. As deviance can be criminal as well as non-criminal acts. The purpose of presenting the theories of deviance is to give a set of basic ideals that determine the level of deviance in every society and explains why and how deviant acts are carried on each level. Q. List the different theories used to explain criminal behavior, and briefly explain each. According to criminologists a number of theories of deviance have emerged out of which 4 are the most widely studied and understood. Differential-Association theory explains that crime is often learned from the surroundings. The surroundings play a vital role in teaching acts of violence, ways in which people learn to violate the norms and values. Teen gangs can be considered to be one such easy example where young boys team up to learn and attempt different tactics to commit crimes. Anomie theory explains the deviant behaviors that arise as a result of confused social conflicts. When a part of the society finds its way to the top and the rest who remain blocked out, they employ towards violent behaviors to attain their goals. Control theory is the internal control mechanism of beings when they actually control their desire to act deviant. Such acts are controlled by certain religious, moral, ethical and social values. It is said the children should be exposed to social gatherings in order to learn how to control such feelings. Labeling theory on the other hand is the theory that explains the symbolic interpretation one derives from others actions and reactions. According to this theory, acts are deviant only after a society has marked them to be. This theory studies the labeling of deviance with people and acts and the reasoning behind it. Assignment 1-4 Q. Define and briefly discuss differential opportunity. Differential opportunity as presented by Cloward and Ohlin states that it is a matter opportunities. Criminal acts are the result of ample legitimate and illegitimate opportunities. Despite the fact that some sectors of the society might be deprived of the goodness but that shouldn’t be the outcome of certain illegitimate behaviors. Criminal activities pile up in social sectors where there are available opportunities of possible illegitimate or unlawful acts. Here the society is the core issue which is the cause of major criminal behaviors. Q. Briefly discuss Sheldon's explanation of criminal behavior. Early criminologists believed that criminal behavior was innate, or a result of some genetic abnormality, Sheldon being one of them. According to him body types can be studied to understand the possibilities of persons becoming criminals. He even developed categories to explain his own theory. According to Sheldon categorically, Mesomorphs, people with strong, muscular and athletic build were most likely to turn to criminals. As pathetic as this theory may seem it has been introduced in modern studies in order to find the relation between criminal’s physique and behavior. Q. Briefly discuss the links between genetics and criminal behavior. Complex studies have been put forward in order to describe explain criminal behavior with the help of genetics. Scientists have studied twins, and fostered kids in order to understand the link between these two. It was found out that fraternal twins were less likely to be involved in criminal behaviors as compared to the identicals; the possible cause could be of replication of the exact genome. Another study explained that fostered children were at high risk to be involved in criminal activities if their biological parents turned out to be criminals, relatively low when compared to kids whose fostered parents were criminals. This proves that genetics has an important role in determining criminal behavior. Q. Discuss personality defects as an explanation for criminal behavior. Personality defects can be associated to be a result of anti-social activities. When a person gets to have less exposure to society and social norms his ways of thinking is highly deceited. Society accredits criminals to be bad people, someone who doesn’t have moral values. Psychopaths are a common example, where such people are repetitively involved in criminal acts, most likely to be of violent scale. Assignment 1-5 Q. List the identifiable types of criminological theory. Criminological theories have been presented as a guide to understand the universally acclaimed modes top distinguish criminal behaviors. Some of the acclaimed theories are 1. Choice Theory 2. Psychopathy Theory 3. Poverty Theory 4. Anthropological Theory 5. Mental Deficiency Theory 6. Moral Development Theory 7. Biological Theory 8. Psychological Theory 9. Antisocial Personality Theory 10. Control Theory 11. Social Disorganization Theory 12. Feminist and Integrated Theories 13. Strain Theory 14. Labeling Theory 15. Learning Theory 16. Conflict Theory Q. Choose three of the criminological theories and briefly discuss each. Choice theory is the one that explains that the act of crime is associated with the individual’s own preference. Whether he prefers to commit crime and bear the taste of punishment or to go on and about without it. The core idea of the theory is that a man is free to choose from both good and evil, and that these choices can be controlled from the acts of evil by the existence of certain punishments. However, if the punishments are strong enough the acts are automatically disregarded. Psychological theory has determined that almost all the criminal activities are a result of possible defects in the individual’s personality, where certain emotional and psychological facets are to be associated with the study of the criminal behavior. Both mental illness and criminal behavior are said to be parallel studies. Studying crime and criminals through psychiatric analysis, dates back to early 19th century. Poverty has been the first ever issue that has been over looked in order to understand criminal behavior. Poverty being the core issue of deprivation from all sorts of goodness creates an urge to attain all what is not in an individual’s hand by any means. Criminology does have a strong hold with poverty, social instability and social outcast. Assignment 1-6 Q. Choose two criminological theories and briefly discuss each. Your answer should include the time period of and key figures involved in the theory. The pioneer of Control theory, Travis Hirschi presented his ideals somewhere in 1969 with his book “Hellfire and Delinquency”, where he presented his thoughts on not how a crime is being committed but as to how an individual controls the urge to commit one. Hirschi along with his contributor Gottfredson came forth in 1900 with a book on another concept of low self control. Control theory is the opposite of most of the theories where it’s been discussed as to how crimes are committed, whereas in this theory the topic, why crimes aren’t committed is the core issue. The theory explains that there are internal control mechanisms with the help of which they individuals control their desire to act deviant. Such acts are controlled by certain religious, moral, ethical and social values. It is said the children should be exposed to social gatherings in order to learn how to control such feelings. Learning theory is the one which has been accredited by a large number of contributors, from Aristotle, Hobbes and Humes (the early contributors), to Pavlov and Skinner (who presented Behaviorism). The theory by its name explains its teachings, that criminal behaviors are supported by surrounding acts of deviance. Psychologically an individual attains knowledge from all that happens around him, and learns through his experience. Hardships and bad experience tend to elevate deviant behaviors. This theory outclasses the clash of race, language gender or class in order to determine who could possibly be a criminal. Assignment 1-7 Q. What months had the highest murder rate in 2009 and 2010? The months of March and May are reported to have higher rates of murder in the year 2009-2010, with a percentage increase of about 26% in March, where 31 reported cases of murder increased to 39 in the year 2010. While there was a 27% increase in homicide cases in the month of May, when the 41 reported cases jumped to 52 in the year 2010. Assignment 1-8 Q. How is data collected for the NCVS? Data for NCVS review is collected to surveys that are carried out over the years to maintain a record of all the possible crimes that might have occurred during that time period. Q. What types of data are collected by the NCVS? NCVS covers data on a large scale in order to understand patterns and study criminal behaviors. The types may include, rape or assault cases, murder, burglary, location where the incident occurred, possibility of witnesses, the relationship between the victim and the victimizer as well as the role of police or judiciary in the incident. NCVS then generates a detailed report on the incidents collected over the time period. These reports are also available online but with limited access to the data. CRW-2 Assignment 2-1 Q. Who is the sociologist identified with theodicy? Max Weber is the sociologist being identified by theodicy. Q. Briefly discuss the three major forms of theodicy within the major world religions. The major forms or factors of Theodicy as been identified by Max Weber by studying world religions are; Karma, Divine providence and Dualism. Karma is that evil factor of a man’s soul that associates it from its past. Karma is the belief associated with the concept of re-birth, which teaches that a victim at present is the result of all the evil being done in the past. An evil soul is the carrier of bad deeds from the past. Divine providence is like the ultimate plan that all good and evil in this society/world is to happen according to Lord’s will, His great plan. Good and evil are meant to prevail together. Dualism is a state of constant war with good and evil. Eventually the ultimate power gains an upper hand. In most obvious prevalent religious studies, the devil is meant to lose the war. Q. Briefly discuss "temptation" and "possession" as Judeo-Christian explanations of criminal behavior. Temptation and Possession are both Judo-Christian beliefs. Temptation is the ‘free will’ to protect oneself from all the evil that subsides within the society. The one’s who successfully save themselves from the evil are promised to be rewarded in the life here and after. The prevalent idea being that those who tend to give in to all sorts of evil are the ones who lack a strong will of self determination. Possession is that state when a body is possessed by evil and the acts are no more in the control of the victim being possessed. The devil or evil soul has now taken control of all the actions of the body. A possessed body can be cured through different religious acts, like, exorcism or other spiritual acts. Q. Define Sociodicy. Sociodicy is the alternative of Theodicy. Theodicy being the belief of outwardly intervention in the acts of human to commit both good and evil, sociodicy on the other hand rejects these interventions and gives logical reasonable causes for these acts. These explanations however, are given on medical, psychological or social grounds. Q. Does the demonic perspective have a place in contemporary criminology? Explain your answer. Demonic perspective does have a place in studying modern criminology where acts of violence/crime were found to be associated with Satanism/Satanic rituals. Teens indulged in satanic activities often commit crime in order to attain power money and sex. Modern media has also emphasized on certain criminal activities being satanic acts. However, some believe that TV talk shows (that were the medium that wide spread the notion of Satanism) didn’t really present responsible journalism by not discussing the background of the people involved. Often after investigation it was found that people involved in such acts had a history of mental illness. However we cannot certainly lay hands only on the demonic perspective of crime in modern day criminology, proper investigation is still required to put forward the actual cause of the crime. Assignment 2-2 Q. Define both phrenology and physiognomy. Phrenology is the study of science that claims to determine a man’s tendency to commit crime by studying the peeks and lows of its skull. Physiognomy, determines these traits by studying the rest of the features on a man’s face. A relative study of man’s various facial aspects to determine his character and traits. Q. Discuss the Watchtower's role in the history of phrenology. The Watchtower organization although being rejected by the majority of thinkers still carried on its way on to another century, but it was till 1978 that it was completely proven wrong. Watchtower was disregarded in its very early days due to the ideas made by the quacks of that time. Neither is it now accepted that the size of the brain had to do something with the size of the cerebrum or with active mental abilities nor was it accepted that certain facial features were assigned to specific traits. Assignment 2-3 Q. What was Gall’s doctrine on Phrenology. Gall believed that a person’s character can be read by studying the depressions and suppressions of the skull. Gall was the one of the pioneers who believed that the mind is the center of all mental activities. Q. Discuss Gall's work on phrenology. Your answer should include Gall's phrenological theories. Gall’s believed that the traits that a man adheres to are all innate, including holding on to moral and ethical values. His doctrinal principles provided the basis for the intellectual of phrenology. According to which, the brain is the central organ for all the activities, sentiments and emotions. The brain is complex enough to differentiate among the different faculties as it is composed of organs that cater these faculties. And that the size, shape and formation of the skull indicates, the development of the organs within. Gall’s work includes his careful association of the discovered faculties with organs of the brain. Assignment 2-4 Q. Who is J.G. Spurzheim, and what was his role in the history of phrenology? J.G Spurzheim was the one who was involved to spread the teachings of Phrenology in America, in the early 19th century. Thomas Foster declared the work of both Gall and Spurzheim as Phrenology. Apart from the brain map being given by Gall after studying criminals and insane and men, Spurzheim on the other hand mapped out specific areas of self esteem, conjugal love and benevolence on the mind map as well as got rid of the murder and theft organs. Q. In what year was the term phrenology first used? The term Phrenology came in to being, somewhere around in 1819 to 1820s where a British Physician presented this name for the mind works of Gall and Spurzheim. Assignment 2-5 Q. Explain Gall's theory and how his twenty-seven basic mental faculties correlate with a brain organ. Gall’s study determined that the bumps or the peeks and lows of a brain determined his behavior in many regions. For Gall brain wasn’t completely a plain wall, rather it had sectors which were co-related and were responsible for a person’s behavior. According to Gall, sentiments like love, wit, awe, memory, secretiveness, language and cautiousness were all associated with several sectors of the brain that worked together. According to him all of these faculties were inborn and hence performed differently in different beings. Q. Explain Gall's ideas regarding the brain as a "blank slate." Gall negated the idea of regarding brain as a ‘blank slate’. According to him, the brain had innate faculties inscribed on to it and hence the assumption that it is as blank as a slate was disregarded. Assignment 2-6 Q. Name the 4 sets of important faculties as defined by Paul Bouts. Of all the complexities within a human brain, the faculties associated with its organs had been long classified. The number of faculties as distinguished by Gall and many others accounts to about 42, which were later o worked upon by Paul Bouts who categorized them in to 4 major faculties, which are; 1. The Energetical faculties. 2. The Moral faculties. 3. The Area of the Intellect. 4. The Area of Love. Q. Choose one function from each of the 4 sets. Discuss each function. Cautiousness is one of the functions of the Energetical Faculties, which determines the brains response to fear or nervousness. Where a relatively fearful or shy being will remain forever indecisive and a negatively cautious person may result in reckless actions. Cautiousness can be determined by examining the sides of the skull behind the perpendicular line. Human Nature is part of the Area of the Intellect, where the ideal is the study of character, responsible for wisdom and often regarded as intuition. The line of human nature is to be found on the median of the forehead. Benevolence is the part of the Moral faculty, characteristic of true goodness or kindness of the mind, a natural tendency of care for others. A weak benevolent mind will be least bothered about the rest. It could be located somewhere around the upper part of the forehead. Affection is associated with the area of Love. It defines the relations of friendship and noble love, where the feelings for love have to be impure and honest. A weak affectionist mind won’t regard the ideas of care and respect; rather it stands for stone heartedness and ruthlessness. Affection is to be studied from the upper back of the head. Assignment 2-7 Q. Explains Lombroso’s idea of “atavism”. The one work to be linked with Lombroso’s is, ‘atavism’. According to this term there were still beings who were not fully evolved from their primates. His studies explained that there still were sectors in a criminal’s brain, skull and other physical characters that indicated anatomical oddity. According to him criminal or deviant behavior was a key outcome of heredity Q. Lombroso believed that criminals were biologically inferior. Explain this statement. According to Lombroso where most humans have evolved, it was the criminal types that have sadistically devolved in to inferior kinds. Hence, they were the reasons of societal degradation and regression. According to the studies that he had carried out on the skulls of different criminals he had found out that their skulls resembled those of the ‘inferior kinds’, somewhat like those of the apes or rodents from the past. Assignment 2-8 Q. According to Lombroso, what are "atavistic anomalies"? Atavistic anomalies according to Lombroso are the abnormalities in the development of the brain or the skull at the time of birth. Studying the skulls of different criminals indicated and often resolved the reasoning of the crime along with the origin and nature of the criminal. These anomalies help study the criminal traits more easily. VIC-1 Assignment 1-1 Q. Give the definition of a victim. In ancient times a victim was described as a sacrifice that was given to satisfy a sacred or a religious divinity. In the 1940s however, victimologists gave an altogether different meaning of victim to be someone who became the reason of its own victimization. This definition was highly disregarded by feminists in the 80s, where victims were explained to be caught in unbalanced or unpredictable situations. All these variable definitions however explain one thing; victim being someone who has experienced beyond his strength and power by external forces. Q. Who were Von Hentig and Mendelsohn, and what were their contributions to victimology? The contribution of victimologists like Von Hentig and Mendelson dates back to 40s and 50s, when they began discovering and investigating the field of crime by putting forth certain ‘typologies’. They are considered to be the fathers of the field. The investigated and studied the patterns of people who were victimized, such as by studying their characteristics. Mendelson, in order to support his research carried out an interview to understand the reasons behind being victimized. As a result of which he put forward that, victims had an unaware tendency of being victimized. The data he collected after the victims he interviewed he characterized that one out of the six types that he described were innocent, as people being present at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hentig on the other hand studied the victims categorically. There victimization was a result of a certain characteristic that they held. Hentig’s major contribution provided the basis for analyzing victim-precipitation which has been a foundation for the study if victimization in this era. Name the assignment 1-1: “Victimization and the Pioneers of the Study” Assignment 1-2 Q. What is repeat victimization? Repeat victimization can be described as an act where certain people or places are being victimized over and over again. It can be explained as a pattern that is being followed to commit crime over and over again. Often described as, incidents that occur on same or identical victims, within a specific time period. Q. What are some of the factors influencing vulnerability to crime and repeat victimization? Factors influencing crime can be determined by understanding the vulnerability of the victim. High risk of victimization depends upon an individual’s tendency to be victimized. A place’s possible value or worth, a person’s offensive behavior in the past or a poor security system of a house, are some of the possible reasons why a crime can be committed. Repeat victimization on the other hand is a result of probable advantage taken by the criminal to attack the same victim over again. Q. Is repeat victimization predictable?  Why or why not? Repeat victimization is not only predictable but is often calculated as well. The places or people who have been victimized once are more likely to be attacked or robbed again. In other words the probability of revictimization is highly increased after the initial attack. The future attack may occur within a week or even within a day. The risk however declines as the time period between the attacks increases. Works Cited O'Connor, T.  (2011). "The Criminology Mega-Site," MegaLinks in Criminal Justice. 4th July 2011. Web. 11th Sep 2011 http://www.drtomoconnor.com/criminology.htm O'Connor, T.  (2010). "Understanding Criminological Theory," MegaLinks in Criminal Justice. 12 Aug, 2010. Web. 11th Sep 2011 http://www.drtomoconnor.com/understandingcrimtheory.htm Robert O Keel. “Theories of Deviance”. University of Missouri-St.Louis.16th June 2009. Web. 11th Sep 2011. “Criminology: the study of crime and behavior”. Rensselaer. n.d. Web. 11th Sep, 2011. “NCVS-National Crime Victimization Survey Resource Guide”. NACJD: National Archive of Criminal Justice. N.d. Web. 11th Sep, 2011. Greek. Dr Cecil E (Instructor). “Demonic Perspectives”. Criminological Theory.22nd Nov, 2005. Web. 11th Sep, 2011. < http://criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/week1.htm> Jerry Bergman, Ph.D. “Reading Bumps and Faces;  Phrenology and Physiognomy”. A History of the Watchetower’s Excursion into the Occult. N.d. Web. 11th Sep.2011. < http://www.seanet.com/~raines/phrenology.html> “From Abracadabra to Zombies”. The Skeptics Dictionary. 9th of Dec 2010. Web. 11th Sep. < http://skepdic.com/phren.html> “Phrenology - Origins And Development”. Science Encyclopedia. Net Industries. N.d. Web, 11th Sep, 2011. < http://science.jrank.org/pages/10729/Phrenology-Origins-Development.html> “Victimology Theory”. North Carolina Wesleyan College.19th June 2003. Web. 11th Sep 2011. < http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/300/300lecturenote01.htm> “Analyzing Repeat Victimization” (Pg 1).Center for Problem Oriented Policing: 2011 POP Conference. Oct 10-12, 2011 Miami, FL. Web. 11th Sep, 2011. Read More