Transcript SOCO 330 Crime and Delinquency

Crime and Delinquency
Lecture A: Introduction
© 2004
Gene H. Starbuck, Ph.D.
Mesa State College
About This Course
Purpose is NOT to develop applied skills-Questions are not how to be a better social
worker, police officer, counselor, or parent.
Purpose IS to develop sociological
thinking about crime.
Question is, how does society produce crime,
and why is there differential production of
crime across time and place.
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Criminal Justice System
POLICE
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TREATMENT
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Criminal Justice System II
LAWS
POLICE
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Criminal Justice System III
SOCIETY
LAWS
POLICE
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Society is Criminogenic
NORMS: Widespread expectations governing
behavior.
Formal: codified, institutionalized
enforcement mechanisms.
Informal: not codified, no formal
enforcement.
DEVIANCE: Norm-violating behavior about
which people feel something should be done.
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Question:
Name a specific behavior that is
considered deviant by all societies at all
times, without regard to the social
interpretation of the event.
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Types of Deviance
Informal
Mores
Folkways
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Formal (Laws)
Severe
Felonies (1-6)
Sanctions
Misdemeanors
(1-3)
Mild
Petty Offenses
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(1-2)
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Questions Raised-Why and how do norms develop?
Why does some deviance become
formalized, while other deviance is
informal?
Who benefits from a given definition of
formal deviance?
Two Macrosocial views: Functionalism
and Conflict Theory.
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Functionalism
What is okay, what is not?
Not Okay
Okay
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Functionalism (cont)
“Wayward Puritans” Erikson, Durkheim
Benefits of norms (and deviance) to
society as a whole.
Assumes homogenous interests, so
members of a society all benefit.
Approach: Find social regularity (trait);
ask “How does that trait benefit (be
functional to) society?”
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Get Rid of Deviance?
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Conflict Theory (Marx)
Society includes groups whose interests
sometimes conflict with each other;
Definitions of deviance and crime serve
certain groups;
When definitions differ, those serving the
powerful group tend to prevail.
Example: Carrier Case of 1473.
Approach: Find trait; ask “Which groups
benefit most from SOCO
that
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Get Rid of Deviance?
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Comparison of
MacroThreories
Conflict Theory
Functionalism
Benefits of normative
structure to society as
a whole.
Homogenous
interests.
Approach: Ask “How
do traits benefit
society?”
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Groups have
conflicting interests.
When definitions
differ, those serving
the powerful group
tend to prevail.
Approach: Ask
“Which groups benefit
most from certain
traits?”
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Questions:
How might functionalists and conflict
theorists explain the following laws:
murder;
theft;
trespassing;
assault?
How would each type of theorist look at
psychological-level theories of crime?
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Formalization of Deviance-Emile Durkheim
Key question: what holds society together?
Society types: communal
associational
Tönnies:
Gemeinschaft
Gesellschaft
Solidarity:
Mechanical
Organic
Division of Labor

Very little
Extensive
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Formalization of Deviance-Emile Durkheim (Cont.)
Schwartz and Miller, extension of Durkheim.
Earliest, sometimes acephalous, systems: kin
controlled, retribution, etc., then:
1. Mediation: regular use of non-kin 3rd party
intervention in disputes;
2. Police: specialized armed force used partly or
wholly for norm enforcement;
3. Counsel: regular use of specialized non-kin
advocate in settlement of disputes.
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Formalization of Deviance-Max Weber
Power: Legitimate (authority) vs. illegitimate.
Types of authority:
1. Charismatic: attribution to a leader, by his
followers, of god-like qualities.
2. Traditional: conferred by connection to custom
and days of yore.
3. Legal-rational: authority in the position, not the
person; based on rules and regulations.
Increasing “rationalism” in society.
Reliance on law; secularization; bureaucratization;
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End 330lecta
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