SOCO 330 Crime and Delinquency
Download
Report
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.
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
2
Criminal Justice System
POLICE
7/21/2015
COURTS
SOCO 330
TREATMENT
3
Criminal Justice System II
LAWS
POLICE
7/21/2015
COURTS
SOCO 330
TREATMENT
4
Criminal Justice System III
SOCIETY
LAWS
POLICE
7/21/2015
COURTS
SOCO 330
TREATMENT
5
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.
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
6
Question:
Name a specific behavior that is
considered deviant by all societies at all
times, without regard to the social
interpretation of the event.
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
7
Types of Deviance
Informal
Mores
Folkways
7/21/2015
Formal (Laws)
Severe
Felonies (1-6)
Sanctions
Misdemeanors
(1-3)
Mild
Petty Offenses
SOCO 330
(1-2)
8
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.
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
9
Functionalism
What is okay, what is not?
Not Okay
Okay
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
10
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?”
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
11
Get Rid of Deviance?
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
12
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
7/21/2015
330 trait?”
13
Get Rid of Deviance?
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
14
Comparison of
MacroThreories
Conflict Theory
Functionalism
Benefits of normative
structure to society as
a whole.
Homogenous
interests.
Approach: Ask “How
do traits benefit
society?”
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
Groups have
conflicting interests.
When definitions
differ, those serving
the powerful group
tend to prevail.
Approach: Ask
“Which groups benefit
most from certain
traits?”
15
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?
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
16
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
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
17
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.
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
18
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;
7/21/2015the “Iron Cage” of Rationality
SOCO 330
19
End 330lecta
7/21/2015
SOCO 330
20