Criminology Notes Essay Example For Students

Criminology Notes Essay Chapter 1 Criminology- an academic discipline that makes use of scientific methods to study the nature that causes extent and control of crime 2 Levels of Explanations 1. Micro- the individual 2. Macro- societal levels of crime (rate) (Places are compound) *Criminology is interdisciplinary The field is comprised of the study related to a bunch of different disciplines ( sociology, psychology, and political science) 5 Schools of Thought 1. Classical School 2. Positivism 3. Sociological Crim 4. Conflict Crim 5. Contemporary School- compiled of a bunch of theories having a common theme 1. 1700s Classical School- blames individual Substance A. Freewill choices B. Rationality- thinks before they act C. Deterrence- cost out weighs benefits 2. 1800s Positivism Substances A. prediction based on scientific methods B. limits on freewill . Early positivist were biological used poor methods 3. Sociological Crim A. Positivistic B. Causes is social factors Chicago Schools bad place Socialization family, peers 4. Conflict Crim A. Marx B. Labeling Economic system creates imbalances (capitalism) Creates class conflict Crime is an act of defiance 5. Contemparary Crim A. Integrated theories B. Life course Chapter 2 1. Official Stats (UCR) Uniform Crime Reports 2. Victimization Survey (NCVS) 3. Self Reports 1. UCR- local PDs who compile reports, then filed by the FBI macro/ micro voluntary measure only 8 index crimes + 1933 trends over time + Good measure for serious crimes, people care enough to report, are committed by strangers Hierarchical crime in that are higher crimes Dangers of over count and under count (filtering) Dark figure of crimes only 8 crimes count no federal crime no individual data 2. NCVS Been around since the 60s Conducted by the Census Bureau Nationwide survey of thousands (50,000) In person survey Prior 6 months of the crime + Taps dark figure of crime + Influences on victimizations Interviewer related problems Non recall Lying Possibility of bias questioning Doesnt count counties crimes Doesnt measure serious crimes really well because they are rare, so it doesnt get picked up Sampling error Age of respondents 3. How they got there? Who collects them? What are strengths and weaknesses . Self Reports Anonymous and confidential Main topic- delinquency Often done in prison + good measure at delinquency + gets at attitudes regarding offending + individual levels of data regarding offending inaccurate reports sampling error serious violent crimes dont show up . 1930 1960 crime rates rose. 1960 1980 it raised more . the rate of crime between 1960 1980 tripled 4. Factors Correlated with Rates age demographics how many young males are in pop. Gender economy short term changes seem to have little effect long term down slides increase crime rates probably drug use 2/3 of all arrested are either high or drunk casual order Bivariate Correlations means two things going on. Take on factor, then crime . multivariate 5. Social Problems and Crime rate of poverty population density population mobility rate of single parents (female head of households) drop out rates (school) 6. .