Comment on the material in Chapter 6 concerning the "invention" of medical problems such as hyperactivity and child abuse. Do you agree that these conditions have medical roots or that some medical treatment or intervention is appropriate. For example, if a person who was abused as a child then abuses children later in life, should the history of abuse be used to mitigate some degree of guilt? To what degree are such offenders "created" by forces beyond their control, such as living a life of abuse and neglect.
Crime (chapters 6 and 8) Crime and Delinquency Biology and Crime There is a long tradition in criminology that there are biological roots to criminal behavior. The major issue revolves around how much of an influence biology has on crime compared to other known social factors. This issue has been revisited recently with advances in our understanding of the brain and brain chemistry. This is a politically charged issues, often related to questions of racism and gender bias. Early Ideas:1860-1970 The book presents excellent reviews of the work of the early leaders of this field: Lombroso Dugdale Goring Lange Hooton Sheldon Crime Control and Drug Therapy The use of lobotomies as a means of making the criminally violent docile has been in decline for decades. Since crime is so often related to psychological or emotional injuries, for example, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or mental illness, control of these conditions with drugs has some crime reduction effects. Crime and Social Structure Recall that social structure refers to all the norms, roles, statuses, institutions and values of a society. All these factors influence crime in one way or another. Generally speaking, research on crime and social structure centers on the criminogenic effect of economy and other social institutions, such as the neighborhood or family. Delinquency and Juvenile Justice Delinquency Delinquency is a status imposed by a state juvenile court in cases where a person below a specified age, generally 16, is responsible for a criminal act. The legal tradition of holding youth to a lower standard of criminal culpability dates back to Roman law, and has been a part of American law since 1900. The Juvenile Court Juvenile Court The first juvenile courts in the US were created around 1900. The book presents a very good history of this movement and its proponents. The contemporary juvenile court is widely viewed as dysfunctional for a wide variety of reasons. Juvenile Justice in Crisis Several factors account for the crisis in juvenile justice: Growing intolerance of youthful crime Outdates procedures and poor technology Insufficient resources Gangs and criminal subculture influences Youthful Crime Dispositions Disposition of cases: most youthful offenders are released http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4252010.pdf Notice in the first horizontal row that of the 495,453 juveniles in police custody less that 50,000 of about 9.4% are referred to police or the courts. This is a common trend in juvenile justice. Arrests of Juveniles http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t472010.pdf This table shows the number and percentages of juveniles among all arrests for 2010. Notice the age distribution from under age 15 (the far left side) to age 20. Also notice the kinds of crimes young people commit, Particularly in the second tier of crimes, just below the summary statistics for Violent and Property crimes. Crime in America Crime in America Crime trends have shown significant decline for the past several decades What is Crime? One can ask about crime the question we asked about deviance – how is crime defined? Just as in deviance generally, definitions of crime are chosen on the basis of who controls the rule making and rule enforcing processes. Such processes are not immune to the biases, corruption and misinformation found in the larger society. Marijuana and its Legal Status: A Case Study As is described in the chapter on drugs, marijuana was not considered contraband until after 1937, despite a history of use dating back to Biblical times. Research has shown that marijuana was criminalized by linking it to crazed Mexican and Black users, which is the case with other drug laws and other minorities/deviants. Watch Reefer Madness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLLLTntnqjk Its in 8 parts and lasts about an hour. This was propaganda aimed at generating public support for laws against pot. Pot and the White Middle Class Marijuana use was found to exist among the middle class in the 1960s and became a popular drug among college students. Increased arrests of white kids for pot possession led to a reduction in penalties for use. This was because middle class parents forced legislatures to change the law so their kids would not go to prison. The Trend Looking back, when pot was associated with minorities it was made criminal and by the 1950s included death for drug dealers. By the 1970s the children of the rule creators and enforcers were using pot and the laws changed to just fines. Crime in America Crime was highest in the 1970s and declined significantly in the 1990s. There is a recent increase over the past 20 or so years. Property crime is the most common crime, while violent crime is lower and has been for decades. Gangs has become a significant problem in most American cities. Crime in America: 2010 http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement Use this link to find the crime rate in your town. Look on the right for Table 8 and search by state. The other tables are equally interesting. Trends in Crime http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4202010.pdf This link show crimes for which there was an arrest for the past several decades. If there was no arrest, or the crime was not reported, it is not counted here. These uncounted crimes are as many as 60% of all criminal acts. Racism in the Criminal Justice System There is evidence of racial disparities in the criminal justice process. Minorities are generally treated more harshly than whites. Social scientists explain this disparity as based on factors like having a job, owning property, hiring an attorney and other sociological factors. Direct racial discrimination has not been proven, poverty seems to be the most likely explanation. Female Crime Female crime has increased in amount but not so much in type of crime since the 1970s. Women are not as likely to commit violent crime as are men, and prostitution and petty theft remain some of the most common crime committed by women. As women move into positions of power in business, more will commit those kinds of crimes. Controlling Crime America used to attempt to rehabilitate criminals while they were in prison with education and drug and psychological treatment. Since the 1980s the trend in America is to use prisons to punish and warehouse minorities and the poor. The increase in sentence length since the 1980s accounts for part of the decline in crime in the 1990s.