The roots of crime

Social systems

Theories

Biological

Psychological

Sociological

Economic

Cultural

Anthropological

Biological

Genetic (twins, adoptees, parental criminality; XYY)GenderAgeANS researchNutrition, dietHead injuries (EEG, motor skills)Problems at birth

Psychological factors

Aggressive

Impulsive

Hyperactive

Sensation-seeking

Difficult children

Many difficult children do not become criminal, but most offenders were difficult

Psychological factors

Problem behavior syndromePoor verbal intelligence (predictive factor in high risk children)Learning disabilitiesADD and ADHDAntisocial Personality DisorderMental IllnessMoral reasoning

Families

Parental attachment/rejection

Consistent/inconsistent discipline

Supervision/monitoring

Neglect

Abuse

“Broken” home (never married or divorced)

Families

Large family size

Family variables affected by age of the parent(s), educational level, financial status, and availability of social supports (social capital)

Extended family

Current policy: welfare (cash assistance) system

Families

Textbook suggests discouraging unwed pregnancy

Seeking out and taxing fathers

???

Peers

Generally delinquents/criminals have delinquent/criminal peers

Criminality learned from others through associations

“hanging around with the wrong crowd”

Problem for aftercare, parole

Schools

Offenders have poor academic achievement

Fail grades, truant, drop out

Do not participate in school activities

Successful schools: consistent discipline, nurturing, critical mass of motivated students

Tracking?

Schools

Current policies require compulsory school attendance, and schools are pressed to keep attendance up

Some unintended consequences: internal dropouts, “dumbing down” of curricular options, forcing adolescents to stay in school who formerly would have dropped out and gone to work

Schools

Weakening of school/teacher authorityBreakdown of informal controlsBook suggests lowering the age of compulsory attendance, with work options and options for re-entering the school systemHaving adult learners return to high school with adolescents

Schools

Cognitive-behavioral methods for changing problem behavior have some effectExamples: PASS (Plan a Safe Strategy), Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways, Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS)

Anger Control Training—identifying antecedents, self-monitoring, self-

Schools

Self-instructions, reinterpretation of situations, self-evaluation, sequence of problem-solving steps to take during difficult situations

Schools

Programs that better establish expected norms and behaviors somewhat effectiveProgram to reduce bullyingMixed effects for mentoring/tutoringDARE and counseling strategies appeared to have little effectSuspensions/expulsions negative effects

Social control

Attachment, commitment, involvement

Labelling effects

Primary and secondary deviance

Implications: diversion, due process, deinstitutionalization

Neighborhoods and communities

Social ecological model

Juvenile Delinquency & Urban Areas by Shaw & McKay

Poverty, heterogeneity and residential instability (mobility) lead to community level social disorganization

Effect of poverty may be conditional on mobility (rapid population turnover)

Neighborhoods

Negative relationship between residential stability and violent crimes

Physical structure and density of the population may have effects

% of units in multi-unit housing structures a strong predictor of violent crime

Leads to anonymity

Neighborhoods

Family disruption

Neighborhood concentrations of stable families may be protective of children in unstable situations

Large % of female based households predictive of violent crime

Social disorganization

Approach views community as a system of families, friends and acquaintances in a network

Socially organized: inhibit crime

i.e., monitoring youths

Set of obligations, expectations, social networks

Social capital

Communities

Social capital may be reflected in assumption of responsibility for other youth, rate of participation local organizations and voluntary associations

Social disorganization: inability of a community recognize common values and maintain social controls

Communities

% who felt responsible for neighborhood and who belonged to/participated in organizations predictive of lower levels of crime

“neighboring” activities predictive of lower rates

Social cohesion surveys predictive (collective efficacy)

Communities

Factors that increase this process:

Withdrawal

Decline in organizations

Deteriorating businesses

Population changes, loss of stable residents

Increases in delinquency

Crime undermines economic and social aspects of a neighborhood

Implications

Changing neighborhoods

Identifying hot spots

Reducing social disorder, i.e., cleaning up litter, organization of walking groups for adults in public areas, protesting/picketing disorder crimes

Implications

Building informal controls, such as organized supervision of youths, watching street corner groups, adult-youth mentoring

Housing based neighborhood stabilization: resident management, code enforcement

Reduce population flight, anonymity

Scattered housing

Some evidence that dispersing public housing, relocating mothers to suburbs improves social outcomes of mothers and children

Community based interventions to improve prenatal care, support programs for families (child-rearing skills

Implications

Increasing community empowerment, local involvement, voting, etc.

Economics

Overall economy not particularly correlated to the crime rate

Competing hypotheses: need, affluence, relative deprivation

Labor markets not clearly correlated to crime

However, may be related to crime in high crime areas

Economics

Must distinguish between transitory economic downturns and job loss from the more permanent changes in the labor market, i.e., permanent loss of manufacturing jobsIncome distribution may also be a factorWealthiest 20% in U.S. have 49% of income

Economics

Poorest 60% have 28%

Wealthiest 1% have 40% of the wealth, and their net wealth has increased over 20% in the last 20 years

Bottom 40% decreased in wealth by 80%

Economics

Consistent trend: More wealth being accumulated by a small percentage

Bottom 50% not benefiting , and are

Probably relatively worse off

Economics

Ethnographic studies of offenders find that:

Many have both legal jobs and illegal activities

Income earned is low, but they can make more per hour from crimes, especially drug selling, and they perceive this

Economics

Gangs might have grown because the opportunities available to make money may have had more appeal than the low wage jobs otherwise availableBecause of neighborhood declines, such youth often have little connection to the world of work, or few “ins” to this world

Current programs

Enterprise zones, community development block grants

Weed & Seed

Mobility and dispersion programs: relatively small number take advantage of them, positive outcomes, politically unattractive

Commuting programs

Current programs

Summer employment, Job training Partnership Act (JTPA)

Job Corps has shown employment and educational gains and reductions in arrests

Manpower JTPA for adult offenders, no overall effects except for offenders > 26