Criminal justice theories

Lombroso: people who are inherently criminal because they are incapable of functioning according to norms of society because of primitive biological state

Sheldon: categorizing people

tall and muscular, most likely to be criminals

short, round, and jolly and rather unintelligent

lean and thin

Binet: difference between child's mental age and chronological age

impairments in regions of brain for self-control, reasoning, and problem-solving linked to violent behavior

low levels of neurotransmitters are linked to impulsive and aggressive responses

replaced with "antisocial personality disorder by APA", high rates of criminality and repeat patterns of chronic offending

human actions are derived from learning experiences including learning from others and reinforcement of behaviors

strong correlation between exposure to violence and hostility and aggressive behavior

Durkheim: crime is objective indication of what is wrong/immoral in society, crime is social fact and exists outside individual traits and variations in human thought and action

Shaw and McKay: rates of juvenile delinquency remain stable over time and correspond to inner-city zone, support theory that crime is characteristic of ecological conditions with social environment of urban communities

Merton: (anomie) a state of normlessness and confusion that leads to strain due to discrepancy between cultural norms that define success (goals) and legitimate ways to achieve it (means)

Miller: lower class have different focal concerns, values, and behaviors that arise to meet the conditions of environment

Cohen: reaction formation

ummm

Cloward & Ohlin: Merton's strain theory is correct (opportunities for success not evenly distributed) but distribution of crime also depends on presence of illegitimate opportunities , frustration + strain + access to illegitimate opportunity = theory

everyone has potential to commit crime, crime is a learned, socialized behavior

Sutherland: key to understanding criminal behavior is to examine their learning experiences that put them in contact with values, attitudes, and behaviors that favor crime

Cressey & Sutherland: social mechanism whereby we learn criminal behavior

Burgess & Akers: individuals learn to define behaviors according to the rewards and punishments attached to them

Glaser: the degree to which a person identifies with criminal behavior patterns determines whether they will commit criminal acts not the frequency or intensity of their associations

root cause of deviant behavior is the absence of social controls that allow individuals to manage impulses and obey laws, assume all people have the potential to deviate from societal norms

Individuals must become socialized to the pushes (weaknesses) and pulls (rewards) on them by internal and external factors

boundaries to keep from crime like family and keep within social structure

internal beliefs and social goals

Hirschi: people avoid committing criminal acts based on their interpersonal attachments to people who disapprove of criminality, successful integration into society includes the development of social bonds

Attachment (social), commitment (effort and willingness), involvement (time in activities), and belief (morals)