Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @
CSUN
Admin
Individualistic
Accounts
Biology Traits &
Psychology States
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @ CSUN
Admin
Classical



Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
54%
A.
17%
B.
4%
C.
24%
D.
2%
E.







4
Psych
Both
Focus
19%
16%
38%
25%
Beccaria & Bentham
Becker & Gordon
Black & Godard
Marx & Weber
Montesquieu & Voltaire
Currently a cop
2.
Want to be a cop
Alts.
Admin
In other law enforcement
4.
Want to be in other L.E.
5.
None of the above
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
6
Alts.

Mixed at best
Other factors: family, self-concept, conscience
Classical
7
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Crime from individualistic forces




Internal flaws
Not free agents who choose behavior
“Positivism”/Scienticity

Move away from reform (for a time)
Shift away from philosophy, to data
Major thrusts NOT sociological

SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
Irrational behavior
Non-material rationality
Overemphasize agency (vs. structure)
Overemphasize law (vs. other controls)
Fits for property, not violent or expressive
Post-Classicism

3.
Classical
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @ CSUN
Pick the 1st that applies to you…
1.
Alts.
Empirical support

Biology
Focus
Adequacy

Structural Theories
 Process/Developmental Theories
 Critical Theory
 Social Geometry
2%
Both
Critique of the Classics

Classical
Psych
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
Admin
Alts.
Biology
Psychology
Sociology
Next:
Admin
Biology
1
Lecture Outline

Classical
Q1. With what two names is classical
criminology most associated?
Biology and Psychology
5
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @ CSUN
8
1
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @
CSUN
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Admin
Alts.
Q2. Which matter(s) did
classical explanations ignore?
20%
5%
12%
A.
Situations in which crime happens
B.
Who commits crimes
C.
Which people commit crimes
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Later Biological Strategies

Genetic influences

Body types – William Sheldon
 Ectomorph/endomorph/mesomorph
Crime and human nature – misc.
Adoption studies
 XYY theory – extra Y chromosome


20%
43%
D.
When is crime committed?
E.
All of the above
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
9
12
Alts.
Admin
Post-Classicism



Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Biological Strategies, cont’d
Crime from individualistic forces

Classical

Internal flaws
Not free agents who choose behavior
Others
Autonomic Nervous System Deficiency
 Brain dysfunctions
 Sex Hormones – PMS
 Dietary conditions – hypoglycemia

“Positivism”/Scienticity
Move away from reform (for a time)
 Shift away from philosophy, to data

10
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
13
Alts.
Admin
Classical
Phrenology


1%
skulls/brains
5%
Cartography



Franz Joseph Gall –
6%
A.M. Guerry –
ecological maps
Adolphe Guetelet – societal constancy, mechanics
Transmitted behavior



Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Q3. Phrenology…
Earliest “Positivists”

Biology
Isaac Ray – deficient mental faculties
Richard Dugdale – biologically inherited depravity
Cesare Lombroso – atavism & born criminals
A.
B.
C.
86%
D.
1%
E.
Extends Darwin’s ideas on evolution
Involves maps and cartography
Is a psychological account of crime
Relates crime to brain/skull shapes
Was based on study of the Jukes
family
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @ CSUN
14
11
2
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @
CSUN
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Admin
Probs w/ Biological Accounts

Theoretical


Methodological




Too diverse - Loose findings; no cohesive theory
Small/bad samples
Measurements
Replications
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
3%
A.
8%
B.
3%
C.
35%
D.
51%
E.
Alts.
Id
Personality development
Superego
Unconscious
Underego
Empirical


Not account for relativity
Group-rate differences
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
15
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Admin
Psychological Drives/States

Focus
Q4. Which is not part of
Freud’s theory of crime?
Psychoanalytic

Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Other pieces
Identification of criminals –
abnormality?
 Agency – ignores inequality & soc.
structure
 Policy implications – WTF to do? 
 Subsequent developments
(instinct)
(rational/learned)
 superego (internalized moral code)
 ego
But antisocial behavior isn’t mentally
disordered
 Childhood
 Poor
Biology

Freud – personality development, 3 parts:
 id

Classical
18
experiences aren’t paramount
methodology (esp. case histories)
16
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Admin
Psych. Drives/States, cont’d








From institutionalization, not cause?


Bio & psych are micro; Soc is macro?
Eh… biological evolution is macro, and
plenty of sociological explanations are micro
“whether you think it is more important to understand the
smaller picture or the larger one”
That should be an empirical (or theoretical) question:

17
Alts.
Neoclassical is about free will
Biol & psych place cause(s) within individual
Soc IDs causes in social environment, outside individual

not predict who acts on it
Focus
False dichotomies

Temperament
Both
Eh, not really:

Serious methods probs
Personality




Intelligence/IQ
Psych
Yes:

Piaget – 4 stages
 Kohlberg – moral development [ack]
Biology
Barkan’s Comparisons

Moral development
Classical
What is it that you’re trying to explain?
What claim(s) explain(s) the most?
20
3
Crime & Criminal Justice w/ Ellis Godard @
CSUN
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Admin
Law inherently individualistic









Enacting of “the law”, but not “law in action”
Emile Durkheim (“social fact”) unfulfilled

Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Beyond Individualism

Language – rights, actions, standing
Assumptions – best interests, system “works”
Criticism – police brutality, race relations
“Sociology of Law” typically is, too

Biology
Pure Sociology
Crime, Law, & Individualism

Classical
No psychology – only observable, social facts
No tautology – don’t explain w/ goals/purposes
No people as such – “the person is dead”
Treats Law as Observable Quantity

Not abstract force, or codified body of rules

Varies (distributed unevenly in time & space)


Exists beyond individuals

Social fact that behaves in its own r ight
Can describe its variation, explain its distribution
Can use that understanding to solve “problems”
21
Admin
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
24
Alts.
Admin
Individualism Flawed

Empirically




16%
Inconclusive research
Methodological problems
Vast sociological knowledge ignored (context!)
8%
Theoretically


“Oversocializes” or “undersocializes”
Causal order unclear

Scientifically

Practically


Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
15%
Less simple, general, testable, valid, & original
48%
Inhibits/Precludes “solutions” to “problems”
13%
A.
Adoption studies
B.
Body type theories
C.
Human nature theories
D.
Social Geometry
E.
XYY Theory
Classical
Biology
Psych
Both
Focus
Alts.
Admin
Sociological Explanations







Biology
Points
3.17
Team
Currently a cop
2.51
Want to be in other
L.E.
In other law
enforcement
Want to be a cop
None of the above
2.28
Subcultural
Learning
Control
2.27
2.27
Meso:


Ecology & Disorg
Strain & Anomie
Micro:

Classical
Psych
Both
Focus
25
Alts.
Team Scores
Macro:

Alts.
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
22
Admin
Focus
Q5. All but which provide
biological accounts of crime?
Points
Team
Life Course
Integrated
Etc: Critical & Geometric
23
SOC355 @ CSUN w/ ELLIS GODARD
26
4