Crime

1864 – 1933

157 Zitate
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April 10, 2026

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"According to the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), a personality disorder is “An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture” (p. 686). To be diagnosed with a personality disorder, an individual must manifest the disorder in two or more of the following areas: cognitions (ways of perceiving the world), affectivity (emotional response), interpersonal functioning, and impulse control. The enduring pattern must also be inflexible and pervasive across a range of circumstances and situations, lead to clinically significant impairment or distress, and be stable, having originated in adolescence or early adulthood. The pattern also cannot be the product of another mental disorder, substance abuse, or a medical condition. Of the personality disorders defined in the “DSM-IV-TR:, the ‘Axis II’, “Cluster B” disorders are most relevant to the study of criminal behavior. These disorders include “Antisocial Personality Disorder”, “Borderline Personality Disorder”, “Histrionic Personality Disorder”, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. These four disorders share behavioral features such as impulsive acting out, unpredictable behavior, and dramatic presentation, as well as a common intrapsychic structure centered on a lower-level defensive organization that uses primitive defenses. Wulach (1988) suggests that features of each of these disorders comprise the “criminal personality” and there is evidence to suggest that each may represent distinct behavioral expressions of psychopathy. Much of the psychological research on criminal behavior has focused on “antisocial personality disorder” and “psychopathy”. In fact,the concepts of criminality, insanity, antisocial personality, and psychopathy have been so intertwined over the past two centuries that much of the research, particularly in the discipline of psychology, has failed to clearly differentiate between meal ntdisorder (an internal condition) and crime (a behavioral symptom and social construct). Researchers have spent the last 20 years trying to sort out the conceptual differences and in recent years there have been rapid advancement in our understanding of the relationship between antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and crime. According to the “DSM-IV-TR”, the essential feature of APD is “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood” (p.701)."

- Crime

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"Criminal behavior can also be classically conditioned when such behavior is associated with a secondary or conditioned stimulus. A simple example: A teen runaway who’s been living on the streets for some time finds a gun and decides to commit an armed robbery to acquire money to live. Immediately following the robbery, the offender is rewarded with a wallet full of cash. The anxiety of the offender had been experiencing over having no financial resources is immediately alleviated. In this case, the offender’s robbery behavior is positively reinforced by acquiring the ash and negatively reinforced by the alleviation of anxiety. However, what if immediately following the robbery a bystander intervenes, tackling and severely beating the offender? Rather than receiving reinforcements (money, decreased anxiety), the offender receives punishment (attack, beating) and the likelihood of repeating the behavior is reduced. This is an example of “operant conditioning.” Classical conditioning is somewhat different in that behavior is increased through pairing of stimuli. When the offender commit the robbery, the act of robbing someone at gunpoint generates feelings of exhilaration. After committing a number of subsequent robberies and experiencing this physiological arousal each time, the offender begins to associate armed robbery with feeling good. This pairing of an unconditioned or secondary stimulus (the act of robbing someone) with unconditioned or primary stimuli (physiological arousal produced by fear and uncertainty) increases the likelihood of future robbery behavior."

- Crime

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"A great deal of research has accumulated applying social learning theory to analyzing the impact of crime and violence in media and pop culture. Early studies (called the Payne Fund Studies) conducted in the 1930s found that many in a sample of 2,000 respondents were conscious of having directly imitated acts of violence they saw in films. This research spawned decades o controversy and research on the subject of media violence (Sparks & Sparks, 2002). A more recent study found that 25% of juvenile offenders got ideas about how to commit their crimes from popular culture (Surette, 2002). From the perspective of social learning theory, expectations and ideas are conveyed through television, film, music, computer games, and other forms of popular culture and are mimicked by youth in particular. Although there is some disagreement in the literature about whether or not media violence is criminogenic (crime producing) or cathartic (crime reducing) or both, a large and growing body of research suggests media violence triggers the occurrence of criminal behavior and shapes its form (Surette, 1998). Beyond anecdotal accounts of media-mediated violence, little empirical research supports a direct criminalizing effect of violent media. Findings suggest that media depictions of violence are more likely to shape criminal behavior than trigger it (Surette, 1998). People already inclined to commit a crime get ideas about how to commit the crime from media images, but few otherwise law-abiding citizens will be influenced by media to commit a crime. On the other hand, compelling case study evidence suggests that the behavior of a small group of “media junkies” may be unduly influenced by media violence though the potential for violent media to trigger criminal behavior is very small."

- Crime

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"Structural theories view crime as a product of the structure of society, asking the question, “Why do some societies have more crime than others?” From this perspective, crime is rooted in two primary factors-differential opportunity and discrimination toward certain (powerless) groups within society. In a society where the rich and poor live in relatively close proximity, the poor turn to crime as an alternative pathway to success. Crime is defined by the powerful, and laws are created to ensure that the group of groups in power retain the resources. Examples of structural theories are structural functionalism, strain theory and conflict theory. The ominant sociological theory of crime for the first half of the 20th century was “structural functionalism”. According to Durkheim, founding father of sociology and structural functionalist, crime and deviance is the product of social distancing and “anomie”-a state of normlessness. Durkheim also believed that deviance and crime, despite their negative effects, serve a social function by promoting social solidarity among the law abiding. When a criminal or deviant act is committed and made public, law-abiding members of society are united in pointing their fingers at the perpetrators. Law-abiding citizens can also look to deviant behavior to help them define the boundaries of acceptable behavior (Durkheim, 2003). Structural functionalism is illustrated by Kai Erikson’s (1966) case study analysis of Puritan response to revolutionaries in 17th century Bay Colony, showing how societal response to these “offenders” served to solidify the rest of the community and strengthen their moral convictions. Strain theory is another example of a structural theory of crime. According to strain theorists, crime is the product of differential opportunity. Robert Merton extended Durkheim’s ideas, suggesting that anomic results when access to prescribed goals and availability of legitimate means to obtain those goals are lacking. Crime occurs when individuals do not have access to legitimate noncriminal means to obtain the success everyone strives for. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) took this idea further, suggesting that crime is more likely to occur when particular illegitimate opportunities are present, and some people have greater access to particular types of illegitimate opportunity. “Conflict theories” locate the cause of crime in the incompatible interests of multiple groups in society. Conflict theories became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s with the work of Quinney (1970, 1977). Whereas structural functionalists view society from a consensus perspective in which norms are created through a shared understanding of the majority, conflict theorists contend that society is heterogenous and conflictual. Crime is defined by the dominant class to include behavior patterns of those who do not have power in society ad used as a tool to serve the interests of the powerful. A reflexive relationship exists between the definers of crime (the powerful) and those defined as criminal (the powerless) whereby those defined as criminal begin to see themselves as such and learn to play the role with increasing probability of being defined as criminal in the future. Those in power construct an ideology of crime to make sure they stay in power. A social reality of crime is created by defining crime, creating and applying laws, and constructing behavior patterns in such a way that the probability of criminality (and sanctions for criminality) is high for powerless members of society. Conflict theory offers an explanation of both criminal behavior and criminal justice."

- Crime

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"”Marxist and critical theories” are historically related to conflict theories, and many of the conflict theorists are also considered Marxist theorists. The terms “critical criminology” and “radical criminology” are often used synonymously with Marxist criminology, though critical criminology has branched out considerably from Marxism. Some suggest that critical criminology does not reflect a coherent body of theories and should be viewed under the umbrella term “constitutive criminology” along with other critical approaches such as postmodernism, chaos theory, semiotics, edgework, catastrophe theory, critical race theory, and peacemaking criminology (Akers * Sellers, 2004). Like conflict theory, Marxist theory locates the cause and legal definitions of criminality in power relations, but rejects the idea that the conflict is between multiple groups. From the Marxist perspective, there are two groups-the power elite and the masses or working class. Laws are constructed by the power elite-the small group of ruling class who has all the social, economic, and political power. The power elite manipulate social institutions such as the academic community, mass media, and other sources of public opinion to make it appear that the law protects everyone’s interests so that the masses wil continue to believe the system is legitimate. Marxist theory contends that the riminal justice system is a tool to repress the working class, but the theory has little to say about crime. Karl arx himmself did not write about criminal behavior. Marxist (and conflict) theorists explain criminal behavior as an inevitable response to the capitalistic system. People engage in crime because either they are brutalized by and trying to accommodate the capitalistic system or their crimes are conscious or unconscious acts of revolution and resistance. Marxist theories can be particularly useful in explaining certain types of crime (e.g., political crime), but fall short in offering etiological explanation for most types of criminal behavior."

- Crime

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"Cultural theories recognize that society is made up of conflicting subcultures with different norms, values, beliefs, and characteristics. Cultural conflict exists between different subcultures and those whose values conflict with the dominant culture. When a subculture conflicts with dominant culture, the norms, values, and behaviors of that subculture are deemed deviant or criminal. When members of a subculture are defined as deviant by the larger society, they adopt and solidify values and norms that contrast with those of the dominant culture. Subcultures that conflict with the dominant culture ensure their survival through cultural transmission, passing their norms and values from generation to the next, ensuring the continuation of cultural conflict and placement outside the dominant culture (Aler & Adler, 2003). <br. The “subculture of violence theory” is an example of a cultural theory. This theory (originally developed by Wolfgang and Ferracuti in their text “The Subculture of Violence”) states that more violence occurs in lower-class subcultures as a result of particular norms, values, expectations, and behaviors. Values such as honor, masculinity, defense of status, and the use of physical violence to settle disputes define subcultures of violence. Some researcher suggest that a subculture of violence exists in the American South and among African Americans, and delinquent gangs (Vold, Bernard Snipes, 2002). In general, cultural theories suggest that crime is the product of criminal subcultures within a society whose values conflict with the dominant culture. Features of criminal subcultures include an exaggerate sense of masculinity, toughness, thrill-seeking, fatalistic philosophy, getting into trouble, and an antiauthority stance."

- Crime

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"The routine activity theory is a type of “rational choice theory”. Rational choice theories suggest that individuals freely choose to engage in criminal behavior when the benefits outweigh the costs. The routine activity theory is unique in that the theory recognizes that the degree to which a person can freely choose is constrained by a multitude of factors and forces. For example, if an individual who is biologically predisposed to commit crime (ie., a person with low autosomic arousal, low self-control, and traits such as impulsivity, irresponsibility, etc.) finds him- or herself in a situation in which there are high temptations and low controls (e.g., brand new Range Rover with keys in the ignition left in a dark parking lot with no one around), he or she would be more inclined to “choose” to steal the car then someone who is not biologically predisposed to commit crime. From the perspective of the routine activity theory, crime is the product of the interaction between individual, situational/contextual, and environmental factors that converge in a way that increases the likelihood that crime will occur. Certain types of crime are more likely to occur in certain contexts where there are particular presences and absences. For example, violent crime is more likely to occur in a setting such as a bar where there a high number of young males drinking alcohol. In such a setting, there are presences (young males, alcohol) and absences (a prosocial audience-elderly individuals, children). A particular “chemistry for crime” exists in this setting, with elements such as a likely offender, a suitable target, and the absence of capable guardians converging to produce a crime-generating context that produces a crime-attracting sequence of events (Felson, 2002). Routine activity theory is one of the more applicable theories in terms of providing concrete recommendations to policy aker charges with increasing public safety. Box 2.2. provides an example of how routine activity theory has been applied to community gang problems."

- Crime

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"In their book “Cultural Criminology” Ferel and Sanders (1995) argue that to make sense of crime, it is necessary to make sense of culture. The authors propose the development of a “cultural criminology” that recognizes criminality and criminalization as cultural enterprises that must be studies through a synthesis of divergent perspectives including social, feminist, and cultural theories. From this perspective, criminal behavior (and its control) is constructed, in part, through media, popular culture, and the “aesthetics” of authority that dictates what is beautiful,” decent,” clean,” and “appropriate” (p.15). Criminal identities are born and shaped within culture and within criminal subcultures0collective criminal aesthetic and style, symbolism, and meaning are important factors in understanding the criminality. Ferrell and Hamm (1998) suggest that “jailhouse criminology,” which has attempted to study crime through official sources, social science surveys, and traditional quantitative measures, has prohibited true understanding of crime or “criminological verstehen.” Criminologists have neglected findings produced through ethnographic studies that offer the insider perspective on crime and deviance. To truly understand criminal behavior, researchers must study crime with quantitative (surveys, available data) and qualitative (ethnographic) methods that together are able to tell the complete story of crime. For example, official statistics tell us things like what percentage of armed robbers are male, what percentage of known serial killers have been physically and sexually abused, the correlation between age and violence, and so on. However, this sort of information tells us little about the personal style and aesthetics of bank robbers, the nature of the communities and subcultures within which they spend their time, the specific ways in which girls and women learn that aggression is not a tool with which they are able to obtain resources, the process by which a serial killer comes to attach meaning to particular types of victims or crime scene trophies, or the complex nature of the collusion between youth culture, media and pop culture, alternative style and meaning, and crime."

- Crime

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