01:920:222 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Theft, Alcoholism, Center For Process Studies
8 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
People commit crime of their own free will (after weighing costs & benefits of committing crime) Reject free will and emphasize determinism (identify forces beyond individuals" control that drive them to do crime) Each explains crime w/ psychological, economic or social determinism. Each focuses on explaining the causes of crime. Each of these explanations has implications for crime policy. Psychological, economic & sociological positivists ten to practice a softer positivism than biological positivists (hard vs soft positivism) To judge which among many competing, contradictory theories offers the soundest explanation of crime. If a theory cannot be tested by scientific criteria, it has no scientific value. A theory is not testable if its concepts are not measureable by observable and reportable events. Theories with the most empirical support are the strongest theories. If it breaks the legal rules, it is a crime. If it breaks the rules for appropriate behavior, it can be seen as a sin, inappropriate, etc.
