SOCI 304 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Homicide, Criminology, Youtube
12 Oct 2018
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Department
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SOCI 304
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Outline
1 Post-War Crime Trends (LaFree 1999) & Contemporary Patterns
2 Updates from Ch. 2 of Vold’s Theoretical Criminology
3 Further Explanatory Factors
1. Postwar Crime Trends (LaFree)
• Crime Boom (increase) 1961-1974
• 113% increase of murder
• 233% increase in robbery
• Crime Bust (decrease) 1991-1997
• Crime Stability (consistent) since 2000’s
2. Ch. 2 of Vold’s Theoretical Criminology
• Opposing narratives of crime wave
• Body Count: ‘moral poverty’ ‘super predators’
o Can’t control impulses
• Crime and Punishment in America: root causes of crime boom, income inequality and
lack of social services spending
• Factors that shift over time:
o Economic measures
o Population demographics
o Police strength
o Imprisonment rate
• Factors that are time-specific:
o Emergence of crack cocaine epidemic
o Legalization of abortion
o Unleaded gasoline
1. Postwar Crime Trends (LaFree)
a. Explanations
i. Exogenous Effects
1. Economic stress
2. Political legitimacy
3. Family disorganization
4. Age structure
5. Drug markets
6. Routine activities
ii. Public policy effects
1. Criminal justice system
2. Education and welfare
b. Exogenous Effects: those that are largely independent of crime policy
c. Economic Stress: economic stress undermines legitimacy of social order and weakens social
bonds (e.g., social disorganization theory)
i. Crime Boom: paradox during rising crime period: absolute vs. relative economic stress
ii. Crime Bust: how does crime drip relate to economic stress? 1994- decline in income
inequality alongside crime drip, but may be too soon to tell Recent evidence suggests it
explains up to 10% of crime drop
d. Political Legitimacy: society faces the problem of legitimizing laws and having populace follow
them
e. Social disorganization
i. Breakdown in social organization will free actors to engage in antisocial behaviors
including crime
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
f. Resource mobilization
i. Crime Boom: reasonable
g. Family Disorganization: families control crime by regulating behavior of family members –
surveillance and positive bonds decrease antisocial behavior
i. Crime Boom: rapid changes in family organization may be associated with rise in crime
ii. Crime Bust: what is happening with families that may contribute to the crime drop?
Family stability, family routinization
h. Age Structure:
i. Increase young people, increase violent crime
ii. Relationship found between proportion of people in population aged 13-34 years of age
and homicide rates
iii. Proportion of young people escalated in the 1960s, reached peak in 1970s, and declined
in 1980s-1990s
iv. Caution
i. Drugs
i. Drug markets
ii. Argument is that the expansion and contraction of drug markets explain postwar US
violent crime trends
iii. 1960s: heroin
iv. 1980s: crack cocaine
v. 1990s: stability of drug markets, few new users
j. Routine Activities
i. Argument is that economic and social development in the US has brought about changes
in “routine activities”
this dispersion of activities away from the home may leave heightened opportunities for
crime
2. Age and Crime
a. Crime peaks around ages 17-18 and declines
b. UCR, NCVS, self-report data converge
c. Why?
d. How does understanding the age-crime relationship help us understand shifts in the
nation’s crime rate?
Broaden to Opportunities
• Decreasing Opportunities for Crime: advances in technology have contributed to some drop in
crimes
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
1 post-war crime trends (lafree 1999) & contemporary patterns. 3 further explanatory factors: postwar crime trends (lafree, crime boom (increase) 1961-1974, 113% increase of murder, 233% increase in robbery, crime bust (decrease) 1991-1997, crime stability (consistent) since 2000"s, ch. Broaden to opportunities: decreasing opportunities for crime: advances in technology have contributed to some drop in crimes. Triangulation: t(cid:396)ia(cid:374)gulatio(cid:374) a(cid:272)(cid:396)oss (cid:373)ethods a(cid:374)d data sou(cid:396)(cid:272)es i(cid:374)volves usi(cid:374)g: (cid:862)(cid:373)ultiple (cid:373)ethods to dupli(cid:272)ate (cid:272)lai(cid:373)s(cid:863) If same results are obtained with more than one method, it increases confidence in the study. In-depth interview: people"s e(cid:454)pe(cid:396)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)es, participant observation, a(cid:374)de(cid:396)so(cid:374)"s code of the streets, experimental, quasi-experiment: moving to opportunity study, new division in asc on experimental criminology, life history. Policy: deals with probability supported by research. African americans commit street crime and subject to victimization: homicide data: 50. 9% white offenders, 46. 9% black offenders, 45. 8% white victims, 52. 2% black victims, latinos have higher rates of serious crime and victimization that non-
