SOC 1500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Tax Evasion, Embezzlement, Corporate Crime
1 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOC 1500
CHAPTER 6
RECENT SOCIOLGICAL APPROACHES TO CRIME
A General Theory of Crime
• Gottfredson and Hirschi
• Crime and other analogous behaviours such as smoking, drinking, gambling, irresponsible sex,
and careless driving are the result of low self-esteem
• Provide short term gratification and are caused by the inability of some people to exercise self
control
• Individuals who lack self control are believed to be self-centered, impulsive, lacking in
perseverance, and likely to be involved in risk taking behaviour (criminal behaviour)
• Self-control is internalized early in life and determines who will be likely to commit crime
• Children with behavioural problems
o Tend to grow up as juvenile delinquents and adult offenders
• Because path towards or away from crime begins in early life, level of self-control in a person
depeds o the paretig reeied i the hild’s ouger ears
• Theory thinks that parenting is the most important factor determining the level of self-control
that children learn
• Crime opportunity
o Strong predictor of fraud and aggression
• Theory not successful in predicting serious forms of violent behaviour
o Homicide
• Tautological
o In social science, refers to circular reasoning
o Does not define self-control as independent from tendency to commit crimes
o Gives appearance of a casual relationship where one does not exist
o Criminality and lack of self-control are used as synonymously
▪ Low self-control causes low self-control or criminality causes criminality
• Longitudinal study
o Adult social bonds (stable employment and cohesive marriage) can redirect offenders
into a lifestyle of conformity even thought they are beyond the childhood years of
socialization
o States that levels of self-control and crime are not constant over the life course
• Find traditional roles of women to be crucial to the development of children
• Theory implies that if society regained traditional American values criminality would decrease
• If children with low self-control can be identified early in life, controls can be implemented so
that risk-seeking youth can be monitored, controlled, or removed from the public
o Putting effort into these practices would be complicated and undermine civil rights and
liberties
• Criminality is an attribute that is constant throughout life
o If a child does not learn self-control early in life they predict that motivation to commit
crime and participate in deviant behaviour will move into adulthood
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Na and Pasternoster
o Self-control is malleable if youth are properly attended to when they are young
• Public implications
o Improving the parenting skills for the mothers and fathers of youth children throughout
the entire society
The Life Course Perspective
• Long term effects of offending and victimization
• Problem behaviours are age-related, caused by certain events that take place in the
developmental process
• Individuals will refrain from crime and deviance as they enter stages of life where adult roles
arriage ad eploet a at as turig poits ad put a stop to riial areers
• Relies on longitudinal research design
• Criminal behaviour tends to follow predictable patterns over the life course
• During childhood, serious criminal behaviour is not very common
o Crime tends to increase during adolescence and early adulthood
o Street crimes peak in the late teens and diminishes afterwards
• Sampson and Laub
o Research subjects stopped criminal involvement after they became employed or when
they got married
▪ Men established legitimate social ties with conventional social institutions and
their involvement in crime decreased
o Individuals with poor verbal skills, limited self-control, and difficult temperament do not
account for long-term trajectories of offending
o Men who desisted from crime were rooted to strong social ties with family and
community
o Study did not contain any females
o Girls included
▪ Lo paretal support had a greater ipat o os’ deiae tha o girls’
• Tanner
o Those who got in trouble when they were younger had lower-status adult jobs and
earned less money than youth in the sample that were not delinquent
o Delinquency affected their educational outcomes
o Getting into trouble as a teen negatively affects school performance, which affects
employment prospects in adulthood
o Gender
o More pronounced for males than females
o Delinquency had a smaller impact on female occupational outcomes because the lesser
aout of ariatio i oe’s oupatios prospets
• Macmillan
o What happens in adulthood to those who have been a victim of crime during their youth
o Adolescent victimization has a negative impact on adult earnings
o Sexual assault victims were not as successful in school as non-victims
o Timing of victimization is important as well
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
In social science, refers to circular reasoning: does not define self-control as independent from tendency to commit crimes, gives appearance of a casual relationship where one does not exist, criminality and lack of self-control are used as synonymously. Low self-control causes low self-control or criminality causes criminality. Improving the parenting skills for the mothers and fathers of youth children throughout the entire society. Long term effects of offending and victimization: problem behaviours are age-related, caused by certain events that take place in the developmental process. Rational choice theory: human behaviour is the result of conscious decision making, crime is assumed to be calculated and deliberate, criminals are rational actors. Instrumental crimes: planning, weighing of risks, break and entering, accounting fraud, embezzlement, expressive crimes. Impulsive: emotional, not concerned at the time for their actions of future implications, non-premeditated murder and assault, deterrent impact of punishment would be greater on instrumental than expressive.
