Nine Fallacies About Crime 11/26/2013 7:31:00 AM
\\The Dramatic Fallacy
States that the most publicized offenses are far more dramatic than
those commonly found in real life
Media carried away by horror-distortion sequence; they find a
horror story and entertain the public with it
The Murder Mix
o Public views murder as one of the most frequent crimes, but
makes up less than 1% of the eight Part I crimes
o Part I crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault,
burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft and arson
o 9 out 10 ten of these crimes are non-violent
o larceny crimes make up 58% of Part I crimes
o FBI collects data on Part II crimes (less famous); incudes
drug offenses to prostitution and sex offenses as well as
simple assaults
o Largest category of murder is miscellaneous arguments
o More likely to occur over money or property
o Two central features of a murder: gun too near, hospital too
far
The Mass of Minor Offense
o self report surveys pick up a lot of information on minor
offences
o minor drugs far exceed major drugs, and occasional usage far
exceeds regular usage
The Cops-and-Courts Fallacy
Warns us against overrating the power of criminal justice agencies
The crime comes first, justice system follows
Police Work
o Very mundane
o Important things you learn:
Many calls or service never lead to a real crime report Many complaints bother few citizens but do not directly
threaten the whole community
Many problems are resolved informally, as they should
be
o Their most common problem is rude encounters with people
o Kansas City Patrol Experiment investigated inhibiting
wrongdoing by sheer presence on the streets; found that
intensified police patrols are scarcely noticed by offenders or
citizens and have little to no impact on crime rates
Courts and Punishment
o When there is an arrest, most do not lead to trial or guilty
plea
o Psychologists have found that the best way to get someone to
do what you want is to reward more than you punish
o The U.S criminal justice system:
Punishes bad rather than rewarding good
Relied on rare and delayed, but extreme penalties
Never catches up with crime itself, which gives sure and
quick rewards to offenders
The Not Me Fallacy
Is the illusion that we could never do a crime
Denies every illegal act ever committed or contemplated
Everyone has a price reminds us not to overstate the differences
between active offenders and the rest of the population
Ask why you didn’t do it rather than why they did it
The Innocent Youth Fallacy
Reflects the belief that being young means being innocent
Criminal behaviour accelerates quickly in teen years
Peaks in the 20s and declines as youth fades
Very active offenders tend to continue offending as they get older,
tend to engage in extended substance abuse
Young inmates are causing the most trouble inside prisons The Ingenuity Fallacy
False image of the criminal derived from media creates ingenuity
fallacy
Obsolesce of crime forms; technology made crime more difficult
Part of this fallacy stems form embarrassment of victim
Difficult to admit you left yourself open to offender
The Organized Crime Fallacy
The tendency to attribute much greater organization to crime
conspiracies than they usually have
Crime Conspiracy
o Three basic principles:
1. Act quickly to escape detention and minimize danger
from other offenders
2. Have direct contact with as few co-offenders as possible
to avoid betrayal
3. Work as little as possible to get a lot of money
o Criminal conspiracy can work in a chain letter type of way
(marijuana supplying example)
Juvenile Street Gangs
o Group of boys from a loose structure; people fading in and
out, and frequent disintegration
o Core members more active than others
o Peeling onion example
o Gangs with no social workers to help them fell apart more
quickly
o Gangs are not what they are cut out to be because:
The word gang is overused
Gangs have non-gang features, individuals have jobs,
go to school ,etc.
Gangs are often accredited with crime committed by
other youths and their members re often inflated
o Most of the time crime is petty and local The Agenda Fallacy
Refers to the fact that many people have an agenda and hope you
assist them
They want you to take advice, vote a certain way, or join their
religious group
Their promises are usually bogus
Moral Agendas
o Many people believe declining in morality is cause of crime
o Basic moral sequence is supposed to be:
Teach and preach morality to others
They then do wahts right in practice
That prevents crime
o If this was followed a moral agenda would be justified
Religious Agendas
o Many religious groups feel that conversion to their faiths or
values will prevent crime and failure will lead to more crime
o Studies found that young people in religious groups still have
the same risk of committing a crime
o Those most prone to breaking law have trouble sitting so they
stop going to church or never start
o They do a better job at supervising poepl; religious insitituons
Social and Political Agendas
o Blame other people; media, men, etc.
o Blame principle
Welfare State Agency
o Usually mistake to consider crime a part of social evils such
as unemployment, poverty, social injustice, or human
suffering
o Consider welfare state and crime; people people hate the
welfare state and blame it for crime while others like the
welfare state, promising that more social programs will
reduce crime o Most crime rates went down during the Great Depression
o Improved economic and social and welfare changes in the
1960s to 70s showed an increase in crime
o US does not have higher crime victimization rates than other
developed countries
o US has highest homicide rate than any other country in the
world
o Presence of guns makes a difference
The Vague-Boundary Fallacy
Some believe that crime has no real definition and view it as
subjective
Their intellectual lawleness makes a mess of our field by:
o Giving no boundaries and keeping it vague
o Requiring a different criminology for each legal system
o Letting criminology students get an easy A, no matter what
they write
Vague-boundary policy refers to the tendency to make criminology
too subjective. It allows students and instructors to wriggle out of
responsibility and keeps crime science from developing
A Clear Definition of Crime
o A crime is a identifiable behaviour that a appreciable number
of governments has specifically prohibited and formally
punished
o Criminal behaviour defined in broad historical terms is not
necessarily a statutory crime in all nations or all eras
How Much Crime is There?
o UCR program to provde accurate information about crime
reported began in 1930s
o Provides national standards since every state is different
o UCR crime definitons are distinct and do not conform to
federal or state laws nor do they hold any legal standing
o Only contains data reported to or found by police for eight
types of Part I crimes o FBI is even less strict about compiling information on Part II
crimes
o National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) measure crime
by asking individuals about victimization
o Every six months; developed in 1973; covers most of UCR
stuff but also asks about unreported figure of crime
o You learn more about violent crimes with NCVS and more
property crimes on UCR
The Random Crime Fallacy
Is pernicious because it eliminates personal responsibility and
implies crime cannot be prevented
Crime is both predictable and preventable
People who have been victimized in the past are more likely to be
victimized again Chapter Two: Chemistry for Crime 11/26/2013 7:31:00 AM
A setting is a location for recurrent behavior at known times
A crime setting is where people converge or diverge- influencing
their crime opportunities
Ambush sequence:
o A public setting is packed with strangers
o One of those strangers leaves, walking down a deserted
street nearby
o A second stranger leaves the bar, following the first until
there is nobody else around to interfere
o At the right moment, the second stranger attacks
o Living near high school exposes people to risk of burglary and
other crimes
o Settings are the central organizing feature for everyday life
The Stages of a Criminal Act
The prelude
The incident
The aftermath
The Almost-Always Elements of a Criminal Act
Most criminal acts occur in a favorable setting
Criminal acts have three almost always elements:
o A likely offender
o A suitable target
o The absence of a capable guardian against the defence
Best candidate for someone who will commit a crime is a young
male who does poorly in school, gets into traffic acidents, has a big
mouth, loses jobs
The guardian differs from the offender and target because the
absence of a guardian is what counts
The Crime Triangle
Smaller inner triangle in the center of the figure gives the three
features of each crime problem: the offender, the crime target, and
the place or setting where the crime occurs The outer triangle talks about supervision
The Often-Important Elements of a Criminal Act
These almost always elements of a crime are supplemented by its
own-important elements:
o Any props that help produce or prevent a crime, including
weapons or tools
o Any camouflage that helps the offender avoid unwanted
notice
o Any audience the offender wants either to impress or
intimidate
An ideal crime provides offender a target in absence of a guardian
Predatory Crimes
Occurs when the offender is clearly different from the victim and
the victim objects to the offenders actions(most Part I crimes)
Ideal predatory offence requires at least one clearly guilty offender
preying on at least one clearly innocent person or a property target
the offender has no right to
Are mostly impersonal; they don’t care how victim feels
Predatory sequence typically works like this:
o A likely offender enters a setting
o A suitable target enters too
o A guardian leaves
o An offender attacks the target
Some settings called crime attractors
Fights
Violent interactions involving two parties at least as illegal
counterparts
Illegal market for goods: these are for selling contraband,
counterfeit money, or product
Illegal market for services: may link buyers and sellers of
prostitution, illegal sex shows, or even contract killing
Illegal markets for person: slaves, women sold into prostitution Setting for illegal market: illegal transactions have physical
requirements and depend on suitable settings
Personal ties less suitable for recruiting new users because the
seller is limited to those he already knows
Personal networks however can and do fan out and can in time
spread illegal sales to a broader audience
Calming the Waters and Looking After Places
Types of managers who can prevent crime:
o Homeowners and long time renters
o Builing superintedents, doormen
o Bartenders, managers, owner
o Small business persons and store managers
o Street vendors
o Security people with focused responsibility
o Park and playgrounf supervisors
o Train station managers
o Bus drivers
Each place manager has an incentive to prevent crime
People like sense of security; and increasing presence it provides
some degree of security
Oscar Newmans’s classic distinction:
o Private space
o Semi-private space
o Semipublic space
o Public space
Risky Settings
Daily life is divided into different types of settings some of which
can generate lots of crime
The riskiest types of settings
o Public routes; foot paths, parking facilities
o Recreation settings; bars and some parks
o Public transport; stations and their vicinities
o Retail stores; shoplifting
o Residential settings; burglary and theft o Educational settings; on their edges
o Offices; easily entered for theft
o Human services; hospitals with 24 hour activities
o Industrial locaitons; warehouses with attractive goods
Hot Products
Some products stolen more than others (list on page 39)
Honda civic hatchback generates 9.8 times as much theft risk as
the mini copper
Most products stolen from stores includes magazines, shirts, jeans,
items with TH or Polo label, CDs, beauty aids, cigarettes
Items That Invent Theft
Offender wants to steal something valuable, enjoyable and available
Hot products tend to be:
o Concealable
o Removable
o Available
o Valuable
o Enjoyable
o Disposable
Cash solves all 6 problems
Hot Products Are Affected by Their Settings
Burglar targets both the home and the goods inside of it
Burglars associate the goods inside by the building or home form
the outside
Take in account area
Being out of site helps protects themselves from being a target
Targets Vary by Offender Motive
As motive shifts, so do targets
For example autotheives differ in their motives and hence in targets
they pick:
o Joyrider takes a trip for fun, picking a flashy and fun new car o Traveler chooses almost any car that’s convenient and drives
home
o A felon steals a car to perform another crime, picking a fast
model
o A shipper takes a luxury car to sell abroad
When Heavy Items are Stolen
Pick up trucks are common
The weight of the item increases as one goes further from city core
Stolen when wheels provide getaways
Theft Trends
Study showed that one of the major causes of mushrooming crime
rates in US after 1963 was the proliferation of lightweight durable
goods that were easy to steal
Canada demonstrated easier use of checks and credit cards without
careful identification produced a proliferation for fraud
Americans using less cash helped decrease crime rate
Craving Violent Targets
A violent offender generally needs to conceal the violent act
He must remove himself safely from the scene; avail himself of a
convenient human target for violent attack; find target of value in
his own mind; enjoy the criminal act, or at least avoid pain to
himself; and dispose of incriminating evidence even the victim
The General Chemistry of Crime
Each crime has its particular chemistry
To understand where many types of crime risks occur, three terms
are offered:
o Nodes: setting such as homes, schools, workplaces, shopping
or strip malls, and entertainment areas; provide particular
crime opportunities and risks
o Paths: leading from one node to another, also offering crime
opportunities and risk. Not only do paths conduct more
people per square foot-hence providing offenders targets and guardians, but also lead people to nodes that might involve
them one way or another in crime
o Edges: places where two local areas touch. Crime is often
most risky here. Outsiders can intrude quickly and then leave
without being stopped or even noticed Chapter 3: Crime Decisions 11/26/2013 7:31:00 AM
Utilitarian model by Jeremy Bentham gets us started in
understanding why people commit illegal acts
Every individuals gains to seek pleasure and avoid pain
Offenders make quick choice
The offender seeks to gain quick an avoid imminent pain
How Cautious? How Casual?
Most criminals take rather casual approach to crime; still making
decisions
Point of crime is to get things without having to work hard and
without much dedication
Most active offenders are daring enough to break the law
How Much Do Offenders Consider?
Most commercial robbers take few steps before committing a crime
Shows they do not act with great care
Offenders are Attuned to Certain Details
Researchers ask questions that can be answered with no fluff:
o Why did you pick this street?
o Would you break into this house? Why not this one
o Would you go back later
An offense can be spontaneous without being irrational
Even without real planning, an offender responds to cues in the
immediate setting and decides what to do
Environmental cues are the crucial link between individual choice
and the immediate settings that impel or constrain choices
When Does Crime Pay
Most offenses pay in short term
Most offenders suffer enough bad experiences to justify our
conclusion that crime eventually fails them
Offenders almost certainly suffer from the consequences of their
own lifestyles than form the actions of public officials The Decision-Environment Paradox
An important paradox is that:
o The everyday environment external to offenders guides their
illegal acts; yet
o Offenders make a calculated choice
If first statement true, how could we blame, convict, and punish
persons not acting entirely by free choice?
Given the second statement, how can we justify our claims to the
first statement
Not everyone responds to the same environment cues the same
way
Settings Offer Different Choices at Different Times
To understand how temptation and controls shift so quickly,
consider the cue-decision sequence:
o Someone enters a setting
o Containing some cues that transmit temptations and controls
o After quickly noting and interpreting these cues
o He or she decides whether to commit a criminal act
These cues often come from guardians or managers and handlers
Options Shift
Potato chip principle: no one can eat only one potato chip
The principle tells us that blame and control may vary as a person
goes through even a few minutes of life
Consider the disinhibit ion sequence:
o A young man drinks some beer with friends
o He gets high and drinks still more
o Then he smokes marijuana getting higher
o Some of the boys commit a burglary
This example states that one drink leads to another and it gets
harder and harder to pull away
Cues are Needed to Assist Self-Control
Evidence shows that those with low self control are likely not only
to commit crime, but also have many problems including traffic accidents, time in the emergency room; crime victimization; excess
smoking and drinking etc.
Self-control also applies to paying attention, making goals, avoiding
procrastination
Those With Greater Self-Control Still Need Extra Reminders
Makes more sense to talk about assisted self-control with everyday
life helping peers get along
Most needs reminders to follow rules
Reminder is nothing more than a cue designed for people who have
a good deal of self-control and are basically inclined to follow the
law
Stigmas Are Poor Substitute for Environmental Cues
People use careless stigmas based on looks, guesses, skin color, or
sloppy rumors
Stigmas encourage community to build walls against those they
think are the criminal race or group, while letting the others do
whatever they want
Careless stigma’s interfere with crime control by misleading us
about who is the problem
Making Sense of Crimes that Seem Irrational
Violence Too, Results From Decisions
o Robbery perhaps easiest violent crime to explain
o Tedeschi and Felson claim that all violence is instrumental
o They deny that any violence is expressive and with a violent
act an offender can:
Get others to comply with his wishes
Restore justice as he perceives it
Assert and protect his self image
o They show that various principles of social psychology can
explain violent incidents easily o Violence requires neither a unique theory nor an elaborate
one and can be explained with the three instrumental
explanations listed above
Crimes That Seem Bizarre
Kim Rossmo has shown that serial killers and rapists no matter how
bizarre they may seem have a very practical modus operandi
They clearly make decisions, search for targets etc.
Consider blunder sequence on why a criminal may act if he or she
does not know where crime will lead:
o A robber accosts a man alone and demands money
o The victim gives him a dollar
o The offender gets mad, shoots the victim, grabs the wallet
o The offender runs away, only to find the empty wallet
o The victim dies from gunshot wound chapter 4: Bringing Crime to You
Comparison of all campuses being a community that have four
elements: like a village, like a town, like a city, or like a suburb
Four Stages in The History of Everyday Life
The village
o Most people travelled by foot
o Less than 250 people usually
o People owned fewer things
o Local crime unlikely
o Villagers suffered from marauding bandits and highway
robbers
The Town
o Horses were domesticated
o Populations exceed 10,000
o Local crime limited
o Horses made speedy raids possible
o Horses and wagons became target for crime
The Convergent City
o Technology advances
o Docks and warehouses important crime targets
o Cities grew greatly in size
o Drew far more strangers into mutual contact with greater risk
of property or violent crime
The Divergent Metropolis
o Cars allowed people to travel further and wider
o No longer limited to rail roads
o Ability to supervise space and property declined
o Auto theft problem
Life And Crime In The Convergent City
The convergent city provided not only crime opportunities but also
sources of control
Safe Aspects of the Convergent City o Might seem risky but its crowds of people allowed for more
supervision
o Vehicles such as public transport decreased risk of crime
o Had a chance to design and control space to minimize urban
crime
Risky Aspects of the Convergent City
o People still posed threats through exposure to strangers
o easy to pick pockets
o helped thief get back into the public without drawing too
much attention
o public transport is safe but generated crime in certain ways
o the stations and bus stops were not always safe
o alcohol problems greater in rural cities
o provided excellent opportunities to mismanage parks, street
corners, and other public places
o provide both security and crime
The Urban Village-A Low-Crime Area
o combining ideas and observations of Jacobs and Gans, an
urban village provided:
state ethnicity
stable residency
new entrants recognized from the past
home ownership, even if homes were tiny
narrow st
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