Explanations Of Crime Research Articles

The social cognition of violent offenders

Purpose – Social cognition is a prominent feature of explanations of crime, particularly violent crime. This paper aims to report a study that compared several aspects of the social cognition of convicted violent and non‐violent offenders.Design/methodology/approach – Measures of social cognition were administered to 156 offenders, classified as violent and non‐violent according to index offence.Findings – Analysis showed few significant differences between the violent and non‐violent offenders, although differences in thinking styles and social problem solving strategies were evident between high‐risk and low‐risk violent offenders.Originality/value – The differences between high‐risk and lower risk violent offenders suggests that not all violent offenders function at the same level and so more precision is required in classifying offenders.

Leisure Worlds

With information supplied by a large ( n = 3393) sample of high school students from Toronto, this paper tests the assumption that three forms of leisure activity—peer, risky, and self-improving leisure—have a relatively independent impact upon patterns of offending and victimization. Although we find significant support for this proposition, we also find that traditional criminal motivations are still strongly related to criminal incidents, particularly offending behavior. The positive association between leisure and victimization includes, counter intuitively, the sort of self-improving leisure that might have been expected to reduce the risk of victimization. We discuss our findings in terms of the relationship between traditional motivational explanations of crime and newer, more situational ones.

Racial Disparity in Iowa Prisons: Possible Theoretical Explanations for Racial Differences Between Inmates on the Level of Service Inventory–Revised

This article presents a test of several theoretically informed hypotheses that characterize differences between Whites and African Americans incarcerated in the Iowa prison system. The authors judge differences by comparing inmates’ responses on the Level of Service Inventory–Revised or LSI-R, which is a standardized risk/need assessment instrument used to classify Iowa inmates. The hypotheses are based on ideas found in theories of structural distributive justice, general strain theory (GST), and macro-structural explanations of crime. Iowa is an interesting case study because it ranks near the top in the United States in the proportion of Black to White prisoner disparity. This disparity serves as a lens that sharpens distinctions between the populations. The findings suggest that in comparison to White prisoners, African American inmates have higher total LSI-R scores than White inmates and that prior to incarceration African American prisoners had more difficulty finding work, were more likely to have an official record of violent crime, and were more likely to associate with people who were involved in crime than were White inmates. Additionally, the results suggest that in comparison to White inmates, African American prisoners were more likely to feel that their prison sentences were unfair and to act in ways that were indicative of this. These findings are consistent with explanations found in macro-structural theories of crime as well as concepts found in GST and structural distributive justice theory. The authors briefly discuss the implications of these findings.

The Scientific Basis of Criminology

Criminology as a science has evolved over the past 50 years from a “sub-discipline” into a self-reliant and contemporary discipline. Many adjacent to criminology Social Science experts believe that criminology has ‘nothing to offer’ but mere theoretical explanations while other experts are cynical about criminology's relevance, independence, practical application and possible contribution to the criminal justice system (inter-disciplinary approach). Specifically in South Africa there has been a criminological evolution from traditionally unapplied theoretical approaches to applied and practical contributions in various sectors of society. Current worldwide criminological contributions and outputs are noted within criminal justice policy and reform strategies, lawmaking, lawbreaking, reactions to crime, development of empirical scales to evaluate and predict criminal behaviour, sound explanations of crime, and pioneering scientific methods (methodology) in studying crime. This paper aims to underscore Criminology's evolution from a somewhat conjectural entity to its current practical, discursive and utilitarian status within the South African criminal justice and criminological landscape.

The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms, and Development Edited by Per-Olof H. Wikstrom and Robert J. Sampson Cambridge University Press. 2006. 324 pages. $90 cloth

The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms, and Development Edited by Per-Olof H. Wikstrom and Robert J. Sampson Cambridge University Press. 2006. 324 pages. $90 cloth

Product Review: The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development

Product Review: The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development

Per-Olof Wikstrom and Robert J. Sampson (Eds): The Explanation of Crime. Context, Mechanisms and Development.

Per-Olof Wikstrom and Robert J. Sampson (Eds): The Explanation of Crime. Context, Mechanisms and Development.

The Role of Self-Control in Crime Causation

In this paper we present an alternative conception of self-control and its role in crime causation to the one advanced by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) in their influential General Theory of Crime. Our conception is based on the theoretical framework outlined in the situational action theory of crime causation (e.g. Wikström 2006a). We propose that self-control is best analysed as a situational concept (a factor in the process of choice) rather than as an individual trait. We suggest that the core individual trait influencing an individual's ability to exercise self-control is executive capability. We maintain that there are also important environmental influences on an individual's ability to exercise self-control. We submit that the ability to exercise self-control is a relevant factor in crime causation only in situations where an individual considers (deliberates) whether or not to engage in an act of crime. We argue that for most people (in most circumstances) whether or not they engage in acts of crime is not a question of their ability to exercise self-control but rather a question of their morality. In short, this paper aims to clarify the concepts of ‘executive capability’, ‘self-control’ and ‘crime’, and to specify their relationships and role in the explanation of crime.

Offender Classifications and Treatment Effects in Developmental Criminology: A Propensity/ Event Consideration

Developmental criminology has raised the prospect that empirical classifications of offenders based on variations in the age of offending will assist in the prediction of and explanation for crime and delinquency. Additionally, developmental criminology suggests that events late in the life course may alter offending propensities in significant ways. Recent empirical works provide compelling evidence about these claims and provide support for general theories of the causes of crime and delinquency. Some of this recent research is analyzed from the perspective of a propensity/event theory.

Modernity in the Flesh: Medicine, Law, and Society in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina

Modernity in the Flesh: Medicine, Law, and Society in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina

Working with Stories: An Active Learning Approach to Theories Of Deviance

As sociologists, we recognize the value of using theory as a lens through which, when focused, the patterns and structures of social life can be seen and studied amidst the idiosyncrasies of individual behavior. A theoretical framework is particularly necessary for sociology courses on deviance and criminology. Since many undergraduate students still tend to perceive crime and deviance as solely individualistic behaviors, an instructor must be able to clearly demonstrate how theory can be useful for understanding broader social causes and explanations of crime and deviance. As Williams, Rodeheaver, and Sethuraju (1995) highlight, little has been written about how to effectively teach criminology theory, deviance theory, or even social theory. In this article we describe an active learning technique, originally developed for a two-week intensive Sociology of Deviance course, that promotes enjoyable, stimulating, and applicable engagement with theory by combining a hypothetical case history with lecture, readings, and peer learning and teaching.

Social Learning Theory and the Explanation of Crime

Social Learning Theory and the Explanation of Crime

Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct

Criminologists often allude to 'peer influence' in explanations of crime and delinquency, but the meaning of that concept rarely receives careful attention. Companions in Crime organizes the extensive literature on peer influence and group delinquency into a coherent form for the first time. Chapters focus on the role of peers over the life course, the group nature of delinquent behavior, and the applicability of peer influence for explaining the major features of delinquent behavior. The most extensive chapter of the book examines possible mechanisms of peer influence and the evidence in favor of each. The principal thesis of Companions in Crime is that deviant behavior is predominantly social behavior, and criminologists must eventually determine the significance of that fact.

Contingent Urban Geographies of Violent Crime: Racial Segregation and the Impact of Public Housing in Atlanta

Neighborhood variations in crime incidence rates are most commonly interpreted through the lens of social disorganization theory, or a "communities and crime" perspective. This approach typically articulates explanation for crime by focusing on the characteristics of communities—a unitary scale most commonly equated with neighborhoods. We argue that this perspective fails to recognize the importance of broader urban geographic contexts, and offer an extension that sees geographically contingent processes functioning at multiple scales simultaneously. We develop this perspective applied to the "spread effects" of public housing on violent crime in surrounding neighborhoods: these spread effects are conditioned by the nature of the urban contexts through which they operate. Specifically, deeply divided and racialized patterns of residential segregation at least partially define the contexts that condition public housing's effect on crime. We examine our perspective using early 1990s block group data for the City of Atlanta and find substantial evidence in support of our perspective. In particular, we find that Techwood Homes, the nation's first federally constructed public housing project, exerted different geographic spread effects in predominantly White than in predominantly Black portions of the city. By failing to recognize the complexity and contingency of public housing's geographic effect on crime in surrounding neighborhoods, previous approaches substantially overestimate crime in White areas, and underestimate crime in Black areas.

How Individuals Explain Social Problems: The Influences of Media Use

This study examined the role of media use in individuals' explanations of crime and welfare. Attribution theory and the information-processing approach to media effects provided a theoretical framework for this research. Media effects on explanations of social problems are enhanced by individuals' patterns of information processing. Specifically, active processing of national television public affairs content increased while active processing of newspaper public affairs content decreased the likelihood of individualistic explanations. The study also showed that individualistic explanations of crime and welfare are related to support for the death penalty and to opposition toward welfare programs.

“En Plena Libertad y Democracia”: Negros Brujos and the Social Question, 1904-1919

“En Plena Libertad y Democracia”: Negros Brujos and the Social Question, 1904-1919

A Multilevel Assessment of Social Disorganization Theory in Taipei, Taiwan

Recent interest in community-level studies of crime has generated substantial evidence that Shaw and McKay's social disorganization model continues to be a notable explanation of crime and delinquency. However, the plausibility of social disorganization theory in a Chinese cultural setting has not been well investigated. This article develops a multilevel social disorganization model and tests it using data from a representative sample of 1,704 in-school adolescents from Taipei, Taiwan. The results offer general support for the social disorganization model: Higher community income and lower population density in the community are related to lower delinquency, while family disorganization and associations with deviant peers are related to greater involvement in delinquency. These results show the promise of social disorganization as an explanation of delinquency in a rapidly changing Chinese cultural system.

Explanations about crime and psychological distress in ethnic minority and white victims of crime: a qualitative exploration

This study reports the findings of a qualitative analysis of ethnic minority crime victims' causal explanations of crime. The analysis indicated that usage of ascriptions involving 'race' or 'racism' appeared to be associated with relatively poor psychological adjustment. Usage of racial explanations did not, however, appear to be related to the type of incident, the seriousness of the incident, or satisfaction with the police response. It is suggested that crime explanations embodying immutable aspects of the self, such as ethnicity, might prevent adjustment, whereas those incorporating mutable features of the self or circumstances might act as effective coping strategies by allowing victims to perceive the incident as random or temporary and therefore unlikely to recur. This interpretation was supported by an analysis of the types of explanation utilized by distressed and non-distressed White victims in a matched control group. These findings are discussed in relation to models of attributional activity, coping and psychological status. Finally, their practical applications are considered. Language: en

Desire and the delinquent: juvenile crime and deviance in fin-de-siècle French criminology

Historical outlines of fin-de-siècle European criminology have typically focused on the debate between supporters of Lombrosian anatomical determinism on the one hand, and the more environmentalist (i.e. French) explanations of crime on the other. What has gone largely unnoticed, however, is how the basic tenets of the 'French school' were shaped by an implicit moral concern with mass consumption and indi vidualism, particularly in regard to juvenile crime. This paper examines the psychosocial conception of the juvenile criminal - within the par ticular context of fin-de-siècle culture, social theory and political ideol ogy - to delineate how French criminologists encountered economic modernity and reconceptualized their understanding of the relationship between the child, the family and the state.

Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency

In Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, Terence P. Thornberry and his contributors show that criminal behavior is not a static human attribute, but ebbs and flows over the life course of the individual. Criminal behavior tends to follow a distinct psychological pattern. It is relatively uncommon during childhood, is initiated by most offenders during adolescence, flourishes during late adolescence and early childhood, and usually diminishes or disappears by the mid-twenties. This pattern is not characteristic of all people--some never commit crimes and others become career criminals--but it is a general description of the developmental pattern of criminal offenders. This pattern has profound implications for theories of crime and delinquency. Not only does it explain initiation into, maintenance of, and desistance from involvement in crime, it offers insight into why crime flourishes during adolescence. Traditional theories of crime and delinquency have often failed to distinguish among different phases of criminal careers. They tend to ignore developmental changes that occur across a person's life course, changes that coincide with and can explain the causes and patterns of criminal behavior. This paperback edition of the seventh volume of the distinguished series Advances in Criminological Theory moves us from static identifications of the criminal by presenting a broad range of developmental explanations of crime. Each contributor articulates a developmental or life course perspective in explaining how people become involved in delinquency and crime. Each covers a wide range of theoretical territory and reveals how a developmental perspective enhances the explanatory power of traditional theories of crime and delinquency. This volume is an invaluable tool for criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, and other professionals seeking to teach how crime and violence can be understood in our culture.