Download Introduction - Criminology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Criminal Justice in PDF only on Docsity! Introduction to the course 1. Syllabus 2. Introduction to the Subject 3. Student Survey 4. In-class assignment # 1 Docsity.com What will we study? • Theories • Empirical Research • Policy Implications • Criminals (determinism or free will) • Motivations • Underlying explanations to existing statistics Docsity.com Motivation for Murder • The most perplexing question • The search for the true motive for crimes is elusive • Consider the diversity of possible motivations alleged for the following high- profile violent offenses over the last decade Docsity.com Motivations • April, 1999, Seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High school with four guns and dozen of pipe bombs. They shot 12 classmates and 1 teacher and then killed themselves • The teenage killers were social outcasts and were motivated in part by a desire for attention Docsity.com Motivations • Theodore John Kaczynski, the Unabomber, has been tied to letter bombs that have killed 3 people and injured 23 others over the last two decades • His antitechnology ideology is a possible motive for his action • In May of 1998 Ted Kaczynksi was sentenced to life in prison for being the "Unabomber” Docsity.com Motivation • Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis with an eight-inch long kitchen knife while he was sleeping and later threw the severed member out of her car window. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity • Her motives included her husband’s unsatisfactory sexual performance and her desire to pay him back for a history of spousal abuse Docsity.com Categorization of Motives • The accurate determination of motive in any crime is highly subjective • Social scientists have used several approaches to categorize motives • One strategy is to distinguish b/w instrumental and expressive motivation Docsity.com Instrumental and Expressive Motivations •Violent acts with instrumental motivations are directed at some valued goal (Menendez brothers may have killed their parents for the instrumental goal of protecting themselves or collecting the insurance payment) •Expressive actions are those motivated exclusively by rage, anger, frustration, or more generally, the heat of passion (self-defense, accidental homicides) Docsity.com Changes in homicide rates (explanations) • “Legitimation of violence” hypothesis (Archer, Gartner, 1984) argues that during wartime pro-violent values are reinforced and these values are carried over to postwar periods • Increase in homicide rates after World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War are consistent with this idea Docsity.com Changes in homicide rates (explanations) • Homicide rate has been associated with business cycles (LaFree, 1998, Short, 1997) • Higher homicide rates occur in periods of growing economic prosperity • Economic deprivation for some groups Docsity.com Changes in homicide rates (explanations) • Rising homicide rates in the 1960s and 1970s have been linked to increased gang activity and drug trafficking in central cities • Patterns of violence in large cities strongly influence national trends Docsity.com
