Criminology

1. Criminology Presented by C. Delano Gray

2. Definition • Criminology is a sub-field of sociology dealing with matters related to crime and criminal behavior. It includes fields such as crime statistics, criminal psychology, forensic science, law enforcement, and detective methods. • Naturally, criminology must take into account that the definition of crime varies according to the cultural mores and, especially, laws of a given area. This is an area where caution is warranted; if one is comparing, e.g., violent crimes between nations, one must be careful that the actions counted in that category are similar for each nation; otherwise the comparison is meaningless.

3. Crime A crime in a broad sense is an act that violates a political or moral law. In the narrow sense, a crime is a violation of the criminal law. For example, most traffic violations or breach of contracts are not crimes in a legal sense.

4. Understanding Human Behavior • According to Behaviorist • Stimulus • Response

5. Why People Obey the Law • Instrumental Perspective • Fear punishment • Normative Perspective • Whether people obey the law depending on what one considers just and moral.

6. Sociology • Sociologists have found that deterrence does not fully explain why people obey the law. Citizens choose to obey the law when the chances of being caught violating it are virtually zero. Yet citizens break the law when it is risky to do so.

7. Survey Results • The Chicago study focused on six laws with which people deal on a daily basis. Illegal parking, 51%; speeding, 62%; shoplifting, 3%; disturbing the peace, 27%; littering, 25%; DUI, 19%. • How likely they thought it was that they would be arrested: DUI, 83%; parking violation and shoplifting, 78%; speeding, 72%; disturbing the peace, 35%, littering, 31%.

8. Survey results • Whether each offense was wrong: almost every one of the participants felt that any violations of the six laws were wrong. 99% think shoplifting immoral and speeding is the least immoral.

9. Theories of Crime Causation • Classical Criminology • Routine Activities Theory • Biological Theory • Psychological Theories • Social Process Theories

10. Classical Criminology • Based on the philosophical principle of utilitarianism, has its roots in the belief that human beings are rational and calculating creatures and therefore do things in order to avoid pain and produce pleasure.

11. Classical Criminology • People have free will which they can use to elect to engage in either criminal or noncriminal behavior. • Criminal behavior will be more attractive if the gains are estimated to be greater than the losses • The more certain, severe, and swift the reaction to crime, the more likely it is that the penalties will control the behavior.

12. Classical Criminology Difficulties inherent in the theory • Many people do not stop and add up the gains and losses of lawbreaking before they engage in it. • The impact of penalties can be very different for different people • It is very difficult to know whether the penalty will in face result from the behavior: most offenders optimistically assume that they will not be caught.

13. Routine Activities Theory • A variation of classical theory, holds that both the motivation to commit crime and the supply of offenders is constant. • The availability of suitable targets, such as companies and individuals • The absence of capable guardians, such as auditors and security personnel • The presence of motivated offenders, such as unhappy or financially-challenged employees.

14. Biological Theories • Criminal behavior is not the result of choice, but rather is caused by the physical traits of those who commit crime, proposed by Cesare Lombroso. • There are “born” criminals. • Biological theorists now take a much less deterministic position. Given certain environmental circumstances, is apt to produce illegal acts.

15. Psychological Theories • Criminal behavior is the product of mental processes. • Freud’s idea focus on early childhood development and on unconscious motivations. Freud identified a three part structure to human personality: the id(the drive for food, sex, and other life-sustaining things), the superego (the conscience which develops when learned values become incorporated into a person’s behavior), and the ego(the product of the interaction between what a person wants and what his conscience will allow him to do to achieve what he wants).

16. Cognitive theories • Cognitive theories stress inadequate moral and intellectual development as lying at the root of criminal acts. There are also personality theories, which believe that traits such as extroversion are responsible for a significant amount of crime.

17. Integrated Theories • Draw from choice theory, biological theory, and psychological theory. • While criminal activity is a choice, this choice is heavily influenced by biological and psychological factors. Other social factors, such as family life, schools, and gang membership, were also explored.

18. Conditioning Theory • It argues that the failure of a person to incorporate satisfactorily the dictates of society represents the major explanation for subsequent criminal behavior. • Frustration is the the precursor of aggression. The theory suggests that the expression of aggression, such as a fraud perpetrator “getting back” at his employer, will alleviate the frustration and allow the organism to return to a more satisfactory state.

19. Social Structure Theories • There are various kinds of sociological theories, all based on similar premises but with differing kinds of emphases. • As a group, social structure theories suggest that forces operating in the lower-class areas of the environment push many of their residents into criminal behavior. They challenge those who would suggest that crime is an expression of psychological imbalance, biological traits, personal choice, etc. • People living in equivalent social environments seems to behave in a similar, predictable fashion.

20. Theory of Anomie • The discrepancy between what people are indoctrinated into desiring and the ways that are available to them to achieve such ends is the cornerstone for explanation of criminal behavior. • Anomie in the United States was characterized by an almost overpowering emphasis on the acquisition of things and on the fact that social status and importance is usually measured in terms of money. There are different ways to obtain money.

21. Social Process Theories • Criminality is a function of individual socialization and the social-psychological interactions people have with the various organizations, institutions, and processes of society. • The various social process theories all share one basic concept: all people regardless of their race, class, or gender, have the potential to become delinquents or criminals.

22. Social Learning Theories • Criminal behavior is a function of the way people absorb information, viewpoints, and motivations from others, most notably from those to whom they are close, such as their peer. • Social learning theories believe that all people have the potential to commit crime if they are exposed to certain kinds of circumstances.

23. Theory of Differential Association • Provided by Edwin Sutherland. • Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. • The criminal learning process includes not only techniques of committing crime but also the shaping of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. • While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by these general needs and values because noncriminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

24. Social Control Theory • By Travis Hirschi (1969) • The institutions of the social system train and press those with whom they are in contact into patterns of conformity. To the extent a person fails to become attached to the variety of control agencies (school, parents) of the society, his or her chances of violating the law are increased.

25. White-Collar Crime • There is no well-accepted definition. • The term was coined by Edwin H. Sutherland in 1939. • Definition by Sutherland:”Crime in the upper, white-collar class, which is composed of respectable, or at least respected, business, and professional men.” • Then he gave examples of thefts by chain store employees and overcharges by garage mechanics and watch repairers—which is inconsistent with his definition.

26. White-Collar Crime • More commonly accepted definition: “nonviolent crime for financial gain committed by means of deception by persons whose occupational status is entrepreneurial, professional or semi-professional and utilizing their special occupational skills and opportunities.”

27. Offense Stimuli An employee embezzles $10 A store owner knowingly puts “large eggs into containers marked “extra large” A person makes an obscene phone call Public Perceptions of White-Collar Crime (National Survey of Crime Severity)

28. Offense Stimuli An employee embezzles $1,000 A person beats a victim with his fists. The victim requires treatment by a doctor but not hospitalization. Public Perceptions of White-Collar Crime

29. Profiles of White-Collar Offenders • White males, with a moderate social status. • They are slightly more likely than the general population to have a high school diploma (78% vs. 69%), or a college degree (24.7% vs. 19%).

30. Fraud Perpetrator • They look like any honest people • When compared with prisoners incarcerated for property offenses, they are • less likely to be caught, turned in, arrested, convicted, and incarcerated • less likely to serve long sentences • considerably older • better educated, more religious • less likely to have criminal records, abused alcohol, use drugs • in better psychological health, enjoy more optimism, self-esteem, achievement, motivation and family harmony.

31. Fraud Perpetrator • When compared with college students, they differed only slightly.

32. Why people commit Fraud? • Fraud triangle • Pressure(perceived or real one) • Opportunity (perceived or real one) • Rationalization (I didn’t do anything wrong, I’ll pay it back, didn’t hurt anyone) • Best way to prevent fraud is to eliminate opportunity

33. What are the 4 types of pressure? Vices Financial Work-Related Other Pressures

34. Types of Financial Pressures • Greed • Living beyond one’s means • High bills or personal debt • Poor credit • Personal financial losses • Unexpected financial needs

35. What are the three parts of perceived opportunity? • To commit fraud • To conceal fraud • To avoid punishment

36. What factors increase opportunity to commit fraud? • Ability to get around internal controls • Inability to judge performance • Failure to discipline prior frauds • Lack of access to information • Ignorance, Apathy, Incapacity • Lack of an audit trail

37. Factoids 30% Dishonest 30% Situationally Honest 40% Honest All the Time Internal Audit Detects 20% of Detected Frauds Comment on the Control Environment • Modeling • Management Communication • Appropriate Hiring • Clear Organizational Structure • Effective Internal Audit & Security & Loss Prevention Programs

38. What are the 3 components of every fraud? • The Theft – Assets Are Taken • Concealment – Hide It from Others • Conversion – Spends or Converts to Cash and then Spends

39. What does a good account system do? Provide a Good Audit Trail

40. What does a good accounting system do for transaction? • Provides Validity • Proper Authorization • Complete transactions • Proper Classification • Report in Correct Time Period • Properly Valued • Summarizes Correctly

41. What are the 5 primary control procedures? • Segregation of Duties or Dual Custody • System of Authorizations • Independent Checks and Balances • Physical Safeguards • Documentation & Records

42. Rationalization • Review the concept • Provide examples of how you have heard people rationalize unacceptable behavior as acceptable

43. Discussion