1. Criminology as a science

2. What is “science”?
A way to describe and explain the world using “empiricism” – observation and measurement
To explain we must look for relationships between observable things or events
These observable things or events are called “variables”
“Variables” can change in value and the change can be accurately measured
If variables change in value together they might be related or “associated”
We can hypothesize that changes in one variable cause changes in another. That’s what “cause and effect” means.
Hypothesis: Taking this class increases knowledge about the causes of crime
To test the hypothesis we could give exams to students who took this class (y) and those who didn’t (n)
The variables would be: (1) taking the class (y/n) and (2) test score
If those who took the class get higher scores than those who didn’t, there is a relationship between the variables, and it’s in the hypothesized “direction” (i.e., taking the class  higher scores)
4 mis.

3. Hypotheses and theories
Science is driven by hypotheses and theories
Hypothesis: A proposed, testable explanation of a phenomenon, usually expressed in the language of cause and effect.
Lunar cycles and homicide: As the moon waxes (get’s “bigger”) homicide increases
Theory: An explanation that has been rigorously tested and is widely accepted to be true.
Variable: The things that are measured to form and test a hypothesis or theory.
Lunar cycle: How “full” is the moon?
Homicide: Murder rate – how many murders per 100,000 population?
Pitfalls
There are lots of variables in the world, so if we measure we’ll find that many seem to change together. But is the relationship real or an “artifact” of the measurement process?
To avoid this trap a hypothesis must be based on established knowledge
Can’t pick out hypotheses from thin air

4. Cause and effect
Theories predict how changes in one variable affect changes in another variable
More poverty  more crime
BUT...is the causal order accurate? Could it really be more crime  more poverty?
BUT...might other variables (education, where one lives) be the real cause?
Poorer education  more crime? Maybe the relationship between poverty and crime is spurious. It looks like poverty is the cause because it’s related to education.
More poverty  poorer education  more crime? Maybe poverty has an influence, but it’s not direct – it’s mostly on an intervening variable (education.)

5. Experimental research
Best way to untangle what really causes crime is to set up an experiment
We randomly create two groups (that makes them equivalent in all respects)
We make one group poor, leave the other alone, then a couple years later compare each group’s their mean (average) number of arrests
That’s why most social science research isn’t experimental – it’s after the fact
Use existing data. Try to statistically “control” (weed out) all other variables
Must identify and measure all variables that could affect crime
Critical variables are often difficult to measure or quantify.
How would someone measure personality factors?
Social conditions?

6. Development of criminology
Non-scientific explanations
Spiritual - crime caused by witches, or the Devil
Can’t be scientifically tested because they rely on unobservable phenomena
Methods for gathering “evidence”
Trial by battle: If you win, you’re innocent
Trial by ordeal: If you survive, you’re innocent
Compurgation: Accused would be acquitted if a set number of people, usually twelve, testified under oath that the accused was innocent
Based on belief that fear of the Almighty would keep people from lying
Scientific -- “natural” explanations
Use variables in the “empirical” (observable, measurable) world to explain crime

7. Scientific explanations: Classical v. Positivist Criminology
Classical Criminology
Free will - crime is product of free choice
Committed through a rational cost-benefit analysis
Crime control - Cesare Beccaria
Deterrence: make costs of crime exceed its benefits
Emphasize certainty, severity and celerity (promptness) of punishment
Positivist criminology
Behavior determined by factors outside individual control
People reason, but do so after the fact, to justify behaviors whose origins may be caused by non-rational factors
That’s why punishment doesn’t always work
Originally focused on biological factors (Lombroso - “the born criminal”)
Later expanded into psychological and social factors

8. Positivist criminology & the CJ system
Positivist criminologists more concerned with nature of behavior than with how it may be legally defined
Crime is “socially constructed” – what is defined as criminal depends on time, place and how crime is defined
Differences in crime rates may be due to differences in how people are treated
Legal distinctions may be unrelated to causal factors
Identical acts may have different causes
Why call some acts “aggravated assault” and others “murder”?
Disparity in how laws are written and enforced
Crimes of the poor (street crime) are more likely to be severely punished than crimes of the rich (white collar)
Disparity in resources available to lower-income defendants
Police Issues: “It’s Good to be Rich”; “Time or Money”

9. The Great Debate: which offers the best explanations: biology, psychology or sociology?
Mass shootings
08/24/12 Jeffrey Johnson, 58, a self-employed NYC man shot and killed a former coworker in front of the Empire State Building. Officers fired sixteen rounds, killing Johnson and injuring nine bystanders.
08/08/12 Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire in and around a Milwaukee-area Sikh temple, killing six and wounding three including a police officer. He died from a self-inflicted wound to the head. Page was a well-known white supremacist and sang in a white-power band.
07/20/12 A troubled graduate student burst into a Colorado theatre during a midnight showing of “A Dark Knight,” threw gas grenades and opened fire with a shotgun, a rifle and two pistols, wounding fifty-eight and killing twelve. James Holmes, 24, was arrested without incident.
How do these compare to more conventional violent crime?
05/04/12 A neo-Nazi who led an Arizona border militia shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, her daughter, granddaughter and daughter’s boyfriend, then killed himself. Ex-Marine Jason Ready had a history of domestic violence.
Bank robberies
“Ordinary” gang violence (drive-by’s, etc.)
Organized crime “hits”