CRIMINOLOGY & SAFETY
Amy Nivette
1. Introduction to criminology
Different kinds of crimes
1. Legal (against law)
2. Moral (behaviour is ‘wrong’, offends shared morals and beliefs)
3. Social (behaviour that violates social norms)
4. Humanistic (behaviour denies human rights)
When is crime crime? Three elements (usually two out of three is enough in an academic setting)
1. Action of harm (mental, physical, economic, environment)
2. Social consensus (people have to generally agree that it does harm)
3. Official societal response (arrest oid.)
Patterns of crime
1. Spatial trends (crime patterns over space)
a. e.g. cross-national. is it comparable? Look at different definitions between countries
b. e.g. specific locations in a city (bus stop, wijk)
2. Temporal trends (crime patterns over time)
a. Over the years
i. Crime fell in the US (50% from 1990-2010). There’s no clear explanation for this.
b. Within a day
c. It’s really difficult to predict crime.
3. Demographic trends (crime patterns over populations)
Reduction versus prevention
Four pillars of crime reduction: Three crime prevention strategies:
1. Police 5. Developmental (childhood)
2. Courts 6. Situational (doesn’t stop motivation, but
3. Corrections (prison) chance of success)
4. Prevention 7. Community (social)
Evidence-based crime prevention.
Key strength is in its scientific approach:
Effectiveness: assess evidence of impact
, Methodological quality: assess the evaluation. Review the collective evidence: tally/rank studies.
o Internal validity: the extent to which there is certainty that the intervention caused the
change
o External validity: the extent to which conclusions can be generalized.
o Statistical conclusion validity: quality of the actual statistical analysis
o Construct validity: quality of measurement. Whether you are measuring the right thing.
o Descriptive validity: quality of description of research, did they mention every step of the
way?
e.g. Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods, is the most popular scale.
o Evaluates studies by their internal validity
o Control of other variables
o Measurement error
o Statistical power
o Measuring on a scale from one to five:
Level 1: Correlation, single point in time / no comparison
Level 2: Before and after, no control group / no comparison
Level 3: Before and after, with control group (baseline for good internal validity)
Level 4: Before and after, multiple control groups
Level 5: Random assignment to comparable groups (no selection effects)
Reviewing the collective evidence:
What works?At least two L3-L5 evaluations showing effects and other evidence.
What doesn’t? At least two L3-L5 evaluations showing no effects and other evidence.
What’s promising? At least one L3-L5 study showing effects and other evidence.
What’s unknown? Not enough high level studies, or high level studies show very differing effects.
Policy implications
Adhere to scientific standards. Rigorous standards for studies
Collect and evaluate studies
Examine theoretical mechanisms. Not just the trends but also the ‘why’.
Test, retest, repeat
2. Theories
Offender disposition and motivation
What “pushes” people to commit crime? There has to be something that instigates crime.
- Social learning: association with people that have certain beliefs
- Group dynamics
- Strain:
o Negative stimuli blocking pathways to legal activities, so you use criminal coping.
Emotional states: discontent, frustration, anger
, o Adaptations to conventional routes (coping)
o Different people have different likelihood to experience strains and have different
reactions to these strains. Everyone ahs to deal with these negative emotional states, by
coping. According to social & individual characteristics one can use criminal coping or
legal coping.
Assumption: no inherent motivation
What prevents people from committing crime?
- (Social) control perspectives: people are inherently acting in their own self-interest, but they
unlearn this over time by being in different networks and meeting different things. Economic,
social, psychological benefits. Adjust perceived benefits, reduce crime. Connected system of
constraints (controls)
- You can have internal formal control, external formal control, etc. these categories are not
mutually exclusive and can overlap, usually depend on one another.
o Internal
MID. Lowered self-control. Strong agreement with social norms increase control.
o External
Relationships, someone watching you
o Formal
Police officers, legal authorities, teachers (can be informal/formal, depending on
the context)
o Informal
Parents, peers, teachers
Situation / environment theories
- Specific places in cities where people commit crimes: spatial patterns
Amy Nivette
1. Introduction to criminology
Different kinds of crimes
1. Legal (against law)
2. Moral (behaviour is ‘wrong’, offends shared morals and beliefs)
3. Social (behaviour that violates social norms)
4. Humanistic (behaviour denies human rights)
When is crime crime? Three elements (usually two out of three is enough in an academic setting)
1. Action of harm (mental, physical, economic, environment)
2. Social consensus (people have to generally agree that it does harm)
3. Official societal response (arrest oid.)
Patterns of crime
1. Spatial trends (crime patterns over space)
a. e.g. cross-national. is it comparable? Look at different definitions between countries
b. e.g. specific locations in a city (bus stop, wijk)
2. Temporal trends (crime patterns over time)
a. Over the years
i. Crime fell in the US (50% from 1990-2010). There’s no clear explanation for this.
b. Within a day
c. It’s really difficult to predict crime.
3. Demographic trends (crime patterns over populations)
Reduction versus prevention
Four pillars of crime reduction: Three crime prevention strategies:
1. Police 5. Developmental (childhood)
2. Courts 6. Situational (doesn’t stop motivation, but
3. Corrections (prison) chance of success)
4. Prevention 7. Community (social)
Evidence-based crime prevention.
Key strength is in its scientific approach:
Effectiveness: assess evidence of impact
, Methodological quality: assess the evaluation. Review the collective evidence: tally/rank studies.
o Internal validity: the extent to which there is certainty that the intervention caused the
change
o External validity: the extent to which conclusions can be generalized.
o Statistical conclusion validity: quality of the actual statistical analysis
o Construct validity: quality of measurement. Whether you are measuring the right thing.
o Descriptive validity: quality of description of research, did they mention every step of the
way?
e.g. Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods, is the most popular scale.
o Evaluates studies by their internal validity
o Control of other variables
o Measurement error
o Statistical power
o Measuring on a scale from one to five:
Level 1: Correlation, single point in time / no comparison
Level 2: Before and after, no control group / no comparison
Level 3: Before and after, with control group (baseline for good internal validity)
Level 4: Before and after, multiple control groups
Level 5: Random assignment to comparable groups (no selection effects)
Reviewing the collective evidence:
What works?At least two L3-L5 evaluations showing effects and other evidence.
What doesn’t? At least two L3-L5 evaluations showing no effects and other evidence.
What’s promising? At least one L3-L5 study showing effects and other evidence.
What’s unknown? Not enough high level studies, or high level studies show very differing effects.
Policy implications
Adhere to scientific standards. Rigorous standards for studies
Collect and evaluate studies
Examine theoretical mechanisms. Not just the trends but also the ‘why’.
Test, retest, repeat
2. Theories
Offender disposition and motivation
What “pushes” people to commit crime? There has to be something that instigates crime.
- Social learning: association with people that have certain beliefs
- Group dynamics
- Strain:
o Negative stimuli blocking pathways to legal activities, so you use criminal coping.
Emotional states: discontent, frustration, anger
, o Adaptations to conventional routes (coping)
o Different people have different likelihood to experience strains and have different
reactions to these strains. Everyone ahs to deal with these negative emotional states, by
coping. According to social & individual characteristics one can use criminal coping or
legal coping.
Assumption: no inherent motivation
What prevents people from committing crime?
- (Social) control perspectives: people are inherently acting in their own self-interest, but they
unlearn this over time by being in different networks and meeting different things. Economic,
social, psychological benefits. Adjust perceived benefits, reduce crime. Connected system of
constraints (controls)
- You can have internal formal control, external formal control, etc. these categories are not
mutually exclusive and can overlap, usually depend on one another.
o Internal
MID. Lowered self-control. Strong agreement with social norms increase control.
o External
Relationships, someone watching you
o Formal
Police officers, legal authorities, teachers (can be informal/formal, depending on
the context)
o Informal
Parents, peers, teachers
Situation / environment theories
- Specific places in cities where people commit crimes: spatial patterns
