Tuesday January 11, 2022:
Intro:
● Tuesdays at 9:30-12:30
● UC 3110 Class
● Required texts: 6th edition of Canadian criminology today
● Lecture will cover a solid amount of textbook but also other material that is interesting
● Additional lecture material: Responsible for around 60% of the textbook information versus
lecture
● Rich get Richer poor get prison any edition is fine
● Additional readings from lectures: make sure you know them and their summaries
● Anything not marked optional is required
● You do not need to memorize all the crime stats
● Research Proposal, Midterm Exam, Research Paper, Final Exam
● Look at the textbook in terms of research paper ideas- get an idea of the different materials
What is Criminology?
● Research paper is on any topic in terms of criminology
● Gender, age, class, ethnicity, race
● 8-10 pages, 8 peer review sources (69-73 if you meet those expectations)
● Use ASA citations style
● Two theories, counter arguments, argue about gender, class, age, race
● Research, determining what theories are effective, crime sentences
● Criminology is a profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior,
including their form, causes, legal aspects, prevention and control
● What is crime? Crime can be defined in different ways/ different perspectives- legalistic,
political, sociological, psychological *important to know (GREAT MULTIPLE-CHOICE
QUESTION)
● Legalistic assumes that those who should be able to make laws are powerful, involved in
politics, to define laws that serve their interests
● Street crime opposed to crimes committed by powerful politicians
● Assumes that those who make laws are powerful and can be self-serving such as by focusing
on petty crime
● Crime cannot be separated from the law
● The laws we currently have did not always exist
● Laws change to reflect the changing values of society (it is only through the changing of
these laws that we commit crimes)
● Laws change slowly
● Political: Those with power in our society choose to define behaviors as criminals and those
behaviors defined as criminal are often those that challenge their power
● Sociology: More interested in what causes harm to our society, broader definition, medical
malpractice, dangerous products, company is not criminally responsible, we don’t think of
that as a crime
● Psychological: Less on social factors
● Deviant behavior is a human activity that violates social norms
● Norms are formal and informal- expectations of social conduct
,● Norms are vital for the smooth functioning of society, almost everything is governed by
norms
● All crimes are considered deviant to at least some people but not all deviance would be
considered crime
● Some forms of deviance are not criminal (farting in an elevator, wearing white to a wedding,
cheating)
● Some forms of crime are not always seen as deviant (jaywalking)
● Crime and Deviance Illegal, both Illegal and Deviant, Deviant
● Deviance and crime vary in time and space
● What should be criminal?
● Three different perspectives: The Consensus Perspective Number One
● Consensus Perspective: Core values exist with society; Society agrees with what the laws
should be
● Within society there are values and beliefs in terms of what is right vs. What is wrong
● Laws reflect the collective will of the people
● Government can inflict laws that reflect our will
● We are all protected by the law that prohibits theft, murder, etc.
● Those who violate the law represent a unique subgroup of the population
● Those who break the law have something wrong with them, maybe psychological
impairments? Maybe upbringing? They must be punished and locked up to protect society
● Consensus: Those who break law= something wrong with them, to maintain a well-
functioning society those individuals need to be locked up
● Problems: Are there really a core set of values? Can we really all agree on the laws we have?
● How might the laws not serve all people equally?
● Indigenous people, Race, Gender- Homeless people, many different discriminations
● Fundamental issue: In order to benefit from laws that protect private property: you must own
private property, does that law serve you?
● Pluralist Perspective: Many diverse social groups within society, have competing beliefs and
values, acknowledge that there are different beliefs
● The state is a value neutral arbiter
● Conflict Perspective: Society is comprised of diverse social groups, those in powerful
positions can coheres lower status individuals to follow by their rules, laws that powerful
people make are made to advantage them, different groups are fighting to hold power
● Law is a tool of the powerful
● The powerful strive to keep their power
● Criminologist: Trained in the field of criminology (recall definition)
● Studies of crime, criminals and criminal behavior, research and publication in academic
journals
● Engage in data gathering and analysis, theory building, hypothesis testing
● Criminalist: Specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence, Forensic
files, etc.
● Technical aspects of criminal apprehension
● Criminal justice professionals: Those who work today in (with) the criminal justice system
, ● Social policy: Government initiates, programs or plans intended to address problems in
society
● Criminality: A behavioral predisposition that does not favor criminal activity
● Aggression can predispose somebody to crime
● Criminogenic: A system, situation or place that causes criminal behavior
● Increasing the likelihood, not everyone who grows up in a bad area leads to criminal behavior
● Criminal behavior: Human behavior that violates criminal law
Tuesday January 18th, 2021:
● TA’s: I am in group two
● Chapter 2: Crime Statistics
● Information about the Crime Proposals is up
● Under proposal and research paper
● Slideshow on how to do academic research
● Theoretical Criminology:
● Theory: Series of interrelated propositions that describe relationships between people and
things
● Try to control events
● We use theories to give us some sort of predictability to allow us to understand how the
world operates
● Theories gain power by how well they hold up to imperial testing
● Researchers will develop a theory
● *Low Self Control Theory* Hershey
● People involve themselves in crime when they have had low self-control
● We do not prove a theory; we gain more and more evidence to support a theory*
● As we test theories, the strength of the evidence grows
● Hershey and Goffe stein tried to explain many forms of crime through the low self-control
theory
● This theory is not amazing at explaining white-collar crime/ they have a lot of self-control
● General theories: All or most forms of Crime
● Integrated Theory: Won’t explain all types of crime, integrated theory is an explanatory
concept that merges theories and elements from different theories – maybe one form of crime
● Differential association may be better
● Applied research: Applied research is research based on scientific inquiry that is designed
and carried out with a practical application in mind
● Pure research: Research that is only taken for the development of theory and scientific
method- simply conducting to develop more theory (not really to solve a problem, but for
scientific theory)
● Collecting your own data: Surveys, Interview
● Self-Report Surveys: People anonymously explain if they have committed crimes or have
been the victim of crimes
● Case Studies: In-depth investigations of certain cases
● When you are doing a case study, you may use different modes of data collection: surveys
● Participant Observation: Covert vs Non covert
● Self-reporting: Can occur through interviews
, ● (Collecting your own data)
● Secondary analysis: Less attention is paid to this
● Quantitative methods for secondary analysis: Using research that is constructed by previous
researchers in order to complete your own research
● More economical and appropriate
● Qualitative vs. Quantitative
○ Two different approaches to sociological/criminological research
○ What is the difference?
○ Quantitative research: produces measurable results that can be analyzed statistically
and generalized to a larger population
○ Qualitative research: Subjective experience of the research participants
● Ethical consideration in criminological research?
○ What kinds of ethical consideration must criminologists deal with when conducting
research?
● Laud Humphrey’s Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places
● Social Problems perspective vs. The Social Responsibility perspective
● Crime is the result of underlying social problems. Low levels of education, poverty, family
violence, inadequate social socialization- to solve crime we need to solve poverty,
homelessness, we need to make sure children have good socialization, paid childcare
● Social responsibility argues that individuals are responsible for their decisions- choices to
make crimes and choices to, etc. People who do not have good self-control will engage in
crime- closely related to social choice theories
● Textbook takes the social problems theory
● Crime is sociologically constructed
● How can biology be the sole explanation for criminal behavior? It is socially constructive.
Chapter 2: Crime Statistics
● Demographers were using data among the population for using crime to determine how it
changed through countries, moral statistics: suicide, divorce, abortion
● Thomas Malthus (1766-1834): Essays on the principles of population (his book) Population
of Britain would be overrun, lead to starvation, conflict, form, all forms of delinquent deviant
behavior, helping the poor is a problem (we should not be helping the poor)
● Some of the early demographic information- population growth and crime, negative
outcomes in terms of crime, suicide, divorce, abortion
● André Michel Guerry (1802-1866) He wrote essays on moral statistics in France, looked at
how they changed overtime and crime rates, maps of France- crime rates and suicide rates,
famous for how moral statistics changed over the country and how they changed over time-
found out they were relatively stable, first crime research
● Adolphe Quételet (1796-1864): Formed historical basis for the statistical school of
criminology, which attempts to find correlations between crime rates and other types of
demographic data
● Sources of Crime Statistics: 3
○ Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR)
Intro:
● Tuesdays at 9:30-12:30
● UC 3110 Class
● Required texts: 6th edition of Canadian criminology today
● Lecture will cover a solid amount of textbook but also other material that is interesting
● Additional lecture material: Responsible for around 60% of the textbook information versus
lecture
● Rich get Richer poor get prison any edition is fine
● Additional readings from lectures: make sure you know them and their summaries
● Anything not marked optional is required
● You do not need to memorize all the crime stats
● Research Proposal, Midterm Exam, Research Paper, Final Exam
● Look at the textbook in terms of research paper ideas- get an idea of the different materials
What is Criminology?
● Research paper is on any topic in terms of criminology
● Gender, age, class, ethnicity, race
● 8-10 pages, 8 peer review sources (69-73 if you meet those expectations)
● Use ASA citations style
● Two theories, counter arguments, argue about gender, class, age, race
● Research, determining what theories are effective, crime sentences
● Criminology is a profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior,
including their form, causes, legal aspects, prevention and control
● What is crime? Crime can be defined in different ways/ different perspectives- legalistic,
political, sociological, psychological *important to know (GREAT MULTIPLE-CHOICE
QUESTION)
● Legalistic assumes that those who should be able to make laws are powerful, involved in
politics, to define laws that serve their interests
● Street crime opposed to crimes committed by powerful politicians
● Assumes that those who make laws are powerful and can be self-serving such as by focusing
on petty crime
● Crime cannot be separated from the law
● The laws we currently have did not always exist
● Laws change to reflect the changing values of society (it is only through the changing of
these laws that we commit crimes)
● Laws change slowly
● Political: Those with power in our society choose to define behaviors as criminals and those
behaviors defined as criminal are often those that challenge their power
● Sociology: More interested in what causes harm to our society, broader definition, medical
malpractice, dangerous products, company is not criminally responsible, we don’t think of
that as a crime
● Psychological: Less on social factors
● Deviant behavior is a human activity that violates social norms
● Norms are formal and informal- expectations of social conduct
,● Norms are vital for the smooth functioning of society, almost everything is governed by
norms
● All crimes are considered deviant to at least some people but not all deviance would be
considered crime
● Some forms of deviance are not criminal (farting in an elevator, wearing white to a wedding,
cheating)
● Some forms of crime are not always seen as deviant (jaywalking)
● Crime and Deviance Illegal, both Illegal and Deviant, Deviant
● Deviance and crime vary in time and space
● What should be criminal?
● Three different perspectives: The Consensus Perspective Number One
● Consensus Perspective: Core values exist with society; Society agrees with what the laws
should be
● Within society there are values and beliefs in terms of what is right vs. What is wrong
● Laws reflect the collective will of the people
● Government can inflict laws that reflect our will
● We are all protected by the law that prohibits theft, murder, etc.
● Those who violate the law represent a unique subgroup of the population
● Those who break the law have something wrong with them, maybe psychological
impairments? Maybe upbringing? They must be punished and locked up to protect society
● Consensus: Those who break law= something wrong with them, to maintain a well-
functioning society those individuals need to be locked up
● Problems: Are there really a core set of values? Can we really all agree on the laws we have?
● How might the laws not serve all people equally?
● Indigenous people, Race, Gender- Homeless people, many different discriminations
● Fundamental issue: In order to benefit from laws that protect private property: you must own
private property, does that law serve you?
● Pluralist Perspective: Many diverse social groups within society, have competing beliefs and
values, acknowledge that there are different beliefs
● The state is a value neutral arbiter
● Conflict Perspective: Society is comprised of diverse social groups, those in powerful
positions can coheres lower status individuals to follow by their rules, laws that powerful
people make are made to advantage them, different groups are fighting to hold power
● Law is a tool of the powerful
● The powerful strive to keep their power
● Criminologist: Trained in the field of criminology (recall definition)
● Studies of crime, criminals and criminal behavior, research and publication in academic
journals
● Engage in data gathering and analysis, theory building, hypothesis testing
● Criminalist: Specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence, Forensic
files, etc.
● Technical aspects of criminal apprehension
● Criminal justice professionals: Those who work today in (with) the criminal justice system
, ● Social policy: Government initiates, programs or plans intended to address problems in
society
● Criminality: A behavioral predisposition that does not favor criminal activity
● Aggression can predispose somebody to crime
● Criminogenic: A system, situation or place that causes criminal behavior
● Increasing the likelihood, not everyone who grows up in a bad area leads to criminal behavior
● Criminal behavior: Human behavior that violates criminal law
Tuesday January 18th, 2021:
● TA’s: I am in group two
● Chapter 2: Crime Statistics
● Information about the Crime Proposals is up
● Under proposal and research paper
● Slideshow on how to do academic research
● Theoretical Criminology:
● Theory: Series of interrelated propositions that describe relationships between people and
things
● Try to control events
● We use theories to give us some sort of predictability to allow us to understand how the
world operates
● Theories gain power by how well they hold up to imperial testing
● Researchers will develop a theory
● *Low Self Control Theory* Hershey
● People involve themselves in crime when they have had low self-control
● We do not prove a theory; we gain more and more evidence to support a theory*
● As we test theories, the strength of the evidence grows
● Hershey and Goffe stein tried to explain many forms of crime through the low self-control
theory
● This theory is not amazing at explaining white-collar crime/ they have a lot of self-control
● General theories: All or most forms of Crime
● Integrated Theory: Won’t explain all types of crime, integrated theory is an explanatory
concept that merges theories and elements from different theories – maybe one form of crime
● Differential association may be better
● Applied research: Applied research is research based on scientific inquiry that is designed
and carried out with a practical application in mind
● Pure research: Research that is only taken for the development of theory and scientific
method- simply conducting to develop more theory (not really to solve a problem, but for
scientific theory)
● Collecting your own data: Surveys, Interview
● Self-Report Surveys: People anonymously explain if they have committed crimes or have
been the victim of crimes
● Case Studies: In-depth investigations of certain cases
● When you are doing a case study, you may use different modes of data collection: surveys
● Participant Observation: Covert vs Non covert
● Self-reporting: Can occur through interviews
, ● (Collecting your own data)
● Secondary analysis: Less attention is paid to this
● Quantitative methods for secondary analysis: Using research that is constructed by previous
researchers in order to complete your own research
● More economical and appropriate
● Qualitative vs. Quantitative
○ Two different approaches to sociological/criminological research
○ What is the difference?
○ Quantitative research: produces measurable results that can be analyzed statistically
and generalized to a larger population
○ Qualitative research: Subjective experience of the research participants
● Ethical consideration in criminological research?
○ What kinds of ethical consideration must criminologists deal with when conducting
research?
● Laud Humphrey’s Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places
● Social Problems perspective vs. The Social Responsibility perspective
● Crime is the result of underlying social problems. Low levels of education, poverty, family
violence, inadequate social socialization- to solve crime we need to solve poverty,
homelessness, we need to make sure children have good socialization, paid childcare
● Social responsibility argues that individuals are responsible for their decisions- choices to
make crimes and choices to, etc. People who do not have good self-control will engage in
crime- closely related to social choice theories
● Textbook takes the social problems theory
● Crime is sociologically constructed
● How can biology be the sole explanation for criminal behavior? It is socially constructive.
Chapter 2: Crime Statistics
● Demographers were using data among the population for using crime to determine how it
changed through countries, moral statistics: suicide, divorce, abortion
● Thomas Malthus (1766-1834): Essays on the principles of population (his book) Population
of Britain would be overrun, lead to starvation, conflict, form, all forms of delinquent deviant
behavior, helping the poor is a problem (we should not be helping the poor)
● Some of the early demographic information- population growth and crime, negative
outcomes in terms of crime, suicide, divorce, abortion
● André Michel Guerry (1802-1866) He wrote essays on moral statistics in France, looked at
how they changed overtime and crime rates, maps of France- crime rates and suicide rates,
famous for how moral statistics changed over the country and how they changed over time-
found out they were relatively stable, first crime research
● Adolphe Quételet (1796-1864): Formed historical basis for the statistical school of
criminology, which attempts to find correlations between crime rates and other types of
demographic data
● Sources of Crime Statistics: 3
○ Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR)
