Midterm Flashcards
(11 cards)
What are the crime policy levels?
Fed, law, state law, local law
What are the Positive theories and who came up with them
Biological, sociological, and psychological;Lombroso
Who is the Classical Theorist
Caesar Beccaria
What theory is this
-Human behavior influenced by outside forces beyond their control, e.g. poverty, mental deficits
-Solutions lie in improving social conditions, not harsher punishment, e.g. eliminate poverty, create opportunity, treatment for physical/mental issues
-Disagree about the causes of the issue, so also disagree on solutions
Positivist Theories
Which theory does this belong to
-Belief that people have free will
-crime is a rational choice based on a cost/benefit analysis
-punishment should be harsh enough to deter but not lovely punitive
-rules must be clear, written in advance to influence offender decision
-mitigation factors irrelevant, law should apply equally to everyone
Classical Theory
-Offenders must be punished in proportion to the harm committed
-Non utilitarian-not concerned with crime prevention, rather with vindication the rule of law and deserved punishment
-Eye for an eye; favor death penalty
Retribution; based on classical theory
-Punishment influences offenders decision: if potential (general deterrence) or actual penalty (specific) is harsh enough, offenders will make the right choice
-Works only if punishment is swift (celerity)(occurring close in time to the offense) certain(sure to happen) and severe (enough to dissuade offender from the act)
-A successful system might require less discretionary decision-making so laws would be applied equally to everyone and eliminate plea bargains so proper amount of punishment is meted out
Deterrence: also based on classical theory
-Based on the medical model, assumes offenders can be changed
-Prisons should be restricted to treatment/skills training/education rather than punishment
-sentence length/type should be individualized, based on underlying problem and how long it takes to address it
-community supervision is encouraged
Rehabilitation focus: fixing underlying problems that lead one to offend, e.g. drug, mental health treatment
-Seperated offenders from, society for or protection
-make further offenses impossible, e.g., incarceration, castration
-focus on repeat offender (special) with long term or permanent isolation (habitual offender/ 3 strikes)
Incapacitation; also classical theory based
What is the dark figure of crime?
Difficulty to measure crime because much crime goes unreported
How do we measure crime?
-UCR:
Self reports
