Criminal Law Definitions

CJ.3300.251 - Juvenile Justice Thursday, January 19 2023 Criminal law definitions a system of law concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes. Status offense definition ❖​ ACTS THAT ARE ONLY ILLEGAL FOR JUVENILES ❖​ Ex: truancy, smoking, curfew violations, disobeying parents/authority figures,running away Texas status offenses ❖​ Conduct in need of supervision(CINS) ❖​ Running away,inhalant abuse, expulsion from school; sexting What's a juvenile Measuring Delinquency 1.​ Official statistics ★​ Data collected from “official agency” responsible for dealing with juvenile offender ★​ Ex: Data from police,courts,correctional agencies 2.​ Self report data ★​ Asking juveniles about the extent of their delinquency ★​ Through anonymous or confidential surveys/interviews 3.​ Victimization ★​ Asking juveniles to report on their own victimization experiences Uniform crime reports ❖​ Police agencies compile their data and submit to the FBI each year ❖​ Collected from US agencies since 1930 Part 1 offenses ❖​ Criminal homicide ❖​ Foecible rape ❖​ Aggravated assault ❖​ Robbert arson ❖​ Larceny theft ❖​ Motor vehicle theft Part 2 offenses ❖​ Liquor laws ❖​ Drunkenness ❖​ Disorderly conduct ❖​ Gambling ❖​ Fraud ❖​ Embezzlement ❖​ Curfew and loitering laws ★​ 10.7% of all part 1 offenses ★​ 9.8% of all violent crime ★​ 11.1% if all property crime Some advantages of arrest data ❖​ The “coverage” of agencies (represents approximately 95% of the US population ❖​ Can examine trends of crime, since they are measured annually ❖​ Moderate accurate for serious crime (e.g., criminal homicide) Some problems with arrest data ❖​ Greatly underestimates the extent of most forms of delinquency ★​ Only reflects crimes known to the police ★​ Data reported are sometimes inaccurate ★​ Hierarchy rule Keep in mind ★​ Most crimes are not reported to police(only about 40%, varies by crime type) ★​ Event when crimes are known to the police, they do not catch the offender in most cases ★​ The police do not arrest most of the suspected offenders they catch (only about 20%,varies by crime type) ★​ Major method criminologist use to measure delinquency Self -report measures ★​ Asks individual to repot their own delinquency ★​ Asks about delinquency in the past (e.g., 6 months, 12 months,lifetime) ★​ A variety of different measures Are they telling the truth? ❖​ Official records comparisons ❖​ peer,family, school reports ❖​ Lie detectors tests, drug tests ❖​ Comparisons between groups known to differ in levels of delinquency ❖​ Moderately accurate estimates of the extent of delinquency Some advantages of self-report data ★​ Provide an estimate of delinquency committed by juveniles, regardless of whether it is known to police or has resulted in arrest ★​ Provides data not available in official statistics Some problems with self-report data ★​ Few long-term, national self-report surveys ★​ Many focus more on minor offenses ★​ Underestimate serious delinquency ★​ Juvenile reports trivial acts as delinquency ★​ Under-sample most serious delinquency Victimization data ★​ National Crime victimization survey (NCVS) ★​ People ages 12+ in approx. 90,000 households ★​ Asked if they reported the victimization to police and why/why not Some advantages of victimization data ★​ Provide an estimate of delinquency committed by juveniles, regardless of whether it is known to police or has results in arrest ★​ Provides data not available in official statistics(e.g., why people don't report victimization) Some problems with self-report data ★​ Only people 12 and above ★​ Focus on only few violent/property offenses ★​ Often not much information on the offender ★​ Underreporting of certain victimization ★​ Under-sampling most serious delinquency Things to be aware of ★​ Sensational cases in the media—don’t generalize ★​ Relying on a single data source—they all have their shortcomings ★​ Percentage changes with a small sample size—can be misleading Juvenile Justice Date: february 7,2023 “Whos most likely to engage in juvenile delinquency” ❖​ Social class ★​ Arrest data: suggest lower class juveniles have higher arrest rates ★​ Self reports: little to no relationship between social class and delinquency ★​ Why the disparate findings? ❖​ Race/Ethnicity ★​ Arrest data: suggest Black juveniles have higher arrest rates (bias: more likely to be arrested, charged, and sentenced for same offense committed by white juvenile) ★​ Self-reports: little to no relationship regarding minor delinquency; moderate relationship for more serious delinquency,but it's complicated ★​ Place matters: poor Black juveniles are more likely than poor white juvenile to live in urban areas suffering from concentrated disadvantage ★​ A theory of African American Offending by Unnever & Gabbidon (2011) ★​ “ a true understanding of African American offending must be grounded in the real condition’ of what it means to be black living in a racially stratified society” p-.xvi ★​ race/ethnicity largely unrelated to minor delinquency ★​ Some self-report data suggest that Black juveniles are more likely than white juvenile to engage in serious delinquency ★​ Much — if not all—of this relationship can be explained by social class and place (neighborhood condition) Immigration ★​ Recent immigrants to the US have lower rates of crime than US natives ★​ First-gen have lower rates than second-gen, who have lower rates than third-gen ★​ Perhaps residence in the US increase the crime rate of immigrants (rather than immigration increasing the crime rate of the US) ❖​ Gender/sex ★​ Both males and females are most often arrested for minor crimes ★​ Self-reports: males more likely than females to engage in delinquency ★​ Gender gap more pronounced for more violent offenses ★​ Gender gap shrinking? gender/sex: General conclusions ★​ More male offenders than female, males commit more offenses on average ★​ Females commit a broad range of offenses ★​ Arrest data show females are being arrested at higher rates; gender gap shrinking ★​ Self- reports suggest this is not a genuine increase in female violence ❖​ Age ★​ Crime rates are highest for people in younger age categories(i.e., adolescents and young adults) ★​ Most crimes peak during mid-to late adolescents and generally decline with age ★​ Practically all offenders desist from crime eventually Age: general conclusions ★​ Relationship between age and crime varies by crime type ★​ Property crime: rises rapidly in adolescence, peaks in late adolescence, decline with age ★​ Violent crime: peaks later, in early adulthood and declines more slowly Saints: middle- class saints well liked and respected by teachers/community members Roughnecks: lower- class roughnecks disliked and seen as delinquents by teachers/community members Social class: general conclusion ★​ Social class largely unrelated to delinquency ★​ Moderately related to serious delinquency; lower class individual appear to have higher rates of delinquency on average ★​ Could be because there are more high-rate offenders in the lower class compared to middle- and upper- class juveniles What is a theory? ★​ Formal explanation for what accounts for things we observe in the social world ★​ For our purpose: proposed explanation for why we see variation in delinquency Causality ★​ Association: when x changes, y changes ★​ Temporal order: x must precede y in time ★​ Non-spuriousness: relationship cannot be due to a third factor Testability ★​ Must have at least one testable statement ★​ Must be falsifiable: can't be true or false by definition ★​ Concepts must be measurable Evaluation of theory ★​ Scope: how much crime can the theory explain? ★​ Parsimony: is the theory concise? ★​ Predictive accuracy: does the theory make accurate predictions? ★​ Practically: does it have practical policy implications? Train theory: origins ★​ Robert K.Merton’s strain theory (1938) ★​ Goal blockage: the inability of individual to achieve culturally prescribed success goals ★​ Assumes that everyone has these same success goals- the American Dream ★​ Crime is just one response to strains ★​ Robert Agnew's general strain theory Social learning theory SLT:Origins ★​ Edwin sutherland's differential association theory (1939/1942) ★​ Ronald Akers and robert burgess (1960s) updated and reformulated the theory: Social learning theory Assumptions ★​ All behaviors is learned from others ★​ This is accomplished through social learning with others DA:Framework ★​ Definitions: defining legal codes as favorable or unfavorable ★​ Differential association: you learn from those you spend the most time with ★​ A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable violation favorable to violation of law ★​ Peer group, the family,school, church, etc. Association with others that value law Learning of criminal/delinquent behavior SLT:Framework ★​ Combined skinner's idea of apparent conditioning and sutherlands ideas of differential association ★​ Depends on the feedback on receives from their environment Operant conditioning Specific consequences are associated with a voluntary behavior -​ Rewards introduces to increase a behavior -​ Punishment introduced to decrease a behavior SLT:Framework ●​ Definitions ●​ Differential association ●​ Differential reinforcement: the balance of anticipated or actual rewards and punishment that follow behavior ●​ Imitation: engaging in behavior after the observation of similar behavior in others Behavior strengthened through reward Behavior through punishment SLT:Evaluation ★​ Differential association and definitions appear to have the most support ★​ Fairly weak effects of differential reinforcement ★​ Imitation has received the least amount of support Policy implications ★​ Address the elements: definitions,differential associations, differential reinforcement imitation ★​ School-based programing that focuses on rewarding prosocial behavior,parent training programs, cognitive behavioral therapy Hirschi’s social control theory Social control:Origins ★​ Travis Hirschi (1935-2017) ★​ Cause of delinquency(1969) ★​ Why don’t all people violate the law? Social control: Assumptions ★​ All people are motivated to violate the law without expectation ★​ Humans are rational and self-interested; their behavior is influenced by the socialization they receive in early life Social control:Framework 1.​ Attachment: intensity if feeling people have for others 2.​ Commitment : long term goals and aspirations 3.​ Involvement: amount of time people spend in conventional activities 4.​ Belief : belief in conventional norms, especially law The stronger the bond The less likely criminal/delinquent behavior Social control:Framework ❖​ The most important according to Hirschi? ❖​ Attachment ❖​ The family is extremely important for understanding the causes of crime Social control:Evolution ❖​ One of the most tested mainstream theory ❖​ Do bonds protect individuals from criminality/delinquency? ❖​ Except for involvement, the weaker the bonds, the higher the probability of delinquency ❖​ Originally said that the criminality of friends/parents did not matter—only attachment matters(not supported) ❖​ Religious behavior and beliefs have a moderate effect ❖​ Delinquency can also affect attachment Policy implications ★​ Strengthen the bonds: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief ★​ Developing more effective child-rearing practices; after school programs to increase involvement in sports/student associations Self-control theory Self-control: origins ★​ Micheal Gottfredson & Travis Hirschi ★​ A general theory of crime (1990) ★​ Built on this concept of “low self-control” Self-control: Assumptions ❖​ All people are motivated to violate the law without exception ❖​ Humans are rational and self-interested; their behavior is influenced by the socialazation they receive in early life ❖​ Crime is opportunistic self-control:Framework ★​ What is self-control? ★​ “The tendency to consider the broader os long-term consequences of ons act” (2006, p.114) Gramick(1993): ❖​ Impulsive ❖​ Seeks instant gratifications ❖​ Low levels of persistence ❖​ Seeks sensation and excitement ❖​ Prefers simple physical tasks ❖​ Self-centered ❖​ Insensitive to others needs ❖​ Low tolerance to frustration ❖​ Address conflict through confrontation The higher the level of self-control The less likely people will take advantage of delinquent opportunities self-control:Gramwork ❖​ How is self-control developed ❖​ Early childhood socialization: ★​ Parents monitor behavior ★​ Recognize deviant behavior ★​ punish/correct deviant behavior ❖​ Should be developed by age 10 self-control :Evolution ★​ Is low self-control linked to delinquency ★​ There is considerable supports in the literature for the influence of self-control on delinquency ★​ Some argue that the theory is redundant Policy implications ★​ Try to prevent children from developing low levels of self-control ★​ Early intervention ★​ Parental training: monitoring, recognizing, deviance,punishing deviance Labeling theory Labeling:Origins ★​ Edwin lemert (1951): primary and secondary deviance ★​ Howarsd becker(1963): outsiders ★​ Self- fulfilling prophecy Labeling: Assumptions ★​ The formation of one's identity is a reflection of others definitions of them ★​ No behavior is intrinsically deviant Labeling: Framework ★​ An individual is labeled delinquent (stigmatizing) ★​ The label is internalized ★​ Label leads to more delinquency rather than less An individual is labeled delinquent (formally and informally) The effects of the labeling lead to further delinquency Labeling: Evolution ★​ Evidence is mixed ★​ The deviance-enhancing effects of labeling do not occur as frequently as labeling theories predict ★​ Modified labeling theory Policy implications ★​ Hands-off approach to juveniles ★​ Diversion programs ★​ Restorative justice developmental/life-course theories Dual taxonomy:Origins ★​ Terrie Moffitt: clinical psychologist ★​ Article originally published in 1993 ★​ A set of two developmental theories of criminal behavior Dual Taxonomy: Assumption ❖​ Age-crime curve: ★​ Crime packs in mid-late adolescence,drops steadily in early adulthood, and most have desisted by last 20s ★​ A small fraction of the population commits a large fraction of crime ★​ Human agency Dual taxonomy: Framework ❖​ Adolescence-limited offenders ★​ Common,transient,situational,near normative ❖​ life -course persistent offenders ★​ rare,persistent,pervasive,pathological Adolescence Limited (AL) ★​ Marked by discontinuity ★​ Peaks between 11 and 15 ★​ Gap between biological maturity and social maturity ★​ Able to abandon antisocial behavior when prosocial styles are more rewarding Life-course persistent(LCP) ❖​ Marked by early onset and persistence throughout life ❖​ Interaction between neuropsychological vulnerabilities and criminogenic environments (nature via nurture) ❖​ Some source of neuropsychological impairment: ★​ Poor parental care ★​ Maternal drug abuse ★​ Child abuse/neglect Dual Taxonomy: evaluation ❖​ Are there two kinds of developmental trajectories? ❖​ There is evidence to suggest the existence of the two-group model ❖​ Evidence that the risk factors differ between the two groups ❖​ Harder to test sources of LCP Origins ★​ Sampson and Laub (1993) ★​ Had access to a large dataset tracking individuals from 10 to 70 ★​ Incorporates Hirschi’s social control theory and structural variables Framework ❖​ Applied social control theory to the life-course ❖​ Turning point: ★​ Quality marriages ★​ Meaningful employment ★​ Military service ❖​ All offenders will eventually desist Evaluation ❖​ Do turning points correspond with reductions in offering across the life-course? ❖​ Strongest evidence: Marriage Policy implications ❖​ Create opportunities for turning points ❖​ Encourage quality relationships,opportunities for meaningful employment Policy implications ❖​ LCP: Early intervention ❖​ AL: Address that maturity gap Family structure ❖​ Large percentage of juveniles living in single parent homes ❖​ Single-parents homes have a small to moderate effect of delinquency ❖​ Single-parent homes that result from divorce/separation have a stronger associations with delinquency ❖​ Difficult to say whether delinquency is higher in single-mother, single-father, or mother/step-father households parental/family crime ❖​ Juvenile with criminal/deviant parents or siblings more likely to be delinquent ❖​ Especially if the parent had multiple convictions that occurred after the juvenile was born ❖​ Siblings tend to exhibit similar levels of delinquency ❖​ More strongly related to delinquency that family structure variable; less strongly relates that family quality and socialization variables Quality of family relationships ❖​ Parental rejection is one of the strongest correlates of delinquency ❖​ Attachment to conventional parents is associated with lower delinquency ❖​ Delinquency is lower in families with little conflict ❖​ Child abuse increases the risk of delinquency by a moderate amount Parental socialization ❖​ Parents should: ★​ Provide clear rules for behavior ★​ Monitor the juveniles behavior ★​ Consistently sanction the juvenile for rule violations-should not be to harsh or punitive ❖​ Employ effective techniques for resolving problems/crises Poor parenting practices ●​ Some parents lack the traits necessary to be successful parents ●​ Some parents lac the knowledge to be effective parents ●​ Some parents have “difficult” children ●​ Parents may experience trains or stressors that makes it difficult to employ good parenting practices Baumrind (1971,1978,1979) ●​ Authoritative ●​ Authoritarian ●​ Permissive ●​ neglectful (added later by macoby&martin, 983) Authoritative ●​ Higher support + high control ●​ Warm and responsive, providing affection and support ●​ High maturity demands(e.g., expectations for achievement); they communicates well with child and explain their behaviors Authoritarian ●​ Lower support + higher control ●​ Not warm or responsive ●​ Strict, expect obedience, assert power when child misbehaves ●​ Have high expectations for child but do not explain rationale behind these expectations Permissive ●​ High support + low control ●​ Responsive to child but excessively lax in expectation for child and in tolerance of misbehavior Uninvolved ●​ Lower support + low control ●​ Not responsive or warm ●​ Lax in terms of expectation for child and tolerance of misbehavior What are crime rates higher in some communities? 1.​ Economic deprivation 2.​ Residential instability 3.​ Family disruption 4.​ Proximity to high crime communities Economic deprivation ●​ Measured by: -​ Average/ median family income level in an area -​ % of families below poverty line ($26,500 for a family of 4 in 2021) -​ % of adult males who are unemployed -​ % of families that receive welfare -​ Average/medium education level Economic deprivation ●​ The economic health of a community ●​ The most distinguishing characteristic of high-crime communities ●​ Should also consider the extent to which communities are advantaged -​ Advantaged: having high incomes,advanced education,prestigious jobs, or all three Residential instability ●​ People frequently move in and out of the community ●​ Measured by % of residents who lived in different residences five years ago and the % of housing units that are renter occupied ●​ May be unrelated to crime rates in wealthier communities Family disruption ●​ Measured by the % of families headed by females and/or the% of residents who are divorced or separated ●​ Economic deprivation is a major cause of family disruption ●​ Data indicate that family disruption has in independent effect on community crime rates Proximity ●​ High-crime communities tend to be adjacent to other high-crime or economically-deprived communities ●​ Those who engages in crime and delinquency ten to commit crimes in nearby communities ●​ Areas close to economically-deprived communities tend to suffer from similar problems(e.g., fewer jobs, good schools, other resources) Race/Ethnicity ●​ High-crime communities tend to have a higher percentage of African American and Hispanic residents ●​ Much or all of the association between Race/Ethnicity and community crime rates is due to third variable like economic deprivation,residential instability,family disruption,an proximity to high crime communities