Transcript Conflict Theory

Explaining the Gender Ratio
• Can Mainstream Theory Explain the
Gender Ratio?
Gender
Crime/Delinquency
“Different Exposure” to
Mainstream Theory Variables
Example of Study: Jensen (2001)
Gender
Delinquency
Deterrence
Self-Concept/Sex Roles
Antisocial Attitudes
Maternal Controls
Delinquent Peers
And the winners are…
• Antisocial Attitudes
• Delinquent Peers
• Gender Roles
• Combination of these three “knocks
gender out” of the picture
– Or, “controlling” for these factors, gender no
longer predicts delinquency
The “Generalizibility Issue”
• Patriarchal society  Males also dominate
criminological theorizing
– Are males biased in their perspective?
• Traditional image of females as “good”
• If delinquent or criminal = pathology
– Can “male” theories of crime explain female
delinquency?
– Tests of delinquency based on males?
• Similar questions have been raised
regarding intervention/treatment
Factors Unique Female Offending?
• Gender Roles
• Physical Maturity
– Caspi et al = Delinquent Peers x early
Maturity
• Sexual abuse
• Self-esteem
What is the “evidence?”
• Many mainstream theories have been
tested on females
– Most predict female offending as well as male
offending
– Some (control theories) predict female
offending better than male offending
• Could we still do better?
– “Feminist” theories of crime
Other Feminist Concerns
• The Corrections System
– 1 prison per state
– Treatment programs
• Few available, geared towards male, stereotypical
– Still belief in “pathology”
• Women much more likely to be medicated
– Issues of pregnancy and children
Life-Course Criminology
•Age-Crime Relationship
•Stability and Change in Offending
The Age-Crime Relationship, 1997
(Arrest Rates x Age)
Arrest Rate
4000
3,000
Property Crimes, peak age = 16
2,000
Violent Crimes, peak age = 18
1,000
0
10
20
30
Age at Arrest
40
50
Is the Age/Crime Curve
Misleading?
• Data is AGGREGATE
– It could hide subgroups of offenders, or
“offending trajectories”
• Data is Cross-Sectional
– Doesn’t track stability/change over time
• Data is OFFICIAL
– Cannot tell us about the precursors to official
delinquency (childhood antisocial behavior)
New and Old Ideas
• OLD
– Crime is the province of adolescents
– Theories of delinquency most important
• New
– Why do some age out of crime while others
don’t?
– Why is criminality so stable over time?
• Must explain “childhood antisocial behavior”
– What causes crime at different stages of life?
Antisocial Behavior Is Stable
• Correlation between past and future criminal
behavior ranges from .6 to .7 (very strong)
• Lee Robins- Studies of cohorts of males
– Antisocial Personality as an adult virtually requires
history of CASB
• CASB as early as age 6 related to delinquency
• More severe behavior has more stability
– “Early onset delinquency” powerful indicator of
stability
But there is CHANGE
• 1/2 of antisocial children are never arrested
• The vast majority of delinquents desist as they
enter adulthood (mid 20s)
Lifecourse Theory
Types of Lifecourse Theories
(From Cullen and Agnew)
1. Stability Theories (Trait)
2. Stability and Change Theories (Sampson
and Laub)
3. Stability or Change Theories (Moffitt)
Stability Theories
(Trait Theory)
• Individuals posses a trait that is stable and criminogenic
• Trait established early in life (before delinquency)
• Explains stability, but not change (desistance)?
• If trait is stable, why do people desist from crime?
• How do Gottfredson and Hirschi explain desistence?
Stability AND Change
• Single Theory to Explain Both Stability and
Change
• Cumulative Continuity as Central Concept
– Initial antisocial behavior (regardless of cause) has
CONSEQUENCES
• Knife off opportunity, labeling, attract delinquent
peers... “SNOWBALLING”
– Because social circumstances “matter” in this theory,
change (desistance) is plausible
Stability OR Change:
Developmental Taxonomies
• Developmental Taxonomy?
– All offenders are not the same, all crime is not caused
by the same causal forces
– There are at least two unique “offending trajectories”
present
• One groups maybe very stable in their offending
• Another might might have a brief delinquency career
– Kids are on different offending trajectories for different
reasons
Review
• Explaining Stability and Change
– Why are some kids antisocial early in life?
– Why is antisocial behavior so stable?
– Why, amidst stability, is there so much change?
• Three Types of Theories
– Continuity
– Continuity and Change (Sampson and Laub)
– Continuity or Change (Moffitt)
Sampson and Laub
• Why Important Book/Theory
– The Data, the timing, etc
• Reclamation of Hirschi’s 1969 Bond
Theory
– How “age graded”
• Causes of delinquency?
• Causes of crime?
S&L II
• Explaining Stability
– Cumulative Continuity
• Knife off bonds
• Initial causes still present
• Explaining Change
– Adult Social Bonds
• QUALITY marriage, QUALITY job
• Why important?