1.7 Conclusion
This book will cover how crime is measured and why that matters as criminologists try to figure out criminal behavior; early criminological theories that set the stage for all those that came later; theories of society’s influence on criminal behavior; theories of individual characteristics that may influence criminal behavior; and society’s reaction to crime and how behavior changes over the span of someone’s lifetime. Then, we will dig deeper into different types of crime. We will explore crimes against people, property crimes, crimes against the public order, white collar crime, cybercrime, organized crime, hate crimes, mass murder, terrorism, and homeland security. All in all, this book will give you a good foundational understanding of criminology.
1.7.1 Application Exercises
- How might a criminologist look at the crime problem during the pandemic in other areas outside of Oregon? Look at the crime rates at https://econofact.org/crime-in-the-time-of-covid or other sources you may find for comparison. Put on your criminologist hat and explain why crime may have gone up during this time.
- Criminologist Craig Pinkney discusses in his TEDxBrum Talk “The Real Roots of Youth Violence” some possible root causes of youth violence. Watch his presentation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWNTMmktoCQ&t=277s and discuss his recommendations for intervening in youth violence.
- Choose a recent local, state, or national news story about crime and brainstorm some possible criminogenic factors that played a role in leading to the criminal behavior. Is there anything that could possibly have been done to address the criminogenic factors and stop the crime from happening?
1.7.2 Discussion Questions
- Former Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said, “I do not believe Portland has a gang problem. I think Portland has a problem in investing in our youth.” What does she mean by that and how is that related to criminology and criminogenic factors? (Gazaway, 2021).
- Can you think of some other examples of spuriousness like the ice cream/murder rate example in the chapter?
- As asked in the chapter: Interestingly, although all these theories and research exist, we have not yet stopped crime. Consider some reasons this may be the case. If we know the problem, why might we not be working on the solutions? Give some thought to what forces may be standing in the way of addressing the causes of crime identified by criminologists, particularly in contemporary history (over the last 150 years). In this amount of time, one could argue we could have fixed this problem if we really wanted to. What do you think?
- Looking at the timeline of 50 of the most prominent criminology theories, why do you think they are so clustered in the last 150 years? Can you guess any possible trends in the field based solely on the names and dates of the theories in the timeline?
1.7.3 Key Terms
- Correlated
- Criminal justice
- Criminogenic
- Criminogenic factors
- Criminology
- Empirical
- Hypothesis
- Logical consistency
- Operational definition
- Parsimony
- Scope
- Spuriousness
- Testable
- Theory
- Usefulness
- Validity
- Variables
1.7.4 Summary
Criminology is the study of crime and why it happens. Criminologists look at both individual and societal factors to figure out what drives criminal behavior. It is important for criminal justice and criminology to work hand in hand to have a positive impact on public safety. A theory is an attempt to explain what is happening and in criminology that means explaining what is happening in terms of crime and criminal behavior. A theory begins with a hypothesis that is tested through research. Criminology as a science is dynamic and involves a lot of different perspectives that do not always agree on what they are seeing. For this reason, we have to always be aware of potential biases that may be affecting how we see what we think we see. Any claims of a new theory must go through multiple levels of evaluation before they are to be considered valid. A criminological theory must have logical consistency, scope, parsimony, testability, empirical validity, and usefulness. Theories look at who is most likely to commit crime (biological theories), or what happened to them that made them commit a crime (psychological theories), and sometimes they look at outside forces that led to someone committing crime (sociological theories). Through these theories, we can identify risks (criminogenic factors) that make it more likely a crime will happen. Through criminology, we can also get a better understanding of the goals of different laws, the courts, and law enforcement.
1.7.5 Resources
- The American Society of Criminology (ASC) offers a lot of resources to its members, and anyone interested in criminology research. Find out more at asc41.com.
- CriminologyWeb on YouTube has lots of helpful videos explaining different theories and important information that are a great supplement to this book. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8HnjAb_RYmQNGJPn0bPwg.
- “Criminology” is a true crime podcast on Apple Podcasts. Every episode takes a deep dive into different crimes, going into great detail to understand what happened.
1.7.6 Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
“Conclusion” by Taryn VanderPyl is licensed under CC BY 4.0.