chapter 6
Chapter 6.
THE MURDER BOOK
Social and Cultural Theories
Prepared by Dr. J.L. Flexon
CLASSICAL SCHOOL PERSPECTIVE
• Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794) is usually considered the father of what is known as the
“classical perspective on criminology.”
• people are rational and hedonistic and that they possess free will
• Many in the US find Beccaria’s theory particularly appealing because in the US
individualism is valued and the explanation is simple (parsimony is better).
• Theories that rely on the classical perspective:
• Rational Choice Theory
• Deterrence Theory
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION
• Theory came out of the “Chicago School” –early theorists at the University of Chicago.
• Rests on the idea that certain areas (e.g., urban areas) are criminogenic (cause crime).
• Shaw and McKay (1942): Interstitial Zone/Concentric Zone/Transitional Zone had the highest concentrations of crime irrespective of population type
• This transitional zone had the highest poverty, broken families and poor social cohesion = socially disorganized, which was ill-fit to keep people in check leading to crime (Social Disorganization Theory)
• Criticized for focusing on official statistics, which are biased as police tend to focus on these areas which inflates the crime statistics. Also, fails to explain why most people who live there do not commit crime.
• Some studies do find support:
• Krivo and Peterson (2000) find that greater economic disadvantage and low home ownership rates are correlated with higher homicide rates in 124 U.S. cities. Factors operate somewhat differently for African American and white homicide rates because of the extreme economic disadvantage experienced by many African Americans.
DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
• Edwin Sutherland’s differential association theory: Basically, we learn how to commit
crime and why we would want to commit crime from intimate others. Through family and
peers we are exposed to ideas about laws. We learn that laws, or certain laws, should be
followed and other laws are unimportant.
• Fails to differentiate why not all people who lived in the inner city committed crimes and
why some who did not live in high crime areas still did crime.
• Differential association appears to explain some homicide better than other types (e.g.,
gang killings are likely learned; some believe children learn violence from parents,
intergenerational cycle of violence, etc.)
SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES
• Social control theorists (e.g., Durkheim (1893/1997) assume people will commit crimes if left to their own devices; something must exist to prevent people from doing crime.
• What prevents people from being deviant are bonds to conventional society and commitment costs (i.e., something to lose by committing crime).
• In anomic conditions (Durkheim’s Anomie), society has grown more complex (industrialized) and bonds are increasingly stressed. The result is crime from weakened bonds.
• Travis Hirschi (1969) Social Bonding Theory in his book, Causes of Delinquency elucidates 4 bonds that control individuals: attachment, commitment, involvement, beliefs
• Hirschi is most often associated with modern control theories of delinquency
• Underscores a lot of what we believe about crime in the everyday (e.g., people who have things to loose by committing crime, won’t commit crime)
• This logic doesn’t hold for a number of murderers
A GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME
• Otherwise known as Self Control Theory postulated by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) in
their book, A General Theory of Crime
• Purports to explain all crime and analogous acts (a very lofty goal indeed!).
• Low Self Control (LSC) and Opportunity is the cause of crime.
• LSC Is the result of poor parenting, children fail to develop self -control and are
impulsive and fail to show concern for others.
• Criticized as it does not explain all crime as touted (e.g., premeditated murder)
NEUTRALIZATION THEORY
• Sykes and Matza (1957) originally proposed neutralization or drift theory because youth
drifted into and out of delinquent behavior.
• Youth learned to justify acts through techniques of neutralizations.
Technique Corresponding Quote
Denial of Responsibility: “It is not my fault”
Denial of Injury “No harm is done”
Denial of a Victim “They deserved it”
Condemnation of the Condemners “They do it too or do worse”
Appeal to Higher Loyalties “I had to do it for my family/wife/brothers”
• Believed to do a good job of explaining different types of homicide.
MURDER AS RIGHTEOUS SLAUGHTER
• Or “defending the good” -Jack Katz (1990) book, Seductions of Crime
• Explanation for murder that seems in line with Sykes and Matza’s techniques of
neutralization.
• When the killers and victims know one another, killers justify the crime in their own
mind. They believe they are preserving what is good.
• In the spur of the moment the killer believes he or she is justified in killing another.
• The killer interprets that the potential victim as doing something the killer cannot
ignore (caused personal humiliation) and turns to rage.
• Similar to offenders using the neutralization technique that Sykes and Matza call
denial of responsibility, Katz argues that killers see themselves pushed by forces
greater than themselves.
CORRELATES OF HOMICIDE
• The odds of being a murder victim are higher for some people and lower for others.
Official statistics indicate that rates of homicide victimization and offending are highest
among:
• Race: African Americans
• Sex: men
• Social class: lower-class individuals
• Location: southerners and people who live in the United States (relative to other
industrial nations).
• These observations drive theory.
RACE AND HOMICIDE: THE CULTURE OF VIOL...
• Marvin Wolfgang and Enrique Ferracuti (1967) book, The Subculture of Violence
• proposed a theory to explain the high number of homicides involving African
American men subculture of violence exists among African Americans.
• Those who grew up in this subculture learned that violence is an appropriate
response in many situations and is required whenever one is challenged.
• Backing down from a challenge or ignored a slight, would be violating the norms of
the subculture of violence.
• High Violence = High Homicide
• Highly criticized theory.
REGION AND HOMICIDE: SOUTHERN
SUBCULTURE
• Gastil (1971) and Nisbet & Cohen (1996) offer the southern culture of honor to explain
higher rates of homicide in the southern United States
• Similar to the culture of violence theory
• White men have learned that backing down is weak and unmanly. As a result, any affront
to a southern man must be answered with violence. Retaliation is expected if one is
insulted. (Argued as Southern norms)
• Relies on the same logic as culture of violence (previous slide).
LIFESTYLE AND ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORIES
• Premise: Either your lifestyle or routine activities put you at lessor or greater risk of
becoming a victim of crime (homicide).
• Routine Activities Theory breaks this down further by describing 3 elements required for
crime to occur:
• a motivated offender
• the availability of a suitable target
• the absence of effective guardians
• Using routine activity theory, we can explain murder at both the macro and micro levels
MEN AND VIOLENCE: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
• Males are far more likely than females to commit homicide (9 out of 10 murders are
committed by men).
• Brookman (2000) suggests there is a subculture of masculinity, and this subculture
sometimes requires men to be violent.
• Violence serves functions: Control & Boost their Masculinity (toughness)
• Some men are quicker to use violence than others
• Linked to social position as some men have other means of controlling people, while
others do not (use violence).
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND HOMICIDE
• Crime rates, especially violent crime rates, tend to be higher in communities where people
are economically disadvantaged (highly stressed and argued to result in violence).
• William Julius Wilson (1987) book, The Truly Disadvantaged
• Concentrated disadvantage leads to concentrated crime and violence because of
concentrated stressors.
• Krivo and Peterson (1996) findings support Wilson’s ideas:
• “extremely high disadvantaged communities have qualitatively higher levels of
crime than less disadvantaged areas, and that this pattern holds for both black
and white communities” (p. 640)
WHY DO WE KILL SO OFTEN IN THE UNITED
STATES?
• Postulates/Arguments Why:
• Higher income disparities/inequality (Haves v. Have-nots) (See Table 6.1)
• High rate of gun ownership
• Some argue that we have a history and culture of violence in the United States.
THE ROLE OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE IN
HOMICIDE
• Poorly studied area of homicide, though the studies that have been conducted support a
significant association.
• The evidence tends to show that over half of homicides involve offenders or victims that
are under the influence of drugs or alcohol (more implicated) at the time of the homicide
incident.
• Little is understood. The observed association could be spurious or drugs/alcohol may
impact preexisting deficits/tendencies toward violence.
LINKS
• Menace II Society: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhuvKqU3Dg
The movie might not be available on youtube by the time you attempt to watch it.
The movie is very violent and uses very profane language. You are not required to watch it,
but it arguably comes from the paradigms discussed in this chapter.