SOC225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Moral Panic, White-Collar Crime, Donald Cressey
CRIMINOLOGY 225
“A Canadian Perspective”
Lecture Notes Jan 29th/2017
- Crime rates have been decreasing for 26 years & different people have different risk
factors
-Demographics (the main cause of crime) - between the ages of 12-24 (majority of crime
is done by this age group)
*Cohen’s Moral Panic
: developed in the 1960’s
- Education is the most valid source of information (family, friends, media, religion etc.
can be manipulated)
- Moral panics are multidimensional
- But believed that media was/is the primary source of information for majority of people =
what is coming out in the media is causing moral panics
A fake event triggers this process- if an event is scary enough or harsh enough to bring people
together + leads to lobby groups (that have power, money or influence) to keep the circle going +
then it leads to politicians = which influences another group (depending on the subject being
addressed) ex. Healthcare, environmentalists, criminologists - influencing the police, teachers,
school board trustees, etc.
Example #1
Gang Activity (2008 in edmonton): there was an apparent increase in gang activity (although
there was not actually an increase) - the media reported gang activity that were not actually true
*most moral panics typically start in crime
-MOST crucial part of the moral panic is statistics: statistics will always go up because
you are actually looking for it (gang violence) - media reports that the “problem” has
doubled in the year (even if there was never an initial problem)
Example #2:
Community based policing: Crime rates increase and the moral panic lead the police officers to
double in the community police stations
- Keep the station get rid of the extra police officers = resulting in a decrease of crime
(landing at exactly the same number that it was going in) - police generated statistics
(make up things even if they do not exist)
- EPS said to remove one of the stations (crime rate decreased to the exact level it was
before they had put in the second additional station)
Example #3: California 3 Strike Law - every state can enact its own law
- **3 strike law (25 year minimum to life)
- You can not get law changed in 6 months - it takes years and years
- This resulted in more people in california in jail just for the third strike than the entire
nation of canada has in all of our jails (very costly system)
- This law in place will leave California bankrupt by the year 2026
- You can’t just release non-violent prisoners because they are now institutionalized
(strongly influenced by other violent prisoners after being in jail for x amount of time)
- The crime rate dropped in California because of the demographics (but people believed
that it was because of the law)
Deterrence Theory
: Canada’s current system
1. General Deterrence: punishing an individual harshly to deter the general public
2. Specific Deterrence: trying to specifically deter the individual so that they do not commit
anymore crime
For this to work you need: (you need all three conditions to make this theory work)
1. Certainty of punishment
2. Swiftness of punishment
3. Severe enough punishment (we have appropriate punishments in Canada)
Offender needs to know they will be caught, charged and prosecuted - *but this is not a reality
* you have a 93% chance of not getting caught - there is no certainty
* swiftness is not realistic (court dates can be set for months after the offence)
(people need time to get a lawyer, prepare for defence etc.)
*Punishments are typically changed and adjusted
- Deterrence is not ideal/possible
Sociology - argues that maybe you don’t commit crime because you have morals, values ect.
- The criminal code is not what determines your behaviour
Situational Crime Theory:
1. Increase the effort (stealing prevention- better locks/stronger doors, putting up a fence)
2. Increase the risks (barb wire on the fence, target hardening appearance wise) or
surveillance increases the risk
3. Decreasing the rewards (don’t have stuff sitting out that can be easily taken)
4. Remove the excuses (make people aware of boundaries) ex. put up a fence
5. Decrease provocation (peer pressure, things that provoke young people to do crimes)
Chapter One - “Crime, Criminals and Criminology”
Criminology: a scientific approach - those who study crime and the criminal justice system
- Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey: “the body of knowledge regarding crime as a
social phenomenon, includes within its scope the process of making laws, breaking laws,
and of reacting to the breaking of laws”
Objective:
- Crime directly or indirectly affects us all and its objective is the development of a body of
general and verified principles and other types of knowledge regarding this process of
law, crime and treatment
Principles to understanding crime: (6 major areas)
1. Definition: specify which acts are defined as crimes
2. Origins: what role does the crime play in society
3. Social distribution: the characteristics of people who commit crimes, trends in
occurrence over time, differences among cities, provinces nations and countries, and the
different dimensions that help us understand the causes of crime
4. Cause: why do some commit crimes while others live law abiding lives
5. Patterns of criminal behaviour: social context (who are the victims? Offenders? Under
what conditions does this offence occur?
6. Societal Reactions to Crime: who deals with the crime? Rcmp? Provincial level?
Norms: established rules of behaviour or standards of conduct
- Society cannot function without them and they enhance our sense of belonging
Legal definition of crime: an act that violates the criminal law and is punishable with a jail term,
a fine, or some other sanction
White collar crime: crime that is committed by middle and upper class people in the course of
their legitimate business activities
- Crime is not primarily a lower class phenomenon, handled by police officers,
prosecutors, penal sanctions in the form of fines, imprisonment and death
- While upper class either result in no official action at all or are handled by inspectors and
administration
Human rights (Herman Schwendinger): if an action violates the basic rights of humans to obtain
the necessities of life and to be treated with respect and dignity, criminologists should consider it
a crime
Document Summary
Crime rates have been decreasing for 26 years & different people have different risk factors. Demographics (the main cause of crime) - between the ages of 12-24 (majority of crime is done by this age group) Education is the most valid source of information (family, friends, media, religion etc. can be manipulated) But believed that media was/is the primary source of information for majority of people = what is coming out in the media is causing moral panics. Healthcare, environmentalists, criminologists - influencing the police, teachers, school board trustees, etc. Gang activity (2008 in edmonton): there was an apparent increase in gang activity (although there was not actually an increase) - the media reported gang activity that were not actually true. Community based policing: crime rates increase and the moral panic lead the police officers to double in the community police stations.
