Criminological Theory

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Criminological Theory

• What is Theory?
• Components of a Theory
• Systems Which Guide Social Scientific Research
• Origins of Criminology
• Classification Evaluation
• Causation
• Validity and Reliability
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What is Theory?

• Singleton et al. "Theory includes definitions and
  concepts and a set of assumptions describing the
  circumstances under which it applies it is a
  set of interconnected, abstract principles, or
  propositions that have the same basic form as
  laws but are more general."
• Encyclopedic dictionary of criminology " a theory
  is a series of interrelated propositions that
  attempt to describe, explain, predict and
  ultimately to control some class of events. A
  theory gains explanatory power from inherent
  logical consistency, and is "tested" by how well
  it describes and predicts reality.
• Maxfield and Babbie "a theory is a systematic
  explanation for the observed facts and laws that
  relate to a particular aspect of life.
• An interrelated set of abstract concepts that
  provide a systematic explanation for a set of
  facts or laws. Provides answers to why phenomena
  behaves in a particular manner

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Theoretical Components

• Concepts (Amino Acids)
• Variables
• Hypotheses

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Concepts and Variables
Concepts
Variables
Sex
Male, Female
Crime
Violent, Non-violent
Deviance
Law Violation, Non
Class
Upper, Lower
Religion
Jewish, Methodist, etc
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Systems Which Guide Social Scientific Research

• Deductive Logic
• Inductive Logic

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Wheel of Science
Theories
INDUCTION
DEDUCTION
Empirical Generalizations
Hypotheses
Observations
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Classification Schemes for the Criminological
Discipline

• Scheme I
• Structural/Processural
• Micro vs. Macro
• Penology, Policing, Corrections

• Scheme II
• Biological Theories of Crime
• Psychological Theories of Crime
• Social Psychological Theories of Crime
• Sociological Theories of Crime
• Environmental Theories of Crime

• Scheme III
• Disciplinary Criminology
• Multidisciplinary Criminology
• Interdisciplinary Criminology

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Evaluating Criminological Theories

• Logical Consistency, Scope, and Parsimony
• Testability
• Empirical Validity
• Usefuleness and Policy Implications

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Causation

• Free Will vs. Determinism
• Causality
• Criteria of Causation

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Free Will v. Determinism

• Free Will personal behavior is a product of
  human willpower
• Determinism personal behavior is a product of
  forces/factors in the world that humans cannot
  control and may not even recognize

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What is Causation?

• Credibility or believability, is it logical, does
  it make sense
• Dismissal of alternative explanations
• Presumes a relationship between two events in
  which the presence of one brings about another

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Criteria of Causation

• Association/empirical correlation between
  independent and dependent variables
• Temporal Order
• Non-spuriousness

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Validity and Reliability

• Reliability
• repeatability, consistency, will the same
• result occur each time
• - Consistency over Items
• - Consistency over Time
• - Consistency over Raters
• Validity
• congruence, goodness of fit between ones
• concept and operational measure
• - Internal Validity
• - External Validity
• To establish causality we must have valid
  reliable measurements

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Origins of Criminology

• European Classical Period - 18th Century
  Enlightenment Classical Criminology
• 19th Century Criminology - Positivism
• Early 20th Century Criminology
• Criminology in the 1960s and 1970s
• Present Day Criminology
• (CJ vs. CRIM)