CJ 406

Fall 2004

Questions Some of Which May Assist Hard Working Graduate Students in the Preparation for the Second Midterm for Criminal Justice 406, Otherwise Known as the "Theories" Class, For the Fall 2004 Semester

PLEASE NOTE - IF YOU ARE GOING TO NEED EXTRA TIME FOR THE EXAM, AND ALREADY HAVE CLEARED THAT WITH ME, PLAN ON STARTING ***EARLY*** AS IN 1:45.

Some questions to think about for the second midterm. LET ME BE CLEAR:

• these questions are intended to be a complement to the questions already posted for each week's readings. You ***DO*** want to have answered those specific weekly questions to be sure you have a strong grasp on the material.
• The purpose of these added questions is to give you some additional thoughts about how you could think about integrating the different materials.
• SOME of these questions may appear on the second midterm, or NONE of them may appear.
• The FORMAT will be the same as with the first midterm in the following way: you will be asked to write about one specific question dealing with one volume, and one general question which asks you to integrate across volumes. There may not, however, be a choice for both of these questions. Stated differently, for one of these questions you may have NO choice.
• Because it is the end of the semester, and because we all need a laugh, some of these questions here are tongue in cheek. They are for the purposes of amusement only. But they may have pedagogic value nonetheless.

GENERAL

1. Hawkins discusses how regulators work to achieve compliance. Explain how the specific strategies pursued by regulators, and the forces affecting them, lead you to believe that shaming rituals could profitably be used to increase compliance. Focus on one specific industry if you wish.
2. On November 26^th, the Athos I tanker, while docking, spilled up to 473,000 gallons of oil into the Delaware River after an underwater obstruction ripped two holes in its bottom. This is the worst spill in the history of the Delaware River and will affect not only 70  miles of shoreline, but the entire estuary and all wildlife associated with it for two or more decades. (Spotila, J.R. (December 7, 2004.) “Oil spill preventable.” Philadelphia Inquirer). Cleanup costs will run into the millions, but only some of that will be paid by the tanker’s owners. 

Under a federal law passed in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez disaster that had fouled Alaska the previous year, tankers that carry oil and their insurers are responsible for damage, whether or not they caused it, said Brian O'Neill of Minneapolis, lead lawyer for groups suing Exxon Mobil Corp. in the Valdez legal fight, which has dragged on for 15 years. But provisions of the law make it likely that much of the Athos cost may ultimately be paid by a U.S. fund financed by a surcharge on every barrel of imported oil. If no one is found to have purposely or negligently caused the Athos I spill, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 limits Athos I's liability to about $45 million, based on the ship's size. If expenses go higher, they may be paid by the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is financed by the oil-import surcharge. (DiStefano, J. N. (December 8, 2004). “Who will pay for cleanup of spill?” Philadelphia Inquirer.)

At this time it appears there was no negligence involved on the part of the tug operators, ship operators, or those responsible for scanning the bottom of the channel. Current law allows ships which do NOT have double hulls to unoad oil into ports.

How would Black explain this punishment structure which limits liability to 45 million? How would Hawkins explain it?

3. What similarities do you see between how Black and Hawkins and Garland describe current responses to the breaking of laws? Can you give an example? Please be clear about the type of lawbreaking you are addressing. Address the same type of lawbreaking for all three authors or, if you are talking about different types of lawbreaking for different authors, be sure to specify what type is relevant to which author.   Be sure to give an equitable amount of attention to all three authors.

SPECIFIC

1. If Motorhead’s song “Bad Religion” is really about hate crimes in the form of cross burnings, do you think Braithwaite’s idea of reintegrative shaming could help with these types of offenses? Say yes or no and explain why. Be specific. Be sure to define reintegrative shaming. If you want to see the full lyrics, go to:

 http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/motorhead/bad_religion.html

 If you want to hear the song, you are on your own.

2. According to Braithwaite, what is wrong with the way we punish and sentence today in our criminal justice system?
3. Specify the types of crimes to which reintegrative shaming can be most effectively applied IN THE UNITED STATES. Explain you answer. NOTE: do not give a laundry list here. Pick a type, and explain. You also may pick NO type. Explain that answer as well.
4. Do you think reintegrative shaming as a punishment and sentencing strategy is differentially effective across different cultures? Explain your answer. What does your answer say about the relationship between law and anthropology?
5. How can the idea of reintegrative shaming be applied to cheating in undergraduate university classes? Be specific. Don’t forget the two steps.
6. What specific policy recommendations do we get from Hirschi’s Causes of Delinquency? Be sure you make your policy specific, tie it to key Hirschi ideas, and reference at least one specific finding from C of D.
7. It seems lots of folks are lamenting the demise of truant officers. Based on C of D what would Hirschi say about a proposal to dramatically increase funding for truant officers? Be sure to cross reference specific concept(s) from Hirschi and at least one specific finding
8. Are there any specific findings from Hirschi that have anything to say about whether it is wise for a school district to mandate a minimum number of hours of homework each night for 11^th graders? Be careful in your answer, and be sure to reference a specific finding from C of D. Also, explain the relevant processes of Hirschi’s model which you tap.
9. Given Laub and Sampson’s work (NOT Sampson and Laub), what would John Laub say about the above proposal? How would he want it to be implemented Be specific. Cross reference a specific finding.
10.  
11. What do we know about desistance? Reference specific finding(s) from Laub and Sampson.
12. What do Sampson and Laub say about the idea of different “types” of criminal career trajectories?
13. How would Black explain the leniency shown in punishing priests against whom there is substantial evidence that they molested young boys?
14. On the Basis of Black’s theory, recommend either for or against or BOTH for and against the following: in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, it is a good idea to have as many African-American police officers patrolling the streets as possible.
15. According to Black, what specific classes of behavior reflect “the behavior of law”? In what ways is this concept useful? In what ways is it problematic?
16. What two or three propositions from Black about “the behavior of law” do you think are important because they actually describe how law is applied in different societies?, i.e., you think they are universal.
17. Current sentencing guidelines are much stricter for crack cocaine distribution than they are for powdered cocaine distribution. How would Garland explain this?
18. According to Garland, what factors are responsible for the extraordinary rise in prison populations in this country in the last thirty years?
19.  
20. According to Hawkins, in what way is obtaining compliance a good goal? In what ways is it a bad goal?
21. According to Hawkins, in what ways is the relationship between a police officer and a drunk driver he/she pulls over, different from the relationship between a health and safety inspector who finds a drunk shift supervisor in a gunpowder factory?

Questions for readings

Part 2

David Garland CULTURE OF CONTROL

INITIAL QUESTION SET

1. "'What is the new problem of crime and social order to which the emerging system of crime control is a response?'"
2.  "What is the new strategy of governance of which it forms a part?'"
3. "'What are the new social conditions that helped bring these into being?'"
4. What are the key elements of the new, emergent "reconfigured field of crime control and criminal justice"?
5. How are the older and newer criminologies different?
6. What are the "social forces" of "late modernity"?
7. What is Garland's central thesis? Can you summarize this in your own words in just a few sentences?

EXPANDED QUESTION SET
There are some TERMS from his book that you just need to know. You will want to have definitions of these:
- penal welfarism
- crime control field
- dualized labor market
- morality of liberal individualism
- preventative partnerships
- punitive segregation
- dependency shifting
- reactionary policies
- responsibilization strategy
- crime of self, crime of other
- the control deficit
- late modernity
- the crime complex - this one is extremely important

1. Why did penal welfarism lose its hold?

2. What is the rhetoric of reaction?

3. How did it come about that the reactionary movement, started in the 1970s, turned out creating results opposite from those initially intended?

4. Garland argues that two  of the "non adaptive" responses to late modernity by the sovereign include denial and acting out. Can you give examples of each? What makes the sociocultural "background" so receptive to these types of responses? Why is it so important NOW that these state interventions be "immediate" and "authoritative"?

5. What are the "political uses of danger"?

6. How does Garland's model help us understand why white collar crime and routine crimes like DUI get ignored?

7. Garland argues that there are two current threads of popular, criminological theorizing; a criminology of the self and a criminology of the other. Describe each of these. In what ways are they contradictory?

8. How have changes in views about "the victim" played roles in driving current sentencing policies and imprisonment rates and notification policies? Why are "future victims" important?

9. Garland suggests current state responses have both an instrumental and an expressive intent. Can you give an example of each? Can you explain why the expressive purposes are so important right now?

10. What explains "the declining influence of social expertise" in setting crime policy?

11. How have the views (purposes) of prison changed? What functions does it currently serve?

12. How has the society-offender relationship been altered?

13. How does a resurgent belief in the classical view of criminal motivation played a role in the reconfigured crime control field?

14. "Today the practitioners of crime control and criminal justice are required to talk the economic language..." What are the adverse side effects of this "managerial" approach?

15. Garland argues there are two clashing rationalities  at work in the reconfigured crime control field "institutional logic of cost effectiveness" and "sovereign state gestures" including things like the War on Drugs. In what ways are these irreconcilable?

16. What are the dystopic societal effects of the "new crime control arrangements"?

17. How has the societal function of prison changed in the last 30 years?

Keith Hawkins LAW AS LAST RESORT

1. In what ways is legal prosecution serving more than instrumental purposes? By whom and where and when?
2. What is the “clash of opposing values” in regulatory systems?
3. What key problems do regulatory agencies have in showing that they are controlling crime?
4. Can  you give examples of “different penal theories” operating within an organization, and can you describe the types of tensions these create and how they are resolved?
5. What are the criticisms of command and control regulation?
6. In what ways is prosecution a “last resort”?
7. What is the “naturalistic” way of thinking about these things?
8. What levels of explanation are relevant on the predictor side of the model?
9. What are the roles of typification and precedent?
10. How are rule violations “socially constructed?”
11. What factors give it its “negotiated” structure?
12. What are surrounds, fields, and frames?
13. What are sources of uncertainty in pretrial processes?
14. Who has what kind of control in the pretrial processes? How do these different agents work together?
15. What factors into deciding whether to charge company or individual?
16. How has political surround for HSE changed? What are the impacts of this shift?
17. How have economic changes affected the patterning of work sites and HSE’s job difficulty?
18. How do chemical plants create regulatory challenges different from construction?
19. What is the theory of assent, what effects has it had, and what are its problems?
20. What are the ways of thinking about policy?
21. How is the formal conception of policy flawed?
22. What happens to policies as they are transmitted, and what are the implications of that?
23. In what ways / why is the principle of commensurability important / act as a shaper?
24. What are the regulatory agency’s symbolic preoccupations?
25. What are the enforcers’ theories of compliance? Non-compliance?
26. What is the paradox of control?
27. In the organizational frame, what factors push / restrain prosecutions?
28. How is blame constructed?
29. What does it mean to say law is a “cultural performance?”

John Braithwaite CRIME, SHAME AND REINTEGRATION

1. What is reintegrative shaming? How specifically is it different from disintegrative shaming?

2. What types of crime are his outcome focus?

3. For what types of crimes do YOU think this approach will be most effective? Why?

4. In what types of society should reintregrative shaming work most effectively?

5. Can you give examples of reintegrative shaming rituals?

6. Can you state simply how the theory of reintegrative shaming either uses or integrates or improves upon each of the following: the labeling perspective, subcultural theory, learning theory, and control theory?

7. What is the family model?

8. Why is the recent historical uncoupling of shaming and punishment important?

9. How does shaming effect social control?

10. How is the shaming process different in the community compared to the family?

11. Why is community-wide shaming needed?

12. How does his theory link micro and macro level dynamics? (Maybe I should say micro, meso, and macro.)

13. What are communitarian societies? Are we one? Can you give an example of one? At what level should we classify societies? Countries? Neighborhoods? Towns? Cities?

14. What is interdependency? How is this different from Hirschi's bonds? Or L&S's attachments?

15. Why does cultural heterogeneity NOT pose a problem for the theory?

16. Which method of research, of those reviewed, do you think would work best for testing the theory and why?

17. Is JB's theory more about explaining white collar crime or suggesting ways to prevent it or both?

18. How well do you think this theory "fits" white collar crime? Compared to other theories we have encountered so far?

19. How can the power of shaming go wrong?

20. In what ways is shaming better than physical punishment? Worse?

21. What do you think are the most important policy implications? Why?
    
     

Donald Black THE BEHAVIOR OF LAW - Skip Chapter 7

1. What is law? c1

2. What does it mean to say "law is a quantitative variable?" c1

3. What are the four "styles" of law and what are the characteristics of each? c1

4. What does it mean to say the quantity of law and the style of law vary across time and space? Can you give an example? c1

5. What is your reaction to the idea that this perspective applies both across societies and within societies? c1

6. Do you agree that his model has "no concept of human nature?" c1

7. What is stratification? c2

8. How does he predict stratification will influence criminal and civil cases? c2

9. What does it mean to "have less law"? (p. 17).

10. How are downward and upward law different? c2

11. How do direction and distance link up? Can you give your own example?

12. How does style link to vertical distance and stratification? c2

13. Do you think he successfully makes the case that the same dynamics apply to social control? c2

14. What is differentiation, and how does law link to it?? How about relational distance? c3

15. What role does marginality play? c3 Do you think you can separate marginality from stratification? c3

16. Do you think the amount of culture across societies varies? c4

17. How does cultural distance link to style of law? c4

18. How does law vary with organizational properties? c5

19. How does law link to social control? Your reaction to this idea? c6

20. How does this view "explain" recidivism? c6

21.  

Laub and Sampson SHARED BEGINNINGS, DIVERGENT LIVES

Note. This volume is more than just another X many years of data added on to the previous book. Rather, it is an attempt on the part of the authors to further deepen their understanding of crime changes over the life course by delving into the life history approach, and by  paying more attention to individual trajectories. Their first book was still about variables - this one tries to be more about individuals. Further, they have taken account of criticisms that have been made of their earlier ideas, and tried to improve on those ideas. Finally, the field has advanced in the ten years since the first book appeared, providing a different, richer theoretical background for thinking about their work. So PLEASE give this book your full attention.

1. What "popular notions" do they reject and why? c1

2. What challenges have people made to their earlier work? c1

3. What is the theoretical focus? c1

4. What are their data sources?

5. What are the core elements of each of the four approaches to persistent offending and desistance (maturation, development, rational choice, social learning)? c2

6. How do they distinguish desistance from termination, and what is the definition of each? c2

7. What are the core features of the life course view? c2

8. What are turning points and how have they been criticized? c3

9. How - by what processes - do marriage, stable work, cj involvement and military service affect crime involvement? c3

10. What is the current criminal type controversy about? c5

11. What does the overall age pattern show? c5

12. What are the effects of being high risk on the age pattern? c5

13. Do they find LCPOs (life course persistent offenders)? What does this say about Moffitt's argument? c5

14. What are the implications of the last three questions for G&H's approach to criminality? c5

15. Do the results of the semi-parametric models suggest a different conclusion? c5

16. Can these different offending trajectories be predicted by childhood factors? c5

17. Paying close attention to their summary, and making up your own mind: where do YOU come down on the questions of a) the invariance of the age-crime curve; b) whether there are different types of offenders; and c) whether pre-adult factors are linked to adult differences. c5

18. Why do some offenders stop? Is their explanation for this parsimonious? c6

19. Why do some offenders persist? Is THIS explanation parsimonious? c7

20. What do the persister data say about Moffitt's LCPO idea? c7

21. Given your answers to 18 and 19, do L&S have a THEORY about these two outcomes? Explain your answer. Be clear what you mean by theory. c7

22. What do we learn from the existence of the zigzag careers about the utility or solidity of offender typologies or taxonomies? c8

23. How does the within individual analysis (i.e., individuals changing over time)  influence the conclusions L&S draw about the impacts of marriage on offending? c9

24. What is your personal view about the utility of typologies? c10

25. What is your personal view about the utility of risk factors? c10

Sampson and Laub CRIME IN THE MAKING --- NOTE - SKIP CHAPTERS 8 AND 9

1. What are trajectories and transitions?

2. What is their theoretical focus (or foci)?

3. What are their outcomes?

4. What is the paradox of retrospective vs. prospective studies?

5. What is their family model?

6. What is their school model?

7. What are child effects?

8. Can you explain for family and school models what it means that background effects are "mediated" by process variables? Can you give an example?

9. What are the impacts of delinquent siblings? Delinquent peers? Where do they come down on the question of delinquent peers having a causal impact vs. a "birds of a feather" argument?

10. What roles do temperament and/or family play in explaining adult crime?

11. In their models explaining adult crime, can you describe how delinquency affects bonds? Can you give an example?

12. What adult social bonds are relevant to adult crime and why? Example?

13. What's this stuff about changing bonds having an adult impact?

14. Given their final model (pp. 244-245): what does this suggest to us in terms of intervention points?

Hirschi CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY

1. What are the key elements in his theory of delinquency? Stated differently, you want to be able to describe what each of these "bonds" are, and the processes whereby each links to delinquency. You should be able to give an example of one  item for each type of bond

2. What assumptional view underlies this theory?

3. Throughout the volume, Hirschi makes several specific criticisms, which are empirically based, on strain theories, and cultural deviance theories. What are a few of the major criticisms he makes of each of these? Specify at least one or two key empirical points supporting each criticism.

4. What is neutralization and how does Hirschi suggest it links to delinquency?

5. What does it mean to "locate the 'conscience' in the bond?"

6. How is delinquency operationalized? What are the benefits and drawbacks of how he did this?

7. What is the connection between race and delinquency and how does he explain this?

8. What specific types of activities are most likely to be linked to delinquency?

9. For Hirschi, himself, what is the "state of anomie?'

10. What are the five most important (crosstab) tables in this book and why? BRING YOUR SELECTION. Be sure you are clear on what hypothesis each of your tables is testing.

NOTE. There are a tremendous number of tables in this book. If you are not up to speed on interpreting cross tab tables (if you do not understand the statement "percentage down and compare across") you want to read some basic stat background on this. Also bring to class your list of tables you do not understand.