Crime Types' Chapter Reports' Follow-up & Reminder

Before I get into my follow-up comments on reports on chapters 7 & 4, I want to remind everyone of the importance of being present this coming Tuesday, Nov. 13th, because we will see "A Hard Straight," and connected with that is a 5 point individual activity. I handed out a brief description of that yesterday when a good many of you were absent, so you can pick that up on Tuesday.

On this blog post I plan to comment on two more chapter reports, chapters 4 & 7, which means that I still have to comment on chapters 5 & 8, which I hope to do on Monday.


220A (8:00)
Chapter 7 Report (Red Family)

I appreciated your reference to the difference between "malum in se" and "malum prohibitum" offenses, but you did not present that accurately in your class report. Let me recommend that everyone read the first paragraph on p. 239 where that distinction is made, and understand the significance of public order crimes being classified as malum prohibitum.

As I believe you noted, and has been mentioned before, there is a lot of guesswork when it comes to statistics on drug offenses and prostitution.
(1) For example, as you noted, there were 80,000 prostitution arrests in 2001, yet an estimated 500,000 male and female prostitutes, which I would argue clearly indicates that there is a huge gap between known or reported prostitution and the actual amount of such behavior.

(2) Regarding drug abuse, I would tend to put more faith in hospital emergency room episodes in examining drug trends because it is more objective than surveys, and these figures indicated a worsening problem in the 1990s.

No surprise that there is a high recidivism rate for drug offenders -- two-thirds or 67% (p. 246)

"The pleasure principle tends to dominate the mindset of the public order offender. These persons are usually driven by short-term gratification and thus possess a self-interested and short-sighted outlook at the time of the offense." (p. 247)

Theories -- clearly Anomie theory is relevant, as was noted. I would add, both in terms of the mode of adaptation known as "innovation," but also clearly, "retreatism." And there is evidence of neutralization or rationalization (see middle two paragraphs, p. 249). And, perhaps obviously, much that is critical of rational choice, such as the above quote from p. 247.


Selection #15: Rural Kentucky Marijuana Industry

In addition to the detail that was brought out, I would stress the organized nature of the marijuana industry. In this context, I would have cited the first two sentences of the Conclusion:

"The marijuana industry is a powerful economic and social force in the United States, especially in economically depressed, rural regions of the country. The growth and distribution of marijuana is not a randomly occurring, scattered endeavor, but rather is a structured industry that occupies an important cultural position in rural communities." (p. 264)


Selection #16: Drugs - Crime Connection

As was noted, drugs and crime are closely intertwined. Basically, addicts said their drug and criminal activities began independently but eventually became intertwined.

As also noted, the table on the top of p. 271 was instructive, looking at two key factors: availability and life structure. The worst case scenario is really: "high availability and low life structure" (low life structure being another way of saying, substantial social disorganization), associated with the "free-wheeling junkie." So, the larger social/environmental context is a key factor in determining how destructive drug taking (such as heroin) may be. (see, mid p. 274)


Selection #17: Miami Sex-for-Crack Market Revisted
Selection #18: An Analysis of Women's Involvement in Prostitution

Nothing much to add. Clearly prostitution and crack cocaine are related. Public health issue is important -- having sex in crack houses puts one at extreme risk for HIV infection.

Selection #18 is poorly written, and based on only 21 interviews. However, please see my comments about this with reference to the presentation in 220B (which follows).


Short answer question: I am only accepting one question from this group.

1. Briefly describe the difference between "malum in se" and "malum prohibitum" offenses, and in which category do public order crimes fall? (3pts)
Answer: see first paragraph, p. 239.


220B (9:30)
Chapter 7: Public Order Crime (Mahagony Williams, representing the Blue Family)

Although we did not have a full presentation of Chapter 7, I would call your attention to the comments I made above on the 220A presentation of that chapter. You need to pay attention to these points for the final exam.

Selection #18: An Analysis of Women's Involvement in Prostitution

Personally, I believe this essay is a poorly written piece filled with jargon and based on only 21 interviews. Nonetheless, Mahagony did bring out some good points.

A key point has to do with the contradictions of the involvement in prostitution. One of the best statements of this is on p. 297:

"... the women claimed that involvement in prostitution alleviated their poverty, provided them with housing, helped them to live independently and gave them a means to fashion better lives for themselves. Yet, they also claimed that involvement in prostitution created their poverty, generated their housing difficulties, made them more dependent on men and/or families and jeopardized their social and material survival."

I would add to this an earlier statement that highlights the irony of using fines to punish these women -- "Fining women involved in prostitution for their prostitution-related offenses is paradoxical. Many of them simply did not have the financial resources to pay their fines. The obvious irony is that the criminal justice system itself created the conditions that both justified these women's continued involvement in prostitution as well as trapped them within it." (p. 296)

As Mahagony brought out, Anomie/Strain theory is clearly the most relevant sociological theory to explain prostitution.


Short-answer question: I am accepting one of the two questions offered, with a slight modification:

1. Name two of the three main reasons these women turned to prostitution. (2pts)

Answer: (1) poverty; (2) housing difficulties; (3) violent relationships (p. 294)



220B (9:30)
Chapter 4: Robbery (Orange Family)

As was noted in the presentation, the NCVS indicates that roughly 40% of robbery victims chose not to notify law enforcement authorities.

It was not specifically stressed, but there is a strong correlation between higher robbery rates and more densely populated urban areas --
4.9 per 1,000 city
2.2 per 1,000 suburbs
1.4 per 1,000 rural
which, I would point out, generally supports social disorganization theory.

As was mentioned, I would also stress the very high recidivism rate for robbery offenders -- 70.2%

There is a significant involvement of drugs and alcohol.

"Planning does not appear to play a large role in most robberies." (p. 136)

The above points would, of course, undermine the application of rational choice theory.

It was also mentioned how robbers belong to a criminal subculture in which other robbers are known as "colleagues" -- which suggests the relevance of Differential Association/Social Learning theory. In this regard, we should also note that "seasoned thieves" invoke some normative neutralizations (i.e., techniques of neutralization).


Selection #9: Stick-up, Street Culture, and Offender Motivation

In addition to the obvious need for money (which was mentioned), I would stress the good job the authors do describing this street culture -- the notion of "life as a party," instant gratification in a harsh world. In this context, I would especially call your attention to the bottom two-thirds of p. 146, which is very good on this culture, as well as lending obvious support to another theory, Anomie/Strain theory.

Selection #10: Carjacking

The presenter did not make clear from the start that the focus of this article was on carjacking, a particular form of robbery.

A lot of what is brought out in this article goes against rational choice theory. But there is also clear support for Routine Activities theory (which was not mentioned). See especially the bottom section of p. 154 and the top two lines of p. 155.


Short-answer questions: NONE WILL BE ACCEPTED. NO FAMILY MEMBERS SHOWED UP YESTERDAY WHEN I EXPECTED YOU TO PRESENT YOUR TWO QUESTIONS. NOT ONLY WILL I NOT ACCEPT ANY LATE QUESTIONS, BUT I AM TAKING ONE POINT OFF YOUR PRESENTATION POINTS.



As noted above, I will try to post my comments on the last two presentations (Chap. 8 in 220A & Chap. 5 in 220B) sometime on Monday.