Remainder of Lecture Notes on Chapter 4

Before I post these lecture notes, make sure to check out the previous blog post today which describes an extra credit opportunity tomorrow.
____________________

I left off talking about "Rape as a Violent Act." So, let me pick up with "Sexual Predators"

3. Sexual Predators: Hagan gives background on the passage of "Megan's Law," which requires states to inform local authorities when a sexual predator is being released in their community -- so people would be aware of these people and better able to protect their children. (Although from the labeling perspective, such a policy may only serve to reinforce this behavior.)

4. Stalking: California and 20 other states have passed laws to prevent this. A survey "discovered that stalking was a much bigger problem than previously believed -- about 1.4 million victims annually." (p. 131)

ROBBERY

A. Hagan defines it: "...theft through violence or the threat of violence," and notes how it is concentrated in our largest cities -- the "quintessential urban crime."

B. The rewards are not that great, although the sentences are stiff. And he notes some dumb things bank robbers have done (which reflects poorly on the rational choice theory which assumes robbers are rationally calculating the costs and benefits of their actions.)

C. He also talks about CARJACKING, which involves the use or threat of force to steal a vehicle. Is a quick way to get around some of the more sophisticated auto-theft devices -- simply attack the driver in the car.

D. In the context of Conklin's TYPOLOGY OF ROBBERS (the typology itself being insignificant in my view), he makes another point which casts a shadow over rational choice theory. Of a study of armed robbers in Montreal, he says, "Most were under 22 years of age, wore no disguise, and usually stole less than $100. Nearly half of the robbers either did not plan ahead at all or planned their robbery far less than an hour in advance. The robbers indicated that they viewed armed robbery as the fastest and most direct means of getting money compared with burglary and fraud. Younger robbers in particular claimed that they enjoyed the thrill, excitement, status, feeling of power associated with the crime." (p. 134) -- that is, the focus was all on the potential rewards, no consideration of possible costs was evident.


DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

A. Hagan documents the extent of domestic violence, such as child abuse and increased attention to it. (Hagan relies heavily on the work of Straus and Gelles. I knew Straus from graduate school, and I have reason to suspect that some of these figures may be exaggerated because of how broadly he defined abuse. This is NOT to say, of course, that this is still not a huge problem. It is.)

B. Somewhat surprising was a finding that husbands and wives are equally likely to batter each other. (Straus, again)

C. Elder abuse likely to grow and suspicion that it is grossly underreported.


CRIMINAL CAREERS OF VIOLENT OFFENDERS

A. Hagan points to a seriously misguided prediction, which I was unaware of. He says, "Conservative writers in the early 1990s predicted a massive wave of violent superpredators. W.J. Bennett, Dilullio, and Walters in BODY COUNT: MORAL POVERTY AND HOW TO WIN AMERICA'S WAR ON CRIME (1996) predicted that the United States was about to experience unprecendented violence, blamming this on moral poverty rather than joblessness, racism, and inequality. Not only did their forecast never come true, but crime declined the most in the very areas that they predicted it would be worst." (p. 140)

B. Hagan talks about the "culture" and "subculture" of violence, which I believe fits with what Venkatesh revealed in "Gang Leader for a Day." But Hagan also throws some cold water on this argument by citing some studies which indicated that lower classes and minority groups do not have attitudes which favor violence.


SOCIETAL REACTION

A. He opens by talking about the need to do a better job to crack down on chronic or career offenders who are responsible for most crime. And he talks about the need for early crisis intervention in domestic violence cases.

_______________________

That's all for now. We will pick up with Chapter 5 tomorrow in class.