Final Lecture Notes on Chapters 8 & 9 in Crime Types

CHAPTER 8: CRIME WITHIN COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS

Let me add just a few points to those I brought out in class lecture on Tuesday (Nov. 1).

Article #19: "The Crash of ValuJet Flight 592: A Case Study in State-Corporate Crime"

A. This article brings together the private and public sectors -- remiss federal regulators bear part of the blame here.

B. Orgamizational crime theorists have relied on THREE basic concepts to explain the crimes committed by private corporations and governments. At the very bottom of p. 333, the authors note: "Organizational crime theorists have relied on three basic concepts to explain crimes committed by corporations and governments: (1) organizational motivation or goals, (2) opportunity, and (3) social control. The significance of these concepts to a structural-level explanation of state-corporate crime can be encapsulated in the proposition that organizational crime results from a coincidence of pressure for goal attainment, availability and perceived attractiveness of illegitimate means, and an absence or weakness of social control mechanisms." (pp. 333-334) It appears that the above passage brings together at least three of the major theories of criminal behavior that we discussed earlier; namely, ANOMIE, SOCIAL CONTROL (OR BONDING), AND ROUTINE ACTIVITIES.

1. They even go as far to suggest that: "...the goal of capital accumulation can be a highly criminogenic force for organizations." (p. 334), which alludes to ANOMIE theory.

C. "A basic tenet of organizational crime theory is that low levels of external social control (i.e., regulation or press scrutiny) provides opportunities to engage in crime." (p. 335) I highlight this because it fits the case of the Kennedy assassination. The Warren Commission (the official body which investigated the crime) did their work in secret, leaked conclusions to the press on occasion,and generally speaking, were handled with kid gloves by the media. The FBI was unchallenged, and there was no real congressional oversight. So the WC was able to get away with lying and misrepresentation of their own evidence.

***the other articles in this section are interesting, but I am not going to go into them, except to observe that both of them put crime in a broader cultural context, or that the individual cannot be the basis for explaining these crimes.


CHAPTER 9: PATTERNS AND PROSPECTS

A. Dabney makes a valuable point right in the opening paragraph of this chapter. He reminds us that to understand criminal behavior or these various crime types, we must consider THREE interdependent parts of the CRIMINAL EVENT (OFFENDERS, VICTIMS, AND SETTINGS). This is intended to counter the common superficial, unidimensional approach which doesn't even distinguish between various types of crime. SEE THE WHOLE 1ST PARAGRAPH, P. 363.

1. He basically goes on to flesh out this outline, reminding us of the similarities and differences between various crime types.

B. This culminates with a broad (and I believe, appropriate) statement of how this understanding of crime can be applied to controlling or preventing it. SEE "FUTURE PROSPECTS," P. 370. Basically, Dabney questions any "silver-bullet" approach to crime prevention. Prevention and control strategies must be flexible and geared to specific crime types.

C. In addition to the above points from the author's conclusion, I would like to highlight several broad points based largely on my follow-up commentaries on each of the chapters. (OBVIOUSLY, IN TYING SOME POINTS TOGETHER, YOU MIGHT WANT TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THESE POINTS AS YOU PREPARE FOR THE FINAL EXAM.)

1. Reflecting back on our early discussion of crime atatistics, it is interesting to note that this text makes lots of use of NCVS statistics as a supplement to or even substitute for crime reports, such as the FBI's UCR. Of course, there were a couple exceptions to this (eg., in the case of homicide, obviously, and public order crimes which are considered "victimless.")

2. In most cases of the different crime types, there was a clear, POSITIVE CORRELATION between an urban environment (more urban) and higher crime rates, which gives some general support to social disorganization theory.

3. The disproportionate involvement of minorities, especially black males, in violent and property crimes. This is important to acknowledge, but at the same time it is also important to note that this is not about race per se but mainly about where minorities are concentrated in our society, in economically and socially depressed urban areas.

4. The rate of recidivism for most street criminals is very high -- ranging from roughly 40-70% for different crime types. This would suggest that we have a lot of work to do to improve our ability to rehabilitate these offenders both IN and OUT of prison (the documentary we saw, "A Hard Straight," is relevant here). Indeed, prisons may not be the best environment to rehabilitate many criminals.

5. Rationalization (or neutralization) of criminal behavior; emphasis on instant gratification ("life as party"); involvement of alcohol, drugs, and guns are characteristics of crime that come through time and again in the many interviews with various kinds of convicted criminals.

6. In addition to formal control efforts mounted by the police, each chapter recognized the role of INFORMAL SCOIAL CONTROL. Indeed, in some cases, just the willingness to report more crime would be a big step forward.

7. Finally, I do believe, as Chapter 8 highlights, that organizations (not just indivivduals) are capable of committing criminal acts. Here again, we need to take a broader approach than most people do.
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That wraps up "Crime Types." Hope to see everyone next week when we begin to discuss "Gang Leader for a Day." Again, as I stressed in class, check out the family activity in connection with reading that book, as well as the Essay II topic I handed out in class last week.