Criminology
1. What school of thought is Beccaria from, and what are the eleven elements in his theoretical construct "On crimes and Punishments"?
2. Lombroso classified four categories of criminal in his theoretical explanation of crime. List all four and discuss the elements of each one.
3. What was the eugenics movement and how was it related to Lombroso and The Positivist School?
4. There are three main elements present in Shaw and McKay's ecological theory to explain crime. According to Shaw and McKay, what three elements must be present for crime to develop and thrive in a given area?
5. Collective efficacy is a theoretical expansion of Social Disorganization theory. Detail how this expansion came about. What is the contribution of collective efficacy to ecological theory?
6. Define and discuss Merton's Strain theory. What is the background of this theory? How does this theory explain crime? What are the categories of responses to strain as defined by Merton?
7. Discuss Agnew's theoretical revision on Merton's work. What did Agnew bring to the table in the theoretical explanation on strain theory?
8. According to Messner and Rosenfeld, how does The American Dream create crime?
9. Neutralization theory attempts to explain a category of crime. Go into detail discussing this explanation, including detailing all neutralization techniques.
10. What are the social bonds in social control theory? Define and discuss each one. How do social bonds relate to criminality?
11. Hirschi created one theory in the late sixties, and subsequently abandoned this theory for the creation of a new one in the 1990's. What is this new theory and how does it explain crime?
12. What is Marxist Criminology? How does Marx explain crime? What are some of the policy implications to Marx's theoretical assertions?
13. Provide three policy implications/suggestions from Social Control Theory. How do these suggestions keep kids from engaging in delinquency?
14. What are some ways to increase collective efficacy? How do these increases combat crime in a given area?
15. What are some of the shortcomings to Labeling theory as an explanation of crime?