Imagining Criminology: An Alternative Paradigm
... Alternative Paradigm, came from his observation that theories of criminology were isolated, with rare interest in combining and integrating theories. Williams (1999) himself came to believe that mainstream criminology was viewing reality from a very narrow perspective, which had created a "theoretical paralysis" (Wellford, 1989, as cited by Williams, 1999, p. 3). Williams' ...
... Williams did not address Integral Theory (and I cannot find any indication that he was aware of Ken Wilber or Integral Theory), he did point to various paths that are encompassed by an Integral approach. He suggested a better appreciation of qualitative methodology, to better understand the feelings and thoughts of people; interdisciplinary education, so future scholars value knowledge from various disciplines; non-linear thinking and analysis, to understand causality and approach problems with new tools; appreciating subjectivity, to better understand the non-objective components of reality, such as values, as well as taking into account the subjectivity inherent in research; and expansive thinking, to increase the capabilities of dealing with wider issues and seeing information in wider contexts, as well as getting beyond the conceptions that theories must compete with one another (Williams, 1999). ...
Policing in the United States is facing trials and tribulations like never before in its history. Its problems are highlighted in every media form, creating demands for reform, defunding, and even abolition. Police are under extreme stress and the inability to fill vacant police officer positions has become a crisis. From assassinations of police officers to police officers being arrested for unjust killings of unarmed people, the problems facing U.S. police are complex and seemingly intractable. Competing worldviews that have created the culture wars are adding to the intensity of the problem, with different factions seeing the problem through different lenses. This theoretical thesis examines the history of U.S. policing and the issues that brought U.S. policing to its current state. It then introduces the elements of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and AQAL Framework and applies it to U.S. policing, examining the problems and potential solutions via the five elements of the AQAL Framework (quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types). The criminal justice system, police reform, and police leadership are all examined through the Integral lens. Based on these analyses, a transformational model of policing is offered: Integral Policing. Intentions and principles of Integral Policing are proposed, to include the potential for transformation of the individual police employee, police leaders, and policing agencies. This thesis concludes with a summary of the need for Integral Policing, an acknowledgement of limitations within this thesis, as well as recommendations for future research. The author’s subjective, first-person personal reflections are included with objective, third-person content in the thesis.
The social meaning of wife assault has changed in recent years for both citizens and formal social control agents. Research on deterrence has been partly responsible for modifying police responses to domestic violence. Police are increasingly adopting pro-arrest policies for wife assault, but little is known about perceptions held by assaulters concerning the consequences of arrest for their life circumstances. Using national survey data from samples of both assaultive and nonassaultive men, the following questions are addressed; What costs do men perceive as most likely to occur if they are arrested for wife assault? Does the perceived likelihood of these costs contribute to their overall fear (i.e., perceived severity) of arrest? To what extent is the perceived likelihood of these costs related to involvement in wife assault? Perceived costs include both direct consequences seen to result from arrest and any indirect costs for the person. Indirect consequences include stigmatic costs (e.g., familial or personal humiliation), attachment costs (e.g., damage to interpersonal relationships) or commitment costs (e.g., jeopardized investments or foreclosed opportunities). The implications of the findings for an expanded version of the deterrence doctrine are discussed.
The paper provides a conception of criminology that relocates its theoretical problematic from crime to ordering; at the same time it argues for the retention of the term "criminology." The traditional crime focus of criminology, it argues, has its roots in two reinforcing historical phenomenon -- one theoretical the other empirical. These origins, while initially useful in giving criminology theoretical coherence and a clear empirical focus, now restrict scholarly inquiry. The paper identifies an expanded problematic that includes the traditional crime focus but embraces developments that are moving criminology beyond its traditional boundaries.
A theory of a phenomenon is an explanation of it, showing how it follows as a conclusion from general propositions in a deductive system. With all its empirical achievements, the functional school never produced a theory that was also an explanation, since from its general propositions about the conditions of social equilibrium no definite conclusions could be drawn. When a serious effort is made, even by functionalists, to construct an explanatory theory, its general propositions turn out to be psychological--propositions about the behavior of men, not the equilibrium of societies.
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Introduction Fundamental Measurement, Scaling, and Dimensionality Issues The Comparability of Measures Categorical Variables, Conceptualization, and Comparability Some Implications of Omitting Variables from Causal Explanations The Confounding of Variables and Oversimplified Interpretations Aggregation and Measurement Error in Macro-Analyses Appendix Assessing Comparability with Multiple Indicators
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Critics of labeling theory vigorously dispute Scheff's (1966) provocative etiological hypothesis and downplay the importance of factors such as stigma and stereotyping. We propose a modified labeling perspective which claims that even if labeling does not directly produce mental disorder, it can lead to negative outcomes. Our approach asserts that socialization leads individuals to develop a set of beliefs about how most people treat mental patients. When individuals enter treatment, these beliefs take on new meaning. The more patients believe that they will be devalued and discriminated against, the more they feel threatened by interacting with others. They may keep their treatment a secret, try to educate others about their situation, or withdraw from social contacts that they perceive as potentially rejecting. Such strategies can lead to negative consequences for social support networks, jobs, and self-esteem. We test this modified labeling perspective using samples of patients and untreated community residents, and find that both believe that "most people" will reject mental patients. Additionally, patients endorse strategies of secrecy, withdrawal, and education to cope with the threat they perceive. Finally, patients' social support networks are affected by the extent to which they fear rejection and by the coping responses they adopt to deal with their stigmatized status.
Empirical tests of the deterrence doctrine have suffered from two deficiencies: (1) they have rarely been conducted within the context of a more general theory of social control, and (2) they have confounded the effects of sanction threats on different kinds of offending decisions. In this paper, deterrence variables (perceived certainty and severity) were incorporated into a rational choice model of common (minor) delinquent offending. The rational choice perspective presumes that crime and delinquency are the products of imperfectly informed choice and that decisions to offend are made, assessed, and remade. It was assumed here that decisions to offend and cease offending would in part be affected by the contemplation of sanction threats in addition to material, affective, and moral considerations. The data in support of the inclusion of deterrence variables in a rational choice model were equivocal. Although perceptions of certain punishment had a significant effect on the decision to commit and desist from some offenses, the observed effects were marginal and far less consequential than were the effects of social costs and other considerations. The data did indicate that certainty of punishment (but not severity) affects some offending decisions.
In an attempt to reconcile the findings of two earlier delinquency area studies, rates of delinquency for Indianapolis census tracts are analyzed in relation to 18 indices of social, economic, and demographic characteristics. Results of a re-examination of studies reported by Lander (Baltimore) and Bordua (Detroit) are presented in addition to results obtained in the Indianapolis investigation. Data were taken from (1) the records of the Marion County Juvenile Court, (2) the 1950 census, and (3) the Baltimore and Detroit studies. Correlation matrices for all three cities were employed to investigate the effects of interaction among the variables, to extract and compare general statistical factors, and to collate the results for the three cities. The findings do not convincingly support Lander's conclusion that delinquency is more closely related to anomie than to economic characteristics of an area, but they do suggest that delinquency is related to transiency, poor housing and certain economic variables.
Previous work dealing with the deterrent effects of legal sanctions has lacked an appropriate sociological context. This paper adopts a theoretical perspective which views legal threats as only one mechanism which may produce conformity. Our framework, which is consistent with both the social control and social influence literature, emphasizes the possible importance of extralegal factors in the production of conformity. We illustrate the methodological implications of our approach empirically with a test of the deterrence doctrine that focuses on the use of marijuana. A multiple regression analysis of data obtained from a sample of both marijuana users and nonusers in a jurisdiction with severe penalties for the use of marijuana indicates that the criminal law receives support from certain extralegal inhibitory influences. Moreover, when the relative efficacy of these extralegal influences are compared to the controlling effects of legal threats, the extralegal influences are found to be the more important.
Perceptual deterrence researchers have used simple cross-sectional correlations between prior behavior and current perceptions to study the effect of legal threats on social control. Such designs are inadequate because they: (1) confuse the causal ordering of perceptions and behavior, and (2) fail to take into account other inhibitory factors in an explicit causal model. In an analysis of panel data, the methodological simplicity of earlier studies is shown to have led researchers to reach erroneous conclusions. Our data suggest that past studies report an experiential effect, not a deterrent effect, and that the effect of perceived sanctions on criminal involvement is minimal once social definitional factors (moral commitment, informal sanctions) are controlled.