Here are a few practice questions to help you prepare for the midterm. These are just a sample of the kinds of questions I will be asking. In addition to these types of questions, I may give you a news article to read and then ask you some questions about it in relationship to the theories and models we have discussed. We will go over the answers in class on Tuesday.
1) What does it mean to say that criminology is a science?
2) Can genetics cause crime?
3) What parts of society help teach people not to be criminals?
You can post for Tuesday's class until Monday Morning. On Tuesday afternoon I will post a new entry that you can post articles to for Thursday's class until Wednesday at noon.
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(I'm so sorry that I had to remove the prior posts. There were some points that I had to make clear. I had to change significant part of my posts!)
ReplyDelete- JiHye Kang
- “S Korea parents fined over rape”
- This is the case where the 18 years old boy raped 7 years old girl in the way he saw in pornography. The article is about the court’s ruling on the case: 10-year sentence to the boy and $165,000 fine for his parents due to their negligence. I think this case is related to the Control Theory and, partly, Labeling Theory.
The article says that he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Interestingly, I found commonalities between ADHD and Control Theory. That is, symptoms of ADHD can also be understood as a set of suggested character of a criminal in Control Theory. After all, ADHD could be a serious illness but not as much as to destroy a person physically. It is another description for certain set of behavioral characteristics. The reading says lack of self-control in childhood is manifested as “conduct problems” and I think ADHD is one of them. I think poor parenting led to the formation of the certain set of personality which made the boy unable to build a strong bond with the society and end up as a criminal.
ADHD experts argue the importance of parenting. They say improper parenting can result in impulsiveness, low self-control, learning difficulties, and mental unstableness. What I found interesting is that the symptoms of ADHD are shared with Control Theory in explaining the individuals who had poor parenting in childhood. Self-Control Theory insists that the criminals lack self-control because they are poorly trained as children. Due to the improper parenting, the boy could not have formed an acceptable personality, thus fail to build a strong bond with the society.
Moreover, poor parenting in the early childhood can increase the likelihood that individuals will not be able to resist the temptations in everyday life. And it explains why the boy could not help but to imitate what he has seen in pornography; he could not simply resist the temptation of momentary gratification and could not know the consequences of surrendering to forbidden curiosity.
I think the court fine the parents heavy because their negligence was double. Even though the early parenting had failed to help their son to build up the bond between the society and have high self-control, they had another chance to prevent further problems arising from the mistake. They could have been more careful in parenting and paid more attention to their son. If they did not do their best to prevent any further problems even when they could expect the least, I think they are also responsible for the crime. Not all people with ADHD commit a crime or fail to adjust to the society. What really important is how the parents have reacted to it when they were aware of his disorder. The court’s ruling of punitive damages also reflects this point that the negligence of parents played a significant role of the crime.
ReplyDeleteHowever, 10 years of incarceration for the boy is problematic. Even though it is not like amplifying a minor demeanor to a big deal (rape is a 'big deal'), I think 10 years in prison is too much for the 18 years old boy, who is a first-time offender with a psychiatric disorder (what psychiatrists say). By the time he comes out of the jail, he will be almost 30 and because of the record, it will be almost impossible to find a job to restart. For instance, the Busan rapist Kim Kil-tae was convicted of rape when he was 19 and he ended up killing a girl after the rape. 10 years in jail can do more than a punishment, being a label for the rest of his life.
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A South Korean court has fined the parents of a teenage rapist more than $60,000 (£40,000) for failing to supervise their son.
---------------------------http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7782245.stm
(this article is of December 2008. This is the latest and most related case that I could find. I hope it is not too old for the post.)
Maëlig Le Delliou
ReplyDelete“Motorcycle gangs and labeling theory”
According to the article, “motorcycle gangs” are getting more and more popular among Korean teenagers. The police is now thinking about reinforcing punishment for this kind of criminal activity: licenses disqualification and longer prison sentences.
However, looking at the labeling theory, I’m wondering whether this solution would be very efficient to reduce motorcycle gang criminality. Considering 17-year old Lee’s example, we can assume that most youngsters involved in motorcycle gangs are high-school dropouts; they have nothing to do during the day and probably do not socialize a lot outside of the gang. Even before joining the gang, they were already labeled as deviants by the society. They joined the gang out of boredom and low self-esteem and as a response to the social stigma of being school dropouts (“in the gang I feel I’m the toughest”).
It is said that Lee was investigated after being caught by the police in the middle of gang activity. It is not said exactly what was that gang activity, but it was probably a minor rule violation. However, now that he has been caught once, he is more likely to get caught a second time. In other’s head and in his own, he may have already been labeled a criminal. If nothing is done to reverse that negative label (and worse: if he goes to prison), he might even consider a full criminal career, as his future will become bleaker and bleaker. This is an example of “deviancy amplification”.
Instead of lengthening prison sentences, the government should try to reverse the stigma on those teenagers by rehabilitating them into the society (for example, giving them a professional formation).
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17-year old Lee, who didn't go to high school after graduating from middle school, and his friends call themselves a "motorcycle gang". He said, "I got addicted to it, because in the gang I feel like I'm the toughest, like I can do anything. I zigzag around, racing, and open a taxi door and grope someone." In April of this year he was investigated by police, who caught him in the middle of a gang activity. […]
The gang members [‘] activities include dangerous motorcycle riding such as ignoring traffic laws, crossing over the center line, purse-snatching, and fighting.
[…] Shin Ji-ho of the Grand National Party is seeking to address this situation by introducing amendments to the transportation law next week that would expand the power to revoke driver's licenses and lengthen prison sentences.”
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http://us.asiancorrespondent.com/korea-beat/-p-10285
Elizabeth Tang
ReplyDelete“Crime by youth in middle class is on upward path”
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This article touches on how a growing number of middle class youths are shifting from ‘deviant’ behavior to those involving ‘amusement’. This brought to mind the ‘self-control’ theory covered in our readings this week.
Some background from the article: statistics showed that crime numbers involving students from middle-class been steadily increasing, and more surprisingly, the crime rate for youths raised by both parents has increased, while the crime rate for youths raised by single parents, have been decreasing (time span of 2004 to 2008). Crime rate for orphans have been on the decrease as well.
According to the self-control theory, these youths are motivated to break the rules because they have been such good model students, and have felt suppressed by their parents. I guess this could stem from the fact that in South Korea, parents put much pressure on their children to perform well due to the competitive nature of education here, and furthermore coming from a middle-income family, the parents would hope to see their kids have a solid education. However, there seems to be a contradiction occurring: parents becoming too harsh in the hopes of bringing up their children properly, causing their children to participate in deviant behavior and eventually becoming violent to those weaker than them. However, in self-control theory it was said that for those who commit crimes, their ‘socialization is defective….because the parents have failed to use adequate child-rearing practices’ (from textbook page 186). This made me think again about the 3 functional components of parenting – 1. Surveillance, 2. Labeling, and 3. Punishment. It seems that this is another limitation of self-control theory which failed to take into account overbearing parents who may be trying too hard to ‘govern’ their children.
The article also briefly mentions the social learning theory we covered in class last week, where some people attributed this violent behavior to influence by the media and celebrities, and that the role of parents is diminishing.
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Crimes perpetrated by middle-class youths who were raised without financial hardship and by both parents are on the rise.
Just last June, a second-year high school student named Lee was found convicted of raping a female student after dragging her to a factory field in Seoul. The 18-year-old confessed, “When I saw her walk by, I felt a sudden urge to commit the crime.”
Lee’s grades at school were in the top percentile of his class and his family didn’t have any record of conflict or problems. His father said, “I would never have guessed that my son, who is very quiet and docile, could do such a thing.”
During the police investigation, Lee said, “I was tired of my life as a model student.”
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2916032
1. Ye Eun Cho
ReplyDelete2. Entry ban on sex offenders
3. This article is about the Justice Ministry's new legislation of banning foreign sex offenders from coming into Korea. The previous legislation that banned foreign sex offenders was limited to five years and extending the years were realistically hard. However, this new legislation went into effect last month and has expelled two people. This policy would be changing the society environment for people to drift into noncrime state.
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4. The Justice Ministry announced yesterday it had expelled two people in the month since a legal revision permanently banning foreign sex offenders from the country went into effect.
The ministry has revised the immigration control law last month to tighten regulations on sex offenders.
Under the new rule, the government will permanently deny entry to foreigners convicted of sex offenses, regardless of when and where their crimes were committed.
Foreign nationals will be expelled immediately if they have been convicted of sex crimes and will be permanently banned from returning.
People deported for crimes are usually denied reentry for up to five years, a figure which can be extended through a retrial.
The move came the nation hardens its crackdown on sex crimes.
The number of rapes committed by foreign nationals here last year rose by 11 percent from the previous year, according to the National Police Agency.
The number of foreigners residing here exceeded 1.1 million as of last May.
"There have been cases in which persons deported for sex offenses attempted to illegally reenter the country," said a ministry official.
The NPA, together with other government departments, launched a joint task force in October to crack down on foreigners' crimes, focusing on drug and sex offenses.
The government also submitted a revision proposal which would obligate foreigners to have their photos and fingerprints taken beginning 2012. The revision bill is currently pending at the National Assembly.
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5. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/03/22/201003220048.asp
1.Young-Ju Lim
ReplyDelete2.Four arrested in second SAT leak scandal
3.In January, there was a SAT leak in Korea. The man whose first name is Jang conspired with his colleague to steal the questions. They planned very precisely but employee of ETS found that there was a corruption.
Actually, in Korea, this kind of crime is usually exposed because all Korean parents have high level of education-conscious. They want to send their kids to top universities if they have to commit crime.
In Korea, usually parents regard their children as an investment. (There is a kind of idiom, ‘well done in child farming.’) They do almost everything for their chilren to raise. Especially in the past, this kind of situation was usual. When parents get older and older, they don’t have economic income so grown-children have to have their parents with them. Today this situation is unusual thing, but in rural area, still exists.
The point of view of children between Korea and America is very different, I think. Even still, my parents give me pocket money, and they pay all kinds of costs which are related with me.
I thought very closely about this problem, and I think I found one reason. In Korea, part-time working is very hard. It isn’t cost enough for college registration fee and if it would, we have to work all-day and fail to have study time. The minimum hourly wage is about $3,(It wents up very much.) and our college fee costs about $3500~4000 for one semester.
If Korea government want to solve education-crime, I think they have to remove fundamental problem such as high college fee, low part-time pay, and high educational expenses.
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4. Police investigating another scandal involving the United States-based Scholastic Aptitude Test arrested four suspects yesterday, including a lecturer at a private education institute, or hagwon, in southern Seoul.
The 36-year-old instructor, surnamed Jang, was arrested on charges of stealing mathematics and physics questions from the test, which can make or break a student looking to get into a good U.S. college.
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5. http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2915746