- Synchronous lecture

- every tuesday from 7-9:50

- Recorded lectures
- Usually uses more info than the coursepack

- Theories can be very simple or very complex, depending upon the number and types of
relationships expressed by them
- Theories can also be concrete or abstract
- → theories about simple behaviours such as throwing a ball through a window also tend
to be concrete
- → abstract theories are difficult to tie directly to reality

LECTURE #1
INTRO TO THEORIES
Different Ways We Acquire Knowledge
- Intuition
- Common sense
- Tradition
- Authority
- Media
- Empiricism/observations/direct experience
- Science
What are Theories?
- Generalizations
- They explain how two or more phenomena are related to each other and the conditions
under which that relationship takes place
- A particular/different way of looking at something
- An attempt to explain why a particular social activity or event occurs
- Can be:
1. simple/complex
- → e.x what happens when a ball is thrown through a window?
2. concrete/abstract
- → e.x. Einstein's theory of relativity
- Theory is not:
1. Inherently good or bad
2. The answer
READING
Columbine Shootings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUSJ6rqEWUY
- April 20, 1999
- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
 - → wearing black trench coats, they entered their school with bombs and guns and shot
and killed 12 students and 1 teacher
- → wounded 23
- → then proceeded to kill themselves
- Media and the population trying to make sense of the shooting
- → narrative of them being loners or gang members emerged in attempts to figure out
why they would commit such a horrible crime
- → were part of a group called the “trench coat mafia” (but their actions did not reflect the
rest of the students in that groups beliefs)
- → thought it was a revenger plot from a couple of outcasts
- → this narrative continued in media aggressively
- Was actually a failed bombing not a successful shooting
- Actually believed narrative was “a cocktail of malice, self loathing, and a craving for
fame”
- → became something of a 2 man cult with the motivation of making their mark on the
world
- → for eric, it was primarily a murder, for dylan, it was primaritly a suicide
- Eric talked about “his audience” in his journal
- Columbine came after a string of other school shootings
- Helped fuel a national movement of school security
- → in the U.S as of 2015, almost half of all school have some sort of police/ security
presence and at least 21 states mandated lockdown protocols for school shootings
- Still don't know what causes school shootings or if they are increasing
- → researchers are coming to different conclusions
- → some include suicide or non fatal attacks, some dont, different conclusion are made
and realeased to the public
- One statistic from the CDC that has some consistency is overall homicides in schools
- → trend lines shows that it varies from year to year but is relatively the same cross the
decades
- → they are also extremely rare
- → it is believe that past attacks and cover front he media may have become a motivation
for future attacks
- → now media has started to not use the shooters name in an attempt to not motivate
anyone further

LECTURE #2 (Continue of #1)

Why do we have (criminological) theories?
- They attempt to describe, explain, predict, and ultimately control crime
- → we want to make changes and prevent crime
- → saw this in the Columbine Shooting
How Can We Make Sense of Crime?
- What are some factors that contribute to crime?
- → poverty, metal health, boredom, necessity, etc
Assumptions in Criminological Theory
 - Levels of Abstraction:
- → Macro, Micro, and Bridging
- → Macro: most abstract, much broader in their scope, stepping back and looking at the
big picture, looking at society at large(how its organized, how it affects behaviour), looks
at rates of crime, etc.
- → Micro: considered with fine details, small picture, composed of concrete theories,
focused on ecology(attempt to explain how people become criminals, the process), focus
on the individual and small groups (e.x. Looking at a gang and how/why people join a
gang)
- → Bridging: mix between the two, theories that look at macro and micro, social
structures and how people become criminals
- Basis of Society:
- → Consensus (“old” criminology) or Conflict (“new” criminology)
- → Consensus: general agreement from people about shared values, common goals,
believes most people in society agree on what is right and what is wrong. Idea that
various institutions in society (schools, businesses, government agencies are all working
together towards the great good or common goal. Believes the criminal justice system
works to benefit everyone and the system does not prioritize any group over another
- Conflict: society is divided by conflict, in society there is an imbalance of power and
inequality. Groups are in constant competition, and groups at the top are constantly
striving to maintain the status quo because it benefits them. When it comes to the
criminal justice system and law, this theory believes the system does not operate to
benefit everyone, but oftentimes benefits some at the detriment of others. Laws created
by and for the ones on top to maintain their position.
- Focus of Analysis:
- → Structure or Process?
- → Structure (like macro): how society is organized
- → Process (like micro): how people become criminal
- Individuals:
- → Active or Passive?
- → Active: making their own decision, have free will
- → passive: not operating on their own free will, forces inside or outside that influence
their behaviours
Kitty Genovese - 1935-1964
- Was returning home from work at a bar in Queens, New York
- As she was approaching her building a man grabbed her, attacked her, and stabbed her
several times
- She made a lot of noise and screamed for help, many neighbours heard and saw that
something was happening but did nothing
- → this man left her, she crawled trying get to her apartment but the door was locked
- → he returned soon after and stabbed her more, robbed her and then left her to die
- Not a single person called the police or helped her
- Researcher promised that this possibly occurred because people are less likely to help
someone when more people are present
 - → called the Bystander Effect or Bystander Apathy
- → idea that there is a diffusion of responsibility when there are more people around
because they believe that the situation is not as bad as it is if no one is responding, or it
is believed someone else will help an their is no need to engage
The Bystander Effect: The Death of Kitty Genovese (Video)
- 1964, 38 New Yorkers watched as one of their neighbours was brutally murdered
- Lights came on from the windows facing the courtyard, so we know that many of them
had saw what was happening
→ no one called the police
- Someone on the 7th floor, opened his window and yelled “whats going on down there”
and when the attacher (Mosley) heard he ran back to his car
- → she was still alive and managed to get up, still screaming, and collapses in the
hallway of the building
- → one of the residence living their, opened his door and saw Mosely return and attack
her a second time, he did nothing
- → stabbed her another 8 times, and she bled to death before the police arrived
- Social psychologist studied what would cause the “Genovese Effect”
- → conducted an experiment with fire
- → smoke coming through the bottom o the door, if the person was alone they would get
up and ask the receptionist what was going on, if they weren't alone and the people
around them did nothing, they too would do nothing
- → Seeing other people not reacts allows the individual to create a definition of the
situation that categorized it as a non emergency
- Conducted another experiment where the emergency was harder to ignore
- → One student was asked to communicate via intercom with another student down the
hall
- → they played a recording of an actor having a seizure in the students headphones
- → when it was only one person there to help, they would get up and immediately go and
try and help
- → when there were 3 or 4 other students present, you were much less likely to respond,
- Responsibility became diffused
The Experiment
- Does variable X cause variable Y?
- Independent variable X
- → the variable that the researcher manipulates, the cause
- → in the Genovese case, the independent variable is the amount of people or
bystanders present
- Dependent variable Y
- → the variable that depends on the independent variable, the variable being measured,
the affect or outcome
- → in the Genovese case, the dependent variable is the weather or not people help or
their reaction
Two Types of Approaches
- Deductive Approach
 - → researcher starts with a explanation or theory
- → Test their theory and collect data to further interpret
- → based on their findings, they will either support, modify or refute their theory
- → used in the Genovese analysis and experiments
- Inductive Approach
- → start with observations and collecting data
- → based on observations you analyse information to find themes and patterns
- → Based on your analysis you come up with a theory or explanation
Criteria for Evaluating Theories
- Best fits evidence of research
- → has the theory been supported by research evidence
- Quantitative validation/criterion: testability
- → reliability and testable theory
- → e.x sigmund freud's ego, id and superego can't be tested
- → theories should not be discarded because our ability to test and prove things can
change
- Qualitative Criterion: substance
- → will be logically sound and consistent
- → tautological reasoning (circular reasoning)
- → time order problem
- → validity
- The ability to make sense out of conflicting positions
- → e.x. labeling theory - makes sense of why people have different pictures of criminals
- Sensitizing ability
- → e.x. Karl Marx - offered sensitizing ability (seeing things differently)
- Parsimony - simple is good
- → straight forward, simple
- Scope
- → better to be able to describe many types of crime than only one type
- Popularity
- → just because a theory is popular doesn't mean it is valid
- → e.x. Capital punishment was popular and people belived it was good beacuse of it
Crime and Deviance is Relative:
- To time (e.x. Sex work, women rights, homosexuality, etc)
- To place (syria vs canada, amsterdam drugs law, age alcohol laws, etc)
Knowledge is Context Bound:
- All theories must be understood with an
1. Social context
2. Intellectual context
3. Personal context

THE DEMONIC PERSPECTIVE

Definition of “Witch”
 - 1a) a person (especially a woman) who is credited with having usually malignant
supernatural powers
- 1b) a woman who is believed to practice usually black magic often with the aid of a devil
or familiar
- 2) a practitioner of witchcraft especially in adherence with a neo-pagen tradition or
religion
- 3) a mean or ugly women; a hag
- 4) a charming or alluring girl or woman
The Demonic Perspective
- The oldest perspective of deviance
- Look for the cause and cure of deviant behaviour in the realm of the supernatural
- All deviance = sin
- Criminal = sinner = heretic (someone who violates church rule)
- If you were believed to be a heretic it was harmful to:
1. Victim
2. God
3. The entire cosmos (cosmic consequences)
- Demonic perspective believes human being are torn between supernatural forces of
good and evil
Two Paths to Deviance
- Path of temptation (active)
- → e.x. Garden of Eden, the individual here is seen as having choice and therefore
responsible
- Path of Possession (passive)
- → devil has taken control of their mind and body and has no choice in their actions and
is not responsible
- → must be exorcised
Salem Witch Trials
- Justified by biblical scripture
- → the idea that witches did not exist was not tolerated
- 1692, Salem, Massachusetts
- Time of puritans, very religious
- In the home of a very powerful man at the time, named Reverend Samuel Parris, was a
woman named Tituba who worked for this family
- → she spent a lot of time with theses 3 girls in the home, one of them being Parris’s
daughter
- Tituba was apparently skilled with magic and would tell these girl stories
- → one day the girl starting acting strange, barking like dogs, hiding under furniture,
freeing in place, etc
- → it was believed they were possessed
- → the 3 girls gave the names of 3 women who were said to be witches and were at fault
for their behaviour
- → the first name given was Tituba, the second was Sarah Good (a homeless woman
who was seen by the town as the village hag), the third woman was Sarah Osborne who
 was known to be quarrelsome and was a widow with a higher social standing since her
husband died and she inherited his land
- they were put on trial and asked the same questions over and over, both Sarah’s denied
everything but Tituba confessed and gave details about her experience with the devil
- all 3 women convicted but because Tituba confessed, she was not killed and was bought
later as a slave
- → Tituba’s confession lead way to people believing in witches more heavily than before
- Beginning the Salem witch trials
The Inquisition
- Refers to a tribunal court that was used by the Catholic Church to root out, suppress,
and punish heretic
- → goal = remove heresy
- The trials
- → accused would be tried and would have to testify
- → refusal was proof of guilt
- → anyone could testify against the accused
- → person put on trial was not told who was accusing them
- No supporters
- → no legal assistance
5 Types of Evidence to Convict
1. Trail by clever test
- They would have to say the lord's prayer in public without making mistakes, if they did
they would be seen as a witch/heretic
2. Through the reliance of testimony of others
- Anyone can come forward and blame their misfortune on the accused (oftentimes had
no connection at all)
3. Physical marks by the devil
- Any physical abnormality was seen as a bite from the devil making you a witch
4. Spectral evidence
- An individual would come forth with having a dream or vision of the accused which would
be taken as evidence that the devil being involved with the accused
5. Confessions of guilt
- Many would confess
- - very important to the inquisition process
The Importance of Confessions
- Forgiveness and brings the accused back to faith
- Accused could be spared of death (not all the time)
- Considered saving the soul
- Guilt legitimizes the entire process (no one would be mad at killing if they actually
believed in witches)
- → use of skilled and educated inquisitors
- → always male (authority)
- → women could not read/write at the time
- The use of confessional devices
 - → meaning torture device
- → not a means of punishment, since those who these were used on were not even
found guilty yet
- → was a means of getting confessions
- → e.x.(as appears on slides) The Head Cruncher, The Heretics Fork, The Inquisitional
Chair, The Spanish Tickler/Cat’s Paw, Judas’s Cradle, The Strappado, The Rack
- What the problem with relying on these devices
- → people will confess even if they didn't do it and maybe even give others names to get
out of the situation
- Do confessions still happen today
- → yes, but different. We use sleep deprivation, starvation, intimidation, etc
The Use of Torture
- Was was required of suspected of crime:
- → half-proof (only a slight amount of evidence was needed)
- Objective of torture:
- → elicit an admission of guilt
- → not to punish
- Justification of torture:
- → to protect the community from further wrath of angry God
- → to restore the hope for personal salvation through repentance
- Procedure:
- → answering questions under oath while enduring physical pain
- Torture - 2 Stages
1. Preparatory stage
- → Getting accusing individual to admit guilt
2. Preliminary Stage
- → Getting names and details
- Ordinary torure → extraordinary torture

LECTURE #3 (continue of #2)

Symbolic Punishment
- “Eye for an eye”
- → “if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:35-25)
- Latin terms: Lex Talionis
- → based on the principle of Retribution
- What was one of the first known written videos of law that was based on this philosophy?
- → the code of hammurabi (e.x. If a man strikes another man, his hand shall be cut off,
etc)
- What was the symbolism behind burning at the stake?
- → represents burning in hell, the eternal burning of hell
- What was the symbolism behind the punishment of The Wheel?
 - → all major bones broken, logic behind it was that the bones are the most solid part of
the body and it needed to be broken if a person was possessed in order to release the
spirit
Shame and Pain for Women:
- The Scold’s Bridle/Hag’s Harness:
- → Mask that women were forced to wear in order to keep them silenced
- → there were metal spiked making it so every time they would speak it would be painful
for them
- → Was used for women who were “mouthy” meaning speaking out against their
husbands, authority, cursing, gossip, or anything viewed as deviant(sin).
- The Ducking Stool
- → women held up on a chair by a device and paraded through town to be shamed
- → then is taken to a body of water and dropping inside for purification
- → those subjected to this were women who were quarrelsome, arguing with others,
gossiping, bad tempers, prostitution, etc.
- The Drunkard’s Cloak (mostly men)
- → forced to wear a barrel and walk around town
- → punishment for public intoxication
Witchhunts in Context
- → previous idea that knowledge is context bound
- Between the 15 and 18th centuries, it is estimated that between 40,000 -100,000 people
were convicted of witchcraft and put to death (85% were women)
- → some people call this the women's holocaust
- Factors that contributed to the witch hunts?
- → rise of a bureaucratic state and capitalism making the witch hunts profitable (also
increased employment), women paid for their own trial
- → they also didn't want women in a “man's profession” of medicine
- → if a woman was practicing any healing without formal education she was a witch
- → they needed a explanation for the horrors of the time, so they blame witches
- → church was seen as an authority so they were trusted
- → discourages rebellious behaviours
- → very lucrative industry
- → malleus maleficarum was a book written about where to find witches and what to do
with them
Rationale for Punishment
- Rooted in Christianity
- → biblical law
- Penance through physical pain
- → nothing sacred about the body, this was a time where the soul was the most important
- Purge body of a sinner to eliminate evil spirits (torture like The Wheel)
- → to restore the body of the community
- Public punishments
- → reminder of God’s will and to be obedient to God to the public
- Social control
 - → rid society of any type of undesirable/deviant behavior

Modern Laws about WitchCraft

- 365: everyone who fraudulently
a) Pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or
conjuration,
b) Undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or
c) Pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover
where or on what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost
may be found,
- Is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction, up to 6 months in prison
- It was only in 2018 that it was removed
Modern Day “Witch Hunts?”
- The searching out and deliberate harassment of people whose opinions or actions are
regarded as unpopular, wrong or dangerous
- Media has created modern day witch hunts
- → someone saying something that's not popular opinion (cancel culture)
- → e.x. Slut shaming, political shaming, etc.
- → e.x. Walter Palmer, killed a lion for hunting and created a huge backlash where
people tried to get his dentist practice shut down
- Problems with these hunts are: too extreme, lead to vigilantism, bias, etc
- → e.x. “Letzgo hunting” twitter account where people try and find pedophiles to
persecute
Socially Constructed Problems
- → The “witches” were not the one causing problems, it was the church and church-state
at the time
- Moral Panic
- → an exaggerated outburst of public concern that someone or something is perceived
as a threat to the social order (e.g. values, safety, interests of society)
- → oftentimes exaggerated and started by the media
- → e.x. Reefer madness (aka. Drug use), music, sexulity
- → e.x.(class) Lockdown(anti-maskers), homosexuality, stranger danger, communism,
911 muslim panic, abortion, trump being voted as president, etc.
- Moral Entrepreneur
- → an individual/group/institution who is committed to the creation and enforcement of
rules against what they define as “deviant”
- → the ones creating the moral panic
- → e.x. The government
- Folk Devils
- → targeted by the moral panic
- → Can be fictional or not
THE MIDDLE AGES
Trial By Ordeal:
- Actually just trails by torture
- Underlying premise is that God would intervene and would make it clear who was guilty
- → accused would be subject to some painful task and god would decide
- e.x.Trials by Heat
- → carry hot iron or walk over coals, 3 days later a priest would come inspect the wound,
if it was infected/not healing they would be guilty, if it was healing, they were innocent
- E.x. Trials by hot water
- → individual submerged hand in burning hot water, after 3 days a priest would come
inspect the wound, if it was infected/not healing they would be guilty, if it was healing,
they were innocent
- E.x. Trials by cold water
- → thrown into water with arms and legs bound, if they float they are guilty, if they sin
they are innocent
- → this is because they believed water was a pure element and would repel the guilty
- → also believed these people rejected baptism and so the water was rejecting them
- E.x. Trial by Battle/Combat
- → only wealthy or powerful men were given this option
- → Dressed in armor, they would fight to the death
- → they could hire people to fight for them however (clearly favours those with money)
- → believed God is virtuous and would not allow the innocent man to death, even if faced
with a much more skilled opponent
- → can be seen in today's society with lawyers, the more money the better legal
representation
- E.x. trial by cursed morsel
- → reserved for clergy members
- → forced to swallow food in which a feather was concealed
- → if the individual choked, they were guilty, if not, they were innocent
- E.x. trials by wager of law (trial by compurgation)
- → accused needed to gather a group of 12 reputable/respectable people to attest under
oath to their character, swearing their innocence
- → why were they believed? They were under oath on the bible and believed that no one
would lie to god
What is the Divine Right of Kings?
- Philosophy that the king derived his right to rule directly from God
- What does this mean for everyone else?
- → nothing the king did could be wrong, no questioning the king because you're
questioning god
- → must be obeyed in all things, not subject to any earthly authority
- What happened if the king is questioned
- → charged with treason or heresy
- A form of social control
King Henry II
 - Re-defined private wrongs as crimes against the state
- regardless of the crime, it was a violation against the King’s peace
- Massive criminalization of previously non-criminal acts
- Why?
- → if someone committed a crime, their property can be taken, making the King profit
The Creation of the Court of The King’s Bench (Royal Court) - King Henry II
- Is the highest court
- Replaced informal methods of seeking justice based on local practices
- → before, each village had their own informal operation of law
- → nothing was codified
- Made use of circuit judges: judges that would travel to different counties and try and
deliver justice
- → they would then assemble and discuss the cases and decisions made, trying to find
the best way to handle situation
- → this created a unified idea of law under the King Court
- Established British Common Law
- → creed by the judges, not the king
- Based on “Stare Decisis”
- → “to stand by things decided”
- → meaning setting a precedent
- → courts must abide by prior decisions in future cases disclosing the same effects
- Why is it important?
- → leads to stability and predictability
Trials by Jury
- Replaced trials by ordeal, wager of law, and battle
- Grand assize
- → body of men summoned by the king to discover and charge all those in the
community who have who have violated the law
- → sent out by the king to find criminals and present them before the King
- Petit assize
- → judging the accused person
- → what we call a jury today
- → this was not fair; however, because a person could be on the Grand assize and the
Petit assize meaning they would have bias
- A jury could be put on trial
- → if they decided a verdict to upset the king, they would be put on trial (perjury)
- → they're trial would be decided by another jury of 24 people
Peine Forte Et Dure (“Pressing)
- Used on those who refuse trial by jury
- → Essentially is a wooden plank laid on top of a person and weights are put on top to
press them down
- Why would anyone refuse a trial by jury and opt for “pressing”?
- → if accused died without being convicted, the Monarch could not seize their property
What is The Bloody Code?
 - Between 1688-1823
- Name given to harsh laws that increased the number of (minor) crimes punishable by
death
- During this time, the death penalty was used often
- → crimes like: pickpocketing and cutting down a young tree held to same weight as rape
and murder
- Number of crimes carrying the death penalty
- → 1688 = 50
- → 1765 = 160
- → 1815 = 225
- Why so bloody?
- → to discourage crime
- → to protect the interests of the rich (laws made by the rich)
- → no sympathy for those who committed crimes (sinners, lazy, greedy, no mercy)
The King’s Justice
- → the “spectacle of spectacles”
- When accused is put to death, it would happen in the day light in the middle of town
- → form of entertainment
- → a demonstration of power
- → the power of the King’s mercy (the King has the ability to take life, save life, or lesson
pain)
- → ability to take life, grant life, or lessen pain
Public Executions (in the Age of the Monarchy)
- Frequently used
- Lots of crimes punishable by death
- Regardless of age
- Variety of methods used
- How did nobles get put to death?
- → they were beheaded while commoners were hanged
Gibbeting
- Method of displaying the criminals body after execution
- → essentially just a cage to keep the body in place
- Why is it important?
- → to send a message and reduce crime
- → sometimes they would cut the body up at gibbet the pieces in different areas to send
stronger message
The Stocks and The Pillories
- Not likely to die
- Corporal punishment meaning “punishment of the body”
- Contraption with holes for your hands and head and meant to stand or walk in a circle for
a certain amount of time
- → used for crimes such as perjury, dishonest shop keeping, etc.
- → used as public shaming
- → people would yell or throw things
 - Sometimes they would nail the accused’s ear to the wooden plank, so if they tried to
move their head to avoid something thrown at them, they would risk losing an ear
Flogging
- Another corporal punishment used for smaller punishment
- Basically just being whipped
- Used same public shaming as the stocks
Branding or Mutilation
- Includes aspect of corporal punishment as it is poainful to the body
- Also leaves long term marks so it was public humiliation as well
- → symbolism, what a person is branded with is often a reflection of their crime
- → e.x. The letter “T” was for thief
Banish or Exile
- Removed of all property and prohibited from returning home
- Physically challenging as the individual needs to survive on their own
- → also emotional and psychologically damaging as they cannot come to their own home
- → also being condemned by friends/neighbours/family
Transportation
- Individual convicted with crime
- Forced to go to the British colonies to serve a period of indentured servitude for approx 7
years (slaves)
- This stopped working when America took their independence from Britain in 1776 and
stopped accepting prisoner ships
- → now what do they do with their prisoners?
- → they used Hulks as a temporary solution
Hulks
- Temporary solution that ended up lasting about 8 years
- Old ships, converted into floating prisons
- Offenders would sleep on these ships and work on the ships in the day
- → horrible conditions, riddled with disease and poor ventilation
- → many would die
- → Many beaten, kept in shackles, etc

“The Burning Times” Video

- → what groups were particularly vulnerable to the witch hunts?
- Spinsters
- women who begged
- Midwives
- Older women
- Healers
- Anyone who wasn't Christian
- → what factors made the witch hunts happen?
- Provides Explanation: Many changes taking place in society; high mortality rates,
crops/livestock, natural disaster made people feel they are losing control.
- Offers Scapegoat: They needed explanation for their problems, so they blames women
since they were the marginalized group and the easiest to blame and keep under control
- Maintains status quo: affirms authority of the church/popularized Christianity(only priests
could perform exorcisms so people felt they needed them to keep them safe)
- Divert attention: people no longer turn ot the church in regards to causing problems
- Patriarchal society: remove women from power, fear of women's sexuality

- The word “witch” comes from the anglosaxon word “wicce” which means to bend or
shape
- Women were more susceptible to the devils charms
- → women were irrational, if sexuality was a sin, women were the greatest sinners of all
- → it was believed the deal with the devil was finalized by a sexual act which was always
described as painful and entirely unenjoyable
- Long after roaman times, women continued the ancient traditions of their old religions
with thousands of small ceremonies in their daily lives
- They were leaders, councillors, visionaries, and healers
- → in europe they were viewed as “wise women”
- Chirstian church and state branded them witches and worshipers of the devil
- Modern ideas of witches date back to the renaissance and the period in history known
as the “witch craze”
- → by the end, women's power is associated with darkness and death
- When the Europeans came to Africa and the Americas, they were called heathens and
persecuted as witches
- Roman’s set up the inquisition to enforce Christianity across Europe
- → anyone who challenged the Christian faith was a heretic and executed
- → this is the beginning of the Witch Hunts
- Between the 15th and 17th century millions were burned
- → 85% of them were women (“womens halocust”)
- In villages all over Europe, women and men lived together following a religion of rural
life; changing of the season, and traditions and beliefs passed through generations
- → e.x. We still call earth “mother” which is from our Pagan past

- Joan of Arc
- → led the French to victory over the English after hundreds of years of war
- → was later called a heretic and a witch by the same church to bring her to sainthood
- Joan would spend time by magic tree, a hilltop shrine and a sacred spring in France
- → she heard voices that helped her lead the French to battle and called them by the
names of christian saints but her beliefs were rooted in old religion (pagan)
- → claimed the voices gave her an authority greater than that of the church

- For thousands of years women were the healers

- → the church claimed that no one did more harm to the christian faith than midwives
- → they interefeared with gods will by making childbirth less painful (the punishment for
eve's sin) and used birth control and abortions
 - New laws were created that if a woman claims to cure without having studied was a
witch and must die
- → women were not allowed to go to university, so the rise of men in the medical industry
raised
- → they continued to practice, but with fear of their lives
- Men were advised to beat their wives out of protection for thiers soul, if a woman spoke
out she would be forced to wear a mask restricting her, if she wore a dress to ornate,
she would be forced into the dressmakers collar, those who fell asleep in church were
given the rosary necklace
- 14th Century: the black plague
- The start of a wave of epidemics across europe for the next 200 years
- Priests said it was a punishment by god for sin
- People turned to village wise women for help
- → women population rose for debatable reason, some believe because of war, some
believe women were more immune to plague
- → in a patriarchal society, women now dont have husbands and become independent,
creating conflict
- Women could not own property so they had to beg for money which created suspicion
those who did were suspicious as well since it was not seen as a woman's place
- The church spun a narrative that the plague and the lack of harvest and whatever other
problems existed at the time, must've been caused by Witches
- During the industrial revolution, the witch hunts became profitable and created many
jobs for judges, lawyers and other
- This only increased the amount of hunts that occur
- Women would be tortured and the majority of the time they would not confess at first, but
the second time they would.
- → the term ‘third degree” comes from the system of torturing 3 times until confession
because it would always work to produce confession if they weren't killed by then
- If witches did not exist, why did they all answer/confess in the same way
- → the inquisitors were given the same handbook called the malleus maleficarum
- → one of the first mass produced book thanks to the invention of the printing press

Braveheart
- Started at 2 hours and 17 min
Describe what society (the social context) was like at the time
→ what was the justice system like?
- Justice was entirely in the hands of the King
- Majority of society lived in poverty and fear of the Kings rule
- → obvious rebellion brewing and acted on
- Public punishment as means of social control
- → and a form of entertainment
How was the Monarch’s power demonstrated?
- He had the power to take lives, save life, etc.
- He refuses to show mercy even when begged by his wife
- Even on his deathbed he refused to show Wallace mercy
How was William Wallace’s execution a “spectacle of spectacles”?
- Charged with high treason against the King
- → he didn't swear allegiance to the King, but they say it doesn't matter
- They give him the option to confess and be given a quick death, but he doesn't and they
decide he needs “purification” through pain
- He is condemened to public torture and execution
- It is a ‘spectacle of spectacles” as it was very public, he was also an example of high
treason
- They also use many different types of torture
- The crowd starts yelling out “mercy” because they want to see him give up, he makes it
seem like he's going to say it, but he yells “freedom” instead
- → everyone was watching, including the noblemen
- They behead him and then tore him to pieces
- His head was set on london bridge
- His arms and legs set to to the four corners of Britain as a warning
- → this did not work as the King planned
- Robert the Bruce (an ally of Wallace) is planned to becomes King as planned with
English endorsement, despite mourning Wallace’s death
- → he and asks the Scottish to now fight with him as they did Wallace, they refuse and
fight, winning their freedom

LECTURE #4
CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
- Individuals make choices about committing a crime based on the anticipated rewards
- Individuals will decide not to commit a crime when the risks are too high, or the rewards
are not adequate
18th Century - Social Context
- Religious dissent movement
- → social context: in early-mid 15th hundreds
- → revolt against the roman catholic church (church held power in society)
- → martin luther was a catholic monk from germany
- → he condemned the corruption of the churt, specifically selling tickets of indulgences
 - → meaning people can buy tickets and pay to have their sins forgiven thus allowing the
rich to buy their way into heaven
- → believed this was against the bible
- → oct 31, 1517, luther releases a copy of his 95 theses and nails it to a church door
- → represents the weakening of the roman catholic churches power
- → his beliefs form the basis of the protestant reformation (movement aimed at reforming
the practices of the roman catholic church)
- → rise of the protestant ethic; the belief that the harder one works on earth, this will lead
to an improvement in one's afterlife
- → this caused a shift from feudalism
- Shift from feudalism to the early forms of capitalism
- → Feudalist society or feudalism is a society based on those with power; lord or barons
and those without; serfs or slaves
- → economic system based on represhin
- → the power, land, and wealth were in the hands of a few
- → capitalism emerging and now start to take power from the monarch (monarch thought
he had the divine right to rule)
- → development of modern nation states and the ethic of individualism, where it used to
be focused on communal responsibility
- → now, focus is on getting ahead and making a profit
- Population growth and need for new forms of social control
- → previously people lived in small towns, now they lived in cities creating a population
boom
- → there is now a need for new forms of social control due to population growth because
all the punishments revolving around humiliation/public shaming don't work in cities
where people do not know each other
- → also as population grows so does variety and people no longer shared all their beliefs
Intellectual Context: The Enlightenment (1650 - 1800)
- Reason is idealized
- → it is an intellectual revolution, changing how things were done and seen previously;
thus, questioning how society is organized and traditions
- → in the past, their was mainly just a religious viewpoint and everyone was scared to
question it
- → move from religious explanation to more secular explanation
- → there is also a move from not questioning the king's authority because of the writings
of many enlightenment philosophers
- → i.e. John Locke, Voltaire, Jacque Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, etc.
- → new idea that reason is the instrument to order society and institutions; only through
reason is progress made
- Doctrine of free will
- → in the past it was believed that god controlled everything; idea that you don't control
your behaviour per se
- → now there's the idea that people possess free will and can make choices
- Humans are rational beings
 - → human can think rational, apply reason, consider what impact their actions can have
- Humans are hedonistic
- → being hedonistic means that people what to maximize their pleasure and minimize
their pay
- Natural rights exist
- → “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (US Declaration of Independence)
- → we all have rights and those rights must be protected by rule of law
- Democracy
- → “One person, one vote”
- → people are ready for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people
- → people now believed every person in society should have a say via the government
(stil only meant white, rich, landowning males and no vote for everyone else)
- → people form governments to protect rights
Intellectual Context: The Enlightenment (1960 - 1800)
- Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)
- → writes Leviathan (1651)
- → states that the primitive state of man is: selfish and greedy
- → because of this people live in constant fear of everyone else
- → proposed rational theory of why people form democratic states of governance
- → still believed people are rational and will form rational forms of government in which
rules can be created to avoid the state of constant fear we have been living in
- → according to Hobbes, to avoid living in a constant state of fear and warfare with other
people enter into contract with other to create common authority
- → fear makes people conform to rules in society
What Is The Social Contract?
- An unwritten agreement shared by everyone in a society in which people give up some
of their freedom/rights in exchange for the State’s protection
- → doing this to ensure your own protection
- → government enacts rules, aka laws, which constrict our rights to avoid the “war of all
against all” as Hobbes would say
- What is a crime?
- → changing definition
- → a crime is a breaking of the social contract
- → society has agreed that the State is authorized and has a duty to punish (everyone
who violates the social contract)
- “The true measure of crime is namely the harm done to society”
- → not church or king, but to society
- punishment = social harm
- → most serious crime remained to be treason
- E.x. Under Enlightenment thought, what would be the punishment for homosexuality
- → no punishment since there are no demonstrable victims
- → the seriousness of crime is measure by the harm done to society
- What would be said over the homosexuality in the Demonic Perspective?
 - → they would be punished, likely with death because it is a sin and goes against the
church
Problems With Criminal Justice During The 18th Century
- Punishment
- → biased/arbitrary
- → much more a reflection of who you were instead of what you did
- → was not fair
- Capital Punishment
- → many crimes still punishable by death because of the Bloody Code
- → making judges reluctant to convict because it was too harsh of a punishment
- → limitations of effectiveness because public executions did not deter, in fact it became
a place for pickpockets to steal due to the crowd
- Transportation
- → what to do with all the prisoners that were sent away?
- → create jails
- Gaols
- → private enterprise ran for profit
- industry $$
- → people incarcerated had to pay for all the costs that came with their incarceration
(food, sheets, etc)
- → even if a person was found not guilty, they still needed to pay back the jailer for their
accommodations, if they couldn't they would stay behind bars
- Breeding grounds
- → all types of individuals are put together
- → moral breeding ground, lot of corruption and people influencing each other
- → also physical breeding ground, as everyone put in such close confinement cause
diseases to spread
Cesar Beccaria (1738 - 1794)
- → classical criminology is associated with Cesar Beccaria
- → he was a italian aristocrat and he had formed a political group with 2 friends and they
called themselves the “academy of fists”
- → they would get together and philosophize and talk about the current state of things,
particularly the state of the jails
- → one of the members of the group worked at a prison and brought Beccaria to see
- → he was appalled leading to his publishing
- Published a book anonymously called On Crimes and Punishment in 1764
- → based on the conditions of the jails and what he saw
- → published anonymously because it was a protest against the current system and
people saw his ideas as radical
- → when his book was published he was excommunicated by the catholic church and
was put on a list of prohibited books
- Why?
- → critique of current system
- Crimes are a result of…
 - → irrational/ineffective laws (not evil people)
- → not how criminal justice was viewed in the past
- Utilitarianism
- → belief in the premise of the greatest good for the greatest number of people
- → social contract follows this principle
- Reforms needed
- → beccaria wants a more rational enlightenment system for controlling crime
Jeremy Benthem
- → Shared many of the concerns Beccaria had
- → From England and helped popularize Beccaria opinions
- Hedonistic Calculus
- → people commit crimes when they weigh the pro’s and con’s and the pro’s outway
- → the weighing of pleasure versus pain
- 4 Dimensions:
- → intensity
- → duration
- → certainty
- → immediacy

Does the threat of punishment discourage people from committing a crime?

Are some forms of punishment more effective than others?

What would make punishment the most effective?

- Must be adaptable, personalized, certainty of punishment
- Punishment will impact people differently
Is the “scared straight” approach effective?
- No, it is not effective
- → works better as an education than a deterrent
- → wouldn't work long term
- → could be seen as a challenge to some
- → just learn not to get caught
- → insulting instead of consulting
- Yes, it is effective
- → its effectiveness is subject, but it can still scare some
- → some people are more threatened by others
- → seeing real word experiences can help add perspective
- Actual answer is: No
- → facts show that its not effective in the long term
- → children think they are just acting
- → also see it as a challenge
Classical Criminology and Punishment
- What is the goal of punishment?
- → for Beccaria the goal was deterrence
 - → goal is deterrence or discouraging
- → the use of punishment to discourage wrongful behaviour
- Deterrence: 2 types
- General
- → an individual is punished and we want that punishment to discourage the general
public from committing the crime as well
- → intended target is society
- → e.x. seeing someone getting a ticket for speeding makes you slow down
- Specific
- → whatever punishment a person receives, we want the punishment to deter that
specific individual
- → intended target is the individual
- → e.x. you are pulled over by officer for speeding, get fined, and stop speeding
- “It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them”
- Beccaria emphasized:
- → general deterrence
→ says the best way to reduce crime is education
For Punishment to be Effective, Punishment Must Be (according to Beccaria)…
1. Certain
- If you commit a crime, you will be punished
2. Swift
- After a criminal act is committed punishment must occur on a timely fashion
- If not immediately after, the association won't be made
- Important also because defendant could spend months or years waiting for trial and it
was not fair
3. Proportionately/(Appropriately) severe
- Becarria said if a robbery gives 6 units of pleasure, than their punishment must give 7
units of pain
- Against harsh punishment for crimes because it would elevate crime rates, meaning
people will go all out with their crimes because all punishment is the same
- What component is the most important?
- → Certainty
- → Beccaria: “even the least of evils, when they are certain always terrifies men’s minds”
Three Strikes and You’re Out!?
- Only in a few states in the U.S
- If an individual commits to felony offences, and then commit a third, they will
automatically be sentenced to life without parole
- Would a classical criminologist like this?
- → no, it is not proportionate to their crime

LECTURE #5
CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY(CONTINUED)
Reform for Laws
- Laws must be written, widely available and understandable
- → non existence in the middle ages before this time
- Equality of all people before the law
- → all people treated the same in the eyes of the law
Reform For Judges and Punishment
- Judges determine guilt only
- → not punishment/sentence
- Punishment determined by legislators
- Focus only on the actus reus (not the mens rea)
The Death Penalty
- → Beccaria would be against the death penalty
- Says it would violated the social contract (giving certain rights to the state for safety, but
not the right to life)
- Negative example to punish death with death
- → state leads by example, allowing others to justify their own killing
- Ineffective deterrent
- → much too quick to have a long lasting effect (not a general deterrent)
- “It is not the intensity of punishment that has the greatest effect on the human spirit, but
its duration”
- Not proportionate
- → overly server for many offences
- Need disipled workers
- → by killing people we lose possible workers that would be rehabilitated (capitalism
rising)
Changes in the Administration of Justice
- Abolish secret accusations and torture
- → very common in the middle ages
- → used torture in the past for confessions
- Right to public, speedy and impartial trials (including trial by jury)
- The right to know who the accuser was an the right to cross-examine witnesses
- The right to be informed about decisions of the criminal justice system
- Improve prison conditions
- → Classification of offenders
- → remove corruption from prison systems
Breakout Room (POSSIBLE EXAM Q)
1. Are there any ideas/premises from classical criminology that are present in our Canadian
criminal justice system today?
- Codified laws
- Right to a speedy trial
- Right to a jury
- Right to an impartial judge
- Equality before the law (kinda)
- Classification of offenders
 - → by age, gendre, degree of crime, federal or provincial institutions, etc.
- Idea that a crime is committed by one's own free will (having free will)
- Punishment proportionate to crime (no torture)
- Having legal rights
- → sections 7-12 in Canadian law
2. What are some limitations/shortcomings/issues with the Classical School of Throught?
- bias
- → does not look at the mens reus
- Zero focus on rehabilitation (only deterrence)
- Deterrence may not work as effectively as he thought
- → maybe the reward outweighs risk
- → ppl don't think they will get caught
- → deterrence won't have the same effect on everything
- → not everyone thinks rationally when committing crime
- Case processing often takes very long time (not swift justice)
What is the Neoclassical School?
- A response to Becarria’s sole focus on the actus reus and dismissing of the mens rea
(and equal punishment for all)
- → Takes into account contextual circumstances of the individual or situation
- → Allows for increase or decrease in punishment (won't get the same sentence if this is
their first crime or their tenth even if it's the same crime)

MARXIST THOUGHT AND CONFLICT CRIMINOLOGY

Poll: why is it believed that lower class people are committing more crimes?
- → lower income areas are more heavily policed
- → corruption (hidden from public)
- → harder to convict
- → crimes committed by lower class are usually more visible types of crime
- People are afraid of “violence” which the associate with street crime instead of white
collar crime
What does Lady Liberty represent?
- Blindfold representative of impartial view on crime (crime is blind)
- The sword representative of power and strength of justice and punishment
- Scales representative of equality and weighing of evidence (balance of justice)
Breakout Room
- Is justice blind?
- → yes, there is biases (white collar/corporate crimes, people of colour, minorities in
general all discriminated against in our justice system)
- → specifically, the indegenous population in Canada is very overrepresented in crime
statistics
- Is the criminal justice system fair for all?
- → no, people who are minorities will usually be punished more strongly than minorities
- → people have biases towards certain groups (lower income groups, gender: “boys will
be boys”, minorities, people with power/money)
 - → e.x. Brock Turner (presented in the media as an all american good boy)
- Who is better served by it and who is disadvantaged by it?
- Are there any biases within the CJS (police, courts, corrections)?
- How is our response to crime and deviance relative to social status? Come up with
concrete examples
- → Brock Turner
- → Harvey Weinstein
- → Justin Trudeuas brother (video example)
Other Questions...
- Why are certain groups in society more likely to be targeted/arrested and/or labeled as
“criminals”?
- Why are some groups in society treated differently?
- Who makes the rules and who do they benefit?
Conflict Theory
- Focuses on the structure of society (as the main source of inequality)
- → main causes of crime are the social and economic forces functioning in society
- Society is divided by inequality and based on (an imbalance of) power, coercion and
competition
- → contrast to the consensus theory
- What level of analysis is conflict theory?
- → macro (looking at structure)
- Where did conflict theory come from?
- → Karl Marx
Karl Marx: Personal Context (1818-1883)
- Jewish heritage but converted to Christianity (family changed due to increasing
antisemitism)
- → came to reject all religion
- Marginal social location
- → was not rich, his theories were very controversial as well
- → lived in exile, wandering scholar moving from place to place
- Not concerned with the behaviours of the poor
- → was in the lower class so he didn't blame them for societal problems
Social Context
- Industrial revolution
- → moving to city, income based on factories/manufacturing, rise of capitalism
- Unemployment
- → workers became replaced by factories
- Poverty
- → life was extremely hard during this time (distinguish between the haves and have
nots)
- Capitalism
- → selling labour for products to be sold for product
- → private ownership of capital
- → competition
 - 3 Classes:
- → Bourgeoisie: this controlling the means of production, upper class
- → Proletariat: those selling their labour, working class
- → gains of one, means the loss of the other creating constant conflict
- → Lumpenproletariat: large number of unemployed who were marginalized and
considered “unproductive”
What Causes Crime According to Marx?
- Capitalism makes crime inevitable
- Institutionalized inequality
- → exploitation of workers (horrible condition of working)
- → reserve army of labour (large pool of unemployed who were willing to work meaning
people who had jobs subjected themselves to exploitation because they know they
would be easily replaced) (bourgeoisie used this to their advantage)
- The Proletariat experience leads to crime:
- → feeling of powerlessness
- → poverty
- → alienation
4 Types of Worker Alienation
- Alienated from:
1. The process of production
- → just a cog in the machine
2. The products they produce
- → unable to obtain the products they make (can't afford it)
- → shift from agricultural life before when they had connection their products
3. Fellow workers
- → constant competition
4. themselves
- → no self actualization through meaningful work
- → cannot achieve “species being”

LECTURE #7
(CONTINUED)