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CAUSE
Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2011
Cause are features or characteristics which might produce a particular effect (for
exam: features that might cause an individual to commit a crime).
Causal analysis is a positivist approach to criminology. In order for something to
be a cause it must meet three criteria:
- the cause must happen before the effect;
- there must be a correlation between the causal variable and the effect
variable;
- All other possible reasons for the correlation must be entertained and discarded.
Storylines As a Neglected Cause of Crime
Robert Agnew, Emory University
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 43, No. 2, 119-147 (2006) DOI:
10.1177/0022427805280052 © 2006 SAGE Publications
Researchers usually explain individual offending in terms of background factors like low
self-control and association with delinquent peers. Such factors reflect the routine or
typical aspects of the individual's life over an extended period of time and they
influence the individual's predisposition for crime. Researchers also sometimes explain
offending in terms of situational factors, which reflect the features of the situation
immediately before a crime occurs and influence the commission of crime in that situation.
But that temporal level between background and situational factors is largely ignored. The
author refers to this level as "storylines." Storylines begin with some event
that is out of the ordinary, and this event temporarily alters the individual's
characteristics, interactions, and/or settings for interaction inways that increase the
likelihood of crime. This article draws on the qualitative research on crime and the
leading crime theories to identify the major storylines conducive to crime, and it points
to the important role that storylines can play in understanding the causes of crime and in
efforts to control crime.
The Invention of Television as a Cause of Homicide
The Reification of a Spurious Relationship
GARY F. JENSEN, Vanderbilt University
Homicide Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 114-130 (2001) DOI: 10.1177/1088767901005002002.
Among the studies cited by several medical associations as a guide for warning parents
about the pernicious effects of television is Brandon Centerwall's (1992) analysis of the
effect of the invention and distribution of television on homicide rates.
Centerwall claims that the introduction of television substantially increased homicide
rates in the United States and Canada and that they remained relatively stable in South
Africa until the ban on television was lifted. This article reports the results of a
multivariate time-series analysis testing the alternative hypothesis that relationships
involving primary groups are more important for understanding variations in homicide over
time than the spread of television in a society. This hypothesis is supported in all three
societies, with the significant positive effect of television reduced to insignificance
after incorporating marriage-divorce ratios, divorce rates, and other variables. These
findings constitute a serious challenge to Centerwall's thesis but continue to support
traditional sociological perspectives. - hsx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/2/114
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