criminology unit 1 exam

When a girl under the age of eighteen commits an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult, she is __________ a boy to be reported to the police, arrested, and dealt with in court.

less likely than

Gottfredson and Hirschi contend that white-collar crime is like conventional crime because white-collar crime:

offers immediate benefits to offenders.

Students who committed mass murders during the 1990s were:

overwhelmingly whites.

Punishment is the ___________ of crime.

primary characteristic

(Pre-Enlightenment) Thought punishment would ___________.

purge sin

Pre-Enlightenment thoughts on crime were ___________.

religious

Extent and Costs of Drug Use

-US rate has risen over the past decade -Serious drug problems are more prevalent in lower classes -D.A.R.E. is extremely ineffective -Rate of using illicit drugs has risen in recent years (overall rate) (average rate for teens has dropped)

Consequences of Rape

-Up to 60% of sexual assaults go unreported -Most victims go through two phases of disorganization -Police insensitivity and court bias continue to be issues for rape victims

if we could go back to pre-civilization times, they had not conflict, we are not born in a state of conflict, modern society causes conflict

"Noble Savage"

proposed that humans natural state is conflict, we needed to give up rights to the state or government to quell what would otherwise be madness, anarchy, and war, give up freedoms for a degree of peace

"State of War"

Weaknesses of NCVS

-"Victimless" crimes (drug dealing, prostitution, gambling) are not revealed. -Does not include crimes committed against commercial establishments. -Victimization data do not have to meet any stringent legal or evidentiary standards. -Memory lapses, giving satisfactory answers, forgetting, embellishing an incident, other misunderstandings, and lies occur. -Many anomalies between NCVS data and UCR data.

Burglary

-42% of burglaries committed by acquaintance or family member -65% of violent burglary offenders knew victims -Opportunistic thieves: minimize risk -Professionals: focused on size of score -Offenders usually know victims

Fact #3: Delinquent Peers

-Almost all studies find correlation between individual delinquency and delinquent peers -See: Glueck and Glueck (1950) Two Possible Explanations -Social Learning/Influence: "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas" -Homophily: "Birds of a feather flock together"

Factors that contributed to the great crime decline.

-An increase in the incarceration of offenders -The booming economy and low unemployment rates of the 1990s -Changes in illegal drug use and the drug trade -Fewer people in the crime-prone age groups -More effective strategies of policing -More gang-intervention programs -An increase in the proportion of immigrants in the population

Part I Property Offenses

-Burglary -Larceny/theft -Motor vehicle theft -Arson

Types of white collar crime.

-Crimes by businesses -Crimes by employees against businesses -Crimes by governmental employees -Crimes by professionals

Part I Violent Offenses

-Criminal homicide -Malice of forethought -Rape -Aggravated assault -Human trafficking for commercial sex acts -Human trafficking for involuntary servitude

Larceny

-Excludes: -Motor vehicle theft -Embezzlement -Confidence games -Forgery -Majority of thieves don't know victims -Downward trend in recent decades

Characteristics of positivism.

-Focus on conditions that produce crime -Seek to eliminate causes of crime. -Attempt to explain crime by examining past experiences. -Associated with physical sciences. -Seek scientific objectivity. -Gather data, test, and refine theories.

Beccaria argued that humans:

-Have free will -Are rational -Can be manipulated

Fact #1: Gender/Sex.

-In all known societies, males commit the majority of crime - especially violent crime. -Female criminals face gendered divisions.

Tonry (1997) examined cross-national variations in crime rate by race and ethnicity. List his conclusions.

-In every country, crime and incarceration rates for members of some minority groups greatly exceed those for the majority population.... -Minority groups characterized by high crime and imprisonment rates are also characterized by various indicators of social and economic disadvantage.... -In countries in which research has been conducted on the causes of racial and ethnic disparities in imprisonment, group differences in offending, not invidious bias, appear to be the principal cause.... -Seemingly neutral case processing practices, especially pretrial confinement decisions and sentence reductions for guilty pleas, operate to the systematic disadvantage of members of minority groups.... -Subcultural behaviors and stereotypes sometimes associated with minority group members often work to their disadvantage in contacts with the justice system.

Patterns of Rape

-Largely intraracial -Most common age of victims and offenders -Vast majority of victims are female -Majority of victims know their assailant -18% of females report rape -Especially prevalent among LGBT community -18-25 is the most common age of victimization -30's is the most common age of offender -Most often occurs on weekends -Usually involves drinking or drug use -Most rapists do some planning -Choose vulnerable victims -Looks for places that can be easily entered and are relatively safe -Verbal coercion and nonphysical aggression -Marital rape laws were introduced in the 70's, all states had them by the 90's

Consensus perspective:

-Laws are derived from widespread consensus. -Crime is detrimental to the public interest. -Why do offenders violate the law?

Conflict perspective:

-Laws are intertwined with distribution of power. -Acts that threaten the powerful are criminalized. -How and why are certain acts defined as criminal? -Conflict theorists say that those with power define what crime is.

Beccaria's goals:

-Limit arbitrary punishment -Make penalties proportionate to social harm

Motor Vehicle Theft/Arson

-Majority of motor vehicle theft involves cars -Large number of arsons involves structures -Overall downward trend in recent decades

Beccaria believed that punishment should not be based on:

-Offender intent -Cost to the victim

Hate Crimes

-Offense must be motivated by bias -Race is the most common motivation for hate crimes -Intimidation is the most common type of hate crime -Important hate crime legislation -Hate Crime Statistic Act of 1990 -requires the Attorney General to collect data on crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity

Crime measurement:

-Official Crime Rate -Victimization surveys -Self-report surveys -Stats gathered by police, courts, or prisons

Who is More Likely to Kill?

-Over 90% of murderers in the U.S. are in the "lower" classes -Males killing males -Offenders much more likely to kill acquaintances -Black offenders make up 45% of homicide convictions (mostly intraracial) -Southern region has the highest rate

Recent U.S. Drug Trends

-Overall rise in rate largely driven by marijuana use -Stabilization or slight decline in many illicit drugs -Opioid misuse has doubled in the past decade

Reasons Crime is Not Reported

-People are much less likely to report attempted crime. -People are less likely to report if they are not harmed physically or financially. -Domestic violence is one of the most underreported crimes. -Negative attitudes toward police are NOT associated with crime reporting.

Fact #5: Social/Economic Disadvantage

-Poverty, segregation, unemployment and residential instability seem linked to crime -Focus of many early criminological works One Possible Explanation -"Strain" pressures individuals into crime -Social and economic strains —> crime -The role of "The American Dream?"

Functions of crime:

-Reminds group members of acceptable behaviors. -Draws official attention to conditions that cause crime. -Creates social cohesion.

Assault

-Roughly 32% are injured -Victim-offender relationship can be difficult to determine -Victims fail to report due to: -Fear of retaliation -Embarrassment -Desire to protect family members

Criteria of strong theory:

-Simplicity -Predictive scope -Predictive accuracy -Falsifiability

Rape Statistics

-Spousal rapes: 14.5 % -Male victims: 15% -Stranger offenders: 22% -Injured: 39%

Weaknesses of NIBRS

-Still falls victim to the Dark Figure of Crime -Much lower coverage (37%)

Requirements for Determining Causality:

-Temporal ordering --X must come before Y -Correlation (strong correlation between drug use and crime) -Consider spuriousness (do not want to infer that one variable causes something when it could be something else)

Weakness of the UCR

-The UCR data significantly underrepresent the actual number of criminal events in the United States each year. -Federal crimes are not included. -Crimes committed in the jurisdictions of nonparticipating law enforcement agencies are not included in the data. -Crime data may be falsified by police departments for political reasons. -The UCR even underreports crimes known to the police because of the FBI's hierarchy rule. -Hierarchy rule: A rule requiring the police to report only the most serious offense committed a multiple-offense single incident to the FBI and ignore the others.

Fact #2: Age

-The majority of crimes are committed by adolescents/young adults. -Majority of serious offenders "age out" of crime. -However: there are exceptions to the so-called "age-crime curve"

Robbery & Assault

-Theft of property by threat of force -20-35% of offenders know their victims -33% of victims are injured

Fact #4: Urban vs. Rural

-Urban areas tend to have more crime than rural areas -Crime is often considered an "urban" problem Violent Crime Rates (2009) -The higher the population the higher the rate of crime. One Possible Explanation -Poverty -Dilapidated/overcrowded housing -Transiency -Unemployment -Population heterogeneity

Strengths of NIBRS

-Will include completed and attempted crimes -Specifies if victims of rape are male and female -No hierarchy rule -Lists many more different kinds of assault

Strengths of NCVS

-includes time and place it occurred, perpetrator's use of a weapon, any injuries incurred, and financial loss -includes crimes not reported to police

Criminal excuses examples

-insanity defense -influence of drugs or alcohol -ignorance of the law -entrapment

Criminal justifications examples

-self defense -stand your ground law -defense of duress -defense of necessity

the attempt to seriously injure another, usually with a weapon

Aggravated assault

penetration of a victim without consent (mouth, anus, vagina, etc.)

Current rape definition

The dark (or hidden) figure of crime refers to all of the crimes committed that never come to official attention.

Dark figure of crime

setting things on fire

Arson

breaking and entering onto property with the intent to steal something

Burglary

Use of statistics to chart patterns of crime.

Cartography

Act that violates "historically determined rights of individuals."

Crime

the frequency with which offenders commit crime, or the average number of offenses per offender; it is measured by dividing the number of offenses

Crime incidence

the proportion of a population that commits crime in a given time; it is measured by dividing the number of offenders by the size of the population

Crime prevalence

equal to the offenses divided by the population

Crime rate

denial of criminal intent

Criminal excuses

where you intentionally kill someone

Criminal homicide

____________ plays a role in how severely you are punished.

Criminal intent

law allows action

Criminal justifications

____________ is a crime committed by a minor.

Delinquency

How does fraud differ from larceny?

Fraud is the crime of obtaining money or property by false pretenses. Larceny is the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another.

focuses on the general population.

General deterrence

link pleasure or pain to each criminal act

Hedonistic Calculus

Shaw and McKay applied Burgess's concentric zone model to urban communities. Which areas had the highest crime rates? Which areas had the lowest crime rates?

Highest in the center of the city, in areas characterized by low incomes, dilapidated and overcrowded housing, transiency, unemployment, broken families, and minority groups. Lowest in suburban neighborhood away from the city.

forcing someone to commit commercial sex acts

Human trafficking for commercial sex acts

obtaining someone and forcing them to serve

Human trafficking for involuntary servitude

If an unarmed thief enters a home illegally to steal property, confronts the owner of the home, and physically overpowers the owner to steal property, what is the most serious crime that has been committed?

simple assault

Which is the most important problem associated with the biographical method of criminological research?

Interviewed offenders might not be representative of all offenders.

Which is NOT a characteristic of positivism?

It focuses on theoretical abstraction.

What typically happens to the crime rate as population size increases?

It increases.

stealing

Larceny/theft

requires penetration and force

Legacy rape definition

Social Profile of Drug Users

Less Likely -Age 65 and over -Female -Employed -Region: South More Likely -Ages 18-25 -Male -Unemployed -Region: West -Freedom from parental control -Skipped school -Parents or friends who gave them drugs

Which of the following was NOT offered as a potential explanation for the relationship between individual delinquents and delinquent peers?

Liberation and strain perspectives

List costs associated with criminal violence.

Loss of productivity by incapacitated victims, unemployment compensation paid to victims, fees paid for physical and psychological therapy for victims, and social security payments and funeral expenses associated with murders.

the malicious intention to harm or kill

Malice of forethought

Gendered pathway into crime for men.

Rape, robbery, killing of non-intimates

Think of crime prevalence and incidence. Prevalence times incidence equals:

the crime rate

stealing anything with a motorized vehicle

Motor vehicle theft

___________ is not included on victimization surveys.

Murder

Do college campus crime statistics include data for crime that occurs off-campus?

No

_____________ means the state has a responsibility to work in the best interest of children

Parens patriae

Majority of drug users are employed because the unemployment rate is so low, but:

unemployed people are more LIKELY

Gendered pathway into crime for women.

Prostitution, killing of intimates

focused on a particular individual

Specific deterrence

only illegal because of your status (like age).

Status offense

What is the most common relationship between robbers and their victims? Are they more likely to be strangers, friends, family members, or co-workers?

Strangers

Which of the following statements about marital rape is FALSE?

The criminalization of marital rape in the U.S. began in the 1980s. (began in the 70's)

was believed that if a criminal went under an ordeal that could maim or kill them and they were innocent or truly repentant and God would step in and they wouldn't by harmed

Trial by jury or "ordeal"

The subculture-of-violence theory claims that the South's high homicide rate is a result of:

a distinctive set of norms in the South.

Two exceptions to hierarchy rule:

arson and human trafficking

Beccaria believed that the most important factor to consider when punishing criminals was:

cost to society

(Pre-Enlightenment) Crime was attributed to __________.

demonic possession

Juvenile Justice Act of 1899

differentiated between adult and juvenile offenders, created a court system, it separated juvenile offenders in the prison system, listed probation for juvenile offenders

Property crime trends are ________.

dropping

Functionalists view society and a _____________.

functioning organ

Since 1963, the proportion of all arrested suspects who are females has increased. Most of this increase is a result of the increased proportion of women arrested for:

larceny