Criminology Chapter 2

Aging Out

Phase used to express the fact that people commit less crime as they mature.

Racial profiling

Police-initiated action directed at a suspect or group of suspects based solely on race.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

Program that requires local police agencies to provide a brief account of each incident and arrest within 22 crime patterns, including incident, victim, and offender information.

Resource Deprivation

The consequence of a lack of income and other resources, which cumulatively, leads to poverty.

Sampling

In survey research a limited number of people are selected for study as representative of a larger group.

Self-report Survey

A research approach that requires subjects to reveal their own participation in delinquent or criminal acts.

Liberal Feminist Theory

A view of crime that suggests that the social and economic role of women in society controls their crime rates.

Expressive Crimes

Offenses committed not for profit or gain but to vent rage, anger or frustration.

Instrumental Crimes

Offenses designed to improve the financial or social position of the criminal.

Forcible rape

Under common law, the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. In 2012, a new broader definition of rape was implemented: "The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim."

Part II Crimes

All other crimes, aside from the eight Part 1 crimes, included in the UCR arrest data. Part II crimes include drug offenses, sex crimes, and vandalism, among others.

Population

All people who share a particular characteristic, such as all high school students or all police officers.

Aggravated Assault

An unlawful attack by one person upon another, accompanied by the use of a weapon, for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury.

Racial Threat Hypothesis

As the size of the black population increases, the perceived threat to the white population increases, resulting in a greater amount of social control imposed on blacks.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

Large database, compiled by the FBI, of crimes reported and arrests made each year throughout the United States.

Three-Strikes Policies

Laws that require offenders to serve life in prison after they are convicted of a third felony.

Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter

The wilful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.

Part 1 Crimes

The eight most serious offenses included in the UCR: murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, arson, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

The ongoing victimization study conducted jointly by the Justice Department and the U.S. Census Bureau that surveys victims about their experiences with law violation.

Chronic Offenders (Career Criminals)

The small group of persistent offenders who account for a majority of all criminal offenses.

Robbery

The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Motor Vehicle Theft

The theft of a motor vehicle.

Burglary

The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft.

Larceny

The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Early Onset

The view that repeat offenders begin their criminal careers at a very young age.

Masculinity Hypothesis

The view that women who commit crimes have biological and psychological traits similar to those of men.

Arson

The willful or malicious burning of a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle, aircraft, personal property of another or the like.

Ecology of Crime

patterns in the crime rate linked to temporal and ecological factors. Day, season and climate, temperature, & regional differences.