Ch 1- Intro To Criminal Behavior

Question 1

Status offenses: (Usually juveniles. Ex: Running away, violating curfew, ditching or buying alcohol)

Answer 1

Status offenses
A class of illegal behavior that only persons with certain characteristics or status can commit. Used almost exclusively to refer to the behavior of juveniles. Examples include running away from home, violating curfew, buying alcohol, or skipping school.

Question 2

Intimate partner violence (IPV)

Answer 2

Intimate partner violence (IPV)
Crimes committed against persons by their current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.

Question 3

Antisocial behavior

Answer 3

Antisocial behavior
Clinical term reserved for serious habitual behavior, especially that involving direct harm to others.

Question 4

Definition of crime

Answer 4

Legally, crime is defined as a conduct or failure to act in violation of the law forbidding or commanding it, and for which a range of possible penalties exist upon conviction. Criminal behavior, then, is behavior in violation of the criminal code.

Question 5

Scientific Theory: (Must explain Different Social, Economic, Psychological Variables to criminal behavior)

Answer 5

Scientific theory
A set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena.

A general explanation that encompasses and systematically connects many:
-different social
-economic, and
-psychological variables to criminal behavior,
and it should be:
-supported by well-executed, methodologically sound research.

Question 6

Theory Verification: (Tested through Observation and Analysis)

Answer 6

A process whereby a scientific theory is tested through:
-observation and
-analysis.

If the process falsifies the theory, the theory must be revised to account for the observed events.

Question 7

Falsification (A theory is not verified)

Answer 7

The end result if any proposition of a theory is not verified.

Question 8

Definition of Crime

Answer 8

crime is defined as a conduct or failure to act in violation of the law forbidding or commanding it, and for which a range of possible penalties exist upon conviction. Criminal behavior, then, is behavior in violation of the criminal code.

Question 9

Criminal psychopath

Answer 9

A primary psychopath who engages in repetitive antisocial or criminal behavior.

Question 10

Clearance Rate (Crimes that have been ‘solved through an arrest of at least one person)

Answer 10

The proportion of reported crimes that have been “solved” through the arrest and turning over of at least one person for prosecution. Crimes also may be cleared through exceptional means such as the death of the person about to be arrested.

Question 11

Conformity perspective (Humans try to do the ‘right thing’)

Answer 11

The theoretical position that humans are born basically good and generally try to do the right and just thing.

Question 12

Criminology

Answer 12

The multidisciplinary study of crime.

Question 13

Dark figure

Answer 13

The number of crimes that go unreported in official crime data reports.

Question 14

Deterrence Theory
(People avoid committing crime because they are afraid of the punishment)

Answer 14

Modern version of classical theory, it proposes that people will avoid committing crime if the possibility of punishment is great enough.

Question 15

Developmental approach: (Influences & changes of the person’s lifetime from people who contributed to their antisocial or criminal behavior)

Answer 15

Examines the changes and influences (risk factors) across a person’s lifetime that contribute to the formation of antisocial and criminal behavior or, alternately, that protect individuals with many risk factors in their lives.

Question 16

Differential Association Theory: ( THE PERSON IS INFLUENCED IN A LOT OF ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES BECAUSE OF RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS OR THEIR DEVIANT PEERS!)

(Think of the person’s relationships & friends influencing them. Including deviant peers influence them too)

Answer 16

THE PERSON IS INFLUENCED IN A LOT OF ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES BECAUSE OF RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS OR THEIR DEVIANT PEERS!
Formulated by Sutherland, a theory of crime that states that criminal behavior is primarily due to obtaining values or messages from others, including but not limited to those who engage in crime. The critical factors include with whom a person associates, how early, for how long, how frequently, and how personally meaningful the associations are.

Question 17

Trait (building blocks of personality)

Answer 17

Relatively stable and enduring tendency to behave in a particular way across time and place. Traits are believed by some psychologists to be the basic building blocks of personality.

Question 18

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN: Social Learning Theory & Differential Association Theory

Answer 18

Social learning theory emphasizes such concepts as imitation of models and reinforcements one gains from one’s behavior.

According to differential association theory, criminal behavior is learned, as is all social behavior, through social interactions with other people. It is not the result of emotional disturbance, mental illness, or innate qualities of “goodness” or “badness.”

Question 19

Disposition: (The person’s inner mind of personality, inner conflicts, beliefs, drives, personal needs, traits, or attitudes)

Answer 19

In personality theory, a term that signifies internal or personality determinants of human behavior. Dispositional theorists look to inner conflicts, beliefs, drives, personal needs, traits, or attitudes to explain behavior.

Question 20

Emerging adulthood: (Time between teens and adulthood when they reach psychological maturity associated with adulthood)

Answer 20

Period between adolescence and adulthood when individuals may not have reached the psychological maturity associated by society with adulthood.

Question 21

General Theory of Crime: (Crime & delinquency due to lack in self-control and self-regulation)

Answer 21

Proposes that crime and delinquency can be explained largely by deficits in self-control and self-regulation. Also referred to as self-control theory.

Question 22

Social control theory: (Hirschi said that crime in delinquency is due to lack of ties of conventional order or normative standards. The ties to those are weak or nonexistent)

Answer 22

A theory proposed by Travis Hirschi that contends that crime and delinquency occur when an individual’s ties to the conventional order or normative standards are weak or largely nonexistent

Question 23

Hate Crime Statistics Act: (FBI collected data on hate crimes- racial, ethnic, sexual or religious. Physical and mental disability was also added)

Answer 23

A 1990 federal statute that directs the FBI to collect data on all crimes motivated by hatred of or bias against victims based on their racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual orientation. Other characteristics (e.g., physical or mental disability) were later added.

Question 24

Hierarchy Rule: (In the UCR, the most serious crime is reported for statistics. Arson is always included)

Answer 24

In the UCR program, the rule that requires that only the most serious crime in a series be reported in the crime statistics. The exception is arson, which is always reported.

Question 25

Model: (A graphic representation of a theory or concept)

Answer 25

A graphic representation of a theory or a concept.

Question 26

Just-world hypothesis: (These people believe that others get what they deserve. Ex: People believe that a criminal deserves the death penalty because they deserve it. Less empathetic towards others)

Answer 26

The hypothesis that certain attitudes are associated with those who believe the world is just and people get what they deserve. For example, people who believe this way are thought to be in favor of the death penalty and even less sympathetic to some crime victims.

Question 27

Learning perspective: (Humans are born on a clean slate. And they learn from their experiences rather than predispositions)

Answer 27

The theoretical position that humans are born basically neutral and behaviorally a blank slate. What they become as individuals depends on their learning experiences rather than innate predispositions.

Question 28

Monitoring the Future (MTF): (In High School they surgery students to collect data on drugs use and abuse)

Answer 28

A self-report survey administered to high school students nationwide focusing on drug use and abuse.

Question 29

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS): SURVEY OF VICTIMS OF CRIME REPORTED AND NON-REPORTED

Answer 29

A government- sponsored survey of victims of crime, intended to collect data from the victim’s perspective on crimes both reported and not reported to police.

Question 30

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS): FBI COLLECTS THE DATA OF CRIMES & ARRESTS KNOWN TO THE POLICE

Answer 30

The FBI’s system of collecting detailed data from law enforcement agencies on known crimes and arrests.

Question 31

Nonconformist perspective: (The perspective that people will get away with anything they can if society controls weren’t there)

Answer 31

The theoretical perspective that humans will naturally try to get away with anything they can, including illegal conduct, unless social controls are imposed.

Question 32

Positivist Theory: (Theory argues that your past experiences, shape who you are today)

Answer 32

Theory that argues prior experiences or influences determine present behavior.

Question 33

Psychological criminology: (The study of a person’s behavior and mental process of who commits crime)

Answer 33

The branch of criminology that focuses primarily on how individual factors lead to the acquisition and maintenance of criminal and other antisocial behavior.

Question 34

Strain Theory: (Crime committed because of lack of things the person needs and they commit crimes to gain what their goal is) Ex: A woman wants to pay for school, but she cannot afford it. So she becomes a stripper)

Answer 34

A prominent sociological explanation for crime based on Robert Merton’s theory that crime and delinquency occur when there is a perceived discrepancy between the materialistic values and goals cherished and held in high esteem by a society and the availability of the legitimate means for reaching these goals.