CH. 11. Crime Flashcards
1
Q
Crime as A Social Problem and Racial Profiling
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CRIME AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM – Although it is easy and tempting to think of offenders as “bad people,” many law violators commit crimes because of momentary lapses in judgment or due to adverse life circumstances.
- Crime has long-term social, economic, and physical consequences for:
- The Victim
- The Offender
- The Community (Financial cost and loss of sense of safety)
- This results in a breakdown in “COLLECTIVE EFFACY” – the ability of residents to come together and address problems such as criminal activity.
RACIAL PROFILING – Occurs when police use race or ethnicity as a factor in determining whether a particular individual is suspected of committing a crime.
- How laws are created and enforced have consequences for the perceived legitimacy of the government.
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Some laws adversely affect certain social groups.
- EX: the “War on Drugs,” which prioritized the policing and punishment of possessing crack cocaine (mostly used within poor, largely African American communities) over that of other types, such as powder cocaine (mostly used by middle/upper-class whites).
- That has resulted in a shift in the prison population from 30% minorities in the 1950s to 60% minorities today.
- Research shows that when people dislike the police, people are less likely to help police or even call the police when victimized (which is incredibly stupid since they are only hurting themselves).
- This leads to higher crime rates.
2
Q
Crimes are Socially Defined
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CRIMES ARE SOCIALLY DEFINED – While it exists in all societies, there is no single understanding of crime as a social problem.
NORMATIVE CONSENSUS – Behaviors are illegal because there is agreement among members of society that the behaviors are morally wrong.
NORMATIVE CONFLICT – Says the creation of laws is a way for those in power to maintain their position in society.
- Consider the example of the “War on Drugs”
- That crack (used by blacks) carried a sentence 100 times harsher than that of powdered cocaine (used by whites) is an example of lawmakers choosing to more harshly punish minority groups.
CRIMES – Are social constructions designating specific behaviors that violate society’s norms at a given time, defined by those in power.
- Crimes can be also grouped into two categories: mala in se and mala prohibits:
- MALA IN SE – those that violate the moral conscience and are thought of as wrong in and of themselves.
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MALA PROHIBITS – Acts that may not be inherently evil but are viewed as wrong because they are defined as illegal by those in power.
- Recreational use of marijuana is prohibited in many states, but many individuals who are otherwise law-abiding have no problem using marijuana and may highlight that the adverse consequences of marijuana use are not as injurious as excessive alcohol consumption.
3
Q
Official Crime Measurement
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OFFICIAL CRIME MEASUREMENT– Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provides a national overview of crimes reported to the police through the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) – separates crime into two primary categories:
- VIOLENT CRIMES – homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.
- PROPERTY CRIMES – Burglary, larceny, and arson.
ADVANTAGES OF UCR:
- Standardized reporting.
- Widely Used – 70% of all police agencies report information to the FBI, covering about 95% of the U.S. population.
- Arrests -- reports whether each criminal event resulted in an arrest.
- CLEARANCE RATES – The ARREST RATE, Number of arrests divided by the total number of reported crimes.
DISADVANTAGES TO THE UCR DATA:
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It can’t capture all crimes – Crimes that are unreported are not captured in the data. (no shit)
- Only 50% of all crimes are reported to the police.
- DARK FIGURE OF CRIME – The amount of unreported crime.
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HIERARCHY RULE –In any single crime event law enforcement agencies report only the most serious crime committed.
- EX: An individual robs a convenience store and in the process shoots the clerk, only the shooting will be reported to the FBI.
- The UCR lacks specific information concerning the crime.
- EX: There is no mention of the type of relationship between victim and offender or of the number of offenders involved.
- FBI has attempted to address the problems stemming from the hierarchy rule by phasing out the UCR and replacing it with the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which presumably contains all the missing information.
4
Q
Self-Report Surveys
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SELF-REPORT SURVEYS – The surveys ask you questions and then presume that will give honest answers.
- Used extensively because of and its ability to capture crimes that go unreported to the police, as well as its ability to ask about victimless crimes such as drug use.
- People are more honest with these than with interviews.
- Researchers must trust respondents to accurately and honestly report their own offending behavior, which may be biased.
- Another concern with the self-report method is that much of this research is conducted in middle schools and high schools, and is therefore likely to miss students who have already dropped out of schools—which may include those who are most likely to be delinquent.
5
Q
Victimization Surveys
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VICTIMIZATION SURVEY – a survey that asks about respondents’ experiences being victims of crime.
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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is capable of overcoming the “dark figure of crime” by estimating the annual rate of victimization in the United States (rather than only that which is reported to the police).
- NCVS derives its estimations from individual citizens directly, which can then be compared to official crime trends captured by the UCR.
- Crime trends reported by both sources tend to reflect one another in overall direction but not in magnitude.
- This suggests that both the NCVS and UCR are capable of accurately assessing the extent to which crime is increasing or decreasing over time.
- Crime trends reported by both sources tend to reflect one another in overall direction but not in magnitude.
- NCVS derives its estimations from individual citizens directly, which can then be compared to official crime trends captured by the UCR.
- LIMITATIONS with self-report surveys, respondents may lie about, or not fully understand, their victimization experiences. Second, the NCVS records multiple instances of victimizations as a “series incident.” – meaning a robbery that also includes breaking and entering, assault, and murder – is treated as a single “series incident” rather than a bunch of individual crimes.
6
Q
Philadelphia’s Streets
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PHILADELPHIA’S STREETS Elijah Anderson (1999) – Suggested that the culture of inner-city neighborhoods that appeared as chaos and violence to outsiders, was actually the resident’s way of coping with their situation. They knew what the protocols were and the ways they had to carry on.
- Explained the high rates of violence in mostly black, poor, and violent neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.
- Everyone had to know the rules of the code for self-preservation.
- The appearance of the young men gave the community a bad reputation, which also contributed to the stereotyping and demonizing of young black males.
7
Q
Profiles of Offenders
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PROFILES OF OFFENDERS:
- GENDER: Men are much more likely than women to be arrested for crime.
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RACE: whites make up 78% of the U.S. population, while African Americans make up just 13%.
- And whites account for the most likely offender in nearly all arrest groups in the index crimes. This would be expected given the distribution of whites in the overall population
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However, there are two important exceptions (murder and robbery):
- In both of these categories, blacks make up the mode (most occurring) offenders.
- Given their numbers in the population, blacks are overrepresented in arrest data for many crimes, both as offenders and as victims.
- Most crime is intraracial, meaning that the victim and offender are from the same racial background.
- EX:, from 1980 through 2008, 84% of white victims were killed by whites, while 93% of black victims were killed by blacks
- Most crime is intraracial, meaning that the victim and offender are from the same racial background.
- Given their numbers in the population, blacks are overrepresented in arrest data for many crimes, both as offenders and as victims.
- In both of these categories, blacks make up the mode (most occurring) offenders.
8
Q
Profiles of Victims:
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PROFILES OF VICTIMS:
- There is considerable overlap between the characteristics of offenders and the characteristics of victims.
- EX: African Americans are more likely to be victims of both violent and property crimes than are whites.
- Older people experience fewer violent victimizations than adolescents.
- Since 2010 males and females have reported similar rates of serious violent victimization, with the gap in robbery victimization and aggravated assaults slowly decreasing until 2015, when women reported a slightly higher rate of aggravated assault and serious violent victimization than did men.
- Sexual assaults and rapes, however, are consistently reported at a much higher rate for women.
9
Q
Current Crime Trends
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CURRENT CRIME TRENDS:
- Violent and property crime decreased between 1995 and 2015.
- Crime is substantially lower today than it was when it reached its peak a little over two decades ago.
- Criminologists have had considerable difficulty accounting for this substantial decline in the crime rate.
10
Q
Crime From a Global Perspective
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CRIME FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE – Nations differ substantially in the legal definitions of crimes.
- EX: Haiti, Morocco, and Syria have “HONOR CRIMES” laws that legally justify a man killing his wife or daughter because she offended his honor.
- Nonlethal violent crime rates in the United States are similar to other economically developed countries.
- Lethal (resulting in death) violent crimes are higher in the US though. And that is attributed to the easier access to guns.
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TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES – criminal events not confined within a single border.
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EX: include drug trafficking, cybercrime, and HUMAN TRAFFICKING, a lucrative form of modern-day slavery.
- Human trafficking entails the buying and selling of human beings who are exploited over and over again in an ongoing form of enslavement.
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27 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide.
- A common scheme victimizes young women who are lured by false job prospects to the United States, Japan, and many countries in Western Europe, but on arrival are told they owe large debts for their transportation. They are then enslaved in brothels or forced into street prostitution.
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EX: include drug trafficking, cybercrime, and HUMAN TRAFFICKING, a lucrative form of modern-day slavery.
- TERRORISM – the unlawful use of violence in the pursuit of political aims.
11
Q
The U.S. Criminal justice system and its stakeholders
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The U.S. Criminal justice system and its stakeholders:
STAKEHOLDERS – Everyone who has is affected by the workings of a given system.
- EX: In the criminal justice system, stakeholders include those accused of crimes, victims seeking justice, those who process cases, police, attorneys, and court and correctional staff.
The U.S. criminal justice system attempts to address the social problem of crime. It employs STAKEHOLDERS including police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges – who make decisions about arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing.
12
Q
Police (Stakeholder)
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POLICE – Most visible stakeholders of the criminal justice system.
DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER – police hold limited power and respond to calls only within their own geographic boundaries.
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Decentralization of power has social implications in that enforcement varies from place to place according to the traditions and norms of local communities.
- EX: Police in high-crime neighborhoods might prioritize crimes differently than police in suburban communities and overlook relatively low-level offenses, such as disorderly conduct.
The current era, which began around 1970, has been called the “COMMUNITY POLICING ERA“ because police work has expanded to include more proactive and community-oriented strategies.
- At first, police departments accomplished this goal by taking officers out of patrol cars and putting them on the streets, in schools, and in communities to increase cooperation and trust between private citizens and the police force
- Beginning in the 1970s, many urban police departments began incorporating data-mapping tools that plot the locations of crimes across different parts of a city.
- 6% of clusters, or hot spots, account for half of all crime.
- Police officers can more effectively reduce crime when resources are directed at these hot spots, a policing strategy known as HOT-SPOT POLICING.
- By focusing police resources on such hot spots, cities can prevent further crime.
13
Q
Courts (Stakeholder)
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COURTS – The three major actors of the courts are prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges.
PROSECUTORS – attorneys who prosecute offenders on behalf of the state.
- They begin by reviewing the evidence gathered through the police investigation and determine whether the evidence is convincing enough to proceed through the court process.
- If the prosecutor decides to file charges, there is a PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE, and the prosecution is charged with proving every element of the case BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, a legal standard established in the 1850 case of Commonwealth v. Webster.
- This standard requires a high amount of certainty that the accused committed the acts;
- when there is doubt the verdict must be proclaimed “not guilty.”
- In a small number of cases, defendants will assert AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES, which can include insanity, self-defense, and mistake.
- An affirmative defense is different from mere reliance on the government to meet its burden of proof and often requires an additional showing by the defendant to prove that her defense was truly caused by these things.
- This standard requires a high amount of certainty that the accused committed the acts;
DEFENCE ATTORNEY – An attorney to represent the accused, whose main purpose is to protect the defendant’s rights and guide him or her through the criminal justice process.
- In the United States, any defendant whose crime could result in a jail or prison sentence is entitled to representation by a defense attorney.
- A private defense attorney may be retained and compensated by the accused. If the defendant can’t afford an attorney, they will be appointed a defense attorney free of charge. These attorneys are called Public Defenders.
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PUBLIC DEFENDERS – Court-appointed Defense Attorneys for those who cannot afford to pay for their own legal representation – to defend them during the adjudication process.
- Oftentimes public defenders are dealing with very large caseloads, which raises questions about the quality of the representation these defendants received.
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PUBLIC DEFENDERS – Court-appointed Defense Attorneys for those who cannot afford to pay for their own legal representation – to defend them during the adjudication process.
JUDGES – rule on all matters of law. Judges are also given the right to make sentencing decisions within the confines of the law.
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INDETERMINATE SENTENCING – For many years the goal of the criminal justice system was rehabilitation, and judges had considerable discretion to sentence each offender to a very broad length under the idea that he or she would be released when rehabilitated—a principle known as Indeterminate Sentencing.
- Liberals were concerned over the racial disparities in sentence length.
- Conservatives were primarily concerned with whether rehabilitation is effective or simply “soft on crime.”
- As a result, judicial discretion was replaced by a system of DETERMINATE SENTENCING – in which legislatures determined a narrower length of sentences through SENTENCING GUIDELINES – which set boundaries for how long or how intense a sentence could be for each crime.
- Sentencing guidelines have curbed racial disparities in the criminal sentencing process – somewhat.
- ADJUDICATION – The process of judging, in which a final judicial decision or sentence is made in a criminal case.
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IDEAL COURTROOM PROCESS – Ideally, the court process would be adversarial, whereby:
- the prosecution attempts to receive the best outcome for the state
- and the defense attorney the best outcome for the defendant.
- In reality, however, the court process can better be characterized as involving a COURTROOM WORKGROUP – where the prosecutors and defense attorneys work closely together with the shared goal of efficiency instead of absolute justice.
- This often involves closing cases through PLEA BARGAINING.
- The benefit of this process is that the U.S. courts are bogged down by a heavy backlog of cases, and plea bargains are more efficient than trials.
- While every citizen has a constitutional right to a jury trial, if all persons accused of crimes were actually to claim that right, the court system would be overwhelmed.
- About 95% of all felony convictions in state courts were the results of plea bargains.
- This often involves closing cases through PLEA BARGAINING.
- JURORS – (individuals selected from the general community to serve as the “finder of fact”) will be brought in to identify the evidence they believe to be true beyond a reasonable doubt and render a verdict.
- Traditional courts in the United States operate under an ADJUDICATIVE MODEL OF JUSTICE – where the typical steps in the process are:
- ARRAIGNMENT – (in which charges against the defendant are formally announced.)
- PRETRIAL HEARINGS – (in which discovery of evidence is held to determine the strength of the prosecutor’s case.)
- MOTION HEARINGS – To Dismiss, Go To Trial, To Defer, To Change Venue
- DISPOSITION – (trial, plea bargain, or dismissal).
- Outcomes can depend on a number of factors, both legal and extralegal.
- LEGAL FACTORS – Include characteristics of the case, such as the seriousness of the crime, length of the defendant’s criminal record if any, and sufficiency of evidence.
- EXTRA LEGAL FACTORS – Include characteristics of the defendant, such as gender, race, and socioeconomic status.
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SPECIALIZED COURTS – Rather than using a case efficiency model of justice, specialized courts make problem-solving their primary goal and orient their proceedings toward social justice.
- Many of these courts try to bring about social change for defendants (EX: to end their drug abuse), for the community (EX: to take guns off the street), and for victims (EX: to end the cycle of violence in which they have been trapped).
- EX: Drug courts, which have been found to be effective at reducing substance abuse and crime, work with defendants before their cases are resolved, with the aim of helping them end their drug abuse and assisting them in finding better lives for themselves.
- The participation of private agencies is also a distinguishing feature of specialized courts.
- Many of these courts try to bring about social change for defendants (EX: to end their drug abuse), for the community (EX: to take guns off the street), and for victims (EX: to end the cycle of violence in which they have been trapped).
MATTERS OF LAW: The legal process issues that arise during court proceedings and that are in the exclusive jurisdiction of a judge to resolve. i.e. the Judge rules on how the court process is to proceed.
SENTENCING GUIDELINES: A set of standards that are created to establish consistent sentencing practices within a jurisdiction.
SPECIALIZED COURTS: Problem-solving courts set up within local district courts to deal with social problems affecting the surrounding communities.
14
Q
Corrections (Stakeholder)
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CORRECTIONS – Refers to the guards and administration of jails and prisons.
PROMINENT PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT:
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INCAPACITATION – Loss of individual freedom and liberty.
- In jail, the offender cannot victimize another person in the community.
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REHABILITATION – Helping the offender with the root cause of the criminal behavior in the hope that this will prevent it from happening again.
- This can include educational programs, mental health counseling, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, anger management, and other behavioral therapies.
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RETRIBUTION – The offender is punishment simply for the sake of punishment.
- Communicates to the wrongdoer that criminal behavior is not tolerated.
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DETERRENCE:
- GENERAL DETERRENCE – To stop crime in the first place.
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SPECIFIC DETERRENCE – To stop an offender from offending again (recidivism)
- EX: Strict laws against drunk driving have a general deterrent effect on the public at large, while the experience of losing his or her driver’s license might specifically deter an individual from driving drunk again.
ROBERT MARTINSON – In 1974, criminologist Robert Martinson evaluated the effectiveness of “treatment” programs offered by prisons.
- Martinson’s report was interpreted as concluding that “nothing works.”
- As a result, the “get tough” model of crime control took hold. It calls for longer and increased use of prison sentences and has continued to dominate criminal justice policy in the United States.
- Nevertheless, recidivism (or reoffending) remains high.
- As a result, the “get tough” model of crime control took hold. It calls for longer and increased use of prison sentences and has continued to dominate criminal justice policy in the United States.
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PROBATION – an alternative to incarceration (e.g., prison or jails) and allows a convicted individual to stay in the community under certain conditions such as supervision, counseling, drug-free status, and a clean record.
- If an offender fails to comply, probation can be revoked, resulting in incarceration.
- PAROLE – Parole allows an inmate to leave prison early and finish his or her sentence within the community, also under the supervision and other conditions.
15
Q
Crime From Theoretical Perspectives
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Crime From The Structural Functionist, Symbolic Interactionist, and Conflict Perspectives:
- Theoretical criminologists attempt to discover why people do (or do not) commit crimes.
- FUNCTIONALIST – Some argue that individuals violate social norms because they desire a certain level of economic success but lack the opportunities to achieve it legitimately.
- SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST – Individuals offend because they learn to define criminal conduct as right, warranted, or justified in certain situations.
- CONFLICT THEORY – crime is a product of the conflict that exists within society between the powerful and the working class.
