Chapter 1

Question 1

Legal definition of Crime

Answer 1

a violation of a criminal law

Question 2

Crime refers to a wide range of acts that have been defined as…

Answer 2

“wrong” or “anti-social”

Question 3

Two types of offence infractions in Canada:

Answer 3

1. Summary offence: a less serious offence, such as theft under $5000, impersonating a police officer, or taking a motor vehicle without consent.
2. Indictable offence: a serious offence, such as assault, theft over $5000, robbery (with or without gun), or murder

Question 4

Define Conventional Crime

Answer 4

illegal activity committed by individuals or small groups, involving some degree of direct or indirect contact (e.g. robbery, car theft, break and enter)

Question 5

Define Non-Conventional Crime

Answer 5

illegal activity that may not be associated with crime that may not be pursued by the criminal justice system (e.g. organized crime, political crime, cybercrime)

Question 6

Define Deviance

Answer 6

a wide range of behaviours that violate a social norm but are not necessarily by law

Question 7

Define Decriminalization

Answer 7

the reduction or removal of criminal penalties attached to an act without legalizing it

Question 8

What does Crime is Relative mean?

Answer 8

what is defined as a crime can vary with time and location

Question 9

What does Crime is Evolutive mean?

Answer 9

the characteristics of a crime can change, taking different forms over time

Question 10

Consensus crimes

Answer 10

activities that are generally considered very harmful for which there is strong support for sanctioning and controlling them (e.g. homicide)

Question 11

Conflict Crimes

Answer 11

activities that are not universally considered crimes, although they are legally defined as such (e.g. possessing non-medical weed, going to a prostitute)

Question 12

Criminology

Answer 12

interdisciplinary science that studies criminal behaviour, crime prevention, and the punishment and/or rehabilitation of offenders

Question 13

Criminologist

Answer 13

behavioural scientist who specializes in the identification, classification, and description of criminal behaviour

Question 14

The Canadian CJS consists of what three institutions?

Answer 14

police, courts, prison system - all operate under authority of federal and provincial governments

Question 15

Main functions of the CJS are

Answer 15

-investigate criminal offences as defined in the CCC
- lay charges as defined under the CCC
- prosecute the accused in court
- determine guilt or innocence
- sentence guilty
- administer sentences

Question 16

Period of 18th century beliefs

Answer 16

-classical rule of thought: criminals act out of free will
-Beccaria and Bentham argued for penal reform on humanitarian and philosophical principles

Question 17

19th century beliefs

Answer 17

-the term criminology entered discourse
-Topinard and Garofalo studied punishment and the treatment of criminals
-more interested int he reformation of criminal law than causes of crime

Question 18

Early 20th century

Answer 18

-Maurice Parmlee published the first crim textbook
-Sutherland published principles of crim, which reinforced the influence of sociologically oriented positivism on crim

Question 19

Denis Szabo

Answer 19

-founding father of canadian crim
-launched crim program at the montreal uni (1960)

Question 20

John Edwards

Answer 20

established centre for crim at the UofT (1960)

Question 21

Tadeusz Grygier

Answer 21

started the criminology and correctional administration program at the UofO 1967

Question 22

Ezzat Fattah

Answer 22

Established SFU’s criminology program 1975

Question 23

Criminal Statistics: purpose of crime data?

Answer 23

researchers rely on crime data to understand and predict criminal behaviour and to assess the impact of crime prevention or intervention programs

Question 24

Sociology of Law

Answer 24

-concerned with the origins of law and legal though and is closely aligned with critical criminology
-specialists in this area examine how various economic, political, and social forces have influenced the formalization of social control and social order
-the sociology of law is also concerned with exploring the central themes of social order, social conflict, and power relations as they pertain to law

Question 25

Theory Construction: Etiology

Answer 25

-concerned with understanding the causes of crime, its rates and trends, and predicting behaviour, whether of groups or individuals
-there are a variety of criminological theories and theoretical orientations

Question 26

Types of Criminal Behaviour

Answer 26

-the use of crim typologies is a way of trying to understand and organize criminal behaviour
-with advanced in theory an research methodologies, many criminologists believe that different types of crime have different causal explanations
-try to explain why people commit different types of crime

Question 27

Law enforcement, judiciary, and corrections

Answer 27

made up of the three elements that make up the CJS

Question 28

Victimology

Answer 28

-study of the relationships between criminals and their victims
-also includes the scientific study of the relationship between the victim and the CJS
-the system can also make victims of innocent people wrongfully convicted crime

Question 29

Disciplinary Perspectives

Answer 29

virtually every major discipline has contributed something to the study of crime

Question 30

Contribution: Biology

Answer 30

the possibility that certain human traits are biological, or, “hard-wired” or that certain crimes are a function of chemical, genetic, and/or neurological aberrations

Question 31

Contribution: Economics

Answer 31

over the years, many studies have demonstrated links between unemployment, recessions, capitalism, and crime

Question 32

Contribution: Geography and the Environment

Answer 32

-criminologists seeking to predict crime have developed sophisticated models and theories based on a wide range of environmental factors, from barometric pressure and even phases of the moon, to the physical appearance and layout of a business, residence, school, or community
-what is unique about this is that the findings can often be used to proactively prevent crime

Question 33

Contribution: Political Science

Answer 33

political decisions regarding criminal justice have a direct impact on the community at large

Question 34

Contribution: Psychology

Answer 34

-criminologists with an interest in psychology look at differences in personality and mental characteristics between criminals and others
-they focus on how individual criminal behaviour is acquired, evoked, and maintained

Question 35

Contribution: Sociology

Answer 35

-dominant perspective in North America
-interested in culture and social structure. Crime is seen as a social phenomenon

Question 36

Which two schools do the roots of Criminology lie in?

Answer 36

classical and positivist. Criminologists recognize that criminal behaviour is the product of both free will and deterministic forces