Chapter 1 Defining Violence

Question 1

Instrumental Violence

Answer 1

Violence is means to an end. Designed to improve the financial or social position of the criminal.

E.g. Inheritance

Question 2

Expressive Violence

Answer 2

Violence that scents, rage, anger or frustration.

E.g. Sexual Jealously

Question 3

Agression

Answer 3

Behaviour that is physical and/or psychologically harmful.

Page 3

Question 4

Violence

Answer 4

Aggressive and/or harmful physical behaviour.

Page 3

Question 5

Righteous Slaughter

Answer 5

Perpetrators perceive that their violence is in defense of some important value or principle and that the victims are not innocent but, on the contrary, have brought violence upon themselves.

Question 6

Spillover Theory

Answer 6

The theory that violence overlaps into different parts of someone’s life. For example, some suggest that the more society legitimates some kinds of violence (such as in war, capital punishment, and justifiable homicide), the more illegitimate violence (such as robbery and murder) there will be.

Question 7

Brutalization Hypothesis

Answer 7

The argument that capital punishment may actually serve to increase murder rates rather than cause them to decrease.

(Page 5)

Question 8

Instrumental Violence

Answer 8

Violence as a means to an end, such as acts committed during a robbery.

Question 9

Expressive Violence

Answer 9

Motivations for violence are emotional, such as jealousy or anger.

Question 10

Interpersonal Violence

Answer 10

Assaults, rapes, robberies and murders.

Question 11

Institutional Violence

Answer 11

Violent behaviours perpetuated in an organizational setting, such as in the family, in a workplace, in the military, or through a religious organization.

Question 12

Structural Violence

Answer 12

Discriminatory social agreements that can be constructed as violent, such as societal inequalities; examples might include a minority’s access to education, health care, an adequate diet, and other necessities for survival and human development.

Question 13

Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR)

Answer 13

The most widely used source of statistical information about violent crime in the United States.

Question 14

Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR)

Answer 14

Information about homicide victims and offenders (such as race, gender, and relationship) compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Question 15

National Incident-Based Report System (NIBRS)

Answer 15

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s national database of crime implemented to include more characteristics of the incident than previous reporting systems. NIBRS data are more specific than data in the Uniform Crime Reports, and the system include many more offenses that local agencies have to report information on. It includes detailed information on crime incidents, including the characteristics of the victim, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, and resident status. In all, NIBRS categorizes each incident and arrest in one of 22 basic crime categories that span 46 separate offenses. A total of 53 data elements about the victim, property and offender are collected under NIBRS.

Question 16

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)

Answer 16

Statistical division that fielded several surveys to measure national rates of crime victimization; it was replaced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 1980.

Question 17

National Crime Survey (NCS)

Answer 17

A National survey that monitored victimization; it was replaced with the NCVS.

Question 18

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)

Answer 18

The agency responsible for conducting and analyzing a number of sources of data related to crime and victimization.

Question 19

Sample

Answer 19

A subset of elements (people, cities, countries, etc.) from a larger population that contains all of the important elements in which a study is interested.

Question 20

Population

Answer 20

The larger group from which a sample is selected.

Question 21

Random Selection

Answer 21

When elements from a population are selected for inclusion in a sample in a random and unbiases manner.

Question 22

Victimization

Answer 22

For crimes of violence, the number of victimizations is equal to the number of persons present during a particular violent incident; for example, if an offender robs three people leaving a bar, there would be three victimizations in this one incident.

Question 23

Incidents

Answer 23

For crimes of violence, such act is measured as one unit, regardless of the number of victims; for example, if an offender robs three people leaving a bar, there would be one incident but three victimizations.

Question 24

Victimization Rates

Answer 24

The number of people 12 years of age and older who experience a particular type of victimization.

Question 25

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)

Answer 25

A survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to measure intimate partner violence and rape and sexual assault against adult males and females (aged 18 years of age and older).

Question 26

Validity

Answer 26

This issue concerns the extent to which we are actually measuring what we think we are measuring; for example, a question measuring a phenomenon such as stress would be valid if, in fact, it can differentiate between those who have high stress compared to those with low stress.

Question 27

Subcultures of Violence

Answer 27

The idea that members of particular groups or subgroups are prone to violence because of the values and beliefs embedded in their cultures.

Question 28

Culture of Honour

Answer 28

Refers to the belief that some cultures place a high premium on respect and honor and will quickly resort to violence if they feel they have been disrespected or dishonored in some way.