Chapter 1 Pt. 1 Flashcards
Part 1 of intro to homicide, sex offending, and serial killers
Why are homicide and sex offending are a concern?
they offend the high value we place on human life and personal safety
What is the difference between etiology and epidemiology?
etiology- the causes and risk factors in the onset, persistent, and desistance
epidemiology- the social, spatial, and temporal distribution of these crimes
What are the 3 definitions of crime?
1) normative/moral definitions
2) legal/legalistic definitions
3) labeling/interactionist definitions
A normative/moral definition of crime would suggest that everyone in a society agrees that:
1)
2)
1) murder is wrong and those who commit this act should be punished severly by death or life imprisonment
2) calling someone an “idiot” is not very nice but nearly everyone would agree that it shouldn’t be against the law
Which type of definition of crime is this:
criminal behavior represents conduct that violates public standards of morality
normative/moral definitions
Pre-industrial societies= _____ level of agreement
Highly diverse and industrialized societies=____ level of agreement
high
low
Which type of definition of crime is this:
crime is a violation of legal rules
legal/legalistic definitions
Crime-law-violating behavior that involves a _______ ____ (actus reus), a ______ _____ (mens rea), and __________ (the union of the physical and mental elements)
physical act
mental state
concurrence
Crime-law-violating behavior that involves a physical act (______ ____), a mental state (____ ____), and concurrence (____ _____ __ ____ _______ and _______ ________)
actus reus
mens rea
the union of the physical and mental elements
What are the additional conditions of legal definitions of crime?
1) the act must involve conscious, voluntary, public harm
2) the offender must have criminal intent
3) the law must specify a punishment for any criminal act and the act must be illegal at the time it was committed
What are the different types of criminal intent, from most sever to lease severe?
1) purposefully
2) knowingly
3) recklessly
4) negligently
Which level of criminal intent is this:
done with specific intent
purposefully
Which level of criminal intent is this:
conscious risk taking
recklessly
Which level of criminal intent is this:
unconscious risk taking
negligently
Police departments in the U.S. and other countries use a _____ definition of crime when compiling and counting crime data
legal
______ _________ is the basis of labeling/interactionist definition of crime
Social construction
Which type of definition of crime is this:
assumes that no behavior is inherently criminal (except murder and rape)
labeling/interactionist definition
labeling/interactionist definition is also based off of ________ ______
conflict theory
Which type of definition of crime is this:
those without power are criminalized for doing the same acts that the powerful do
labeling/interactionist definition
What are moral panics?
the seriousness of a specific crime problem may be grossly overstated by police and the mass media to create a panic that mobilizes various resources to fight this problem
Having an accurate measrure of crime is important for what 3 reasons?
1) enables police to allocate resources to fight crime because stats will show the “hot spots” for criminal behavior/risk factors
2) criminologists need an accurate measure of the nature and extent of crime to evaluate the ultility of criminological theories
3) important for citizens to have a reasonable estimate of their risks of criminal victimization
What are the 3 distinct approaches for counting crime and its characteristics?
1) the use of official crime statistics compiled by police departments (UCR)
2) self-report studies
3) surveys of crime victims
What is the most widely used source of crime data in the U.S?
UCR
UCR was created by the ____ in the _____’s
FBI
1930
True or False: UCR data is a voluntary program
true
UCR data covers about ___% of police agencies
95%
Why are police reports on crime not an accurate measure of the extent of crime?
most crimes in the U.S. and other countries are unknown to police
Primary classification used in UCR is divided into _____ ______ (part __ offenses) and the ____-_____ ______ (part __ offenses)
index crimes
I
non-index crimes
II
What type of crimes are under index crimes (part I offenses)?
- violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault)
- property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson)
most of the index crimes known to the police are _________ crimes
property
What is the most prevalent index crime?
larceny-theft
The higher clearance rate for these violent crimes is attributed to what factors?
1) greater pressure on police departments to “solve” homicides and thus, they devote more resources to investigate them
2) most murders and aggravated assaults involve family members and friends/acquantances, making them a easier crime to identify the suspects
3) (due to personal relationship with their victims) offenders of murders and aggravated assaults are more likely to call the police and report these crimes themselves
violent crime rates are generally higher in the _________ and ________ states
southern
western
violent crime rates tend to be higher in geographical areas with ________ population density
higher
True or False: there is little dramatic difference in states and geographical areas when it comes to property crimes
true
Groups more likely to be arrested for both violent and property crimes?
- males
- african-americans
- 18-24 years old
What are some problems with UCR data as an accurate measure of crime?
1) crimes known to the police are not representative of all crimes
2) national coverage problems
3) non-uniform reporting of UCR data aerocs jurisdictions
People don’t report crime to police for what reasons?
1) a feeling that nothing could be done
2) fear of retaliation by the offender for reporting it
3) a belief that it was a “private matter”
4) a belief that the police would not want to be bothered even if the offense was reported
What are the dark figures of crime?
gap between the amount of crimes known to the police and the true extent of crime
Self report surveys are better at addressing that “____ ______ __ _____” gap
dark figure of crime
Self report surveys have been used to examine behaviors like?
- drug and alcohol use
- employee theft and other types of white collar crimes
- domestic violence
- income tax evasion
- sex offending
Self report data shows less demographic differences than ____ data
UCR
the _________ _____ represents the proportion of crimes known to the police that are cleared by arrest of the suspect
clearance rate
most arrests in the U.S. are for ___-_____ crimes
non-index
