Chapter 2 Flashcards
Robinson v. California
unconstitutional for California to outlaw a condition or status, particularly that of addiction
- in this case, a man get arrested for suspicious marks on arm that police believe to be proof of a narcotic user
white-collar crime
describes the illegal activities of individuals conducting business
crime definition
the violation of a generally accepted set of rules that are backed by the power and authority of the state
natural law
- a fundamental attribute of human societies
- refers to a body of principles and rules imposed on individuals by some extra-human power and is therefore considered to be uniquely fitting for and binding on any community of rational beings
- there really isn’t a singular and true of what is right and wrong
true or false: there exists the idea that people and groups create crime by making rules
true
deviance
a concept that is considerably broader than crime
- it assumes that people and socieities create rules in response to behavior they perceive to be harmful to the larger group
crime and moral crusades
- reformer/crusader views certain elements in society as unconditionally evil and feels that rules must be made to correct and remove such wickedness
- crusader’s role brings the deviant behavior to public attention and later the designated rule creators and enforcers
not all deviant behavior is criminal and not all criminal behavior is deviant
true
Paul W. Tappan’s definition of crime
an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law (statutory and case law), committed without defense or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor
conspiracy
concert in criminal pupose, and it must involve two or more people
abettor
one who, with the requisite criminal intent, encourages, promotes, instigates, or stands by to assist the perpetrator of a crime
accessory before the fact
an individual who abets a crime but is not present when the crime is committed
accessory after the fact
knowing that a felony has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the perpetrator to hinder apprehension or conviction
mens rea
- a blameworthy mind
- based on the concept that people have the capacity to control their behavior and to choose between alternative courses of conduct
criminal intent
suggests that the person is aware of what is right and wrong under the law and intends to violate the law
specific intent
present when the circumstances of the crime show that the offender must have consciously desired the prohibited result
general intent
conscious wrongdoing from which a prohibited result follows, even in the absence of a desire for that particular result
vicariously liability
liability can be imposed on an employwer for certain illegal acts committed by employess during the course and scope of their employment.
- generally directed at the protection of public health
criminal law
the branch of jurisprudence that deals with offenses committed against the safety and order of the state
civil law
body of principles that determines private rights and liabilities
- structured to keep the balance of rights between individuals or organizations
statutory law
laws or statutes enacted by legislatures
- each state has a statutory criminal code, as does the federal government
case law
law that results from court interpretations of statutory law or from court decisions in cases in which rules have not been fully codified or have been found to be vague or in error
common law
customs, traditions, judicial decisions, and other material that guide courts in decision-making but that have not been enacted by legislatures or are embodied in the Constitution (declaration of independence: life, liberty, property)
defense
broad term that can refer to any number of situations that would mitigate legal guilt in a criminal offense
- most common: insanity, mistake of fact, mistake of law, duress
insanity
refers to any unsoundness of mind, madness, mental alienation, or want of reason, memory, and intelligence that prevents an individual from comprehending the nature and consequences of his or her acts or from distinguishing between right and wrong conduct
M’Naghten Rule
- the “right-or-wrong” test of criminal responsibility
- if he did not know the nature and quality of the act or did know what he was doing but did not know that it was wrong, he is not responsible
- criticized for being arbitrary
Durham Rule
- expanded on M’Naghten Rule
- an accused person is not criminally responsible if he or she suffers from a diseased or defective mental condition at the time the unlawful act is committed
- rule was overturned in 1972
mistake of fact
any erroneous understanding of fact or circumstance resulting in some act that would not otherwise have been undertaken
- occurs when person commits prohibited act in good faith and with a reasonable belief that certain facts are correct, which, if they were correct, would have made the act innocent
mistake of law
any lack of knowledge or acquaintance with the law of the lawn insofar as they apply to the act, relation, duty, or matter under consideration
- really only applicable if law in question has not been made reasonably well known
duress
any unlwaful constraints exercised on an individual that force him or her to consent to committing some act that he or she wouldt otherwise have done
- has to be immediate and imposing threat against a person
consent of the victim
any voluntary yielding of will causing the victim to agree to the act of the offending party
entrapment
the inducement of an individual to commit a crime that he or she did not previously contemplate, undertaken for the sole purpose of instituting a criminal prosecution against the person
justification
any just cause or excuse for the commission of an act that would otherwise be a crime (self-defense, preventing crime, apprehending offenders)
nullum crimen sine poena (no crime without punishment)
a law must be written, that persons cannot be tried for acts that are not crimes in law, and that persons cannot be punished for acts for which the sate provides no penalty
constitutional law
the apex of the American legal system is constitutional law
- the supreme law of the land
- presents the legal rules and principles that definse the nature and its limits of governmental power
administrative law
a branch of public law that deals with the powers and duties of government agencies
- criminal law can descend from these laws (DEA says weed is illegal and so its implemented within criminal statutes)
biological theories
grounded in the concept of biological determinism, the notion that the causes of crime are the result of some biological or physical element
- criminals are born, not made
sociocultural theories
examine criminality in terms of how it may relate to society and culture
- core idea suggests that an individual’s place within the social and cultural structure determines his or her tendency toward criminal behavior
social and culture structure theories
crime is caused by disorganized and decaying neighborhoods, weak social support, and a lack of economic opportunity
- the social structure rather than the individual is the primary cause of crime
anomie theory
a condition of normative confusion, or “normlessness,” in which the existing rules and values have little impact
general strain theory
centers on the reasons why individuals who feel strain are more likely to commit crimes
- suggests that criminality is the direct result of negative affective states that are produced by negative social relationships
the culture conflict perspective
explains crime as the result of a conflict between the norms, values, and goal orientations of a social or cultural group and the legal codes imposed by an alternative group that has greater power to shape public policy
social and culture learning theories
suggest that crime is learned through deviant norms, values, and behaviors linked with criminal activity
social control theory
assumes that people are rational beings who are motivated to maximize pleasure and minimize pain
- thus people are presumed to behave in ways that will maximize their own personal benefits regardless of deviation or conformity
labeling theory
focuses on why some acts and actors are defined as criminal while others are not
- theorists working within this perspective examine the impact of being identified as an offender and reacted to by the CJS
omission
lack thereof
- an omission of action can still get you detained
