Chapter 4 Flashcards
What is crime rate ?
Crime rate is the number of criminal incidents known to the police expressed in terms of the number of people in the population.
( Only includes “founded” crimes )
What is the formula to calculate crime rate ?
of police-reported crimes ÷ population x 100,000
What is the dark figure of crime ?
Crimes committed but are not known to the police or reported.
(Generally half of all crime , except a lot higher for specific crimes like sexual assault that doesn’t get reported a lot)
What does it mean by “founded” ?
Police believes the crime occurred
Does not mean if police charged someone or if it got reported, it only means police actually think it occurred
What does it mean by “unfounded” ?
Police does not believe the crime occurred
Why are crime rate graphs useful for Canada?
Allows us to compare from previous years to compare if a specific crime or overall crime is either decreasing or increasing.
What is the Crime Severity Index ?
Another way to measure if our society is getting safer or more dangerous, compares between seriousness of the offences and how many of those are sentenced.
(Somewhat accurate due to crimes like murder who have a high mandatory sentence compared to smaller crimes but in higher volume like theft.)
How do you calculate the Crime Severity Index (CSI) ?
CSI = #crime x weight
weight - average prison sentence
Why is it said that since more crimes are being reported, that this is a good thing?
Since more crimes are being reported (bringing up our crime rate) it is not necessarily bad because it could mean more crimes are being reported (sex assault, impaired driving,etc) because more people have smartphones nowadays and can call 911 fast.
What are the 4 factors that can affect the crime rate ?
- Report sensitive ( More reports, changing crime rate)
- Policing sensitive ( Police try focusing on a certain crime, more reports will come, crime rate goes up/down)
- Definition sensitive ( Changing crime definitions, stricter laws, more people get caught, crime rate goes up/down)
- Media sensitive ( Media talks about a certain crime, viewers become paranoid and worried and they report more, crime rate goes up/down)
What is telescoping
Victim says it happened a year ago but it actually happened like 5 years ago
What is the crime funnel?
A model indicating that the actual total quantity of crime is much higher than then decreasing proportion that is detected, reported, prosecuted, and punished.
What is a victimless crime ?
Actions that are ruled illegal but do not directly violate or threaten the rights of other individuals.
Example : Underage drinking, illegal smoking weed
What is memory fade ?
The phenomenon whereby a survey participant forgets about a victimization that has taken place.
