Chapter 6: Vocabulary

Question 1

corporate crime

Answer 1

illegal acts committed by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support.

Question 2

crime

Answer 2

behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and/or other negative sanctions.

Question 3

criminal justice system

Answer 3

the local, state, and federal agencies that enforce laws, adjudicate crimes, and treat and rehabilitate criminals.

Question 4

criminology

Answer 4

the systematic study of crime and the criminal justice system, including the police, courts, and prisons.

Question 5

deviance

Answer 5

any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs.

Question 6

differential association theory

Answer 6

the proposition that people have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with persons who are more favorable toward deviance than conformity.

Question 7

illegitimate opportunity structures

Answer 7

circumstances that provide an opportunity for people to acquire through illegitimate activities what they cannot achieve through legitimate channels.

Question 8

Internet crime

Answer 8

illegal acts committed by criminals on the Internet, including FBI-related scams, identity theft, advance fee fraud, nonauction/nondelivery of merchandise, and overpayment fraud.

Question 9

juvenile delinquency

Answer 9

a violation of law or the commission of a status offense by young people.

Question 10

labeling theory

Answer 10

the proposition that deviance is a socially constructed process in which social control agencies designate certain people as deviants and they, in turn, come to accept the label placed upon them and begin to act accordingly.

Question 11

occupational (white-collar) crime

Answer 11

illegal activities committed by people in the course of their employment or financial affairs.

Question 12

organized crime

Answer 12

a business operation that supplies illegal goods and services for profit.

Question 13

political crime

Answer 13

illegal or unethical acts involving the usurpation of power by government officials or illegal/unethical acts perpetrated against the government by outsiders seeking to make a political statement, undermine the government, or overthrow it.

Question 14

primary deviance

Answer 14

the initial act of rule breaking.

Question 15

property crimes

Answer 15

burglary (breaking into private property to commit a serious crime), motor vehicle theft, larceny-theft (theft of property worth $50 or more), and arson.

Question 16

punishment

Answer 16

any action designed to deprive a person of things of value (including liberty) because of some offense the person is thought to have committed.

Question 17

rational choice theory of deviance

Answer 17

the proposition that deviant behavior occurs when a person weighs the costs and benefits of nonconventional or criminal behavior and determines that the benefits will outweigh the risks involved in such an action.

Question 18

secondary deviance

Answer 18

the process that occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior.

Question 19

social bond theory

Answer 19

the proposition that the probability of deviant behavior increases when a person’s ties to society are weakened or broken.

Question 20

social control

Answer 20

systematic practices that social groups develop in order to encourage conformity to norms, rules, and laws and to discourage deviance.

Question 21

strain theory

Answer 21

the proposition that people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they are unable to obtain because they do not have access to culturally approved means of achieving those goals.

Question 22

terrorism

Answer 22

the calculated, unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government, organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious, economic, or social objective.

Question 23

tertiary deviance

Answer 23

deviance that occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant seeks to normalize the behavior by relabeling it as nondeviant.

Question 24

victimless crimes

Answer 24

crimes involving a willing exchange of illegal goods or services among adults.

Question 25

violent crime

Answer 25

actions—murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—involving force or the threat of force against others.