Crime Flashcards
Crime is a complex phenomena and that is it is a ______ and therefore reliant upon social norms and as a result laws changed to suit the times.
social construct
I once read that crime is a position of privilege, in that the ____ create the laws and oversee their enforcement while also avoiding their impact.
privileged
Along this theme, crime in NZ is clearly correlated to both ____ and ____ and disadvantages the underprivileged.
class and ethnicity
Crime in NZ is disproportionately the domain of the ____ and those of ____ decent, while the European descendant middle and upper classes seem less represented in criminal statistics.
underprivileged and those of Maori decent
There are a number of ____ reasons for this imbalance and responses have been put in place in an attempt to address issues that perpetuate crime in these target groups.
statistically proven
This essay will consider two observations that highlight the ____ of criminal conviction in poorer classes and Maori people respectively, and outline one intervention used to address such.
disproportionality
It is universally accepted that there is a strong correlation between ____; in NZ crime tends to be committed by poor people (Quince, 2007).
poverty and criminal offending
According to one criminologist, Nixon (1990), people break the law because they belong to a ____ where law-breaking occurs.
social group
Theories of ____ state that crime is not simply the result of poverty but due also to the complex interactions of a number of social process, including lawmaking policies and law enforcement practices, among others.
deprivation
This means that certain groups are ____ not just they commit more crime, but because they are subject to over-surveillance.
over-criminalised
In NZ this means that those in a ____ group are not only more susceptible to being drawn into crime for the purpose of survival, betterment or agitation.
low socio-economic
But further, that suburbs of known poverty are assigned more ____ and police are more vigilant and willing to stop those who appear to be of a low socio-economic group thereby creating a higher arrest and conviction rate among these groups.
police
However, this does not necessarily reflect that there is less crime in other socio-economic groups, just that those are not ____ to the same degree.
apprehended
There is also a strong correlation between ____ and rates of offending (Quince, 2007).
ethnicity
In NZ recorded rates of conviction for Maori are ____ times higher than those for non-Maori and there is statistical evidence to show a trend in Maori of serious habitual offending (Fergusson, et al., 2003).
4 to 5
As a result, Maori are ____ in recorded offending, even though Maori represent only 15% of the total population they are 3 times more likely to offend.
overrepresented
This suggests that there is a ____ that further affects Maori specifically.
bias
This is addition to the findings above in which ____ was a factor in criminality; many Maori are of a low socio-economic status.
poverty
While low socio-economic groups are over-policed when you add ethnicity that over-policing ____, with rates of police contact for Maori being 3 times high than for non-Maori.
increases
It was also found that outcomes of criminal convictions showed that Maori received greater and more ____ sentences than non-Maori.
custodial
What is happen to Maori in the criminal justice system is not just related to class and/or offending it is happening because they are ____.
Maori
As a means to address these issues the focus has been placed on ____ rather than punitive justice, to help both the victim and the offender.
restorative justice
Under this system of justice, the victim and the perpetrator are encouraged to meet under supervision and support, with a goal of ____ that may include recognition of offending, reparation and a community based and supported sentence.
conflict resolution
One such method is the ____ that is used in the Youth Justice System.
Family Group Conference
This emphasises ____ decision making, along with supporting and maintaining the family unit.
collective
The offender must also acknowledge the ____ and seek to make reparation.
victim
However, this approach, which is based on ____ teachings and beliefs, relies on a supportive and connected family, and an understanding and respect of commonly held values by the offender.
Maori
Sadly, this is not the case with all offenders or families in the modern ____ era, due to family dissolution and little or no connection with traditional Maori culture.
disconnected
That being said, there is evidence to support the use of such programs with 38% of ____ never reappearing after attending an FGC.
young offenders
This evidence has shown that criminal offending and convictions in NZ are correlated with both ____.
class and ethnicity
Those of a lower ____ are more likely to both commit crime and be apprehend for it.
socio-economic group
They are more likely to be exposed to a law-breaking ____ and more likely to be targeted by police as a result.
social group
Further, those of ____ decent are even more at risk just because they are Maori.
Maori
