Criminology Flashcards
Criminology
Scientific approach to criminal behaviour
Deviance
Behaviour that departs from social norms, values and beliefs but is not always criminal
Crime
In act deemed as socially harmful or dangerous that is specifically defined, prohibited and punished under criminal law.
Criminal Imagination
This involves trying to think about criminology problems by considering how private troubles connect with public issues.
crime
A violation of societal rules of behaviour as interpreted and expressed by a criminal legal code created by people holding social and political power.
crime typology.
The research on the different types of crime and criminals
Status offences
Acts considered illegal for juveniles because of their minority status ( smoking, drinking alcohol, possession of alcohol, truancy, running away at home)
Mens rea
the concept of “evil mind” or criminal
Refers to one’s ability to understand right from wrong and to understand the consequences of one’s action
Felony
Serious types of offences such as murder armed robbery rape and now the possession of drugs
Punishable for a year or longer in prison or a greater penalty such as capital punishment
Actus Reus
A crime of intentional murder requires both the murder the act with the actor having intended such as consequence to occur in the (required mental state)
Violent personal criminal behaviour
Crimes of murder and manslaughter, assault, and forcible rape
Murder is the unlawful and unjustified killing of a human being( with malice) see actus reus
Robbery
Taking the personal property of the possession of another against his or her will by use of fear or force
Aggravated assault
An unlawful attack by one person on another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. Usually, this involves a weapon.
Terrorism-
Violent acts or the use of the threat of violence to create fear, alarm, dread, or coercion usually against the government
Criminology in Action
is devoted to study of crime and criminal behaviour trained in diverse fields
Carjacking
Auto theft by force or threat of force
Force is an element that differentiates robbery as violent crime.
Reasons: joy riding(youngsters), short-term transportation(youngsters) , long term transportation(older persons), profit by sale ( older persons), commission of other crimes( both)
Arson
The willful and malicious burning of the structure of another with or without the intent to defraud.
Includes: dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle , aircraft, personal property of another
Forgery
Falsely making or altering with the intent to defraud a negotiable and legally enforceable instrument: cheque, passport.
Fencing
Persons who dispose of stolen goods
Embezzlement
Obtaining rightful possession of property with the owner’s consent and subsequently wrongfully depriving the owner of that property.
The misappropriation or misapplication of entrusted to care
Fraud
Falsely representing the facts, either by conduct or by words or writing, in order to induce a person to rely on the misrepresentation and surrender something of value
Cyberstalking
stalking someone by use of a computer
Identity theft
Stealing an individual’s social security or other important information about his or her identity and using that information to commit crimes
Such as removing funds from the victim’s bank account
Rational Choice theory
The view that crime is a decision to violate any law and is made for a variety of reasons, including greed, revenge, need, anger, lust, jealousy, thrill, seeking or vanity
Edgework
The exhilarating, monumentary integration of danger, risk, and skill motivates people to try a variety of dangerous criminal and non-criminal behaviour.
Diffusion
Efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevent another
Crime control efforts in one locale reduce crime in other non-target
Discouragement
When efforts to eliminate one type of crime convince would-be lawbreakers to forgo other criminal activity because crime no longer pays
Displacement
Doing something in one area can place crime in another area
Extinction
crime reduction programs may produce a short-term positive effect and benefits as criminals adjust to new conditions
Encouragement
Crime reduction programs may boomerang and increase rather than decrease the potential for crime
Reciprocal altruism
a people are motivated by believing that their actions will be reciprocated and that their gene survival will be enhanced.
Neurophysiology
the study of brain activity
Electroencephalograph (EEG)
The most important measure of neurophysiological functioning
Attention Deficit
a child shows a developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity
Conduct Disorder
many ADHD children continually engage in aggressive and antisocial behaviour in early childhood and disorders are sustained over the life course
Brain Chemistry
Neurotransmitters are chemical compounds that influence or activate brain functions
Abnormal levels of chemicals lead to aggression
Low supply of enzymes linked to violence and property crime
Arousal Theory
Some people’s brains function differently in response to environmental stimuli.
Sensation seekers
Those seeking out stimulating activities, which may include aggressive, violent behaviour patterns
Psychopathy
a personality condition linked to aggression, impulsivity, and neuroticism
Psychopathology
an example would be schizophrenia
Contagion Effect
the genetic predisposition and early experiences which make some people, including twins, susceptible to deviant behaviour which is transmitted by the presence of antisocial siblings in the household.
Evolutionary theory
some believe that human traits that produce violence and aggression are produced through the long process of human evolution.
- Information Processing Branch
focuses on the way people process, store, encode, retrieve, and manipulate information to make decisions and solve problems.
Insanity in Law
Insanity” is a legal rather than a psychological term.
* For a person to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, they must be found to have a mental disease or defect, and as a result of that defect, demonstrate one of the following
- Social strata
created by unequal distribution of wealth, power and
prestige
Social classes
segments of the population that have similar opinions of things and share attitudes, values, norms and lifestyles
The underclass
A class of poverty passed down from one generation to the next
Apathy
Helplessness
Mistrust of social institutions: schools, government, ageniceis, police
Cut off from scoiety, members lack education and skills to be effectively in demand an this modern society.
transitional Neighborhoods
Poverty-ridden, suffered high rates of population turnover and were incapable of inducing people to stay and defend the neighbourhood against criminals
Concentric zones
The Interzone areas exhibited higher rates of crime ( central city and transitional area)
Concentration effect
When working and middle-class families leave inner city poverty areas it reals in the most disadvantaged population being consolidated in disorganized urban neighborhoods
Relative Deprivation Theory
Lower-class people may feel deprived as they compare their life to the affluent
Frustration increases and the likelihood increases that the people will choose illegitimate life enhancing activities
Affluent may feel deprived if they fail to achieve lofty and unlimited goals
Anomie
An anomie society is one where rules, or norms, have broken down or become inoperative due to rapid social change.
Institutional Anomie Theory
Anomie theory view antisocial behavior as a function of cultural and institutional influences in American society
Status frustration
lower-class youth experience culture conflict because social conditions make them incapable of achieving success legitimately
Criminal Gangs
- in slum areas where close connections between adolescent and adult offenders create an environment for successful criminal enterprise
Conflict Gangs
develop in communities unable to provide either legitimate or illegitimate opportunities. Crime in this area is individualistic, unorganized, petty, poorly paid, and unprotected
Retreatist Gangs
double failures, unable to gain success through legitimate means and unwilling to do so through illegal ones.
Social Learning Theories
Crime is a product of learning the norms, values and behaviours associated with criminal activity.
Differential Reinforcement
Behaviour is reinforced by being either rewarded or punished while interacting with others, also called direct conditioning
Neutralization Theory
View the process of becoming a criminal as a Learning experience, in which potential delinquents and criminals master techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize conventional values and drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior .
- Attachment
a person’s sensitivity to and interest in others.
Commitment
the time, energy, and effort expended in conventional lines of action such as getting an education and saving money for the future.
Involvement
when individuals are involved in school, recreation and fail they are insulated from the lure of criminal behavior.
Belief
Those who live in the same social setting often share common moral beliefs.
Social reaction theory
- Explains how criminal careers are a Common passion for destructive social interactions and encounters.
Crime and Labeling Theory
Crime and deviance are defined by the social audience’s reaction to people and their behaviour and the subsequent effects of had reaction
- they are not defined by the moral content of the illegal act itself,
Differential Enforcement
The law is differentially applied, benching those who hold economic and social power and penalizing the powerless.
Becoming Labeled
the less personal power and fewer resources a person has, the greater the chance he or she will become labeled.
Differential Social Control
The process of labelling may produce an evaluation of the self, which reflects actual or perceived appraisals made by others.
Retrospective Reading
Process of the past of the labeled person being reviewed. and re-evaluated to fit his or her current status.
Primary deviance
involves norm violations or crimes that have very little influence on the actor and can be quickly forgotten.
Secondary deviance
occurs when a deviant event comes to the attention of significant others or social control agents who apply a negative label.
Negative Labels
Negative Labels such as -troublemaker, mentally ill, and stupid - help stigmatize the recipients of these labels and reduce their self-image.
Dramatization of Evil
Negative feedback of law enforcement agencies, parents, friends, teaches, and other figures can amplify the force of the original negative label
Deviance Amplification effect
Deviance or crime can be increased by the social reaction to deviance itself.
Offenders feel isolated from the mainstream of society and become firmly locked within deviant role.
