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Criminal Justice > Exam 1 > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of crime, in the most general sense?

A

The violoation of the laws of a society (typically to the point of harm) by a person or a group of people.

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2
Q

What is social control?

A

Consists of the rules, customs, and institutions a society uses to inforce comformity to its norms.

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3
Q

What is socialization and why is it important?

A

A process by which individuals learn the norms, values, and behaviors appropriate to their society.

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4
Q

What are the functions of criminal justice as a social control institution?

A

Criminal justice is a social institution that has the mission of controlling crime by detecting, detaining, adjuncting, and punishing and/or rehabilitating people who break the law.

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5
Q

Who is a top law enforcement officer in the county and how are they selected?

A
  • Sheriff
  • Selected by voting
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6
Q

What type of offenses are usually dealt with at county and local courts?

A

Misdemeanors are primarily dealt with at county and local courts.

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7
Q

What type of offenses are usually dealt with at state courts?

A

State-level law enforcement is usually confined to specialized missions

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8
Q

What branch of the criminal justice system is primarily administered at the local level?

A

Local level is law enforcement agencies, usually the police.

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9
Q

What branch of the criminal justice system is primarily administered at the state level?

A

State level is courts accompanying prosecution and defense lawyers. Most states divide their court into multi-county judicial circuits that rule on the state.

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10
Q

What is the policing role of the state?

A

a police body unique to each U.S. state, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations.

Patrolling the highways

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11
Q

What is discretion and its implications?

A
  • The power of a criminal justice official to make decisions on issues within legal guidelines
  • “A good amount of personal philosophy and judgement also goes into deciding what happens to cases. For example, there can be wide disparity in sentencing across jurisdictions or even judges in the same district.”
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12
Q

What is the funnel of criminal justice?

A

The funnel represents how cases move through the criminal jsutice system.

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13
Q

What are the factors that lead to leakage of cases in the funnel of criminal justice?

A
  • Cost - we can not afford to spend the money and resources necassry for a crime-free society
  • Discretion - the power of a criminal justice official to make decisions on issues within legal guidelines
  • Errors - soemtimes cases simply fall though the cracks
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14
Q

Name and explain the major goals of the criminal justice system.

A
  1. Deterence - beyond the offender, the public in general, scaring people away from committing crimes
  2. Incapacitation - in prison, not able to offend
  3. Retribution - pain on the offender, “eye for an eye”, what they deserve
  4. Rehabilitation - help overcome the mistake, adjust, fix skill deficit
  5. Restoration - working with the victim
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15
Q

What other social institutions are involved in crime control and why is criminal justice considered the last resort?

A
  • Most crime control is informal social control. -family, friends, peers, schools, church
  • The number of people in the US and the volume of crime shapes how we do crime control. -funnel of criminal justice
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16
Q

What is street crime and the 3 major types?

A
  • 3 types - small-scale, violent, and property offenses
  • Small-scale, personal offenses such as single victim homicides, rape, robbery, assualt, burglary, and vandalism
  • What usually comes to mind, strangers, interpersonal violence, property crime, caught quickly (usually)
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17
Q

What is white collar crime?

A

A non-violent criminal offense committed by a proffesional during the course of business for gain, often finacial or status. - fraud

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18
Q

What is corporate crime?

A
  • Offenses committed by a corporation’s officers who pursue illegal activity in the corporation’s name.
  • More serious, can be violent or non-violent
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19
Q

What are the victimless crimes?

A
  • Involve consensual behaviors or interactions.
  • Behaviors include: vagrancy, disorderly conduct, and liquor law violations
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20
Q

Are all crimes identified and counted?

A

No- “the dark figure of crime”

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21
Q

Define UCR.

A
  • The Uniform Crime Reports
  • An anual publication by the FBI that uses data by all participating law enforcement agencies to summarize the incident and rate of crimes per 100,000 people
  • The most extensive and useful measurement of serious crime
  • Voluntary
  • Collects data on 98% of the US population
22
Q

UCR - What types of crime are measured in the most general sense. what specific offenses are counted, how, sources of error

A
  • 8 criminal offenses - 4 violent crimes, 4 property crimes
  • Law enforcement agencies voluntarily give data
  • Intentional and unintentional error
23
Q

What is the primary reason for victimization surveys?

A
  • Collects unreported crime
  • Is the primary source of information on criminal vicitmization in the US
24
Q

What is a self-report study of crime?

A

Individuals are asked if they have committed a crime

25
Q

Do public perceptions of crime match the crime data?

A

Typically, the public perception is that crime is much higher than it actually is.

26
Q

What are the major motives for crimes against persons?

A
  • Interpersonal dispute
  • Group violence
  • Political violence
  • Instrumental violence(used to accomplish another criminal act) - organized crime, no personal element
  • Robbery
  • Rape and sexual assault
27
Q

What is a trial by ordeal?

A
  • A method to determine guilt or innocence
  • Usually a physical test
  • Think-witches in Salem
28
Q

What are the key ideas about crime, punishment, social action developed by Classical school of criminology?

A
  • States that people actively choose to engage in crime
  • The punishment should fit the crime
29
Q

What is the approach adopted by Positivist criminology?

A

Looked to science to understand crime. Using the scientific method, looking for patterns, measurements, etc.

30
Q

What are the key outdated and contemporary ideas of biosocial criminology?

A

*there are genes in connection to antisocial behavior
* the “crime gene” - does not exist
* in reality, genes do not determine, but they do shape some behviors

31
Q

How do psychological ideas explain crime (in the most general sense)?

A

They focus on psychological processes and trades.

32
Q

What are the key ideas of psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism?

A
  • Freud and Skinner
  • Psychoanalyism tried to explian the subconscious and internal dialogue
  • Behaviorism stated that stimuli motivates behavior
33
Q

What does differential association theory say about crime?

A

Crime is learned by others

34
Q

What does social control theory focus on?

A

Explores what keeps people from committing crime.
1. Attachment (to law abiding citizens)
2. Commitment (to a good/law abiding future
3. Involvement (in law abiding activites)
4. Beliefs (in law abiding ideas)

34
Q

What is neutralization?

A

People who do crime know it’s bad, have feelings of guilt, look for excuses/explanations for guilt

35
Q

What is the main idea of labeling theory?

A

A perspective that considers recidivism to be a consequense, in part, of the negative labels applied to offenders.

-Being labled as “deviant” and “deliquent”

35
Q

What theories question the view of criminal justice as purely neutral conflict resolution mechanism and frequently see social justice as a legitimate goal?

A

The critical theories-
1. Marxism (those in power make laws to favor themselves)
2. Feminism (crime study and the criminal justice system are male-dominated and male-oriented)
3. Critical Race theory (the criminal justice system targets and oppresses people of color)

35
Q

What does critical race theory focus on?

A

Observes that people of color are over-represented at every decision point of the criminal justice system.

36
Q

What is gender?

A

the socially constructed roles, behaviors, actions, and characteristics that a society considers appropriate for males and females.

37
Q

What does “nullum crimen, nulla poena, sine lege” mean?

A

No crime without the law, only a crime if the law says it is

38
Q

In a democratic society what are the basic precondtitons for law to come into effect? Can the law be applied retroactively? Can new laws (or state laws) violate the Constitution?

A

The law has to be properly enacted by legislature. All laws should be published, uniformly enforced, non-retroactive.

39
Q

How is common law created?

A

Judge made law- based on the decisions of the judiciary instead of being specified by a legislature or constitution

Laws that are based on customs and general principles and that may be used as precedent or for matters not addressed by statute.

Sometimes called unwritten law

40
Q

How is statuatory law created?

A

The type of law that is enacted by legislatures, as opposed to common law.

41
Q

What is a predecent?

A

A prior legal decision used as a basis for deciding a later, similiar case.

42
Q

What is the major difference between civil and criminal law (in terms of
aggrieved party, and in terms of threshold of guilt)?

A

Criminal = crimes, beyond reasonable doubt

Civil = property, 51% (preponderance of evidence)

43
Q

What is the major difference between procedural and substantive law?

A

Procedural = specifies how the criminal justice system is allowed to deal with those who break the law

Substantive = defines what are crimes

44
Q

What is a felony?

A

An offense punishable by a sentence of more than one year in state or federal prison and sometimes by death.

45
Q

What is a misdemeanor?

A

Minor criminal offense punishable by a fine and/or jail time for up to one year.

46
Q

What are the 3 elements of
“corpus delicti?”

A

Mens rea- criminal intent
Actus reus- criminal act
Concurrence- the relationship between ^

47
Q

What are the 6 major defense arguments in a criminal case?

A
  1. My client didn’t do it.

-Affirmative defenses-
2. My client did it, but my client is not responsible because he or she is insane.
3. My client did it but has a good excuse (duress, age, mistake, intoxication).
4. My client did it but has a good reason (self-defense, consent, necessity).
5. My client did it but should be acquitted becuase the police or the prosecuter cheated.
6. My client did it but was influenced by outside sources.

Criminal Justice (3 decks)

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