Law and Justice: Crime

Question 1

An act or failure to act that violates a law and for which a government has a set penalty

Answer 1

Crime

Question 2

Where does the Pew Research Center get its data from?

Answer 2

-FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations)
-BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Question 3

How and where does the FBI get its data?

Answer 3

The FBI publishes data on crimes that have been reported to the police. They ask for data from police stations across the nation.

Question 4

What specific types of crimes does the FBI focus on?

Answer 4

Violent and property crimes

Question 5

What is the downside to the FBI’s data?

Answer 5

-No data on unreported crimes
-Only focus on specific violent and property crimes

Question 6

How and where does the BJS get its data?

Answer 6

The BJS conducts large annual surveys of the American public, asking if they have been victims of a crime.

Question 7

What types of crimes does the BJS focus on?

Answer 7

Violent and property crimes

Question 8

What is the downside to data from the BJS?

Answer 8

It cannot provide data on murder because the victims cannot complete the survey.

Question 9

Which type of crime is more common in the U.S.?

Answer 9

Property crimes are more common than violent crimes

Question 10

How have crime rates in the U.S. changed over time?

Answer 10

Dramatic declines in violent and property crime rates since the 1990s (Both BJS and FBI), but murder has gone up

Question 11

What is the profile of a victim of a crime?

Answer 11

-Male
-Minority groups
-Younger
-Urban
-Lower income
-Rent Homes

Question 12

What is the profile of a common criminal/offender?

Answer 12

-Male
-Younger
-Minority (Black)
-Lower income
-Probably urban

Question 13

What percentage of crimes are reported to police, and what percentage of those reported are solved?

Answer 13

Most violent and property crimes are not reported to police, and most of the crimes that are reported are not solved

Question 14

The number of reported cases that are closed each year (through arrest, etc…)

Answer 14

Clearance rate

Question 15

Which type of crime has a higher clearance rate?

Answer 15

Violent crimes are cleared much more often than property crimes (45.5% to 17.2%)

Question 16

What do crimes require?

Answer 16

An act + a guilty state of mind

Question 17

Reason for performing the act

Answer 17

motive

Question 18

Violation of a norm, for sociologists a neutral term referring to any act to which people respond negatively

Answer 18

Deviance

Question 19

Relativity of Deviance

Answer 19

What is deviant to some is not deviant to others

Question 20

Innovation

Answer 20

Accept cultural goals, reject institutionalized means of achieving that goal

Question 21

Ritualism

Answer 21

Reject cultural goal, accept institutionalized means of achieving it

Question 22

Retreatism

Answer 22

Reject cultural goal, reject institutionalized means of achieving it

Question 23

Rebellion

Answer 23

Reject/replace cultural goal and reject/replace institutionalized means of achieving it

Question 24

How do sociologists view deviance?

Answer 24

The product/creation of society (placing people in certain circumstances)

Question 25

Felony

Answer 25

Imprisonment for more than one year

Question 26

Misdemeanor

Answer 26

Imprisonment for a year or less

Question 27

Explain the medicalization of deviance

Answer 27

People put a label on people who act differently than them as an easy way to explain their actions

Question 28

Strict liability

Answer 28

The act itself is criminal, regardless of the knowledge or intent of committing the act

Question 29

Principal

Answer 29

person who commits the crime

Question 30

Accomplice

Answer 30

person who helps the principal commit the act

Question 31

Accessory before the fact

Answer 31

one who orders a crime or helps the principal commit a crime, but does not perform the act itself

Question 32

Accessory after the fact

Answer 32

Help principal cover up the crime, avoid punishment

Question 33

Arson

Answer 33

The willful and malicious burning of a person's property

Question 34

Burglary

Answer 34

The unlawful entry into any building with the intent to commit a crime, usually theft

Question 35

Embezzlement

Answer 35

Unlawful taking of property by someone to whom it was entrusted

Question 36

Forgery

Answer 36

A person falsely makes or alters a writing or document with intent to defraud

Question 37

Fraud

Answer 37

Misrepresenting a fact to get property

Question 38

Vandalism

Answer 38

Willful destruction or damage to another's property w/o their consent

Question 39

How has crime changed in the United States?

Answer 39

Better policing, better technology

Question 40

Positive sancitons

Answer 40

rewards, positive ways to encourage certain behavior

Question 41

negative sanctions

Answer 41

jail time, punishments, ways to discourage behaviors