Law and Justice: Crime Flashcards
An act or failure to act that violates a law and for which a government has a set penalty
Crime
Where does the Pew Research Center get its data from?
-FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations)
-BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
How and where does the FBI get its data?
The FBI publishes data on crimes that have been reported to the police. They ask for data from police stations across the nation.
What specific types of crimes does the FBI focus on?
Violent and property crimes
What is the downside to the FBI’s data?
-No data on unreported crimes
-Only focus on specific violent and property crimes
How and where does the BJS get its data?
The BJS conducts large annual surveys of the American public, asking if they have been victims of a crime.
What types of crimes does the BJS focus on?
Violent and property crimes
What is the downside to data from the BJS?
It cannot provide data on murder because the victims cannot complete the survey.
Which type of crime is more common in the U.S.?
Property crimes are more common than violent crimes
How have crime rates in the U.S. changed over time?
Dramatic declines in violent and property crime rates since the 1990s (Both BJS and FBI), but murder has gone up
What is the profile of a victim of a crime?
-Male
-Minority groups
-Younger
-Urban
-Lower income
-Rent Homes
What is the profile of a common criminal/offender?
-Male
-Younger
-Minority (Black)
-Lower income
-Probably urban
What percentage of crimes are reported to police, and what percentage of those reported are solved?
Most violent and property crimes are not reported to police, and most of the crimes that are reported are not solved
The number of reported cases that are closed each year (through arrest, etc…)
Clearance rate
Which type of crime has a higher clearance rate?
Violent crimes are cleared much more often than property crimes (45.5% to 17.2%)
What do crimes require?
An act + a guilty state of mind
Reason for performing the act
motive
Violation of a norm, for sociologists a neutral term referring to any act to which people respond negatively
Deviance
Relativity of Deviance
What is deviant to some is not deviant to others
Innovation
Accept cultural goals, reject institutionalized means of achieving that goal
Ritualism
Reject cultural goal, accept institutionalized means of achieving it
Retreatism
Reject cultural goal, reject institutionalized means of achieving it
Rebellion
Reject/replace cultural goal and reject/replace institutionalized means of achieving it
How do sociologists view deviance?
The product/creation of society (placing people in certain circumstances)
Felony
Imprisonment for more than one year
Misdemeanor
Imprisonment for a year or less
Explain the medicalization of deviance
People put a label on people who act differently than them as an easy way to explain their actions
Strict liability
The act itself is criminal, regardless of the knowledge or intent of committing the act
Principal
person who commits the crime
Accomplice
person who helps the principal commit the act
Accessory before the fact
one who orders a crime or helps the principal commit a crime, but does not perform the act itself
Accessory after the fact
Help principal cover up the crime, avoid punishment
Arson
The willful and malicious burning of a person’s property
Burglary
The unlawful entry into any building with the intent to commit a crime, usually theft
Embezzlement
Unlawful taking of property by someone to whom it was entrusted
Forgery
A person falsely makes or alters a writing or document with intent to defraud
Fraud
Misrepresenting a fact to get property
Vandalism
Willful destruction or damage to another’s property w/o their consent
How has crime changed in the United States?
Better policing, better technology
Positive sancitons
rewards, positive ways to encourage certain behavior
negative sanctions
jail time, punishments, ways to discourage behaviors
