Lecture 1-Foundations for Studying Criminal Behaviour Flashcards
What are the 3 types of crime?
Property, Violent crime, other
Who is involved in crime?
perpetuator, survivor/victim, family/friends, society/public
What 2 factors are strongly linked to criminal behaviour?
Age and sex
Where is the greatest sex disparity?
98%
Where is the least sex disparity?
63%
Difference between parole and probation?
parole; former inmate
probation; no former jail time
Why do most crimes not result in conviction?
-lack of evidence
-cannot prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
-most charges are moved out of the court system/diversionary programs
-system can get overwhelming
What are the 3 way we study crime?
1-Surveys and Statistics
2-Research Methods
3-Identify Variables
For surveys and statistics, what are the 2 kinds of surveys they have?
Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCRS), and General Social Survey (GSS). the first is a police reported crime and the second is victimization survey
Prevalence under official statistics terminology?
-no. of cases during a certain period in time
-prevalence rates are always expressed as proportions or percent
Incidence under official statistics terminology?
-number of new cases over a period of time
-we use this because we are trying to focus on new crimes to see if policy changes are making a difference.
Crime Severity Index
-allows us to capture how serious a crime is
What 2 variables are used to weight crime?
-whether conviction resulted in prison time
-sentence-length
What year was seriousness in crime increasing?
from 2014-2022 but not from 2001
Victimization Surveys
asked how and how frequent you have been victimized. released every 5 years
