Quiz 1 Flashcards
Is there a universal definition of crime?
No
What is a common characteristic of legal definitions of crime?
It is a violation of criminal law
Crime is a ______ concept and a ______ concept
Social constructed and normative
What are the two types of offences
Summary and Indictable
what is a summary offence
less serious offence such as theft under 5000, impersonating a police officer, etc.
what is an indictable offence
serious offence, e.g., murder, assault
conventional crimes
those committed by individuals or small groups in which some degree of direct or indirect contact offucrs
non-conventional crimes
not necessarily pursued by the criminal justice system because they are often committed under cover of official positions and are not usually punished (organized crime, political crime, etc.)
deviance
a wide range of behaviours that violate a social norm but are not necessarily prohibited by law, e.g., butting in line at a supermarket or cutting off another driver
decriminalization
the reductions or removal of criminal penalties to an act without legalizing it
what does it mean by crime is relative
what is defined as crime can vary with time and location
what does it mean that crime is evolutive
the characteristics of a crime can change, taking different forms over time
consensus crimes
activities that are generally considered very harmful for which there is storng support for sanctioning and contorlling them
conflict crimes
activities that are not universally considered crimes, even though they are legally defined as such
social deviations
behaviours considered disreputable in certain social settings and thus regulated
social diversions
minor forms of deviance, such as unconventional dress or use of offensive language, relatively harmless and not subject to regulation
objective of criminology
the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge
what kind of science is criminology
interdisciplinary
what is a criminologist
behaviourist scientist who specializes int eh identification, classification, and description of criminal behaviour
who was Radzinowicz
early advocate of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of criminology
5 functions of the criminal justice system
investigate criminal offences, lay charges, determine guilt or innocence, sentence those found guilty, administer the sentence
what did people think about deviance before the enlightenment
people thought those who were deviant were possessed so they needed to be punished severly and publicly
what does the classical school of thought believe
criminals act out of free will, not possessed but behave in self-interest
issue with classical school of thought?
it was more so philosophy not criminology reform
What did Beccaria and Bentham argue for
penal reform on humanitarian and philosophical principles
What happened in the late 19th century
term criminology entered the scientific discourse
what happened in the early 20th c
Maurice Parmelee published the first criminology textbook. Sutherland published principles of criminology
etiology
study of the origins or causes of a phenomenon
what happens in the subarea of criminal statistics
researchers rely on crime data to understand and predict criminal behaviour and to assess the impact of crime prevention or intervention programs
what is scientific evidence
data that can be repeatedly observed and measured ot test theories for their validity and reliability
What is the sociology of law concerned with
the origins of law and legal thought
What do sociology of law specialists examine
how various economic, political, and social forces have influenced the formalization of social control and social order
What is the study of etiology concerned with in terms of crime
causes of crime, its rates and trends, predicting behaviour, whether its groups or individuals
explain the scientific method
observing criminal behaviour, collecting data, formulating hypotheses, testing their ability to predict similar behaviour
What do typologies do
a way of trying to understand and organize criminal behaviour, different types of crime have different causal explanations
three formal elements of the CJS
police, courts, corrections
what is victimiology
study of the relationships between criminals and their victims as well as the victim and the CJS
What did Hentig posit about victimization
victims contribute to their own victimization through their lifestyle, mannerisms, or other forms of behaviour and expressions
what is the view of the biology perspective
certain human traits are biological or hard-wired or that certain crimes are a function of chemical, genetic, or neurological aberrations
what does the view of economics posit
many studies have demonstrated links between unemployment, economic recession, capitalism, and crime
what does the theory of geography and the environment posit
Criminologists seeking to predict crime have developed sophisticated models and theories based on a wide range of environmental factors, form barometric pressure and even phases of the moon, to the physical appearance and layout of a business, residence, social areas, or community
what does the approach of political science posit
Political decisions regarding criminal justice have a direct impact on the community at large
what does the theory of psychology posit
look at differences in personality and mental characteristics between criminals and others, how individual criminal behaviour is acquired, evoked, and maintained
sociology perspective
the effects of that interaction on human behaviour, as well as the forces (such as values, norms, mores, and laws) that underlie regularities in human behaviour
what does an interdisciplinary approach to criminology attempt to do
take all perspective into account, integrating the competing notions of crime as a product of free will and a product of various external and internal factors
crime rate
number of criminal offences in a category, recording in a fixed ratio like per 100000 people
what is our perspective of crime influenced by
the way we have been socialized, by our individual psychological makeup, and even by such biological factors as diet and environmental conditions
rationalism
the principle that some kinds of knowledge are innate, and others can be acquired through reasoning, independent of experience
Empiricism
the principle that knowledge is acquired only through experience
paradigm shift
a fundamental change in the prevailing model or theoretical orientation. When the prevailing model is overwhelmed by new findings, the discipline experiences a paradigm shift
5 ways of acquiring knowledge on crime
logical reasoning, authority, consensus, observation, past experience
how logical reasoning affects our knowledge on crimq
we form conclusions based on what we believe ot be logical speculation, however, our reasoning may be undermined by such as factors as limited knowledge, our personal biases, and our capacity to ignore contradictions in our thinking
authority and knowledge on crim
when an authority says that something is so, we often accept it as fact, we can use an expert to affirm our belief which lends credit to it. However, we tend to seek out experts who we can identify and views that align with our own
consensus and knowledge on crime
we often rely on the wisdom of our peer group, the people who make up that group are likely to to be people who have come together because they share a common view
observation and knowledge on crime
seeing things for ourselves instead of relying on second-hand information or opinions of others
past experience and crime knowledge
most common support for our suppositions, draw on prior experiences to confirm our assumptions
4 factors that shape public perceptions
personal knowledge, mass media, official state knowledge, theoretical knowledge
how personal knowledge shapes public perceptions
the public has a voice in decisions about the administration of criminal justice, the government in poewr has a vested interest in responding ot the public’s will
net-widening
the process by which the state expands its control over behaviour through changes to sentencing laws and administrative policies
how mass media shapes public perceptions
research suggests that media reporting is not reflective of actual crime relates and media is often responsible for moral panic
Moral panic, who is often accused of causing it
widespread, exaggerated public concern over issues associated with morality, new media have sometimes been accused of causing moral panic by publishing sensationalistic accounts of certain issues
Mass media moral panics
A condition, episode, person or group of person emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests
Tend to involve youth
Youth violence, gangs, drugs, harmful effects of mass media
folk devils
external threats to established values and institutions
claim makers
Individuals who identify those social problems, typically are politicians or media figures how draw attention to an issue
They construct the social problem in a certain way and create the moral panic
conflict theory
a theoretical perspective that views crime as a natural product of a society that promotes competition and, hence, social and economic disparity
left-realism
a theoretical perspective that aims to better understand the implications of crime control policies rather than the causes of crime
limitations of official data
reliability, validity, sampling, random error, systematic error, crime funnel
juristat
a regular publication of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, considered the most authoritative source of criminal justice statistics in Canada
