Test 2 Pt. 3 (Ch. 5) Flashcards
crime
act or omission of an act for which the state can apply sanctions
criminal law
practice wherein society prohibits
certain acts and prescribes the punishments to be meted
out to violators
civil law
law that deals with noncriminal acts in which on person injures another
recidivism
tendency that former inmate will break
law after release and be arrested again
problems w/ accuracy in crime statistics
police statistics depend on police reports that depend on lvl. and quality of personnel un ab area
-police are assigned to low-income communities in greater numbers
–tendency for records to show higher crime rates for those communities and lower ones for wealthy areas
-Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) only cite people who are apprehended and not those who evade apprehension and prosecution
-self-reporting techniques indicate that rates of criminal activity are more similar among people of different racial or income groups
-National Crime Victimization offers previously unavailable info about crime
–people are least likely to report rape and thefts
types of crime
1) violent personal
-murder, rape, assault, robbery
2) property
-theft, vandalism, check forgery, shoplifting, arson, burglary, auto theft
3) occupational (white-collar)
-embezzlement, fraud, false advertising
-violations of labor laws, insurance fraud
-money laundering, black-market activity
4) corporate
-defrauding employees, falsifying company records
-clandestine enviro. pollution, illegal labor practices
-price-fixing, antitrust violations, bribery of public officials
5) organized
-global crime syndicates, drug trafficking, extortion
-prostitution, human trafficking, gambling
6) public-order
-use of illegal substances, drunkenness
-vagrancy, disorderly conduct, traffic violations
7) hate
-traditional offense lie murder, arson, or vandalism with bias (sexuality, race, religion)
8) gender-based violence
-threats and acts of phys., sexual, or mental harm and suffering to women
–coercion, arbitrary deprivations of liberty in public/private
–intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, forced prostitution
–female genital mutilation, rape, honor killings
–selective malnourishing or infanticide of female children
–sex trafficking, nonconsensual pornography (NCP)
conflict perspective of crime and violence
rebellion by disadvantaged groups or illegal exploitation by rich and powerful
-over-representations and greater surveillance of minorities
functionalist perspective of crime and violence
crime stems from uncertainty about norms of proper conduct
-accompanies rapid social change and disorganization
-Robert K. Merton (1968) anomie theory
–when some members of society accept gains but don’t have access to means of attaining them, their adherence to norms is likely to be weakened
–they may try to attain goals by other, socially unacceptable means
anomie
feeling off being adrift that arises from disparity from goals and means
interactionist perspective of crime and violence
people drift to criminal subcultures and become socialized for criminal careers
-individuals internalize norms that encourage criminality from daily interaction in groups
differential association
theory that suggests that criminal behavior is a result of a learning process that occurs in groups (family, friends, neighborhood peer groups)
-law is defined not as rules to be followed but as a hinderance to be avoided or overcome
subcultural theories of criminality
view criminal behavior as normal learned behavior
Albert K. Cohen (1971)
saw formation of gangs as am effort to alleviate difficulties that gang members encounter at bottom of status ladder
Miller’s 6 “focal concerns” of lower-class culture violate of middle-class norms (2001)
1) trouble
-something to be left out of or something to be gotten into
2) toughness
-emphasis of masculinity, phys. strength,
ability to take it
-coupled w/ rejection of art, lit., and anything else considered feminine
-reaction to female-dominated households and lack of male role models at home and in school
3) smartness
-ability to outwit, dupe, or “con” someone
4) excitement
5) fate
-lower-class citizens feel that major life events are beyond control
-resort to semi-magical sources (readers and advisers)
6) autonomy
-express strong resentment toward any external controls
-exercise of coercive authority over behavior
-seek out restrictive environments
social control
capacity of social group or society to regulate itself according to set of higher moral principles beyond those of self-interest
-informal systems
–gossip, ridicule, advice, shunning to formal processes
–embodied in actions of police, courts, corrections officers, and others who work in criminal-justice system and in related systems like mental-health and juvenile-justice systems
-formal systems
–coercion, punishment > persuasion, reward
