Unit 1 Flashcards by Jamie Williams

What provided the next generation of criminologists with the tools they needed to challenge classical criminology?

Darwin’s Origin of Species

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Criminology is related to __, ___, and ____.

sociology, economics, and political science

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

The science of controlled reproduction to improve hereditary qualities

Eugenics

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

statement of what you expect to find according to predictions from a theory

hypothesis

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Minor offenses, normally subject only to fines

violations

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Statistics do not reveal how many crimes have actually been committed
Several crimes may be committed in one event
Only the most serious offense is included in the UCR and the others go unreported
No differentiation between completed acts and attempted acts
Data suffer from several omissions

Limitations of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

based on the assumption that individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the consequences of their actions.
Concerned with achieving the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people

classical school of criminology

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Laws function to reconcile and to harmonize most of the interests that most of us accept with the least amount of sacrifice

consensus model

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

For the purposes of research, individuals that are under penal supervision are considered to be members of a “______ ______,” and special provisions regarding informed consent and the protection of privacy must be taken when involving them in research.

vulnerable population

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Cesare Lomborso argued that criminals frequently have huge jaws and strong canine teeth, characteristics common to carnivores who tear and devour meat raw. The arm span of criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes, who use their forearms to propel themselves along the ground. An individual born with any five of the stigmata is __ _____ ______. Criminals are a lower form of life.

aborn criminal

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

facts, statistics, and other observable information

empirical data

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

a sample in which each person or thing has an equal chance of being selected (results can be generalized to the larger population)

probability sample

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Any human conduct that violates a criminal law and is subject to punishment

crime

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Characteristics of Crime

Most crimes are committed in large urban areas

More than half of violent crimes take place between 6:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.

Mostly, sexual assaults take place at night

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What is the objective of Criminology?

The development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment or prevention

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

_______ requirement

requires that the criminal act must be accompanied by an equally criminal mind

concurrence

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

_____ argued that real knowledge of social phenomena is based on a positivist approach

Aguste Comte

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Allows us to determine cause and effect.

Control Group

Independent and Dependent Variables

Experiments

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

a sample that researchers rely on for convenience or availability

nonprobability sample

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

One of the most widely used methods is _____ _____, which is a cost-effective method of measuring characteristics of groups

survey research

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Sheldon’s somatotypes:

People with ______ traits tend more than others to be involved in illegal behavior

mesomorph

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Treason, Arson, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Burglary, Manslaughter, and Kidnapping.

felonies

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

____ believed that some people may be considered either insane or criminal

According to the standpoint from which they are looked at

Intelligence tests seemed to provide an objective basis for differentiating criminals from noncriminals (______ determinism)

Maudsley

psychological

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

petty theft, disturbing the peace, simple assault and battery, drunk driving without injury to others, drunkenness in public, various traffic violations, public nuisances

misdemeanors

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

______ reasoned that if prevention was the purpose of punishment, and if punishment became too costly by creating more harm than good, then penalties needed to be set just a bit in excess of the pleasure one might derive from committing a crime, and no higher.

Jeremy Bentham

the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. The process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of laws

criminology

They include data on reported crimes. They provide crime rates. They include the number of offenses cleared by arrest. Not ALL law enforcement agencies in the United States are required to contribute information on crime in their jurisdictions to the FBI for the Uniform Crime Reports.

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

3 typologies of crime

Violent Crimes Murder (1st degree: premeditated; 2nd degree: “crime of passion,” out of anger, provoked by insults/physical abuse; 3rd degree: death from negligence), Homicide Crimes Against Property According to the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), motor vehicle theft is a crime against property White Collar and Corporate Crimes Drug, Alcohol, and Sex Crimes

Include habitual criminals, criminals by passion, and other diverse types

criminoloids

Individuals put all the factors into an equation to decide whether a particular crime is worth committing (Classical school)

felicific calculus

Breakdown of social order as a result of a loss of standards and values

Anomie

severe crimes, subject to punishments of a year or more in prison or to capital punishment.

felonies

The relationship between race and crime

African Americans account for over 38% of all arrests for Index crimes Leading cause of death for young black men is murder

measurements should have ____ and _____

1. Reliability-consistency, 2. validity-accuracy

Burglary Larceny-theft Motor vehicle theft Arson

crimes against property

____ and ____ moved the field of criminology from a philosophical to a scientific perspective

Positivism, evolution

relationship between gender and crime

Males traditionally commit more of aggravated assault crimes than females Arrest ratio - 3 male offenders for every female offender

the set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. The term was introduced by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim

collective conscience

a well-defined group of people or things

population

Systematically collecting data from respondents using… questionnaires - mailed - used during an interview face-to-face interviews telephone interviews a combination of these methods.

surveys

________ proposed a precise pseudomathematical formula for this process, which he called “felicific calculus” to explain how people decide whether to commit a crime or not.

Jeremy Bentham

criminal law expresses the values of the ruling class in a society and the criminal justice system is a means of controlling the classes that have no power.

conflict model

Related body build to behavior

somatype school

group that is representative of the population being studied

sample

a systematic set of principles that explain how two or more phenomena are related

theory

conflict model

criminal law expresses the values of the ruling class in a society and the criminal justice system is a means of controlling the classes that have no power.

certain acts are deemed so threatening to the society’s survival that they are designated crimes. If the vast majority of a group shares this view, we can say the group has acted by consensus.

consensus model

Less-severe crimes, subject to a maximum of one year in jail

misdemeanors

includes only seven offenses. Based on personal reporting. The data reported suffers from the fact that memories may fade over time. Some individual variations in interviewing and recording style occur, resulting in variation in the information recorded.

Limitations of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

2 types of Observations

Participant Observations: the direct participation of the researcher in the activities of the people who are the subjects of the research. Nonparticipant Observations: the researcher collects data without joining in the activity.

`The relationship between age and crime

People age 65 and over account for less than 1% of all arrests. Individuals under 25 account for half of the arrests

behavior that violates social norms, including laws

deviance

characteristics that can change in value under different conditions

variable

examine biographical and autobiographical accounts of individual offenders

case studies

Classical natural law theory such as the theory of _________ focuses on the overlap between natural law moral and legal theories.

Thomas Aquinas

For the purposes of research, groups that are considered a vulnerable population include:

the mentally ill Children those with low social status (individuals that are under penal supervision)

the study of facial features and their relation to human behavior.

Physiognomy

decision whether to arrest someone or even to ignore a matter.

police discretion

________ requirement Every crime, according to tradition, requires _______, a “guilty mind.”

mens rea

Physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of development, before they became fully human

Atavistic stigmata

Asking people to report their own criminal acts in a confidential interview, or on an anonymous questionnaire Demonstrated very high rates of law-violating behavior by seemingly law-abiding people. Almost everyone, at some point in time, has broken a law. This data source suggests that the gender differences in crime may be narrowing Now, more likely to be male offender. Future? Less gender bias?

Self-Report Surveys

researchers are interested in the _____ between variables

relationships

The term _____ was used from the late nineteenth century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind.

feeble-minded

All human actions are calculated in accordance with their likelihood of bringing pleasure or pain

utilitarianism

struggle for power, not consensus | claim that the dominant group has ended the conflicts by imposing its will

conflict model

bumps on the head were indications of psychological propensities.

phrenology

7 ingredients of crime

``` The act requirement The legality requirement The harm requirement The causation requirement The mens rea requirement The concurrence requirement The punishment requirement ```

____ and ____ argued that society was responsible for criminal behavior Criminological research should: Identify factors related to crime and assign to them their proper degree of influence (_______ Determinism)

Quetelet, Guerry sociological

Laws should be used to maintain the social contract Only legislators should create laws Judges should impose punishment only in accordance with the law Judges should not interpret the laws Punishment should be based on the pleasure/pain principle Punishment should be based on the act, not on the actor Punishment should be determined by the crime Punishment should be prompt and effective All people should be treated equally Capital punishment should be abolished Use of torture to gain confessions should be abolished Better to prevent crimes than to punish them

Beccaria's Principles

Historically, many criminal laws were _____. ____ ____ were popular events.

unwritten, public punishments

Exist in government agencies and universities to ensure the protection of human subjects

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Assumes society is a stable entity

consensus model

An investigator introduces a change into a process and makes measurements or observations in order to evaluate the effects of the change

experiments

The conflict theory, suggested by _______, claims society is in a state of perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources. It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity.

Karl Marx

posits that human behavior is determined by forces beyond individual control.

Positivist Criminology

the extent of the relationship between variables

correlation

_____ argued that the "born criminal" was distinguishable by atavistic stigmata

Cesare Lombroso

Because nothing in life, except death, is certain, sociologists talk about ______ rather than ______

correlation, causation Uses the terms "more likely" instead of "causing"

Criminal homicide Forcible rape Robbery Aggravated assault

crimes against the person

Personal and household crimes are more likely to be committed during the ____ months of the year

warmer

systematic collection of respondents' answers to questions asked in questionnaires or interviews

survey research

Crime is a normal part of society and is necessary for a society to progress All societies have crime and sanctions

Durkheim Sociological Determinism

Shledon's somatypes

Endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph

Questionnaires do not represent the range of criminal acts that are committed Self-reports are administered to high school or college students Data obtained do not correspond with some other criterion that measures the same behavior Samples may be biased

limitations of self-report surveys

______ criminologists argued that society can control behavior by making the pain of punishment greater than the pleasure of the criminal gains. The _____ school of criminology posits that human behavior is determined by forces beyond individual control.

Classical, Positivist

Become criminal as a result of change in the brain which interferes with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong

insane criminals

the decline in criminal activities with age

the aging-out phenomenon

_____ _____ are difficult and costly to conduct, and for that reason they are used infrequently

Experimental studies

a scientist that collects information for study and analysis in accordance with the research methods of modern science

criminologist

4 Guidelines for human experimentation

Fully reporting experimental findings Honoring commitments made to respondents Not misleading respondents Protecting respondents’ confidentiality

According to his reasoning, individuals are “human calculators” who put all the factors into an equation in order to decide whether a particular crime is worth committing.

Jeremy Bentham

Major sources of crime information

Uniform Crime Reports National Crime Victimization Survey Self-report surveys

The ancient Greeks and Romans so distrusted ___ ____ that actors portraying evil persons wore ___ _____.

red hair, red wigs

Through the ages, cripples, hunchbacks, people with long hair, and a multitude of others were viewed with suspicion. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, laws indicated that if two people were suspected of a crime, the _____ was the more likely to be guilty.

uglier

In property crimes, the poorest households are almost ___ ___ ____ as those earning $75,000 or more per year to experience property crime (Henslin)

twice as likely

Measure the extent of crime by interviewing individuals about their experiences as victims National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS): Measures the extent of victimization of Part I offenses, except criminal homicide and arson

victimization surveys

_____ requirement requires that the actor achieve the result through his or her own effort

causation