Unit 2 - Chapter 4 - Violent Crimes - Murders and Robberies

Question 0

Does violent crime burden all groups of people equally? What are differential risks?

Answer 0

Differential risks indicate the odds of an unwanted event taking place for members of a social group

Question 1

What is a cumulative risk with respect to the chances that a person will be harmed by a criminal at least once in their lifetime?

Answer 1

Cumulative risk estimate these odds by projecting current situations into the future

Question 2

What can trend analysis do?

Answer 2

It can determine if a problem is growing or subsiding

Question 3

What are comparative risks?

Answer 3

Comparative risk assesses the relative threats posed by each kind of misfortune to members of their group - for example, the chances of being murdered versus the odds of dying in a car crash for teenagers

Question 4

What is the value of international comparisons?

Answer 4

International comparisons allow us to see if the rate of a particular type of crime is the same as that rate in other countries

Question 5

What is the definition of homicide?

Answer 5

• The killing of one human being by another.
• This does not mean that all homicides are murders. Murder is a socially defined concept, which means that it changes over time.
• Accidents, while homicides are not murders, unless the accident was foreseeable, at which point it is called manslaughter
• Murder is broken down into murder committed with express malice (planned, and hence first-degree murder). A murder committed with the intent to hurt, but not to kill, or with recklessness, or in the “heat of the moment” is second degree murder

Question 6

What are the different kinds of murder?

Answer 6

1. Infanticide - the killing of a newborn by a parent
2. Filicide - the killing of a child by a parent or step-parent
3. Parricide - the killing of parent(s) by a child
4. Domestic or intimate partner - the killing of a spouse/partner by the other
5. Serial - the killing of a number of people one at a time, over time
6. Mass - the killing of a number of people at the same time/place
7. Felony - the killing of someone during the commission of another crime, such as robbery or rape
8. Contract - the killing of someone by another who has been hired to do the job

Question 7

What is a Supplementary Homicide Report?

Answer 7

• Report to be completed by police about each killing in their jurisdiction
• Provides information about age, sex, race, and any information on the accused person

Question 8

What are the statistics connected to murder?

Answer 8

• Men die violently much more frequently than women
• 3/4 of the corpses are of boys and men (79% in 2006)
• 9 out of 10 of the known offenders were teenage boys or men
• When females are killed, the murderers are most often men (92% in 2006)
• When females kill, they tend to kill their children or the men in their lives, they rarely kill other women
• Typical victims are killed in their late teens, twenties, and thirties

Question 9

What weapons are used most often in murder?

Answer 9

• # 1 - Firearms - usually revolver or pistol
• # 2 - Knives

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