SOC 368 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Previous Lecture I. Basic MeaningII.Crime is Socially ConstructedIII.Paradigms Outline of Current Lecture I. Secular Law BasicsII. Criminal LawIII. Theory LadenCurrent LectureMeasuring CrimeI. Secular law basicsa. Two main branches: Civil Law vs. Criminal Lawi. Civil Law1. Tort2. Contractii. Criminal Law1. Statutory2. Case: staré decisisCivil- Private matter; no public records, meaning that the cases can’t be continuing since they aren’t public- No possibility of lost liberty- No entry into the criminal justice system- Formal status does not change (it is not lowered as it is for the criminal branch)Criminal- Public affair; possible decrease in credibility and status- The possibility of lost liberty is high, either physically (imprisonment/jail time), as an employee (many jobs do not accept people who have criminal records), student aid (federal aid is often no longer offered), etc.- Entry into the criminal justice system: These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.ability to be incarcerated; cannot be taken out/off the system- This lowers formal statusII. Criminal lawa. Misdemeanor vs Felonyi. Misdemeanor1. less than two years jail time a. localb. can see family more frequently2. less serious crimeii. Felony1. more serious2. greater than one year prison timea. location can be anywhereb. much harder to see family members 3. possibility of death penaltiesb. Actus Reusi. Voluntary act or omission (when there is a duty to act)1. Eg. of action: drinking too much to the point where you behave recklessly and harm another2. Eg. of omission: negligence of securing ones medicine as a parent, resulting in the harm of the child who eats the medicine ii. Must be an act on free willc. Mens Reai. Criminal mind/intentii. For strict liability offenses, no Mens Rea is needed1. Examples of liability offenses in criminal law include statutory rapeand possession of illicit drugsiii. Status offenses also are not necessarily Mens Rea1. Status offenses refer to crimes due to ones position in the social structure (usually age related)iv. Must be an act on free willd. Culpability i. For both Mens Rea and Actus Reus culpability can be used as defense of justification (justifying the act) in the following circumstances1. Duress: facing a serious threat or harm2. Necessity: no other reasonable line of action presents itself (not to be confused with duress)3. Duty: occurs in the line of work (military, police work, “justifiable homicide)ii. These are ways of nullifying Mens ReaIII. Theory Ladena. Means that there are many concepts and theories that shape what is legal; thus it is a sociological issuei. For example, the definition of rape was only recently changed federally toinclude all genders, people who are incapable of giving consent, and a lack of physical resistance from the victimii. This is a relevant example because rather than sticking to the original definition which didn’t include many instances of rape, this allowed for progress in the criminal justice systemiii. The National Crime Victimization Survey is a national survey that goes outto American households to gauge what their responses on frequency of victimization, characteristics and consequences of different crimes; these results help in cases like this, where it was clear that the definition of rapeneeded to be updated due to changing societal issues b. The actual rates of crimes and the crime that goes prosecuted, or even is known to police at all, varies immensely ProsecutionsTrue Rate of Crime (TRC)Crimes Known to Police (CKP)Crimes Cleared by Arrest (CCA)Dark Figure of CrimeSuccessful Prosecutions/convictionsc. The further into the circle that we go, the more data is present, but less representative it isi. TRC: how much crime actually occurs, including the “Dark Figure of Crime” which is everything that goes on without the police knowing about itii. CKP: crime that the police are aware of, which may or may not be prosecutediii. CCA: these are cases where arrests are made, yet not always followed through or able to be convictediv. Prosecutions sometimes lead to convictions when they are successful, and the perpetrator is successfully tried for their