Unformatted text preview:

CCJ 4614 Midterm Study Guide1) Epidemiology of Crimea. A descriptive profileb. Emphasizes understanding how often crime occursc. Key trends in crime ratesd. How is crime distributede. Key circumstances and situations that give rise to crime2) What is Crime?a. Public Wongi. A risk to society that has been defined as an act against societyii. Tort: civil action, happened to individualb. Act without a defensec. A criminal act against society as determined by laws i. Violation of criminal laws3) Measurement of Crimea. There are Challenges, nothing that is absoluteb. Victim-unaware they may be a victim/unconscious-forgets incidentsi. Identity theft, burglary, voyeurism (peeping toms)c. Criminals often want to conceal the fact that they’ve committed a crimed. Some victims conceal a crime that occurrede. Some organizations that report crimes have a tendency to give distorted estimates of crime4) Methods of Measurementa. UCRb. NCVSc. Self-Report Datai. Things that are measured by a clearance rate means the offender was arrested5) Accuracy of UCRa. “dark figure of crime”i. Unreported/undocumented crimeb. Citizen must report it to the police and then the police must officially record itc. About 45% of violent crimes are reported to the policed. About 35% property offenses are reportede. If more than one crime occurs, only the most serious crime is reportedf. Not all reported cases are officially recordedi. Political reasonsg. Media often gives an inaccurate depiction6) Uses of UCRa. Homicide, auto-theft, and robberiesb. Geographic comparisonsi. Can be flawedc. 90% of completed auto thefts are reportedd. 70% of completed robberies are reported7) NCVSa. Interviews from a representative sample of about 50k US households each yeari. Ask if any member of household has experienced a completed/attempted victimization (if yes, they ask a series of detailed questions)b. Better estimate of “true” level of crimec. Trends of crime more accuratei. 1st NCVS in 1973d. Characteristics of victims and events are recorded in NCVS8) Limitations of NCVSa. Omits victimless crimes (drugs, gambling)b. Omits crime where victim can’t be interviewed (e.g. homicide)c. Almost no information on offender characteristicsi. If the offender is known to the victim, there is a level of victim bias when talking about certain characteristics of offender/crimed. Doesn’t allow for geographic comparisonse. Survey data9) Self-Report Dataa. Surveys where respondents are asked to report their own involvement in crimei. Items on survey relates to researchers interestb. Samples usually small and not reflective of larger populationsc. No central collection sourced. Uncovers crime not known to policee. Offender data10) Limitations of Self-Report Dataa. No National or State level survey has been doneb. Some “crimes” reported are triviali. A minor crime may be committed and reported and recorded, but the net worthloss is insignificant.ii. So can’t compare minor to major crimes11) Classical School of Criminologya. Cesare Beccaria (1764)i. “Criminal possesses reason and free will. The major reason for his negative behavior communally is his will to commit crime…He is basically no different from the non-offender. He exercises freedom and is capable of choice.”ii. Introduced incarceration (chain gangs, prison isolation) as alternative to death/torture punishments.iii. Harsh punishments = unwillingness to pursue crime1. Deterrent 12) Positive School of Criminologya. Cesar Lombroso (1876)i. “Criminality is determined almost entirely by emotional, environmental, or physical factors that the potential criminal could not control…offenders are different from non-offenders in more ways than merely the ‘will to commit crime.’”ii. Introduced rehabilitation and treatment alternatives1. Juvenile justice system, probation/parole, therapy13) Crime Trendsa. Drastic increase in the 60’s through the early 90’sb. Decrease in last 20 years, but US still leads in violent crimec. Mass violencei. Media has a large influence; gets a lot of coveraged. Demographic/geographic differences: crime more likely to occur in southeastern USe. Gender: males more likely to commit crimef. Age: Juveniles who commit crime age out14) Crime Trendsa. More violent crime in southeastern USb. More crime in metropolitan areasi. Weather, more opportunitiesii. Poverty leveliii. City vs. Rural (isolated community)iv. Becomes culturally acceptablec. Kids who start committing crimes at a younger age, are not as likely to age outd. Public becomes desensitized to certain crimese. Laws change based on society15) Deviancya. Violating expected rules or normsi. More than nonconformity, it is behavior that departs significantly from social expectationsb. Product and process of social interactioni. Occurs only in society: an isolated person cannot be deviantc. Definition varies-not all behaviors defined similarly among groupsi. Over time: Galileo was thought to be deviantii. Between countries: Legal age (i.e., drinking, gambling, etc.)iii. Between states: Prostitution, drug use16) Deviancea. Over time deviancy changesb. Deviancy has to do with society’s expectations and social moralsc. What you do with that value can be deviantd. Deviancy has to do with society’s morals and values17) Deviants vs. Criminalsa. Are all deviants criminals?i. No, all deviancy is not governed by lawsii. Depends on social contextb. Are all criminals deviants?i. Based on situationii. Look at individual definition of deviance18) Neurosisa. Mental distress, not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality.i. Not listed as a form of mental illness but there are disorders associated with theterm itself1. OCD2. Phobias3. Chronic Anxiety19) Psychosisa. A mental state of losing contact with reality that usually includes: False beliefs about what is taking place or who one is (delusions); seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations)i. Mental illness such as schizophrenia and Bipolar disorderii. Organic such as brain tumors, sleep deprivationiii. Psychoactive drugs like barbiturates, amphetamines, and hallucinogensiv. Not necessarily permanent occurring in both chronically mentally ill and otherwise healthy individuals20) Psychopathologya. A personality disorder consisting of lack of empathy, impulsivity, recklessness, scrupulousness, callousness and lyingb.


View Full Document

FSU CCJ 4614 - Midterm Study Guide

Download Midterm Study Guide
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Midterm Study Guide and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Midterm Study Guide 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?