CCJS100 Study Guide Crimes actions that violate laws Mala In se offenses that are just wrong Mala Prohibita offenses that are wrong because of laws Three Goals of Criminal Justice System Doing Justice Controlling Crime Preventing Crime Federalism power divided between a central gov and regional gov Criminal justice system is decentralized Police Court Corrections Exchange a mutual transfer of resources Plea Bargain a defendant plea of guilty to receive a lesser sentence 90 Characteristics Of CJ System Discretion Resource Dependence Sequential Tasks Filtering Adjudication the process of determining whether the defendant is guilty Flow of Decision Making Investigation arrest booking charging initial appearance preliminary hearing grand jury indictment information arraignment trial 10 15 sentencing appeal corrections release Wedding Cake Model Celebrated cases felonies lesser felonies misdemeanors Crime Control Model order as a value Due Process law as a value Disparity a difference between groups that may either be explained by legitimate factors or indicate discrimination Discrimination differential treatment of individuals Explaining Disparity People of color commit more crimes criminal justice system is racially biased America is a racially biased society Violent Crimes Acts against people in which death or physical injury results Acts that threaten property held by individuals or by the state Acts that threaten the general well being of society and challenge accepted Criminal offense committed through opportunities created in a legal business or occupation Gambling drugs and prostitution providing illegal services that are in Involving a willing and private exchange of illegal goods or services that are in strong demand prostitution drugs Act usually done for ideological purposes that constitutes a threat against the Property Crimes Public Order Crimes moral principles Occupational Crime Organized Crime great demand Victimless Crimes Political Crimes state Cyber Crime Offenses that involve the use of one or more computers in order to commit acts against people property public order or morality Overall Decrease in violent crime Dark figure of crime Crimes that are never reported to the police Uniform Crime Reports Annually published summary of crimes reported to the police based on VOLUNTARY reports given to the FBI Hierarchy Rule only reports most serious crimes National Incident Based Reporting System Police describe each offense in the incident gather data describing the offender victim and property Used as a better version of UCR Reports based on individual crimes instead of departments reporting to the FBI National Crime Victimization Surveys Interviews given to the population by Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine the number and types of criminal victimizations Reduced Crime Rate Factors Increased security age decline in use of crack cocaine Victimology Examines the role the victim plays in precipitating a criminal incident and examines the impact of crimes on victims Demographic Factors age gender income affect lifestyle which affects who is victimized African American Teenagers more likely to be victimized Minorities more likely 2 3 of victims are of the same race as the attacker intraracial Most crimes occur with acquaintances Sometimes the victims behavior may have led to the crime through consent provocation enticement risk taking or carelessness with property Classical School Views behavior as stemming from free will demands responsibility and accountability of all perpetrators and stresses the need for punishments severe enough to deter others Neoclassical Criminology Crimes may result from the rational choice of people who have weighed the benefits to be gained from the crime against the costs of being caught and punished Positivist School Views behavior as stemming from social biological and psychological factors Argues that punishment should be tailored to the individual needs of the offender Human behavior is controlled by physical mental and social factors not by free will Biological explanations of crime that emphasize physiological and neurological factors that may cause a person to commit a crime Psychological crime is caused by unconscious forces and drives o Undeveloped urges cannot be controlled o Overdeveloped suffer from guilt and anxiety Sociological criminal behavior is caused by external factors contact with social world race age gender income Social Structure Theories Blame crime on the existence of a powerless lower class that lives with poverty and turns to crime in response Social Process Theories Crime is normal behavior everyone has the potential to become a criminal Learning Theories Criminal behavior is learned Theory of Differential Association People become criminals because they encounter more influences that view criminal behavior as normal and acceptable Criminal behavior occurs when the bonds that tie an individual to society is broken Causes of criminal behavior are not found in the individual but in the social process that labels certain acts as criminal Negative relationships in your life leads to negative emotions which leads to Theories that assume criminal law and the justice system are primarily a means of controlling the lower classes minorities and women View crime as the result of conflict in society such as class conflict Identify factors affecting the start duration nature and end of criminal behavior over the life of an offender Integrated Theories Combine different theories to explain why crime occurs Women less likely to commit crime Legal Responsibility Control Theories Labeling Theories Strain Theory crime Critical Criminology Social Conflict Theories Life Course Theories The accountability of an individual for a crime because of the perpetrators characteristics and the circumstances of the illegal act Law regulating relationships between individuals involves property contracts businesses Civil law Criminal Law Punishing people for damage they have done to society Substantive Criminal Law Defines behavior that is subject to punishment Felonies serious crimes resulting in penalty of prison for more than one year Misdemeanors offenses less serious prison for no more than a year Civil infractions minor offenses resulting in fines Model Penal Code definitions of crimes which help states organize and standardize the criminal statutes Incohate Offenses conduct that is criminal even though the harm the law seeks to
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