CCJ 3011 Midterm study guide Criminology an interdisciplinary science that gathers and analyzes data on various aspects of crime and criminal behavior delinquency and general antisocial behavior o Criminology is different from criminal justice o Criminology is the why behind crime wanting to know why those individuals committed crimes o Criminology is a scientific endeavor It uses theory and various methods to arrive at the truth Relies upon the scientific method to answer our questions Criminal justice is concerned with how the criminal justice system investigates prosecutes and controls supervises individuals who have committed a crime Crime is an act in violation of a criminal law for which punishment is prescribed o Crime is identifiable specifically prohibited and punished o Anything that is against the law is technically a crime o You must have intended to do so for it to be considered a crime o Has to be done so without legally acceptable defense or justification Crime has direct and indirect costs o Direct costs Costs of running criminal justice system added to those associated with each crime avg cost per incident multiplied by the number of incidents as reported to the police also direct costs for victims o Indirect costs These are considered to be costs of burden They include all manner of surveillance and security devices protective devices and insurance costs medical services and the productivity and tax loss of incarcerated individuals Categories of harm Mala in Se vs Mala Prohibita o Mala in se Acts that are universally condemned and viewed as inherently bad With these crimes there exists a CONSENSUS about the SEVERITY of these crimes Ex Murder assault rape theft o Mala prohibita Acts that are bad because they are prohibited these crimes are time and culture bound These crimes are likely to be focus of moral agendas campaigns Ex Prostitution drug possession Function of crime normalcy o Normality of crime crime serves a function in our society and is a sign of o Criminality is a clinical scientific term rather than a legal one and one that can be defined independently of legal definitions of crime It is a property of individuals who signal the willingness to commit crimes and other harmful acts It is characterized by the general willingness to use and abuse others for personal gain Corpus deliciti o Body of the crime refers to the elements of an act that must be present in order to legally define it as a crime 5 Principles components to that make a crime a crime o Actus reus guilty act Cant be punished for being something can only be punished for the act of doing something o Mens rea guilty mind Refers to whether or not the suspect had a wrongful purpose in mind when carrying out the actus reus o Concurrence o Causation The act actus reus and mental state mens rea concur in the sense that the criminal intention actuates the criminal act Necessity to establish a causal link between the criminal act and the harm suffered Must be proximate o Harm The negative impact a crime has either on the victim or the general values of the community Only necessary for the state to prove actus reus and mens rea to satisfy corpus deliciti The other elements increase likelihood of criminal conviction and are linked to criminal justice processes probable cause arraignment pleaing out proving guilt at trial and sentencing Defining crime o Often our own perceptions experiences knowledge and ideologies come into play when defining what is criminal and if crime is a problem o Several misconceptions or fallacies influence our views on crime and taint or bias us when it comes to thinking about crime Nine fallacies about crime o The dramatic fallacy States that the most publicized offenses are far more dramatic than those commonly found in real life The media are carried away by a horror distortion sequence The murder mix Public view of murder is especially distorted Most murders are the result of a stupid little quarrel thus murder is less a crime than it is an outcome 2 Features of murder o A gun too near and a hospital too far The mass of minor offenses Minor drugs far exceed major drugs and occasional far exceeds regular usage Property crime far exceeds violent crime o The cops and courts fallacy Warns us against overrating the power of criminal justice agencies Police work Courts and punishment o The not me fallacy The illusion that we could never do a crime Denies every illegal act we ever committed or contemplated o The innocent youth fallacy Belief that being young means being innocent TV versions of crime often portray middle aged offenders o The ingenuity fallacy False image of the criminal derived from the media creates this Part of this fallacy stems from the embarrassment of the victim to admit how foolish they were in leaving themselves open to the offender o The organized crime fallacy Tendency to attribute much greater organization to crime conspiracies than they usually are Crime conspiracy three basic principles Act quickly to escape detection and minimize danger from other offenders avoid betrayal Have direct contact with as few co offenders as possible to Work as little as possible to get a lot of money Juvenile street gangs o The agenda fallacy Refers to the fact that many people have an agenda and hope you will assist them Moral agendas Teach and preach morality to people They then do what s right in practice That prevents crime Religious agendas Many religious groups feel that conversion to their faith or values will prevent crime and failure to follow will lead to more crime Social and political agendas Welfare state agenda o The vague boundary fallacy Refers to the tendency to make criminology too subjective A clear definition of crime A crime is an identifiable behavior that an appreciable number of governments has specifically prohibited and formally punished A criminal behavior defined in broad historical terms is not necessarily a statutory crime in all nations or all eras o The random crime fallacy This is pernicious because it eliminates personal responsibility and implies that crime cannot be prevented This is the thought that crime is likely to happen anywhere anytime and to anyone and that it s a matter of time before you will be a victim and a matter of luck when you are not Process of criminal justice system o Arrest preliminary hearing preliminary arraignment the grand jury arraignment trial probation incarceration parole o Preliminary hearing has 2
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