Criminal Justice Exam 1 Study Guide Crime Crime an intentional act or omission an act in violation of criminal statutes committed without defense or justification and sanctioned by the state as either a felony or a misdemeanor Law rules of conduct sets out punishments for violations protects the welfare of society body of rules that defines which behaviors are forbidden Provides Criminal Law o Protect us from violations of criminal statutes and rules o The body of rules that defines crimes sets out their punishments and mandates the procedures in carrying out the criminal justice system Unlike civil laws criminal laws are for things like rape murder etc Four factors of Criminal Law that must be present and proven o Actus Reus The Guilty Act The physical act of the crime o Mens Rea o Concurrence o Causation Social Control The mental intent to do the crime Establishes the relationship between the act and the mind they must have the mindset prior to engaging in the behavior Determination of cause in fact or proximate cause eliminating other rival causes linking the harm to cause o To ensure conforming behavior leading individuals to be conforming o Two levels Informal unofficial non organized often face to face avenues to ensure conforming behavior or social control to meet unofficial needs of one individual by another Example expectations within a family baby throwing food at dinner and mom scolds baby conforming to rules at school not cheating on homework because you will get in trouble by your teacher ridicule rumors gestures Formal official often organizational avenues to ensure conforming behavior or social control Examples police criminal justice system is the ultimate agent of formal social control prison term expulsion from school demotion or fired from employment o Three Mechanisms Norms expectations of conduct in an everyday situation basic expectations of conduct classroom behavior taking notes sitting down being quiet etc traffic and driving behavior non criminal violent behavior Sanctions to respond or react to behaviors and actions Two types negative reactions that punish non conforming behavior positive reactions that reward for conforming behavior Laws rules of conduct Can work together formal social control can apply positive sanctions examples schools give high achieving students awards and recognitions employers give employees bonuses Criminology Criminal Justice o The study of CJS agencies describe analyze explain and evaluate Criminal Justice System formal process established to apprehend adjudicate sanction and treat criminal offenders The main agencies and components responsible to enforce criminal laws police courts corrections Types of Crime Violent Crime sep 15th 17th 19th lecture o Homicide define variations and patterns changes over time trends The willful non negligent killing of one human being by another o Victim offender relationships trends o Rape define variations reasons for lack of reporting trends o Robbery care custody or control of a person or persons by force threat of violence by violence or by putting the victim in fear the taking or the attempt to take anything of value from the o Assault define reasons for lack of reporting Property Crime o Define property crime handout o Classification of Property Offenders Occasional Property Offenders 1 Situational they don t do it often 2 Limited no group support usually work alone 3 Limited no skills 4 No criminal identity they can usually explain why they were involved in the behavior they don t consider themselves criminals 5 Limited no contact with the CJS don t have arrest records haven t been incarcerated recently Conventional Property Offenders 1 Non situational 2 Medium group support 3 Criminal technique skill 4 Greatest criminal identity 5 Highest contact with the CJS o Routine Activities Approach to Property Crimes Main Ideas criminal opportunity results when victims and offenders converge in time and space how the criminal is presented with an opportunity to take advantage of the victim aka backpack store car home 3 Factors in Criminal Opportunity suitable target lack of White Collar and Corporate Crime guardianship motivated offender o White Collar Crime a subdivision of occupational crime defined as a violation of the law committed by a person or group of persons in the course of a otherwise respected and legitimate occupation or financial activity or occupational organization a violation of the law committed by the entire firm o Corporate Crime o How do they differ Crime Data Sources UCR Uniform Crime Report o Considered to be the only official source of crime statistics because it comes from the FBI and police departments o Crime stats are collected by branches of the Criminal Justice System police departments and compiled shared by the FBI o Data is accumulated nationally as police officers report calls crimes arrests etc o Strengths shows trends patterns of crime over time provides crime data at different levels o Weaknesses recording practices are inconsistent police departments are inconsistent in how they document crime discretion in arrests reports and in what to record multiple offenses are not recorded only the most serious crime is different police departments and police officers may define a type of crime differently not all jurisdictions report crime stats to the FBI not all crimes are reported to the police NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey o Provides crime estimates of the victimization experiences that occur in the entire US population o Is designed to show the amount of criminal victimization occurring in the US even when such victimization does not come to the attention of the police o Strengths gets at the dark figure of crime crimes that go unreported to officials and why crimes go unreported provides details on the victimization experiences of individuals how does the victims attitude change after crime cost of crime for the individual injuries weapon use beliefs about crime and punishment based on probability sampling SRS Self Report Survey o Weaknesses high costs the data are dependent on the recall of the respondents and the respondents are likely to not remember the events accurately respondents are not likely to report failed attempts UCR does people may define crime differently than the CRJU officials respondents often fail to report certain types of crime crimes that involve acquaintances or relatives of the victim in collecting info only 1 person per