CCJS105 FINAL REVIEW Defining Crime Criminology The making of laws the breaking of laws and society s reaction to the breaking of laws Its an empirical science that studies crime Criminologists collect data to study crime Criminology is interdisciplinary borrowed knowledge from other fields Crime Human conduct that violates a criminal a law and is subject to punishment Deviance Describe behavior that violates social norms including laws Social Norms Perceived standards of acceptable behavior prevalent among members of a society Relativity Of Crime Across Time o What if defined as a crime may be later decriminalized Ex Prohibition Smoking Marijuana in certain states o Behavior deemed acceptable later may be criminalized Ex Slavery Texting while riving Marital Rape o What is defined as crime may differ between locations Across Space Ex Smoking Marijuana drinking age speed limits prostitution and gabling Consensus vs Conflict Consensus Model Conflict Model agreed upon social values In this model the laws reflect the values of majority of citizens o Assumes that members of society agree on what is right and wrong and that law is the codification of o Members of a society agree what behavior should be criminalized o o The criminal justice system is seen as being used by the ruling class to control the lower class o Criminological investigation of the conflict within society is emphasized o Certain behaviors are criminalized through a conflict of interest By those who have power and obtain privileged positions they use law to maintain their position Mala in se vs Mala Prohibita in society Mala In Se Acts are bad in themselves Mala Prohibita Bad because they have been prohibited o Ex Murder rape burglary robbery o Ex Speeding jaywalking smoking texting while driving Criminal Justice System Criminal Justice System Major Components What are the Goals of the criminal justice system system The interdependence and interactive components of police courts and corrections that form a unified whole a Concerned with societal and particularly official reactions to crime and criminals Police Courts Corrections 1 Deterrence Stopping others from committing crimes 2 Incapacitation You can t commit crime while in jail 3 Retribution Pay for what you did 4 Rehabilitation Remove the motivations to commit crimes 1 Entry into the system report investigation arrest or citation 2 Prosecution and pretrial charges first court appearance bail or bond grand jury preliminary hearing 3 Adjudication trial process plea agreements or trial 4 Post trial sentencing or probation parole arraignment Criminal Justice Process 7 Elements of Crime 1 The act requirement 2 The legality requirement 3 The harm requirement 4 The causation requirement 5 The mens rea guilty mind requirement 6 The concurrence requirement 7 The punishment requirement a Severity of crime Felony misdemeanor violations Measuring Crime Causality Relationship between an event cause and a second event effect where the second event is a consequence of the first Correlation association Temporal ordering X must occur before Y in order to determine that X causes Y o No other factor causes both Correlation does not imply causation o Correlation but no causation spurious relationship o Cofounding variable Factor that can explain spurious relationship o Best method to find causality o Experiment is the only method to prove causation o Assign subjects randomly to treatment and control groups o Ex Treatment group Alcoholic Beer Control group Non alcoholic beer Result violent tendency of Randomized experiment gold standard in establishing causality both groups Uniform Crime Report UCR Part I Crimes Index Crimes Crime report made by the FBI that 95 of the national population Data is received from police departments voluntary reports Primary source of crime rates from media Crimes against the person o Criminal homicide o Forcible rape o Robbery o Aggravated Assault o Burglary o Larceny Theft o Motor Vehicle theft reported with100 accuracy o Arson Crimes Against Property Part II Crimes non index crimes Part I crimes are serious crimes Tend to be reported to the police Occur frequently 21 crimes that include o Fraud o Embezzlement o Weapon offenses o Vandalism o Simple assaults Less serious crimes Not used to calculate crime rate Only arrest data reported to FBI Does not include traffic violations Crime Rate 100 000 National Incident Based Reporting System NIBRS Crime reporting system only used by 20 of the nation Only deals with crimes that come to the attention of the police Strengths Official Data UCR NIBRS Limitations Incident based statistics o Statistics present all crimes known to law enforcement agencies o o Location time presence of weapons o Hierarchy rule o Dark figure of crimes Don t reveal how many crimes are actually committed Police reports to the FBI are voluntary It only records the most serious crime committed during an offense o Do not differentiate between completed acts and attempted acts NIBRS o Crime rate calculation only include Part I crimes not Part II crimes National Crime Victimization Survey NCVS Victimization Data NCVS Measures the extent of crime by interviewing individuals about their experiences as victims Done by Census Bureau Bureau of Justice Statistics Does not go through law enforcement agencies Strengths Limitations o Help uncover dark figure of crime o Records only the most serious offense committed o False reports o Limited crime types o Can t count victimless crime Murders victims can t report prostitution gambling drug dealing Self Report Data Strengths Limitations o Capture victimless crimes and unreported crimes o Limited to petty acts ex truancy skipping school o Most are administered to high school or college students o Biased samples o Dishonest reports Case Study An analysis of all pertinent aspects of one unit of study such as individual an institution a group or a community Sutherland s The Professional Thief based on interviews with a professional thief o Not much about statistics more about qualitative data Participation Observation Collection of information through involvement in the social life of the group as a researcher is studying Issues about access ethical legal dilemmas time Rich source of qualitative data Ex Gang Leader for a Day Strengths of one approach can overcome the weaknesses of others Triangulation The use of multiple methods and sources of data to get closer to the actual answer What Does Crime Look
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