Criminology

What is the age/crime debate?

a disagreement among criminologists as to whether all “mature out of crime'“ or whether some remain career criminals

What is participant observation?

a methodology that involves the observation of a group by participating in varying degrees in its activities

What variables increase crime rates at the social level?

high rates of income inequality

What region of the U.S. has the lowest overall crime rate?

Midwest

What is the National Incident-Based Reporting System?

a system for recording far more detail on crime incidents that is intended to replace the UCR

Durkheim stated that crime is normal. What does that mean?

even if there weren’t any crimes, crimes still wouldn’t disappear, the form would only change to newer ways

Which demographic group suffers the highest rate of victimization?

males ages 15-21 and they live in low economic and impoverished areas

Which is considered the most important social institution in regard to socializing children?

family

In what country did most of the major developments in criminology occur?

Europe

NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey

a survey of the general public to measure claimed crime victimization

Self-report measures

self-admission surveys of admitted crime

UCR Uniform Crime Report

official police report on crime maintained by the FBI

Why are crime rates difficult to compare across nations?

they measure things differently

How do the US violent crime rates compare with other countries?

5\.4 per 100k and ranked #79

What is the age/crime relationship

Both property and violent crime rates peak early in life, and then decline significantly with age.

What crime increases with age?

white-collar crime

What is the gap between male and female crime?

is narrowing in modernized society

What part of the country has the lowest crime rate according to the text?

Northeast

How does unemployment affect crime?

tends to increase to enable them to survive economically

What were Wolfgang’s factors related to victimology?

the prevalence of victim precipitation in murder and assault is contrary to the popular image

What is the relationship between income and victimization?

the lower the income the higher the rate of victimization

What is the age/victimization relationship?

as age increases, victimization rate decreases

Law

codified (written) rules that are more serious norms and contain sanctions

Gemeinschaft

a communal or folk society

Gesellschaft

an associational or heterogeneous society

Mala in se

acts that are bad in themselves

Mala prohibita

acts that are bad due to being prohibited

Criminology

the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior

Deviance

behavior that is outside the limits of societal toleration

Crime rate

the number of index crimes divided bu the population time 100,000

Validity

the accuracy of measurement

Victim provocation

when a person actually does something that incites another person to commit an illegal act

Victim precipitation

the extent to which a victim is responsible for his or her own victimization

Victim impact statement (VIS)

statement made to the court by the victim or his or her family about the harm cause and the desired sentence for the offender

Routine activities theory

a person’s routine activities or daily routine patterns, affected his or her risk of being a crime victim

Felony

more serious crimes, > 1yr

Misdemeanor

less serious crimes,

Conflict view of crime

a result of inequality of income and power

Reciprocity

a system of mutual trust and obligation between the researcher and subject

Experimentation

a method in which researchers vary on one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental processes

Participant observation

a methodology that involves the observation of a group by participating in varying degrees in its activities

Dark figures of crime

unmeasured or undiscovered crime

Avoidance behavior

restrictions that people place on their own behaviors to protect themselves from harm

Reliability

the consistency or stability of measurement