Criminal Justice Vocab #2

Harm

________: the external consequence required to make an action a crime.

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Harm

the external consequence required to make an action a crime

norm or social more

Any standard or rule regarding what human beings should or should not think, say, or do under given circumstances.

legal definition of crime

An intentional violation of the criminal law or penal code, committed without defense or excuse and penalized by the state.

Overcriminalization

The prohibition by the criminal law of some behaviors that arguably should not be prohibited.

Nonenforcement

The failure to routinely enforce prohibitions against certain behaviors.

Undercriminalization

The failure to prohibit some behaviors that arguably should be prohibited.

Legality

The requirement (1) that a harm must be legally forbidden for the behavior to be a crime and (2) that the law must not be retroactive.

ex post facto law

a law that (1) declares criminal an act that was not illegal when it was committed, (2) increases the punishment for a crime after it is committed, or (3) alters the rules of evidence in a particular case after the crime is committed.

Actus Reus

Criminal conduct- specifically, intentional or criminally negligent (reckless) action or inaction that causes harm.

Mens Rea

Criminal intent; a guilty state of mind.

Negligence

The failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm.

Duress

Force or coercion as an excuse for committing a crime.

juvenile delinquency

A special category of offense created for youths who, in most U.S. jurisdictions, are persons between the ages of 7 and 18.

Insanity

Mental or psychological impairment or retardation as a defense against a criminal charge.

Entrapment

A legal defense against criminal responsibility when a person, who was not already predisposed to it, is induced into committing a crime by a law enforcement officer or by his or her agent.

Necessity Defense

A legal defense against criminal responsibility used when a crime has been committed to prevent a more serious crime.

Mala in se

Wrong in themselves; a description applied to crimes that are characterized by universality and timelessness.

mala prohibita

Offenses that are illegal because laws define them as such; they lack universality and timelessness.

dark figure of crime

the number of crimes not officially recorded by the police.

Crime Index

An estimate of crimes committed.

offenses known to the police

A crime index, reported in the FBI's uniform crime reports, composed of crimes that are both reported to and recorded by the police.

crime rate

A measure of the incidence of crime expressed as the number of crimes per unit of population or some other base.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

A collection of crime statistics and other law enforcement information gathered under a voluntary national program administered by the FBI.

eight index crimes

The Part 1 offenses in the FBI's uniform crime reports. They are (1) murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, (2) forcible rape, (3) robbery, (4) aggravated assault, (5) burglary, (6) larceny- theft, (7) motor vehicle theft, and (8) arson, which was added in 1979.

status offense

an act that is not a crime if committed by an adult, such as truancy or running away from home

crime index offenses cleared

The number of offenses for which at least one person has been arrested, charged with the commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

A source of crime statistics based on interviews in which respondents are asked whether they have been victims of any of the FBI's index offenses (except murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and arson) or other crimes during the past 6 months. If they have, they are asked to provide information about the experience.

self-report crime surveys

Surveys in which subjects are asked whether they have committed crimes.