Introduction to Crime and Criminal Justice

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical milestones, agencies, and perspectives from Chapter 1.

Criminal Justice System

The agencies that dispense justice and the process by which justice is carried out.

London Metropolitan Police

The first police agency, created in 1829.

Chicago Crime Commission

A citizens advocate group founded in 1919 that tracked the activities of local justice agencies.

Wickersham Commission

The common name for the National Commission of Law Observance and Enforcement, appointed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

A federal organization that provided technical assistance and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to state and local justice agencies between 1969 and 1982.

Evidence-Based Justice

An approach that uses the scientific method to determine whether criminal justice programs reduce crime rates and offender recidivism.

Social Control

A society's ability to control individual behavior in order to serve the best interests and welfare of the society as a whole.

Law Enforcement Agencies

The component of the criminal justice system that investigates crimes and apprehends suspects.

Court System

The component of the criminal justice system that charges, indicts, tries, and sentences offenders.

Correctional System

The component of the criminal justice system that incapacitates convicted offenders and attempts to aid in their treatment and rehabilitation.

Legislative Branch

The branch of government where state and federal legislatures determine what conduct is prohibited and establish punishments by creating laws.

Judicial Branch

The branch of government that interprets the law and determines whether laws are constitutional.

Executive Branch

The branch of government responsible for the day-to-day operation and enforcement of the criminal justice system.

Legal Factors

Legitimate influences on criminal justice decision-making, including the seriousness of the charges, available evidence, and the suspect's prior record.

Extralegal Factors

Influences such as a suspect's race, gender, class, and age that may affect decision outcomes in the justice process.

Courtroom Work Group

A concept implying that all parties in the justice process cooperate to settle cases efficiently, rather than engage in a true adversarial process.

Wedding Cake Model of Justice

A model of the informal justice system categorized into four levels: celebrated cases (Level I), serious felonies (Level II), less serious felonies (Level III), and misdemeanors (Level IV).

Crime Control Perspective

A perspective that emphasizes the control of dangerous offenders and the protection of society through harsh punishment as a deterrent to crime.

Rehabilitation Perspective

A perspective perceiving crime as an expression of frustration and anger created by social inequality that can be controlled by giving people the means to improve their lifestyles.

Due Process Perspective

A perspective emphasizing individual rights and constitutional safeguards against arbitrary or unfair judicial or administrative proceedings.

Nonintervention Perspective

A perspective favoring the least intrusive treatment possible, such as decarceration, diversion, and decriminalization.

Decriminalization

Reducing the penalty for a criminal act.

Deinstitutionalization

The removal of nonviolent offenders from the nation's correctional system.

Social Justice Perspective

A perspective concerned with making the system equitable so that every person receives equal treatment for equal crimes.

Racial Animus Model

A model positing that White America views the 'typical offender' as a young, inner-city Black male.

Restorative Justice Perspective

A perspective focusing on finding peaceful and humanitarian solutions to crime, stressing peacemaking and healing rather than punishment.