Crim Theory Chapter 2

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, legal terms, court rulings, and theoretical perspectives from Chapter 2.

Consensus perspective

The perspective that law is thought to contribute to the fair and orderly functioning of complex societies.

political, laws

criminalization of behavior is a ______ process, and therefore, the content of criminal codes aka “_____” varies

relative to time and place

criminal law, the official recognition of “crime” and criminals, is

Conflict perspective

The perspective that law serves to preserve existing power relationships.

Acts of omission

A failure to perform a required act.

Felonies

Serious offenses punishable by a year or more in a state or federal prison, or execution.

Misdemeanors

Offenses that may be subject to incarceration for up to 11 months and 29 days in local jail.

Mens rea

Refers to the guilty mind, or the intent to commit a crime, which is a necessary element of many crimes.

Actus reus

Refers to the physical element of a crime.

Strict liability offenses

Crimes which do not require the element of intent, such as vehicular homicide and statutory rape.

Torts

Civil law violations.

Preponderance of the evidence

The standard of proof required in civil law cases.

Durkheim's theory of crime

The concept that if there were no violations of current law, society would create new laws that would be violated by currently legal behavior.

no thicker than his thumb

In the United States at one time it was legal for a man to beat his wife as long as he used a stick __ ____ ____ ___ ___

20th century

When were drugs criminalized

Harrison Act

An act passed by the United States Congress in 1914 that criminalized the sale and possession of opiates.

moral panic

Craig Reinarman’s describes drug scares as a form of ideological constructed ____ ____

marijuana

considered a gateway drug, yet no causal link between the use this and other drugs has not been demonstrated

impairs memory, causes birth defects, is more harmful to the lungs than tobacco, and is stronger than it used to be

2/3

A study of homicides in Philadelphia that found alcohol was present in nearly ____ of cases in either the victim, offender, or both.

Georgia

In this state an underage person may legally be severed alcohol by their parents

tabacco

this drug industry as a 30-year history of targeting youth, women, and the Third World as growth market

Bowers v. Hardwick

A U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Georgia sodomy statute as it applied to homosexuals, providing for penalties of 1 to 20 years of imprisonment.

Lawrence v. Texas

A 2003 United States Supreme Court decision ruling that the Bowers v. Hardwick decision was incorrect.

English common law

The legal doctrine under which it was legally impossible for a man to rape his wife.

Rape shield laws

Laws that impose substantial limits on the defense to introduce information or pursue a line of questioning about the sexual history and character of the alleged victim.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that the customs and values of one's own culture are superior to those of others.

The interview

The relativity of crime across space is demonstrated by the reaction by North Korea to the release of the moive____

Deterrence

A strategy using punitive sanctions to convince potential offenders to choose to avoid, or dissuade them from, committing criminal offenses in the future.

Incapacitation

A strategy seeking to reduce or eliminate the capacity of offenders to commit additional crimes, primarily achieved through imprisonment.

Rehabilitation

An intervention designed to change offenders by removing the motivation to engage in criminal activity through altering attitudes, values, skills, or constitutional features.

Retribution

A non-utilitarian goal of criminal justice based solely on moral outrage at criminal conduct, holding that offenders deserve to be punished.

21, 297

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, __ white defendants have been executed since 1976 for murdering Black victims, but __ Black defendants have been executed during that same period for murdering white victims.