CORRECTIONS: Understanding Crime Part One

What are the 6 phases of the Criminal Justice Process

1) Legislative Phase

2) Crime Scene Phase

3) Pretrial Phase

4) Trial Phase

5) Sentencing Hearing

6) Punishment Phase (Sentenced Served)

Legislative Phase (2)

1) People decided they need a rule of law

2) Elect legislators who pass laws and determine punishment

Crime Scene Phase (4)

1) Mens Rea + Actus Reus = Crime

2) Investigation leads to the establishment of

3) Probable cause, which gives you the authority

4) Arrest

Pretrial Phase(5)

1) The prosecutor tries to establish if there is sufficient evidence to proceed

2) Allows for the suspect to make bail if able

3) Suspect attends preliminary hearing

4) The judge reads charges to accused

5) The accused offers their plea

Trial Phase

• The prosecutor is charging the individual

• The judge is there to make sure the proceedings go smoothly

• The judge or jury is going to determine if the defendant is guilty or innocent (Bench/Jury Trial)

Sentencing Hearing (2)

• the judge examines the Presentencing Investigation Report (PSIR) offered by the probation officer and looks at the sentencing

• the judge usually goes with the recommendation and sentences the individual

Punishment Phase (Sentenced Served)

• probation is a conditional sentence that does not include incarceration

• if the sentence is incarceration, you may be eligible for parole, which is conditional release

Crime Definition

An intentional act or the omission of an act that violates criminal statutory law, for which the state provides the punishment (Mens Rea + Actus Reus)

The Prevailing Public Belief

• wildly misinformed because crime is society’s biggest problem

• its not because crime rates have been decreasing

• it persists because of media hype and political rhetoric profiting on fear

What are the 4 Sources of Information on Crime?

1) Uniform Crime Report (UCR): contains crimes cleared by arrest

2) National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS): data that had reported crimes to agencies but no arrest have been made

3) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

4) Self-Report Surveys (SRS)

UNOFFICIAL vs. OFFICAL sources of crime information

• UCR & NIBRS come from FBI, because FBI collects data from Law Enforcement agencies that includes arrest

• NIBRS is reported also when arrests are not reported

• NCVS crimes that are occured but were not reported

• Self-Report Survey, info comes from perpetrators themselves

What are the weaknesses of the UCR Data Set?

• Data is incomplete

• Many crimes are not reported to agencies because the victims are stigmatized

• Many investigations failed to produce an arrestable suspect

What are the FOUR weaknesses of NIBRS DATA?

• it does not collect data from victims of crime

• rural departments are less likely to send data to FBI

• data itself might be distorted because of organizational pressure to make crime rates go up and down

• laws are defined differently based on jurisdiction

What are the SHORTCOMINGS of NCVS?

• crime victims telescope the data (timeframe not accurate)

• the person who is responding to the victimization survey may not have the knowledge of all the victimization in the household

What are the FOUR crimes against persons (AKA Violent Crimes)?

• Murder

• Rape

• Robbery

• Aggravated Assault

What are the FOUR serious property crimes?

• Burglay

• Larceny theft

• Motor vehicle theft

• Arson

What is the SECOND strongest predictor of criminality?

• #1 is biological sex (men)

• #2 is AGE

How do you calculate the crime-rate?

• number of crimes over a time period (numerator) / population of the county = crime rate for that county

• modify the expression of the crime rate to crime per 100,000 people (0.0000186)

• data is uninterpretable otherwise

What are the FOUR ways a crime can be “CLEARED”?

• By arrest

• By conviction

• By Incarceration

• By Exceptional Means: we know the location and identity of the suspect, and we have probable cause to support arrest, but something is preventing us from doing so (suspect died) (witness wouldn’t cooperate)