Criminology Test 1

Beccaria

father of criminology

criminology

scientific study of crime; body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon including within its scope the process of making, breaking, and reacting toward the breaking of laws

Crime

actions that violate the law

mala in se

acts considered inherantly evil ex

mala prohibita

acts that are considered crimes primarily bc they have been outlawed by the legal codes in that jurisdiction ex

deviance

any transgression of socially established norms including legalistic crimes and misdemeanors consensus perspective

conflict perspective

theories of criminal behavior that assume most people disagree on what the law should be and that law is a means by which those in power maintain their advantage. conflict resolves when people in power achieve control

pluralist perspective

behaviors are typically criminalized through a political process only after a debate over the appropriate course of action. various values and beliefs exist in most societies at the same time, and each separate social group has its own set of values, beliefs, and interests.

3 goals of criminal Justice system

control crime, prevent crime, provide and maintain justice

3 components of justice system

law enforcement, state police, highway patrol

law enforcement

various organizational levels-federal, state, and local.

courts

dual system in the u.s. with both federal and state courts

corrections

offenders are required to serve their sentences in a corrections facilities like jail and prison or probation

state police

agencies w general police powers to enforce state laws as well as investigate major crimes may have intelligence units, drug trafficking units, juvenile units, and crime labs

highway patrol

primary focus is to enforce the laws that govern the operation of motor vehicles on roads jurisdiction

limited jurisdiction

authority of court to hear and decide cases within an area of the law or geographic territory

general jurisdiction

major trial courts have power and authority to try and decide any case including appeals from a lower court

appellate jurisdiction

appeals court. limited in their jurisdiction decisions on matters of appeal from lower courts and trial courts

corrections

after offender is convicted and sentenced, he or she is processed in the corrections system probation

jail

designated for ind. convicted of minor crimes and to house ind waiting trial

prison

generally for those convicted of more serious crimes w longer sentences housed in various security levels

parens patriae

shift from rehabilitation; the state has both the right and obligation to intervene…in the case of some impairment or impediment. the state as the parent

characteristics of good theory

parsimony, scope, logical consistency

parsimony

(generalizability) explains a certain phenomenon. explains certain phenomenon with fewest possible propositions or concepts

scope

range of criminal behavior that a theory attempts to explain. larger the scope better the theory

logical consistency

the extent to which concepts of a theoretical model makes sense

testability

extent to which a theoretical model can be empirical tested. needs correlation

empirical validity

extent to which a theoretical model is supported by scientific research.

causality

ind. variable needs to come before dep. variable

3 requirements for determining causality

temporal ordering, correlation/covariation, spuriousness

temporal ordering

criterion for determining causality. requires that the predictor variable precede the explanatory variable

correlation or covariation

a criterion of causality that requires a change in a predictor variable to be consistently associated with some change in the explanatory variable. criterion of covariance is not met when a change in x does not produce a change in y.

spuriousness

when other factors often referred to as z factors that have no causation are actually causing two variables x and y to occur at the same time

theory informs policies and programs

that attempt to reduce crime. focuses on social structure; challenge to focus on the community and not just the individual

victimology

scientific study of victims

national victimization survey (ncvs)

one of the most accurate measures of crime in existence and is based on interviews with victims. considered more accurate than reports collected by fbi and police

who is most likely to be victimized?

young men 18-20/20-24 most likely to be the criminals victimized

victim precipitation

when an individual somehow increases the risk that he or she will be victimized

passive victim precipitation

when the victim possesses certain characteristics that lead to a confrontation with the offender ex

active victim precipitation(provocation)

involves actually doing something that increases the probability of being victimized Ex

victim facilitation

Victims unknowingly, carelessly, negligently, and inadvertently make it easier for offender to commit a theft.Ex

benjamin mendelsohn

considered father of victimology

marvin Wolfgang

had first major studies of victim precipitation and found victims to be the first to use force against the person who killed them

older people- least likely to be victimized majority of victimization is

intracial

violent victimization has been what?

dropping until recently

compensation

often paid to victims of violent acts; funds are provided to victims through local, state, or federal gov. agencies

restitution

often ordered by the court to be paid to victims by the offender as part of their sentence

first historical record of victims goes back to what?

the code of hammurabi…restoration of equity between offender and victim

victim impact statements

report of a victim to the court about how an offender affected his or her life and follows guilty verdict. can’t be given when jury is determining verdict

victimologists

study the series of events that typically lead to victimization acts of various kinds

goals of victimologists

arrive at general theories of victimization and try to arrive at insights relevant to how victimization can be avoided..why are some groups targeted and some not?

same groups who commit crimes

same groups who are victimized

most victims of violent crimes

know their attacker

mental health costs of victimization

treatment to deal with effects of victimization, ab 15% of total mental health care costs related to crime, short term and long term reactions possible (anxiety, ptsd), self blaming and learned helplessness

Part 1 crimes(index crimes)

most likely to be reported by the police; violent crimes -homicides rape, property crimes, human trafficking

part 2 crimes

fraud, embezzlment vandalism etc

uniform crime reports

annual reports published by the fbi intended to estimate most of the major street crimes in the u.s. objective is to generate a consistent set of crime stats

classifying

defined as determining the appopriate category in which to report an offense. important step in this is the hierarchy rule

hierarchy rule

when more than 1 part 1 offense is classified in a multiple offense situation, the law enforcement agency must locate the offense that is highest on the list and score that offense but not any of the other offenses

scoring

counting the # of offenses after they have been classified. for crimes against ppl 1 offense is scored for each victim and for crimes against property one offense is scored for each distinct operation or attempt

limitations of the UCR

underrepresents crimes committed, lack not federal crimes(stock market fraud, tax evasion), not all jurisdictions participate, juked statistics

supplementary homicide reports

part of the ucr program; these data provide more detailed info on the incident. For each homicide incident it tells you the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of each victim and offender as well as the relationship between the first victim and each of the offenders (but not the other victims in cases where there are multiple victims). It also tells you the weapon used by each offender and the circumstance of the killing, such as a “lovers triangle” or a gang-related murder. As with other UCR data, it also tells you the agency it occurred in and the month and year when the crime happened.

national incident based reporting system

enhanced version of the ucr program that collects more detailed information on the incidents regarding offenders and victims

NIBRS GOALS

enhance quantity, quality, and timeliness of crime statistical data, improve the methodology

limitations of NIBRS

implementation is still lacking, unrecorded and unreported crimes are not included, inflexible specifications and problems with reporting procedures, Record structure is incomplete

national vital statistics system

implemented by the CDC, Uses death certificates, has consistently shown more homicides than the UCR

Hate crime statistics

collects info on traditional offenses, murder and vandalism that have an additional factor of bias, not reported by all LE agencies, In response to a growing concern about hate crimes, Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 which required data collection “about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.”

Crime data from victims of crime the NCVS

primary measure of crime in the US. purpose of data is to provide additional insight into the dark figure of crime, used by law enforcement agencies, policy makers, and researchers

limitations of the ncvs

prostitution, drug dealing, and gambling are not revealed in interviews, surveys only households, validity of it is an issue

crime data from self report surveys

monitoring the future; collects info to measure substance and alcohol use patterns among youths, survey on the 12th grade students, limitation= does not survey those who drop out of high school

dark figure of crime

unreported crimes

law enforcement officers killed and assaulted

part of the ucr program; it collects data on officer line of duty deaths and assaults line of duty death

felonious death

occurs when an officer is killed bc or while performing his or her official duties and as a direct result of a criminal act by subject

accidental death

occurs when an officer dies as result of an accident he or she is involved in while performing his or her duties (ex

measuring crime important for many reasons

describe or gauge criminal actvity, risk assessment of various social groups, explanation, evaluate and justify various programs

pre classsical perspectives of crime and punishment

people believed religious or supernatural factors caused criminal activity, violating the rule was act of devil or spirit. moon was a trigger for criminal activity in its fullest state. connection between the moon and criminal activity is primarily due to a classical school theoretical model. during middle ages common punishments including executions, beheading, etc

the age of enlightenment

period of late 17th to 18th century in which western philosophers and scholars began to emphasize rights of individuals in society. dignity and worth of individual and that we are rational beings

classical school

model of crime that assumes that crime occurs after a rational individual mentally weighs the potential consequences of a crime and then makes a decision ab whether to do it

classical school theories emphasize

individual decision making regardless of any extraneous influence of person’s free will

rational theory of thomas hobbes

declared that human beings are rational beings who choose their destiny by creating a society

social contract

arrangement of citizens agreeing to abide by the rules or laws set forth in return for protection. same crime =same punishment

cesare beccaria

wrote on crimes and punishment; father of criminal justice father of classical school of criminology; father of deterrence theory

influences on beccarria and his writings

emphasized the social contract and importance of utilitarianism utilitarianism

deterrence theory

theory of crime associated with classical school. proposes individuals will make rational decisions regarding their behavior

mens rea

guilty in mind

actus reus

guilty act. beccarria concerned with this as it didn’t matter what you were thinking

3 characteristics of punishment make a significant difference in whether a criminal will commit a given act

celerity, certainty, severity

swiftness of punishment

assumption that the sooner an offender is punished the more he or she will be deterred from breaking the law. if not swift, convicted wouldn’t associate punishment with crime. important for reformation and deterrence aspect of punishment

certainty of punishment

key elements of deterrence; assumption is that people perceive a high likelihood of being caught and punished if they commit a crime. most important to beccarria

severity of punishment

assumption that a given punishment must be serious enough to outweigh any potential benefits gained from a crime. the punishment should match the crime to an extent in which to deter specific deterrence

general deterrence

punishments given to individual offenders that are meant to prevent or deter others from engaging in similar criminal activity. acts as an example for potential offenders.

beccarria and death penalty

violated social contract. not useful bc of the concept of barbarity

brutalization effect

tendency of homicides to increase after an execution, particularly after high profile executions

Beccarria’s stance on punishment

It must be public prompt necessary and the least possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, dictated by Laws.

Impact of beccaria’s work

US Constitution and Bill of Rights, documents constructed before and during the American revolution were influenced by Beccaria and others, philosophy and workings of the justice systems

beccaria’s Impact on Jeremy Bentham

panopticon, hedonistic calculus

Panopticon

fewer watching many..central tower in prison

Hedonistic calculus

Weighing of pleasure vs pain

Neoclassical school of criminology

this model assumes that aggravating and mitigating circumstances should be taken into account for purposes of sentencing and punishing an offender beccarria’s framework dismisses Intent(mens rea) of criminal offenders and focuses only on harm done to society by a given act (actually reus) used by western society in their justice systems

Difference between classical and neoclassical school

(new ) The new model assumes that crime committed by outlast responsible/rational being is less guided by reason and is therefore worthy of some reduction in punishment