Exam 2 Comprehensive Review: Criminal Justice, Mental Health, Juvenile Justice, and White-Collar Crime

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering wrongful convictions, forensic issues, severe mental illness within the justice system, juvenile developmental criminology, white-collar crime, and human trafficking.

Wrongful conviction

A grossly unfair outcome in a judicial proceeding, such as when a defendant is convicted despite a lack of evidence on an essential element of a crime.

Exoneration

The formal determination when a person convicted of a crime is later proven to be innocent by a court.

Fourth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that grants criminal defendants the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Sixth Amendment

The constitutional amendment granting criminal defendants rights to a speedy and public trial, an impartial jury of peers, an attorney when facing felony charges, and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Eyewitness testimony

Evidence given by an observer that can be unreliable due to scene conditions, memory contamination, environmental factors, questionable lineup procedures, and misrepresentation during trial.

Hair microscopy

A faulty forensic comparison method that could not reliably be used to match hair to a specific individual.

Bite mark comparisons

A flawed forensic technique relying on human dentition, which has not been scientifically proven to be unique to each individual.

Firearm tool mark analysis

A forensic examination practice lacking sufficient studies on tool and gun variability, leaving no specification for how many points of similarity are required for confidence.

Subjective evidence

Evidence presented in the form of an opinion or self-report that cannot be independently examined, evaluated, or verified, but must be accepted on faith or rejected.

False confession

An act of self-indictment where an innocent person admits to a crime they did not commit, often induced by tortuous or exhausting interrogation tactics, confusion, or suggestive 'what if' scenarios.

Qualified immunity

A legal protection under which police officers, prosecutors, and judges are not usually held accountable for misconduct that results in wrongful convictions.

Conviction integrity unit

A dedicated section within a prosecutor's office that seeks to prevent, identify, and remedy false convictions.

Gary Dotson

The individual involved in the landmark $1989$ case in which DNA evidence was first used to exonerate someone of a felony conviction.

CSI effect

The phenomenon where television crime shows distort public perceptions, causing real-world jurors to place an unrealistic emphasis on forensic science before convicting.

Justice for All Act of 2004

Federal legislation outlining rules for federal inmates applying for DNA testing and providing state funding for prosecution and defense improvements in capital cases.

Innocence Protection Act

A legislative act that increased financial compensation for individuals wrongly convicted of federal crimes.

Mental disorders

Medical conditions involving disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions that cause significant distress or disability and impair normal psychological and daily functioning.

Modern homelessness

An era beginning in the late 1970s characterized by sharp increases in poverty, younger individuals, minorities, women, and families lacking shelter, heavily linked to the absence of housing and treatment for severe mental illness.

Psychotherapy

A clinical approach rising in the 1940s using talk-based methods and personal interaction to assist individuals in changing behavior, improving mood, and solving problems.

Lanterman-Petris-Short Act

A California law taking effect in $1969$ that made imminent dangerousness a mandatory requirement for shorter determinate civil commitments and granted hospitalized patients the right to legal counsel.

Deinstitutionalization

The social policy movement to transfer individuals with severe mental illness out of state psychiatric hospitals and into family or community-based settings.

Co-responder program

A crisis response model that pairs mental health professionals or emergency medical technicians (EMTs) directly with law enforcement officers to manage field emergencies.

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

A multidisciplinary team consisting of psychiatrists, nurses, and counselors delivering comprehensive, wrapped healthcare services directly in the community.

Forensic ACT (FACT)

An adapted treatment model that directs Assertive Community Treatment resources toward justice-involved individuals using legal oversight to maintain engagement.

Modified Therapeutic Communities (MTC)

Specialized residential treatment environments tailored for individuals dealing with co-occurring mental health disorders and chemical dependency.

Delinquency

A category of juvenile court jurisdiction covering actions committed by minors that would be classified as crimes if committed by an adult.

Status offenses

Behaviors that are illegal solely due to the minor's age, such as truancy, running away, or curfew violations.

Dependency

A baseline area of juvenile court jurisdiction that addresses cases involving abused, neglected, or destitute children.

Prefrontal cortex

The brain region responsible for impulse control and consequence assessment that continues developing into an individual's mid-20s.

White-collar crime

Deceitful, concealed violations of market trust committed by business and government professionals for financial gain.

RICO Act

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which enables prosecutors to target ongoing criminal enterprises by trying individuals who organize or direct patterns of racketeering crimes.

Cybertheft

Schemes using internet technology for direct profit, including copyright infringement, software piracy, identity theft, and phishing scams.

Cybervandalism

Online activities driven by malice or disruption, including deploying viruses, Trojan horses, Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, web defacement, cyberstalking, and ransomware.

Cyberwarfare

Nation-state or politically motivated digital attacks targeting a foreign country's critical infrastructure, financial sectors, or intelligence networks.

Human trafficking

An ongoing crime of exploitation involving the recruitment, harboring, or transportation of individuals for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation through continuous coercion.

Human smuggling

A voluntary, transnational transaction that involves assisting someone in crossing a border illegally and ends upon completion of that crossing.

TVPA framework

The federal parameters under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act defined by three core elements: Acts (what is done), Means (how control is exerted), and Purpose (why exploitation occurs).

Adolescence-Limited Offenders

A developmental group whose delinquent behavior begins during puberty and ends in early adulthood as the brain matures and adult roles are assumed.

Life-Course Persistent Offenders

A small group of offenders whose antisocial conduct begins in early childhood and continues into adulthood, driven by neuropsychological deficits and dysfunctional environments.

Authority Conflict Pathway

A developmental pathway to delinquency beginning before age $12$ with stubborn behavior, progressing into defiance, and culminating in authority avoidance like truancy or running away.

Covert Pathway

A developmental pathway to delinquency starting with minor underhanded acts (lying, shoplifting), progressing to property damage, and escalating to serious property crimes.

Overt Pathway

A developmental pathway to delinquency starting with minor aggression and bullying, escalating to physical altercations, and ultimately culminating in violent crimes like robbery or assault.

Estimated percentage of felony convictions that are wrongful

Approximately $1\%$, representing an estimated proportion agreed upon by scholars and practitioners despite appearing low.

Success rate of Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs)

Only $44\%$ of the $95$ conviction integrity units established across prosecutor offices in the U.S. have recorded exonerations.

Availability of DNA at violent crime scenes

Present at only $20\%$ of violent crime scenes, confined to biological samples such as skin, bodily fluids, and hair.

Share of post-1989 DNA exonerations for murder and sexual assault

$96\%$ total, specifically comprising $60\%$ for murder cases and $36\%$ for sexual assault cases.

Prevalence of criminal justice supervision among U.S. adults

$3\%$ of U.S. adults, which equates to $1$ in every $37$ individuals.

Annual jail bookings involving severe mental illness (SMI)

Approximately $2\text{ million}$ bookings per year out of $13\text{ million}$ total bookings, affecting $14.5\%$ of men and $31\%$ of women.

Decline in state psychiatric hospital beds per 100,000 people (1960 to 2005)

Decreased drastically from $314$ beds per $100{,}000$ people in $1960$ down to $40$ in $1990$, and reaching just $17$ beds per $100{,}000$ by $2005$.

Prevalence of mental illness history among incarcerated women

$66\%$ of women in prison, representing nearly twice the rate observed in incarcerated men.

Length of incarceration disparity for inmates with SMI

Inmates with severe mental illness stay locked up $2.5$ to $8$ times longer than individuals without mental illness for equivalent offenses.

Juvenile share of total U.S. arrests and violent crime

Youth under $18$ account for approximately $8\%$ of total arrests, with only $8\%$ of those juvenile arrests involving serious violent crimes.

Abuse prevalence among girls in the juvenile justice system

$92\%$ have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, with sexual abuse rates being $4.4$ times higher than those of boys.

Recidivism effect of transferring juveniles to adult court

A $34\%$ median increase in subsequent reoffending compared to youth retained within the juvenile court system.

Estimated annual economic cost of white-collar crime in the U.S.

Between \n300\text{ billion} and \n660\text{ billion} each year, far exceeding the financial toll of traditional street crime.

Demographic profile of white-collar crime offenders

$74\%$ male, $69\%$ aged $31$ to $50$, and $87\%$ having no prior criminal record.

Disparity in fraud loss: executive-level vs. entry-level

Executive-level fraud inflicts $7$ times greater financial losses than theft committed by entry-level employees.

Global estimate of individuals in forced labor and trafficking

Approximately $27.6\text{ million}$ people worldwide, consisting of $17\text{ million}$ in private sector labor, $6.3\text{ million}$ in sex trafficking, and $3.9\text{ million}$ in state-imposed labor.

Citizenship breakdown of federally convicted human traffickers in the U.S.

$95\%$ are U.S. citizens ($91\%$ male, $58\%$ white, $20\%$ Black, $19\%$ Hispanic, and $71\%$ with no prior criminal record).

Post-trafficking criminalization rate of survivors

$62\%$ of human trafficking survivors end up in jail or juvenile detention due to survival-related offenses.

Foster youth sex trafficking risk

$17\%$ of children reported missing from foster care were determined to be probable victims of sex trafficking.