Criminal Justice and Criminology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from introductory criminal justice and legal studies coursework.

Crime

The violation of the laws of a society by a person or a group of people who are subject to the laws of that society.

Street crime

A kind of crime that includes interpersonal violence and property crime.

Prison

A state or federal institution that confines people convicted of crime who are serving sentences for longer than a year.

Criminal justice

A social institution that controls crime by detecting, detaining, adjudicating, and punishing and/or rehabilitating people who break the law.

Due process model

A criminal justice model describing the expectation of a just and fair criminal justice system.

Felony

An offense punishable by more than a year in a state prison, which includes offenses such as murder, rape, assault, larceny, and arson.

Victimless crime

Behaviors that are deemed undesirable because they offend community standards rather than directly harm people or property.

Mass murder

The murder of three or more people in a single incident.

Code of Hummurabi

A collection of over 250 laws written on an ancient stone tablet covering a wide range of issues.

Common law

Law based on precedent, sometimes called case law, judiciary law, or unwritten law.

Precedent

The foundational decision principle on which common law is based.

Stare decisis

The legal principle in which courts are bound by the decisions of previous courts.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Habeas corpus

A writ issued to bring a party before the court.

Double jeopardy

A legal principle stating that a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense.

Procedural law

A type of law that prescribes the methods for the enforcement and use of the law.

Victim precipitation

A term used by criminologists to refer to instances when a victim plays an active role in initiating conflict.

National Incident-Based Reporting System

A data collection system designed to gather information on each criminal act even if several acts are committed within the same incident.

Self-report study

A research method in which participants complete questionnaires asking them to identify any criminal offenses they have committed.

Uniform Crime Reports

An annual FBI publication that uses data from participating U.S. law enforcement agencies to summarize the incidence and rate of reported crime.