Criminal Justice Chapter 2

What is the social definition of crime?

Crime that violates the norms of society

What is the legal definition of crime?

Crime that violates the law without an excuse and can be penalized

What are the three issues with the legal definition of crime?

Over-criminalization, non enforcement, and under-criminalization

What is over-criminalization?

The prohibition of behaviors that should not be prohibited

What is non enforcement?

The failure to enforce certain behaviors

What is under-criminalization?

The failure to prohibit behaviors that should be prohibited

What are the elements of crime?

Harm, legality, actus reus, mens rea, causation, concurrence, and punishment

What is harm?

The action of committing a crime

What is legality?

The requirement that the harm must be forbidden

What is actus reus?

The action of a crime

What is mens rea?

The intention of crime

What is causation?

When the criminal act leads to harm within a day

What is concurrence?

There must be both actus reus and mens rea

What is punishment?

There must be a punishment for the crime

What are the legal defenses of crime?

Duress, underage, insanity, self-defense, entrapment, or necessity

What is duress?

Being forced to commit a crime

What is being underage?

Being under the age of 7

What is insanity?

Being mentally or physically impaired

What is self-defense?

Defending yourself against violence

What is entrapment?

Being forced to commit a crime by law enforcement

What is necessity?

Committing a crime to prevent another crime

What are the two degrees of crime?

Mala in se and mala prohibita

What is mala in se?

Crimes that are “wrong in themselves”

What is mala prohibita?

Crimes that are legally wrong

What are crimes that are not officially recorded called?

The dark figure of crime

What is the crime index?

The official record of crimes known to the police

What is the crime rate?

The number of crimes per unit of population

What are the primary sources of crime stats?

UCR, NIBRS, NCVS, and Self Report Crime Surveys

What are Uniform Crime Reports?

Crime stats gathered by the FBI

What are the eight index crimes?

Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson

What is a status offense?

An act that is not a crime for adults but is for minors

What is the National Incident-Based Reporting System?

A joint task force of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI that studies ways to improve the quality of information from the UCR

What is the National Crime Victimization Surveys?

Surveys based on interviews where people are asked if they have been victims of crimes

What are Self-Report Crime Surveys?

Surveys where people are asked if they have committed crimes

What do most people fear about crime?

Violence and theft

Who fear crime the most?

Women, POC, and elders

Who are usually victims?

Disabled people, single people, POC, 18-24, women, and non-veterans