Criminology final exam

How common is larceny?

more than 6 million cases annually

What are the trends in this crime?  (Larceny)

this offense is down over the last decade

What are the loses from shoplifting? 

at least $40 billion annually to this crime

Discuss the differences between amateur and professional shoplifters.

Amateur- does not have the self-identity of a thief

Professional- (sometimes called a booster) they steal with intent of reselling stolen merchandise

How common is motor vehicle theft? 

records slightly less than 1 million auto thefts a year

What is the trend in this offense? The losses? (motor vehicle theft)

•Rates are down over 25% over the last decade (technology)

•Losses of more that $6 billion

What are the most frequently stolen vehicles?

Trinity Motors

Be familiar with the different types of auto thieves.

Joyriding

short term transportation

long term transportation

profit

commission of another crime more than 2 million burglaries a year

How common is burglary?

more than 2 million burglaries a year

Discuss trends in the offense and loses. (burglary)

•Rate of this offense is actually increasing

•Totally loses approximately $4.6 billion a year

residential burglaries

•Someone’s home or residence

•About 2/3rds of all burglaries

•Usually occur between 6AM and 6 PM

•Entrance from side or rear of structure

Commercial burglary

•Involves a business

•1/3rd of all burglaries

•Occur during nighttime hours 

When do “bad checks” become criminal?

•Check is intentionally drawn on an underfunded or non-existent bank account

•In general, to be guilty of this crime, the person must fail to make the check good within 10 days of finding out the check was not honored

Discuss the differences between the naïve and systematic check forgers.

•Naïve – amateurs who cash bad checks because of some financial crisis

•Lack a criminal self-identity

•Believe their actions won’t harm anyone

•Systematic – professional criminals who make a living by running bad check schemes

Discuss the findings of Cressey’s book “Other People’s Money”

•embezzlers progress through a three stage social-psychological process called vocabularies of adjustment

•A non-sharable financial problem (e.g., adultery or gambling)

•An awareness of the opportunity to secretly solve this problem

•(Most important) They rationalize the criminal nature of this activity by defining the act as a “temporary loan” rather than theft

Be familiar with the fraud triangle

Who is responsible for the concept of white-collar crime?

Sutherland

What are the two main components of the white-collar crime concept?

•Social status of the offender

•Occupational mechanism by which offense is committed

What is identity theft?  How common is it?  How costly is it?

“a variety of illegal acts involving the theft or misuse of personal information”

•annually 8 million Americans experienced identity theft with total loses of $16 billion.

Discuss how rational choice theory applies to identity theft.

•”Bounded rationality” means we should take into account the social, psychological, physical, and situational context in which criminal decisions are actually made, as well as offenders’ perceptions of the world around them.

Bad Check          

•Check is intentionally drawn on an underfunded or non-existent bank account

Embezzlement

the fraudulent taking of personal property by someone to whom it was entrusted

Larceny

taking for one’s own use the property of another, by means other than force or threats on the victim or forcibly breaking into the person’s home or work place

Petit Larceny

theft of a small amount of money or property, punished as a misdemeanor

Vocabularies of adjustment

a three stage social-psychological process

Burglary

The breaking and entering a structure to commit a theft or felony

Grand Larceny

The theft of money or property of substantial value, punished as a felony

Money Laundering

the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source.

Structuring

the act of parceling what would otherwise be a large financial transaction into a series of smaller transactions to avoid scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement.

White-Collar Crime

The crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation

Donald Cressey

In his book Other People’s Money, claimed embezzlers progress through a three stage social-psychological process called vocabularies of adjustment

Edwin Sutherland

Started with the “theory of differential association”, introduced the concept of White-Collar Crime in his 1939 Presidential address to the American Sociological Society

What is the assumption of social process theories?

that crime is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society

What is the assumption of social learning theories?

that criminal behavior, like any type of behavior, is learned

Identify and explain the three components of Akers’ social learning theory

Differential association, Differential Reinforcement, Definitions

What are the assumptions of the neutralization perspective?

that at some level, criminals have a commitment to conventional values

Identify, explain, and be able to recognize examples of the five major techniques of neutralization.

•Denial of responsibility - The individual fails to accept responsibility for their actions, blaming them on forces beyond their control

•Denial of injury - Individual claims that no one is harmed by their actions

•Denial of victim - Justifying actions by claiming that the individual had it coming to them

•Condemnation of condemners - Individual shifts the focus to those who condemn their actions

•Appeal to Higher Loyalties - Individual justifies their actions by claiming they meet the demands of a group to which they belong

What are the assumptions of social bond theory? 

•that all people have a natural inclination to engage in criminal behavior

Identify and explain the four elements of the social bond.  Which one is the most frequently criticized?

•Attachment - Emotional ties that an individual has to significant others

•Commitment - The time, effort, and energy spent making investments in conventional lines of action

•Involvement - The amount of time an individual spends engaging in conventional activities ( Most Criticized)

•Belief - The acceptance of conventional morality and value systems

What do social reaction theories assume?

the labels that people are given throughout their lives might influence their behaviors and life outcomes

Discuss the labeling process

•Primary deviance - Original norm violations that are normally considered to be undetected by others

•Status degradation ceremonies - Official proceedings in which the new status of deviant is conferred on the individual

•Secondary deviance - Deviance that is committed as a result of the labeling process and its negative consequences

Sykes and Matza

Techniques of neutralization

Hisrchi

created social bond theory

Howard Becker

created the labelling theory

What are the criteria for first degree murder?  Second degree murder?

•First degree murder involves killing another person after premeditation and deliberation

•Criminal homicide committed with malice aforethought but not premeditation and deliberation

How common is murder? Is it increasing or decreasing?

it is decreasing

Discuss David Luckenbill’s ideas on the cause of homicide.

•Situated transaction – The culmination of a chain (or series) of discrete actions and reactions by participants 

How is rape defined under common law?  Discuss the official data on rape (and the problems associated with that data)

“the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”

•The UCR records about 90,000 rapes a year; horribly underreported crime

Identify and explain the four types of rapists

•Exploitative rapist - Rape is an impulsive and predatory act with the victim only serving as an object of sexual gratification

•Compensatory rapist - Obsessed with fantasies and feel very inadequate

•Displaced anger rapist - Rape expresses their displaced anger and rage

•Sadistic rapist - Sexual feelings are linked to aggression

Be familiar with the data on robbery presented in class.

•FBI records about 440,000 a year

•Down about 40% from the all time high in 1991

•Average loss in robbery overall is $1,244

•Bank robbery average take = $4,029

•Underreporting issues

Discuss Decker and Wright’s research on robbery.

•Men are rational decisions makers looking for easy prey

•Targets that are vulnerable accessible and profitable

•Motivated by a pressing need for cash

•Endless quest for stimulation – drugs, gambling, and partying

Discuss acquaintance robbery.

•Victims may not call police because of their own criminal involvement

•Street justice – robber has a grievance against victim and settles dispute by taking victims property

•Have knowledge that a victim will be a “good take”

Discuss the data on assault and battery.

•UCR records about 800,000 cases a year

•NCVS reports about 4 million

•About 70% of offenders are male

•Weapons most commonly used are blunt instruments and hands and feet

Assault

either attempted battery or intentionally frightening the victim by word or deed (actual touching is not involved)

Battery

 offensive touching, such as slapping, hitting, or punching a victim (this is the actual physical violence)

Drift    

A condition of limbo between a conventional lifestyle and criminal or deviant lifestyle with no strong attachment to either

Degradation ceremony          

Official proceedings in which the new status of deviant is conferred on the individual

Deliberation

giving careful consideration to one’s course of action

Differential Association

The individual is being socialized by a group of people who engage in deviant behavior

Felony Murder Doctrine

•If a death occurs during the commission of a felony, person involved in the primary offense may be charged with murder in the first degree

Malice Aforethought

•The intent to cause bodily harm

Premeditation

planning a criminal act after careful though, rather than carrying it out on impulse

Primary deviance

- Original norm violations that are normally considered to be undetected by others

Self-fulfilling prophecy          

an expectation or belief that can influence your behaviors, thus causing the belief to come true.

Secondary deviance

•Deviance that is committed as a result of the labeling process and its negative consequences

Situated Transaction

The culmination of a chain (or series) of discrete actions and reactions by participants 

Status Degradation Ceremony

•Official proceedings in which the new status of deviant is conferred on the individual

Techniques of neutralization   

•Denial of responsibility - The individual fails to accept responsibility for their actions, blaming them on forces beyond their control

•Denial of injury - Individual claims that no one is harmed by their actions

•Denial of victim - Justifying actions by claiming that the individual had it coming to them

•Condemnation of condemners - Individual shifts the focus to those who condemn their actions

•Appeal to Higher Loyalties - Individual justifies their actions by claiming they meet the demands of a group to which they belong