Criminology and Juvenile Justice Lecture Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering developmental theories, juvenile justice, constitutional amendments, critical criminology, and organized crime concepts from the lecture transcript.

Differential Association Theory

A theory stating that people learn criminal behavior, attitudes, techniques, and justifications through interactions with others, especially individuals they are close to.

Ordinary Men

A historical study showing that ordinary people can participate in horrific crimes because of peer pressure, obedience, conformity, and group expectations, rather than being naturally evil.

Developmental Theories

Theories that explain how criminal behavior develops and changes throughout a person's life.

Latent Trait Theory

A theory positing that a person's tendency toward crime is influenced by a stable trait established at birth or early childhood.

Latent Trait

A lasting characteristic established at birth or early childhood that can increase someone's likelihood of committing crime.

Career Development Theories

Theories that explain how criminal behavior begins, continues, changes, and eventually stops throughout a person's life.

Four Dimensions of a Criminal Career

Onset (when criminal behavior begins), persistence (how long it lasts), frequency (how often it occurs), and desistance (when it stops).

Authority Conflict Pathway

One of Loeber's developmental pathways that starts with stubborn behavior, moves to defiance, and can develop into authority avoidance.

Covert Pathway

One of Loeber's developmental pathways that starts with minor rule-breaking, progresses to property damage, and can develop into serious criminal behavior.

Overt Pathway

One of Loeber's developmental pathways that starts with minor aggression, progresses to physical fighting, and can develop into serious violence.

Early Onset

Criminal behavior that begins at a young age; early starters are generally at greater risk of continued offending.

Critical Criminology

A theoretical perspective that examines how power, inequality, and social structures (such as class, race, gender, and capitalism) influence crime and the criminal justice system.

504 Plan

A school plan that provides accommodations to students with disabilities so they have equal access to education, requiring schools to follow disability protections during discipline.

Manifestation Determination

A hearing under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to determine whether a student's misconduct was caused by or directly related to their disability.

13th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime after conviction.

14th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that granted citizenship to formerly enslaved people and established equal protection and due process under the law.

15th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, though Southern states undermined it with literacy tests and poll taxes.

Rebirth of Caste

The rebuilding of racial hierarchy after slavery through laws and systems that restricted Black freedom and rights.

New Caste System

A system of racial and social control that maintains inequality through institutions such as the criminal justice system and mass incarceration.

Tamir Rice

A 12-year-old Black boy fatally shot by Cleveland police in 2014 while playing with a toy pellet gun; his case highlights racial bias, police force, and perceiving Black children as older or more threatening.

Organized Crime

Illegal activities carried out by structured groups working together for money, power, or influence, characterized by leadership, division of labor, secrecy, and corruption.

Transnational Organized Crime

Organized criminal activity that crosses national borders, such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering.

State-Organized Crime

Criminal acts committed by government officials while acting in their official positions, such as political corruption, illegal surveillance, human rights violations, and state violence.

Corporate Crime

Illegal or harmful activities committed by businesses or corporations for financial gain, such as knowingly violating safety regulations to save money.

Surplus Value

The wealth workers produce beyond what they receive in wages, which business owners keep as profit.

Marginalization

Pushing people outside the economic and social mainstream, often through unemployment and poverty, leaving them facing financial hardship and disadvantage.

Globalization

The creation of connections between countries through international markets, businesses, politics, and trade, enabling criminal organizations to operate across borders.

Instrumental Theory

The critical criminological perspective that laws and the criminal justice system are used by powerful economic groups to control the working class and the poor.

Structural Theory

The critical criminological perspective that laws function to protect and maintain the overall capitalist system as a whole rather than just serving individual wealthy people.

Supranational Criminology

The study of crimes that affect multiple nations, including war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

Extraordinary Rendition

Sending suspected criminals or terrorists to another country for interrogation, sometimes where torture is permitted.

Left Realism

A criminological approach that connects crime to inequality and social disadvantage while supporting practical, community-based solutions.

Preemptive Deterrence

Preventing crime before it happens through community organization and youth involvement.

Critical Feminist Theory

A theory explaining crime and victimization through gender inequality, patriarchy, and the exploitation of women.

Patriarchy

A social system where men hold most of the power and authority.

Milgram Experiment

A psychology experiment testing obedience to authority, demonstrating that ordinary people may obey an authority figure even when believing their actions harm someone else.

Adolescent-Limited Offender

An offender whose antisocial behavior mainly occurs during adolescence and usually decreases in adulthood.

Life-Course-Persistent Offender

An offender whose criminal behavior begins early in childhood and continues into adulthood.