Criminology Chapter 4

Classical criminology

A theory suggesting that criminal behavior is a matter of personal choice made after considering costs and benefits, reflecting the needs of the offender.

Crackdowns

The concentration of police resources on problem areas, such as street-level drug dealing, to eradicate or displace criminal activity.

Crime discouragers

Individuals who serve as guardians of property or people to deter potential offenders.

Defensible space

The principle that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical environment to reduce opportunities for illegal acts.

Diffusion

An effect that occurs when efforts to prevent one specific crime unintentionally prevent another type of crime.

Discouragement

An effect that occurs when crime control efforts targeting a particular locale help reduce crime in surrounding areas and populations.

Displacement

An effect that occurs when crime control efforts simply move or redirect offenders to less heavily guarded alternative targets.

Extinction

An effect that occurs when crime reduction programs produce a short-term positive effect, but benefits dissipate as offenders adjust to new conditions.

Focused deterrence

The targeting of a particular crime or area by police and other social agencies to discourage criminality.

General deterrence

A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties to convince potential law violators that the pains of crime outweigh its benefits.

Incapacitation effect

The idea that keeping offenders in confinement eliminates the risk of their committing further offenses.

Johns

Individuals who solicit sex workers.

Just desert

The principle of applying fair and reasonable punishment proportional to the damage or hurt caused by the crime.

Marginal deterrence

The concept that a penalty for a crime may prompt commission of a marginally more severe crime if both receive the same magnitude of punishment.

Offender-specific crime

The view that perpetrators evaluate their own skills, motives, needs, and fears before deciding to commit an illegal act.

Offense-specific crime

The view that an offender reacts selectively to the specific characteristics and conditions of a particular criminal act.

Ponzi game (Ponzi scheme)

An investment fraud that pays profits to earlier investors using funds from more recent investors, misleading victims into believing profits derive from legitimate business activity.

Positivist criminology

The view that crime is not a matter of individual choice but the result of measurable social, psychological, and biological factors.

Rational choice theory (choice theory)

The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the would-be offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

Recidivism

The repetition of criminal behavior or reoffending.

Replacement

An effect that occurs when offenders try new offenses they had previously avoided because situational crime prevention programs neutralized their primary choice of crime.

Restrictive (partial) deterrence

Situations in which the threat of punishment can reduce the frequency or severity of crime without eliminating it entirely.

Situational crime prevention

A method of crime prevention that seeks to eliminate or reduce opportunities for crimes in specific settings.

Specific deterrence

The view that criminal sanctions should be severe enough to convince convicted offenders never to repeat their criminal acts.

Utilitarianism

The ethical belief that an action is right, moral, and correct if it benefits the majority of people and promotes overall happiness.