Criminology Final

Youth Crime

A socially constructed category referring to criminal acts committed by adolescents and young people.

Social Construction

The process through which society collectively defines and perceives categories, such as 'youth' or 'youth crime', often exaggerating their significance.

Status Offenses

Acts that are considered offenses only when committed by juveniles, such as truancy or curfew violations.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A prediction that causes itself to become true due to the behavior of those who hear the prediction.

Positive Youth Justice

An approach that prioritizes understanding and supporting children first, rather than labeling them as criminals.

Ambivalence

Mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something, which in this case refers to society's conflicting views on children.

Legislation

Laws set forth by a governing body to formalize the control and management of societal issues, including youth crime.

Bespoke Responses

Customized measures or strategies designed to specifically address youth crime.

Red Herring

A misleading or distracting issue that appears relevant but is not the main issue at hand, in this case referring to the youth crime illusion.

Crisis Mentality

A heightened sense of urgency and danger surrounding youth crime, often exaggerated by media and politicians.

Child-Appropriate Responses

Actions and interventions tailored to meet the developmental needs of children and young people.

Conventional Crime Rate

Measures the amount of crime reported by police in an area, calculated by dividing the number of crimes by the area's population.

Crime Severity Index (CSI)

An analytical measure developed in 2009 that considers both the volume and relative severity of crimes, tracking changes over time.

Weight in CSI

A value assigned to each type of crime that reflects its severity based on court sentences over the past five years.

Impact on Crime

Refers to how changes in the volume of serious crimes like murder significantly affect the CSI more than the conventional crime rate.

Area-based Measure

A method measuring crime statistics that takes into account the geographic area, such as cities or provinces.

Demographics

Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it, which can influence crime trends.

Awareness Campaigns

Efforts by local police to educate the community about crime prevention, which can affect reporting rates.

Holistic Analysis

An approach that considers all factors in context rather than examining elements in isolation.

Serious vs. Less Serious Crimes

The distinction made between crimes that have more significant impacts on the CSI compared to those that have less.

Statistics Canada

The national statistical agency that publishes crime reports and data to help understand crime trends across Canada.

Panopticon

A circular prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, where prisoners are constantly aware of being watched.

Pervasive Power

The principle that allows observation and regulation of everything that occurs within the prison.

Obscure Power

The principle where the observer can see the observed, but the observed cannot see the observer.

Structural Violence

Coercion exercised through societal structures rather than direct physical force.

Surveillance

The monitoring of behavior and activities of individuals, used for regulatory purposes.

Subjection

The act of bringing someone or something under control or dominance; Foucault describes the penal system as a technology of subjection.

Foucault's Thesis

The idea that the penal system exists to defend the power of the ruling class rather than to prevent crime.

Legitimate Security Concerns

Security measures that are justified and necessary to maintain order, but can also intersect with issues of surveillance.

Snowden Revelations

The exposure of government surveillance practices that raised concerns about privacy and civil liberties.

Alternative Law Enforcement Strategies

Potential new approaches to law enforcement that do not rely on panoptic structures.

Broken Windows Policing

A policing theory suggesting that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, ultimately reducing larger crimes.

Bob Gangi

Director of the Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP), advocating against discriminatory police practices.

Discriminatory practices

Actions by law enforcement that treat people unfairly based on race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.

Quota System

An enforcement strategy where police departments set mandatory arrest or ticket numbers for officers, potentially leading to biased policing.

Community Policing

A strategy of law enforcement that seeks to build positive relationships between police and the community to prevent crime.

Low-level infractions

Minor offenses often targeted by police, such as graffiti, jaywalking, or public drinking.

Policing disparities

The unequal application of law enforcement practices among different racial or socio-economic groups.

NYPD

New York City Police Department, responsible for law enforcement in New York City, often associated with broken windows policing.

Park Slope action

An event led by PROP to highlight policing disparities by issuing mock summonses to predominantly white individuals committing minor infractions.

Surveillance

Close observation or monitoring of individuals, often leading to feelings of distrust and fear within communities.

Radical reform

Fundamental changes proposed in policing methods and the criminal justice system to address systemic issues.

Public intoxication

The act of being visibly drunk in public spaces, often leading to confusion about the legality of such behavior.

Community empowerment

The process of enabling communities to take control of their lives and address their own needs, often in response to systemic injustices.

Political advocacy

Efforts to influence government policies, often by organizations like PROP to promote reform within the police force.

Recidivist

A person who relapses into criminal behavior, especially after serving a sentence.

Broken Windows Theory

A criminological theory suggesting that visible signs of crime and disorder lead to more serious crime.

Collateral Consequences

Secondary effects that occur as a result of criminal justice actions or policies, often negatively impacting individuals.

Order Maintenance

A policing strategy focused on maintaining public order rather than enforcing laws or combatting crime.

Neoconservative Politics

A political ideology that emphasizes free markets, limited government, and traditional values, often associated with aggressive law enforcement.

Manhattan Institute

A conservative think tank that contributed to the development of broken windows theory and policing strategies in New York.

Empirical Research

Systematic observation or experimentation aimed at discovering facts or principles.

Public Disorder

Visible signs of social disorder in a community, such as vandalism, loitering, or aggressive panhandling.

Low-level Infractions

Minor offenses, often involving non-violent behaviors, that may lead to arrests and criminal charges.

Concerted Action

Coordinated activity or strategy among individuals or groups, often in a law enforcement context.

Rat Park

A science experiment by psychologist Bruce Alexander that tested the effects of environment on drug addiction in rats.

Addiction

A psychological and physical inability to stop consuming a chemical, drug, or activity, despite its harmful consequences.

Decriminalization

The removal of criminal penalties for certain acts, such as drug possession, shifting the focus to health and social services instead of punishment.

Harm reduction

Policies and practices aimed at minimizing the negative health, social, and legal impacts associated with drug use rather than eliminating drug use altogether.

Drug war

A term used to describe the government-led initiatives to combat illegal drug use and trade, often through strict law enforcement.

Social problems

Issues that affect a significant number of people within a society, such as unemployment, poverty, and lack of access to healthcare, which can be underlying causes of drug problems.

Bruce Alexander

Canadian psychologist known for the 'Rat Park' experiment that explored the relationship between environment and addiction.

Stigma

A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person, often leading to discrimination and social isolation.

Progressive drug policies

Forward-thinking approaches to drug regulation that prioritize health and evidence-based methods over punitive measures.

Empathy in storytelling

The practice of portraying subjects' stories with compassion and understanding, often important in documentary filmmaking to build trust.

Social Construct

An idea or concept that is created and developed by society rather than being inherent or scientifically defined.

Systema Naturae

A classification system developed by Linnaeus that categorized humans into varieties based on physical characteristics associated with continents.

Scientific Racism

The misuse of scientific research and data to support or validate racial stereotypes and discrimination.

Genetic Variation

The diversity in gene frequencies among individuals within a population, which is significantly less in humans compared to other species.

Cultural Similarities

Shared characteristics and experiences among groups that arise from a common racial or ethnic background.

Political Tools

Categories used to classify individuals or groups that serve the interests of those wielding political power.

Fuzzy Genetic Similarity

The concept that genetic connections among humans are not clearly defined or distinct and overlap widely among different populations.

Racism

Prejudice or discrimination against individuals based on their perceived racial identity.

Immutable Characteristics

Traits or qualities that are viewed as unchanging or fixed over time.

Spectrum of Identity

The idea that race and identity exist along a continuum rather than in rigid, distinct categories.

Incarceration

The state of being confined in prison.

Retributive justice

A concept that justice demands punishment for wrongdoers as a response to crime.

Rehabilitation

The process of restoring someone to a previous condition, especially concerning inmates returning to a normal life.

Intellectually disabled

A condition where a person has significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior.

Criminally negligent homicide

A criminal charge resulting from causing the death of another person through a failure to exercise reasonable care.

Delusional schizophrenia

A severe mental disorder characterized by delusions, that can distort one's perception of reality.

Poverty and racial subordination

Socio-economic factors that disproportionately affect incarcerated individuals and can influence criminal behavior.

Collective failures

Failures of a society or system to address the needs and rights of its members, often leading to issues like crime and punishment.

Opioid disorder

A medical condition characterized by an uncontrollable craving for and use of opioid drugs.

Mental health disorder

A condition that affects a person's thinking, feeling, behavior, or mood, impacting daily functioning.

Restorative Justice

A response to crime that focuses on repairing harm caused to victims, communities, and offenders, rather than solely punishing the offender.

Victim

An individual who has suffered harm or loss due to a crime.

Offender

A person who commits a crime and is subject to legal consequences.

Restitution

Compensation or payment made by an offender to a victim for the harm caused by the crime.

Crime

An action or behavior that violates the laws of a society and is punishable by the state.

Accountability

The obligation of offenders to take responsibility and make amends for their actions.

Stakeholder Involvement

The participation of victims, offenders, and community members in the justice process.

Recidivism

The tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend or relapse into criminal behavior.

Family Group Conferences (FGC)

A restorative practice where family and community members come together to discuss a juvenile offender's actions and determine how to repair the harm.

Social capital

The networks of relationships and trust within a community that facilitate cooperation and support.

Peacemaking Circles

A restorative practice that brings together affected parties to discuss harm and repair relationships.

Mass incarceration

The substantial increase in the number of people imprisoned, particularly in the U.S.

Truth-telling sessions

A restorative practice particularly used in post-conflict situations, where individuals share their experiences and seek closure.

Community service

A form of restitution where offenders perform work for the community as a consequence of their actions.

Healing Dialogue

A conversation between victims and offenders aimed at acknowledging harm and promoting understanding.