Crime, Violence, and Criminal Justice

Norms

Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.

Law

A norm formally created through a society’s political system.

Crime

The violation of a criminal law enacted by federal, state, or local government.

Misdemeanor

A less serious crime punishable by less than one year in prison.

Felony

A more serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison.

Crime against property

Crime that involves theft of property belonging to others.

Crime against persons

Crime that involves violence or the threat of violence against others.

Stalking

Repeated efforts by someone to establish or reestablish a relationship against the will of the victim.

Juvenile Delinquency

Violation of the law by young people.

Hate Crime

A criminal offense against a person, property, or society motivated by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ethnicity or national origin.

White-Collar Crime

Illegal activities conducted by people of high social position during the course of their employment or regular business activities. 

Corporate Crime

An illegal act committed by a corporation by persons acting on its behalf.

Organized Crime

A business operation that supplies illegal goods and services.

Victimless Crimes

Offenses that directly harm only the person who commits them.

Violence

Behavior that causes injury to people or damage to property.

Institutional Violence

Violence carried out by government representative under the law.

Anti-Institutional Violence

Violence directed against the government in violation of the law.

Mass Murder

The intentional, unlawful killing off three or more people at one time and place.

Serial Murder

The killing of several people by one offender over a period of time.

Youth Gangs

Groups of young people who identify with one another and with a particular territory.

Criminal Justice System

Society’s use of due process, involving police, courts, and punishment, to enforce the law.

Plea Bargaining

A negotiation in which the state reduces a defendant’s charge in exchange for a guilty plea.

Retribution

Moral vengeance by which society inflicts on the offender suffering comparable to that caused by the offense.

Deterrence

using punishment to discourage further crime.

Rehabilitation

Reforming an offender to prevent future offenses.

Societal Protection

Protecting the public by using incarceration or execution to prevent an offender from committing further offenses.

Criminal Recidivism

Later offenses by people previously convicted of crimes.

Restorative Justice

A response to crime seeking to restore the well-being of the victim, offender, and larger communities that has been lost due to crime.

Community-Based Corrections

correctional programs that take place in local communities rather than behind prison walls.

Labeling Theory

The idea that crime and all other forms of rule breaking result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions.

Stigma

A powerful and negative social label that radically changes a person’s self-concept and social identity.