Criminology Exam Review: Robbery, Gangs, Serial Murder, Mass Shootings, and School Safety

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering criminological definitions, offender typologies, mass-violence metrics, and school-security concepts based on lecture notes.

Robbery

Taking or attempting to take property from a person through force, threat, or fear; classified as a violent crime.

Burglary

Unlawful entry into a building; classified as a property crime that does not require taking property directly from a person.

Personal robbery

Robbery targeting an individual person, such as street robbery, mugging, home invasion, or carjacking.

Commercial robbery

Robbery targeting a commercial establishment or business, such as a bank or convenience store.

Instrumental motive for robbery

A practical or goal-oriented motive for committing robbery, usually centered on obtaining money or property.

Expressive motive for robbery

An emotional or psychological payoff derived from committing robbery, such as excitement, control, status, or respect.

Cyberbanging / internet banging

The practice of using social media or the internet to threaten rivals, promote a gang, or build reputation.

Routine activities theory (RAT)

A theory positing that crime opportunities occur when a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a lack of capable guardianship converge in time and space.

Situational crime prevention

A crime prevention approach that alters physical environments or situations to reduce opportunities for crime; directly related to routine activities theory.

Typical street youth gang

Usually a small, local, loosely organized group of teenagers situated in a disadvantaged area, rather than a highly structured cartel.

Cooling-off period

A period of relative emotional calm between murders that helps distinguish serial murder from spree murder.

Linkage blindness

The failure of law enforcement agencies to connect crimes that may have been committed by the same offender, particularly across different jurisdictions.

Missing missing

Individuals whose disappearances are never formally reported to authorities, making it difficult to detect that they may be victims of crime.

Paraphilia

An atypical sexual arousal pattern.

ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program)

An FBI database designed to link unusual or unsolved violent crimes across jurisdictions, relying on voluntary case submissions from local agencies.

Criminal investigative analysis

The official term used by the FBI for behavioral profiling, which infers possible offender characteristics from crime scene evidence.

Mass murder

The killing of 4 or more victims in a single event or location with no meaningful break between the killings.

Spree murder

The killing of 2 or more victims across connected events or locations over a short duration, with little or no cooling-off period.

Serial murder

Under the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit definition, the killing of 3 or more victims across separate events with cooling-off periods in between.

Black Widow killer

A female serial killer who targets a spouse or partner, often motivated by financial gain.

Angel of Death killer

A serial killer who targets medical patients or other vulnerable, dependent people placed in their care.

Organized killer

In the FBI typology, a serial killer who demonstrates planning and control, is socially capable, and is potentially able to blend into society.

Disorganized killer

In the FBI typology, a serial killer who is impulsive, leaves a messy crime scene, and tends to leave behind more physical evidence.

Golden age of serial murder

The decade span of the 1970s and 1980s, during which serial murder peaked in public prominence and documented frequency in the United States.

Geographic profiling

An investigative methodology that analyzes the spatial distribution of crime locations to estimate an offender's likely anchor point, home base, or operating area.

Active shooter

Under the FBI's 2008 definition, an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.

Assault weapon

A military-style semiautomatic firearm that meets a statutory feature test; it fires one round per trigger pull and is not a fully automatic machine gun.

Machine gun / fully automatic firearm

A firearm capable of firing more than one shot continuously with a single function of the trigger.

Large-capacity magazine (LCM)

An ammunition feeding device capable of holding at least 10 rounds of ammunition.

Bump stock

A firearm attachment that harnesses recoil energy to allow a semiautomatic firearm to fire rounds rapidly, mimicking automatic fire.

Traditional mass-shooting definition

An incident in which 4 or more people are killed by gunfire in one event, excluding the offender; occurs roughly 23 times per year in the U.S.

Nonfatal / broad mass-shooting definition

An incident in which 4 or more people are shot, whether killed or injured; totals roughly 600 incidents annually, with nearly half involving zero fatalities.

Public mass-shooting definition

An incident where 4 or more people are killed by gunfire in a public venue; occurs roughly 3 to 6 times per year (averaging approximately 5).

Familicide

A mass killing targeting family members, frequently committed by a husband or father experiencing interpersonal crisis or despondency, with a high risk of suicide.

Felony-related mass killing

A mass killing that occurs secondary to another crime such as robbery, drug activity, or gang disputes; offenders resemble general homicide offenders and have lower suicide rates.

Public mass killing

A rare form of mass killing committed in a public setting, often perceived as indiscriminate or ideologically driven, characterized by high perpetrator suicide rates and extensive media coverage.

Federal Assault Weapons Ban

A U.S. federal statute in effect from 1994 to 2004 that prohibited specific firearm models, certain military features, and magazines holding over 10 rounds, while grandfathering existing weapons.

Leakage

The intentional or unintentional communication of clues, warnings, or intentions by a prospective attacker through spoken threats, diary entries, drawings, or online posts.

School-to-prison pipeline

The pattern of punitive disciplinary policies and direct police involvement that funnel students—disproportionately students of color—out of educational settings into the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.

Columbine High School shooting (1999)

A 1999 mass shooting that became a major historical turning point for school target hardening, copycat dynamics, and police rapid-intervention tactics.

Target hardening

The installation of physical security features such as surveillance cameras, metal detectors, and mandatory ID badges to fortify a facility against crime.

Active-shooter drills

Emergency preparedness simulations conducted in schools that lack empirical evidence of safety improvements and can generate anxiety, stress, or psychological trauma among students.

School resource officers (SROs)

Sworn law enforcement officers placed in school environments for enforcement, mentoring, and education, whose presence can lead to the criminalization of minor disciplinary infractions.

Zero tolerance

Mandatory, non-discretionary punishment policies for school infractions that fail to improve school safety and disproportionately penalize minority students.

No Notoriety campaign

A media initiative urging news organizations to limit the naming, publication of photos, and sensationalized coverage of mass attackers to minimize copycat contagion.

Codes of silence

School climates or social expectations among students that discourage the reporting of threats, bullying, weapon possession, or concerning peer behavior.

Collateral consequences

Unintended negative side effects of a criminal justice or school policy, such as heightened anxiety, decreased academic achievement, and disproportionate disciplinary actions.