Criminology part 1

Criminology

the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon, including the process of making laws, breaking laws, and reacting to the breaking of laws

Norms

established rules of behavior or standards of conduct

Crime

an act or omission that violates the criminal law and is punishable with a jail term, fine, and/or other sanction

Consensus crimes

based on common agreement that a behavior is wrong and harmful

Non consensus crimes

some people may disagree on whether a certain behavior is wrong or deserving of punishment

White collar crimes

crime committed by people in the course of their legitimate business activities, not usually dealt with by criminal courts

Summary convictions

less serious crimes

Indictable offenses

more serious offenses

Consensus Theory

criminal laws represent a consensus within society about what acts should be prohibited

Class Conflict Theory

laws are passed by members of the ruling class the maintain their privileged position by keeping the common people under control

Group Conflict Theory

all laws are a result of a political process which typically involves a conflict or debate among various interest groups

Terrorism

the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective by targeting innocent people

Surveillance

any systematic focus on personal information in order to influence, manage, entitle, or control those whose information is collected

Substantive criminal law

legislation that defines various criminal offenses and that specifies the various legal elements that must be present before a conviction can be entered against an accused person

Criminal procedure

legislation that specifies the procedures to be followed in prosecution of a criminal case and that defines the nature and scope of the powers of criminal justice officials

Regulatory offences

quasi-criminal law, related to trade, commerce, industry, and everyday living like driving, fishing, hunting

True crimes

theft assault, sexual assault, willful damage to property

Common law

a body of judge-made law that evolved in areas not covered by legislation

Contempt of court

the last remaining common law offence in Canada

Common law defenses

the preservation of any new common law justification, excuse, or defense to a criminal charge as long as it is consistent with the Criminal Code

Defense of necessity

argument that the defendant had no other choice but to commit the act to prevent further danger or peril

Automatism

defense used in the case that a person's consciousness is impaired to such an extent that there is no actus reus due to the action being committed involuntarily

Actus Reus

all elements contained in the definition of a criminal offense (besides mental ones)

Mens Rea

the mental elements (other than voluntariness) contained within the definition of a criminal offense that the Crown must prove in order to obtain a conviction

Subjective mens rea

an accused person may not be convicted of a criminal offense unless they deliberately intended to bring about the consequences prohibited by the law (Intention and knowledge), subjectively realized that their conduct might bring about such prohibited consequences but recklessly continued with that conduct in spite of their knowledge of the risks involves (recklessness), OR were willfully blind in that they deliberately closed their minds to the obvious criminality of their actions (willful blindness)

Objective mens rea

the accused person should be convicted of a certain offense not on the basis of intention or recklessness, but rather because reasonable people in the same situation would have taken action to avoid doing so

Strict liability

offenses where the prosecution does not need to prove mens rea, but the accused can avoid liability by demonstrating a lack of negligence (e.g., that they acted with due diligence or took reasonable care to avoid the prohibited act).

Absolute liability

offenses where the prosecution only needs to prove that the accused committed the prohibited act (actus reus). No consideration is given to the accused’s intent, knowledge, or negligence.

Counsel

procuring, soliciting, or inciting another person to commit a crime even if it is not brough to fruition

Party to a crime

a person who counsels (procures, solicits, or incites) another to commit a crime, even if the offense was committed in a way different from that which was counselled

Inchoate crime

a criminal offense committed when an accused person seeks to bring about the commission of a particular crime but is not successful in doing so (crime in embryo)

Criminal Attempt

when a person does or omits to do anything for the purpose of carrying out a previously formed intention to commit a crime

Conspiracy

an agreement by two or more people to commit a criminal offense

NCRMD

not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder

Mistake of fact

defense used when an accused person acts under the influence of an honest mistake in relation to any of the actus reus elements of the offense charged

Intoxication

defense used when the accused is under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs, preventing them from forming the intent required for a specific intent offense, like murder or robbery

Duress

defense used when the accused was forced to commit a crime because of threats of death or serious bodily harm by another person

Necessity

defense used when the accused person commits the lesser evil of a crime in order to avoid the occurrence of a greater evil

Provocation

partial defense often used to reduce the offence from murder to manslaughter

Self-defense

defense used to argue that the accused used a reasonable amount of force to defend themselves if they believe they are the target of a force or a threat of force. Factors

Administrative records

concerned with individual cases (for example, an offender), and can be later transformed into statistics

Criminal statistics

aggregated data, concerned with what is common among many individual cases

Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS)

a division of Statistics Canada formed in 1981 with a mandate to collect national data on crime and justice

Dark figure of crime

crime that remains unreported, unrecorded, and largely unknown

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

standardized national statistics beginning in 1962

Seriousness rule

if there are several crimes committed in one incident, only the most serious crime is counted

Crime Severity Index (CSI)

measures the volume and seriousness of police reported crime in Canada

Victimization surveys

a survey of a random sample of a population in which people are asked to recall and describe their own experiences of being a victim of crime

Self-report studies

a method for measuring crime involving the distribution of a detailed questionnaire to a sample of people, asking them whether they have committed a crime in a particular period of time

Correlate

a phenomenon that accompanies another phenomenon and is in some way related to it, but not necessarily causal (age, gender, race)

Maturational reform

the fact that people are less likely to commit crime as they grow older

Life-course theory

how social bonds such as attachments to a spouse, pursuit of education, the onset of major life events, turning points like having children, stable employment help reduce the likelihood of involvement in crime

Desistence

an underlying causal process whose end product is reducing or ending involvement in criminal activity

Dangerous offender

category which considers the most violent among the population of those convicted of serious crime

Convergence theory / Role conversion hypothesis

when women leave the domestic sphere and enter the work force, there should theoretically be an increase in female crime

Differential offending hypothesis

states that there are actual differences between racial groups in terms of incidence, level of seriousness, and persistence of offending patterns

Differential treatment hypothesis

states that structural inequalities in the administration of justice is responsible for the overrepresentation of minority groups in the criminal justice process

The Colonial Model

the intersection of structural oppression, alienation, and three adaptive forms of behavior (assimilation, crime/deviance, and protest)

Historic Trauma Transmission Model

How historical trauma manifests itself socially and psychologically, ie. learned helplessness, the passing down of traumatic memories

Critical Race Theory

challenges the policies and dynamics and taken-for-granted assumptions of institutional power

Social constructionist approach

questions the idea that there is a social reality that is observable or measurable, positing instead that multiple realities pervade the social world

Legal indeterminacy

not every legal case has one correct outcome

Racialization

a process whereby categories of the population are constructed, differentiated, interiorized, and excluded

Underclass

term used to explain the criminal activity of those at the margins of society

Collective efficacy theory

social cohesion among neighbors combining their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good

Incongruity procedure

police practice of socially sorting people in public spaces

Appeariential ordering

drawing inferences about people's behavior from the appearances they present in public spaces