Chapter 1 (Part 1) - Introduction to Crime and the Criminal Justice System

Housekeeping

• Syllabus Quiz (First Day Attendance) due by 4:00 PM on January 15, 2025.
• Upcoming Assignments:
  • Getting to Know You Survey - Due January 19.
  • Key Takeaways #1 - Due Tuesday, January 21.
  • Key Takeaway #2 - Due Sunday, January 26.
  • Note the proximity to the first assignment.
• No class next Monday (MLK Day).

Ice Breaker

• Groups of 3-4.
• Exchange usf.edu emails with group members.
• Discuss:
  • Name & Major
  • Reason for taking this class
  • Favorite comfort food and why
• Select a representative to introduce everyone and share their comfort food.

What is Crime?

• Crime: The breaking of a law for which the criminal justice system or some other governing authority prescribes punishment.
• Different types of crime: street, property, victimless, cybercrime, white-collar, terrorism.
• Crime varies based on geographic region, characteristics of the victim/offender, and time.

Street Crime

• Involves a victim and offender in the same place and time.
• Includes: homicide, rape, aggravated assault, etc.

Property Crime

• More common and involves property.
• Includes: motor vehicle theft, burglary, and property theft.

Victimless Crime

• Involves illegal behavior that does not affect another person.
• Includes: prostitution, drug use, and gambling.

White-Collar Crime

• Committed by occupational, corporate, or government professionals.
• Includes: bribery, fraud, price fixing, insider trading, etc.

Cybercrime

• Committed using a computer or computer networks.
• Includes network infiltrations, viruses, etc.

Terrorism

• Committed by subnational or extremist groups.
• Targets noncombatants.
• Has the purpose of influencing an audience.

Crime Over Time

• The definition of crime and the behaviors that are considered to be criminal have evolved over time.
• Two Classifications of Crime:
  • Mala in se: behavior that is immoral and inherently wrong by nature.
    • Examples: Murder
  • Mala prohibita: behavior that is prohibited by law.
    • Examples: Marijuana use (medical and recreational).
• Decriminalization: the act of ending/reducing criminal penalties associated with some behaviors.

Case Study: Marital Rape Laws

• Prior to 1986, a spouse could not accuse their spouse of rape against them. It was considered “impossible” for a “husband” to rape their “wife” because the latter willingly entered a marriage to the former.
• Federal Sexual Abuse Act of 1986
• It was not until July 1993, when all 50 states removed the martial exemption from its sexual assault laws.
• Other examples: justifiable homicide, adultery, DUI, and rape.

Contemporary Issues Defining Rape

• People v. Turner
  • Offender was initially charged with five felonies including two counts of rape; however, California law required “penis penetration” to convict someone of rape.
  • Ultimately, offender was charged with three felony charges:
    • (1) assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman (2) sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object (his fingers), and (3) sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

Crime in the Media

• Framing: packaging of criminal events in the media into tidy presentations that make sharing the information easy.
• Lots of examples in true crime.
• Five common crime-and-justice frames:
  1. Faulty CJS
  2. Blocked opportunities
  3. Social breakdown
  4. Racist system
  5. Violent media

1. Faulty CJS Frame

• This perspective suggests that crime is a consequence of a flawed criminal justice system and that criminals offend because they feel they can get away with it.
• Often hand-in-hand with “fear of crime” news stories.
• Policies to solve crime?
  • Enact sanctions that are swift, certain, and severe.
  • Brutal punishment of criminals will solve crime.

2. Blocked Opportunities Frame

• This perspective suggests that crime results from a lack of legal opportunities among offenders.
• Key example: “Poverty causes crime.”
• Policies to solve crime?
  • Enact policies that lift people out of poverty, educate them, offer them skills to enhance employability, and end discrimination. Given the right opportunities, offenders will not commit crime.

3. Social Breakdown

• This perspective suggests crime is the result of a breakdown in family and community.
• Policies to solve crime?
  • Enact policies that promote family and community values.
• New Report: Stronger Families, Safer Streets (2023) from the Institute of Family Studies.
• YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg – before-and-after school programs

4. Racist System Frame

• This perspective indicates that the problem is not crime, but rather that law enforcement, courts, and corrections are racist agents of oppression.
• Policies to solve crime?
  • Enact policies that ameliorate racial injustices, and include the banding together of people of color to gain the justice that they deserve.

5. Violent Media Frame

• This frame finds that crime is depicted as a direct result of the violent media present in television, movies, video games, and music.
• Policies to solve crime?
  • Enact policies that would regulate widespread violent imagery available to the masses.

Crime in the Media

• Unfortunately, the relationship between the media and crime results in infotainment – the marketing of a highly edited and distorted combination of entertainment and information purported to be truthful and comprehensive.

• Examples: Cops, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, America’s Most Wanted, & Dateline (see Surette & Otto, 2002).

• Common crime misconceptions:

  • Women are more likely to be victims of violence than men.
  • Most crime is violent.
  • Only guilty people confess to crimes.
  • Most individuals accused of crimes go to trial.

• Contemporary practice of narrow-casting, further distorts the presentation of crime in the media.

  • Narrow-Casting: the presentation of a narrow view of information in the media to small homogeneous audiences.
  • Think about: social media algorithms.