Problems Chapter 4

Criminal activity that occurs across one or more national borders.

An act, or the omission of an act, that is a violation of a federal, state, or local criminal law for which the state can apply sanctions.

The number of crimes committed per 100,000 population.

The percentage of crimes in which an arrest and official charge have been made and the case has been turned over to the courts.

Deviant behavior committed before a person is caught and labeled an offender.

Deviance that results from being caught and labeled as an offender.

Crimes identified by the FBI as the most serious, including personal or violent crimes (homicide, assault, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (larceny, motor vehicle theft, burglary, and arson).

Rape committed by someone known to the victim.

Rape committed by a stranger, with the use of a weapon, resulting in serious bodily injury to the victim.

Illegal activities that have no complaining participant(s) and are often thought of as crimes against morality such as prostitution.

Criminal activity conducted by members of a hierarchically arranged structure devoted primarily to making money through illegal means.

Includes both occupational crime, in which individuals commit crimes in the course of their employment, an corporate crime, in which corporations violate the law in the interest of maximizing profit.

The production of unsafe products and the failure of corporations to provide a safe working environment for their employees.

Any violation of the law in which a computer is the target or means of criminal activity.

The use of someone else's identification (e.g., social security number, birth date) to obtain credit or other economic rewards.

The law enforcement practice of targeting suspects on the basis of race.

The use of harm or the threat of harm to prevent unwanted behaviors.

A criminal justice philosophy that argues that recidivism can be reduced by changing the criminal through such programs as substance abuse counseling, job training, education, etc.

A criminal justice philosophy that argues that recidivism can be reduced by placing the offender in prison so that he or she is unable to commit further crimes against the general public.

The conditional release of an offender who, for a specific time period and subject to certain conditions, remains under court supervision in the community.

The state (the federal government or a state) takes the life of a person as punishment for a crime.

A philosophy primarily concerned with reconciling conflict between the victim, the offender, and the community.

All societies have crime and have a process by which they deal with crime and criminals; that is, they have police, courts, and correctional facilities. Worldwide, most offenders are young males and the most common offense is theft; the least common offense is murder.

There are three primary sources of crime statistics. First are official statistics, for example, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, which are published annually. Second are victimization surveys designed to get at the "dark figure" of crime, crime that is missed by official statistics. Finally, there are self-report studies that have all the problems of any survey research. Investigators must be cautious about whom they survey and how they ask the questions.

Strain theory was developed by Robert Merton (1957) and uses Durkheim's concept of anomie, or normlessness. Merton argued that when legitimate means (e.g., a job) of acquiring culturally defined goals (e.g., money) are limited by the structure of society, the resulting strain may lead to crime. Individuals, then, must adapt to the inconsistency between means and goals in a society that socializes everyone in to wanting the same thing but provides opportunities for only some.

Index offenses, as defined by the FBI, include two categories of crime: violent crime and property crime. Violent crimes include murder, robbery, assault, and rape; property crimes include larceny, car theft, burglary, and arson. Property crimes, although less serious than violent crimes, are the most numerous.

White-collar crime includes two categories: occupational crime, that is, crime committed in the course of one's occupation; and corporate crime, in which corporations violate the law in interest of maximizing profits. In occupational crime the motivation is individual gain.

• Official statistics indicate that minorities are disproportionately represented in the offender population.
• Nevertheless, it is inaccurate to conclude that race and crime are causally related. First, official statistics reflect the behaviors and policies of criminal justice actors. Thus the high rate of arrests, conviction, and incarceration of minorities may be a consequence of individual and institutional bias against minorities. Second, race and social class are closely related in that nonwhites are overrepresented in the lower classes. Because lower-class members lack legitimate means to acquire material goods, they may turn to instrumental, or economically motivated, crimes. Thus the apparent relationship between race and crime may, in part, be a consequence of the relationship between these variables and social class.

First are the direct losses from crime, such as the destruction of buildings through arson or of the environment by polluters. Second are costs associated with the transferring of property (e.g., embezzlement). A third major cost of crime is that associated with criminal violence, for example, the medical cost of treating crime victims. Fourth are the costs associated with the production and sale of illegal goods and services. Fifth is the cost of prevention and protection. Finally, there is the cost of the criminal justice system, law enforcement, litigation, and judicial activities, corrections, and victims� assistance.

Although at present capital punishment is legal in 38 states, several states are questioning its constitutionality and thus have halted executions. Of those states that have a moratorium, the most common legal issue is whether or not death by lethal injection violates the Eighth amendment�s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. There is also federal legislation pending that would abolish the death penalty under federal law.

False

Law Enforcement Agencies

• Merton
• Which of the following is not an index offense? Drug possession, homicide, rape, or burglary.
• Drug possession

True

True

Court supervision in the community in lieu of incarceration.

True

• Are in favor of the death penalty.
• Prefer solving social problems that cause crime rather than increasing the number of police on the streets.
• Have faith in the police.

True