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Property Crimes
- larceny-theft
- motor vehicle theft
- fraud
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Larceny
unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another
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Grand Larceny
stolen money or goods of greater value (felony)
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Petit Larceny
small amount of money or property (misdemeanor)
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Booster
a shoplifter who steals and resells the stolen merchandise
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Snitch
a shoplifter who steals for their own consumption
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Public Order Crimes
- criminal acts that deviate from society's general ideas of normal social behavior and moral values
- "victimless/consensual crimes"
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Burglary
unlawful entry in order to commit a crime
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Marketer
a person who burglarizes and offers the product for sale
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Fencer
a person who buys the stolen property from a burglar
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Robbery
inflicts or threatens to inflict serious bodily injury upon another while in the course of committing a theft
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Violent Crimes
aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery
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Assault
attempted or threatened offensive touching
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Simple Assault
minor bodily harm
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Aggravated Assault
- serious bodily harm
- usually with a weapon
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Battery
offensive touching
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Rape
penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim
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Statutory Rape
forms of sexual penetration committed against a person under the age of consent
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Criminal Homicide
unlawful killing of one human being by another (purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently)
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Expressive Motivation
emotional states in which the offender strikes out spontaneously
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Instrumental Motivation
the offender is driven by will to achieve a predetermined goal
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Causation
a relationship where one variable causes a change in another
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Correlation
relationships between variables in which they vary together
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Theory
an explanation of a happening/circumstance of two or more factors that is based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning
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Hypothesis
a possible explanation for an observed occurrence that can be tested by further investigation
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Scientific Method
- 1) Observation
- 2) Hypothesis
- 3) Test
- 4) Verification
- 5) Theory
- 6) Prediction
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Macrotheory
social structure, more abstract
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Bridging Theory
middle ground between macro and micro theories
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Microtheory
individual, least abstract
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Unit Theory
focus on one phenomenon, testable
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Metatheory
focus on perception of reality, rarely testable
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Social Context
the events and beliefs of the times
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Intellectual Context
the books, mentors, and influences important to the theories
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Hedonism
human behavior is guided by pleasure-seeking and pain avoidance
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Social Contract
- individual bound to society only by his/her consent
- people are responsible to each other
- individual surrenders to the state only the limited rights necessary to ensure protection of all citizens
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Utilitarianism
greatest good for the greatest number
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Cesare Beccaria
- punishment exceeding what is necessary to protect public is unjust
- don't punish just to punish
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Jeremy Bentham
- greatest good for the greatest number (economic model)
- let the punishment fit the crime (proportionality)
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Hedonistic Calculus
- Jeremy Bentham
- pleasure/pain principle - criminals calculate their gain and behave accordingly
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Deterrence Theory
- assumes individuals will act in their own interest unless restrained - deterrence is that restraint
- Elements: celerity (speed of punishment), certainty (likelihood of being caught), severity (degree of punishment)
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August Comte
- founder of positivist philosophy and sociology
- developed a scientific method of study
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Cesare Lombroso
- father of positivist criminology
- 3 Pre-Darwinian Theories (craniometry, phrenology, physiognomy)
- atavism
- stigmata
- determinism
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Atavism
- Cesare Lombroso
- humans devolved rather than evolved
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Lombroso's Stigmata
- atavistic physical stigmata
- asymmetrical face, large monkey-like ears, large lips,…
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Determinism
- Cesare Lombroso
- human behavior is determined by factors beyond free will and free choice
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H. H. Goddard
- authority on use/interpretation on IQ (innate)
- labeled low IQ - feeblemindedness
- morons --> imbeciles --> idiots
- morons are the biggest threat because they are the closest to normal
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Eugenics
- H. H. Goddard
- improving genetic quality in humans
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Sheldon
- Body Type Theory - associating body types with human temperament types
- endomorphs - jolly, lazy (thick)
- mesomorphs - risk takers, aggressive (muscular, fit)
- ectomorph - nervous, introverted (thin)
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MPA
medial physical assessment
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Symbolic Interaction
we all interact with symbols
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Ecological Theory
- derived from organic approach to city
- mapping of social problems
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Concentric Zones
- concept is developed from ecological theory
- zone 1 - central business district
- zone 2 - zone of transition
- zone 3 - workingmen's houses
- zone 4 - better residences
- zone 5 - commuter's residences
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Cultural Transmission Theory
- Shaw & McKay
- juvenile in socially disorganized areas have greater exposure to and opportunity for delinquency and crime
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Culture Conflict
- Primary: individual from one culture moves into another culture
- Secondary: subculture within dominant culture
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Social Disorganization
- neighborhood ecological characteristics
- allows crime and delinquency
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Media and Crime (Images)
- 1) A mistaken image of the amount of crime
- 2) Created an image that crime rates have increased consistently
- 3) Distorts the incidence of nonviolent crimes
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Media and Crime (Framing)
- 1) Episodically - isolated stories
- 2) Thematically - focuses on themes in terms of causes and remedies (i.e. poverty, drugs, identity theft)
- 3) Failure of the criminal justice system
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Media and Crime (Understanding Crime)
- 1) News Value - violations of norms, good vs. evil, victims should be vulnerable and blameless
- 2) Organizational Needs - mass media are for-profit enterprises
- 3) Reliance on Official Sources - authoritative figures
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Typology Approach of Crime
- Understand how criminologists categorize criminals and criminal events
- Definitional Parameters - not bound by law
- Crime Types - violent, property, sexual, white collar, and public order
- Crime Rates determined by taking the number of crimes committed and dividing by the population at risk
- Violent Crimes - aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery
- Property Crime - arson, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft
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Aspects of a Criminal Event
- every criminal event consists of an offender, a victim (a target), and a setting
- 4 Principles - Behavioral, Cognitive, Cultural, Societal
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Behavioral Aspects
- actus reus and mens reas
- skills and techniques used by offenders
- patterned criminal transactions
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Cognitive Aspects
- thoughts and cognition that underlie behavior
- motivation and planning
- normative neutralization
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Cultural Aspects
- criminal subculture
- loners and peers
- socialization script
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Societal Reaction
- Formal Reaction - institutional responses
- Informal Reaction - reaction from audiences
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