Criminology Midterm.txt

• larceny-theft
• motor vehicle theft
• fraud

unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another

stolen money or goods of greater value (felony)

small amount of money or property (misdemeanor)

a shoplifter who steals and resells the stolen merchandise

a shoplifter who steals for their own consumption

• criminal acts that deviate from society's general ideas of normal social behavior and moral values
• "victimless/consensual crimes"

unlawful entry in order to commit a crime

a person who burglarizes and offers the product for sale

a person who buys the stolen property from a burglar

inflicts or threatens to inflict serious bodily injury upon another while in the course of committing a theft

aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery

attempted or threatened offensive touching

minor bodily harm

• serious bodily harm
• usually with a weapon

offensive touching

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

forms of sexual penetration committed against a person under the age of consent

unlawful killing of one human being by another (purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently)

emotional states in which the offender strikes out spontaneously

the offender is driven by will to achieve a predetermined goal

a relationship where one variable causes a change in another

relationships between variables in which they vary together

an explanation of a happening/circumstance of two or more factors that is based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning

a possible explanation for an observed occurrence that can be tested by further investigation

• 1) Observation
• 2) Hypothesis
• 3) Test
• 4) Verification
• 5) Theory
• 6) Prediction

social structure, more abstract

middle ground between macro and micro theories

individual, least abstract

focus on one phenomenon, testable

focus on perception of reality, rarely testable

the events and beliefs of the times

the books, mentors, and influences important to the theories

human behavior is guided by pleasure-seeking and pain avoidance

• 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

greatest good for the greatest number

• punishment exceeding what is necessary to protect public is unjust
• don't punish just to punish

• greatest good for the greatest number (economic model)
• let the punishment fit the crime (proportionality)

• Jeremy Bentham
• pleasure/pain principle - criminals calculate their gain and behave accordingly

• 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)

• founder of positivist philosophy and sociology
• developed a scientific method of study

• father of positivist criminology
• 3 Pre-Darwinian Theories (craniometry, phrenology, physiognomy)
• atavism
• stigmata
• determinism

• Cesare Lombroso
• humans devolved rather than evolved

• atavistic physical stigmata
• asymmetrical face, large monkey-like ears, large lips,…

• Cesare Lombroso
• human behavior is determined by factors beyond free will and free choice

• 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

• H. H. Goddard
• improving genetic quality in humans

• Body Type Theory - associating body types with human temperament types
• endomorphs - jolly, lazy (thick)
• mesomorphs - risk takers, aggressive (muscular, fit)
• ectomorph - nervous, introverted (thin)

medial physical assessment

we all interact with symbols

• derived from organic approach to city
• mapping of social problems

• 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

• Shaw & McKay
• juvenile in socially disorganized areas have greater exposure to and opportunity for delinquency and crime

• Primary: individual from one culture moves into another culture
• Secondary: subculture within dominant culture

• neighborhood ecological characteristics
• allows crime and delinquency

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• every criminal event consists of an offender, a victim (a target), and a setting
• 4 Principles - Behavioral, Cognitive, Cultural, Societal

• actus reus and mens reas
• skills and techniques used by offenders
• patterned criminal transactions

• thoughts and cognition that underlie behavior
• motivation and planning
• normative neutralization

• criminal subculture
• loners and peers
• socialization script

• Formal Reaction - institutional responses
• Informal Reaction - reaction from audiences