Crime in america

Robbery in which the victim or victims are people the robber knows.

Aggressive or provocative behavior of victims that results in their victimization.

One who follows the most common criminal trajectory, in which antisocial behavior peaks in adolescence and then diminishes.

The U.S method of criminal adjudication, in which prosecution( the state) and defense (the accused) each try to bring forward evidence and arguments, with guilt or innocence ultimately decided by an impartial judge or jury.

According to Robert Sampson and John Laud, discreted factors influence people at different stages of their development, so the propensity to commit crimes is neither stabloe nor unyielding. The likelihood of committing crime is linked to the accumulation (or absence) of social capital, social control, and human decision making.

Phrase used to express the fact that people commit less crime as they mature.

The belief, subscribed to by the federal government and many respected criminologist, that organized crime is a direct offshoot of a criminal sociaety that was imported into the United States from Europe and that crime cartels have a policy of restricting their membership to people of their own ethnic background.

The goal of accumulationg material goods and wealth through individual competition; the process of being socialized to pursue material success and to believe it is achievable.

Male sex hormones.

A lack of norms or clear social standards. Because of rapidly shifting moral values, the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable.

The view that anomie results when socially defined goals (such as welth and power) are universally mandated but access to legitimate means (such as education and job opportunities) is stratified by class and status.

Combination of traits, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, hedonism, and inability, impulsivity, hedonism, and inability to empathize with others, that make a person prone to deviant behavior and violence; also referred to as sociopathic or psychopathic personality.

The view that people seek to maintain a preferred level of arousal but vary in how they process sensory input. A need for high levels of eviromental stimulation may lead to aggressive, violent behavior patterns.

The step in the criminal justice process in which the accused is brought before the trial judge, formal charges are read, defendants are informed of their rights, a plea is entered, bail is considered, and a trial dete is set.

Bowlby's theory that being able to form an important aspect of mental health throughout the life span.

Path to a criminal career that begins with early stubborn behavior and defiance of parents.

The view that all human behavior is learned through a process of social reinforcement (rewards and punishment).

Approach to criminology that focuses on the interaction between biological and social factors as they are related to crime.

Professional shoplifter who steals with the intention of reselling stolen merchandise.

Skimming customer trading profits by falsifying trade information.

Effective deterrents to crime, such as police or watchful neighbors.

The execution of criminal offenders; the death penalty.

Group of urban sociologist who studied the relationship between environmental conditions and crime.

Using illegal means to cheat and organization, its consumers, or both, on a regular bisis.

The small groups of persistant offenders who account for a majority of al criminal offenses.

Repeated, excessive, and unnecessary buying and selling of a client's stock.

Theoretical perspective suggesting that (1) people have free will to choose criminal or conventional behaviors; (2) people choose to commit crime for reasons of greed or personal need; and (3) crime can be controlled only by the fear of criminal sanctions.

The first written criminal code, developed in Babylonia about 2000 BC.

Psychological perspective that focuses on the mental processes by which people perceive and represent the world around them and solve problems.

Social control exerted by cohesive communities and based on mutual trust, including intervention in the supervision of children and maintanance of public order.

A strong personal investment in conventional institutions, individuals, and processes that prevents people from engaging in behavior that might jeopardize their reputation and achivemts.

Early English law, developed by judges, which became the standardized law of the land in England and eventually formed the basis of the criminal law in the United States.

A proactive form of policing: Rather than merely responding to crime after it occurs, police departments are shaping their forces into comunity change agents in order to prevent crimes before they occur.

Financial aid awarded to crime victims to repay them for their loss and injuries; may cover medical bills, loss of wages, loss of futore earnigs, and or counseling.

Methods of controlling white-collar crime that rely on the threat of economic sanctions or civil penalties to control potential violators, creating a marketplace incentive to obey the law.

A pattern of repetive behavior in which the rights of others or social norms are violated.

As working-and middle-class families flee inner-city poverty -riddlen areas, the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in urban ghettoes.

A swindle, often involving a get-rich-quick scheme, and often with illegal overtones so that the victim will be afraid or embarrased to call the police.

The view that belief that criminal behavior is defiend by those in power in such as way as to protect and advance their own self-interest.

The belief that the majority of citizens in a society share common values and agree on what behaviors should be defined as criminal.

A legal fiction that apllies to situations in which persons voluntarily give up physical custody of their property but still retain legal ownership.

People become deviant when they are influenced by others with whom they are in close contact.

Existence of condictions sorrrounding a criminal case that indicate it has a good chance of resulting in a conviction.

Powerful institutions or their representatives willfully violate the laws that restrain these institutions from doing social harm or require them to do social good.

Prosecution, defense, and judges working together to resolve criminal cases quickly and efficiently through plea bargaining.

Path to a criminal career that begins with minor underhanded behavior and progresses to fire starting and theftl

View that the overriding purpose of the justice system is to protect the public, deter people from criminal behavior, and incapacitate kown criminals; favors speedy, efficient ju8stice and punishment.

The various subareas included within the scholarly discipline of criminology, which, taken as a whole, define the field of study.

The scientific study of the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior.

Emergency counseling for crime victims.

Members of a branch of criminology that focuses on the oppression of the poor, women, and minorities, thereby linking class conflict, sexism, and racism to crime rates. Critical criminologists examine how those who hold political and economic power shape the law to uphold their self-interests.

The branch of criminology that holds that the cause of crime can be linked to economic, social, and political disparity. Some groups in society, particularly the working class and ethnic minorities, are seen as the most likely to suffer oppressive social relations based on class conflict and racism and hence to be more prone to criminal behavior.

Approach that explains both victimization and criminality among women in terms of gender inequality, patriachy, and the exploitation of women under capitalism.

Branch of social structure theory that sees strain and social disorganization together resulting in a unique lower-class culture that conflicts with conventional social norms.

Process whereby values, beliefs, and traditions are handed down from one generation to the next.

Result of exposure to opposing norms, attitudes, and definitions of right and wrong, moral and immoral.

A separate lower-class culture, characterized by apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and mistrust of social institutions such as schools, governmet agencies and the police, that is passed from one generation to the next.

Victims of crime, especially victims of childhood abuse, are more likely to commit crimes themselves.

A rape that involves people who are in some form of courting relationship.

Covert military or paramilitary groups that carry out political assassinations.

Having criminal penalties reduced rather thatn eliminated.

In criminal proceedings, the person accused of violating the law.

The principle that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunity that individuals have to commit crime.

A value system adopted by lower-class youths that is directly opposed to that of the larger society.

To unmask the true poupose of law, justice, or other social institutions.

Extorting money from Internet service users by threatening to prevent them from accessing the service.

To spontaneously stop committing crime.

The principle that all offenders who commit the same crime should receive the same sentence.

Methods of controlling white-color crime that rely on the punishment of individual offenders to deter other wouold-be violators.

Theories that attempt to explain the "natural history" of a criminal career: its onset, the course it follows, and its termination. These theories maintain that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual charcteristics.

Behaviorthat departs from the social norm but is not necessarily criminal.

Process whereby secondary deviance pushes offenders out of mainstream society and locks them into and escalating cycle of deviance, apprehension, labeling, and criminal self-identity.

The view that victimization is primarily a function of where people live.

The view that victimization is primarily a function of where people live.

The view that lower-class youths, whose legitimate opportunities are limited, join gangs and purse criminal careers as alternative means to achive universal success goals.

An effect that occurs when efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevent another.

An effect that occurs when crime control efforts targeting a particular locale help reduce crime in surrounding areas and populations.

The use of personal decision making by those carrying out police, judicial, and sanctioning functions within the criminal justice system.

An effect that occurs when crime control efforts simply move, or redirect, offenders to less heavily guarded alternative targets.

Sentencing of a defendant who has been found guilty; usually involves a fine, probation, or incarceration.

Programs of rehabilitation, that remove offenders from the normal channels of the criminal justice process, thus enabling them to avoid the stigma of a criminal label.

Twins

Movement in and out of delinquency, shifting between conventional and deviant values.

A personal trait characterized by a pervasive psychological dependence on mood-altering substances.

View that focuses on protecting the civil rights of those accused of crime.

The view that repeat offenders begin their criminal careers at a very young age.

Violence committed by drug users to support their habit.

The excitement or exhilaration of successfully exhilaration of successfully executing illegal activities in dangerous situations.

Families in which the husband and wife share similar positions of power at home and in the workplace. Sons and daughters have equal freedom.

The part of the personality developed in early childhood that helps control the id and keep people's actions within the boundaries of social convention.

Using the Internet for purposes of prostitution in order to shield identities and contact clients.

Murder of a senior citizen.

A type of larceny in which someone who is trusted with property fraudulently converts it to his or her own use or for the use of others.

Use of illegal tactics to gain profit in the marketplace. Enterprise crimes can involve either the violation of law in the course of an otherwise legitimate occupation or the sale and distribution of illegal commodities

A standard investigative tool of the FBI that focuses on criminal enterprise and attacks the structure of the criminal enterprise rather than criminal acts viewed as isolated incidents.

View that emphasizes fairness and equal treatment in criminal procedures and sentencing.

The view that all humans are born with equal potential to learn and achieve.

The life instinct, which drives people toward self-fulfillment and enjoyment.

Using the Internet to buy or sell merchandise illegally.

The rule that evidence against a defendant may not be presented in court if it was obtained in violation of the defendant's rights.

Forcing victims to pay for services or contracts to which they have a clear right.

Offenses committed not for profit or gain but to vent rage, anger, or frustration.

Acts that vent rage, anger, or frustration.

An effect that occurs when crime reduction programs produce a short-term positive effect, but benefits dissipate as criminals adjust to new conditions.

Misrepresenting a fact in a way that causes a deceived victim to give money or property to the offender.

A buyer and seller of stolen merchandise.

Murder of an older child.

Killing a person after premeditation and deliberation

Values, such as toughness and street smart, that have evolved specifically to fit conditions in lower-class environments.

Placing broker's personal orders ahead of a customer's large order to profit from the market effects of the trade.

A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties, convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweigh its benefits.

The view that multiple sources of strain interact with an individual's emotional traits and responses to produce criminality.

Gottfredson and Hirschi's developmental theory, which modifies social control theory by integrating concepts from biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and rational choice theories.

The process of creating transnational markets, politics, and legal systems and thus forming a global economy.

A group of citizens chosen to hear testimony in secret and to issue formal criminal accusations (indictments).

Theft of money or property of substantial value, punished as a felony.

Fighters who are usually located in rural areas and attack military, police, and government targets in an effort to unseat or replace the existing government.

Violent acts directed toward a particular person or members of a group merely because the targets share a discernible racial, ethnic, religious, or gender characteristic.

having five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.

A jury that is unable to agree on a decision, thus leaving the case unresolved and open for a possible retrial.

The primitive part of people's mental makeup, present at birth, that represents unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other life-sustaining necessities. The id seeks instant gratification without concern for the rights of others.

Placing offenders behind bars during their prime crime years reduces their opportunity to commit crime and helps lower the crime rate.

Murder of a very young child.

Using one's institutional position to grant favors and sell information to which one's co-conspirators are not entitled.

A filing before and impartial lower-court judge who decides whether the case should go forward (this filing is and alternative to the use of a grand jury).

Theory that focuses on how people process, store, encode, retrieve, and manipulate information to make decision and solve problems.

The view that anomie pervades U.S. culture because the drive for material wealth dominates and undermines social and community values.

The theory that criminal law and the criminal justice system are capitalist instruments for controlling the lower class.

Acts designed to improve the financial or social position of the criminal.

Individuals or groups who confront the existing government for control of all or a portion of its territory, or to force political concessions in sharing political power.

Models of crime causation that weave social and individual variables into a complex explanatory chain.

The belief that those with social power are able to impose their values on society as a hole, and these values then define criminal behavior.

Involving two or more academic fields.

The questioning of a suspect in police custody.

A national syndicate of some 25 Italian-dominated crime families who control organized crime in distinct geographic areas.

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that serves as a precedent for similar legal issues; it often influences the everyday operating procedures of police agencies, trial courts, and correctional institutions.

Taking for one's own use the property of another, by means other than force or threats on the victim or forcibly braking into a person's home or workplace; theft.

A stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, present at birth or soon after, that makes some people crime-prone over the live course.d

Theories reflecting the view that criminal behavior is controlled by a master trait, present at birth or soon after, that remains stable and unchanging throughout a person's lifetime.

Judicial precedents that define and guarantee the rights of criminal defendants and control the various components of the criminal Justice system.

Approach that sees crime as a function of relative deprivation under capitalism and favors pragmatic, community based crime prevention and control

A view of crime that suggests that the social and economic role of women in society controls their crime rates.

One of the small group of offenders whose criminal careers continue well into adulthood.

Theories reflecting the view that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by many characteristics, traits, and experience, and that behavior changes accordingly, for better or worse, over the life course.

Views on how people become crime victims because of lifestyles that increase their exposure to criminal offenders.

A group that originated in Italy and Sicily and now controls racketeering in major U.S. cities.

Homicide without malice.

Displacement of workers, pushing them outside the economic and social mainstream.

The formerly accepted tradition that a legally married husband could not be charged with raping his wife.

identical twins.

A condition in which the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the circumstances.

A person who creates moral rules, which thus reflect the values of those in power, rather than any objective, universal standards of right and wrong.

The Laws of the ancient Israelites, found in the Old Testament of the Judeo-Cristian Bible.

People willing and able to commit crimes.

The unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.

Amateurs who cash bad checks because of some financial crisis but have little identification with a criminal subculture.

A pattern of traits and behaviors indicating infatuation and fixation with one's self to the exclusion of all others, along with the egotistic and ruthless pursuit or one's own gratification, dominance, and ambition.

A drug that produces sleep and relieves pain, such as heroin, morphine, and opium; a habit forming drug.

The ongoing victimization study conducted jointly by the Justice Department and the U.S. Census Bureau that surveys victims about their experiences with law violation.

Program that requires local police agencies to provide a brief account of each incident and arrest within 22 crime patterns, including incident, victim, and offender information.

The view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior.

Anger, frustration, and adverse emotions produced by a variety of sources of strain.

The study of brain activity.

A chemical substance, such as dopamine, that transmits nerve impulses from one neuron to another

Methods of rationalizing deviant behavior, such as denying responsibility or blaming the victim.

The view that law violators learn to neutralize conventional values and attitudes, enabling them to drift back and forth between criminal and conventional behavior.

A declaration that expresses the prosecutors decision to drop a case from further prosecution.

View that arresting and labeling offenders does more harm than good, that youthful offenders in particular should be diverted into informal treatment programs, and that minor offenses should be decriminalized.

The view that intelligence is not inherited but is largely a product of environment. Low IQ scores do not cause crime but my result from the environmental factors.

Material that violates community standards of morality or decency and has no redeeming social value.

Offenders who do not define themselves by a criminal role or view themselves as committed career criminals.

A crime in which offenders evaluate their skills, motives, needs, and fears before deciding to commit the criminal act.

A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior, during which a child often loses her or his temper, often argues with adults, and often actively defines or refuses to comply with adults's requests or rules.