Criminology Exam 1 Test Review (Major Terms and Definitions for the first exam) Passed!!
criminology
The scientific study of the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior.
deviant behavior
Actions that depart from the social norm. Some are considered criminal, others merely harm...
Criminology Exam 1 UMD
Mal in Se
-Latin phrase that means evil or no good
-wrong or evil in themselves
-Core of legal code=homoicide and robbery
-shown wrong by nature
Mala Prohibita
-Wrong because a particular place or time said they can't do it.
-prohibited
-smoking weed is legal some places but illegal (prohibited) in others
-wrong because prohibited
*changes over time in society are gambling and prositiution
Edwin Sutherlands definition-
The scientific study of lawmaking, law-breaking, and the response to law-breaking
Law breaking
- Nature and extent of the crime
Criminal justice
- The study of agencies related to the control of crime
Criminology
- The study of crime trends, nature of crime and theories of crime
Deviance
- focuses on violations of societal norms
-These may or may not also be law violations
Normal violation that is not a law violation?
Swearing to your mom, weird clothes
Law violation that does not violate a norm?
Underage drinking and smoking pot ♣
Criminal Law
-act against the state
-a public offense
-punishment is loss of liberties or maybe death
-fines go to the state
-state does not usually appeal
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt
Civil Law
Property law, this is where all the money is for lawyers
Tort Law
Same actions as criminal law, but private civil suits, if you win you win money
-civil or private wrong
-individuals bring action
-Sanction is normally money damages
,-can receive compensation for harm done
Preponderance of evidence is required for this decision* (who has more evidence)
Methods of measuring crime
-Uniform crime (UCR)
-Self report crimes
-Victim crimes
UCR- Uniform crimes
-Crimes that are reported to the police or FBI
-Based on a population of 100,000 people
-reported for the US cities and SMSA
-Clearance rate is how effective the police are.
-Expect duluth to get 5 homoicides per year, but is less to none.
-Indexed and non indexed
Clearance rate
-is how effective the police are. The amount of crimes/arrests known.
-Take the percent of burglaries in a year and percent of how many were arrested for
burglary.
UCR indexed (I)
-Most serious.
-Can be violent or nonviolent.
Violent-Homoicide, rape, rob, assault.
Nonviolent ones-rob, motor theft, arson
UCR non-indexed (II)
-all others except traffic
-DUI, drug tickets
CRITICISMS AND LIMITATIONS OF UCR
-Cant capture the "dark figure" of crime
-Methodological hiccups
-Most common form of crime is theft.
-Most victims of theft are the ones up to no good like a weed dealer more likely to get
robbed because more money
-Most homicides get reported but most thefts/burglaries don't (Not always accurate, still
give good trend)
Common rule: one crime per incident. Someone is robbing and the other kills them
, Self report Survey
-participants (usually juveniles) revel information anonymously about their violations of
the law
-gets at victimless crimes
-when its anonymous they are less likely to lie
Advantages of Self-report
-Measure theoretical concepts and connects with criminal behavior
Disadvantage of Self report
-Many underestimate "chronic offenders"
-people can lie
-Survey methodology problems like seriousness of offense
no national survey trends
National Crime Victim survey (NCVS)
-People are likely to report as a victim
-Takes a sample to see how many people are victims
NCVS- surveys of victim experiences.
-Counter balance UCR
Advantages of NCVS
-asks people about their encounters with crime as victims
-nationally representative sample
Disadvantages of NCVS
-little info about the offenders
-cant access some crimes
-limitations of survey research
UCR data
-Aggregate data to see trends known to police
-crimes reported to the police
-not individual level
-finds poverty and murder rates
Self-report Data
-individual level
-find drug use
-only good source for victimless crimes
NCVS Data
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