chapter 9 notes

Chapter 9

Crime and Criminal Justice

Crime as a Social Problem

• Official Statistics– Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is leading

source of information on crime.– Produced each year by the FBI and tracks 3

categories of reported crime:• Violent crime, property crime, and other offenses

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Crime Statistics

• Violent crime:– Murder, rape, robbery, gang violence, and

aggravated assault• Property crime:

– Burglary, mother vehicle theft, arson, and larceny


Crime Statistics (2/2)

• UCR is in process of being replaced by National Incident Based Reporting System

• National Crime Victimization Survey – Sent to selected households to probe

frequency of unreported crime


Crime and Delinquency

• Crime: – Behavior that violates the criminal law – Punishable by a fine, jail term, or other

negative sanctions• 2 categories of criminal law:

– Misdemeanors: minor crime, punishment is fine or <1 year in jail (ex: public drunkenness)


Crime and Delinquency (2/2)

– Felonies: serious crimes, punishment is >1 year in jail or even death. (ex: murder, rape)

• Delinquency: – When someone under 18 commits a crime or

violates engages in an antisocial act


Violent Crime

• Actions involving force, or threat of force against others and includes: – Murder, rape, robbery, & aggravated assault

• Murder: unlawful, intentional killing of one person by another– Mass murder: killing 4 or more people at one

time in one place


Violent Crime (2/3)

– Serial murder: 3 or more people over more than a month

• Manslaughter: unlawful, unintentional killing of one person by another

• Very accurate statistics as most don’t go unreported


Violent Crime (3/3)

– Men are bulk of offenders and victims– Most murder victims and offenders were age

eighteen and over• Most murderers kill people of their same

race– Poor people are more likely to kill and be

killed


Rape

• Act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon against a powerless victim

• Several kinds of rape:– Forcible rape: forced sex on adult of legal age– Statutory rape: sex with someone under legal

age of consent


Rape (2/2)

– Acquaintance rape: forced sex of people who meet in a social situation (date rape)

• Rape is very often unreported so rates don’t reflect extent of problem

• Men are most often the offenders• Rapists & victims tend to be under age 25 • Offenders & victims usually the same race


Property Crime

• Taking property from another:– Without force, threat of force, destruction of

property– Most frequently reported in victimization

surveys is burglary


Property Crime (2/2)

• African Americans and Latinos/as have a higher than average risk of being burglarized than whites

– Most frequently reported index crime is larceny-theft

– Statistics on auto theft are relatively accurate• Insurance companies require reporting auto theft


Occupational and Corporate Crime

• Occupational (White-Collar) Crime– Illegal activities committed by people in the

course of their: • Employment or normal business activity

• Corporate Crime– Illegal acts committed by corporate employee:

• On behalf of the corporation with its support


Organized Crime

• Organized Crime– A business operation that supplies illegal

goods and services for profit– Syndicated crime networks thrive because

there’s demand for illegal goods & services– Organized crime often links up to legitimate

businesses


Juvenile Delinquency

• Juvenile delinquency involves a violation of law or the commission of a: – Status offense by a young person under a

specific age• Status offenses are not criminal acts per

se:– But are illegal because of the offender’s age


Who Commits Crime?

• Men are more likely to be arrested than women

• Teenagers and young adults are most likely to be arrested for serious crimes: – Such as homicide, rape, and robbery


Who Commits Crime? (2/2)

• People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be: – Arrested for violent and property crimes

• People from upper classes generally commit white-collar or elite crimes

• Low-income African Americans are overrepresented in arrest data


Explanations of Crime

• Biological:– Cesare Lombroso: 19th century Italian – William Sheldon

• Mesomorphs: muscular, aggressive and assertive• Endomorphs: fat, soft, round, extroverted• Ectomorphs: thin, wiry, sensitive, and introverted


Explanations of Crime (2/2)

• Psychological:– People with lower IQs commit more crime

than people with higher IQs– Validity of IQ tests have come under scrutiny

• Frustration-aggression hypothesis:– Frustrated people take out aggression onto

others


Sociological Explanations of Crime

• Functionalist:– Strain theory (Robert Merton)

• People feel strain when they’re exposed to cultural goals they can’t reach through approved means

– Control theory• Delinquency and crime are more likely when a

person’s ties to society are broken


Sociological Explanations of Crime (2/3)

• Conflict – Authority and power relations contribute to

some people becoming criminals• Radical-Conflict approach

– Crimes people commit are based on their class position

• Feminist approaches


Sociological Explanations of Crime (3/3)

• Symbolic Interactionist– Criminal behavior is learned through

interaction and socialization with others• 2 Theories:

– Differential association theory– Labeling theory


Criminal Justice System

• Police– Most visible link

• Courts– Determine guilt or innocence

• Punishment and prisons– Retribution, social protection, rehabilitation,

and deterrence


Can Crime Problem Be Solved?

• Functionalist/Conservative:– Community policing can help

• Conflict/Liberal:– Must reduce power differential- solve problem

• Interactionist:– Teach people importance of law abiding

behavior


chapter 9 notes

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