CCJS 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: National Crime Victimization Survey, Actus Reus, Uniform Crime Reports
26 Jan 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
1
Criminology
Course Overview
• Introduction to Criminology
• Theories
• Types of crime
• Relationship between crime and criminology
What is criminology
• Interdisciplinary Science
• Study of:
− Crime
− Criminology behavior
• Criminal Justice = system
• Criminology = why
Crime
• A violation of criminal law that is subject to punishment
Criminal Behavior
• Subculture
• Parenting
• Human Nature
• Labels
• Peers
• Opportunity
• Genetics
• Hormones
• Neurology
• Personality
• Economics
• Social Class
Crime Antidotes (treatment) and Crime Prevention
• Prevention involves the study of deterrence and delinquency risk factors
• Treatment involves the study of the Criminal Justice System
Criminological Theory
• Propositions or assumptions that attempt to explain facts about the phenomena (in our case, crime
and criminality)
• Theories are never proven
• We merely decide which theories are most useful
− Accuracy
− Scope
− Parsimony
− Falsifiability
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
2
Ideology and Criminological Theory
• Theories are shaped by ideology, in part
• Criminological theories make assumptions about human nature
− Constrained → human nature is unalterable
− Unconstrained → human nature is fluid and perfectible
Law & Justice Process
Law and Criminology
What makes a crime a crime?
• Voluntary Rational Action
− Voluntary → ones o thoughts lead to oe’s o atios
− Rational → ot oeheligl iflueed foes eod oe’s otol
− Action → includes thoughtful inaction e.g. failure to register as sex offender
• Actus Reus
− a at that is guilt, eil, pohiited.
− A crime is not a crime until it is made criminal by law before the action is committed
− It is fluid → changes over time
• Harm
− Actions are crimes because they create harm
1. To persons (violent)
2. To things (poverty)
3. To society (drug)
• Causation
− Legal responsibility for harm depends on action-consequence connection
− The action directly leads to the harm without interference
− Ca’t e haged ith a assault if it aot e oeted to ou atios
• Mens Rea
− Guilt Mid
− Crime is only committed when the actor knows what they have done is wrong
1. Strict liability laws → against the law regardless if you knew it was wrong or not
2. There are exceptions to the legal code
3. If ou do’t ko hat ou did as og the it ight ot hae ee a atioal atio
• Occurrence
− Criminal actions must be accompanied by criminal mind
− Actus Reus and Mens Reus must both be present
− Many exceptions → felony murder rule
1. Accidental murder → ou do’t ko the itet to ude soeoe ut soeoe is
murdered while you are committing a crime – you are an accomplice and can be charged
with murder
• Punishment
− A crime is not a crime unless there is a legal punishment for it
− Torts → civil harms (non-crimes)
− Punishment is generally graded:
1. Felony →biggest punishments (murder, burglary, etc.); Punished with prison
2. Misdemeanor → punished with jail or with probation or community service
3. Violation
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find more resources at oneclass.com
3
4. Death penalty (capital punishment) → most extreme form of punishment
You ule asked ou to die his a fo MD to NY ad dop it off at a fied’s house. You deide to get
there faster by speeding. You get pulled over and the police officer finds heroin in the door panels that
ou did’t ko as thee. Did ou oit a ie?
• Yes – speeding
• Possession
• Committing a drug crime – distributing, driving across state lines
• Guilty mind to speed but not for possession
Criminal Justice Process
The Criminal Justice system
• Getting through the System
− Half of crime that are committed are not reported to the police
− Just under half of crimes reported end up in arrest
− 355 of arrests are juvenile offenders
1. Most juvenile offender are not incarcerated
− About half of arrested adults are prosecuted
1. Most plead guilty
2. 2/3 of those found/plead guilty end up incarcerated
− Overall – few individuals that commit crimes make it to the trial stage (7%)
Ethics and Measurement
Ethical Principles (generally accepted guidelines for research conduct)
• Think → who are we actually doing studies on
• Ethical issues in Social Research
− Ethics: standards of conduct in a given profession
1. General agreements shared by researchers about improper and proper conduct
2. Most pofessios hae a ode of odut egulatig eseah paties
− Conduct includes:
1. What do we do about confidentiality?
2. What is harming subjects?
3. What is voluntary?
4. Covert or out in the open?
5. Is covert research acceptable?
• Reason for Ethical Code of Conduct
− Avoid harm to Participants
1. What is harm?
a) Physical, psychological, emotional, social, legal, financial, etc.
2. Positive effects should outweigh the negative
3. oe should ot espouse ehaio that ould not be considered acceptable in normal
itepesoal odut
4. Little documented harm associated with social science studies
− Informed consent
1. Questions regarding consent
a) What if ou a’t eeal ou ae doig a stud (field research)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Course overview: theories, types of crime, relationship between crime and criminology. Criminology behavior: criminal justice = system, criminology = why. Crime: a violation of criminal law that is subject to punishment. Labels: peers, opportunity, genetics, hormones, neurology, personality, economics, social class. Crime antidotes (treatment) and crime prevention: prevention involves the study of deterrence and delinquency risk factors, treatment involves the study of the criminal justice system. Criminological theory: propositions or assumptions that attempt to explain facts about the phenomena (in our case, crime and criminality, theories are never proven, we merely decide which theories are most useful. Ideology and criminological theory: theories are shaped by ideology, in part, criminological theories make assumptions about human nature. Unconstrained human nature is fluid and perfectible. What makes a crime a crime: voluntary rational action. Voluntary ones o(cid:449)(cid:374) thoughts lead to o(cid:374)e"s o(cid:449)(cid:374) a(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s. Action includes thoughtful inaction e. g. failure to register as sex offender: actus reus.
