Pysch Of Crime

Front 1

What is crime?

Back 1

A conduct or failure to act in violation of the law forbidding or commanding it, and for which a range of possible penalties exist upon conviciton.

Front 2

Actus Reus

Back 2

bad act

Front 3

Mens Rea

Back 3

Guilty Mind

Front 4

Mala in se

Back 4

Wrong by nature - don't need to be told they are wrong. Obvious. Ex. Murder

Front 5

Mala prohibita

Back 5

behaviors that are wrong by statutes, we had to think about it.

Front 6

over criminalization

Back 6

behaviors prohibited by law but should be lawful. ex gambling, prostitution, homosexuality, drugs.

Front 7

under criminalization

Back 7

behavior not prohibited by law but should be unlawful
ex gambling, prostitution, etc

Front 8

Elements of a crime.

Back 8

Some are conceptual. Not all need to exist to be crime.
1. harm
2. legality
3. causation
4. concurrence = act must occur at the same time as or close to the inent.temporary connection from thinking and doing.
5. punishment - if we can't punish then why call it a crime
6. actus reus
7. mens rea

Front 9

Defenses

Back 9

Age - children are't always responsible
insanity - not to be confused with mental illness. this is different.
Duress - forced to commit a crime. must be immenent threat
self defense
entraped
necessity

Front 10

theories of crime

Back 10

provides a general explanation of crime
encompasses psychological, social, and biological factors in a logical framework.
empirical spirit

Front 11

social criminology

Back 11

relationships of demographic, group, environmental, social factors to crime. ex: gangs, born into faith or none.

Front 12

Psychological Criminology

Back 12

Individual behavior
Cognition(mental processes) distortions
- Detect, Acquire, retain(maintain), modify, access, apply
mental illness

Front 13

Personality Traits

Back 13

Relatively stabble, enduring tendacies of behavior. a collection of traits = our personality = makes us predictable

Front 14

How do we measure crime?

Back 14

uniform crime reports - compiled by FBI.
Law enforcement agencies report to FBI Voluntary(this is a process)

Front 15

Problems with UCR

Back 15

heirarchy rule - FBI records only the most serious of crimes but don't just disappear in court.
Voluntary
Definitions are old and controversial
Results in "Dark Figure"

Front 16

"Dark Figure"

Back 16

result of lack of:
Detection = we dont detect all the crimes that occur they have to come and report it to local authorities.
Reporting = dont report because of embarrasment or other reasons.
Recording.

Front 17

self report studies or surveys

Back 17

Interviews, questionares of offenders, victims.
Most aadmit only to major violations.
Strengths = you can go back to the records to see if these reports are accurate in their responses

Front 18

status offense

Back 18

Behavior that is illegal only for juvinilles
(because of their age)
Difficult to conceptualize/measure.
Rite of passage?
Aging out = maturing, you'll grow out of it" , its a phase.

Front 19

Developmental Risk factors

Back 19

Social, biological, psychological factors that affect development. Increase the possibility that an individual will engage in criminal behavior

Front 20

Social Risk factors

Back 20

Poverty - early peer rejection - association with anti social peers - Inadequate pre school child care- inadequate after school care - school failure

Front 21

Family Risk Factors

Back 21

Single parent household? permissive parental style? minimal monitoring from parents?

Front 22

Psychological Risk Factors

Back 22

cognitive and language deficiencies - low IQ - ADHD (Attention, hyperactivity, impulsive ) - conduct disorder (persistent violation of rules/rights without remorse)

Front 23

Strain Theory

Back 23

Inability to achieve one's goals - influenced by the values and attitudes of the society. we want what other people want.

Front 24

Social control theory

Back 24

contends that crime and delinquency occur when an individual's ties to the conventional order or normative standards are weak or largely nonexistent.

Front 25

social learning theory

Back 25

we are products of what we learned from our environments - if we are exposed by things/experiences we be better off.

Front 26

3 perspectives of human nature

Back 26

conformity, nonconformity, norms conformity = getting along - we want as humans to cooperate we are more likely to benefit if we work together. - NOnconformity = interested in ones own interest.

Front 27

Parsimony

Back 27

Explain the most with the least. You have enough info to make a decision

Front 28

Hate Crime

Back 28

a criminal offnse committted against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part by the offender's bias against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin"