Criminal Justice: Chapter 5 (Choice Theory)

Front 1

capable guardians

Back 1

Effective deterrents to crime, such as police or watchful neighbors

Front 2

crackdown

Back 2

The concentration of police resources on a particular problem area, such as street-level drug dealing, to eradicate or displace criminal activity.

Front 3

crime discouragers

Back 3

Discouragers can be grouped into three categories: guardians, who monitor targets (such as store security guards); handlers, who monitor potential offenders (such as parole officers and parents); and managers

Front 4

crime displacement

Back 4

An effect of crime prevention efforts in which efforts to control crime in one area shift illegal activities to another.

Front 5

defensible space

Back 5

The principle that crime prevention can be achieved through modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunity individuals have to commit crime.

Front 6

deterrence theory

Back 6

The view that if the probability of arrest, conviction, and sanctioning increases, crime rates should decline.

Front 7

diffusion of benefits

Back 7

An effect that occurs when an effort to control one type of crime has the unexpected benefit of reducing the incidence of another.

Front 8

discouragement

Back 8

An effect that occurs when an effort made to eliminate one type of crime also controls others, because it reduces the value of criminal activity by limiting access to desirable targets.

Front 9

edgework

Back 9

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

Front 10

extinction

Back 10

The phenomenon in which a crime prevention effort has an immediate impact that then dissipates as criminals adjust to new conditions.

Front 11

general deterrence

Back 11

A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties. General deterrence measures, such as long prison sentences for violent crimes, are aimed at convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweigh its benefits.

Front 12

incapacitation effect

Back 12

The idea that keeping offenders in confinement will eliminate the risk of their committing further offenses.

Front 13

informal sanctions

Back 13

Disapproval, stigma, or anger directed toward an offender by significant others (parents, peers, neighbors, teachers) resulting in shame, embarrassment, and loss of respect.

Front 14

just desert

Back 14

The philosophy of justice that asserts that those who violate the rights of others deserve to be punished. The severity of punishment should be commensurate with the seriousness of the crime.

Front 15

offender-specific

Back 15

The idea that offenders evaluate their skills, motives, needs, and fears before deciding to commit crime.

Front 16

offense-specific

Back 16

The idea that offenders react selectively to the characteristics of particular crimes.

Front 17

permeable neighborhood

Back 17

Areas with a greater than usual number of access streets from traffic arteries into the neighborhood.

Front 18

rational choice

Back 18

The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

Front 19

reasoning criminal

Back 19

According to the rational choice approach, law-violating behavior occurs when an offender decides to risk breaking the law after considering both personal factors (such as the need for money, revenge, thrills, and entertainment) and situational factors (how well a target is protected and the efficiency of the local police force).

Front 20

reintegrative shaming

Back 20

A method of correction that encourages offenders to confront their misdeeds, experience shame because of the harm they caused, and then be reincluded in society.

Front 21

selective incapacitation

Back 21

The policy of creating enhanced prison sentences for the relatively small group of dangerous chronic offenders.

Front 22

situational crime prevention

Back 22

A method of crime prevention that stresses tactics and strategies to eliminate or reduce particular crimes in narrow settings, such as reducing burglaries in a housing project by increasing lighting and installing security alarms.

Front 23

specific deterrence

Back 23

A crime control policy suggesting that punishment be severe enough to convince convicted offenders never to repeat their criminal activity.

Front 24

suitable target

Back 24

According to routine activities theory, a target for crime that is relatively valuable, easily transportable, and not capably guarded.

Front 25

three stikes and you're out

Back 25

Policy whereby people convicted of three felony offenses receive a mandatory life sentence.

Front 26

utilitarianism

Back 26

The view that people's behavior is motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.