Introduction to Criminal Justice

1
Introduction to Criminal Justice

• Crime and Its
• Consequences
• Chapter Two
• Bohm and Haley

2

• The object of criminal justice in the
• United States
• is to
• prevent and control crime.
• Therefore,
• to understand criminal justice,
• it is necessary to understand crime.

3
Definitions of Crime

• Social Definition of Crime
• Crime is behavior that violates the norms of
  society.
• Norms are determined by society and include
  informal standards or rules that define what
  people should or should not think or do.
• Considerations Norms vary norms are subject to
  interpretation and norms change over time and
  from place to place.

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Definitions of Crime

• Legal Definition of Crime
• Crime is the intentional violation of the
  criminal law or penal code, committed without
  defense or excuse and penalized by the state.
• Considerations Over-criminalization,
  non-enforcement, and under-criminalization.

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Elements of Crime

• Harm The external consequence required to make
  an action a crime.
• Legality The requirement (1) that a harm must
  be legally forbidden for the behavior to be a
  crime and (2) that the law must not be
  retroactive, i.e., ex post facto.
• Actus Reus Criminal conduct that is intentional
  or criminally negligent (reckless) action or
  inaction that causes harm.
• Mens Rea Criminal intent a guilty state of
  mind.
• Causation A causal relationship between the
  legal harm and the actus reus.
• Concurrence The criminal conduct (actus reus)
  and the criminal intent (mens reus) must occur
  together.
• Punishment An enforceable statutory provision
  (law).

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Question

• What are some examples of
• legal defenses for
• criminal responsibility?

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Categories of Crime

• Felonies serious crime punishable by death,
  fine, confinement (prison) for more than a year.
• Misdemeanor lesser crime not a felony,
  punishment by no more than 1,000 and one year
  maximum in a county/city jail.
• Felony or misdemeanor is determined by
  legislated punishment by jurisdiction.

• Mala in se crimes wrong in themselves. Crimes
  characterized by universality and timelessness,
  i.e., murder and rape.
• Mala prohibita crimes are defined by laws.
  Lacks universality and timelessness, i.e.,
  gambling, trespassing, and prostitution.

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Methods of Measuring Crime
Uniform Crime Reports
Self- Report Surveys
Victim Surveys
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Uniform Crime Reports

• Based on crimes reported to the police.
• Based on a population unit of 100,000.
• Divided into two representative categories
  Indexed and non-Indexed.
• Categories counted differently.
• Many problems with accuracy.

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Uniform Crime Reports

• Indexed Crimes
• Criminal Homicide
• Forcible Rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault
• Burglary
• Larceny/theft
• Motor vehicle theft
• Arson
• Non-Indexed Crimes
• All others

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Question

• What is a status offense?

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Problems With UCR Data

• No federal crimes are included
• Reports are voluntary vary in accuracy and
  completeness.
• Not all police departments submit reports
• Only the most serious crime is recorded
• Definitions of crimes vary
• Data is accumulated and processed by the FBI.

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The Future of the Uniform Crime Reports

• National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
  (1991)
• Maintained by the F.B.I.
• Twenty-two crime categories (46 offenses)
• More information on each crime in each category
• Data compiled based on incidents, not arrests.
• As of 2004, 29 states were NIBRS certified.

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CLEARANCE RATE

• The clearance rate for crimes is when at least
  one person is arrested, charged, and turned over
  to court for prosecution.
• Of all crimes reported to the police,
• 20-21 percent are cleared by arrest.
• (50 for violent crimes and
• 18 for property crimes).

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CRIMES CLEARED BY ARREST, 2004
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CRIME RATE

• The crime rate is computed by the number of
  crimes reported to the police.
• Number of Reported Crimes x 100,000 Rate per
  100,000
• Total U.S. Population

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CRIME VICTIM SURVEYS

• Asks victims about their encounters with
  criminals.
• Uses sampling techniques.
• May also describe people most at risk.
• Potential measurement problems include
• 1) Over and Under reporting
• 2) Sampling Errors
• 3) Inadequate question format
• 4) Inability to record activity

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QUESTIONS

• What is the
• National Crime Victimization Study?
• What are some findings of the NCVS?

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Self Reported Crime

• Participants reveal information about their
  violations of the law
• Helps to get at the Dark Figure of Crime
• Supplements and expands official data
• Validity and reliability better than expected by
• many
• Accuracy for chronic offenders and drug abusers
  may be limited
• Example The National Youth Survey

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Trends in Violent Crime

• Violent crimes in 2000 were the lowest since 1985
• Violent crime was down 25.5 since 1996
• Current decline seems to be stabilizing

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Trends in Property Crime

• 10.2 million in 2000
• down 21.4 from 1991
• Rate of decline is stabilizing

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Questions

• What are some possible reasons for the declining
  crime rates.
• What might reverse the downward trend?

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Cost of Crime

• Economic loss to victims in the U.S. was 15
  billion (2003).
• Tangible costs include costs of the criminal
  justice process, security devices bought for
  protection, losses to businesses, and losses from
  corporate crimes.
• Intangible costs pain, suffering, and reduced
  quality of life.
• Estimated total cost 450 billion annually.

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Fear of Crime

• Fear of crime can be the most burdensome and
  lasting consequence of victimization.
• Fear of crime is contagious.
• What People Fear
• 40 of Americans are fearful of a specific type
  of crime.
• 80 of Americans are fearful of crime in general.

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Victims

• Victimization, like fear, is not spread evenly
  through the U.S. population.
• The most likely victims of violent crime are
• Younger (age 12-24)
• Never married, divorced, or separated
• Poor
• Black
• Urban residents
• Male
• Living in the West