Crime%20and%20Criminal%20Justice

1
Chapter 9

• Crime and Criminal Justice

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Chapter Outline

• Crime and Deviance
• Types of Crime
• Crime and Organization
• Race, Class, Gender and Crime
• The Criminal Justice System Police, Courts and
  the Law
• Terrorism As International Crime A Global
  Perspective

3
Measuring Crime How Much Is There?

• Data show that violent crime peaked in 1990, but
  decreased through the 1990s.
• Since 2002, assault and robbery have continued to
  decrease, although murder and rape have
  increased.
• Crime is greatly affected by how well the economy
  is doingparticularly the level of unemployment.

4
Personal and Property Crime

• Personal crimes
• violent or nonviolent crimes directed against
  people. (Murder, aggravated assault, forcible
  rape, and robbery).
• Property crimes
• theft without threat of bodily harm (burglary,
  larceny, auto theft, arson).

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Personal and Property Crime

• Victimless crimes
• violate laws but are not listed in the FBIs
  serious crime index. (Gambling, illegal drug use,
  prostitution)
• Hate crimes
• assaults and other malicious acts motivated by
  bias, including those based on race, religion,
  sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, or
  disability.

6
White-collar or Elite Crime

• Criminal activities by persons of high social
  status who commit their crimes in the context of
  their occupation
• Examples embezzlement, insider trading, tax
  evasion, accounting practices that make the
  company appear more wealthy.
• In terms of dollars, white-collar crime is much
  more consequential for society than street crimes.

7
Organized Crime

• Committed by organized groups, typically
  involving the provision of illegal goods and
  services.
• Ethnic and family ties, are the basis for
  membership with groups dominating and replacing
  each other in different industries.
• Industries are organized in the same kind of
  hierarchy as legitimate businesses.

8
State-Organized Crime

• Committed by government officials in their jobs
  as representatives of the government .
• Example
• John M. Poindexter lied to Congress about the
  Iran-Contra scandal.
• The scandal involved the U.S. sale of military
  weapons to Iran with the profits used to finance
  the Contras in Nicaragua.
• The U.S. Congress had explicitly forbidden
  monetary aid to the Contras.

9
Organizational Crime and Deviance

• Crime that occurs within the context of a formal
  organization and is sanctioned by the norms and
  operating principles of the organization.
• Can occur within any kind of organizationcorporat
  e, educational, religious, and, governmental.

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Examples of Organizational Crime and Deviance

• Scandals involving sexual assault by Catholic
  priests, and cover-ups by assigning offending
  priests to different parishes.
• In the 1980s, Beech Nut baby foods claimed their
  nutritionists prepare fresh-tasting fruits,
  cereals, and juices without artificial
  flavoring. They were found to be selling sugar
  water colored brown to resemble apple juice.
• Deviant stock trading and accounting practices of
  the Enron Corporation of Houston, Texas led to
  its downfall early in 2002.

11
Race, Class and Crime

• Arrest data shows a clear pattern of differential
  arrest along the lines of race, gender and class.
  
• Poor are more likely to be arrested for crime.
• African Americans are twice as likely to be
  arrested for crime than are Whites.

12
Gender and Crime

• Womens participation in crime has been
  increasing.
• Women continue to be disadvantaged in society
  are more likely to be in jobs that present
  opportunities for crimes.
• Rape is one of the most underreported and highest
  growing crimes.

13
The Policing of Minorities

• Minority communities are policed more heavily.
• Police are more likely to use force against
  minority suspects.
• Racial profiling is widely used by police.

14
Race and Sentencing

• Minority citizens arrested for a crime
  experience
• Higher bails
• Less plea bargaining success
• More guilty verdicts
• Higher sentences
• 42 percent of death row prisoners are black.

15
Law and Social Change

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - legally
  sanctioned segregation.
• Supreme Court decisions permitting abortion under
  certain conditions.

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Terrorism

• Motivated by political, ethnic and religious
  conflicts
• Linked to other forms of deviance drug trade
• Technology allows new risks computer viruses and
  bio terrorism