1 Crime and Violence. 2 The Nature of Crime Definition of the term crime »Crime is any act or omission of an act for which the state can apply sanctions.

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Crime and Crime and ViolenceViolence

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The Nature of CrimeThe Nature of Crime• Definition of the term crime

»Crime is any act or omission of an act for which the state can apply sanctions

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• Surveys show that most people Americans consistently rank crime among the most serious social problems.

• Fear of crime is itself a social problem, because it limits the things people do and they places they go.

• Forty-percent (40) of U.S. adults say they are afraid to walk alone at night in their own neighborhood

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Crime and ViolenceCrime and Violence • The murder rate in the USA is five times

higher than it is in Canada, ten times higher than in most European nations, and sixteen times higher than it is in Japan.

• Almost fifty murders occur every day in the United States; three are children who die at the hand of family members

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• Nearly half of murder victim knew their killers; a third of murdered women are killed by husbands or boyfriends

• There are 200 million guns in the United States, more than enough to arm every person over the age of thirteen in the country

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Police DiscretionPolice Discretion• The definition of criminality changes according to

what the police believe criminal behavior to be.• Discretion is a powerful weapon at the disposal of

police officers.• Studies have shown inconsistencies in targeting

different groups within the same police department

• Police bias affects how the police treat youth from the lower-class differently than youth from the middle-class

»Small departments are less likely to formally apply the law in minor situations

»Large departments are more likely to apply the law in minor situations

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Problems of AccuracyProblems of Accuracy• Sources and factors in determining the

validity of crime data from police reports»Not all crimes are reported or

known to the police»Police department policies on

policing and the reporting of crime impact the validity of the data

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• Major sources of data on crime»UCR – Uniform Crime Report

major source of official statistics on crime

»Self report studies »Victimization reports

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Uniform Crime ReportUniform Crime Report • The most widely used source of criminal

statistics

• It gives information on seven index crimes four crimes of violence Personal Violent Crime:

1. murder,  2. robbery, 3. rape, 4. aggravated assault

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• Three Property Crimes

1. burglary, 2. larceny, 3. and auto theft.

• A crime rate is estimated from this report, that is the number of crimes committed per 100,000 population

• Crime against property accounts for 88 percent of all serious offences

11Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports - 2002

Forcible Rape0.8%

Murder0.1%

Robbery3.6%

Motor Vehicle

Theft9.9%

Larceny-Theft59.4%

AggravatedAssault

7.8%

Burglary18.1%

Percent Distribution1

1Due to rounding, percentages do not add up to 100.

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Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports - 2002

Crime Clock, 2002Crime Clock, 2002

oneVIOLENT CRIME

every 22.1 seconds

oneVIOLENT CRIME

every 22.1 seconds

oneCRIME INDEX OFFENSE

every 2.7 seconds

oneCRIME INDEX OFFENSE

every 2.7 seconds onePROPERTY CRIMEevery 3 seconds

onePROPERTY CRIMEevery 3 seconds

oneMURDER

every 32.4 minutes

oneMURDER

every 32.4 minutes

oneFORCIBLE RAPEevery 5.5 minutes

oneFORCIBLE RAPEevery 5.5 minutes

oneROBBERY

every 1.2 minutes

oneROBBERY

every 1.2 minutes

oneAGGRAVATED ASSAULT

every 35.3 seconds

oneAGGRAVATED ASSAULT

every 35.3 seconds

oneBURGLARY

every 14.5 seconds

oneBURGLARY

every 14.5 seconds

oneLARCENY-THEFTevery 4.5 seconds

oneLARCENY-THEFTevery 4.5 seconds

oneMOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

every 25.3 seconds

oneMOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

every 25.3 seconds

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National Crime National Crime Victimization SurveyVictimization Survey

• In the 1970s the federal government began conducting a yearly crime survey

• Of the two, the NCVS is generally considered more accurate

• Sample surveys of Americans indicate that crimes reported to the police account for about 33

percent of actual offences

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Violent Personal CrimesViolent Personal Crimes• When weapons are involved, guns account for

about 70 percent of murder

• Two-thirds of murder victims die as a result of shootings

• the level of deadly violence in the United States remains higher than in any other urban industrial nation

• For black men in the United States, the chances of living beyond age 40 are worse than in the poorest nations of the world mainly because of the toll taken by violence

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Firearm Injury Death Rates among Young Firearm Injury Death Rates among Young Men Men

in Selected Countries, 1992 to 1995in Selected Countries, 1992 to 1995

0.8

1.5

2.1

3.7

4.6

7.9

8.4

8.8

11.1

11.5

12.2

54.0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60Deaths per 100,000 men ages 15-24

United States

Norway

Israel

Canada

New Zealand

Australia

France

Denmark

Sweden

Scotland

The Netherlands

England and Wales

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Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Health United States 1996-1997 andInjury Chartbook, 1997, p.32.

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Offenders and VictimsOffenders and Victims• Criminologists agree that there are four variables-

age, gender, and geographic location, and socioeconomic status

• Worldwide, men commit more crime than women • In the USA , 4 times as many men as women are

arrested, and there are about 16 times more men than women in prison.

• The crime rate for women has, however, been growing faster than the rate for men.

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• Crime is predominantly a youthful activity.

• Teenagers and young adults have the highest crime rates.

• In the USA, the likelihood of arrest peaks in the 19- to- 21-year old age group and slowly declines after that

• Most murderers are young, between the ages of 17 and 34

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• Crime is lower in the suburbs than in the cities and lower still in the rural areas

• Property crime, regardless of the type, occurred more often to those living in rented property

• Households living in rented property had almost twice the rate of motor vehicle theft than those in owned property

• Although African Americans make up about 12 percent of the population of the USA, they account for about 30 percent of all those arrested

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• Over two-thirds of the men and nine-tenths of the women in prison are from the poverty class or the working class

• Official statistics show that poor people are more likely to be arrested and sent to prison than those form middle

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VictimsVictims• Crime victims in the USA are more often men than

women and younger people rather than elderly individuals.

• Teens experience the highest rates of violent crime

• The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports show that in 2003, 91% of murder victims were age 18 or older. Of all murder victims, 46% were 20 to 34 years old

• The elderly, persons age 65 or older, experienced less violence and fewer property crimes than younger persons between 1993-2002

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• Property crime, not violence, provided the highest percentage of crime against persons age 65 or older

• Males experienced higher victimization rates than females for all types of violent crime except rape/sexual assault.

• Seventy-six percent murder victims are males

• Inner city residents are more likely to be victims of crime than those who live in the suburbs, and rural populations

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Figure 5-8 (p. 145)Figure 5-8 (p. 145)Murder by RelationshipMurder by Relationship11

Percent DistributionPercent Distribution22 Volume by Known Relationship, 2003 Volume by Known Relationship, 2003 11 Relationship is that of victim to offender Relationship is that of victim to offender

2 2 Due to rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0Due to rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0SourceSource: Federal Bureau of Investigation, : Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform-Crime Uniform-Crime

Reports, 2004Reports, 2004..

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• Poor people in general, and members of minority groups especially African-American or Hispanics are most likely to be victims of violent crimes

• Most of the crime is an intra-racial phenomenon

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Causes of Crime and Causes of Crime and ViolenceViolence

Biological Theories• Cesar Lombroso believed that most criminals

were biologically different from normal people

• easily identifiable physical traits such as sloping foreheads, small brains, overdeveloped jaws, and other apelike characteristics

• XYY Syndrome.• no evidence that humans have a predisposition

to engage in criminal behavior.

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Personality TheoriesPersonality Theories

• Some psychologists and psychiatrists believe that personality traits lie at the root of criminal behavior

• They conclude that many criminals often have a sociopathic personality.

• Sociopathic personality is vague in its definition but it refers to an inability to form close social relationships combined with a lack of moral feelings or concern for others

• the most common explanation is that it develops in early childhood.

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Sociological TheoriesSociological TheoriesConflict Approaches

Conflict theorist identify inequities of wealth, status, and power as the underlying conditions that produce criminal behavior

• Every study of crime based on official data shows that blacks are overrepresented among those who are arrested, convicted and imprisoned for street crimes.

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• The National Household Survey of Substance and Drug Abuse finds that roughly the same proportion of blacks and whites - 12 to 13 percent - say that they use illegal substances

• Yet 37 percent of those arrested for drug related crimes such as trafficking or possession are black

• African Americans are three times more likely than whites to be arrested but seven times more likely to end up in jail

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• Federal Prison sentences overall, are almost 50 percent longer for African Americans than for whites

• More than 90 percent of those on death row are poor

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Functionalist View Strain Functionalist View Strain TheoryTheory ( (Robert MertonRobert Merton))

Anomie - the feeling of being adrift that arises from the disparity between goals and means

• Crime, according to this concept, is produced by the strain in societies that

1. tells people wealth is available to all but also 2. restricts some people's access to the means for

achieving wealth.

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Interactionist Approaches: Interactionist Approaches: Differential AssociationDifferential Association

Differential Association was developed by Edwin Sutherland.

• criminal behavior is learned through interactions with others the same as all other forms of socialization

• criminal behavior is a result of a leaning process that occurs chiefly within small, intimate groups - family, friends, neighborhood peer groups, and the like.

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• Formation of deviant subcultures provides for a social situation where not only techniques of lawbreaking are learned but also the

1. motives, 2. drives, and 3. the rationalizations of criminals. • encounters vary in frequency, duration, priority,

and intensity

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PrisonsPrisons

• In less than 30 years, the inmate population of the USA has increased almost fivefold.

• The USA incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world; nearly 2 million as of 2001

• California has the largest prison population in the nation. California spends $4 billion a year to operate the nation's largest prison system

• It costs between $23,500 to $30,000 keep one inmate incarcerated for one year

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Retribution-DeterrenceRetribution-Deterrence• Retribution and deterrence have historically been

the primary focus of efforts to control crime• The correctional system is still largely punitive• Punishment serves to sustain the morale of those

who conform to society’s rules.• Public’s desire for more retribution has helped

restore more punitive forms of correction• Three strike laws have become popular but their

efficiency is questioned

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Plea BargainingPlea BargainingPlea Bargaining is a system whereby a defendant

waives his or her right to a trail and pleads guilty to a lesser offense agreed upon in advance

• To clear court dockets, and improve conviction records, 90 percent of serious crimes are settled by plea bargaining

• If 80 percent of cases were settle by plea bargaining instead of the current 90 percent, the number of cases brought to trial would double

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• Prison population is unrepresentative of the general population, being disproportionately racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and the uneducated

The Bail System• Bail is the posting of money by the accused to

guarantee that he or she will be present at the time of trial. The Constitution provides the right to bail in non-capital cases.

• The obvious result of the system, is that the poor remain in jail and the wealthy are released.