violent crime
a general category of crime that includes homicide, attempted murder, robbery, assault, and other mostly indictable offences that involve the physical violation of a person
under conventional crimes
abduction
the illegal apprehension of another person for the purpose of financial gain, retribution, or personal or political gain
factors relating to violent crime
- abusive families
- competing cultural values
- the availability of firearms
- gang motivation
- human instinct
- personality traits
- regional values
- substance abuse
deterministic model
focuses on human instinct and personality traits as an explanation of crime
homicide
the act of causing the death of another person, whether directly or indirectly , by an unlawful act or by negligence
non-culpable homicide
legally justified homicide (ex. committed for self-defence)
culpable homicide
murder, manslaughter, and infanticide
4 subcategories of homicide
- first-degree murder
- second-degree murder
- manslaughter
- infanticide
2 class of theories that deal with homicide
- individual social interaction
2. society
general theory of crime
sociological perspective asserting that criminal behaviour is a product of defective socialization processes that make it difficult for a potential offender to exercise self-control
(individual social interaction)
power-control theory
a sociological perspective that focuses on how power dynamic, patriarchy, and gender role socialization within the family contribute to delinquency and crime
3 levels of sexual assault
- no serious bodily harm or physical injury to the victim (common assault)
- greater degree of force or threatened force (e.g. with a weapon) is used and a degree of bodily harm (broken bones, bruises)
- the victim is disfigured, maimed, wounded, or has his/her life endangered (aggravated assault)
reasons for under/non reporting sexual assault
incident:
- wasn’t important enough
- private
- dealt with another way
primary predictor of sexual assaulter
antisocial personalities and negative family backgrounds
sociology explanation of sexual assault
lower-class subculture learning processes violence is seen as a way of life and sexual exploitation of women
feminist explanation of sexual assualt
consider sexual violence to be product of deeply rooted patriarchal conditions where men dominate women and treat them as property
biology/sociobiology explanation of sexual assault
men have innate drive to create offspring
date rape
a form of sexual assault that involves unlawfully coercing sexual interactions with someone against his or her will within the context of a dating relationship
robbery double fear
- fear of losing one’s property
2. fear of suffering physical harm
forms of robbery
- commercial robbery
- highway robbery
- street robbery (i.e. mugging)
- armed robbery (i.e. with force, using a weapon
- strong-armed robbery (i.e. with force but without using a weapon
- identity theft
- drug-related robbery
- home invasion
routine activity theory of robberies
robberies are more likely to occur in areas having “geosocial” attributes, victims are chosen based on either who is more likely to produce a higher return for the robbers or vulnerability
rational choice theory for robberies
offender’s rationality is limited to what seems reasonable at the time, given financial needs and limited opportunities
new forms of violence
- honour killing
- hate crimes
- sea piracy
- terrorism
honour killing
homicide committed against a relative (usually female) who has supposedly brought dishonour upon the family, typically through a relationship with a person of whom the family does not approve
hate crime
interpersonal violent crime that is motivated by bias against victims who may be characterized by a particular physical of social trait
3 types of hate crimes
- thrill-seeking - sadistic sense of satisfaction
- reactive - outsider is a threat and offender acts in sense of righteousness
- mission - offenders see it is their duty to seek out and eliminate people who threaten their religious beliefs, racial purity, and power
sea piracy
robbery on the high sea, armed
terrorism
the use of propaganda, violence, or dangerous acts against an organization or state in order to obtain concessions or rewards for a deeply held personal or political cause
target violence terrorism & theorist
1) violence against foreigners
2) violence against the citizens of one’s country
(Jeffrey)
source of motivation terrorism & theorist
1) ethnic separatists and immigrant groups
2) left-wing radical groups
3) right-wing racist groups
(Smythe)
broader source of motivation & theorist
1) revolutionary terrorism (fear)
2) political terrorism (supremacy groups)
3) nationalistic terrorism (promoting minority ethnic/religious factions
4) non-political terrorism (religious/social causes, ex. abortion)
5) state-sponsored terrorism (repressive political regimes)
(White)
organized crime
illegal activity conducted by individuals or groups acting in consort, typically involving extortion, fraud, theft, smuggling or the sale of illicit products
organized crimes concerted actions using
- Intimidation
- Violence
- Corruption
- Other means to obtain directly or indirectly a financial or material benefit
common themes in definition of organized crimes
- The supplying of illegal goods and services
- The involvement of predatory crime (by gangs and terrorist cells)
- Transnational dimension
common attributes in organized crime groups
- non-ideological
- hierarchical
- defined by exclusive membership
- perpetuous
- organized through specialization or division of labour
- monopolistic
- governed by rules and regulations
organized crime activities
- alien smuggling
- car theft
- drug dealing
- embezzlement
3 recommendations for organized crime groups units in Canada
- finding ways to measure and evaluate the success of integrated units
- learning what effect the integrated units have on their priority target crimes
- investigating how these initiatives benefit all partners
Aboriginal crime groups
organized crime groups started or operated in Canada by Aboriginal people, involved in crimes ranging from cigarette smuggling to illegal gambling
- due to low economic opportunities and tax exemption
cartels
an association of manufacturers or suppliers who have entered into an informal agreement to fix prices, to limit supply and minimize competition by various means, some of which may illegal and may involve violence
why are cartels threats
threats to democracy, national security, and international development
illicit market
the market for illegal goods and services e.g prostitution, drugs, contraband computer software
types of crime groups
- ethnic
- outlaw motorcycle gangs
- the Italian mafia
ethnic crime groups
some groups come from war-torn countries, violence, corruption and extortion have become a way of life and due to these reasons as well as significant cultural and ethnic differences, they may not assimilate as readily as other groups
outlaw motor cycle gangs
deviant subculture, deviant attitudes and behaviours
why police have struggled to diminish strength of outlaw motorcycle gangs
- law enforcement agencies are limited in what they can do when a biker gang moves into town
- OMG’s are gaining strength at a time when many police departments are facing cutbacks
- OMG’s have a clearly defined set of rules and regulations that govern membership, making them both difficult to join and difficult for law enforcement to infiltrate
5 principles of oath of the mafia
- omerta: a code of silence, or vow never to reveal any Mafia secrets or expose Mafia members under the threat of torture or death
- total obedience to the boss/don
- a “no questions asked” promise to assist any befriended mafia member
- a vow to avenge any attack on members of the family, because an attack on one is an attack on all
- a vow to avoid any contact with the authorities
protection racket
A criminal arrangement, associated especially with the Mafia, in which a business is provided with protection from sabotage, vandalism, robbery, and other crime, in exchange for a regular fee, typically paid to someone who has threatened violence or other retribution if the “client” rejects the service and refuses to make the payment
corporate crimes
involves illegal acts carried out by employees of a business in order to benefit the financial performance of the corporation
white collar crime
illegal activities such as fraud and embezzlement conducted by employees and officers of a company using their professional status for personal and/or corporate gain
illegal business practice by corporates
- restraint of trade
- misinterpretation in ads
- infringement of patents, trademarks and copyrights
- violation of labor law
- illegal rebates
- financial fraud and violation of trust
- violations of war regulations
victimless crime
unlawful activity in which there is no identifiable victim, either because the activity is consensual or because the activity is directed against a corporate entity rather than an individual
occupational crimes
crimes in which a person takes advantage of their occupation
neutralization
theory that criminals draw on a set of techniques to temporarily neutralize or suppress their internal moral obligation to abide by the law, which allows them to overcome their natural hesitation to commit a crime
neutralization techniques
- denial of responsibility
- denial of injury
- denial of victim
- appeal to higher loyalties
stress
internal stress is experienced by company owners and employees as they try to conduct business within the confines of existing regulations
theory of reintegrative shaming
a correctional philosophy advocating the use of public shaming and/or public acceptance of wrongdoing as a way of having offenders re-enter general society
4 categories of hackers
- black hats - good computer skills and desire to cause harm (trojan horse)
- white hats - good intentions
- grey hats - both defence and offence
- suicide hackers - causing harm without concern of being caught
trojan horse cyber attack
computer program designed to damage to a local computer system when the software is activated by an unsuspecting user while performing another, non-threatening task
public-order crime
activities deemed illegal because they are viewed as immoral or harmful, even though the parties who engage in them do so by choice (ex. gambling)
consensus perspective regarding laws/morality
a criminological perspective that sees laws as representing the interests of society
- law expresses widely held notion of public morality
conflict perspective regarding laws/morality
a criminological approach that sees laws as representing the interests of specific groups in society
biological theory for gambling
gambling as an impulse-control disorder with a specific chemical link
- compulsive gamblers have low levels of serotonin and poor impulse control
psychological theory for gambling
differences in psychological makeup
- low self-control from a bad childhood, gambling is symptomatic of sensation-seeking and risk-taking associated with guild, emotional isolation, and pain
learning theory for gambling
gambling as a learned behaviour that is governed by differential reinforcement patterns
prostitution
the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual services in exchange for money
vagrancy
the crime of being intentionally unemployed and therefore having no lawful means of supporting oneself or one’s family
procuring
the illegal act of arranging for, recruiting, or forcing a person to act as a prostitute, providing sexual services to another in exchange for money
soliciting
the illegal act of communicating with another person in a public place for the purpose of offering or providing sexual services as a prostitute
6 types of sex workers
- streetwalkers
- bar girls
- massage parlour
- house
- rap session booth
- escort service
political economy perspective
applied to prostitution, the theory that social inequalities force some women to turn to prostitution out of economic necessity
4 goals in prostitution decriminalization process
- prevent sexual procurement of children and youth
- protect prostitutes from pimp coercion and customer violence
- encourage prostitute self-employment
4; protect bystanders from nuisance
pornography
a public-order offence relating to explicit descriptions, or representations of sexual activity, prohibited by law
3 classes of drugs
- stimulants
- depressants
- hallucinogens
diathesis-stress model
an approach to studying addiction that views compulsive behaviour as a product of the interplay between an individual’s predisposition to the behaviour and stress from life experiences
non-conventional crimes
illegal acts that most people tend not to associate with crime that are often not pursued by the CJS, such as organized crime, political crime, and cybercrime
cybercrime
illegal activity that involves the use of computer technology or the internet as the target or the instrument of the crime
transnational crimes
criminal activity that violates the laws of more than one country, such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and human trafficking
varieties of terrorist crime
- kidnappings and hostage
- hijacking/skyjacking
- bombings
3 basic approaches for understanding terrorism
- national security agencies should focus strategically on limited preventive and protective measures
- political leaders should attempt to limit erratic, “knee-jerk,” and ill-informed responses to security threats and breaches
- policy-makers should seek to control their instincts to overreact
human trafficking
the trade in human beings, carried out through force or deception, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour
types of countries for human trafficking
- countries of origin
- transit countries
- destination countries
3 basic elements of human trafficking
- the act
- the means
- the purpose of exploitation
human trafficking push factors
traffickers prey on vulnerable individuals, such as people seeking support, living a life of limited opportunity, or trying to escape their social, economic, and/or political situation
human trafficking pull factors
entice and entrap victims, are deception and false promises of opportunity, a better life
intellectual property (IP) crime
occurs when someone infringes on the copyright or trademark on a product in order to produce an illegal copy for profit
money laundering
the illegal act of converting money or goods obtained through crime into a less suspicious form in order to conceal their origins and provide a legitimate way to account for the revenue
identity theft (cybercrime)
the act of obtaining or possessing another person’s name and personal identity information without consent in order to commit fraud or another offence
identity fraud
the fraudulent impersonation of a person, living or dead, to gain some advantage, to avoid identification, or to harm the reputation of the person whose identity is used
sexual inference
he illegal act of touching, directly or indirectly, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 for sexual purposes (with certain exceptions depending, for example, on the specific ages of the parties involved)
sexual exploitation
the illegal act of sexual touching with a young person when the offender is in a position of trust/authority or when the victim is in a position of dependency on the offender
the internet makes children much more vulnerable to these offences
cyberbullying
the use of communication technology to repeatedly harass, threaten, or intimidate others, usually anonymously
cyberterrorism
politically motivated attacks against private, government, or corporate computer systems in order to cause widespread social, political, or economic stability
cyberespionage
the illicit activity of hacking into the computer networks of a rival government or company in order to access confidential information
postmodernism
a theoretical framework derived from critical criminology that essentially rejects the self-evident reality of distinctions made by conventional scientific knowledge and/or common sense
4 basic approaches to crime control
- conservative
- liberal
- critical
- integrated and interdisciplinary
conservative approach to crime control
an approach to crime control relies on the CJ to deter and incapacitate criminals by incarcerating offenders; it originates from a belief that all humans possess the capacity for both good and evil
objectives of conservative approach
- controlling crime in order to preserve the status quo, legal order, and “family values”
- conventional crime, generally attributed to the lower and middle class
- incarceration and the principle of “just deserts”
- expanding the size, reach, and authority of police forces
- maintaining social control, even if that means compromising individual freedoms
liberal approach to crime control
an approach to crime control that focuses on alleviating social inequalities and providing legitimate opportunities for everyone; it originates in the belief that humans are naturally and fundamentally good
objectives of liberal approach to crime control
- addressing the social and economic problems that it sees as the underlying causes of crime
- achieving social reform through vocational training, social assistance, job creation and community involvement
- treating and rehabilitating offenders
critical approach to crime control
an approach to crime control that addresses both conventional and non-conventional crimes by attempting to eliminate structural inequalities that are the basis of capitalism
objectives of critical approach to crime control
- adopting an anti-establishment view of social order
- viewing capitalist competition for wealth as an underlying motivation of crime
- using unofficial sources (e.g self-report and victimization surveys) that indicate that crime is not concentrated in lower socioeconomic groups but can be found across all social classes
- examining the non-conventional crime committed by privileged groups
- shifting the focus from the offender to the social system
- calling for the construction of a fundamentally different social system
integrated/interdisciplinary approach to crime control
an approach to crime control that attempts to combine two or more complementary theories as well as knowledge from at least two disciplinary perspectives in order to produce theories of behaviour that can better serve as the basis for intervention and prevention strategies
objectives to integrated/interdisciplinary approach to crime control
- sees “handling” crime as its principal objective, as opposed to controlling it or solving the problems behind it
- views criminal behaviour as human behaviour
- stresses an interaction between the individual and the environment ie: nature vs. nurture
- adopts a “soft deterministic” approach to the study of human behaviour that draws on both objective ie: quantitative and subjective ie: qualitative analysis
comparative criminology
the study of crime patterns and prevention methods in different cultural and national settings, undertaken in an attempt to develop theories and strategies that can be applied across cultural and political boundaries ie: external validity
limitations to resolve using integrated/interdisciplinary
- the necessity for compatible dependent variables
- agreement on the purpose and nature of theory
- difficulty in articulating interconnections of parts
- inadequacy of data for checking out problematic elements
opportunity reduction (OR)
strategies designed to prevent crime by minimizing the opportunities for criminal activity
3 forms of opportunity reduction (OR)
- primary prevention
- secondary prevention
- tertiary prevention
primary prevention (OR)
addressing the environmental conditions thought to be directly related to crime risk
secondary prevention (OR)
focuses on identifying potential offenders and targets (people, places, situations, times etc) and intervening before a crime is committed
tertiary prevention
focuses on preventing individuals who have already violated the law from re-offending
social development approach to OR
community based public education are used to inform people of the risks to their safety to encourage them to take appropriate steps to avoid becoming victims of crime
restorative justice
a direct and indirect mediation model that emphasizes restitution and community participation, aimed at rehabilitating offenders and reintegrating them back into their communities
principles of restorative justice
- as a communitarian philosophy, it emphasizes social rather than moral responsibility. Offenders obliged to make some form of restitution e.g apologize or provide financial compensation
- public shaming to the victims family in a powerfully emotional setting reduces rates of re-offending, thereby helping the offender make a more successful return to the community
- punishment model sees crime as an abstract injury to the state that requires retribution, the restoration model sees it not as an abstraction but as an actual injury to a person and a community that must be repaired
- instead of revenge and retribution, calls for emotional, physical, social and spiritual restitution - process of restitution should respect all parties involved - victim, offender and agents of justice
4 pillar framework for harm reduction
prevention, enforcement, treatment, HR
Insite supervised injection case focused on two themes
- inter-jurisdictional immunity
2. security of the person
6 reasons to arrest protesters
- mischief
- rioting
- unlawful assembly
- common nuisance
- causing a disturbance
- conspiracy
Kohlberg’s 3 levels of moral development
- pre-conventional (good/bad determined by punishment)
- conventional level (complying to expectations of others)
- post conventional (own moral assessment)
Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral development
- Level 1
1. punishment and obedience orientation
2. instrumental relativist orientation - Level 2
3. interpersonal concordance
4. law and order orientation - Level 3
5. social contract, logistic orientation
6. universal ethical principle orientation
6 benefits of inquiries/commissions
- public inquiries look to past and the future
- seek truth
- uncover errors
- can develop action plans
- gave potential
- systemic improvements to be mane on wrongful convictions