Chapter 9

Crime and Criminal

Justice

Crime as a Social Problem

Official Statistics
Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is leading
source of information on crime.
Produced each year by the FBI and tracks 3
categories of reported crime:
Violent crime, property crime, and other offenses

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Crime Statistics
Violent crime:
Murder, rape, robbery, gang violence, and
aggravated assault

Property crime:
Burglary, mother vehicle theft, arson, and
larceny

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Crime Statistics (2/2)

UCR is in process of being replaced by
National Incident Based Reporting System
National Crime Victimization Survey
Sent to selected households to probe
frequency of unreported crime

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Crime and Delinquency

Crime:
Behavior that violates the criminal law
Punishable by a fine, jail term, or other
negative sanctions

2 categories of criminal law:

Misdemeanors: minor crime, punishment is
fine or <1 year in jail (ex: public drunkenness)

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Crime and Delinquency (2/2)

Felonies: serious crimes, punishment is >1
year in jail or even death. (ex: murder, rape)

Delinquency:
When someone under 18 commits a crime or
violates engages in an antisocial act

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Violent Crime
Actions involving force, or threat of force
against others and includes:
Murder, rape, robbery, & aggravated assault

Murder: unlawful, intentional killing of one

person by another
Mass murder: killing 4 or more people at one
time in one place

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Violent Crime (2/3)

Serial murder: 3 or more people over more
than a month

Manslaughter: unlawful, unintentional

killing of one person by another
Very accurate statistics as most dont go
unreported

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Violent Crime (3/3)

Men are bulk of offenders and victims
Most murder victims and offenders were age
eighteen and over

Most murderers kill people of their same

race
Poor people are more likely to kill and be
killed

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Rape
Act of violence in which sex is used as a
weapon against a powerless victim
Several kinds of rape:
Forcible rape: forced sex on adult of legal age
Statutory rape: sex with someone under legal
age of consent

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Rape (2/2)
Acquaintance rape: forced sex of people who
meet in a social situation (date rape)

Rape is very often unreported so rates

dont reflect extent of problem
Men are most often the offenders
Rapists & victims tend to be under age 25
Offenders & victims usually the same race

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Property Crime
Taking property from another:
Without force, threat of force, destruction of
property
Most frequently reported in victimization
surveys is burglary

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Property Crime (2/2)

African Americans and Latinos/as have a higher
than average risk of being burglarized than whites

Most frequently reported index crime is

larceny-theft
Statistics on auto theft are relatively accurate
Insurance companies require reporting auto theft

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Occupational and Corporate Crime

Occupational (White-Collar) Crime
Illegal activities committed by people in the
course of their:
Employment or normal business activity

Corporate Crime
Illegal acts committed by corporate employee:
On behalf of the corporation with its support

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Organized Crime
Organized Crime
A business operation that supplies illegal
goods and services for profit
Syndicated crime networks thrive because
theres demand for illegal goods & services
Organized crime often links up to legitimate
businesses

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Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile delinquency involves a violation
of law or the commission of a:
Status offense by a young person under a
specific age

Status offenses are not criminal acts per

se:
But are illegal because of the offenders age

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Who Commits Crime?

Men are more likely to be arrested than
women
Teenagers and young adults are most
likely to be arrested for serious crimes:
Such as homicide, rape, and robbery

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Who Commits Crime? (2/2)

People from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds are more likely to be:
Arrested for violent and property crimes

People from upper classes generally

commit white-collar or elite crimes
Low-income African Americans are
overrepresented in arrest data

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Explanations of Crime
Biological:
Cesare Lombroso: 19th century Italian
William Sheldon
Mesomorphs: muscular, aggressive and assertive
Endomorphs: fat, soft, round, extroverted
Ectomorphs: thin, wiry, sensitive, and introverted

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Explanations of Crime (2/2)

Psychological:
People with lower IQs commit more crime
than people with higher IQs
Validity of IQ tests have come under scrutiny

Frustration-aggression hypothesis:
Frustrated people take out aggression onto
others

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Sociological Explanations of Crime

Functionalist:
Strain theory (Robert Merton)
People feel strain when theyre exposed to cultural
goals they cant reach through approved means

Control theory
Delinquency and crime are more likely when a
persons ties to society are broken

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Sociological Explanations of Crime

(2/3)
Conflict
Authority and power relations contribute to
some people becoming criminals

Radical-Conflict approach
Crimes people commit are based on their
class position

Feminist approaches

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Sociological Explanations of Crime

(3/3)
Symbolic Interactionist
Criminal behavior is learned through
interaction and socialization with others

2 Theories:
Differential association theory
Labeling theory

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Criminal Justice System

Police
Most visible link

Courts
Determine guilt or innocence

Punishment and prisons

Retribution, social protection, rehabilitation,
and deterrence

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Can Crime Problem Be Solved?

Functionalist/Conservative:
Community policing can help

Conflict/Liberal:
Must reduce power differential- solve problem

Interactionist:
Teach people importance of law abiding
behavior

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