Chapter 14 Property & Order Crime

Chapter 14 Property & Order Crime

Chapter Summary • Chapter 14 is an overview of property crimes and public order crimes. • The Chapter begins with an overview of property crimes, including larceny/theft, burglary, MV theft, and arson. • The second half of the chapter is an overview of public order crimes. • This section of the Chapter includes a discussion of embezzlement, fraud, forgery, cybercrime, identity theft, prostitution, DUI, and gambling.

Chapter Summary • After reading this chapter, students should be able to: • Define and understand larceny/theft • Explain burglary, and understand the typical burglar • Describe the difference between MV theft and larceny/theft • Understand arson • List and explain public order crimes • Discuss prostitution as a crime

Chapter Summary Introduction • Understand the impact of the computer on crime • Discuss DUI and gambling • Property crime involves the illegal acquisition of money and goods or the destruction of property for financial gain or other malicious purposes. • Public order crimes are crimes against prevailing social morality or which contribute to the breakdown of the public order.

Figure 14.1 Thirty-Year Trends in U. S. Property Crime Source: NCVS 2004 Victimization Survey (Catalano, 2005) Note: Data collected before the NCVS redesign was implemented during 1992 (the lightly shaded area) have been made comparable to the post design NCVS. Data were re-estimated to account for the effects of the redesign. Arson not included

Larceny-Theft • Larceny/theft is the most common property crime committed in the United States and is defined as the unlawful taking, leading, or riding away from the possession or constructive possession of another. • Larceny/theft covers most types of theft that do not include the use of threats, violence, or force. • Larceny/theft includes grand theft and petty theft, with the distinction depending on the value of the asset stolen.

Types of Larceny-Theft • Larceny/theft are sub-classified by the FBI into shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse snatching, thefts from motor vehicles, theft of motor parts and accessories, theft of bicycles, and theft from buildings. • Shoplifting: Theft by a person other than an employee of goods exposed for sale in a store; the most studied of the sub-categories of larceny/theft. • Kleptomania: Repetitive impulsive stealing for the thrill of stealing and getting away with it.

Burglary • The FBI defines burglary as the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. • The unlawful entry element enables some states to define shoplifting as a burglary if it can be shown that a suspect entered a store with the intention of stealing, thereby making the entry unlawful.

Burglars and their Motives • The typical burglar is a young male firmly embedded in the street culture. • The basic motive for committing burglary is no different from any other property crime; to gain resources at little or no cost to oneself.

Burglars and their Motives • Burglars have been found to come from poor run-down socially disorganized neighborhoods where unemployment was rife, they were poorly educated, unreliable, resistant to taking orders, and most came from single-parent households. • Most burglars choose burglary over jobs as being far more profitable.

Burglars and Gender • In 2004, 14.3% of the arrestees for burglary were female. • Female burglars share most of the demographic characteristics of their male partners. • Female burglars capitalize on their sexuality to locate potential targets.

Choosing Burglary Targets • The four most important considerations in target selection according to Mawby (2001) are target exposure, guardianship, target attractiveness, and proximity. • The great majority of low- and mid-level burglars prey on residents in the same neighborhoods in which they reside. • Guardianship is the most important consideration for low- and mid-level burglars.

Disposing of the Loot • The most immediate pressure facing burglars after a successful burglary is to convert the stolen goods into cash. • Fence: A person who regularly buys stolen property for resale and who often has a legitimate business to cover his activities. • Burglars without connections to a professional fence must turn to other outlets: • Pawnshops • Drug dealers • Relatives, friends, and acquaintances

Motor Vehicle Theft • The FBI defines motor vehicle (MV) theft as the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. • MV is a larceny, but it is considered different enough and serious enough to warrant separate classification.

Motor Vehicle Theft for Fun and Profit • Most MV thefts committed by juveniles are strictly for fun—“joyriding.” • Most vehicles stolen for profit are taken to so-called “chop shops” where they are stripped of their parts and accessories. • Other stolen vehicles may be shipped abroad where they are worth more than they are in the United States.

Table 14.1 Cities With the Highest Auto Theft Rates and the Models Most Often Stolen Cities With Highest MV Theft Rates in 2004 MVs Most Stolen in 2004 SOURCE: National Insurance Crime Bureau, 2005.

Figure 14.2 Alcohol-related Fatality Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Commission, U.S. Department of Transportation. Traffic Safety Facts.

Arson • Arson is defined as any willful or malicious burning or attempting to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc. • Arson may have a variety of instrumental motivations such as financial gain, revenge, and intimidation, or expressive motivations that may signal psychopathology of some sort.

Crimes of Guilt and Deceit • The UCR lists three part II property crimes—embezzlement, fraud, and forgery/counterfeiting—that are committed by a demographically broader range of people than we see committing such crimes as burglary and MV theft.

Embezzlement • Embezzlement: the misappropriation or misapplication of money or property entrusted to the embezzler’s care, custody, or control. • Banks have long been embezzlement targets, but the advent of computers has made it both easier to commit and more lucrative. • Embezzlement is the rarest of property crimes.

Fraud • Fraud: Theft by trick; i.e., obtaining the money or property of another through deceptive practices such as false advertising, impersonation, and other misrepresentations.

Forgery • Forge: The creation or alteration of documents to give them the appearance and validity with the intention of gaining some fraudulent benefit from doing so. • Counterfeiting: The creation or altering of currency.

Cybercrime • Cybercrime: The use of computer technology to criminally victimize unwary individuals or groups • Everyone who enters cyberspace, uses a credit card and/or has a social security number, is a potential victim of cybercrime

Identity Theft • Identity theft: Occurs when someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or some other crime. • Criminals gain access to the personal information of others by stealing it, buying it, or simply by having it given to them by their unwary victims.

Identity Theft • Another method is phishing, which involves thieves casting thousands of fraudulent e-mails into the cyberpond asking for personal information and waiting for someone to bite. • Most stolen identity information is not for the personal use of the thief but for sale to others.

Denial of Service Attack: Virtual Kidnapping and Extortion • Denial of service attacks occur when criminals “kidnap” a business website or threatens to kidnap it so that business cannot be conducted.

Who are the Hacker’s? • A hacker may be simply defined as someone who illicitly accesses someone else’s computer system.

Software Piracy • Software privacy: Illegally copying and distributing software for free or for sale. • Software privacy is a crime, but few people see it as such unless multiple copies are made and sold for profit.

Internet Child Pornography and Cyber Seduction • The possession or viewing of child pornography is illegal because of the exploitation of the children depicted in it. • The Internet being used to procure underage sex partners is a crime.

Public Order Offenses • It cannot be denied that all public order offenses cause some social harm, but whether or not for some of these offenses the harm is great enough to warrant siphoning off criminal justice resources that could be applied to more serious crimes is a matter of debate.

Prostitution and Commercialized Vice • Prostitution and commercialized vice is defined by the FBI as the unlawful promotion of or participation in sexual activities for profit; to solicit customers or transport persons for prostitution purposes; to won, manage, or operate a dwelling or other establishment for the purpose of providing a place where prostitution is performed; or to otherwise assist or promote prostitution.

Prostitution: The provision of sexual services in exchange for money or other tangible reward, and a prostitute as a person who engages in such activity with multiple partners as a primary source of income. • The hierarchy of prostitution: • Elite escort services and call houses are the most prestigious • Brothels are mid-level • Streetwalkers are the lowest member of the sex worker industry. Prostitution and Commercialized Vice

Becoming a Prostitute • It has been estimated that prostitution is the primary source of income for over one million women in the United States. • Although most of the run-of-the-mill prostitutes just drifted aimlessly into it under subtle pressure, and few of them deliberately set out to become prostitutes, high-class call girls usually consciously make a decision to enter the profession.

Should Prostitution be Legalized? Ancient Athens viewed prostitution as functional, however, that attitude ignores the important role of the morality of society, and the issue of legalization becomes how much morality are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of expediency.

Other Sex Offenses • Sex offenses includes all sex offenses other than forcible rape and prostitution, and is defined as offenses against chastity, common decency, morals, and the like. • Exhibition: The exposure of one’s genitals to a stranger of either gender for sexual pleasure.

Other Sex Offenses • Voyeurism: The act of secretly observing unsuspecting persons who are naked, in the process of disrobing, or engaging in sexual activity • Toucheurism: Involves the desire to intimately touch women. • Frotteurism: Involves the desire to press the penis against a women.

Driving under the Influence • Driving under the influence is defined by the FBI as driving or operating a motor vehicle or common carrier while mentally or physically impaired as the result of consuming an alcoholic beverage or using a drug or narcotic.

Driving under the Influence • MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is an organization that has effectively lobbied for legislation nationwide to increase the legal drinking age and for stricter penalties for drunk drivers.

Driving under the Influence • The FBI defines gambling as to unlawfully bet or wager money or something else of value; assist, promote, or operate a game of chance for money or some other stake; possess or transmit wagering information; manufacture, sell, purchase, possess, or transport gambling equipment, devices, or goods; or tamper with the outcome of a sporting event or contest to gain a gambling advantage. • The biggest problem with gambling is the person who becomes addicted and gambles away everything he or she owns.

Chapter 14 Property & Order Crime