Crime & its consequences

1. Crime & its consequences Chapter 2: Introduction to Criminal Justice 5th Edition Law & Public Safety 1

2. Definitions of crime • Crime is from the Latin “crimen”, meaning “accusation” or “fault”. • Difficult to properly define crime. • We will look at multiple definitions.

3. Social definitions • Behavior that violates the norms of society • Norm • Standard or rule regarding what human beings should or should not think, say, or do under given circumstances.

4. Problems with norms • Norms vary from group to group within a single society • Gambling, abortion, improper behavior. • Norms are always subject to interpretation • Norms change from time to time

5. Legal definition • Legal definition of crime: • An intentional violation of the criminal law or penal code, committed without defense or excuse and penalized by the state. T • Problems of its own • Overcriminalization • Victimless crimes • Include gambling, illegal drugs, prostitution

6. Problems with legal definitions of crime • It is illegal to buy a bag of peanuts after sunset and before sunrise the next day in Alabama. • In Connecticut, it is illegal to walk across the street on your hands • Kisses may last for as much as, but no more than, five minutes in Iowa. • In Michigan a woman isnt allowed to cut her hair without her husbands permission. • It is illegal to slurp soup in New Jersey.

7. Problems with legal definitions • Non enforcement • Failure to routinely enforce prohibitions against certain behaviors. • Common for white-collar and government crimes • Under criminalization • Failure to prohibit some behaviors that arguable should be prohibited. • Maintaining unsafe working areas

8. Elements of crime • Crime has not been committed unless all seven of the following are present: • Harm • Legality • Actus Reus • Mensrea • Causation • Concurrence • Punishment

9. Harm • For crime to occur, there must be an external consequence, or harm. A mental or emotional state is not enough. • Harm may be physical or verbal • Verbal harm • Libel • Slander

10. Legality • 2 aspects • Harm must be legally forbidden • Criminal law must not be retroactive or ex post facto. • Ex post facto • A law that declares criminal an act that was not illegal when it was committed, and increases the punishment for a crime after the crime is committed. • US Constitution forbids the ex post facto laws.

11. Actus Reus • Intentional or criminally negligent action that causes harm

12. Mens Rea • Guilty state of mind. • Negligence • Failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm.

13. Causation • Casual relationship between the legally forbidden harm and the actusreus. In other words the criminal act must lead directly to the harm without a long delay.

14. concurrence • The criminal conduct and the criminal intent must occur together.

15. punishment • For a behavior to be considered a crime, there must be a statutory provision for punishment or at least the threat of punishment.

16. Legal defenses • Not considered responsible or is considered less responsible for an offense if he or she: • Acted under duress • Was underage • Was insane • Acted in self defense • Was entrapped • Acted out of necessity

17. juvenile delinquency • Individuals between the ages of 7-18 • Anyone at 18 can be considered an adult. • Some jurisdictions may charge anyone between 16-18 as an adult.

18. Insanity • Mental or physiological impairment or retardation. • Insanity defense rests on the assumption that someone who is insane at the time of a crime lacks the capacity or has diminshed capacity to form mensrea.

19. M’naghten rule • “Every man is to be presumed to be sane and… to establish a defense on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know that nature and quality of the act he was doing; or if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.” • In short…. A person is legally insane if, at the time of the commission of the act, he or she did not know that nature and quality of the act or did not know that the act was wrong. The burden of proof is onthe defendant.

20. Entrapment • Not responsible or less responsible for their crimes if they were entrapped or induced into committing them by a law enforcement officer or by someone acting as an agent for a law enforcement officer, such as an informant or undercover agent.

21. Degrees or categories of crime • Crime mala se • Wrong in themselves • Characterized by the Universality and timelessness. • They are crimes that happen everywhere and have always been a crime. • I.E- ->Rape and murder • Mala Prohibita • Offenses that are illegal because the laws say so. • IE  Trespassing, gambling, prostitution

22. THE HANDOUT THAT IS BEING PASSED AROUND IS FAIR GAME OF VOCABULARY THAT CAN BE SEEN ON ANY QUIZ OR TEST!!

23. DID YOU KNOW… • According to the “The Year-and-a-Day Rule” a person cannot be prosecuted for murder if the victim dies more than a year and a day after the injury. • Based on 13th century English common law

24. For statistical reasons, crimes are usually classified as… • crimes against property or property crime. • IE  burglary, larceny, authotheft • crimes against the person or violent crimes • IE  murder, rape, assault • Crimes against public decency, public order, and public justice. • IE  Drunkeness, Disorderly conduct

25. On the board: • Are there any acts that are currently legal that you think should be illegal? If so, what? • Do you think there should be other elements of crime besides the seven listed in this section? If so, name them.

26. Crime and statistics • Measurement of crime • Crime Statistics • Difficult to count • Unreliable • “Impossible to determine with accuracy the amount of crime in any given jurisdiction at any particular time” • Why?

27. Why? • Some behavior is labeled as crime but others may not consider a given behavior crime • Large proportion of crimes are undetected • Some crimes may not be reported to the police • Crimes reported to the police may not be properly recorded.

28. Dark figure of crime • The number of crimes not officially recorded by the police • Crime Index • An estimate of crimes committed.

29. DID YOU KNOW… • Only 5% of crimes committed are violent crimes, while the other 85%-95% are property crimes and public order crimes.

30. Offenses known to police • Best index of crime – most accurate • Reported directly to the FBI index • Can be inaccurate though because victims do not always report the crimes.

31. Crime rates • Expressed as the number of crimes per unit of population or some other group. • Used instead of total numbers because they are more comparable. • So.. How do we compare? • DeSoto County? • Memphis?

35. Different types of crime reports: • Uniform crime report • National Incident Based Reporting System • National Crime Victimization Surveys • Self- Report Crime Surveys

36. Uniform crime reports • UCR • Primary Source of crime statistics • A Collection of crime statistics and other law enforcement information gathered under a voluntary national program administered by the FBI. • Began in the 1920s • More than 17,000 agencies report to the program which make up the entire U.S. population

37. Uniform crime reports • Until June 2004, the UCR had 2 major categories. • Offenses known to police • Statistics about people arrested • Eight Index Crimes • Murder and manslaughter • Forcible Rape • Robbery • Aggravated Assault • Burglary • Larceny – Theft • Motor Vehicle Theft • Arson Considered Violent Crimes Considered Property Offense

38. Status offense • An act that is illegal for a juvenile but would not be a crime if committed by an adult Examples: Truancy, Running away from home.

39. Crime index offenses cleared • the number of offenses for which at least one person has been arrested, charged with the commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution.

40. National incident-based reporting • NIBRS • Began in 1982 • Law enforcement authorities provide offense and arrest data on 22 broad categories of crime. • Contains more data on each crime. • As of December 2005, 30 states were NIBRS certified.

41. The benefits of participating in the NIBRS are: The NIBRS can furnish information on nearly every major criminal justice issue facing law enforcement today. access to more comprehensive crime information than the traditional Summary reporting system can provide. more detailed, accurate, and meaningful data than the Summary reporting system. agencies can work together to develop solutions or discover strategies for addressing the issues. provide a full accounting of the status of public safety within the jurisdiction to the police commissioner, chief, sheriff, or director.

42. National crime victimization surveys • A source of crime statistics based on interviews in which respondents are asked whether they have been victims of any of the FBI’s index reports or other crimes within the last 6 months. If they have, they are asked to provide information about their experience.

43. Self Reporting Crimes • Surveys in which subjects are asked whether they have committed crimes. • Most of these are administer to school age students.

44. On the board: • Of the various methods of measuring crime presented, which one do you think is most accurate? Why? • Least accurate? Why? • Do you think there are ways to get more victims of crime to report criminal incidents? How would you suggest them to come forward?

45. Costs of crime • In 2005, total economic loss was approximately $17 billion. • The NCVS = best estimate • Deficient in 2 ways: • Include only limited number of personal and property crimes • Report only estimates of relatively short term costs. They do not include long term costs associated with pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life.

46. What do people fear? • 45% worry about homes being broken into when they are not home. • 42% worry about having their car broken into • 19% worry about being sexually assaulted • 5% worry about getting murdered

47. Who fears crime? • GENDER • Females (47%) more fearful than males (19%) • AGE • 18-20 were most fearful (41%) than people in other ages. 21-29 = 30% , 30-49 = 27% , and 50 and up = 37% • RELIGION • Jews were most fearful (60%), Catholics (35%), protestants (31%) non claiming religion (30%)

48. How people respond to crime… • 47% avoided certain places or neighborhoods • 31% keep a dog for protection • 29% have security systems in their homes • 23% have a gun for self protection

49. On the board: • What do you think can be done to overcome peoples fear of crime? • What are major things that you fear? • What do you think are major contributors to peoples fear of crime?

50. Victims of crime • An estimated 23 million crimes are committed each year • Against people 12 years old and up • About 18 million property crimes annually • About 227,000 personal thefts annually