It is defined as a crime which involves attacking another person and causing serious bodily harm and is caused by weapons considered deadly with intent to do so. It is felony and punishable in state prison. Deadly weapons include guns, knives, machete, and many others of such kind.
Mafia
This is a secret criminal organization engaged into criminal activities such as gambling, prostitution, drug-dealing, illegal protection, and many other crimes of such. Majority of the groups are of people of same nationality and trusted associates. The name is prone in United States and Italy, though originality is in Sicily where it was founded.
Sociopaths
These are people with a personality disorder. The behaviour is marked with antisocial behaviour.
Rico Act
It is fully known as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It was enacted by the 1970 organized crime control Act. It was situated to give extended penalties in the prosecution of organized criminal acts, and was targeted at the mob although it has since then been used in cases including police departments and gang activity. It works through strong sanctions and forfeiture provisions.
Felony Murder
It is any death that occurs during the commission or attempt to commit certain felonies; arson, burglary, robbery, rape, kidnapping, and many other sexual offenses. The crime is held as a first degree murder and all parties involved are equally held liable.
Bankruptcy Fraud
It is the deliberate attempt to restructure or in extreme discharge debts with no substantial reason to do so. The crime act involves concealment of assets, documents, fraudulent claims, conflict of interests, and false statements.
Churning
One of the hard crimes to prove despite its illegality, it is the mishandling of trade by the broker or salesman in order to generate more commission from the account.
Whistle blower
A person who publicly criticizes or exposes the wrongful acts, misconducts or illegalities of a company or nation, the person is protected by the law nationally or internationally according to the weight of the case.
Insider trading
It is the trade of a company’s stock or securities by the persons who hold or have potential access to the company’s non-public information on the securities. Victims to such crimes are the unsuspecting investing public. The crime is controlled under the Securities and Exchange Act.
Sherman Antitrust Act
Measures passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. The Sherman Antitrust Act stated that the Congress would be able to prohibit abusive monopolies. It was based on the constitutional power of congress to regulate interstate commerce.
Compare and contrast the consensus and conflict views of criminology
Conflict criminology claims that crime is inevitable in capitalist societies, as invariably certain groups will become marginalised and unequal. Consensus of values exists. There is competition for money, power, and status. The consensus argues that the role of the state is to mediate conflicts and represent the common values. Conflict argues the state does not represent the common interests, but the interests of those in power. Therefore, the two exhibit an inverse relationship with each other.
How does deviance differ from the concept of crime
Crime is violation of the accepted and passed by laws of a governing body. Deviance on the other hand is the act against the norms and values of a wider society. Deviance differs from crime since it is not justified by law as crime.
Deviance is enforced mainly by the social sanctions while crime is enforced by the formal correction or law enforcing bodies such as police.
What are the different ingredients of crime? Explain each
Legality, Actus reus (Act of itself), harm, Causation, mens rae (intent), concurrence, punishment. Above are the ingredients of crime.
Legality: The legality of crime is based on the principle that a human behaviour cannot be classified as a crime if a law does not exist to define the act as legally prohibited offense.
Act of itself: It is the most essential in denoting an act of violation of law. The person must commit the prohibited act so as to be classified as criminal such as murder, threat, assault, and many others
Harm: The criminal statute is to deter or prevent harm from occurring. Harm would exist in crime, either as already done or as having potential to occur. Crimes termed as victimless crimes are those which do not contain the element of harm.
Causation: It is related to the crimes in which the types of crimes require a result on the offender’s conduct. It links the act to the harm caused
Intent (Mens Rae): It is the mental component taking part in the crime. In other cases it is the guilty mind of the accused. It is based on the concept of choice; a person has control for his/her behaviour. Therefore, the crime must be committed voluntarily and in a clear conscious of the offender.
Concurrence: The intent is required to co-exist to be regarded as crime. The offender must commit the crime in order to be liable for the offense. Hence, thinking of an offense is not regarded as crime.
Punishment: A crime once realised, should be punishable. Therefore an act which is not punished is not regarded as crime. Punishment is a form of acceptance of the crime and its recognition. Form of correction to the offender.
What two sources of criminal statistics are used to provide crime rates? Which is more effective?
The major sources of criminal statistics in the United States are the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uniform crime reports. The most effective report is the FBI report since it reveals all the crimes reported and considered to have all the elements of crime. NCS on the other hand has a quantitative effect on crimes potential and those not reported due to other factors since it samples the community.
What historic criminologists have provided background for the classical criminologists and positivist schools of thought? Hint: Beccaria, Bentham, Darwin.
Classical School thought developed in the 18th century. The major contributors are Cesare Beccaria, author of “On Crimes Punishments” and Jeremy Bentham inventor of “Panopticon”
Positivist School which proposes that causative of criminal behaviour was internal and external factors. Its major contributors are Cesare Lombroso (regarded as father of criminology), Charles Darwin, was inspired by Lombroso, Alexandre Lacassagne Hans Eysenck and many others.
What questions can be raised about the biological and sociological determinist explanations of crime?
Is there existence of an innate universal human?
What comprises the human nature?
What role does the environment play in human nature?
Are the actions by humans out of will or due to forces beyond our explanation?
Discuss social learning theory, attachment theory, moral development theory, and differential association theory.
Social learning theory: it states that people learn within social context. Modelling and observational learning facilitate its existence. It is a derivative of Albert Bandura’s works.
Attachment theory: The theory defines the phenomena of prolonged relationships among human. The theory requires that an infant develop relationship with at least one person for the emotional and social developments to carry out effectively.
Moral development theory: The theory has a wide interest in both psychology and education. According to Kohlberg moral development theory is a continuous process in an individual’s lifetime.
Differential association theory: Developed by Edwin Sutherland. It declares that through interaction with others individuals are able to the attitudes, techniques, values and motives characterizing criminal behaviour. Most recognized of theories of deviance. It focuses on how to become criminals not why people become criminals.
Review information on genetics and criminality including twin studies and IQ debate.
It is recognized in many criminal activities, the parent may have played a vital role; there are chromosomal factors responsible for criminal behaviour. The environment is found to also have influence on an individuals mind on criminality. The studies which reveal the genetic effect include the twin studies and the adoption studies which were used to determine these effects. Brain research’s conducted also reveal that there are chemicals and other factors that would cause aggressiveness and criminality in some instances. The research’s conducted on genetic influence and IQ relation to crime, is controversial and is still under scrutiny by many scholars.
Review Durkheim’s view on anomie and suicide, and how this view influenced Merton’s strain theory.
Durkheim’s view on crime is more generalized on the theory of modernization; deregulation involved in the society. It forms the basis of Merton’s strain theory. Durkheim views are based on the social forces which influenced crime by then. The view gave in the basis of strain theory in that the strain is referred to as the inadequate regulation at the societal level filters down to how the individual perceives his or her deeds.
How would social disorganization theory and conflict theory be used to explain the information of subcultures?
The theories explain the distinct nature of humans to separate themselves from others. The subcultures are developed due to the acceptance of different levels within the society, Therefore, conflict theories gives rise to arguments which lead to differentiation among the culture to form sub-cultures.
What are two relevant theories to explain gang behaviour?
Social disorganization theories and Strain theories are the core theories that can be used to explain clearly, gang behaviour.
What is social control, and how are attachment, commitment, involvement and belief affected by this?
Social Control: ability to determine what an individual should learn and grow through control of other factors. The social control involves the goals to be achieved, how and when. These goals are related to attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief by an individual.
Attachment: corresponds to the affective ties which youth forms to significant others. The environment, especially family is the source of attachment since it acts as role model in teaching the younger ones.
Commitment: Relates to aspiration to achieve something. It is regarded as investment in conventional behaviour which the youth risks should delinquency follow up.
Involvement: it is the participation in conventional activities leading toward socially valued success and status objectives.
Belief: Acceptance of the validity of the morals that are central social-value. It is variation in the acceptance of social rules.
Explain labelling theory and why it is effective in explaining juvenile delinquency
The labelling theory, states that the formal or informal application of stigmatizing and deviant tags to an individual would instigate future criminal acts rather than deter. The theory therefore, explains why when the young criminals are recognized as one they tend to stick to the label and in future commit more deviant acts.
Explain radical theory and apply to different crime rates for minorities
Radical theory states that there is no act which is naturally immoral or criminal. It defines crime as socially determined, it reflects on current social values. It may account for the shoplifting which is related to most of the minorities. The ones with no money engage in crime to enjoy luxuries of the wealth.
What is the rational choice perspective, and explain factors that influence offender’s decisions
Rational Choice perspective: The focus is on the characteristics of crime rather than the characteristics of the offender. The factors influencing the offender’s decision include suitable targets, motivated offenders, and absence of guardians. Without any of these factors, crime is considered not to occur.
Discuss the three primary police functions. Are there areas in which police departments have been found to be defective? If so, describe.
Investigation of suspected criminal activity
Compare and contrast the philosophies and models of punishment.
There are two philosophical approach models of punishment; utilitarian and Retributivist. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory concerned with future consequences of punishment. In contrast retribuivism views punishment as the direct and deserved response to already committed crimes. Retributivism is offering punishment cause it is due while utilitarianism punishes to maximize on utility.
Explain the development of corrections in the U.S. and the nature of prison culture.
There are the jails and prisons which defer in size and the types of offenders. The nature of prison culture is divided into two; some think they are victims of society while others belong to an alternative culture, especially those who are proud. The culture of prisons to many remains a mystery if inmate culture is a product of prison environment or extension of external subcultures.
Compare and contrast probation and parole. In what cases should each be used?
Probation is given by the judge while parole is by the board of parole.
Probation allows a convict to live in community under the custody of probation officer for a given period of time which is dependent on seriousness of crime in which the convict will be on supervision, while parole indicates the convict is allowed to live in the community under supervision and parole period is dependent on the decisions made by the board of parole. Violation of parole results into imprisonment of the convict.
