Chapter 3Defining and Measuring Crime

Learning Objective 1Discuss the primary goals of

civil law and criminal law and explain how these goals are realized

Learning Objective 1Civil Law

Civil court is concerned with responsibility

The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence

The remedy for violations of civil law is compensation

Criminal Law

Criminal court is concerned with guilt

The burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt

The remedy for violations is some form of punishment

Learning Objective 1Felonies

More serious or atrocious than misdemeanors

Punishable by death or imprisonment in a penitentiary for a period of a year or longer

Misdemeanors

Less serious crimes

Punishable by a fine and or incarceration in a local jail for up to one year

Learning Objective 2Explain the differences

between crimes mala in se and mala prohibita

Learning Objective 2Mala in Se

Acts that are inherently wrong, regardless of whether they are prohibited by law

Examples include murder, rape, and theft

Mala Prohibita

Acts that are made illegal by criminal statute and are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves

Examples include speeding and loitering

Learning Objective 3Identify the publication in

which the FBI reports crime data and list the three ways in which the data are reported

Discussion Questions What is the UCR most

commonly used for?

What types of crimes are the most prevalent?

Video: Violent Crime

Learning Objective 3The Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

Produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Includes data collected from 17,500 policing agencies each year, including:

Number of arrests.

Number of crimes reported.

Number of officers.

Learning Objective 4Distinguish between Part I and

Part II offenses as defined by the Uniform Crime Report

Learning Objective 4Part I Offenses:

Violent Crimes

Property Crimes

Part II Offenses:

Includes all crimes that do not fall into the category of Part I offenses.

Measured only by arrest data.

Occur five times more often than Part I offenses.

Learning Objective 5Describe some of the

shortcomings of UCR as a crime measuring tool

Learning Objective 5Criticisms of the UCR include:

Discretionary Distortions

Crime unreported by citizens

Crime underreported by police

Clearance Distortions

Variations in the law

NIBRS

Learning Objective 6Distinguish between the

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and self-reported surveys

Learning Objective 6Victim Surveys are a method of

gathering crime where citizens are surveyed directly regarding their criminal victimizations.

Victim surveys attempt to uncover the dark figure of crime.

Self-report surveys ask respondents to tell about their criminal activities.

Reliability is an issue.

Self-report surveys are also an attempt to measure the dark figure of crime.

Learning Objective 7Identify the three factors most

often used by criminologists to explain increases and declines in the nation’s crime rate

Learning Objective 7The “usual suspects” of crime

fluctuation:

Imprisonment

Youth populations

The economy

Learning Objective 8Explain why issues of race and

ethnicity tend to be overstated when it comes to trends

Discussion QuestionsHow has the diversification

of prison guards effected the prison population?

What demographic were prison officers most typically from?

Video: Nightline: Corrections

Learning Objective 8Crime, Race and Poverty:

In general, poor people and minorities commit more crimes and are more often the victims of crimes, than wealthier people and whites

Learning Objective 9Discuss the prevailing

explanation for the rising number of women incarcerated in the United States

Learning Objective 9Women and Crime:

Crime is a predominantly male activity, however female offending rates are steadily increasing

Explanations include Adler’s “liberation hypothesis” and the “get-tough” on crime movement