Crime and Criminal Justice

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Chapter 8

• Crime and Criminal Justice

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Chapter Outline

• Crime and Deviance
• Types of Crime
• Organized Crime and Corporate Crime
• Race, Class, Gender and Crime
• The Criminal Justice System Police, courts and
  the Law
• Terrorism As International Crime A Global
  Perspective

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Crime and Deviance

• Crime is a type of deviant behavior, but not all
  deviant behavior would be called crime.
• Deviance becomes crime when it is designated by
  the institutions of society as violating such a
  law or laws.
• Criminology is the study of crime from a
  scientific perspective.

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Sociological Theories of Crime
Functionalist Crime is learned through social interaction.
Symbolic Interaction Societies need a certain level of crime to clarify norms.
Conflict Theory The lower the social class, the more the individual is forced into criminality.
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Sociological Theories of Crime
Functionalist Crime results from social structural strains within society.
Symbolic Interaction Labeling criminals tends to reinforce rather than deter crime.
Conflict Theory Inequalities in society tends to produce criminal activity.
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Sociological Theories of Crime
Functionalist Crime may be functional to society, thus difficult to eradicate.
Symbolic Interaction Institutions with the power to label produce rather than lessen crime.
Conflict Theory Reducing social inequalities will reduce crime.
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Violent Crime in the United States
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Classifications of Crimes

• Personal crimes - murder, aggravated assault,
  rape, robbery
• Property crimes - burglary, larceny, auto theft,
  arson

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Polling Question

• Have you ever stolen little things worth between
  2 and 50?
• A.) Yes
• B.) No

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Polling Question

• Have you ever stolen things worth more than 50?
• A.) Yes
• B.) No

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Classifications of Crimes

• Victimless crimes - gambling, illegal drug use,
  prostitution 
• Hate crimes - assaults and other malicious acts
  motivated by bias

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White-collar or Elite Crime

• Examples embezzlement, insider trading, tax
  evasion
• In terms of dollars, white-collar crime is much
  more consequential for society than street crimes.

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Organized Crime

• Crime committed by organized groups, typically
  involving the provision of illegal goods and
  services to others.
• Organized crime syndicates include any group that
  exercises control over large illegal enterprises,
  such as the drug trade, illegal gambling,
  prostitution or weapons smuggling.
• These industries are organized in the same kind
  of hierarchy as legitimate businesses.

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Corporate Crime and Deviance

• Occurs in the context of a formal organization or
  bureaucracy and is sanctioned by the norms and
  operating principles of the organization.
• Can occur within any of organization corporate,
  educational, governmental, or religious.
• Example Sexual assault of youths by Catholic
  priests, and the attempted cover-ups by
  assigning offending priests to parishes in
  different towns or states.

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Race, Class, Gender and Crime

• Certain groups are more likely than others to
  commit crime given that crime is linked to
  patterns of inequality in society.
• Sociologist Ramiro Martinez Jr. explored the
  connection between rates of violence in Latino
  communities and the degree of inequality in 111
  U.S. cities.
• His research shows a clear link between
  likelihood of lethal violence and socioeconomic
  conditions for Latinos in these different cities.

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Race and Crime

• Minorities constitute 25 of the population of
  the United States but are more than 33 of the
  people arrested for property crimes and almost
  50 of the people arrested for violent crimes.
• Sociological research has shown that police
  discretion is strongly influenced by class and
  race judgments.

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Victimization by Crime A Class Phenomenon
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Arrests by Race
Crime White Black American Indian Asian/ Pacific Islander
Murder 48.7 48.8 1.0 1.5
Forcible Rape 63.7 34.1 1.1 1.1
Robbery 44.2 53.9 0.6 1.2
Forgery 68.0 30.0 0.6 1.4
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Crime Victimization by Race and Gender
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Factors in Increase in Crime By Women

1. Changes brought about by the womens movement
   made women more likely to be employed in jobs
   that present opportunities for crimes such as
   property theft, embezzlement, and fraud.
2. The images women have of themselves are changing,
   making new behaviors possible.
3. Women on average remain in disadvantaged low-wage
   positions in the labor market.

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The Policing of Minorities

• Minority communities are policed more heavily
  than White neighborhoods.
• Policing in minority communities has a different
  effect than in White, middle-class communities.
• Numerous studies have also documented the severe
  treatment that Native Americans, Mexican
  Americans, and African Americans receive from the
  police.

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Racial Profiling

• The use of race alone as the criterion for
  deciding whether to stop and detain someone, such
  as the driver of an automobile, on suspicion of
  committing a crime.
• While the crime rate for Blacks and Hispanics is
  higher than that of Whites, the majority of
  Blacks or Hispanics do not commit any crimes.
• On a given day, there is roughly a 90 chance
  that an African American in a car has not
  committed a crime.

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Race and Sentencing

• Extensive research finds that once on trial,
  minority defendants are found guilty more often
  than White defendants.
• At sentencing, Blacks and Latinos are likely to
  get longer sentences than Whites for the same
  crimes.
• A study of Hispanic and White judges found that
  White judges sentence White defendants less
  severely than Hispanic defendants.

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Race and the Death Penalty

• Of the over 3500 prisoners currently on Death
  Row, 44 are Black.
• Research shows that when Whites and minorities
  commit the same crime against a White victim,
  minorities are more likely to receive a more
  severe sentence.
• Someone who kills a White person is also three
  times more likely to get the death penalty than
  someone who kills an African American, regardless
  of the race of the perpetrator.

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Prisons

• More than half of the federal and state male
  prisoners in the United States are racial
  minorities.
• Blacks have the highest rates of imprisonment,
  followed by Hispanics, then Native Americans and
  Asians.
• The United States and Russia have the highest
  rates of incarceration in the world.

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Ten Leading Nations in Incarceration Rates
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State and Federal Prison Population
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Polling Question

• Have you ever been arrested?
• A.) Yes
• B.) No

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Prisons and Deterrence

• Prisons rarely seem to deter or rehabilitate
  offenders.
• Only 20 who are imprisoned for drug offenses
  ever receive drug treatment.
• The prison experience is poorly suited to
  training prisoners in marketable skills or
  allowing them to repay their debt to society.

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Terrorism

• Terrorism is a crime that violates both
  international and domestic laws.
• Terrorists crosses national borders and its
  understanding requires a global perspective.
• Terrorism, whether domestic or international, is
  best understood not only as individual insanity,
  but also as a politically, economically, and
  socially oriented form of violence.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. The study of crime from a scientific
  perspective is called
• a. Criminal justice
• b. Criminology
• c. Criminal behaviorism
• d. Criminal studies

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Answer b

• The study of crime from a scientific perspective
  is called criminology.

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• 2. "The lower the social class, the more the
  individual is forced into criminality." This
  statement most closely reflects the
• a. evolutionary perspective
• b. conflict perspective
• c. functionalist perspective
• d. symbolic interactionist perspective

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Answer b

• "The lower the social class, the more the
  individual is forced into criminality." This
  statement most closely reflects the conflict
  perspective.

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• 3. Which of the following is not considered an
  example of property crimes?
• a. arson
• b. larceny
• c. burglary
• d. gambling

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Answer d

• Gambling is not considered an example of property
  crimes.

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• 4. __________________ refers to criminal
  activities by persons of high social status who
  commit their crimes in the context of their
  occupation.
• a. Property crimes
• b. Personal crimes
• c. Elite crime
• d. Hate crimes

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Answer c

• Elite crime refers to criminal activities by
  persons of high social status who commit their
  crimes in the context.