Question | Answer |
Media Portrayal | Public perceptions of creim and its victims are based largely on media images which focus on atypical sensational incidents. |
Gallup Poll on Crime | Survey of representative sample of American public which found that crime surpassed education and economic issues as the most pressing local problem. |
criminologists | Those who study the causes of crime and the treatment of offenders. |
Heart disease | What is the most common cause of death? |
vigilantism | Seeking justice through lawless violence. |
scapegoating | Unfairly blaming an individual or group for crimes. (i.e. internment of Japanese Americans in WWII) |
crimes | forms of conduct that society prohibits in order to maintain order (formalized norms) |
criminal law | A code that categorizes all crimies and punishments by type. |
felonies | Serious crimes that are punishable by incarceration for more than one year. (MA a crime punishable by more than 2 1/2 year in a state prison. ) |
misdemeanors | Less serious crimes that are punishable by one year or less. (MA A crime punishable by up to 2 1/2 years in a House of Correction) |
violation | A minor, usually civil, infraction that is only punishable by a fine. |
criminalization | A legislative decision to make a behavior a crime. |
decriminalization | The legislative decision to change a crime nto a noncriminal act. |
legalization | The legislative decision to make a criminal act legal. |
victimless crimes | Offenses in which the offinder and the victim are the same individual or in which the behavior is consensual. |
criminal justice | The managment of the police, courts and corrections and the study of the causes and treatement for crime. |
due process | The use of accuracy, fairness and reliability in criminal procedure to protect individual rights. |
Norms | Behaviors that are deemed acceptable in a given society. |
Mores | Behaviors which are serious breaches with societal norms. |
Folkways | Behaviors which are minor or less serious breaches with societal norms. |
Sanctions | The consequences a society prescribes for violation of societal norms. |
Laws | Formalized and codified violations of societal norms prescribed by legislative or governmental bodies. |