What is Criminology
What is conduct that violates the criminal laws of a state, the federal government or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make and enforce the laws
Crime
A viewpoint that holds that laws should be enacted to criminalize given forms of behavior when members of society agree that such laws are necessary
Consensus Perspective
A person trained in the field of criminology who studies crime, criminals, and criminal behavior
Criminologist
The type of criminology that is usually studied in colleges and universities, describes crime and its occurrence, and offers explanations for criminal behavior.
Theoretical criminology
An annual survey of selected American households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine the extent of criminal victimization-especially unreported victimization - in the United States.
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
The large number of unreported crimes that never make it into official crime statistics.
Dark figure of crime
To make an act illegal
Criminalize
A viewpoint that recognizes the importance of diversity in our society and says that behaviors are typically criminalized through a political process
Pluralist Perspective
A criminalistics expert who gathers and examines physical evidence at crime scenes
Criminalist
A theory that attempts to explain most forms of criminal conduct through a single, overarching approach.
General Theory
An FBI statistical reporting program that provides an annual summation of the incidence and rate of reported crimes throughout the United States.
Uniform Crime Reporting (URC) Program
A survey in which anonymous respondents, without fear of disclosure or arrest, are asked to report confidentially any violations of the criminal law they have committed.
Self-report surveys
Human activity that violates social norms
Deviant behavior
The scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their manifestations, causes, legal aspects, and control
Criminology
Of or having one cause. Theories posing one source for all that they attempt to explain
Unicasual
An enhanced statistical reporting system that collects data on each single incident and arrest within 22 crime categories. NIBRS expands the data collected under the Uniform Crime Reporting Program
National incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
What are the three major shifts in crime rates that have occurred in the United States since the 1930s?
Crime decreased early 1940s at the outbreak of the Second World War
Dramatic increase in most forms of crime that began in the 1960s and ended in the 1990s. The end of World war 2
A formal written enactment of a legislative body
Statute
The scientific study of crime, criminal law, the criminal justice system, police, courts, and correctional system
Criminal Justice
An explanatory perspective that merges concepts drawn from different sources.
Integrated theory
The crimes of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft, as defined under the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Also called major crimes.
Part I Offenses
Violations of the criminal law and other misbehavior committed by young people
Deliquency
The notion that social events are interpreted differently according to the cultural experiences and personal interests of the initiator, observer, or recipient of that behavior.
Social relativity
The proportion of reported or discovered crimes within a given offense category that are solved.
Clearance rate