Criminology 115 ch.1-5 – Flashcards

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crime
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human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the federal government, a state, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws.
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criminalize
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to make illegal.
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deviant behavior
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human activity that violates social norms.
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delinquency
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a term often used in conjunction with crime and deviance, it refers to violations of the criminal law and other misbehavior committed by young people.
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consensus perspective
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a viewpoint that holds that laws should be enacted to criminalize given forms of behavior when members of society generally agree that such laws are necessary.
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pluralist perpective
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a viewpoint that says that behaviors are typically criminalized through a political process only after debate over the appropriate course of action.
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social policy
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a government initiative, program, or plan intended to address problems in society. the war on crime, for example, is a kind of generic large-scale social policy one consisting of many smaller groups.
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criminology
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an interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their forms, causes, legal aspects, and control.
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criminality
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a behavioral predisposition that disproportionately favors criminal activity.
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criminal behavior
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human activity, both intentional and negligent, that violates the criminal law. it may include a failure to act when there is a legal obligation to do so.
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criminal justice
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the scientific study of crime, the criminal law, and components of the criminal justice system, including the police, courts, and corrections.
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criminologist
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one who is trained in the field of criminology; also, who studies crime, criminals, and criminal behavior.
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criminalist
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a specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of crime.
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theoretical criminology
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a subfield of general criminology, it posits explanations for criminal behavior.
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theory
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a series of interrelated propositions that attempts to describe, explain, predict, and ultimately control some class of events. a theory gains explanatory power from inherent logical consistency and is tested by how well it describes and predicts reality.
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general theory
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a theory that attempts to explain all (or at least) most forms of criminal conduct through a single overarching approach.
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unicausal
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having one cause. unicausal theories posit only one source for all that they attempt to explain.
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intergtated theory
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an explanatory perspective that merges (or attempts to merge) concepts drawn from different sources.
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translational criminology
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a form of criminology whose purpose it is to translate the results of research into workable social policy.
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social problems perspective
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the belief that crime is a manifestation of underlying social problems, such as poverty, discrimination, pervasive family violence, inadequate socialization practices, and the breakdown of traditional social institutions.
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social responsibility perspective
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the belief that individuals are fundamentally responsible for their own behavior and that they choose crime over other, more law-abiding courses of action.
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social relativity
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the notion that social events are interpreted differently according to the cultural experiences and personal interests of the initiator, the observer, or the recipient of that behavior.
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criminal justice system
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the various agencies of justice, especially the police, courts, and corrections, whose goal is to apprehend, convict, punish, and rehabilitate law violations.
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socialization
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the lifelong process of social experience whereby individuals acquire the cultural patterns of their society.
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evidence based
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built on scientific findings, especially practices and policies founded upon the results of randomized, controlled experiments
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evidence based criminology
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a form of contemporary criminology that uses rigorous social scientific techniques, especially randomized, controlled experiments and the systematic review of research results. also known as knowledge-based criminology.
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hypothesis
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a tentative explanation accounting for a set of facts that can be tested by further investigation.
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research
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the use of standardized, systematic procedures in the search for knowledge.
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applied research
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research based on scientific inquiry that is designed and carried out with practical applications in mind.
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pure research
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research undertaken simply for the sake of advancing scientific knowledge.
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primary research
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research characterized by original and direct investigation.
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secondary research
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research based on new evaluations of existing information that has been collected by other researchers.
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variable
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a concept that can undergo measurable changes.
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operationalization
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the process by which concepts are make measurable.
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research design
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the logic and structure inherent in an approach to data gathering.
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confounding effect
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a rival explanation or competing hypothesis that is a threat to the internal or external validity of a research design.
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internal validity
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the certainty that experimental interventions did indeed cause the changes observed in the study group.
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external validity
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the ability to generalize research finding to other settings
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controlled experiment
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an experiment that attempt to hold conditions (other than the intentionally introduced experimental intervention) constant.
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quasi-experimental design
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an approach to research that, although less powerful than experimental designs, is deemed worthy of use when better designs are not feasible.
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control group
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a group of experimental subjects that, although the subject of measurement and observation, is not exposed to the experimental intervention.
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randomization
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the process whereby individuals are assigned to study groups without biases or differences resulting from selection.
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survey research
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research using a social science data gathering technique that involves the use of questionnaires.
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participant observation
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a strategy in data gathering in which the researchers observes a group by participating, to varying degrees, in the activities of the group.
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intersubjectivity
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a scientific principle that requires that independent observers see the same thing under the same circumstances for observations to be regarded as valid.
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replicability
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a scientific principle that holds that valid observation made at one time can be made again later if all other conditions are the same.
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descriptive statistics
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statistics that describe, summarize, or highlight the relationships within data that have been gathered.
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inferential statistics
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statistics that specify how likely findings are to be true for other populations or in other locales
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correlation
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a causal, complementary, or reciprocal relationship between two measurable variable.
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test of significance
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a statistical technique intended to provide researchers with confidence that their results are, in fact, true and not the result of sampling error.
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quantitative method
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a research technique that produces measurable results.
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qualitative method
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a research technique that produces subjective results, or results that are difficult to quantify.
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verstehen
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the kind of subjective understanding that can be achieved by criminologists who immerse themselves in the everyday world of the criminals they study.
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data confidentiality
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the ethical requirements of social scientific research to protect the confidentiality of individual research participants while preserving justified research access to the information participants provide.
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informed consent
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the ethical requirement of social scientific research that research subjects be informed about the nature of the research to be conducted, their anticipated role in it, and the uses to which the data they provide will be put.
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meta analysis
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a study that combines the results of other studies about a particular topic of interest. also a comprehensive and systematic review of other studies.
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mores
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behavioral proscriptions covering potentially serious violations of a group's values. examples include strictures against murder, rape, and robbery.
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folkways
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time-honored customs, although folkways carry the force of tradition, their violation is unlikely to threaten the survival of the group.
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mala in se
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an act that is thought to be wrong in and of itself.
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mala prohibita
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an act that is wrong only because it is prohibited.
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code of hammurabi
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an early set of laws established by the babylonian king hammurabi, who ruled the ancient city of babylon from 1792-1750 b.c.
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twelve tables
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early roman laws written approximately 450 b.c. that regulated family, religious, and economic life.
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common law
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law origination from usage and custom rather than from written statutes. the term refers to nonstatutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making.
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enlightenment
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a social movement that arose during the eighteenth century and that built upon ideas like empiricism, rationality, free will, humanism, and natural law.
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social contract
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the enlightenment era concept that human beings abandon their natural state of individual freedom to join together and form society. in the process of forming a social contract, individuals surrender some freedoms to society as a whole, and government, once formed, is obligated to assume responsibilities toward its citizens and to provide for their protection and welfare.
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natural law
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the philosophical perspective that certain immutable laws are fundamental to human nature and can be readily ascertained through reason. human made laws, in contrast, are said to derive from human experience and history both of which are subject to continual change.
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natural right
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rights that, according to natural law theorists, individuals retain in the face of government action and interests.
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classical school
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a criminological perspective of the late 1700s and early 1800s that had its roots in the enlightenment and that held that humans are rational beings, that crime is the result of the exercise of free will, and that punishment can be effective in reducing the incidence of crime to the degree it negates the pleasure to be derived from crime commission.
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hedonistic calculus
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the belief, first proposed by jeremy bentham, that behavior holds value to any individual undertaking according to the amount of pleasure or pain it can be expected to produce for that person.
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utilitarianism
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another term for jeremy bentham's concept of hedonistic calculus.
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panopticon
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a prison designed by jeremy bentham that was to be a circular building with cells along the circumference, each clearly visible from a central location staffed by guards.
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positivism
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the application of scientific techniques to the study of crime and criminals.
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hard determinism
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the belief that crime results from forces beyond the control of the individual.
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neoclassical criminology
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a contemporary version of classical criminology that emphasizes deterrence and retribution, with reduced emphasis on rehabilitation.
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nothing works doctrine
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the belief popularized by robert martinson in the 1970s that correctional treatment programs have little success in rehabilitating offenders.
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justice model
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a contemporary model of imprisonment in which the principle of just deserts forms the forms the underlying social philosophy.
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three strikes legislation
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a criminal statute that mandates life imprisonment for criminals convicted of three violent felonies or serious drug offenses.
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rational choice theory
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a perspective that holds that criminality is the result of conscious choice and that predicts that individuals choose to commit crime when the benefits outweigh the costs of disobeying the law.
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routine activities theory
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a brand of rational choice theory posited by lawrence cohen and marcus felson that suggests that lifestyles contribute significantly to both the volume and the type of crime found in any society. also known as lifestyle theory.
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situational choice theory
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a brand of rational choice theory that views criminal behavior as a function of choices and decisions make within a context of situational constraints and opportunities.
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capable guardian
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one who effectively discourage crime.
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soft determinism
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the belief that human behavior is the result of choices and decisions made within a context of situational constraints and opportunities
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situational crime prevention
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a social policy approach that looks to develop a greater understanding of crime and more effective crime-prevention strategies through concern with the physical, organizational, and social environments that make crime possible.
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target hardening
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the reduction in criminal opportunity for a particular location, generally through the use of physical barriers, architectural designs, and enhanced security measures.
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displacement
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a shift of criminal activity from one location to another.
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just deserts model
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the notion that criminal offenders deserve the punishments should be appropriate to the type and severity of the crime committed.
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deterrence
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the prevention of crime.
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specific deterrence
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a goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to prevent a particular offender from engaging in repeat criminality.
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general deterrence
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a goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to prevent others from committing crimes similar to the one for which a particular offender is being sentenced.
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recidivism
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the repetition of criminal behavior.
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recidivism rate
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the percentage of convicted offenders who have been released from prison and who are later rearrested for a new crime, generally within five years following release.
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capital punishment
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the legal imposition of a sentence of death upon a convicted offender.
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determinate sentencing
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a criminal punishment strategy that mandates a specified and fixed amount of time to be served for every offense category. under the strategy, for example, all offenders convicted of the same degree of burglary would be sentenced to the same length of time behind bars.
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truth in sentencing
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a close correspondence between the sentence imposed upon those sent to prison and the time actually served prior to prison release.
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incapacitation
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the use of imprisonment or other means to reduce the likelihood that an offender will be capable of committing future offenses.
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dangerousness
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the likelihood that a given individual will later harm society or others. dangerousness is often measured in terms of recidivism, or the likelihood of new crime commission or rearrest for a new crime within a five-year period following arrest or release from confinement.
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biological theories
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theories that maintain that the basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality, are constitutionally or physiologically based and often inherited.
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traits
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notable features or qualities of a biological entity. traits may be classified as physical, behavioral, or psychological. traits are passed from generation to the next.
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phrenology
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the study of the shape of the head to determine anatomical correlates of human behavior.
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early positivism
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used data from the fields of biology and anthropology to identify physical abnormalities that early criminologists thought could be used to distinguish criminal offenders from other people.
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criminal anthropology
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criminal anthropology is the scientific study of the relationship between human physical characteristics (in particular, bodily features) and criminality. today the word is mostly applied to the italian school of criminology, whose contributors built on scientific, or positivistic, principles like the use of measurement and observation in applying evolutionary concepts to the study of crime and criminals. criminal anthropology saw criminals as throwbacks to earlier evolutionary epochs.
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constitutional theories
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theses biological theories, sometimes called constitutional theories, explain criminality by reference to offenders' body types, inheritance, genetics, or external observable physical characteristics.
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sociobiology
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this theoretical perspective, developed by edward o. wilson, includes the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior, which is a branch of evolutionary biology and particularly of modern population biology.
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twin studies and heredity
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genetics and heredity, combined with processes of natural selection, including sexual selection, can produce biologically-based differences in behavior. studies of twins attempted to identify the role that heredity played in criminal behavior, especially among twins who were separated at birth and raised in vastly different environments.
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atavism
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a term used by cesare lombroso to suggest that criminals are physiological throwbacks to earlier stages of human evolution.
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italian school of criminology
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a perspective on criminology developed in the late 1800s that held that criminals can be identified by physical features and are throwbacks to earlier stages of human evolution. the itailian school was largely based on studies of criminal anthropology.
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born criminal
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an individual who is born with a genetic predilection toward criminality.
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criminaloid
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a term used by cesar lombroso to describe the occasional criminal who is enticed into criminality primarily by environmental influences.
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masculinity hypothesis
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the belief that, over time, men and women will commit crimes that are increasingly similar in nature, seriousness, and frequency. increasing similarity in crime commission was predicted to result from changes in the social status of women.
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somatotyping
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the classification of human beings into types according to body build and other physical characteristics.
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endomorph
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a body type originally described as soft and round or overweight.
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mesomorph
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a body type described athletic and muscular.
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ectomorph
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a body type originally described as thin and fragile, with long, slender, poorly muscled extremities and delicate bones.
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heredity
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the passing of traits from parent to child.
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behavioral genetics
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the study of genetic and environmental contributions to individual variations in human behavior.
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juke family
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a well-known criminal family studied by richard l. dugdale.
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kallikak family
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a well-known criminal family studied by henry h. goddard.
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eugenics
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the study of hereditary improvement by genetic control.
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eugenic criminology
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a perspective that holds that the root causes of criminality are passed from generation to generation in the form of bad genes.
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genetic determinism
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the belief that genes are the major determining factor in human behavior.
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supermale
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a male individual displaying the XYY chromosome structure.
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dizygotic (dz) twin
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a twin who develops from a separate ovum and who carries the genetic material shared by siblings.
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monozygotic (mz) twin
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one of two twins who develop from the same egg and who carry almost identical genetic material.
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sociobiology
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the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior.
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paradigm
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an example, a model, or a theory.
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altruism
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selfless, helping behavior.
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gene pool
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the total genetic information of all the individuals in a breeding population.
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tribalism
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the attitudes and behavior that result from strong feelings of identification with one's own social group.
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human genome
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a complete copy of the entire set of human gene instructions.
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genes
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distinct portions of a cell's DNA that carry coded instructions from making everything the body needs.
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chromosomes
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bundles of genes
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neurotransmitters
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chemical substances that facilitate the flow of electrical impulses from one neuron to the next across nerve synapses.
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allele
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an alternate form of a gene, or any of several forms of a gene, usually occurring through mutation.
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heritability
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a statistical construct that estimates the amount of variation in the traits of a population that is attributable to genetic factors.
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epigenetics
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the study of the chemical reactions that occur within a genome, and which switch parts of the genome on or off at strategic times and locations.
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gene expression
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the process by which the coded information that is stored within a gene is used to create a biological product, usually a protein. also, the manifestation of a trait in an individual carrying the gene or genes that determine that trait.
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frontal brain hypothesis
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a perspective that references physical changes in certain parts of the brain to explain.
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neuroplasticity
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the ability of the brain to alter its structure and function in response to experience.
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brain dysfunction
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organic problems with the brain may lead to behavioral anomalies, including crime and deviance.
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biosocial criminology
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this theoretical perspective by james q. wilson sees the interaction between biology and the physical and social environments as key to understanding human behavior, including criminality
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hypoglycemia
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a medical condition characterized by low blood sugar.
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prenatal substance exposure
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fetal exposure to maternal drug and alcohol use. prenatal substance exposure can significantly increase a child's risk for developmental and neurological disorders.
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hormone
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a chemical substance produced by the body that regulates and control the activity of certain cells or organs.
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testosterone
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the primary male sex hormone. it is produced in the testes, and its function is to control secondary sex characteristics and sexual drive.
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serotonin
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a neurotransmitter that is commonly found in the pineal gland, the digestive tract, the central nervous system, and blood platelets.
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gender ration problem
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the need for an explanation of the fact that the number of crimes committed by men far exceeds the number of crimes committed by women in almost all categories.
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sexual selection
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a form of natural selection that influences an individual's ability to find or choose a mate.
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evolutionary perspective
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a theoretical approach that (1) seeks to explain behavior with reference to human evolutionary history and (2) recognizes the influence that genes have over human traits.
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evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ena) theory
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a perspective that holds that (1) the propensity for crime commission evolved among humans beings as part of the male reproductive strategy, and (2) a particular neurochemistry, which is characteristic of males, increases the probability of criminality among males relative to females.
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