Chapter 2

Question 1

Robinson v. California

Answer 1

unconstitutional for California to outlaw a condition or status, particularly that of addiction
- in this case, a man get arrested for suspicious marks on arm that police believe to be proof of a narcotic user

Question 2

white-collar crime

Answer 2

describes the illegal activities of individuals conducting business

Question 3

crime definition

Answer 3

the violation of a generally accepted set of rules that are backed by the power and authority of the state

Question 4

natural law

Answer 4

• a fundamental attribute of human societies
• refers to a body of principles and rules imposed on individuals by some extra-human power and is therefore considered to be uniquely fitting for and binding on any community of rational beings
• there really isn’t a singular and true of what is right and wrong

Question 5

true or false: there exists the idea that people and groups create crime by making rules

Answer 5

true

Question 6

deviance

Answer 6

a concept that is considerably broader than crime
- it assumes that people and socieities create rules in response to behavior they perceive to be harmful to the larger group

Question 7

crime and moral crusades

Answer 7

• reformer/crusader views certain elements in society as unconditionally evil and feels that rules must be made to correct and remove such wickedness
• crusader’s role brings the deviant behavior to public attention and later the designated rule creators and enforcers

Question 8

not all deviant behavior is criminal and not all criminal behavior is deviant

Answer 8

true

Question 9

Paul W. Tappan’s definition of crime

Answer 9

an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law (statutory and case law), committed without defense or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor

Question 10

conspiracy

Answer 10

concert in criminal pupose, and it must involve two or more people

Question 11

abettor

Answer 11

one who, with the requisite criminal intent, encourages, promotes, instigates, or stands by to assist the perpetrator of a crime

Question 12

accessory before the fact

Answer 12

an individual who abets a crime but is not present when the crime is committed

Question 13

accessory after the fact

Answer 13

knowing that a felony has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the perpetrator to hinder apprehension or conviction

Question 14

mens rea

Answer 14

• a blameworthy mind
• based on the concept that people have the capacity to control their behavior and to choose between alternative courses of conduct

Question 15

criminal intent

Answer 15

suggests that the person is aware of what is right and wrong under the law and intends to violate the law

Question 16

specific intent

Answer 16

present when the circumstances of the crime show that the offender must have consciously desired the prohibited result

Question 17

general intent

Answer 17

conscious wrongdoing from which a prohibited result follows, even in the absence of a desire for that particular result

Question 18

vicariously liability

Answer 18

liability can be imposed on an employwer for certain illegal acts committed by employess during the course and scope of their employment.
- generally directed at the protection of public health

Question 19

criminal law

Answer 19

the branch of jurisprudence that deals with offenses committed against the safety and order of the state

Question 20

civil law

Answer 20

body of principles that determines private rights and liabilities
- structured to keep the balance of rights between individuals or organizations

Question 21

statutory law

Answer 21

laws or statutes enacted by legislatures
- each state has a statutory criminal code, as does the federal government

Question 22

case law

Answer 22

law that results from court interpretations of statutory law or from court decisions in cases in which rules have not been fully codified or have been found to be vague or in error

Question 23

common law

Answer 23

customs, traditions, judicial decisions, and other material that guide courts in decision-making but that have not been enacted by legislatures or are embodied in the Constitution (declaration of independence: life, liberty, property)

Question 24

defense

Answer 24

broad term that can refer to any number of situations that would mitigate legal guilt in a criminal offense
- most common: insanity, mistake of fact, mistake of law, duress

Question 25

insanity

Answer 25

refers to any unsoundness of mind, madness, mental alienation, or want of reason, memory, and intelligence that prevents an individual from comprehending the nature and consequences of his or her acts or from distinguishing between right and wrong conduct

Question 26

M'Naghten Rule

Answer 26

- the "right-or-wrong" test of criminal responsibility - if he did not know the nature and quality of the act or did know what he was doing but did not know that it was wrong, he is not responsible - criticized for being arbitrary

Question 27

Durham Rule

Answer 27

- expanded on M'Naghten Rule - an accused person is not criminally responsible if he or she suffers from a diseased or defective mental condition at the time the unlawful act is committed - rule was overturned in 1972

Question 28

mistake of fact

Answer 28

any erroneous understanding of fact or circumstance resulting in some act that would not otherwise have been undertaken - occurs when person commits prohibited act in good faith and with a reasonable belief that certain facts are correct, which, if they were correct, would have made the act innocent

Question 29

mistake of law

Answer 29

any lack of knowledge or acquaintance with the law of the lawn insofar as they apply to the act, relation, duty, or matter under consideration - really only applicable if law in question has not been made reasonably well known

Question 30

duress

Answer 30

any unlwaful constraints exercised on an individual that force him or her to consent to committing some act that he or she wouldt otherwise have done - has to be immediate and imposing threat against a person

Question 31

consent of the victim

Answer 31

any voluntary yielding of will causing the victim to agree to the act of the offending party

Question 32

entrapment

Answer 32

the inducement of an individual to commit a crime that he or she did not previously contemplate, undertaken for the sole purpose of instituting a criminal prosecution against the person

Question 33

justification

Answer 33

any just cause or excuse for the commission of an act that would otherwise be a crime (self-defense, preventing crime, apprehending offenders)

Question 34

nullum crimen sine poena (no crime without punishment)

Answer 34

a law must be written, that persons cannot be tried for acts that are not crimes in law, and that persons cannot be punished for acts for which the sate provides no penalty

Question 35

constitutional law

Answer 35

the apex of the American legal system is constitutional law - the supreme law of the land - presents the legal rules and principles that definse the nature and its limits of governmental power

Question 36

administrative law

Answer 36

a branch of public law that deals with the powers and duties of government agencies - criminal law can descend from these laws (DEA says weed is illegal and so its implemented within criminal statutes)

Question 37

biological theories

Answer 37

grounded in the concept of biological determinism, the notion that the causes of crime are the result of some biological or physical element - criminals are born, not made

Question 38

sociocultural theories

Answer 38

examine criminality in terms of how it may relate to society and culture - core idea suggests that an individual's place within the social and cultural structure determines his or her tendency toward criminal behavior

Question 39

social and culture structure theories

Answer 39

crime is caused by disorganized and decaying neighborhoods, weak social support, and a lack of economic opportunity - the social structure rather than the individual is the primary cause of crime

Question 40

anomie theory

Answer 40

a condition of normative confusion, or "normlessness," in which the existing rules and values have little impact

Question 41

general strain theory

Answer 41

centers on the reasons why individuals who feel strain are more likely to commit crimes - suggests that criminality is the direct result of negative affective states that are produced by negative social relationships

Question 42

the culture conflict perspective

Answer 42

explains crime as the result of a conflict between the norms, values, and goal orientations of a social or cultural group and the legal codes imposed by an alternative group that has greater power to shape public policy

Question 43

social and culture learning theories

Answer 43

suggest that crime is learned through deviant norms, values, and behaviors linked with criminal activity

Question 44

social control theory

Answer 44

assumes that people are rational beings who are motivated to maximize pleasure and minimize pain - thus people are presumed to behave in ways that will maximize their own personal benefits regardless of deviation or conformity

Question 45

labeling theory

Answer 45

focuses on why some acts and actors are defined as criminal while others are not - theorists working within this perspective examine the impact of being identified as an offender and reacted to by the CJS

Question 46

omission

Answer 46

lack thereof - an omission of action can still get you detained