Facts about Crime
Similarly, crime is distinguished from sin, which generally refers to disregard for religious or moral law, especially norms revealed by God.
Understanding and resolving the root of crime involves the depths of human nature and relationships.
In 2002, according to the Uniform Crime Report in the United States, whites made up 59.7 percent of all violent crime arrestees, blacks comprised 38.0 percent, and other minorities 2.3 percent.
The neighborhood gang members participated in violent activity, but since they were involved in the collective efficacy, they kept violent crime out of their home neighborhood.
Crime has existed in all societies, and that efforts to legislate, enforce, punish, or otherwise correct criminal behavior have not succeeded in eliminating crime.
Cognitive Theories of Crime involve the development of people's ability to make judgments.
The graph shows an increase in crime in teenage years, tapering off and decreasing in the early to mid-twenties, and continuing to decrease as age increases.
Adam Smith illustrated this view, saying that a smuggler would be an excellent citizen, "had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so."
A crime is generally a deliberate act that results in harm, physical or otherwise, toward one or more people, in a manner prohibited by law.
The Social Disorganization Theory of Crime explains instances of urban crime, dividing the city into different regions, explaining that the transitional zone, which surrounds the business zone, is the most notorious for crime.
Liberal-feminists suggest that low levels of violent crime among women are a result of their social category, that there is no perceived benefit for females to engage in violent crime.
Studies in criminology detail what is popularly known as the "age-crime curve," named for the curve of the graph comparing age as the independent variable to crime as the dependent variable.
Emile Durkheim suggested that crime is functional because it has always existed in society, making crime a normal part of society.
The idea of crime being specific to a particular age, race, or gender has been examined thoroughly in criminology.
Sins such as murder and rape are generally also crimes, whereas blasphemy or adultery may not be treated as criminal acts.
Psychoanalytical Theories of Crime assume that criminals are different from non-criminals, and that criminal offenders have different personalities from those of non-offenders.
Historically, through phrenology and biology, scientists attempted to prove that certain people were destined to commit crime.
Crime serves as a guide for acceptable social behavior, and it creates consensus among people in a society on what is deviant.
The Strain Theory of Crime proposes that crime occurs when a person is unable to attain their goals through legitimate means.
A normative definition views crime as deviant behavior that violates prevailing norms, i.e.
Too much crime, however, results in weakened social consensus and social order, leading to anomie, a state of normlessness, which no society can survive for long.
Freudian theory suggests that crime is a result of frustration, resulting from stunted growth in one of the four stages of maturation: oral, anal, genital, and phallic.
Crime is committed by all types of people, men and women, of any age.
When a crime is committed, a process of discovery, trial by judge or jury, conviction, and punishment occurs.
Strain theory was modified by Robert Agnew (2005) when he said that it was too tied to social class and cultural variables and needed to take into account a more universal perspective of crime.
Women do not engage in violent crime because gender and capitalistic oppression disenfranchises them from mainstream criminal activities.
Correcting these problems would effectively remove the source of crime, and bring about a peaceful world in which all people could realize their potential as individuals, and develop satisfying, harmonious relationships with others.
Collective efficacy holds that there is social cohesion among neighbors, common values of neighborhood residents, an informal social control, and a willingness to regulate crime or deviance amongst neighbors.
Crimes are also grouped by severity, some common categorical terms being: felony and misdemeanor, indictable offense, and summary offense.
A crime malum in se is argued to be inherently criminal; whereas a crime malum prohibitum is argued to be criminal only because the law has decreed it so.
Psychologists and criminologists have detailed a variety of theories of developmental psychology and moral psychology and its relationship to crime.
Her study on Groveland (a middle class typically African American neighborhood in Chicago), concluded that collective efficacy can lead to a unique pattern of violent crime.
Crimes that are deviant include murder, rape, assault, and other violent crimes.
No race or culture has been shown to be biologically predisposed towards committing crimes or deviance.
Radical-feminists argue that some women are driven to violent crime because of perceived hopelessness and abandonment by society because of the oppression of a patriarchal society.
Litter in the United States is an environmental issue and littering is often a criminal offense, punishable with a fine as set out by statutes in many places. Litter laws, enforcement efforts, and court prosecutions are used to help curtail littering.
Details: In 1960, Frank Morris was a former foster child who had committed his first crime at the age of thirteen, later graduating to possession of narcotics and armed robbery. He was believed to have been of superior intelligence with an I.Q. of 133 when he was finally arrested and sent to Alcatraz.