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Chapter 2Crime and Its Consequences

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A Legal Definition

A legal definition of crime is used in criminal justice in the United States.

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A Legal DefinitionSome behaviors prohibited by criminal law should not be. Overcriminalization arises in victimless crimes:GamblingProstitution involving consenting adultsHomosexual acts between consenting adultsUse of some illegal drugs, such as marijuana

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A Legal DefinitionFor some behaviors prohibited by criminal law, the law is not routinely enforced. Nonenforcement is common for:

White-collar crimesGovernment crimesVictimless crimesMinor crimes

Nonenforcement causes disrespect for the law.

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A Legal DefinitionBehaviors that some people think should be prohibited by criminal law are not. This is undercriminalization.

undercriminalizationThe failure to prohibit some behaviors that arguably should be prohibited.

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Elements of CrimeTechnically and ideally, a crime has not been committed unless the following elements are present:

HarmLegalityActus reusMens rea

CausationConcurrencePunishment

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A Legal DefinitionFor crime to occur, there must be harm, either physical or verbal.Thinking about committing a crime is not a crime. A verbal threat to strike another person is a crime.

harmThe external consequence required to make an

action a crime.

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Legality

Legality has two aspects:

The harm must be legally forbiddenA criminal law must not be ex post facto.

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Actus Reus

Actus reus requires actual criminal conduct, or criminal negligence:If parents fail to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their children, they are committing a crime.

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Mens ReaMens rea refers to the mental aspect of crime.Criminal conduct usually refers to intentional action or inaction.Sometimes, negligence or reckless action can be criminal.

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mens reaCriminal intent; a guilty state of mind.

negligenceThe failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm.

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Mens Rea – Legal DefensesIn the United States, an offender is not considered responsible or is considered less resp. if he or she:• Acted under duress• Was underage• Was insane• Acted in self-defense or defense of a third party• Was entrapped• Acted out of necessity

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In order for a crime to be a legal crime, there must be a causal relationship between the legally forbidden harm and the actus reus. The criminal act must lead directly to the harm without a long delay.

Causation

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ConcurrenceThere must be concurrence between the actus reus and the mens rea; the criminal conduct and the criminal intent must occur together.

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Punishment

For a behavior to be considered a crime, there must be a statutory provision for punishment or at least the threat of punishment.

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Degrees or Categories of Crime

Crimes can be distinguished by degree or severity of the offense by being divided into: Felonies—severe crimesMisdemeanors—less severe crimes

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Degrees or Categories of CrimeAnother way of distinguishing crime is between: Mala in se Mala prohibita• Rape• Murder

• Trespassing• Gambling• Prostitution

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mala in se“Wrong in themselves.” A description applied to crimes that are characterized by universality and timelessness.

mala prohibitaOffenses that are illegal because laws define them as

such. They lack universality and timelessness.

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The Measurement of Crime

What Americans know about crime is, by and large, based on statistics supplied by government agencies.

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Crime StatisticsStatistics about crime and delinquency are probably the most unreliable and most difficult of all social statistics.Behavior may be wrongly labeled.Crimes go undetected.Crimes are sometimes not reported to police.Crimes may be inaccurately recorded by police.Statistics do not include the dark figure of crime.

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dark figure of crimeThe number of crimes not officially recorded by the

police.

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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)• One of the primary sources of crime

statistics in the United States is the uniform crime reports.

Today more than 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies (representing 95 percent of the U.S. population) are active in the program.

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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

The UCR includes two major indexes:Offenses known to the policeStatistics about persons arrested

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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

Offenses known to the police include eight index crimes.

Only about 35% of crimes, on average, are reported to the police.

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eight index crimesThe Part I offenses in the

FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports.

• Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter• Forcible rape• Robbery• Aggravated assault• Burglary

• Larceny-theft• Motor vehicle theft• Arson

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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)The other major crime index in the UCR is based on arrest statistics, provided for the eight index crimes as well as 21 other crimes and status offenses.

status offensesAn act that is illegal for a juvenile but would not be a

crime if committed by an adult.

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Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)The UCR also includes statistics on crime index offenses cleared by the police, which is a rough index of police performance in solving crimes.

Murder – 70% Burglary – 15%Rape – 50% Larceny – 20%Robbery – 25% MVT – 15%Agg. Assault – 60% Arson – 15%20% of all Index crimes

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National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

• The NIBRS is the result of a joint task force of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI aimed at improving the quality of information contained in the UCR.

• The NIBRS contains more data on more crimes than the UCR.

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National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS)

The other major source of crime statistics in the U.S. is the National Crime Victimization Surveys.For nearly all offenses, the NCVS shows more crimes being committed than the UCR, because of victims’ failure to report crimes or failure by police to report crimes to the FBI.

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national crime victimization surveysA source of crime statistics based on interviews in which respondents are asked whether they have been victims of any of the FBI’s index offenses (except murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and arson) or other crimes during the past six months. If they have, they are asked to provide information about the experience.

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Self-Report CrimesSelf-report crime surveys ask selected subjects (often high school students) whether they have committed crimes. Examples:The National Youth SurveyThe National Institute on Drug Abuse effort to ascertain levels of smoking, drinking and drug use among high school students

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Who the Victims AreVictimization is not spread evenly through the U.S. population. The most likely victims of violent crime are

• Younger (age 12-24)• Never married, divorced, or separated• Poor• Minority• Urban residents• Men• Living in the West or Midwest

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Who the Victims AreThe majority of men (55%) were victimized by strangers.

The majority of women (68%) were victimized by someone they knew.