...introduce prejudice into the legal system and form impressions of defendants in criminal cases; which may contradict a fair trial (MacLin & Herrera, 2006). They are perceptual representations that are perceived for members of a group and include the evaluation of that particular group e.g. their behavior and attributes (MacLin & Herrera, 2006). Recognising stereotypes and understanding how they create bias, has significant effects in the criminal justice system. It is desired to maximize the amount of correct decisions jurors render, For this reason, stereotyping is important to study in a jury setting. It is also imperative to study defendant gender and crime type, as a relationship between the two may influence jurors’ verdict decisions. Gordon, Bindrim, McNicholas and Walden (1988) conducted a study to determine the effect of defendant race and type of crime on juror verdicts. The independent variable was the type of crime (burglary or embezzlement) and defendant race (black or white), while the dependent variable was the recommended jail sentence. Crime descriptions that varied in crime type and defendant race where given to an equal number of black and white students to assess. Based on this, participants determined the defendant’s jail sentence and bail amount. The severity of the crime and the probability of the defendant repeating the crime were also scaled. The studies hypothesis was supported as the white embezzler received longer jail sentences in comparison...
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...officers or detectives for investigation cases. Effective research methods and terminologies also used by attorneys or paralegals in criminal justice field to open and close cases in the court. Research methods are the tools that identify the issues in criminal justice from its point of view and base on the nonscientific problem or issue. “Knowledge is why people create reality and describe by Comte. This paper tells different type of research methods that are applied in the criminal justice field and how the terminology involved with these types of research methods. Scientific Research in Criminal Justice In many criminal justice fields, the law enforcements start to gather the documents and data information. They begin to observe the information or facts about the crime. Many of them use a systematic method to check the information such as asking questions about who, what, where, when, why, and how of the crime. They begin to gathering the piece together, by the facts and determining if there is enough evidence for the case. The hypothesis takes a part of the case to help gathering the information for the crime. The hypothesis used to form a theory to what happened and how it occurred in the scene. The hypothesis plays a big part of criminal justice and that why most law enforcements like using it because they prove or disprove either theory or hypothesis. They also must draw conclusions about the cases, and prove that the crimes very occur....
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...TOPIC 1: MENTAL DISORDERS AND CRIME 1.0 INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL DISORDER A mental disorder is depicted as a significant behavioral or psychological pattern, which leads to distress or impairment in important areas of functioning or a higher risk of suffering from pain, disability, loss of freedom and death (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Mental disorder affects a person’s mood, thinking and also behavior. The general types of mental disorders include mood disorder, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and psychotic disorders. 2.0 SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL DISORDERS These signs may include the feelings of excessive anxiety, intense fear, odd speech or thinking patterns, marked changes in behavior and mood, withdrawal from social interaction and the lost of interest in activities that are normally enjoyed. 3.0 THE LINK BETWEEN MENTAL DISORDERS AND CRIME Personally, I think that there is a positive correlation between mental disorders and crime. However, not all individuals with mental disorders are certain to commit crime. The possibility of crime being committed by these individuals may depend on external factors which trigger their biological predisposition to violate the rights of others. In the following discussion, I have included several studies which stated that mental disorders may lead to crime. 3.1 SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION & AGGRESSION Results from a study have shown that individuals with psychotic disorders were...
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...Hate Crime Analysis According to "The United States Department of Justice" (2014), “Hate crime is the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability” (para. 3). This hate crime analysis will provide a brief description as to what specific factors serve as a basis for victimization. Specific case examples and restorative justice models will be assessed. Benefits and challenges of the use of restorative justice will be discussed, and contemporary research instruments to measure the victimization of gays and lesbians will be the focus. Lastly, the identification of the criminological theory that explains the victimization of the chosen group. Over the years, dominant groups, and communities with similar cultures and beliefs have asserted their prejudices on other groups believing differently. Many times these assertions or acts of power similarly resemble the power-control and gender-based theories. Groups that assert power or control over individuals by intimidation or violence can be known labeled as hate groups. The last few decades have brought about a voice for civil rights, a fight for women’s rights, and a surge of protests for gay and lesbian rights. These protests further fuel a loathing and hostility by these hate groups. Victimization Factors The victimization of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are the focus of this analysis. Sexual...
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...Understanding white collar crime Hazel Croall Open University Press Buckingham · Philadelphia Open University Press Celtic Court 22 Ballmoor Buckingham MK18 1XW email: enquiries@openup.co.uk world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and 325 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA First Published 2001 Copyright © Hazel Croall, 2001 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1P 0LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 20427 9 (pb) 0 335 20428 7 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Croall, Hazel, 1947– Understanding white collar crime / Hazel Croall. p. cm. — (Crime and justice) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–335–20428–7 — ISBN 0–335–20427–9 (pbk.) 1. White collar crimes. I. Title. II. Crime and justice (Buckingham, England) HV6768 .C755 2001 364.16´8 — dc21 00–050174 Typeset by Type Study, Scarborough Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Limited, Guildford and Kings Lynn chapter ...
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...I. Introduction Due to the fact that “many of the proposals made by classical theorists had little effect on the crime problem of the time, as well as the fact that statistical improvements in crime measurements began to reflect the existence of certain patterns in the manifestation of crime… the attention was drawn away from notions of rationalism and punishment, and toward an investigation of the causes of crime, stressing in particular the influence of hereditary, psychological and social factors (Glick, 2004: 69).” The school of thought that believes in behaviour primarily being attributed to inherited predispositions and genetic influences is the Positivist school (predestined actor model). The predestined actor model has three basic formulations:...
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...underpinning approaches to crime prevention.Outline and critically assess the key assumptions underpinning approaches to crime prevention. If we look at the definition of crime, we can learn that crime is “an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law”.Crime could be labelled as one of the most disturbing facts in human`s life. Even if we can see the decrease in overall crime in 2012, we cannot be absolutely sure that it will completely disappear. Many criminologists are interested in crime prevention topic but when people are actually trying to do something with the aim to reduce crime itself, they could struggle with some issues. For example, do we actually know the cause of crime? Are we able to prevent it without a cause? How can we measure it, if it was prevented? The crucial point criminologists are making is that we have got not just crime itself but the fear of crime among society. The fear of crime was introduced to English society by the Conservative party in order to win the election. They use it as a tool, with a purpose to manipulate people. That time could be named as a starting point to massive development of programmes in order to prevent crime and if we talk about citizens - to protect themselves. For example, Farell and Pease discovered that not just the area is important as a victimisation element but that people, who have been victimised once, are more likely to experience it again. Another example could be a ‘Broken windows’...
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...Thousand Oaks & New Delhi) and the British Society of Criminology. www.sagepublications.com ISSN 1748–8958; Vol: 6(2): 219–237 DOI: 10.1177/1748895806062982 Reconstructing the role of the appropriate adult in England and Wales HARRIET PIERPOINT University of Glamorgan, UK Abstract The definition of the role of the ‘appropriate adult’ for young suspects in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code of Practice C is ambiguous and contradictory. This article argues that the role has been socially constructed by the legislator, the courts, young people, the police and appropriate adults themselves. Following various recommendations to use volunteers as appropriate adults, this article revisits the nature of the role in light of a case study of a volunteer appropriate adult service. The results demonstrate that, in terms of volunteer practice, the role has been constructed to include elements of due...
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...looked at criminal behaviour from a completely different perspective. Positivism looked at the offender rather than that of the crime. Positivism can be separated into three main areas, Biological, Psychological and Sociological. These three areas give explanations on why the offender commits acts of criminal activity and also help to provide answers to why there is crime in society. In this essay there will be analysis on the biological theory to positivism. In doing so theorists such as Cesare Lombroso, Hans Brunner and Gall will be explored in an aim to explain the strengths and weaknesses of their theories. This essay will feature an insight towards outlining positivism by expressing knowledge into the biological side of the subject. Biological positivism was focused on the ideas put forward that criminals were born bad. Work by Italian Professor and criminologist Cesare Lombroso spoke about activism and how criminals were people who had not evolved sufficiently enough from our earlier ancestors. The idea criminals not evolving was based on representations of Charles Darwin’s study of evolution and how criminals could in fact be those who are underdeveloped. Lombroso’s ideas were that activism was operational in society and that the people committing crime were simply underdeveloped and abnormal. One study in which Lombroso engaged in was the study of the heads of those who had been executed! By looking at these heads he attempted to try and distinguish any similarities and...
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...One of utmost concern to policymakers, program administrators, practitioners and members of the public is sex offenders’ return to the community from incarceration. This is mostly attributed to the harm caused to victims and society when these individuals re-engage in similar or worse forms of crime. In the year 2006, the Congress enacted the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act which required that state sex offender registry be created and data collected from every state sent to a national database. The aim of this initiative was to provide important information to authorities as well as help protect members of the public and children to be specific who were often victims of sexual assault. This law has had its ups and down, for instance,...
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...ongoing. Researchers are working hard to link criminal behavior and genetics. This study tries to find supporting evidence that a criminal can inherit the notion to commit criminal activity through inheritance. On side believes that criminal activity is caused through inheritance while others agree that genetics has absolutely nothing to do with committing crimes and it’s a person choice when committing a crime or partaking in criminal activities. Included in these studies are adopted studies, twin studies, and testosterone studies. These studying link criminal activities with genetics and give supporting evidence that criminal activities are not inherited. The Link: Genetics and Criminal Behavior Research currently suggests that the genetic characteristics of anger and illegal behavior involve several different factors depending on multiple genes. Although no researcher has been able to put a finger on any genetic factor that could be applied to the concept genes play a part in the influence of aggressive and criminal behavior, many studies have been done to include twin studies and adoption. Twin studies, adoption studies, and testosterone studies are the leading studies that link genetics and criminal behavior. (University of Texas at Dallas, 2012) Studying the differences and similarities between single/identical eggs and non-identical egg twins is known as a twin study. Twin studies can be used to examine and explore the influences of shared and common environment,...
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...Psychology surrounds us in every aspect of lives wether it be in a direct or indirect way. My study of psychology has allowed me to discover my abilities and interests into criminal behaviour and what influences us to behaviour or act in the way we do. Could it be learnt as part of our upbringing? Or is our future already determined for us before were even born? Psychology has altered the way I interpret peoples actions and understand that there is much more to a simple act that what may be being portrayed on the surface. I am very passionate about psychology and criminology and as a result would like to study it at degree level with the view to become a criminal psychologist. My interests in understanding the mind and behaviour has been enhanced by studying psychology at A level. During the studies of my AS and A2 levels I have explored many psychological topics including social, cognitive, physiological, individual differences and development modules. Psychology is such a broad subject which is very appealing to me because I am interested in many Fields of Psychology and I know the course will provide me with the knowledge I seek to learn. Alongside psychology I also wish to study criminology at university as a joint honours degree. I am particularly interested in the social and upbringing concept of psychology and looking at why people turn to crime. I am also especially intrigued into child psychology, young and sex offenders, it excites me to learn about these areas because...
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...role, but many believe that we should be more attentive to the role that class plays in targeting and the sentencing process in the criminal justice system. In order to understand the role that class plays in the sentencing process, we must, first, look at the role that it plays before the criminal reaches the day of sentencing. There are a plethora of publications that speak on profiling and actuarial methods which get people into the system. Though these are two large proponents of the discriminatory acts that exist within the confines of the criminal justice system, it does not begin with these institutionalized methods. The first instances of discrimination, which leads to all of the other forms within the system, are the laws and crime control policies that are implemented that, in some instances, are set up in favor of the rich and in opposition to the poor. In Marxist criminology, one of the fundamental principles is that the “ruling class” puts all of the other classes at a disadvantage. This is done...
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...considered discrimination? Discrimination is the practice of unfairly treating an individual or group differently from other individuals or groups of people. (Merriam-Webster.) Discrimination is not right or fair to the individuals that are being targeted. We have seen in the last few years that law enforcement officials have been accused of discrimination against minorities especially African-Americans. We will be discussing and comparing three forms of discrimination used today by our policing agencies; institutionalized, contextual and individual acts of discrimination. Our discussion group discussed growing up what races targeted who when committing crimes. The discussion and the data provided by the Department of Justice is almost the same when discussing crimes and what each ethnic group targets to commit the crimes. Institutionalized Discrimination Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unwarranted and discrimination mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and within the institutions as a whole. (Flat World Knowledge) At times when someone is being discriminated against it can be mindful and intentional by the individual that is doing it. Institutional discrimination is already built into the culture or institution and the individual that is perpetuating the discrimination may not even know that they are doing it. Institutional discrimination is already found in the normal everyday relationships within institutions...
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...seen a movie and automatically thought after now I know their crime story? When people talk about crime, most people are just basing there story off of something they saw in a movie or something they saw on television. Most of the crimes in movies are; assault, bribe, armed robbery, manslaughter, or racketeering, just to name a few. For example the movie “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp, it portrays a rough outline of the infamous John Dillinger and his gang. When I first saw this movie I was amazed because the story that they showed wasn't at all what I expected, I expected to see all major crimes take place one after another and grueling shootouts the whole movie but they showed his kind and calm side and it actually turned out to be a great movie. Another example of crime and the movies but on the other side of the law would be any of the “X-Men” series. These people may be mutants but most of them use their gifts for good rather than break the law. A classic example would be “Robin Hood”, he broke the law only to help those in need. (rottentomatoes.com) There are other examples where crime and the movies coexist on both sides of the law, whether it would be cheering for the good guy or cringing when a killer kills their victim, movies cannot show you the whole story and cannot show you the real justice system. During my research I came across this essay called “Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?” (Dahl & DellaVigna, 2006) an excerpt from the essay caught my...
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