Crime

Crime

Overview

Reducing street crime, and white-collar crime, is about social control of _____.

We develop policies about crime on the basis of _____.

What are key theories that are advanced to explain crime?

-What is the "broken windows" theory (it's actually a sub-theory...)?

How do Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld and work with these theories in Crime and the American Dream? What is their overall perspective on why crime rates are so high in the US?

Both of the traditional approaches to criminal justice are primarily concerned with what should be done after a crime has been committed. What are they?

-These approaches have roots in our history. Explain.

-Conservatives tend to support _____ and liberals _____.

There is also the "punishment" vs. "prevention" debate. What is it? (Those who are more punishment oriented focus on ____, while others who emphasize prevention pay attention to ____.)

-In general, the punishment approach attracts _____; the prevention approach attracts _____.

-The 20 million serious crimes committed each year produce about _____ incarcerations.

What are some key prevention approaches?

Why do sociologists tend to seen after-the-crime approaches as being too little too late?

-What is the usual pattern of criminality?

-the adversarial nature of our criminal justice system

-the number of people in prison (How typical is the US situation?)

-the cost of locking people up in prisons (How much?)

-the effectiveness of imprisonization (Do rehabilitation efforts usually work?)

-recidivism

Juvenile Offenses

_____ suggest a possible new crime wave.

-How are juvenile courts different from criminal courts? (What is the central issue about how juveniles should be treated when they are accused of wrongful behavior? What trend can be identified in this area?)

What is the meaning of parens patriae? How is it applied to work with juvenile offenders? How has this changed through the years, and what is the current trend?

How did the Gault decision change the way juvenile courts in the US operated?