GLOSSARY

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z

J

jail    A place to detain people awaiting trial, hold drunk and disorderly individuals, and confine convicted misdemeanants serving sentences of less than one year.

jailhouse lawyer    An inmate trained in law or otherwise educated who helps other inmates prepare legal briefs and appeals.

journey to crime (or crime-trip distance)    The route (or the distance) that an offender travels from his or her residence or place of work to commit a crime.

just desert    The philosophy of justice that asserts that those who violate the rights of others deserve to be punished. The severity of punishment should be commensurate with the seriousness of the crime.

justice model    A philosophy of corrections that stresses determinate sentences, abolition of parole, and the view that prisons are places of punishment and not rehabilitation.

justification    A defence to a criminal charge in which the accused maintains that his or her actions were justified by the circumstances and therefore he or she should not be held criminally liable. See also excuse; neutralization theory.

juvenile delinquency    Participation in illegal behaviour by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit.

juvenile    In Canada, anyone under 12 cannot be responsible for their own actions in the criminal sense. Children 12-17 are held culpable for their actions but are held separate from the adults in assessing their criminal responsibilities.

juvenile justice system    Court proceeding for youth within the juvenile age group. Under the paternal (parens patriae) philosophy, juvenile procedures are informal and nonadversary, invoked for the juvenile offender rather than against him or her; a petition instead of a complaint is filed; courts make findings of involvement or adjudication of delinquency instead of convictions; and juvenile offenders receive dispositions instead of sentences. The philosophy remains one of diminishing the stigma of delinquency and providing for the youth's well-being and rehabilitation rather than seeking retribution.

K

Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment    The first field research study to raise questions about the effectiveness of random mobile patrol. The results suggested that neither doubling nor eliminating patrol coverage has any significant effect on reported crime, rate of victimization, fear of crime, or citizen satisfaction with the police.

Knapp Commission    A public body that led an investigation into police corruption in New York and uncovered a widespread network of payoffs and bribes.

L

labelling    The process by which a person becomes fixed with a negative identity, such as "criminal" or "ex-con," and is forced to suffer the consequences of outcast status.

labelling theory    Theory that views society as creating deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate certain individuals as deviants. The stigmatized individual is made to feel unwanted in the normal social order. Eventually, the individual begins to believe that the label is accurate, assumes it as a personal identity, and enters into a deviant or criminal career. See also secondary deviance; self-fulfilling prophecy; symbolic interaction theory.

landmark decision    A decision handed down by the Supreme Court that becomes the law of the land and serves as a precedent for similar legal issues.

larceny    Usually known as theft, the taking of property unlawfully is one of the oldest common law crimes.

latent delinquency    The idea that there must be a mental predisposition which prepares youths psychologically for antisocial acts.

latent trait    A stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, present at birth or soon after, that makes some people crime prone over the life course.

law   

actus reus    The mere physical criminal act.

constructive intent    Constructing the motive, or mens rea, of the crime, or actus reus.

individual accountability    The belief, which the law traditionally holds, that able but negligent people are responsible for their actions.

layered concept of handgun retention    Training designed to reduce the likelihood that a police officer involved in an altercation will be killed either by his or her own gun or by his or her partner's. Focuses on handgun retention, the quality and security features of the duty holster, and the use of concealable body armour.

learning disabilities    Difficulties faced by children and youths with dyslexia, dysgraphia, aphasia, perceptual and motor deficits, poor sensory integration, or minimal brain disfunction.

differential adjudication hypothesis    The theory that delinquents with learning disabilities who are arrested and charged are more likely to be convicted of crimes due to their inability to cope with the process of criminal justice adjudication.

differential arrest hypothesis    The theory that learning disabled children are more likely to be apprehended by the police since they are less likely to conceal their activities.

differential disposition hypothesis    The theory that learning disabled delinquents have a higher chance of receiving harsher sentences than other delinquents.

school failure hypothesis    The theory that self-perpetuating academic failure resulting from learning disabilities causes frustration, aggressive behaviour.

susceptibility hypotheses    The theory that learning disabled students have unique characteristics, such as impulsiveness and irritability, thereby they are more prone to become delinquent.

learning organization    A term used to describe police organizations that are actively involved with the community, external agencies, and organizations rather than isolated from them.

left realism    A branch of conflict theory that holds that crime is a "real" social problem experienced by the lower classes and that lower-class concerns about crime must be addressed by radical scholars.

legal defense   

duress defense    Some unlawful constraint of influence used to force an individual to commit an act that he/she would otherwise not have committed.

self-defense    Actions taken to protect oneself or one's property in the face of a threat involving reasonable force.

twinkie defense    When a defendant experiences diminished mental capacity and is therefore not guilty of criminal behaviour due to an over-consumption of junk food. See also law

legalization    The removal of all criminal penalties from a previously outlawed act.

legitimate means    Widely accepted routes of achieving cultural goals through institutions. anomie theory; cultural goals; individual adaptation.

less-lethal force option    A control technique that is highly unlikely to cause death or serious injury. Among the option compliance tools are the Arwen gun, mace, pepper spray, the electronic shock belt, tear gas, and the Taser.

level of response    Any of the five force options available to a police officer: presence, dialogue, empty-hand compliance, the use of compliance tools, and deadly force.

lex talionis    In the Code of Hammurabi, punishment was based on physical retaliation, or "an eye for an eye".

liberal feminist theory    This is an approach which focuses attention on the social and economic role of women in society and its relationship to female crime rates

life course perspective    Adult criminality is strongly influenced by patterns of childhood behaviour, and changes in people's lives affect the likelihood of involvement in crime. See also trajectories; transitions.

life cycle theory    An approach which looks at the study of changes in criminal offending patterns over a person's entire life. Are there conditions or events that occur later in life that influence the way people behave or is behaviour predetermined by social or personal conditions at birth?

life history    A research method that uses the experiences of an individual as the unit of analysis, such as using the life experience of an individual gang member to understand the natural history of gang membership.

lifestyle    In some theories, the lifestyle of the victim is seen as an important factor in the likelihood of a crime being committed against them. An example might be the number of times they go out per month or the people they hang around with.

lifestyle exposure theory    Focus on lifestyle, or patterned ways in which people with certain demographic characteristics distribute their time and energies across a range of activities, and its relation with the risk of victimization by motivated offenders. See also routine activities theory.

linkage blindness    The failure to recognize a pattern that links one crime to another in a series of cases through geographic region, offender signature, modus operandi, or autopsy protocols.

location-oriented patrol    A term often used to describe tactical or directed patrols in crime hot spots. Also known as perpetrator-oriented patrol.

longitudinal (cohort) research    Research that tracks the development of a group of subjects over time.

lower courts    A generic term referring to those courts that have jurisdiction over summary offenses and conduct preliminary investigations of indictable charges.

M

macro perspective    A large-scale view of a situation or event, which takes into account contextual, social and economic reasons, for example to explain the phenomenon. This is relevant to such theories as marxism and functionalism.

madam    The traditional name for a woman who ran a brothel; more common today is the male pimp.

make-believe families    Peer units, with mother and father figures, formed by women in prison to compensate for the loss of family and loved ones.

mala in se    Refers to acts that are outlawed because they violate basic moral values, such as rape, murder, assault, and robbery.

mala prohibitum    Refers to acts that are outlawed because they clash with current norms and public opinion, such as tax, traffic, and drug laws.

mandamus    See writ of mandamus.

mandatory sentence    A statutory requirement that a certain penalty shall be set and carried out in all cases on conviction for a specified offense or series of offenses.

Mann Act    Federal legislation in the United States that made it a crime to transport women across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.

marginalization    When people are forced outside the economic mainstream a larger portion of the population is forced to live in areas more conducive to crime. Once this happens, commitment to the system declines, producing another criminogenic force: a weakened bond to society.

marijuana (Cannabis sativa)    A hemp plant grown throughout the world. Its main active ingredient is tetahydrocannabinol (THC), a mild hallucinogen that alters sensory impressions and can cause drastic distortion in auditory and visual perception, even producing hallucinatory effects.

marital exemption    The practice in some states of prohibiting the prosecution of husbands for the rape of their wives.

Marxist feminists    In this approach, gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and women in a capitalist society, and gender inequality is a function of the exploitation of females by fathers and husbands. The origin of gender differences can be traced to the development of private property and male domination over the laws of inheritance. Marxist feminists link criminal behaviour patterns to the gender conflict created by the economic and social struggles common in postindustrial societies.

masculinity hypothesis    The view that women who commit crimes have biological and psychological traits similar to those of men.

mass murderer    One who kills a large number of people in a single incident; an offender who typically does not seek concealment or escape.

massage parlours    The more hidden side of prostitution includes seemingly legitimate businesses where men can buy sex under the guise of massage therapy.

matricide    The murder of a mother by her son or daughter.

maximum-security prisons    Correctional institutions that house dangerous felons and maintain strict security measures, high walls, and limited contact with the outside world.

McNaughtan Rule    In 1843 an English court established that Daniel M'Naghten, could not be held responsible in a case of murder because his delusions had caused him to act. This underlies the principle of criminal responsibility, that an accused can not be held legally liable for his or her act if they do not know what they are doing, or cannot distinguish right from wrong.

meat eaters    A term used to describe police officers who actively solicit bribes and vigorously engage in corrupt practices.

media-sensitive crimes    This is a category of crimes which is sensitive to manipulation by the media; serial homicide, for example, is relatively rare, but gets incredible exposure in the media and thus increases public fear.

medical model    A view of corrections holding that convicted offenders are victims of their environment who need care and treatment to be transformed into valuable members of society.

medium-security prisons    Less secure institutions that house nonviolent offenders and provide more opportunities for contact with the outside world.

mens rea    "Guilty mind." The mental element of a crime or the intent to commit a criminal act.

methadone    A synthetic narcotic used as a substitute for heroin in drug-control efforts.

micro perspective    A small-scale view of an event or phenomenon, looking at such things as interaction to explain how and why things happen.

middle-class measuring rods    According to Cohen, the standards by which teachers and other representatives of state authority evaluate lower-class youths. Because they cannot live up to middle-class standards, lower-class youths are bound for failure, which gives rise to frustration and anger at conventional society.

minimal brain dysfunction    MBD is related to an abnormality in cerebral structure, an abruptly appearing maladaptive behaviour that interrupts the lifestyle and life flow of an individual linked to serious antisocial acts, an imbalance in the urge-control mechanisms of the brain, and chemical abnormality.

minimum-security prisons    The least secure institutions that house white-collar and nonviolent offenders, maintain few security measures, and have liberal furlough and visitation policies.

mission statement    A document that sets out the general principles on which a police service operates. Also known as value statement.

mistaken police shooting    An incident in which police used deadly force in response to a perceived threat to their lives or the lives of others but in which, on investigation, deadly force should not have been used.

mitigating factor    Unlike an aggravating factor, this serves to make the crime appear less serious to other people; for example, it is now widely accepted that abused people might react more extremely than other people when threatened, based on the perception that their lives are at risk. These class of circumstances might serve to make the sentence lighter, or might serve as an entire defence.

modernization    Crime in Western societies has been shaped by four aspects of modernization: industrialization, urbanization, expression of the state's power and resources, and the humanization of interpersonal relations.

modus operandi (M.O.)    The offender's way of doing things. A learned behaviour.

Mollen Commission    An investigation unit set up to inquire into police corruption in New York in the 1990s.

monetary restitution    A sanction requiring the convicted offenders compensate crime victims by reimbursing them for out-of-pocket losses caused by the crime. Losses can include property damage, lost wages, and medical costs.

moonlighting    The practice of police officers holding after-hours jobs in private security or other related professions.

moral crusades    Efforts by interest-group members to stamp out behaviour they find objectionable. Typically, moral crusades are directed at public order crimes, such as drug abuse or pornography.

moral entrepreneurs    Interest groups that attempt to control social life and the legal order in order to promote their own personal set of moral values. People who use their influence to shape the legal process in ways they see fit.

moral panic    The behaviour of some members of society is seen as so problematic, evil, or harmful to the society that it becomes a social imperative to control the behaviour, punish the offenders, and repair the damage, e.g., the Great European Witch Hunts.

elite-engineered model    Argues that moral panics represent the deliberate attempt on the part of the economic or political elite to promote public concern about some issue that does not involve the public's interests.

grassroots model    Views moral panics as originating in the mood of the general public.

interest-group theory    Moral panics may be set in motion by the actions of small groups, such as politicians, crusading journalists, or professional associations.

morals    Society's general rules detailing what is permissible or normative behaviour.


norms    Rules that govern social activities and define social roles, role relations, and standards of appropriate conduct. See also subterranean values.

mores    Customs or conventions regarded as essential to a community, and are often at the basis of criminal law.

Mosaic Code    By tradition, the covenant between God and the tribes of Israel in which they agreed to obey his law, as presented to them by Moses, in return for God's special care and protection.

motion    An oral or written request asking the court to make a specified finding, decision, or order.

motivated criminals    The potential offenders in a population. According to rational choice theory, crime rates will vary according to the number of motivated offenders.

multifactor theories    The attempt to integrate individual factors and independent concepts into complex, coherent explanations of criminality.

murder    Colloquially refers to the killing of one person by another; homicide is separated into the categories of first and second-degree murder, manslaughter, and infanticide.

murder transaction    The concept that murder is usually a result of behaviour interactions between the victim and the offender.