GLOSSARY

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

T

tactical communication  Verbal strategies designed to diffuse the emotions and de-escalate the behaviour of a subject or suspect in an encounter situation.

tactical disengagement  See tactical withdrawal.

tactical patrol  An aggressive crime attack strategy that involves the saturation of high crime areas (hot spots). Also known as directed patrol.

tactical team  See emergency response team.

tactical withdrawal  An option for police in encounter situations in which officers physically distance themselves from individuals who pose no immediate threat. May function to neutralize the actions and intentions of a subject or suspect and allow police an opportunity to formulate a plan of action. Also known as tactical disengagement.

target hardening  Making one's home and business crime-proof through locks, bars, alarms, and other devices; this approach is based in routine activities theory, and is based on an analysis of potential risk factors. See also crime prevention; defensible space; deterrence.

target reduction strategies  See target hardening.

Taser (Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle)  A less-lethal alternative to the use of deadly force; designed to subdue unarmed suspects without injury to the officer or the subject. Temporarily incapacitates a subject by delivering a series of high-voltage, low-energy pulses through two small darts fired into the subject from a hand-held device. Particularly effective in subduing persons who are irrational or suicidal.

task environment  The community or area in which patrol officers carry out their duties. Also known as policing environment.

team policing  A policing strategy that involves the permanent assignment of police to small neighbourhood areas and communication and interaction between officers and community residents. Also known as zone, or turf, policing.

technical parole violation  Revocation of parole because conditions set by correctional authorities have been violated.

technique of neutralization  According to neutralization theory, the ability of delinquent youth to neutralize moral constraints so they may drift into criminal acts.

temperance movement  An effort to prohibit the sale of liquor, largely seen as unsuccessful.

terrorism  Includes a wide variety of violent acts that have a political motivation, committed against a state, and also by a state.

tertiary prevention programs  Initiatives that are designed to deter, incapacitate, and rehabilitate criminal offenders. Often carried out within the criminal justice system and without involvement from police services.

testilying  The practice whereby a police officer commits perjury while under oath in a court of law.

testosterone  An androgen, or male hormone, which controls secondary sex characteristics, and can alter behaviour.

thanatos  According to Freud, the instinctual drive toward aggression and violence.

threshold inquiry  A term used to describe a stop and frisk.

thrill killings  Impulsive violence motivated by the killer's decision to kill a stranger as an act of daring or recklessness.

tithings  During the Middle Ages, groups of about ten families who were responsible for maintaining order among themselves and dealing with disturbances, fires, wild animals, and so on.

tort law  The law of personal wrongs and damage. Tort actions include negligence, libel, slander, assault, and trespass.

totality of the circumstances  A legal doctrine mandating that a decision maker consider all the issues and circumstances of a case before judging the outcome. For example, before concluding whether a suspect understood their rights, a judge must consider the totality of the circumstances under which the warning was given. The suspect's age, intelligence, and competency may influence his or her understanding and judgment.

traditional model of police practice  A model of police work that is reactive, incident driven, and centred on random patrol.

trait theories  This approach looks at the combination of biological or psychological attributes that might explain criminality. Each offender is considered unique, physically and mentally; consequently, there must be a unique explanation for each person's behaviour

trajectories  In life course perspective, describes the directions in which lives seem to be moving. See also life course perspective; transitions.

transactions  The interactions between individuals that have led to the outcome of the crime that transpired.

transferred intent  The principle that if an illegal yet unintended act results from the intent to commit a crime, that act is also considered illegal.

transitional neighbourhood  An area undergoing a shift in population and structure, usually from middle-class residential to lower-class mixed use.

transitions  In life course perspective, specific events that might or might not alter trajectories. See also life course perspective; trajectories.

truly disadvantaged  William Julius Wilson's description of the lowest levels of the underclass, socially isolated people who dwell in urban inner cities and occupied the bottom rung of the social ladder.

turf policing  See team policing.

turning points  According to Laub and Sampson, the life events that alter the development of a criminal career.

Twelve Tables  Roman law contained formulated in 451 BC by a special commission of ten men in response to pressure from the lower classes.

typification  A term used to describe how patrol officers depict or categorize the people and events they encounter.

U

underclass  A class of society that almost exclusively inhabits segregated, disadvantaged neighbourhoods where social epidemics are highly concentrated, resulting in mutually reinforcing contagion effects. See also incivility.

Uniform Crime Report  This is an aggregate census based on reports from about 420 different police forces across Canada; it is the official basis for criminological research in Canada.

utilitarianism  A view that believes that the punishment of crime should be balanced and fair, which underlay the belief in classical criminology that even criminal behaviour must be seen as purposeful, and reasonable

uxoricide  The killing of one's wife

V

vagrancy  Today vagrancy is a summary offense crime, but because it has been a capital offense in the past it is a good example of historical changes in the law.

value conflict  What occurs when the deviant values of teenage law-violating groups, an essential element of youthful misbehaviour in slum areas, come into conflict with existing middle-class norms, which demand strict obedience to the legal code.

value statement  See mission statement.

variable  This is a basic measurement tool used in social science; in criminology it is a factor that either affects crime independently, or is in turn influenced by it.

venire  The group called for jury duty from which jury panels are selected.

vice squad  Police officers assigned to enforce morally tinged laws, such as those governing prostitution, gambling, and pornography.

ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage and Analysis System)  A system, developed in Canada, designed to capture, collate, and compare predatory and sexual crimes of violence through the analysis of victim information, suspect description, modus operandi, and forensic and behavioural data.

victim compensation  Financial restitution to the victim of crime, usually provided by the state and funded by a surcharge levied in criminal cases.

victim-precipitated homicide  An incident in which the victim acts in a manner calculated to provoke the use of deadly force on the part of police. Also known as suicide by cop.

victim-precipitation  Refers to crime in which the victim's behaviour was the spark that ignited the subsequent offense, as when the victim abused the offender verbally or physically.

victimization survey  A crime measurement technique that surveys citizens to measure their experiences as victims of crime.

victimless crimes  Criminal events where the victim does not exist in any direct and immediate way, such as the personal choice of drug abuse and gambling.

victimologist  This type of criminologist looks at the role that the victim plays in the crime process.

victimology  The study of the victim's role in criminal transactions.

victims  

avoidance behaviour  Behaviour by which victims seek to distance themselves from the kinds of people or situations they perceive as dangerous.

vigilante  Someone who takes the law into their own hands, who acts outside the law in the interest of justice.

virulency  According to Athens, a stage in a violent career in which criminals develop a violent identity that makes them feared. They consequently enjoy hurting others.

voir dire  The process in which a potential jury panel is questioned by the prosecution and the defence to select jurors who are unbiased and objective. It also refers to a 'trial within a trial', where potential evidence is heard by the judge in the absence of the jury.

vulnerability conversion  Especially for victims of violence, development of a sudden understanding by victims that they are mote susceptible to the dangers of life than they thought.

W

W system  The approach used by police dispatchers and communications personnel to determine key facts about a call-who, what, when, where, why, and if weapons are involved.

waiver  The act of voluntarily relinquishing a right or advantage; often used in the context of waiving one's right to counsel, or waiving certain steps in the criminal justice process such as the preliminary hearing. Essential to waiver is the voluntary consent of the individual.

warrant  A written court order issued by a magistrate authorizing and directing that an individual be taken into custody to answer criminal charges.

watch system  A core component of traditional police work that involves random patrol. Based on the premise that the presence and visibility of patrol cars is a deterrent to crime.

watchman  A style of policing that stresses reacting to calls for service rather than aggressively pursuing crime.

wergild  Under medieval law, the money paid by the offender to compensate the victim and the state for a criminal offense.

white-collar crime  Illegal acts that capitalize on a person's status in the marketplace. White- collar crimes can involve theft, embezzlement, fraud, market manipulation, restraint of trade, and false advertising. See also occupational crime.

white-collar crime  See occupational crime.  

whodunit investigation  A case in which there is no apparent suspect or circumstantial evidence and which therefore requires considerable investigation on the part of the police in order before enough evidence is gathered to identify a suspect.

widening the net  The charge that programs designed to divert offenders from the justice system actually enmesh them further in the process by substituting more intrusive treatment programs for less intrusive punishment-oriented outcomes.

wite  The portion of the wergild that went to the victim's family.

work furlough  A prison treatment program that allows inmates to leave during the day to work in the community and return to prison at night.

working personality of police officers  A term coined by Jerome Skolnick (1966) to describe a set of attitudinal and behavioural attributes that develops as a consequence of the unique role and activities of police officers.

writ of certiorari  An order to a superior court requesting that the record of an inferior court (or administrative body) be brought forward for review or inspection.

writ of mandamus  An order of a superior court commanding that a lower court, administrative body, or executive body perform a specific function. It is commonly used to restore rights and privileges lost to a defendant through illegal means.

write of habeas corpus  A judicial order requesting that a person detaining another produce the body of the prisoner and give reasons for his or her capture and detention. Habeas corpus is a legal device used to request that a judicial body review the reasons for a person's confinement and the conditions of confinement. Habeas corpus is known as "the great writ."

Z

zero tolerance  A policy of not allowing any cases, eg. Schoolyard violence, to go unprosecuted.

zone policing  See team policing