Violent crime
Rape and the law
Growing sensitivity to rape victims
Burden of proof
– Prosecution must show that consent did not exist
– Places heavy burden on victim
Common defense tactic is to attempt to convince a jury that female charged her
mind
– Can cause victim’s sexual history to be an issue
Legal reform
● Due to changing social standards, reform have occurred
– Providing for more expansive charging options
– Dropping conditions requiring resistance
– Including threat of force, not just actual force
Murder and Homicide
First degree:
● Premeditation and deliberate action
● Felony murder:
○ Someone dies during the act/behavior; the felon doesn’t have to be
the one who cause the death but as long as someone dies
Some times felony murder falls into first degree
Missouri: life; 25 years
Second degree murder:
– Acted deliberately, to kill victim, but no premeditation: “ crime of passion”
Manslaughter
● Deliberate action to harm the victim, but no intention other than kill
Missouri: drunk driving
Deliberate indifference:
– Intentionally ignored the dangerousness of actions
Trends in homicides
4.7 per 100,000 people (2021
50% happen in cities of 100,00 people or more
80% of victims and 90% of offenders are male
Intra-racial crime with 90% within the same race
– 50 % victims are black
– 33% of victims and offenders are under 25
– Murderers after have long criminal history
Offender/victims relationship
Murder causation
– Generally, an expressive crime
– Motivation is anger/rage
– Relatives/friends/acquaintances are most common \
Romantic relationships
Multi-Victim typology
Serial killers:
Kills 3 or more persons in 3 or more separate events
90% male perpetrated
– Three types:
. Thrill killers- strive for sexual sadism or dominance
. Mission killers- desire to reform the world
. Expedience killers - desire protection from perceived threat
Mass murders:
– Kill 4 or more victims in a single event
– School shootings
Spree killers:
– Multiple killings over several days or weeks
– No “cooling off” period
–
Week of April 7 notes
Larceny theft:
– Taking property without force
– > 1/2 of all committed go unreported
– Shoplifting ( often, a petty crime) [ when store is open]
– Stealing from retail sores
– Amateurs
– Use of goods for personal benefits
– Professionals
– Obtain majority of income from crime
– Make use of fences [ fences= who u sell the stolen items to,
can’t be charged for taking items]
– Controlling shoplifting
– Crime dramatically risen in last 20 years
– Fewer than 10% are caught
– Preventive tactics
– Merchant privilege laws
– Protects merchants from false accusation
– Target removal strategies
– Dummy products/ empty boxes
– Target hardening strategies
– Locking down goods/behind glass
– Larceny ( misdemeanor )
– Grand larceny ( felony)
– Determined by the value of item(s) stolen
– Credit card theft
● Stolen cared >>> $100s of billions in losses annually
○ Usually done by amateurs and disgardesd quickly
○ Professionals beginning to become more prevalent
○ Loss limits established by law
○ Often connected to identity theft
Automobile theft
● Care theft broken into two categories
– Amateurs
– joyriding, feel the thrill of “owning” a car
– Short term transportation
– Steal cars to get around
– Long term transportations
– Steal to keep car, striker car
– Profit
– Use in another crime
– Drive by shootings
– Professionals
– Fewer cars stolen are recovered
– Chop shop/export
– Most popular parts: Headlights, airbags, wheels
Week of April 14th
– Why do we have laws:
– Protect the public
– Limit the power of gov
– Establish standard behavior
– Maintain social order
– Developing criminal laws
● What perspective do we make laws:
○ From consensus view
◆ Everybody agrees; Mala in se
○ Conflict view
◆ Rich use law as a tool of oppression; e.g. tax
○ Interactionist view
◆ People interacting together produce laws
◇ Mala in prohibita
Law and morality
– Purpose of law
– Protect society and reduce social harms
– Immoral acts are classified as victimless,
– Who gets to decide what is immoral? Who gets to decide
–
what’s criminal?
– Theory of social harm
○ Immoral acts are different from crimes
◆ Examines the level of harm caused
◇ More harm, more likely to be criminal
○ Many legal acts >>>>> much harm
◆ Smoking
◆ Alcohol use
● Moral crusaders
○ Seek to shape the law toothier perspective
◆ e.g. gay marriage, abortion, pornography
○ Defense of marriage Act of 1996
◆ Define Margie as btw man and woman only
◆ 2013 overturned as unconstitutional by SCOTUS
◆ 2015 denial of gay marriage is unconstitutional per SCOTUS
Sexually-related offenses
– Abnormal sexual practices
– Fetishism >>>> molestation
– Prostitution
– Male/female
– Pornography
– Adult/child
– Sexually exciting or humiliation-based
– Often perpetrated due to abnormal brain structure/function or poor
socialization
– Can include:
– frotteurism ( rubbing only against others)
– Voyeurism ( watching others) ( must have consent)
– Sadomasochism ( inflicting/receiving pain) ( need consent)
– Pedophilia ( sex with children)
–
Terrorism
– Defintion is a illusive
– Usually involves use illegal use of force against innocent people to
achieve a political objective
– Characterized by secretiveness and promotion of specific vision
– Terrorist tactics used since antiquity
– Modern conceptualization developed in 1795 during the French
Revolution war
– vaious regional/ethic groups have greatly influenced the course of the
world history
– e.g: black hand, IRA, White Terror(Russians), Hamas, Hezbollah, Al
Qaeda, ISIS, etc
Organization and financing of terroristic groups
– Organization
– Loosely affiliated network directed by central command center
– Cells that work together , but maintain element of separation
– Financing
– Fraudulent charitable organization
– Various forms of crime ( e.g, drug distribution)
Differntiating terrorists
○ Guerillas
◆ Armed military personnel that attack military targets to destabilize
a government
○ Insurgents
◆ Based in a region/territory and desire self-governance
◆ Compete with government for popular support
○ Revolution
◆ Engaged in open civil war with established government
Terroist typology
– Revolutionary
– Use power to frighten government actors in order to replace those
actors with a more acceptable form of government
– Political
– Shape the government to conform to a certain view
– Right wing
– armed, resistant to government intervention, conform to
religious values( e.g., abortion clinic bombers)
– Left wing
– Challenge power structure and seek to install equality
forcibly \
– Eco-terrioust
– Seek tp protect
– Nationlist
– Provides voice to minority ethnic/religious groups feeling oppressed
by majoriy=ty rule
– E.g, ETA in northern Spain
– Retributive
– Desire to impose a social/religious order
– Violence is used to influence/intimidate
– Victims are selected for maximum
– State sponsored
– Use of violence by government actors to repress dissident
political groups/individuals
– e.g, death squads
– Abu Ghraib?
–
