Chapter 4, Key - Summary Criminology PDF

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These notes include key terms for chapter 4 from both the lecture notes and the book....

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Chapter 4 Key Terms Rational Choice Theory (Choice Theory): The view that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

Offense-Specific The view that an offender reacts selectively to the characteristics of a particular criminal act Offender-Specific The view that offenders evaluate their skills, motives, needs, and fears before deciding to commit criminal act. Johns: Men who solicit sex workers. Situational Crime Prevention: A method of crime prevention that seeks to eliminate or reduce particular crimes in specific settings. Defensible Space: The principle that crime can be prevented or displaced by modifying the physical environment to reduce the opportunity that individuals have to commit crime. Crime Discouragers People who serve as guardians of property or people Diffusion An effect that occurs when efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevent another. Discouragement An effect that occurs when crime control efforts targeting a particular locale help reduce crime in surrounding areas and populations. Displacement An effect that occurs when crime control efforts simply move offenders to less heavily guarded alternative targets. Extinction An effect that occurs when crime reduction programs produce a short-term positive effect, but benefits dissipate as criminals adjust to new conditions. Replacement

An effect that occurs when criminals try new offenses the had previously avoided because situational crime prevention programs neutralized their crime of choice. General Deterrence A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweigh its benefits. Marginal Deterrence Occurs when a relatively more severe penalty will produce some reduction in crime. Restrictive (Partial) Deterrence Refers to situations in which the threat of punishment can reduce but not eliminate crime. Specific-Deterrence The view that criminal sanctions should be so powerful that offenders will never repeat their criminal acts. Recidivism Repetition of criminal behavior Incapacitation Effect The idea that keeping offenders in confinement will eliminate the risk of their committing further offenses. Crackdowns The concentration of police resources on particular problem areas, such as street-level drug dealing, to eradicate or displace criminal activity. Focused Deterrence The view that police can deter crime by using every strategy possible and also by directly interacting with offenders and communicating clear consequences if they engage in criminal activity. Positivist At the end of the nineteenth century, the popularity of the classical approach began to decline as criminologists focused their attention on internal and external factors, such as poverty, IQ, and education, rather than personal choice and decision making....