387 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
387 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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crime
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In the broadest legal sense, a crime in most countries is an act
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committed in violation of a law forbidding it and for which a court may
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impose a variety of punishments including imprisonment, death, fine, or
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removal from office. A fundamental categorization divides criminal acts
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into two classes, mala in se and mala prohibita. Some offenses, such as
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HOMICIDE, are considered to be "wrong in themselves" (mala in se) and
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inherently evil. On the other hand, mala prohibita offenses, such as drug
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abuse or gambling, are considered criminal because society seeks to
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regulate these particular types of behavior. Such offenses often drift in
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and out of the legal codes, their status determined by current public
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opinion, custom, or religious standards. Ideally, the punishment for
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crimes should be scaled according to the severity of the offenses. Murder,
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for example, is widely considered an offense meriting the death
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penalty--in which case it is called a capital offense--or life
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imprisonment. Some harmful offenses, however, do not bring so serious a
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punishment as others. White-collar offenses, despite the fact that they
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often involve large sums of money and affect great numbers of people,
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commonly bring shorter terms of imprisonment than such offenses as armed
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robbery or burglary. The reason for this disparity is often the social
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status of the offender: a bank president who has embezzled bank funds is
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not usually viewed as a common criminal. Thus public attitudes and
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socioeconomic status may affect the severity of punishment, just as
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changing social attitudes affect the status of criminal acts. The French
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sociologist Emile DURKHEIM considered crime to be an integral aspect of
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society and a "normal" social phenomenon in the sense that it has existed
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in all societies throughout history. Durkheim felt that mala prohibita
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crimes function in society as a means of defining the limits of acceptable
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behavior, serving as a vehicle for social change by extending and testing
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those boundaries. Western society's present liberal attitudes toward
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sexual behavior, for example, have emerged out of an era when certain
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sexual acts were classified as criminal. Abortion provides another
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pertinent example of a shift in the public perception of what constitutes
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a crime. In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court (in ROE V. WADE) decriminalized
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abortion, declaring it instead to be a right guaranteed women under the
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Constitution. That decision would probably have been impossible 20 years
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earlier, given the then-existing public attitudes toward abortion. Despite
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the great qualitative difference between the many acts currently
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classified as criminal, however, there is little doubt that the entire
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area of crime is perceived as a unitary, largely undifferentiated
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phenomenon by ordinary citizens, and that this perception affects the way
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many people live. Surveys of U.S. public opinion reveal that the majority
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of people feel that crime is increasing; they feel more and more uneasy on
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the streets and have taken measures to protect their homes against crime.
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In addition, "law and order" has become a potent theme in political
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campaigns, and candidates who embrace it are more likely to be accepted by
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voters.
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CRIMINAL INTENT
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Once it has been established that a person has committed a criminal
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act, the law then questions the intent (MENS REA) of the actor, in effect
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inquiring whether the offender intended to cause harm by committing the
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act. The answer to this question helps to determine not only the question
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of guilt or innocence but also the severity of the punishment, if any.
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Mens rea has played a major role in the development of the insanity
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defense (see INSANITY, LEGAL), which is derived from an 1843 English case
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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in which a man named M'Naghten shot and killed a member of Parliament.
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M'Naghten was tried and acquitted because the jury found him not guilty by
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reason of insanity (NGRI). After a public protest, the judges of the
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Queen's Bench (an appeals court) formulated a standard to determine mental
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responsibility that became known as the M'Naghten Rule. It states that, in
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order to acquit, "It must be clearly proved that, at the time of
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committing the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of
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reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of
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the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know it was
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wrong." The "right and wrong" test has become the basis for most legal
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statutes dealing with intent. The insanity defense, however, has been
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controversial because it seems to offer a legal loophole that permits the
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obviously guilty to escape just punishment--as in the case of John W.
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Hinckley, Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan but
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was acquitted by a jury. Commitment to a mental institution is the most
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common result of the NGRI verdict, and--despite the fact that competency
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hearings that could result in release are required by law--persons so
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committed often serve longer sentences than their counterparts in penal
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institutions. Certain states, such as Michigan, have abolished the
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insanity defense in favor of a plea of "guilty but insane," by which the
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court recognizes the mental deficiencies of the accused, and the accused
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accepts his or her legal responsibility for the act. Persons found to be
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"guilty but insane" receive sentences that include treatment in a mental
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hospital. If they are released as cured, the time during which they have
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received treatment is counted as part of their total sentence, which they
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must complete in prison.
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CLASSIFICATION OF CRIME
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The basic legal distinction between crimes is that separating
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felonies from misdemeanors. In general, a FELONY is a serious offense
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punishable by death or imprisonment in a state or federal facility. A
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MISDEMEANOR is a less serious act that is punishable by a fine or
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imprisonment for less than one year, usually in a jail. Another basic
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categorization of crime is based on criminological theory and is commonly
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used to detect patterns in the crime rate. This classification divides
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crime broadly into two categories: crimes against the person and crimes
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against property. Crimes against the person are predatory in nature: the
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offender intends, threatens, or commits physical harm against the victim.
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Such crimes include homicide, RAPE, and armed robbery. Crimes against
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property involve no physical threat to the victim, and include ARSON,
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BURGLARY, LARCENY, and motor vehicle theft. These classifications do not,
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of course, cover all types of crime. Recently, criminologists have focused
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on crimes committed by the government in violation of the rights of
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citizens: wiretapping, police brutality, bribery, and conspiracies such as
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the Watergate crimes of the Nixon administration. A related category of
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crime is the type that the U.S. criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland
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(1885-1950) termed "WHITE-COLLAR CRIME." Sutherland defined white-collar
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crimes as violations of the criminal law committed during the course of
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their occupational activities by persons of upper socioeconomic status.
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Such acts as EMBEZZLEMENT, price fixing, industrial pollution, and
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computer fraud fall within this class. Sutherland held that these acts
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must be considered criminal--regardless of the status of the
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offender--because they are recognized by the law as harmful, often affect
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large numbers of victims, and are usually the result of willful and
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intentional behavior. Studies have estimated that white-collar crimes have
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a far greater financial impact upon society than any other type of crime.
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A final category of crime is the victimless crime, which includes
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution, and gambling. The use of the
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term victimless is an extremely qualified one. It refers to acts committed
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by consenting adults in private; the acts involve only the participants
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and are not harmful to others. If harm occurs, it is inflicted only upon
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the willing participants. Victimless crimes are often characterized by the
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exchange of sought-after goods and services, and they generate huge
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amounts of illegal income. It has been argued, however, that no crime is
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victimless. The drug addict suffers physical and emotional harm and often
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commits property crimes to obtain money for buying drugs. Prostitution and
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pornography damage property values, and their existence often breeds
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lawlessness and leads to other, more serious types of crime. Finally, the
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revenue gained by these acts is often funneled to organized crime, which
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uses these funds to foster and extend control over legitimate elements of
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society. The term organized crime refers to a system of crime in which a
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group of individuals create and maintain a corporate-like organization,
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its members each having recognized responsibilities and obligations. Such
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criminal operations attempt to gain monopolistic control of certain types
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of criminal enterprises--the marketing of illegal drugs, for
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example--which are capable of generating large profits. These
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organizations will often use the funds gained by criminal activities to
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take over legitimate businesses, and they routinely employ force and
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violence to maintain internal and external control. The mobs' enormous
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wealth has tended to protect their members from the law; nonetheless,
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convictions were obtained in three out of four major organized-crime
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trials held in New York in 1986-87. (see also MAFIA; ORGANIZED CRIME).
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MEASURING THE EXTENT OF CRIME
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The development of accurate measures of crime has been the most
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difficult task faced by criminologists and those engaged in law
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enforcement. The oldest U.S. statistical analysis of certain types of
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crime is the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), which has been issued annually
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since 1930 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Individual
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law-enforcement agencies are responsible for the collection of the crime
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data assembled by the FBI. The statistics measure only "crimes known to
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the police." In order for a crime to be included in the UCR, it must have
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been reported to the police by the victim or a witness, or directly
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observed by the police themselves. The most well-known portion of the UCR
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is the Crime Index, in which eight major crime categories are listed:
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murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor
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vehicle theft, and arson. Data is also included on the age, sex, and race
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of persons arrested, the percentages of crimes that are "cleared by
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arrest"--the clearance rate--and the rate of crime per 100,000 U.S.
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inhabitants. For 1985 the UCR revealed that the number of reported Index
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crimes had increased by 4.6 percent over the previous year--following
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three years of decline. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter increased 1.5
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percent, forcible rape went up by 4 percent, and the total of aggravated
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assaults rose by 5.5 percent. Violent crime climbed by 5 percent overall,
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while crimes against property were up by 4 percent. The later category
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included a 7-percent rise in motor-vehicle theft. The FBI reported that
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the 1985 rise was disproportionately distributed geographically: the
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Midwest had no increase, but crime levels rose 9 percent in the South, 5
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percent in the West, and 2 percent in the Northeast. Arrests in 1985
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totaled 11.9 million, an increase of 3 percent. A great deal of criticism
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has been directed at the UCR statistics. The data, it is charged, is open
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to manipulation by law enforcement agencies that have a vested interest in
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demonstrating reduced crime rates or in obtaining more funds should crime
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rates be shown to have risen. Some doubt exists as to whether all the
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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reporting agencies count the same offense in the same manner. Perhaps the
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most common complaint is that the figures change along with changing
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police practices. If a police agency were to concentrate on apprehending
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the sellers of stolen goods (or if citizens began to report all robbery or
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theft incidents), the number of Index crimes in those categories would
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rise sharply. In order to counteract this problem, the U.S. Bureau of
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Justice Statistics issues the National Crime Survey (NCS), an annual
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report on household crime victimization based on census surveys rather
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than on individuals' complaints to law enforcement officials. It is
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believed that these interview/surveys give a more accurate picture of the
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amount of crime that occurs by uncovering unreported crimes. In fact,
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statistics for 1983 revealed that only 45 percent of personal crimes and
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48 percent of property, or household, crimes had been reported to the
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police that year. While the UCR generally depicts a rising crime rate over
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the extended periods of years, the NCS gives a different picture. Using
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the measure "households touched by crime," the NCS found that crimes
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against individuals and households had decreased 1.9 percent during 1985,
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reaching a 13-year low of about 25% of national households. The NCS,
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however, may not present a wholly accurate picture. The most common
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complaint is that the survey is dependent upon the sometimes faulty memory
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of the respondents. The victim of a crime is likely to recall the event as
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if it had occurred recently, and as a consequence, some respondents report
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crimes that occurred prior to the year with which the interview is
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concerned. Compared with other countries that keep crime statistics, the
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United States has the highest rate per 100,000 population for reported
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murders, rapes, and robberies. It is important to remember, however, that
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the incidence of crime is influenced by such factors as industrialization,
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urbanization, drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment, and the availability
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of firearms. Many of these factors, of course, are present in other
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countries. The U.S. population, however, possesses more firearms than any
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other population group and has an extremely high rate of alcohol and drug
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abuse. Also, the effect of periods of high unemployment (such as the late
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1970s and early 1980s) and the influence of television and movie
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representations of violence (in fact, the nagging question of violence as
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an American cultural phenomenon) are issues that have not yet been
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definitively studied.
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CRIMINOLOGY AND THE CAUSES OF CRIME
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Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior.
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Although there are several contemporary schools of criminological theory,
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they all share a common goal: the search for the causes of criminal
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behavior in the hope that this information can be transformed into
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policies that will be effective in handling or even eliminating crime. The
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earliest criminologists, the classical school, were late-18th-century
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thinkers concerned with humanizing the highly arbitrary and harsh systems
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of criminal punishment of the time. The Italian economist Cesare Bonesana
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BECCARIA and the English philosopher Jeremy BENTHAM both emphasized the
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deterrent effect of punishment on potential criminals. The theory evolved
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by the classical school posits the existence of a rational humanity that
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possesses free will and whose primary motivation is to maximize pleasure
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and minimize pain. Classical theorists reasoned that if a rational person
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knows that a particular, painful punishment will almost certainly follow
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the commission of a particular crime, he or she will not commit the crime.
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This line of thought led to the attempt to establish elaborate categorical
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systems in which each crime had its punishment equivalent ("let the
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punishment fit the crime") and which prefigured the fixed-term sentences
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that are increasingly being imposed today. In addition, the classical
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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belief that everyone has the capacity to make rational choices still
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influences the field of criminology. A later influential body of
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criminological thought was the positivist, or Italian, school, founded in
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the late 19th century by the Italian psychiatrist and anthropologist
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Cesare LOMBROSO. Responding to the new evolutionary theories of Charles
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Darwin, Lombroso embarked on a detailed physiological study of convicts in
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order to determine if criminal behavior was biologically determined.
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Lombroso found that his convicts possessed certain physical
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characteristics to a greater degree then the general population. Although
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his findings were later refuted, his use of the scientific method and his
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emphasis on the multiple environmental causes of crime had a great impact
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on criminology and the development of the ideal of rehabilitation. The
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biological approach pioneered by Lombroso is used today in such studies as
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the link between learning disabilities and crime, and the relationship
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between diet and assaultive behavior. Twentieth-century criminologists
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have been profoundly influenced by the work of such sociologists as
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Durkheim; by the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud and his
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followers; and by the case-study approach inspired by Freud and first used
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by criminologists in the 1920s in work on juvenile delinquency, where
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possible environmental and genetic causes of criminal behavior were
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examined. In the 1930s Edwin H. Sutherland propounded his theory of
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differential association, which attributed the genesis of criminality to
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the social environment of the offender. Sutherland believed that criminal
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behavior is learned behavior, and that persons who live in a social milieu
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that contains more criminals than law-abiding citizens are likely to
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become criminals themselves. This line of thought led Sutherland and his
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followers to the conclusion that some transformation of the social
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structure is necessary in order to eliminate what they believe to be the
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root causes of crime. Theorists of the Radical, or Marxist, school of
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criminology believe that the ruling classes designate certain types of
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behavior as criminal in an attempt to secure and maintain the capitalist
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system. Thus the criminal justice system is in their eyes largely a means
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to maintain the status quo by suppressing the proletariat. This school
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also calls for change in the social structure in order to eliminate crime.
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Another social structural theory, labeling theory, relates to the manner
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in which criminal law is enforced and and is primarily concerned with the
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explanation of JUVENILE DELINQUENCY and the commission of status
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offenses--that is, acts that are considered to be criminal if they are
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committed by a juvenile but are not considered criminal if committed by an
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adult. Running away, for example, is a status offense. Enforcement of the
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punishment for a status offense, it was found, could lead to a juvenile's
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committing further and more serious offenses. In effect, enforcement of
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the law created rather than prevented crime. This theory has been
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influential in the decriminalization of most status offenses, although
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decriminalization has produced further problems. If the police cannot
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arrest a runaway juvenile, they also do not possess the power to hold him
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or her for treatment for obvious drug problems or ill health. At present,
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it appears that the emphasis in criminological studies is moving away from
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investigations of individual motivation, as criminologists bring more
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attention to bear on the ways in which criminal law is made and enforced,
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the probable effects of present-day criminal-justice practices, and the
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potential consequences of changes in criminal-law enforcement.
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CONTROL OF CRIME
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Strategies for crime control and crime prevention have shifted over
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the years. Since the mid-19th century a major goal of U.S. CRIMINAL
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JUSTICE practices has been the rehabilitation of the prisoner. To this
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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end, at the discretion of the trial judge, a convicted criminal has often
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received an indeterminate sentence under the terms of which he or she
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might be given an early release from prison, perhaps under the supervision
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of a PAROLE officer; or might, instead, be sentenced to PROBATION rather
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than imprisonment. In addition, the use of CAPITAL PUNISHMENT steadily
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declined in the United States; in a 1972 decision the Supreme Court banned
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its use under the then-existing state statutes, requiring instead (in
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1976) laws that carefully defined what crimes merited capital punishment
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along with standardized judicial proceedings for imposing it. In recent
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years, however, attitudes toward crime and criminals have hardened. In
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1984, Congress ordered the drawing up of sentencing guidelines for judges
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in federal courts. Many states are also moving twoard determinate
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sentencing, which mandates fixed sentences for certain crimes and may
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eliminate the possibility of probation or parole. In addition, the numbers
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of death sentences imposed and carried out are increasing. The theoretical
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justifications for these changes emphasize the principles of retribution
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and deterrence in the punishments meted out to criminals. Retributionists
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assert that punishment functions as an expression of the desire of
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citizens to maintain social order and as a demonstration of social
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disapproval of criminal acts. They believe that swift and certain
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punishment prevents criminal behavior by warning potential offenders of
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the likely consequences of crime and by persuading the punished criminal
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not to repeat the crime. A related theory, the doctrine of incapacitation,
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holds that it is not possible to rehabilitate criminals and therefore
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offenders should be incarcerated as long as possible. Further, if the
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greatest amount of serious crime is committed by repeat offenders
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(recidivists), then such a step should also reduce the crime rate. The
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theory implicitly assumes that there is a fixed supply of criminals. By
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locking up for long periods of time those who are presently active, the
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disease of crime will disappear, or at least grow at a slower rate. Many
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criminologists disagree, pointing to the increasing numbers of young
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people arrested for minor crimes who will, soon, replace the incarcerated
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recidivists on the streets. Incapacitation and deterrence theories support
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the adoption of habitual offender laws, whereby persons who are convicted
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of a serious offense for a second or third time receive a harsher penalty
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than first offenders. Deterrence is the basis for laws like California's
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"use a gun, go to prison" legislation, under which offenders convicted of
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a felony while using a firearm automatically draw a prison term. It is
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increasingly obvious that there are no easy solutions to the problem of
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crime. Hard-line policies, such as determinate sentencing, cannot be
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accomplished at small cost. They have instead aggravated overcrowded
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conditions in prisons and have increased the already heavy costs of
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incarceration.
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Gennaro F. Vito
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Bibliography:
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Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization in the United
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States, annual; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports:
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Crime in the United States, annual; Jeffrey, C. Ray, Crime Prevention
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through Environmental Design (1977); Morris, Norval, and Hawkins, Gordon,
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The Honest Politician's Guide to Crime Control (1970); Quinney, Richard,
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Class, State and Crime, 2d ed. (1980); Reid, Sue Titus, Crime and
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Criminology, 4th ed. (1985); Silberman, Charles E., Criminal Violence,
|
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Criminal Justice (1978); Vold, George B., Theoretical Criminology, 3d ed.
|
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(1985); Wilson, James Q., Thinking about Crime, rev. ed. (1985); Wolfgang,
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Marvin E., and Ferracuti, Franco, The Subculture of Violence (1982).
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Incidence of Three Major Crimes in Selected Countries, 1984 (rates per
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The Electronic Encyclopedia (TM)
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(C) 1988 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
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100,000) ---------------------------------------------------------------
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Country Murder Rape Robbery
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--------------------------------------------------------------- Australia
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3.42 13.79 83.58 England and Wales 1.37 2.69 44.59 (1983) Germany, West
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4.51 9.73 45.79 Israel 1.83 5.45 34.95 Japan 1.47 1.60 1.82 Spain 2.16
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3.56 147.33 Sweden 5.74 11.93 44.12 United States 7.90 35.70 205.40
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--------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE:
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Interpol, International Crime Statistics, 1983-84.
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