Crime in America
Chapter 2

Violent Crime- is a personal crime. Violent crime includes murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. These serious crimes are felonies and are of special interest to society.

Property Crime – An offense that includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Murder- The unlawful killing of a human being. Murder is a generic term that in common usage may include first-and second –degree murder and manslaughter. First degree murder is premeditated with evil intent. Second degree murder, aka manslaughter, is not premeditated and has the element of "in the moment" or "heat of passion". Third degree murder, aka involuntary manslaughter, involves the death of someone because of someone else's negligence. i.e. vehicular manslaughter.

Rape- Unlawful sexual intercourse through force and without consent. Broadly speaking, the term rape has been applied to a wide variety of sexual attacks and may include same-sex rape and the rape of a male by a female.

Forcible Rape -Female forcibly raped and against her will. For statistical reporting purposes, the FBI defines forcible rape as “unlawful sexual intercourse with a female, by force and against her will, or without legal or factual consent”. Statutory rape differs from forcible rape in that it generally involves non forcible sexual intercourse with a minor.

Sexual Battery- Intentional and wrongful physical contact with the person, without his or her consent, that entails a sexual component or purpose.

Date Rape- Unlawful forced sexual intercourse with a female against her will that occurs within the context of dating relationship. Date rape is a subcategory of rape that is of special concern today because drug Rohypnol, odorless and tasteless that leaves the victim unconscious for hours.

Robbery - The unlawful taking or attempted taking of property that is in the immediate possession of another by force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear. Armed robbery differs from unarmed, or strong-arm, robbery with regard to the presence of a weapon. Strong arm robbery may occur through intimidation, especially where gangs threaten victims by their sheer number.

Assault - An unlawful attack by one person upon another. Historically, assault meant only the attempt to inflict injury on another person; a completed act constituted the separate offense of battery. Under modern statistical usage, however, attempted and completed acts are grouped together under the generic term assault.

Aggravated Assault- The unlawful, intentional inflicting, or attempted or threatened inflicting, of serious injury upon the person of another. While aggravated assault and simple assault are standard terms for reporting purposes, most state penal codes use labels like first-degree and second-degree to make such distinctions. Aggravated assault is a felony whereas a simple assault is a misdemeanor.

Burglary- The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft (excludes tents, trailers, and other mobile units used for recreational purposes).Most burglars are interested in financial gain and usually sell stolen items. Daytime burglary is more common that the stereotypical night burglar.

Larceny-theft- The unlawful taking or attempted taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property, from the possession or constructive possession of another. Motor vehicles are excluded. Common types of larceny are thefts from cars, shop lifting, bicycle thefts, coin operated machines and pocket picking.

Identity theft-A crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of information, such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers, to obtain credit, merchandise, and services in the name of the victim. The victim is often left with a ruined credit history and the time-consuming and completed task of repairing the financial damages. Criminals obtain peoples credit information by "dumpster diving", going through trash bags, cans or dumpster to get copies of checks, credit card or bank statements. Other thieves use "shoulder surfing" and internet activities such as unsolicited email that promises all sorts of attractive benefits while requesting personal information.

Motor Vehicle theft- The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. Motor Vehicle is defined as a self-propelled road vehicle that runs on land surface and not on rails. The stealing of trains, planes, boats, construction equipment, and most farm machinery is classified as larceny under the UCR program, not as motor vehicle theft.

Arson - The burning or attempted burning of property, with or without the intent to defraud. Some instances of arson result from malicious mischief, some involve attempts to claim insurance monies, and some are committed in an effort to disguise other crimes, such as murder, burglary, or larceny.

Special Categories of Crime

Stalking - Repeated harassing and threatening behavior by one individual against another, aspects of which may be planned or carried out in secret. Stalking might involve following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property. Most stalking laws require that the perpetrator make a credible threat of violence against the victim or members of the victim's immediate family.

Cyberstalking - the use of the Internet, email or other electronic communication technologies to stalk anther person.  

Hate Crime - A criminal offense in which the motive is “hatred, bias, or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation of another individual or group of individuals.

Corporate and White Collar crime – Criminal violations for illegally obtaining financial gain through power and influence of position or title.

Organized Crime – The unlawful activities of the members of a highly organized, disciplined association engaged in supplying of illegal goods and services such as gambling, prostitution, loan-sharking, narcotics, labor racketeering, etc.

Clearance Rate- A traditional measure of investigative effectiveness that compares the number of crimes reported or discovered to the number of crimes solved through arrest or other means (such as the death of the suspect). i.e. Cities want a high clearance rate because they are either having low crime or solving crime.

There are different government reports that track crime:

Uniform crime reports (UCR) - An annual FBI publication that summarizes the incidence and rate of reported crimes throughout the United States.

National crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)-An annual survey of selected American household conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to determine the extent of criminal victimization –especially unreported victimization-in the United States.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - A U.S Department of Justice Agency responsible for the collection of criminal justice data, including the annual National Crime Victimization Survey.

Crime Index- The measure of violent and property crime categories, or part 1 offenses(serious crimes), of the Uniform crime Index has been a useful tool for geographic (state-to-state) and historical (year-to year) comparisons because it employs the concept of a crime rate (the number of crimes per unit of population).

End of notes - chapter 2