Chapter 5: Criminal Law

Law can be divided into two basic categories which is civil law that formal rules that regulate disputes between private parties and Criminal law which formal rules designed to maintain social control. Criminal laws can also be divided into two types which is substantive criminal law which Law are defining the specific behaviors prohibited under the criminal law and procedural law which rules are for adjudication of individuals suspected of violating the law. For example, Rape, robbery, burglary, or assault behaviors. That's why in criminal law has four main sources which the first source is the constitution which is the fundamental principles of a society that guide the enactment of specific laws and the application of those laws by courts. Another source of criminal law is Statutes which are laws that are passed by legislatures that prohibit or mandate certain acts. Which then the third source is the case law which judicial application and interpretation of law as it applies in a given case. Finally, the fourth source is the administrative regulations which rules applied to organizations that are designed to protect public health, safety, and welfare in the marketplace. The way American System of law and Justice was developed was that American criminal law was derived from the British common law which common laws are the body of unrecorded decisions made by English judges in the Middle Ages, reflecting the values, customs, and beliefs of the period. Which then the criminal justice system was comprised of more than 55,000 government agencies in the United States that dealt with aspects of law enforcements, the courts, and the corrections. Accuracy and Fairness have been added by legal steps which are essential elements of due process which is a legal protection included in the U.S. Constitution that guarantees all citizens the right to be adjudicated under established law and legal procedures. Which I believe applies to both the Fifth and the fourteenth Amendments prohibit all jurisdictions from depriving any person "of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Elements of crime are "mens rea," which is the "guilty mind" or conscious decision to commit a criminal act and "actus reus," which the behavior that must be committed to meet the definition of a crime.

Chapter 4: Perpetrators and Victims of Crime

In recent years, young teenagers/adults are usually the victims of crimes, but lately it has dropped because kids got more into playing video games, that's why there are less crimes than there was before. Usually with race, like what Professor Mcninch said, "If there is a black man dead, it is usually another black man who kid him," or "If it is a white guy that is dead, most likely it is a white man who kid him." This is usually the cause of jealousy and money, but most likely if a man was killed it is usually known that he was killed by his race because of they have a relationship with each other or they are very close or maybe related these are always the causes of incidents. As of Crime profiling it involves the analysis of criminal incidents to isolate the precise characteristics of offenders, victims, and situations in order to better understand and prevent crime. They are more focused on the characteristics and conduct of offenders and victims while crime scene profiling involves examination of the physical and situational characteristics of criminal incidents. Also for offender profiles they are developed by examining a large number of similar crimes to look for common patterns. For example, their physical and social characteristics, prior history, and method of conduct). Victim profiles are tje examination of a large number of similar criminal incidents to find patterns in the types of persons who are victimized under certain circumstances. Like 14.4 million black households in the united states versus 96 million white households, blacks are victimized at a rate of 44 per 1,000 households. The rate for whites is 28 per 1,000 and 23 per 1,000 for households of other races. Finally, the Crime scene profiles are the examination of the circumstances surrounding criminal incidents in a search for patterns associated with criminal offending.

Chapter 3: Defining and Measuring Crime

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Chapter 2: The Nature and Causes of Crime

First of all the problem began when a nineteen-year-old boy named Shawn Fanning created a program called "Napster," for users to download their favorite music. Usually, it is illegal for people to download music because it can affect the recording industry, but it is legal to make copies of cd's. Now, the recording companies sued individuals for downloading illegal copies songs for free, rather from pursuing only the Internet sites that offered the music. Since Napster controversy has became a modern example of how rules or norms develop in society. Norms are the Social expectations about what constitutes appropriate behavior under different circumstance. Deviance is the Violation of a social norm which includes rudeness disobedience, and gossiping about others. It is usually known that crimes prohibit only acts or omissions of acts and it is a crime to strike or steal from someone without a compelling justification. The primary source of U.S. criminal law is the England's common law. There are two types of common law which are the Mala in se which acts are considered evil in themselves which are example of assault and theft and Mala Prohibita which are acts that are considered undesirable although not inherently evil, example is drug use. If acts are viewed as a threat to the government it is known as a political crime which involves treason, sedition, espionage, sabotage, and bribery; these are political crimes are not mala in se offenses, because they are not evil. The Mala prohibita offenses of alcohol consumption, commercialized sex, gambling, and drug use have drawn the most attention, because throughout the nations history, alcohol consumption has been viewed alternately as a vice, an evil, a crime, or a leisure activity. As alcohol consumption became active during the 1980s a new campaign  was formed which is the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). It was founded by a mother whose teenage daughter had been killed in an automobile crash. The accident was caused by a man with two prior drunk driving convictions who was out on bail; which this is a felony because it is very serious. Legalization are decisions to remove a prohibited behavior from the criminal law; E.G. marijuana. Crimes are usually questionable, they have to make it clear that we have a long way to understand the causes of crimes such as "How can a mother kill her own children?" and "How can children kill their own parents?" There are four general types of explanation of crimes which are classical, positivistic, ethical, and structural. Classical school is a perspective in criminology that sees crime as resulting from the conscious exercise of an individual's free will. Positivism is the perspective in criminology that sees human behavior as determined by internal and external influences, such as biological, psychological, and/or social factors. Ethical View is the perspective that sees crimes as a moral failure in decision making. Structural/conflict view is the perspective that sees the criminal law as reflecting the will of those in power, and behaviors that threaten the interests of the powerful are punished most severely. Dealing with Guns, Drugs, and Crime, incidence on guns are very high but it is not necessarily known if it will reduce the rate of violence.