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Defining crime and criminals

Defining crime and criminals. Crime is what is illegal in criminal law Includes some dangerous and harmful acts Other bad practices are not included Criminals are people charged Includes some harmful people Other harmful people are not included. The FBI’s ‘crime rate’. Violent

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Defining crime and criminals

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  1. Defining crime and criminals • Crime is what is illegal in criminal law • Includes some dangerous and harmful acts • Other bad practices are not included • Criminals are people charged • Includes some harmful people • Other harmful people are not included

  2. The FBI’s ‘crime rate’ • Violent • murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault • Property • larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson • Not... • Work hazard or disease, pollution, health care, cigarettes, food additives, poverty

  3. Who is a ‘criminal’? Source: Reiman (2004), p. 58-9.

  4. How 12,943 Americans are murdered (FBI) Source: FBI Statistics from Reiman (2004), p. 83.

  5. How 94,681 Americans are murdered (Reiman) Source: Reiman (2004), p. 84.

  6. Weeding out the rich For the same crime, the rich are less likely... T o b e a r r e s t e d t o b e c h a r g e d t o b e c o n v i c t e d to go to prison to get long sentences

  7. State prisoners, by conviction type Source: BJS (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/corrtyp.htm)

  8. Race/ethnicity and drug use Source: Use rate from Sentencing Project, 2005 (2002 data).

  9. From drug use to prison Source: Sentencing Project (cocaine 1990; marijuana 2002) BJS (prison 2002 [stopped after that]).

  10. Drug war moves to marijuana Source: Sentencing Project, "War on Marijuana," 2005.

  11. Violent crime versus arrest % of those arrested who are Black % of criminals reported Black Source: CVS and UCR in Reiman (1998).

  12. Why are the poor charged more? • Definition of crime • Least able to protest police action • Less privacy from state surveillance • Police actions • Judgement as to seriousness, need for action • Profiling, based on training or prejudice

  13. Study of I-95 in Maryland, 1995-96: • 93% of drivers violate traffic laws • Black and white drivers violate equally • Black drivers: 17%, Black stops: 73% • Rhode Island vehicle stops, 1st Q 2005 • Of those stopped, 7% of minorities, 3% of Whites searched • In State Police searches 26% of Whites, 13% of minorities had contraband http://www.aclu.org/profiling

  14. White-collar crime • Far more costly than ‘street’ crime • Reiman’s estimate: $404 billion • Widespread, probably more common • Rarely arrested or charged • Property crime: 1 arrest per $14,000 • Embezzlement: 1 arrest per $898,000 • Sentences are very light

  15. Disparities in conviction • The rich get bail • Poor are punished while legally innocent • Can’t aid in their defense • Coerced into pleas based on time served • Prejudice of juries and judges • The rich get better lawyers • Private lawyers: 5-times more likely to win through dismissal or acquittal

  16. Convicting the innocent • The Innocence Project has used DNA to exonerate 174 innocent people • Mistaken identity most common cause • In lineups (photo or live), witnesses are pressured, assume one of them is guilty • Cross-race identification is hardest • Many cases of false confessions • Coercion, duress, intoxication, impairment, threats • Example: Lonnie Erby

  17. Central Park Jogger, 1989 • White woman raped and beaten • Five Black teenagers arrested nearby, for another mugging • Confessions after 14 to 30 hours • Threatened, coached, offered release • Released after someone else confessed, with DNA evidence • Served sentences of 6, 8, and 11 years Kharey Wise

  18. Disparities in sentencing • By judgement call • prejudice, deals, assumptions, and priors • By statute • Laws biased against crimes of the poor • E.g., Crack v. powder cocaine • Mandatory 5-year federal sentences for: • 5g of crack (85% Black convicts) • 500g of powder cocaine (58% White convicts)

  19. Classes of property crime

  20. Race and execution

  21. Warren McCleskey • Key witness struck a deal on sentencing • When asked at trial, prosecutor lied • Two jurors say they wouldn’t have convicted • Judge: waited too long to appeal • Death penalty • 11-times more common when victim is white • 4.3 considering severity and circumstances • Supreme Court agreed

  22. Race and the death penalty Source: Baldus study of the Georgia dealth penalty, cited in McCleskey v. Kemp.

  23. Electrocuted Sept. 25, 1991 • Individualism to the death • Supreme Court said: • Proof of systematic bias is not enough • Must prove racism in his case

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