Chapter 10
Violent Crimes
Definitions
• Homicide: the killing
of one human being
by another. Note, not
all homicides are
illegal.
• Murder: the
intentional killing of
another person with
malice aforethought.
• Manslaughter: the
unlawful killing of
another person
without malice. May
be either voluntary or
involuntary.
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Manslaughter
Voluntary
Manslaughter
• A killing
committed
intentionally but
without malice.
• Example: in the
heat of passion or
in response to
strong
provocation.
Involuntary
Manslaughter
• Causing the death
of another
unintentionally but
recklessly by
consciously
disregarding a
substantial risk.
• Some states have
negligent homicide.
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Homicide Rates in the U.S.
•
•
•
•
Homicide rates decreased during the 1990’s.
In 2002, the U.S. had 15,980 murders.
In 2004, the U.S. had 16,137 murders.
The U.S. has 5.5 murders per 1,000 people.
1967 7.0 murders per 1,000.
• Murder rates are higher in the South.
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Characteristics of Murder
• 77.8% of murder victims are male
• 44.75% of murder victims are between the
ages of 20 and 34
• 49.1% of all murder victims are white; 47%
are black, 2.6 other ethnic origins
• 91% of black murder victims were murdered
by black offenders
• 84% of white murder victims were murdered
by white offenders
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Characteristics of Murder
Continued
• Males are killed by males 89% of the time
• Females are killed by males 90% of the time
• Stranger homicides occurred only 12.9% of
the time in 2004
• Most murders occur among relatives and
acquaintances
• Black females make up 11% of the female
population but 75% of the female murderers
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• Trends in U.S. Homicide Rates
– Has declined since early 1990s
– UCR reported 16,021 homicides in 2002
– The post-1985 homicide rise stemmed from
increase in homicides by those under 24
– Almost all the increase accounted for by
African American males
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• Circumstances Leading to Homicides
 Generally spontaneous arising from an
argument
 According to Wolfgang, victim
precipitates 25% of homicides
 Often offender and/or victim have been
drinking
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• Explaining Homicide and Assault
– Why does U.S. have higher homicide rate
than other industrial nations?
• Because of greater economic inequality
• Handgun ownership
• Historical
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– Why are U.S. homicides and aggravated
assaults more common in urban areas
than elsewhere?
• Population density
• Household overcrowding
• Dilapidated living conditions
• Weak social institutions
• Concentrated disadvantage
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– Why do men commit almost all homicides
and aggravated assaults?
• Confrontational homicides – “contests of
honor”
• Violent nature of masculinity
• Poverty, Masculinity, and Violence
– Poverty interacts with masculinity to explain why
poor men have higher rates of homicide and
aggravated assault
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– Why do African-Americans and other
people of color have high rates?
• Racist research claims inborn disposition
• Non-racist explanations
– Anger and frustration arising from
discrimination and economic deprivation
– The stress, social disorganization, and other
poor conditions of urban life
– Lack of economic resources
– Negative family and school experiences
– Violent nature of masculinity
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– Anderson’s study of young black women
revealed they sought respect as much as
their male counterparts and in the same
manner
– Subculture of hopelessness
– Women tend to internalize stress, anxiety
while men externalize; this may lead to
“eruption in extreme violence”
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– Rise in rates by and against young black
males stemmed from several factors
• Despair resulting from declining
economic opportunities
• Increased drug trafficking in inner cities
• Increased possession and use of powerful
handguns in urban areas, partly because
of drug trafficking battles
– Decrease in early 1990s attributed to social
and economic factors
– Improved medical emergency technology
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Firearm-Related Homicide
Rates for Children
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Characteristics of Murder
Continued
• Serial murder: the killing of three or more
victims over an extended period of time.
• Spree murder: the killing of three or more
victims over a short period of time.
• Mass murder: the killing of multiple victims in
one event or in very quick succession.
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Assault
• An assault is an attack on another person
that is made with apparent ability to inflict
injury and that is intended to frighten or to
cause physical harm (an attack that results in
touching or striking the victim is called a
battery).
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Degrees of Assault
• Simple Assault is one that inflicts little or
no physical harm.
• Aggravated Assault is one in which the
perpetrator inflicts serious harm on the victim
or uses a deadly weapon.
• These definitions vary from state to state.
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Family-Related Crimes
• Spouse Abuse
• Child Abuse
• Abuse of the
Elderly
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Rape and Sexual Assault
• The common law defined rape as an act of
enforced intercourse by a man of a woman
(not his wife) without her consent.
• Most states define rape as the unlawful carnal
knowledge of a female without her consent
and against her will.
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Characteristics of Rape
• In 2001, there were 90,491 forcible rapes.
• In 2004, there were 94,635 forcible rapes.
• Between 1993 and 1997 the incidence of
rape dropped 9%.
• Between 1995 and 2004, rape dropped
2.9%
• Like other violent crimes, the rape rate has
been in a decade-long decline.
• 46% of those arrested for rape were under
25.
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• As many as 10 percent of all adult women
may have been raped during their lifetimes.
• 65% of those arrested for rape were white.
• Most rapes are committed in the summer.
• 48% of rapes are committed by men who
know their victims.
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Rape Myths
1. Women bring false charges to “get even”
with men
2. Women bring rape upon themselves by
wearing provocative clothing – “they ask for
it”
• Rape myths are culturally based and reflect
attitudes toward women and their role and
place in society.
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• Until the 1970s in the USA, rape was a
common law with a narrow definition in
which the legitimacy of the victim as a
victim was challenged.
• The common law did not recognize
1. rape within marriage,
2. did no recognize men as victims and
3. did not allow for acts of sexual
penetration other than vaginal
penetration by a penis.
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•
In 1975 Michigan became the first state
to drastically change the definition of
rape to encompass a broader range of
sexually assault behaviors, circumstances
and victims
• Among the major changes
1. Eliminating the requirement that the
victim’s testimony be corroborated
2. Placing restrictions on the introduction of
evidence of the victim’s prior sexual
conduct.
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Typology of Rape
1. Stranger Rape: the victim has little or no
prior contact with the offender.
2. Predatory Rape: the offender intends
and plans to rape the victim by pretending
to engage in legitimate dating behavior.
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3. Date Rape or acquaintance rape: a
•
•
•
legitimate dating situation turned bad,
when force is eventually used to gain sex
from a victim who is an unwilling
participant.
Some experts believe this scenario is the
most common one for rapes
Among adults, this type of rape usually
occurs within the context of a dating
relationship.
A recent study conducted by Mary P. Koss
found that approximately 28% of women
reported having experienced an
attempted or a completed rape since the
age of 14.
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• Approximately 57% of the rapes involved
dating partners and 73% of the rape victims
reported the offender was drinking.
• Other studies on college campuses have
found similarly high levels of rape and sexual
assault.
• Some researchers argue that college
fraternities create a sociocultural context in
which the use of coercion in sexual relations
with women is normative.
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Typologies of Rapists – cont.
Power-Assertive
• Plan their crimes and use a great deal of force
to subdue the victim
• This type of rapist acts out of
hypermasculinity.
• Usually employ some type of seduction to
subdue their victims initially and attack their
victims several times during the same
incident.
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Power-reassurance
• The most common among rapists who attack
strangers, generally act out of a sense of
social and sexual inadequacy.
• They select their victims in advance through
stalking and may even attempt to contact the
victim after the rape. Generally target victims
of their own age.
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Anger-retaliatory
• Motivated by anger and rape becomes the
means by which the anger is expressed.
• These rapists may attack either the actual
source of their anger or a representative.
• These rapists subdue the victim with the
immediate application of direct and physical
force, denying her any opportunity to defend
herself.
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Anger-excitation
• Sexually stimulated and or gratified by the
victim’s response to the infliction of
physical and emotional pain.
• These are generally the rapists whose
crimes involve the most planning and the
most careful execution.
• These rapists are intended to create pain,
humiliation and degradation of the victim
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Robbery
• Robbery is the taking of property from a
victim by force and violence or by the
threat of violence.
• The average sentence for robbery is six
years.
• In 1997, 497,950 robberies or 186 per
100,000 people. This was the lowest
robbery rate since 1985.
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Characteristics of Robbers
• The Professional
Robber
• The Opportunistic
Robber
• The Addict Robber
• The Alcoholic
Robber
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Characteristics of Robbers
• 89% are male in 2004
• 60% are under the age of 25
• 54% are black, 45% white
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Terrorism
• A resort to violence or a threat of violence
on a part of a group seeking to accomplish
a purpose against the opposition of
constituted authority.
• Crucial to the terrorist’s scheme is the
exploitation of the media to attract
attention to the cause.
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Kidnapping
• Abduction and detention by force or fraud
and transport beyond the authority of the
place where the crime was committed.
• Lindbergh Law: resulted from the
kidnapping and murder of Charles
Lindbergh’s infant son in 1932.
• In the U.S. kidnapping often involves the
abduction of a child from one parent by
the other.
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