Review Questions

1. What are two of the different legal categories of homicide?

Discuss each type and provide an example of a homicide that
would fall under the category.

Murder at first degree includes crimes that the offender planned to kill another

person and then committed the act. The person has acted with "malice

aforethought" in legal terms. You can also hear this category of crimes called

premeditated killings. Felony killings (those that occur during another crime's

commission) also fall into this category. Of example, if someone deliberately set

a building on fire (arson) and people died in the fire, the deaths are called felony

killings. Murder in the second degree is a murder in which the offender wanted

to physically hurt the victim, but did not mean killing the victim. An example of a

second-degree assassination is killing someone with the purpose to harm them,

but they die afterwards.

2. What is larceny? Provide an example of an act that would fall

into this category of crime.

Larceny is the unlawful removal from their possession of the property of another. It

does not involve the use of force or illegal entry to take possession of the property. An

example of larceny, thenn maybe someone who takes a pursue off a table while the

owner doesn't look or someone who takes a shop pack from an unlocked car,

shoplifting is also a kind of larceny.

 3. What are serial murders and mass murders? How do these two
categories of crime differ?

Serial killing is a homicide involving the death of several individuals in at least three

separate events. Mass killings involve killing more than three people at a time. Both

crimes vary because at the same case you have to kill 3 people to be called a mass

killing, but murdering 3 people in different cases would be a serial killing.

4. What are the two different types of assaults? What is the

difference between an assault and a homicide?

An aggravated assault is an intentional assault with the intent of serious injury on

another person. Worsened assaults typically involve some type of weapon that can

cause harm. A simple assault is an illegal assault without a gun that does not seriously

harm the victim. In general, whether the victim dies or not is the only difference

between a homicide and an aggravated assault.

5. What is arson? Why is it difficult to obtain good statistics on

arson?

Arson is described as a deliberate burning (or attempting to burn) of a residential,

vehicle, industrial, or personal property. Arson reports are limited as only fires are

reported to organizations such as the FBI, identified as arson. The official statistics on

arson do not usually involve suspicious fires or fires in which the cause could not be

determined.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Statistics show that about two-thirds of individuals shoplift at
some point in their lives. Why do you think so many people
shoplift?

Young people with lower incomes tend to be more likely to shoplift than those with

higher economic status, although this result is offset by the fact that many young

people of all socio-economic status are involved in shoplifting. Researchers note that

the reason for shoplifting is often not a lack of money; in reality, for theitem(s) taken,

most shoplifters have the money on them.

2. Although homicides represent a very small number of overall

crimes, they are often focused on by the media. Why do you
think this is the case? What consequences do you think that
this has?

I believe that homicides are often focused on by the media because homicides tend to

be more violent and more attention-grabbing than that of a small, non-violent robbery of

a convenience store or gas station. People may see the homicides on media outlets

and may want to see themselves on those news sources, so they then might go and

commit homicide.
 3. Based on the information and statistics from this unit and
previous units, what do you think your likelihood is for being a
victim of a property crime? What would increase or decrease
your risk?

I think my likelihood of being a property crime victim is very low because I live outside a

very small, tight-knit community. For order to increase the likelihood of a property

crime, I would have to move to a less family-oriented neighborhood and go to

anywhere that might have more crime and violence, like a poorer community or a

community with little police involvement.

4. What are some of the issues with crime statistics for crimes like
arson, burglary, and assaults? Why do you think more people
don’t report being victims of crimes?

Usually, crimes that have been identified go unreported, so the crime statistics are not

completely accurate. Individuals do not acknowledge being victims of crimes for fear of

the attacker being able to come back and harm them, or in the case of an attack, that

the crime may have been their fault. Also, the victims may feel like they won't be

believed or put in the way of harm.

5. With many of the crimes discussed in this unit, the victim and the
perpetrator knew each other, at least to some degree. Why do you
think that crimes are often committed against people that the
perpetrator knows?

I assume the offenders are usually going to commit crimes against people they meet
because they may be upset with the victim and want to cause mental and/or physical
harm or death. Perpetrators may want someone they know has to deal with stealing,
killing or injuring their possessions, property damage, etc.