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  3. Sociologists find it useful to distinguish between types of crime on a somewh

Sociologists find it useful to distinguish between types of crime on a somewh

游客2023-12-18  29
问题    Sociologists find it useful to distinguish between types of crime on a somewhat different basis. Rather than relying solely on legal categories, sociologists classify crimes in terms of how they are committed and how the offenses are viewed by society.                       
   Index Crimes    The term "index crimes" refers to the eight types of crimes that are reported annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its Uniform Crime Reports. This category of criminal behavior generally consists of those serious offenses that people think of when they express concern about the nation’s crime problem. Index crimes include murder, rape, robbery, and assault—all of which are violent crimes committed against people—as well as the property crimes of burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
   In the United States, many index crimes involve the use of firearms. According to the FBI, in the year 1986, 21 percent of all reported assaults, 34 percent of reported robberies, and 59 percent of reported murders involved the use of a firearm. More than 10,000 Americans die every year in accidents resulting from the improper use of a handgun. Since 1963, guns have killed approximately 400,000 Americans, a figure which exceeds the number of our troops who died in World War Ⅱ. While the general public has consistently favored gun control legislation in recent decades, the nation’s major anti-gun control lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), has wielded impressive power in blocking or diluting such measures.
   Professional Crime   Although the adage "crime doesn’t pay" is familiar, many people do make a career of illegal activities. A professional criminal is a person who pursues crime as a day-by-day occupation, developing skilled techniques and enjoying a certain degree of status among other criminals. Some professional criminals specialize in burglary, safecracking, hijacking of cargo, pickpocketing, and shoplifting.  Such persons San reduce the likelihood of arrest, conviction, and imprisonment through their skill. As a result, they may have long careers in their chosen "professions."
   Unlike the person who engages in crime only once or twice, professional thieves make business of stealing. These criminals devote their entire working time to planning and executing crimes and sometimes travel across the nation to pursue their "professional duties." Like persons in regular occupations, professional thieves consult with their colleagues concerning the demands of work, thus becoming part of a subculture of similarly occupied individuals. They exchange information on possible places to burglarize, outlets for unloading stolen goods, and ways of securing bail bonds if arrested.
   Organized Crime  The term "organized crime" has many meanings, as is evident from a 1978 government report that uses three pages to describe the term. For our purposes, we will consider organized crime to be the work of a group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises involved in narcotics wholesaling, prostitution, gambling, and other activities. Organized crime dominates the world of illegal business just as large corporations dominate the conventional business world. It allocates territory, sets prices for illegal goods and services, and acts as an arbitrator in internal disputes.
   Organized crime is a secret, conspiratorial activity that generally evades law enforcement. Although precise information is lacking, a presidential commission estimated that organized crime operates in 80 percent of all cities with more than 1 million residents. Organized crime takes over legitimate businesses, gains influence over labor unions, corrupts public officials, intimidates witnesses in criminal trials, and even "taxes" merchants in exchange for "protection."
   White-collar Crime    More recently, the term "white-collar crime" has been broadened to include offenses by businesses and corporations as well as by individuals. A wide variety of offenses are now classified as white-collar crimes, such as income tax evasion, stock manipulation, consumer fraud, bribery and extraction of "kickbacks."
   A new type of white-collar crime has emerged: computer crime. The use of such "high technology" allows one to carry out electronic fraud without leaving a trace, or ro gain access to a company’s inventory without leaving one’s home. An adept programmer can gain access to a firm’ s computer by telephone and then copy valuable files. It is virtually impossible to track such persons unless they are foolish enough to call from the same phone each time.
   In addition to the financial costs of this form of crime, which run into billions of dollars per year, white-collar crime has distinctive social costs, including a decline in the quality of life and a weakening of the social order. If those at the top of the nation’ s economic and social structure feel free to violate the law, less privileged citizens can certainly be expected to follow suit. Given the economic and social costs of white-collar crime, one might expect this problem to be taken, quite seriously by the criminal justice system of the United States. Yet white-collar offenders are more likely to receive fines than prison sentences.
   Victimless Crimes     In white-collar or index crimes, people’s economic or personal well-being is endangered against their will (or without their direct knowledge). By contrast, sociologists use the term "victimless crimes" to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services. Despite the social costs to families and friends of persons engaged in such behavior, many Americans continue to view gambling, prostitution, public drunkenness, and use of marijuana as victimless crimes in which there is no "victim" other than the offender. As a result, there has been pressure from some groups to decriminalize various activities which fall into the category of victimless crimes. [br] Hijacking of cargo is a(n)______.
选项 A、professional crime
B、organized crime
C、index crime
D、white-collar crime
答案 A
解析
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