Day 2- Janurary 25, 2010

On our second day of class, we reviewed "the rules" from last class meeting. Such as appearance, Lawtenberg Amendment, and the primacy effect. During this class meeting, he explained this assignment, "blogging." I was very excited because I used to blog during my middle and high school days. The basic rules of this blog are; (a) at least 100 words (b1) explain/discuss the lessons/materials learned in class (b2)list 10 interesting facts for each Chapter covered in class (c) discuss the events of and related to the class. As a class we went over the terminologies of Chapters 1 (Perspectives on Criminal Justice) & 2 (The nature and causes of crime).


Chapter 1 (Perspectives on Criminal Justice)

1. Media Portrayals- Media obscures the truth at some point, because their main goal is to keep us interested, therefor we are sometimes mislead or misinformed
2. Gallup poll on crime- guessing or assumptions on crimes
3. Vigilantism- when citizens take matters into their own hands w/o the permission of a law enforcement personnel
4. Scapegoating- Unfairly blaming others for crimes
5. Felonies- serious crime where the penalty is more than a year or $1,000
6. Misdemeanors- less serious crimes where the penalty is less than a year and under $1,000.
7. Criminalization- making things illegal
8. Decriminalization- changing a crime into a noncriminal act
9. Victimless crimes- where the offender and victim are the same people; or the behavior is consensual
10. Criminal Justice- law and order; management of police, courts and corrections and the study of causes of and treatment for crime


Chapter 2 (Nature and Causes of Crime)

1. Norms- social expectations of good behavior under different circumstances
2. Deviance- violation of the social norm, rudeness, disobedience, or gossiping
3. Mala in se- crimes evil within in themselves (i.e. robbery or murder)
4. Mala prohibitia- crimes that are evil because we believe/say it is so
5. Offenses against morality- crimes such as adultery, prostitution or gambling
6. Over criminalization- "over kill" not clearly defining the differences between inappropriate acts and criminal acts
7. Legalization- to allow certain acts to be practices or removing prohibited law from a criminal law
8. Positivism- individual human behavior is determined by the internal and external influences
9. Ethical view-sees crime as a moral failure in decision making
10. Labeling theory- by assuming someone is a bad person, we are actually encouraging that person to be bad

Day 1 -January 20, 2010

The first day of LW-101 (Intro to Criminal Justice) was very interesting. Professor McNinch went over “the (basic) rules” we (as Criminal Justice majors) must follow in order to become a Federal Government or Law enforcement employee one day. He explained the “primacy effect” which means that first impressions are the most important, because as public servants we must show the public that we are professional and are capable of protecting them. He stressed the fact that drugs and alcohol are not tolerated in the criminal justice business. I agree with him because I believe that the use of drugs and alcohol can lead to dangerous and violent situations. The Lawtenberg Amendment prohibits anyone who is charged with a domestic violence a chance of ever legally carrying a gun. He explained that our appearance in class is also very important. The basic rules he covered based on appearance were, (a) men do not wear earrings, (b) no students wear visible piercings i.e. nose rings, lip rings, tongue rings, (c) no t-shirts with obscene or explicit prints (d) no hats or hoods (e) be careful with the materials students post on the internet (f) delete provocative or explicit e-mail addresses.