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fundamentals of criminal investigation

Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation Reviewer (Definition of Terms and Terminologies)


Admission - is a voluntary acknowledgment, confession, or concession of the existence of a fact or the truth of an allegation made by a party to the suit.

Associative Evidence - is evidence that ties a suspect to the crime scene, the victim, or some other bit of evidence. Fingerprints, footprints, hair, fibers, blood and other bodily fluids, knives, bullets, guns, paint, and many other objects and substances, even soil, can link a suspect to the scene.

Booster - A frequent shoplifter.

Bucketing - Skimming customer trading profits by falsifying trade information.

Bugging - is the act of concealing a miniature microphone in (a room or telephone) in order to eavesdrop on or record some one's conversations secretly.

Burned - when an investigator  has been exposed. The target has become aware that he is being watched.

Call Girls - The highest-status prostitutes, who generally work out of their own apartments by appointment only.

Cannon - "loose" cannon - blabbermouth. Someone who lacks control, puts an organization at risk.

Carjacking - occurs if a person uses force or intimidation to steal a car from a driver.

Churning - This occurs when a producer makes false statements to convince an insurance policy holder to cancel their present policy in order to sell him or her, another one.

Circumstantial Evidence - also known as indirect evidence. It is distinguished from direct evidence, which, if believed, proves the existence of a particular fact without any inference or presumption required. Circumstantial evidence relates to a series of facts other than the particular fact sought to be proved.

Compliance Strategies - methods of controlling white-collar crime that rely on the threat of economic sanctions or civil penalties to control potential violators, creating a marketplace incentive to obey the law.

Confession - A confession in criminal investigation may be defined as an out-of-court statement by a suspect in which he or she voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently acknowledges that he or she committed or participated in the commission of a crime.

Confidence Games - a swindle set up to separate victims from their money. many involving a get-rich-quick scheme, often with illegal overtones so that the victim will be afraid or embarrassed to call the police.

Corporate Crime - illegal acts committed by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support.

Corporate Culture Theory - business enterprises place excessive demands on employees, senior employees encourage new employees to believe that greed is good, and companies maintain business climates tolerant of deviance.

Corpus Delicti - the facts and circumstances constituting a crime. Concrete evidence of a crime, such as a corpse.

Deposition - in Criminal Investigation,is a formal written statement, made for example by a witness to a crime or by the perpetrator of a crime.

Deterrence Strategies - stops people before they even do it.
-certainty (costly punishment)
-swiftness (timely manner)
-severity (punishment fits the crime)

Division of markets - when firms divide a region into territories and each firm agrees not to compete in the others' territories.

Drug Testing - companies that test their employees or job applicants for illegal substances.

Eavesdropping - is secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation of others without their consent.

Eco Terrorist - refers to acts of terrorism, violence or sabotage committed in support of ecological, environmental, or animal rights causes against persons or their property. first to study and give a name (white collar crime) to crimes that occur among the middle class in the course of their work.

Embezzlement - Taking of another's property or money by a person to whom it has been entrusted.
 
Enterprise Crimes - white collar crime, cyber crime, organized crime; in each category offenders twist the legal rules of commercial enterprise for criminal purposes.

False Pretenses - one who obtains money or another property by lying about a past or existing fact.

Flash House - a house frequented by flash people, as thieves and whores; hence, a brothel.

Free Speech -  The right to express any opinion in public without censorship or restraint by the government.

Front Running - Entering an order with the prior knowledge of a pending trade that will likely affect the market price of the security.

Frotterism - recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges involving touching, rubbing against a non-consenting person.

Guerrilla - a member of a loosely organized fighting force that makes surprise attacks on enemy troops occupying his/her country.

Health Care Fraud - some doctors engage in fraud in obtaining patients and administering their treatment; federal law prohibits arrangements that tend to corrupt medical judgment and put the providers bottom line ahead of the patients well-being.

Ibid - is a latin word, it is the short for ibidem. It means in the same place. It is the term used to provide an end note or footnote citation or reference for a source that was cited in the preceding end note or footnote.

Income Tax Evasion - Individuals who intentionally file false returns are guilty of tax evasion.

Influence Peddling - takes bribes in order to use their positions to grant favors and/or sell information to which their co-conspirators aren't entitled.

Insurgent - a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions).

Investigare - is a Latin word which means to track or trace by footprint and to study or examine closely.

Felony - a higher level crime usually punishable by more than one year in prison.

Jonathan Wild - was a London underworld figure during the 1600's notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited crime fighter entitled the "Thief-Taker General".He was a thief employed to catch a thief.

Joyriding - A opportunistic car theft, often committed by a teenager seeking fun or thrills.

Legalization - Elimination of the laws and criminal penalties associated with certain behaviors-usually the production, sale, distribution, and possession of a controlled substance.

Loc. Cit. - is a footnote or end note term used to repeat the title and page number for a given work (and author).

Misdemeanor - a lower level crime, usually punishable by less than one year in prison.

Moral Crusades - public and media awareness campaigns that help generate public and political support for their causes.

Nationalist Terrorist - a form of terrorism motivated by nationalism. Nationalist terrorists seek to form self-determination in some form, which may range from gaining greater autonomy to establishing a completely independent, sovereign state.

Occasional Thieves - individual's decision to steal is spontaneous, unplanned, unskilled, and haphazard.

Offense - a crime less serious than a felony.

Paraphilia-  a sexual disorder in which the person's preferred method of sexual arousal and fulfillment is through sexual behavior that is unusual or socially unacceptable.

Passive Neglect -  an unintentional refusal or failure to fulfill a care giving obligation, which results in physical or emotional distress.

Pigeon Drop - a con game in which a victim is duped(tricked) into putting up a good-faith deposit to collect "lost money".

Pilferage - the act of stealing small amounts or small articles.

Poachers - someone who hunts or takes something unfairly or illegally.

Political Terrorist - The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property in order to coerce or intimidate a government or the civilian population in furtherance of political or social objectives.

Price Fixing - an agreement among firms to charge one price for the same good.

Professional Thieves - one who makes a regular business of stealing. The professional thief has technical skills and methods which are different from those of other professional criminals. Manual skill is important, but the most important thing is the ability to manipulate people (mostly talking ability).

Public Order Crimes - Behaviors considered illegal because they run counter to existing moral standards. Obscenity and prostitution are considered this.

Restraint of Trade - monopolies, combinations, and contracts that hold back free competition.

Retributive Terrorist - terrorism that aims at giving a person what they deserve.

Revolutionary - a radical supporter of political or social revolution.

Revolutionary Terrorist - this type of terrorism seek the complete abolition of a political system and its replacement with new structures.

Securities Fraud - The theft of money resulting from intentional manipulation of the value of equities, including stocks and bonds. Securities fraud also includes theft from securities accounts and wire fraud.

Self Control Theory - This theory holds that children develop levels of self-control by about ages seven or eight, and these levels remain relatively stable the rest of their lives. Children with low levels of self-control end up being more prone to crime, and their criminal propensity continues into later life.

Sit On - conduct a stakeout or stationary surveillance.

Situational Inducement - attempt to influence a behavior through situations and occasions that are structured to exert control over that behavior.

Smugglers - people who secretly and illegally bring goods into or out of a country.

Snitch - someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police.

State Corporate Crime - hybrid of white collar crime because it has attributes of corporate and government crime.

Streetwalkers - a form of prostitution in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, beaches, etc.

Tail - to conduct a moving surveillance.

Terrorist - a radical who employs terror as a political weapon.

Trace - means to find or discover by investigation.

Tying Arrangements -  Exists when a seller requires the purchase of unwanted items/services in order to obtain the desired item/service.

US Secret Service - created on July 5, 1865. Original mission was to suppress the production and distribution of counterfeit currency. After the  assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, they took their role of presidential protection.

Voyeurism - the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature.

White Collar Crime - crimes committed by persons of high social position in the course of their occupation; these are acts by the powerful who abuse their professional talents and concurrently (possibly) cause significant public harm.

Wiretapping - is the practice of connecting a listening device to a telephone line to monitor conversations secretly.