Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation | Definition of Terms

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Booster - A frequent shoplifter.

Bucketing - Skimming customer trading profits by falsifying trade information.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.
Edwin Sutherland -  he not only developed differential association theory, but was the
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

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.

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

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).

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

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

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

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
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

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

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

Revolutionary - a radical supporter of political or social revolution.

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

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

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

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.

Streetwalkers - a form of prostitution in which a sex worker solicits customers from a
alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, beaches, etc.

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

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

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

Voyeurism - the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate
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.