// The dictionary

Criminology glossary

The key terms of criminology —from treachery to victimology— explained plainly, with examples from pop culture.

A

Actus reus

The "guilty act": the physical component, the omission, or the external action through which an offence materialises. (E.g. the physical act of Light Yagami writing a name in the notebook in "Death Note").

Amnesty

A politically motivated act of grace that extinguishes the criminal liability of a group of people for certain offences, ordering their legal forgetting. (E.g. the general pardons after the conflicts in "Attack on Titan").

Anomie

The disintegration, weakening or collapse of social norms (per Merton and Durkheim), which fosters deviant conduct in the absence of clear limits. (E.g. the systemic disorder of Gotham City in "Joker").

See the theory

Antisocial conduct

Behaviour that flagrantly breaches social norms, attacks the common good and violates the rights of others. (E.g. Alex DeLarge and his droogs in "A Clockwork Orange").

Antisocial personality

A psychiatric disorder (ASPD) characterised by a chronic pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, systematic deceit, impulsivity and recurrent aggressiveness.

Arson

The offence of intentionally setting fire to movable or immovable property, in the knowledge of the latent danger to life or to the property of others. (E.g. the sabotage of the corporate buildings in "Fight Club").

Atavism

Cesare Lombroso's positivist theory, which regarded the criminal as an atavistic specimen: a biological "evolutionary throwback" identifiable by physical stigmata.

B

Black-collar crime

Offences committed by members of the clergy or religious ministers, who exploit their position of moral and spiritual authority to commit fraud or abuse.

Blue-collar crime

Offences of a common, rudimentary and typically physical nature (robbery, theft, gang fights) statistically associated with urban working-class sectors.

Bodily harm

The common-law term for damage or injury intentionally inflicted on the bodily integrity of a human being.

Bodily injury

Any intentional impairment of or damage to a person's physical or mental health or bodily integrity requiring medical or surgical treatment.

Bounded rationality

Herbert Simon's model applied to rational choice: offenders weigh pros and cons with incomplete information, restricted time and under the strong bias of raw emotion. (E.g. a cornered robber who impulsively takes hostages).

Breach of sentence (escape)

The offence committed by an inmate who escapes from a penal institution or wilfully breaches the restrictions of their sentence. (E.g. Michael Scofield's audacious escape in "Prison Break").

Broken windows theory

Wilson and Kelling's postulate that state tolerance of small signs of urban decay and public disorder encourages escalation towards serious violent crime. (E.g. the atmosphere of decay in Detroit in "RoboCop").

See the theory

Bullying

Sustained, intentional physical or psychological harassment and mistreatment carried out asymmetrically between schoolchildren. (E.g. the harassment suffered by the protagonists of the anime film "A Silent Voice").

See the term

Burglary (breaking and entering)

A form of robbery in which access to another's property is gained by breaking, forcing or violating physical obstacles such as locks, windows or walls.

C

Calculating hedonism

Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian concept describing the human tendency to make decisions seeking to maximise immediate pleasure and minimise the resulting pain or punishment.

Chain of custody

The system of chronological documentary control that guarantees the identity, integrity and preservation of a piece of physical evidence from its discovery to the trial. (E.g. the strict evidence packaging in "CSI").

Classical School

The criminological and legal current (Beccaria, Bentham) grounded in free will; it assumes a rational human being who chooses crime after a cost-benefit calculation.

Clinical criminology

The applied branch of criminology oriented towards the diagnosis, prognosis and proposed treatment of the individual offender with a view to their rehabilitation.

Coercion

Pressure or the imposition of physical, psychological or moral force on a person in order to compel them to act against their own will.

Collective efficacy

A neighbourhood's social cohesion and capacity to act together, maintain public order and exercise informal social control against crime (Sampson). (E.g. the neighbours organising themselves in "Gran Torino").

Complete defence (eximente)

A circumstance that wholly excludes the criminal liability of the author of an offence (e.g. insanity, necessity or self-defence).

Continuing offence

The execution of a preconceived plan, or the exploitation of an identical opportunity, through multiple acts that breach the same or similar criminal provisions.

Coprolalia

A compulsive or impulsive tendency to utter obscenities or blasphemies, sometimes assessed within criminological profiles of severe behavioural disruption.

Corruption

The abuse or diversion of entrusted public or private power for illicit gain, whether personal or for third parties. (E.g. the political web of mayor Carmine Falcone in "The Batman").

Crime against humanity

An atrocious act of violence (murder, torture, enslavement) committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. (E.g. the destructive actions of the Galactic Empire in "Star Wars").

Crime mapping

The use of geographic information systems (GIS) to map, analyse and visualise the spatial and temporal distribution of offences across a territory.

Crime mapping (hot spots)

The plotting of criminal events on digital urban cartography in order to identify geographical patterns and criminal clusters known as hot spots.

Crime prevention

Multi-sector strategies, policies and actions aimed at reducing the frequency of offences in advance and cutting the opportunity for their commission.

Crime scene

The physical, geographical or virtual space where an offence has taken place and where the primary material traces for the investigation are found.

Crime-of-passion offender

An individual with no prior antisocial record who commits a violent crime driven by intense emotional turmoil, jealousy or transient blind rage. (E.g. Othello in Shakespeare's play).

Criminal biotypology

The study of correlations between an individual's external physical morphology, their psychological temperament and their predisposition towards offending (Kretschmer and Sheldon).

Criminal capacity (imputabilidad)

An individual's psychological capacity and cognitive maturity to understand the unlawfulness of their acts and to govern themselves accordingly at the time of the act.

Criminal compliance

The set of internal management, monitoring and control programmes implemented within companies to prevent the commission of corporate offences.

Criminal determinism

The classic postulate of the Positive School denying free will, holding that crime is inevitably conditioned by biological, psychological or social anomalies.

Criminal fetish (trophy)

An object or garment taken from the victim or the scene that the offender keeps in order to relive the act and obtain deviant psychological or sexual gratification.

Criminal hostility

A deeply internalised psychological attitude of resentment, cynicism and constant aggression directed at figures of authority and the norms of coexistence.

Criminal intelligence

The systematic process of gathering, evaluating and analysing strategic information in order to anticipate, prevent and dismantle organised crime networks and operations. (E.g. the counter-terrorism operations in "Homeland").

Criminal obsession

A fixed idea or recurrent intrusive drive in the offender's psyche that impels repeated offences or stalking behaviour.

Criminal org chart

A graphic representation of the hierarchical structure, functional roles, chains of command and internal logistical flows of an organised criminal network.

Criminal phenomenology

The statistical and descriptive study of the external forms in which criminality manifests, appears and evolves in a given society and period.

Criminal profile

The technical inference of an unknown offender's psychological, demographic, motivational and behavioural characteristics from the behavioural traces left at the scene. (E.g. the BAU techniques in "Criminal Minds").

Criminal signature

A specific ritual or behaviour performed at the crime scene that goes beyond what the offence required, answering purely to the perpetrator's fantasies and psychological needs. (E.g. the burglars leaving the taps running in "Home Alone").

Criminal subculture

A social group's own cultural system, with values, ethical codes and normative goals inverse to those of the general culture, legitimising crime as a route to status. (E.g. the rival street gangs in "The Warriors").

See the term

Criminal vector

The technical, methodological or logistical channel through which an offender propagates, executes or facilitates a specific type of crime (e.g. email as a phishing vector).

Criminal xenophobia

A category of offending, and of physical or verbal aggression, motivated exclusively by contempt, prejudice or irrational hatred towards foreign nationals.

Criminalistics

The forensic science auxiliary to criminal law, which applies scientific knowledge to discover, verify and analyse the material traces of an alleged offence at the scene.

Criminodynamics

The study of the development, evolution, interaction and mechanical process of criminal behaviour during the commission of a specific offence.

Criminogenesis

The study of the origin, the causal factors and the endogenous and exogenous forces that interact to give rise to an individual's criminal behaviour.

Criminological epistemology

The philosophical branch that evaluates the methods, scientific foundations, conceptual scope and validity of the theoretical knowledge produced within criminology.

Criminological fallacy

A recurrent cognitive or methodological error in the analysis of crime (e.g. the fallacy of assuming that disproportionately harsher sentences automatically eradicate offending).

Criminology

The empirical, interdisciplinary science whose object is the study of crime, the offender, the victim and the mechanisms of social control over deviant behaviour.

Critical criminology

The theoretical school that analyses the criminal justice system as an instrument of control and domination used by elites to perpetuate class inequality.

See the theory

Culpability

The judgment of criminal reproach directed at the author of a typified, unlawful act for having acted against the norm when they had the full option of acting lawfully.

Cybercrime

Criminal activity carried out through computer networks, computers or digital devices, used either as the means or as the target. (E.g. Elliot Alderson's mass corporate hacks in "Mr. Robot").

Cyberstalking

A form of systematic, obsessive harassment carried out continuously through social networks, email or other digital media. (E.g. the virtual torment suffered by the protagonists of "Pretty Little Liars").

D

Dark figure of crime

The statistical volume of offences that actually occur in a society but never come to the authorities' attention, for want of a report or an investigation. (E.g. the invisible endemic corruption in "The Wire").

Deterrence threshold

The empirical level of legal pressure and punishment required to effectively dissuade citizens from committing offences out of fear of the sanction.

Deviance

Any behaviour that breaches or departs from the norms, expectations and moral conventions accepted by a social group, whether or not it is legally typified as an offence. (E.g. the countercultural groups in "Akira").

Differential association

Sutherland's theory holding that criminal behaviour is learned through communication and close interaction within intimate deviant groups. (E.g. Michael Corleone absorbing how the criminal world works in "The Godfather").

See the theory

Dolus (criminal intent)

The subjective element consisting of the deliberate intention, knowledge and will to carry out the objective elements of a criminal act in the knowledge that it is unlawful. (E.g. Lord Voldemort planning his attacks in "Harry Potter").

Dolus eventualis

The situation in which the perpetrator does not directly seek a criminal outcome but foresees that it may follow from their acts and accepts that risk. (E.g. driving at full speed through a street chase, as in "Fast & Furious").

Domestic violence

A chronic cycle of physical, verbal or economic aggression perpetrated by one member of the family unit against another with whom they share the home. (E.g. the terror Jack Torrance imposes on his family in "The Shining").

Drug dependence

A state of psychological and physical addiction to narcotics, frequently acting as an exogenous criminogenic factor.

Drug trafficking

Large-scale illegal commercial activity consisting of the cultivation, production, distribution and unlawful sale of prohibited narcotic and psychotropic substances. (E.g. the illicit empire in the series "Narcos").

E

Egocentrism

A trait of the criminal personality in which the individual places their own desires, impulses and needs above the rights of others, lacking any external perspective.

Environmental criminology

The school holding that criminal events must be understood in terms of the physical and geographical opportunities offered by the immediate urban and spatial environment.

See the theory

Euthanasia

An act or omission hastening the death of a terminally ill patient with their express consent in order to avoid suffering; typified with mitigating circumstances or decriminalised depending on the jurisdiction. (E.g. the ethical conflict of "Million Dollar Baby").

Expert report

A formal written report in which an expert sets out, under oath, their scientific and technical conclusions about items of evidence in a case.

Extortion

The offence of compelling a person, through violence or intimidation for gain, to perform or omit an act of a financial nature. (E.g. the mob's protection payments in "The Sopranos").

See the term

F

Fear of crime

A generalised feeling of anxiety or psychological apprehension among citizens about the possibility of being victimised, at times disconnected from actual crime rates.

Femicide / feminicide

The intentional killing of a woman committed strictly on grounds of gender, misogynistic hatred or patriarchal domination. (E.g. the crimes investigated in "Wind River").

Filicide

The offence of intentionally killing one's own son or daughter, committed by a parent or biological ascendant.

Flagrant offence

A crime discovered at the precise moment of its execution, or immediately afterwards while the perpetrator is being actively pursued. (E.g. when police catch the robbers inside the bank in "Inside Man").

Forensic

Anything relating to the administration of justice or to the courts; the application of scientific disciplines to legal fact-finding.

Forensic graphology

The criminalistic discipline devoted to the expert analysis of handwriting and signatures in order to establish authenticity, authorship or emotional states in ransom or suicide notes. (E.g. the letters sent in the film "Zodiac").

Forensic traumatology

The branch of legal medicine responsible for the technical study, forensic classification and legal assessment of injuries inflicted on the human body.

Formal social control

The regulation of human conduct exercised by official, coercive state institutions through written law and criminal sanctions (police, judges, prisons). (E.g. Inspector Javert in "Les Misérables").

Frustration-aggression

The psychological theory (Dollard) proposing that aggressive conduct is always the direct result of prior, unchannelled frustration in the face of blocked goals. (E.g. William Foster's behavioural outburst in "Falling Down").

See the theory

G

Gangster

A member of a structured criminal gang or organisation devoted to controlling illicit activities such as extortion, illegal gambling or smuggling. (E.g. Al Capone in "The Untouchables").

See the term

Gegenkultur (counterculture)

The social dynamic in which minority groups develop value systems and behaviours that belligerently challenge the ethical and legal order of the dominant culture.

Gender-based violence

Any violent act of a physical, sexual or psychological nature directed against a person strictly on the basis of their gender identity or biological sex.

General deterrence

The preventive effect that seeks to discourage society at large from offending, through the exemplary message of punishment imposed on other offenders.

Genocide

Acts perpetrated with the deliberate intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such. (E.g. the systematic planetary annihilation carried out by Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War").

Geocriminology

The criminological branch studying the influence of geographical variables, architectural design and spatial planning on the incidence and prevention of crime.

Geographic profiling

The investigative methodology that analyses the spatial points of a series of linked crimes in order to calculate the offender's likely residence or operational "geographical anchor". (E.g. the spatial analysis in "Numb3rs").

Gratuitous cruelty (ensañamiento)

An aggravating circumstance consisting of deliberately and inhumanly increasing the victim's suffering, inflicting pain unnecessary to the commission of the offence. (E.g. Jigsaw's twisted games in the "Saw" saga).

Grooming

Deliberate actions carried out by an adult in digital environments to gain a minor's trust with the ultimate aim of committing sexual abuse.

H

Hacktivism

The use of hacking techniques and digital sabotage with a political, ideological or protest motivation. (E.g. the fictional revolutionary collective in "V for Vendetta", or the real actions of Anonymous).

Hate crime

A criminal offence motivated strictly by the perpetrator's prejudice, bias or intolerance towards the race, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity of the victim. (E.g. the attacks depicted in "American History X").

Herd morality

The psychosocial dynamic explaining the dissolution of individual inhibitions and personal ethical responsibility on being immersed in violent crowds.

Homicide

The unlawful act by which one human being takes the life of another, absent the specific aggravating circumstances that would make it murder.

Hooliganism

Violent, vandalistic and criminal behaviour by groups of radical supporters in the context of mass sporting events. (E.g. the confrontations depicted in "Green Street Hooligans").

I

Improper omission (commission by omission)

Occurs where failing to prevent a criminal outcome is equivalent to actively causing it, because the person who omitted held a legal position of guarantor (e.g. a mother who does not feed her infant).

Incapacitation

The penal philosophy that seeks to materially deprive the offender of the physical opportunity to commit further offences, commonly through isolation in prison.

Incident rate

The statistical index measuring the frequency, volume and severity of offences or serious incidents reported in a specific geographical region within a given time range.

Infanticide

The killing of a young child, especially a newborn, frequently committed by their own ascendants under specific psychological disturbances.

Influence peddling

The offence committed by an official or private individual who uses their position, status or political connections to sway an authority and obtain unlawful financial gain.

Informal social control

The regulation of community conduct exercised by non-institutional social agents through custom, religion, family and moral disapproval. (E.g. the townspeople's social judgment in "Twin Peaks").

Intentional homicide

The death of a human being caused intentionally, with full awareness of the destructive act and the will to bring about the death.

Irresistible impulse

A state of insanity or transient mental disturbance in which the individual, though understanding the meaning of the law, wholly lacks the volitional control to restrain their criminal drive.

J

Jury

A collegiate body of private citizens chosen by lot who return a verdict of guilt or innocence on the basis of the evidence heard at trial. (E.g. the closed-room debate in the classic "12 Angry Men").

K

Kidnapping

The unlawful deprivation of a person's freedom of movement against their will, for the purpose of demanding a ransom or political concessions. (E.g. the central abduction in "Man on Fire").

Kleptomania

An impulse-control disorder characterised by a recurrent, irresistible urge to steal objects of no economic value or direct practical use. (E.g. Marie Schrader in "Breaking Bad").

L

Labelling

The sociological theory holding that deviance is not a quality of the act but the result of applying labels and negative social reactions to marginalised individuals. (E.g. the institutional rejection of mutants in "X-Men").

See the theory

Labelling approach

The criminological approach of labelling theory (see Labelling).

Lack of criminal capacity

The absence of capacity for criminal culpability owing to minority of age or severe mental disorders that prevent understanding the criminality of the act. (E.g. the Joker being committed to Arkham Asylum rather than a standard penitentiary).

Lex talionis

The ancient principle of retributive justice demanding a punishment identical to the harm received. (E.g. Frank Castle's radical philosophy of retribution in "The Punisher").

Livor mortis

Post-mortem lividity: purplish staining that forms in the dependent areas of a corpse through the passive pooling of blood under gravity; useful for establishing whether the body was moved.

Locard's exchange principle

Edmond Locard's maxim: "whenever two objects come into contact, they transfer material reciprocally", the analytical basis for tracing biological traces or objects at a scene.

Lombrosian

Anything relating to Cesare Lombroso's school and his anthropological postulates about the atavistic, biological and predetermined criminal.

M

Mafia

A hierarchical criminal organisation, strongly cohered by internal codes of silence (omertà) and loyalty, devoted to the illicit control of markets and territories through coercion. (E.g. the Corleone family in "The Godfather").

Malum in se

The Latin expression for criminal acts considered intrinsically evil, immoral and harmful in themselves by universal human conscience (e.g. murder, rape).

Malum prohibitum

Acts typified as illegal solely because a written positive law expressly prohibits them, without being universally immoral (e.g. tax or traffic infringements).

Mass murder

The intentional killing of four or more people at one time and within a single geographical location. (E.g. the opening attack in "Inglourious Basterds").

Mens rea

The "guilty mind": the subjective, volitional element of malicious intent that must be proved behind the commission of a criminal act.

Mitigating circumstance

A legal circumstance that lowers the degree of blameworthiness or gravity of an offence, resulting in a reduced sentence (e.g. acting under a powerful emotional stimulus).

Modus operandi

The set of methods, tactics, techniques and practical habits an offender employs to secure the commission of the offence, facilitate escape and protect their identity. (E.g. the forger Neal Caffrey in "White Collar").

Money laundering

A complex financial operation designed to introduce capital obtained through crime into the legal economy, concealing its illicit origin. (E.g. Marty Byrde's business operations in "Ozark").

Mutilation

The deliberate severing or destruction of a limb or bodily organ of the victim, at times assessed as a sadistic signature of the aggressor.

See the term

Mythomania (pathological lying)

A pathological, impulsive tendency to fabricate, distort reality and lie systematically; a characteristic trait of career fraudsters. (E.g. Frank Abagnale Jr. in "Catch Me If You Can").

N

Necrophilia

A severe paraphilic disorder involving fixation on, or the commission of sexual acts with, human corpses; indicative of necrophilic sadistic killer profiles.

Negligence

The failure to apply the care, diligence or professional standard required in an activity, giving rise to an unintended but foreseeable harmful or criminal outcome.

Negligent homicide

Causing another person's death involuntarily through negligence, lack of skill, recklessness or breach of mandatory safety rules.

Neurocriminology

The scientific discipline applying neuroscientific techniques and brain imaging to study prefrontal cortex dysfunction and the neurobiological anomalies linked to antisocial violence.

See the theory

O

Offence (crime)

Any act or omission typified by law, contrary to the legal order (unlawful), reproachable to its author (culpable) and subject to an established sanction (punishable).

Offence of omission

An offence consisting in the failure to perform an act that the criminal norm expressly required in order to protect a legal interest (e.g. failure to render assistance).

Overcriminalization

The political and legislative phenomenon of criminalising an excessive number of everyday social behaviours, needlessly saturating the judicial system.

P

Paranoia

A mental disorder characterised by extreme suspicion and entrenched delusions of persecution, capable of triggering reactive criminal responses through a false perception of danger. (E.g. Travis Bickle's permanent state of alert in "Taxi Driver").

Pardon

A ground for extinguishing criminal liability by which the executive forgives or commutes the sentence imposed on a prisoner by a final judgment.

Parricide

The intentional killing of an ascendant, a biological descendant in the direct line, or a spouse. (E.g. the tragic myth of Oedipus, or the real Menendez brothers case).

Penal selectivity

The phenomenon whereby the state's penal control agencies tend, statistically, to criminalise and pursue marginalised individuals from lower socioeconomic classes.

Penology

The branch of criminology devoted to the scientific study of penalties, security measures, their practical execution, prison systems and their institutional effects.

Physical evidence

Any tangible object, trace or material element capable of proving that an offence was committed or of establishing a direct link between suspect, victim and scene.

Physiognomy

The old pseudoscience (Lavater) claiming that a person's moral character and intrinsic criminal tendencies could be determined by examining their facial features.

Polygraph

A technical instrument recording psychophysiological reactions (heart rate, galvanic skin response, respiration) to verbal stimuli, used forensically to infer the truthfulness of testimony.

Positive School

The current (Lombroso, Ferri, Garofalo) that rejects free will and holds the offender to be determined by internal or environmental factors, prioritising the defence of society.

Pre-trial detention

An exceptional precautionary measure ordered by a judge before sentencing, depriving a defendant of liberty where there is reliable risk of flight, destruction of evidence or danger to the public.

Primary deviance

Isolated acts of norm-breaking committed by a person, which neither alter their social status nor lead them to see themselves as a criminal.

Primary prevention

Long-range criminological measures directed at the general population in order to act on the deep structural causes of crime, such as education, employment and social equity.

Primary victimisation

The direct physical, psychological or economic harm a person suffers as an immediate consequence of having been the target of a criminal act. (E.g. Bruce Wayne's childhood psychological trauma after the attack on his parents).

Principle of proportionality

The constitutional guarantee prohibiting excessive penalties, requiring the intrinsic severity of the punishment to match the gravity of the wrong committed.

Prison

A fortified institutional establishment for the forcible confinement of people deprived of liberty, whether on remand or serving a final sentence. (E.g. the penitentiary of "The Shawshank Redemption").

Proper omission

An offence of pure omission in which the mere inactivity of the subject is punished in the face of an express legal duty, with no need for any further material outcome (e.g. failure to render assistance).

Psychological autopsy

A forensic method that retrospectively reconstructs the life, mental state and psychopathological profile of a deceased person in order to clarify doubtful or equivocal deaths. (E.g. the investigative premise underlying "13 Reasons Why").

Psychopathy

A personality anomaly defined by Robert Hare, characterised by extreme affective coldness, superficial charm, egocentrism, Machiavellian manipulation and a total absence of remorse. (E.g. Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho").

See the theory

Psychoticism

The psychometric dimension of personality proposed by Eysenck, linked to high scores in cruelty, hostility towards one's surroundings, social insensitivity and vulnerability to deviance.

Psychotropic substances

Chemical agents of natural or synthetic origin that act on the central nervous system, capable of altering perception and impulse control and of operating as criminogenic factors.

Public insecurity

The subjective perception of fear and vulnerability to criminal attack experienced by the population, independent of actual statistical crime rates.

R

Radical non-intervention

The penal theory (Schur) suggesting that for minor juvenile offending it is preferable for the state to refrain from formal intervention so as not to trigger chronic criminal stigma.

Rational choice theory

Cornish and Clarke's approach holding that the offender operates much like an economic actor, deciding to commit the crime after weighing cost, benefit and the probability of being caught.

See the theory

Rebellion

An offence against the political order consisting of a public, violent uprising aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government or subverting the established constitutional order.

Recidivism

The commission of a new offence by a person who had previously been convicted by a final, enforceable judgment.

See the term

Resocialisation

The therapeutic and educational process aimed at reconfiguring an offender's cognitive and behavioural patterns so that they internalise the moral values of community life.

Restorative justice

An alternative model of justice focused primarily on fully repairing the harm caused to the victim and the community, fostering reconciliation and the offender's assumption of responsibility.

See the term

Retribution

The philosophical justification of punishment holding that the offender must suffer a legal penalty simply because they deserve it, as a moral response to the harm caused by their free action.

Retributive justice

The traditional model of criminal justice centred on applying institutional punishment to the offender strictly in proportion to the gravity of the offence committed ("an eye for an eye").

Rigor mortis

The post-mortem biological state of muscular rigidity caused by ATP depletion in the tissues; it helps forensic physicians estimate the approximate time of death. (E.g. the initial corpse examinations in the series "Bones").

Robbery

An offence against property consisting of the unlawful taking of another's movable property using force against objects, or physical violence and mental intimidation against people. (E.g. the central heist in "Money Heist").

Routine activity theory

Cohen and Felson's thesis that an offence occurs in space and time when three factors converge: a motivated offender, a suitable available target and the absence of a capable guardian.

S

Sadism

A paraphilia and psychopathological trait consisting of obtaining psychological gratification or sexual pleasure through the intentional infliction of physical pain or moral humiliation on others. (E.g. Ramsay Bolton in "Game of Thrones").

See the term

Secondary deviance

Recurrent deviant conduct that a person adopts as a definitive role and social identity after being publicly labelled an offender by institutions. (E.g. Walter White taking on the alias Heisenberg in "Breaking Bad").

See the theory

Secondary prevention

Actions aimed at intervening in a targeted way on specific groups, individuals or geographical areas that display a high latent risk of offending.

Secondary victimisation

Also called revictimisation: the additional suffering and psychological mistreatment the victim endures on being put through cold, insensitive or stigmatising judicial processes. (E.g. the tense, insensitive interrogations depicted in "Law & Order: SVU").

Segregation (solitary confinement)

A penal or institutional measure consisting of physically isolating an inmate from the general prison population on grounds of extreme dangerousness or protection.

Self-defence

A legal justification exempting from punishment a person who repels an unlawful attack that is under way or imminent, proportionately protecting their own legal interests or those of a third party.

Serial killer

A person who murders three or more victims over an extended period (more than 30 days), with an emotional "cooling-off period" between each crime. (E.g. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs").

Signature aspect

The invariant behavioural traces at a scene that reveal the intrinsic psychological motivation of a serial killer (see Criminal signature).

Social alienation

A feeling of deep detachment, isolation and rejection towards the values, institutions and norms of the community. (E.g. Travis Bickle's mindset in "Taxi Driver").

Social control theory

Travis Hirschi's thesis that individuals refrain from offending thanks to the strength of their bonds to ordered society (attachment, commitment, involvement and belief).

See the theory

Social reintegration

The constitutional principle and aim of the contemporary prison system, focused on equipping the inmate for a peaceful and productive return to life in freedom.

Sociopathy

A conduct disorder sharing clinical features with psychopathy, but whose aetiological origin is attributed mainly to neglectful upbringing, trauma or dysfunctional social environments. (E.g. Arthur Fleck in "Joker").

Specific deterrence

The punitive effect that seeks to discourage an already convicted offender from reoffending, through their direct experience of the penalty imposed.

Spree killer

An itinerant killer who takes multiple lives in different locations over a very short period, acting without an emotional cooling-off period. (E.g. the journey of the protagonists of "Natural Born Killers").

Spree killer

The itinerant or non-stop killer (see Spree killer).

Stalking

Obsessive, systematic pursuit, surveillance and harassment of a person, gravely disrupting their peace and safety. (E.g. Joe Goldberg's conduct in the series "You").

Stigma

A profoundly discrediting mark or attribute imposed by society that degrades an individual's identity, classifying them as marginal or dangerous. (E.g. the ex-convicts' stigmas and tattoos in "Gangs of New York").

See the theory

Strain theory

Robert Merton's theory explaining delinquency as the result of the structural frustration suffered by individuals when society demands they reach goals of economic success while blocking the legitimate institutional routes to them.

Subculture of violence

Wolfgang and Ferracuti's thesis positing the existence of social subgroups in which a violent response to everyday conflict is normalised and socially expected.

See the theory

Substance addiction

A state of periodic or chronic intoxication produced by the repeated use of a natural or synthetic drug, impairing ethical and legal judgment.

Symbolic interactionism

The sociological current prioritising meanings constructed through everyday social interaction; the foundation on which labelling theories in criminology were built.

T

Tertiary prevention

Psychosocial and educational intervention programmes directed exclusively at the imprisoned or convicted population with the aim of preventing reoffending at its root.

Tertiary victimisation

The collateral costs, stigma and moral suffering the offender themselves endures after serving their sentence on being rejected by society, or the harm suffered by the immediate family of those involved in an atrocious crime.

Total institution

Erving Goffman's concept for places of confinement or rigid organisation where a large group of individuals share a strictly administered routine (e.g. prisons). (E.g. Fox River penitentiary in "Prison Break").

Treachery (alevosía)

Committing an offence against a person in a way that secures its execution without risk to the perpetrator, removing any possibility of defence by the victim. (E.g. Scar pushing Mufasa into the stampede in "The Lion King").

True positive

In predictive criminology and expert assessment, the correct classification of a subject identified as high risk of offending who does in fact go on to offend.

Typicality (tipicidad)

The requirement of criminal law demanding the perfect and exact fit of an actual conduct to the abstract offence described in the text of prior criminal legislation.

U

Ultraviolence

The excessive, extreme and gratuitous use of injurious physical force, carried out without provocation or any instrumental justification. (E.g. the brutal nocturnal assaults committed by the protagonists of "A Clockwork Orange").

Unlawfulness (antijuridicidad)

The relation of contradiction between a specific human act and the criminal legal order in force; that which the law explicitly prohibits.

Urban ecology

The Chicago School approach studying the spatial relationship between urban population growth, social disorganisation and the concentration of crime rates.

Usury

The offence of making monetary loans at excessive and disproportionate rates of interest, exploiting the extreme economic need of the other party. (E.g. the underworld lenders' activities in "Uncut Gems").

Utilitarianism

The philosophy of punishment justifying legal penalties only insofar as they are useful to society, operating for preventive purposes and the social deterrence of crime.

See the theory

V

Vandalism

The malicious, deliberate destruction or defacement of public or private property, carried out without direct profit or material appropriation. (E.g. the street destruction in "The Purge").

Victimology

The empirical science within criminology concerned with the scientific study of the victim, their individual or relational characteristics, their role in the offence and their interaction with the offender. (E.g. the breakdown of the victims' profiles in "True Detective").

Victimophilia

A subconscious tendency or predisposition in certain individuals to place themselves repeatedly in situations of high exposure to danger, facilitating their own victimisation.

Vigilantism

The phenomenon in which private citizens organise themselves, often armed, to take justice into their own hands outside the law, the police and state institutions. (E.g. Batman's urban activity, or Rorschach in "Watchmen").

See the term

Violent carnal access (rape)

Non-consensual penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth with the penis, fingers or objects, using physical or psychological violence. (E.g. the central cases examined in the series "Unbelievable").

Voyeurism

A paraphilic disorder consisting of seeking gratification through the covert observation of people who are naked, undressing or engaged in intimate activity, capable of escalating into harassment offences. (E.g. L. B. Jefferies in Hitchcock's "Rear Window").

W

White-collar offender

Sutherland's concept defining offences committed by respectable people of high socioeconomic status in the course of their professional activities. (E.g. Jordan Belfort in "The Wolf of Wall Street").

Y

Yakuza

A transnational organised crime organisation originating in Japan, characterised by strict traditional rites (yubitsume), extensive body tattooing (irezumi) and control of illicit economies. (E.g. the criminal clans in Takeshi Kitano's films, or the anime "The Way of the Househusband").

Z

Zoophilia

A paraphilia and deviant conduct consisting of sexual acts with animals, formally penalised in modern legislation under the offences of animal mistreatment or cruelty.