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Just the facts Ma'm. Just the facts. No intellectual conversation. No in depth discussions, no interdisciplinary critiques. Just the facts. Pure and simple. And not all of them at that. Only the 'B' List. Here you'll find your basic definitions; everything from ballistics to bridewell, just in case you don't already know. And if you do well don't spoil it for the others. Whilst most of these may be common knowledge, I think we can all admit that there's a thing or two we don't know. And maybe you'll find that 'thing or two' here. We've still got a long way to go, so I had better get started. 'B'
bailiffs
officers of the court who supervise offenders and maintain order in provincial and state courtrooms during legal proceedings
ballistics
the science of the motion of projectiles, such as bullets from a gun. It is divided into three branches: interior ballistics, exterior ballistics, and terminal ballistics. Interior ballistics studies the projectile in the gun while exterior ballistics studies the projectile in and through the air. Finally terminal ballistics is the study of penetration of solids by the projectile million
battered child syndrome
the battered child syndrome is the term used to describe a clinical condition in young children who have received non-accidental, inexcusable violence or injury, ranging from minimal to severe or fatal trauma, at the hand of an adult in a position of trust
battered wife syndrome
the state of a woman in a highly abusive relationship who resorts to the murder or aggravated assault of her spouse, as a result of her belief that it is - the only way to save herself from death
battered woman syndrome
the psychological, emotional and behavioural reactions and deficits of victims and their inablity to respond effectively to repeated physical and psychological violence
bedlam
the word 'bedlam' was coined after the Bethlehem hospitals founded in England in 1247 which were noisy, filthy, and rodent infested. It is now St Mary's Insane Asylum in London, England.
bertillonage or anthropometry
identification system devised by Alphonse Bertillon, chief of criminal identification for the Paris police, devised an identification system known as anthropometry or "Bertillonage." His method, later replaced by fingerprint, incorporated a series of body measurements, physical description and photographs which aided police in the identification of criminals; and early form of biometrics
biological theories
attribute violence either to an innate, instinctual drive for aggression or to a variety of neurochemical imbalances such as increased testosterone levels or an imbalance in levels of serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, or other neurotransmitters
blunt injuries
abrasions, contusions, lacerations, or fractures consistent with crushing impact against the body with a blunt object
body temperatures
the third major indication of how much time has lapsed since death (along with rigor mortis and lividity) is body temperature. When oxygen is no longer fueling the body and keeping it warm, the temperature falls a t a rate of approx. one degree per hour. Again, musculature and ambient temp. may significantly affect the rate of temperature change. An obese person will cool much more slowly than a thin person, while someone who dies in a warm room will retain more body heat than someone who succumbs outdoors in cold weather. The following formula is widely used for estimating the time of death: normal temp. (98.6 degrees F) - rectal temp.= approx.no. of hrs. since death 1.5
brain lesion theory
the theory that tumors and seizures have been associated with aggression and violent behavior
bridewell
a generic term for a 'house of correction', or a prison, so called from the City Bridewell, Blackfriars, London, formerly a royal residence built over the holy well of St Bride (an alternative form of St Bridget). After the Reformation, Edward VI made it into a penitentiary for unruly apprentices and vagrants. It was demolished in 1863, although much of the palace was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666
background knowledge
As used by ethnomethodologists refers to commonsense reasoning and to the way that members of society, and sociologists as well, use background knowledge of culture and social structure as an unstated source of guidance in their reasoning
base (or infrastructure)
A concept from Marxism that refers to the mode of production of a society: the social and technical organization of its economy. Karl Marx argued that it is upon this base that the superstructure of the society - its institutions and culture - are built. While the social institutions and culture of society are shaped by this base, at the same time, they help to maintain and reproduce the mode of production and may, in certain conditions contribute to its transformation
beaver decision
(Canada) In this case, regarding an alleged crime of drug trafficking, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the test of mens rea (criminal intent) could be, to some extent, subjective. It did not have to depend on what a reasonable citizen might have thought or intended in the situation, but could take into account whether the particular defendant had a mistaken, but reasonable and honest belief, that they were not committing a crime
behavior modification
a common psychological treatment used in both clinical and forensic environments. The changing of human behavior by the application of conditioning and/or other learning techniques
bell curve
Discovered by Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754) when he noticed that many phenomena cluster around an average value and in so doing form a bell shaped curve. The heights of Canadians for examples cluster around the average height and if all heights were graphed a bell shaped curve would appear. The normal curve is a similar idea, and has a similar shape, but is a theoretical curve (or one derived from mathematical manipulation rather than observation) and was developed by Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) to depict the effects of random variation. For example, if you collect 100 samples from a population in which you know the average value of a phenomenon (eg: support for a political party), the means of the 100 samples will cluster around the true mean (the population mean) according to the characteristics of the normal curve. The normal curve is symmetrical so that if we draw a line from the highest point of the curve to the base, half of the curve will lie on one side and half on the other. Further approximately 68% of the area of the entire curve is located between lines drawn at plus and minus one standard deviation (a standardized amount of deviation from the mean), and 95% of the area of the curve lies between lines drawn at plus and minus 2 standard deviations. In the example of drawing 100 samples from a population it can now be said that 95 of the means obtained from these samples will fall within plus or minus 2 standard deviations of the true mean. Once the calculation of standard deviation is learned one can then calculate the sampling error when doing sampling and estimate the value of a phenomenon in a population based on one sample. This is what is implied when an opinion poll in the newspaper reports that ‘a sample of this size is accurate to within plus or minus x%, 19 times out of 20’ (i.e., 95% of the time)
berdache
A male who takes on the roles of women and who may also dress as a woman and engage in sexual intimacy with men. More recently, the term ‘Two Spirits’, which has traditional roots, has been preferred. This status was found in several North American First Nation's cultures and is interpreted as a way of integrating deviant members into cohesive, small societies. While the term is sometimes used to refer to women who take on male roles there do not appear to have been female berdache in North America and authors tend to prefer the term ‘amazon’ to describe these women. Both of these terms are important parts of the anthropology of gender and sexuality and reveal the social or cultural construction of gender
blank line-up
in order to assess the accuracy of a witness police officers may present a police lineup that does not contain the suspect
bracketing
A term derived from Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and describing a method used by phenomenological sociologists and ethnomethodologists. This approach focuses on revealing the beliefs, ideas and values that are simply taken for granted in the social world. By suspending belief in the naturalness and normality of the social world (placing what are normally automatic assumptions in ‘brackets’) it reveals the underlying thinking and values that people bring to bear in understanding the world and engaging in social action. This analysis then gives the researcher the information necessary to investigate the ordinary methods social members use to comprehend the social world and give it reality and concreteness
broken window theory
The title of a 1982 article by criminologist James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. This simple theory argues that a broken window left unrepaired will make a building look uncared for or abandoned and soon attract vandals to break all the other windows. If this is so, then prevention of crime will be accomplished by steps like painting over graffitti, keeping buildings in good repair, maintaining clean streets and parks and responding effectively to petty street crime. These actions make citizens feel safer and when they frequent public places criminal activity is less likely to occur. Many jurisdictions in North America have adopted practices based on this perspective
bystander effect
a scientifically proven finding that as the number of bystanders increases, the likelihood of a bystander helping someone in distress decreases
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