CJCENTRAL: Criminology Today, 3E: Glossary

federal interest computers
those that are the property of the federal government, those that belong to financial institutions, or are accessed across state lines without authorization.

felony
a serious criminal offense; specifically one punishable by death or by incarceration in a prison facility for a year or more.

felony murder
a special class of criminal homicide whereby an offender may be charged with first-degree murder whenever his or her criminal activity results in another person's death.

feminist criminology
a developing intellectual approach which emphasizes gender issues in the subject matter of criminology.

first degree murder
criminal homicide which is planned or involves premeditation.

focal concerns
the key values of any culture, and especially the key values of a delinquent subculture.

folkways
are time-honored ways of doing things. While they carry the force of tradition, their violation is unlikely to threaten the survival of the group. See also mores.

forcible rape
as defined in the UCR Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Assaults or attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included in the UCR definition; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.

foreign terrorist organization (FTO)
a foreign organization that engages in terrorist activity which threatens the security of U.S. nationals or the national security of the United States and which is so designated by the U.S. secretary of state.

forensic psychiatry
that branch of psychiatry having to do with the study of crime and criminality.

forfeiture
See Asset forfeiture.

frustration-aggression theory
holds that frustration, which is a natural consequence of living, is a root cause of crime. Criminal behavior can be a form of adaptation when it results in stress reduction.

future criminology
the study of likely futures as they impinge on crime and its control.

futures research
"a multidisciplinary branch of operations research" whose principle aim "is to facilitate long-range planning based on 1. forecasting from the past supported by mathematical models; 2. cross-disciplinary treatment of its subject matter; 3. systematic use of expert judgment, and; 4. a systems-analytical approach to its problems."

futurist
one who studies the future.

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