"In thinking about the dark figure of crime and the gap between the true extent of crime and crime known to police, it is important to realize that, for any behavior to be defined as criminal, it has to be prohibited by law. “Crime is a social construction” that depends on cultural, social, political, economic, and legal decisions about what is and what is not outside the bounds of the law. If there is no law against a particular behavior, then that behavior is not criminal behavior. Or, if certain people are not perceived as offenders, they may not show up in official statistics. For example, until relatively recently law enforcement did not recognize female gang members because females were excluded from official definitions of gang membership (Sikes, 1996). Thus, even though criminal behavior is studied by psychologists and other behavioral scientists who research anger, aggression, impulsivity, and other characteristics associated with behavior that violates the law, criminal behavior cannot be understood without recognizing that “criminal behavior is a special category of human behavior that is defined by a broad range of cultural forces.” Crime also requires that certain elements be present-most important, “mens rea” (criminal intent) and “actus reus” (act violating the law). Furthermore, if a person intentionally engaged in behavior that violates the law, to be considered a criminal (and recorded in official statistics), the person would have to be convicted of the offense in a court of law. Thus, to be defined as a crime, a behavior must be an intentional violation of the law. An interesting question to consider is, “if a person commits a crime-steals something or kills someone-and isn’t caught, has that person committed a crime?”"