What are the 6 main areas of criminology?
- the definition of crime and criminals.
- the origins and role of law.
- the social distribution of crime.
- the causation of crime
- patterns of criminal behaviour
- societal reactions to crime
What are norms?
established rules of behaviour or standards of conduct
What is crime?
behaviour that breaks the rules
In most societies, how was crime handled prior to the 18th century?
offences were handled privately by the wronged individual and their family
What is the legal definition of crime?
an act or omission that violates the criminal law and is punishable with either a jail term, fine, and/or some other sanction
What are white-collar crimes?
crime that is committed by people in the course of their legitimate business activities
Why does only focusing on the criminal law lead to the conclusion that crime is primarily a lower-class phenomenon?
It only takes into account offences such as burglary, assault, theft etc
- does not take into account white collar crimes
What are human rights?
the minimum conditions required for a person to live a dignified life.
What did Hagen propose we encompass in our definition of crime?
- a definition that considers behaviours that are both actually and potentially liable to criminal law
- deviance and crime be considered on a continuum ranging from least serious to most.
What are the 4 categories of Hagen’s approach of crime and deviance?
- consensus crimes
- conflict crimes
- social deviations
- social diversions
What must we consider for every crime despite the severity of the offence?
we must understand the act’s social context before we can determine whether it is deviant and how it should be classified
Why is crime socially defined?
Because some things that are considered unlawful here can be practices that are quite acceptable elsewhere, and vice versa
-e.g., it is unlawful in Singapore to possess chewing gum b/c it is messy.
How is crime relative?
the rules can change over time
-e.g., gay marriage was prohibited by the Criminal Code
Values
a collective idea about what is right or wrong, good or bad, desirable or undesirable in a particular culture
Consensus theory
Laws represent the consensus of the people
- the agreement of most people in a society that certain acts should be prohibited by the criminal law
Class Conflict theory
laws are passed by members of the ruling class in order to keep their privileged position by keeping the common people under control.
- e.g., Hayter Reed using the Indian Act to control the Indigenous population
- was using the system to restrict the movement of their people, who he saw as a threat to the government and white settlers.
Group Conflict theory
attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from conflict in interests between divergent groups
- e.g., the division on abortion
What is Green Criminology?
- criminologists contributing to the debate about the causes and consequences of environmental destruction
- ## rooted in the environmental and animal rights movements
Terrorism
the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective by targeting innocent people
Why is terrorism difficult to define?
- “terrorism” is a socially constructed term
- “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”
