Instructor’s Manual
Criminology: A Sociological Understanding | 8th Edition
by Steven E. Barkan
ST
U
D
YL
AB
, Table of Content
Chapter 1: Criminology and the Sociological Perspective
Chapter 2: Public Opinion, the News Media, and the Crime Problem
Chapter 3: The Measurement and Patterning of Criminal Behavior
Chapter 4: Victims and Victimization
Chapter 5: Classical and Neoclassical Perspectives
Chapter 6: Biological and Psychological Explanations
Chapter 7: Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Structure
Chapter 8: Sociological Theories: Ephasis on Social Process
Chapter 9: Sociological Theories: Critical Perspectives
ST
Chapter 10: Violent Crime: Homicide, Aggravated Assualt, and Robbery
Chapter 11: Violence Against Women
Chapter 12: Property Crime and Fraud
U
Chapter 13: White-Collar and Organized Crime
Chapter 14: Political Crime
D
Chapter 15: Consensual Crime
Chapter 16: Policing: Dilemmas of Crime Control in a Democratic Society
YL
Chapter 17: Prosecution and Punishment
Chapter 18: Conclusion: How Can We Reduce Crime?
AB
, HGFDSA
Chapter 1
CRIMINOLOGY AND THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
While crime remains one of America’s most important social problems, it may also be
one of the least understood. Sociological criminology helps people to understand this
problem. A sociological criminology is not only a structural criminology; it should also
debunk incorrect perceptions about the nature of crime, false claims about the
effectiveness of various crime-control strategies, and expose possible injustices in the
application of the criminal label.
The sociological perspective stresses that people are social beings more than individuals
ST
and is derived from the work of French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Social structure
refers to the organized patterns of social interaction and social relationships that exist in a
group or society; it is both horizontal (e.g., the physical characteristics of communities)
and vertical (i.e., social inequality). Sociologist C. Wright Mills emphasized that social
structure lies at the root of private troubles, but when these problems affect an entire
society, they become public issues. Mills referred to the ability to understand the
U
relationship between these issues as the sociological imagination. Sociologist Peter
Berger has pointed out that things are not always what they seem and called attention to
the debunking motif in sociology—to expose the myths and seek further understanding of
D
the “official interpretations of society.”
Sociology and criminology are mutually relevant. Crime, victimization, and criminal
YL
justice cannot be fully understood without appreciating their structural context. There is a
structural basis for criminality and some of the most significant advances in sociology
have come from theory and research in criminology.
For much of recorded history, people attributed crime and deviance to religious factors.
The nineteenth century saw the rise of a more scientific approach to criminal behavior as
AB
the causes of crime began to be investigated through scientific investigation. One of the
earliest positivists was Émile Durkheim who stressed the primacy of social structure over
the individual and thus established the sociological paradigm. Later, American scholars
such as Edwin Sutherland (differential association theory) and Robert Merton (anomie
theory) began making significant contributions to our understanding of crime and
criminality.
Edwin Sutherland defined criminology as the study of the making of laws, of the
breaking of laws, and of society’s reaction to the breaking of laws. Crime is behavior that
is considered so harmful that it is banned by criminal law. Deviance is a relative concept.
That is, whether a given behavior is considered deviant depends on social definition and
not necessarily the behavior itself. In addition, he was sensitive to the criminogenic
(crime causing) conditions of urban neighborhoods. Influenced by Durkheim, Merton
attributed deviance to the poor’s inability to achieve economic success in a society that
1
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
, HGFDSA
highly values it. His work would later influence social control or social bonding theory of
criminal behavior.
Consensus and conflict views of crime, law, and society derive from analogous
perspectives in the larger field of sociology. Consensus or functionalist theory in
sociology derives from Durkheim’s work. Conflict theory derives from the work of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels and is virtually the opposite of consensus theory. These two
theories have important implications for how we define and understand crime: In
consensus theory, crime is defined simply as any behavior that violates a criminal law
and the law, in turn, is thought to both represent and protect the interests of all members
of society. In conflict theory, the definition of crime is more problematic: It is just as
important to consider why certain behaviors do not become illegal as to consider why
certain others are illegal. The greatest support for consensus theory comes from criminal
ST
laws banning the criminal behaviors we call street crime, which all segments of society
condemn, and which victimize the poor more than the wealthy. In contrast, the greatest
evidence for conflict theory perhaps comes from corporate misconduct, which is arguably
more socially harmful than street crime but is less severely punished.
Criminal law in the United States and other Western democracies ideally tries to achieve
U
several goals: to help keep the public safe from crime and criminal offenders; to articulate
society’s moral values and concerns; and to protect the rights and freedoms of the
nation’s citizenry by protecting it from potential governmental abuses of power.
D
In large, modern, heterogeneous societies, informal norms and informal social control
have less power over individual behavior. Consequently, norms tend to become more
formal in these types of societies, in the form of laws. Law in the United States has its
YL
origin in English common law, but “case law” has come to replace these common law
principles. Most U.S. jurisdictions still retain common law, but there are other
distinctions, such as between mala in se (evil in themselves) crimes and mala prohibita
crimes (wrong only because prohibited by law) and between felonies and misdemeanors.
For a defendant to be found guilty, the key elements that must be proven are actus reus
AB
(actual act) and mens rea (guilty mind) also called criminal intent. Defendants may offer
several types of excuses or justifications as defenses against criminal accusations, such as
ignorance, duress, self-defense, entrapment, and insanity.
Theory and research lie at the heart of any science; theories and hypotheses must be
developed and then tested. There are different types of research methods. One of the most
important types in criminology and sociology is survey research, including face-to-face
interviews, mailed surveys, and telephone surveys. Experiments are very common in
psychology but much less common in sociology and criminology; one problem with
experiments is that they are not generalizable. Many classic sociological and
criminological studies have resulted from observational research and intensive
interviewing. Increasingly, intensive interviewing has been combined with surveying in
longitudinal studies. Criminologists also gather and analyze data that have been recorded
or gathered from existing sources as well as perform comparative and historical research.
2
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
Criminology: A Sociological Understanding | 8th Edition
by Steven E. Barkan
ST
U
D
YL
AB
, Table of Content
Chapter 1: Criminology and the Sociological Perspective
Chapter 2: Public Opinion, the News Media, and the Crime Problem
Chapter 3: The Measurement and Patterning of Criminal Behavior
Chapter 4: Victims and Victimization
Chapter 5: Classical and Neoclassical Perspectives
Chapter 6: Biological and Psychological Explanations
Chapter 7: Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Structure
Chapter 8: Sociological Theories: Ephasis on Social Process
Chapter 9: Sociological Theories: Critical Perspectives
ST
Chapter 10: Violent Crime: Homicide, Aggravated Assualt, and Robbery
Chapter 11: Violence Against Women
Chapter 12: Property Crime and Fraud
U
Chapter 13: White-Collar and Organized Crime
Chapter 14: Political Crime
D
Chapter 15: Consensual Crime
Chapter 16: Policing: Dilemmas of Crime Control in a Democratic Society
YL
Chapter 17: Prosecution and Punishment
Chapter 18: Conclusion: How Can We Reduce Crime?
AB
, HGFDSA
Chapter 1
CRIMINOLOGY AND THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
While crime remains one of America’s most important social problems, it may also be
one of the least understood. Sociological criminology helps people to understand this
problem. A sociological criminology is not only a structural criminology; it should also
debunk incorrect perceptions about the nature of crime, false claims about the
effectiveness of various crime-control strategies, and expose possible injustices in the
application of the criminal label.
The sociological perspective stresses that people are social beings more than individuals
ST
and is derived from the work of French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Social structure
refers to the organized patterns of social interaction and social relationships that exist in a
group or society; it is both horizontal (e.g., the physical characteristics of communities)
and vertical (i.e., social inequality). Sociologist C. Wright Mills emphasized that social
structure lies at the root of private troubles, but when these problems affect an entire
society, they become public issues. Mills referred to the ability to understand the
U
relationship between these issues as the sociological imagination. Sociologist Peter
Berger has pointed out that things are not always what they seem and called attention to
the debunking motif in sociology—to expose the myths and seek further understanding of
D
the “official interpretations of society.”
Sociology and criminology are mutually relevant. Crime, victimization, and criminal
YL
justice cannot be fully understood without appreciating their structural context. There is a
structural basis for criminality and some of the most significant advances in sociology
have come from theory and research in criminology.
For much of recorded history, people attributed crime and deviance to religious factors.
The nineteenth century saw the rise of a more scientific approach to criminal behavior as
AB
the causes of crime began to be investigated through scientific investigation. One of the
earliest positivists was Émile Durkheim who stressed the primacy of social structure over
the individual and thus established the sociological paradigm. Later, American scholars
such as Edwin Sutherland (differential association theory) and Robert Merton (anomie
theory) began making significant contributions to our understanding of crime and
criminality.
Edwin Sutherland defined criminology as the study of the making of laws, of the
breaking of laws, and of society’s reaction to the breaking of laws. Crime is behavior that
is considered so harmful that it is banned by criminal law. Deviance is a relative concept.
That is, whether a given behavior is considered deviant depends on social definition and
not necessarily the behavior itself. In addition, he was sensitive to the criminogenic
(crime causing) conditions of urban neighborhoods. Influenced by Durkheim, Merton
attributed deviance to the poor’s inability to achieve economic success in a society that
1
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
, HGFDSA
highly values it. His work would later influence social control or social bonding theory of
criminal behavior.
Consensus and conflict views of crime, law, and society derive from analogous
perspectives in the larger field of sociology. Consensus or functionalist theory in
sociology derives from Durkheim’s work. Conflict theory derives from the work of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels and is virtually the opposite of consensus theory. These two
theories have important implications for how we define and understand crime: In
consensus theory, crime is defined simply as any behavior that violates a criminal law
and the law, in turn, is thought to both represent and protect the interests of all members
of society. In conflict theory, the definition of crime is more problematic: It is just as
important to consider why certain behaviors do not become illegal as to consider why
certain others are illegal. The greatest support for consensus theory comes from criminal
ST
laws banning the criminal behaviors we call street crime, which all segments of society
condemn, and which victimize the poor more than the wealthy. In contrast, the greatest
evidence for conflict theory perhaps comes from corporate misconduct, which is arguably
more socially harmful than street crime but is less severely punished.
Criminal law in the United States and other Western democracies ideally tries to achieve
U
several goals: to help keep the public safe from crime and criminal offenders; to articulate
society’s moral values and concerns; and to protect the rights and freedoms of the
nation’s citizenry by protecting it from potential governmental abuses of power.
D
In large, modern, heterogeneous societies, informal norms and informal social control
have less power over individual behavior. Consequently, norms tend to become more
formal in these types of societies, in the form of laws. Law in the United States has its
YL
origin in English common law, but “case law” has come to replace these common law
principles. Most U.S. jurisdictions still retain common law, but there are other
distinctions, such as between mala in se (evil in themselves) crimes and mala prohibita
crimes (wrong only because prohibited by law) and between felonies and misdemeanors.
For a defendant to be found guilty, the key elements that must be proven are actus reus
AB
(actual act) and mens rea (guilty mind) also called criminal intent. Defendants may offer
several types of excuses or justifications as defenses against criminal accusations, such as
ignorance, duress, self-defense, entrapment, and insanity.
Theory and research lie at the heart of any science; theories and hypotheses must be
developed and then tested. There are different types of research methods. One of the most
important types in criminology and sociology is survey research, including face-to-face
interviews, mailed surveys, and telephone surveys. Experiments are very common in
psychology but much less common in sociology and criminology; one problem with
experiments is that they are not generalizable. Many classic sociological and
criminological studies have resulted from observational research and intensive
interviewing. Increasingly, intensive interviewing has been combined with surveying in
longitudinal studies. Criminologists also gather and analyze data that have been recorded
or gathered from existing sources as well as perform comparative and historical research.
2
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
