Essential Criminology summary
1 - What is Criminology?
Six fundamental changes that demonstrate the changed nature of our world. Move towards
increasing interconnection and interdependence: globalization, communications revolution
(internet), privatization and individualization, global spread of diseases, changing perceptions of
conflict and national security; and internationalization of terrorism.
Globalization:
The process whereby people react to issues in terms of reference points that transcend their own
locality, society, or region. These include material, political, social and cultural concerns that affect
the planet. It’s a process of unification in which differences in economic, technological, political, and
social institutions are transformed from a local network into a single system. It also relates to an
international universalism, whereby events happening in one part of the world affect those in
another. Conversely, while globalization relates tot the way people in different societies identify with
values that cut across nations and cultures, it also relates to the recognition of different cultures’
diversity of experience and the formation of new identities. As it integrates us, it can also drive many
of us apart. Increased global communication rush of internet crimes, shift in jobs (unemployment).
Related to this are two trends: decline in collective social action an increased economic polarization
between rich and poor, with numerous groups excluded from opportunities. Because of more online
communication there is an impersonal society, one where we are living in isolation from other real
people. These groups are vulnerable to violence. Unlike times past, groups can introduce disease on
a global scale as part of a terrorist operation. Terrorism has become the method of war for any
ethnic or religious group that does not have the power to succeed politically. Cyber crime is a more
realistic threat.
What is criminology:
Criminology is defined as the systematic study of the nature, extent, cause and control of law-
breaking behaviour. It’s an applied social science in which criminologists work to establish knowledge
about crime and its control based on empirical research. This research forms the basis for
understanding, explanation, prediction, prevention, and criminal justice policy. The term was
introduced by Raffaele Garofalo. The categorical core components include: the definition and nature
of crime as harm-causing behaviour; different types of criminal activity, ranging from individual
spontaneous offending to collective organized criminal enterprises; profiles of typical offenders and
victims, including organizational and corporate law violators; statistical analysis of the extent,
incidence, patterning, and cost of crimes, including estimates of the “dark figure” of hidden or
unreported crime, based on surveys of victims and self-report studies of offenders; and analysis of
crime causation. Less agreement exists about whether the scope of criminology should be broadened
to include society’s response to crime, formulation of criminal laws, role of victims in these
processes, and the extent to which criminology needs to adopt a comparative global perspective.
Is criminology scientific:
Criminology requires that criminologists strictly adhere tot the scientific method. Science requires
them to build criminological knowledge from logically interrelated theoretically grounded and
empirically tested hypotheses that are subject to retesting. Testing by either qualitative
(ethnographic techniques, help to understand the meaning of criminal activity) or quantitative
methods (involve numbers, counts and measures that are arrived at via a variety of research
techniques, mainstream of academic criminology but not theory driven (no theory testing)).
Criminology as a profession involves engaging in empirical research on phenomena that produce
,victims, the results of which should contribute solutions to prevent or reduce the harms suffered,
and that we see such “scientific work as a faithful effort to obtain new valid knowledge by the
reliable and verifiable methods and techniques, as a serious and well-founded interpretation of
findings. The criminologist’s responsibility has to be measured in that he or she must engage the
policy implications of research findings, assessing both their positive and potentially negative effects.
Is criminology a discipline:
Although strongly influenced by sociology, it also has it roots in other disciplines. Each has their own
assumptions about human nature and society, definitions of crime and the role of crime, preference
of methods for study of crime, and its own analysis of crime causation with differing policy
implications. Criminology is multidisciplinary, it can be viewed through many lenses.
What is comparative and global criminology:
Comparative criminology has been defined as the systematic study of crime, law and social control of
two or more cultures, it’s the cross-cultural or cross-national study of both crime and crime control,
applying the comparative scientific method in criminology. A comparative analysis enables
criminologists to overcome ethnocentric tendencies and sharpen their understanding of key
questions.
What is victimology:
Victimology is the mirror image of criminology. While criminology is concerned with criminals and
criminal acts and its corresponding justice system, victimology is the study of who becomes a victim,
how they are victimized, the harm they suffer and their role in the criminal at. It also looks at their
rights and role in the justice system. Prior to the development of formal social control mechanisms,
society used informal justice (revenge by family). With the advent of the social contract, crimes
became crimes against the state, since the contract states that individuals must give up some
personal liberties in exchange for the greater social good. However this system neglected the victims
of crime, they lost the opportunity to actively participate.
Since start of victimology discussion between broad view that it should study all victims and narrow
vies that it should include only crime victims. Criticized for missionary zeal of its reform policy and
focus on victims of individual crimes rather than socially harmful crimes. The more recent
comprehensive approach considers the victim in the total societal context of crime in the life
domains of family, work and leisure as these realms are shaped by media, lawmakers and interest
groups. Currently it is seen in context of restorative justice in which victims and community are
brought together with offender to restore relations, this brings victims back into the justice equation.
Criminology and public policy:
criminology also policy oriented, the justice system that implements the law and policy of
governments itself is a significant source of employment and expenditure.
2 - What is crime?
An important consideration when defining crime is that crime is contextual, it takes on different
forms depending on the historical context, specific context, social setting, location or situation in
which it occurs. The definitions of crime arrived at by law, government agencies, and criminologist
are used by others to measure the extent of crime. A clear definition is necessary since several policy
decisions concerning social control are made based on a particular definition of crime.
Legal definition:
the legal definition has referred to acts prohibited, prosecuted, and punished by criminal law.
Tappan’s classic definition is illustrative: an international act or omission in violation of criminal law
, (statutory and case law), committed without defence or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a
felony or misdemeanour. The study of criminals should according to Tappan be restricted to those
convicted by the courts. Some argue that this definition is too limited in scope, it takes no account of
harms that are covered by administrative law and are considered regulative violations. Sutherland
first argued that a strict legal definition excluded white collar crime. He argued for extending the
legal definition of crime to include all offenses that are socially injurious of harmful. A second
problem with the definition is that it ignores cultural and historical context of law. Definition varies
from location, even within countries. The law offers only a false certainty for what law defines as
crime is somewhat arbitrary and represents a highly selective process.
Who defines crime:
A related issue is who defines the kinds of behaviours labelled crime. Judicial interpretation also
determines what is crime, they can be appealed, overturned and revised. Even where legislators
make laws, a significant problem is whose views they represent. Some critical criminologists argue
that criminal actions by corporations go unnoticed since they hold economic power in society and
form the law by lobbying, making donations, political action etc.
Consensus and Conflict approaches:
The consensus approach refers to definitions of crime that reflect the ideas of society as a whole. It
assumes that all members of society agree on what should be considered crime. These definitions
constitute a set of universal values. In contrast, the conflict approach refers to definitions of crime
based on the belief that society is composed of different interest groups. These groups are in
competition with each other and it’s most pronounced between the powerful and powerless.
Consensus approach:
consensus theorists try to get around the problem of variation in the law by linking the definition of
crime to social morality ideas of Durkheim who believed that in the kind of integrated community
that preceded industrialization, people were held together by common religious beliefs, traditions,
and similar worldviews. The similarity between people acted as a social glue. Crimes are thus acts
that shock the common conscience, or collective morality, producing intense moral outrage. There is
a consensus between most people of all economic, social and political positions about what is
unacceptable and what is criminal. However this approach disregards the situational context, like
with murder in war. another problem is the question whose morality is important in defining the
common morality, and whether something is not criminal if it doesn’t cause massive outrage.
Social context:
understanding social context is important in defining crime. Whether an issue becomes a public harm
depends on a group’s ability to turn private concerns into public issues or their skills at moral
entrepreneurship. This is the ability to whip up moral consensus around an issue that affects some
individuals or a minority and to recruit support from the majority by convincing them it is in their
interest to support the issue too. Creating a public harm often involves identifying and signifying
offensive behaviour and attempting to influence legislators to ban it officially. What is defined as
crime depends on the power to define and to resist definitions, so it depends on who has access to
media and how skilled moral entrepreneurs are at using this access.
Conflict approaches:
conflict theory is based on the idea that people are different and struggle over their differences.
Society is made up of groups that compete with each other over scarce resources. The conflict over
different interests produces differing definitions of crime. These are determined by the group in
power and are used to further its needs and consolidate its power, the powerless are the victims of
1 - What is Criminology?
Six fundamental changes that demonstrate the changed nature of our world. Move towards
increasing interconnection and interdependence: globalization, communications revolution
(internet), privatization and individualization, global spread of diseases, changing perceptions of
conflict and national security; and internationalization of terrorism.
Globalization:
The process whereby people react to issues in terms of reference points that transcend their own
locality, society, or region. These include material, political, social and cultural concerns that affect
the planet. It’s a process of unification in which differences in economic, technological, political, and
social institutions are transformed from a local network into a single system. It also relates to an
international universalism, whereby events happening in one part of the world affect those in
another. Conversely, while globalization relates tot the way people in different societies identify with
values that cut across nations and cultures, it also relates to the recognition of different cultures’
diversity of experience and the formation of new identities. As it integrates us, it can also drive many
of us apart. Increased global communication rush of internet crimes, shift in jobs (unemployment).
Related to this are two trends: decline in collective social action an increased economic polarization
between rich and poor, with numerous groups excluded from opportunities. Because of more online
communication there is an impersonal society, one where we are living in isolation from other real
people. These groups are vulnerable to violence. Unlike times past, groups can introduce disease on
a global scale as part of a terrorist operation. Terrorism has become the method of war for any
ethnic or religious group that does not have the power to succeed politically. Cyber crime is a more
realistic threat.
What is criminology:
Criminology is defined as the systematic study of the nature, extent, cause and control of law-
breaking behaviour. It’s an applied social science in which criminologists work to establish knowledge
about crime and its control based on empirical research. This research forms the basis for
understanding, explanation, prediction, prevention, and criminal justice policy. The term was
introduced by Raffaele Garofalo. The categorical core components include: the definition and nature
of crime as harm-causing behaviour; different types of criminal activity, ranging from individual
spontaneous offending to collective organized criminal enterprises; profiles of typical offenders and
victims, including organizational and corporate law violators; statistical analysis of the extent,
incidence, patterning, and cost of crimes, including estimates of the “dark figure” of hidden or
unreported crime, based on surveys of victims and self-report studies of offenders; and analysis of
crime causation. Less agreement exists about whether the scope of criminology should be broadened
to include society’s response to crime, formulation of criminal laws, role of victims in these
processes, and the extent to which criminology needs to adopt a comparative global perspective.
Is criminology scientific:
Criminology requires that criminologists strictly adhere tot the scientific method. Science requires
them to build criminological knowledge from logically interrelated theoretically grounded and
empirically tested hypotheses that are subject to retesting. Testing by either qualitative
(ethnographic techniques, help to understand the meaning of criminal activity) or quantitative
methods (involve numbers, counts and measures that are arrived at via a variety of research
techniques, mainstream of academic criminology but not theory driven (no theory testing)).
Criminology as a profession involves engaging in empirical research on phenomena that produce
,victims, the results of which should contribute solutions to prevent or reduce the harms suffered,
and that we see such “scientific work as a faithful effort to obtain new valid knowledge by the
reliable and verifiable methods and techniques, as a serious and well-founded interpretation of
findings. The criminologist’s responsibility has to be measured in that he or she must engage the
policy implications of research findings, assessing both their positive and potentially negative effects.
Is criminology a discipline:
Although strongly influenced by sociology, it also has it roots in other disciplines. Each has their own
assumptions about human nature and society, definitions of crime and the role of crime, preference
of methods for study of crime, and its own analysis of crime causation with differing policy
implications. Criminology is multidisciplinary, it can be viewed through many lenses.
What is comparative and global criminology:
Comparative criminology has been defined as the systematic study of crime, law and social control of
two or more cultures, it’s the cross-cultural or cross-national study of both crime and crime control,
applying the comparative scientific method in criminology. A comparative analysis enables
criminologists to overcome ethnocentric tendencies and sharpen their understanding of key
questions.
What is victimology:
Victimology is the mirror image of criminology. While criminology is concerned with criminals and
criminal acts and its corresponding justice system, victimology is the study of who becomes a victim,
how they are victimized, the harm they suffer and their role in the criminal at. It also looks at their
rights and role in the justice system. Prior to the development of formal social control mechanisms,
society used informal justice (revenge by family). With the advent of the social contract, crimes
became crimes against the state, since the contract states that individuals must give up some
personal liberties in exchange for the greater social good. However this system neglected the victims
of crime, they lost the opportunity to actively participate.
Since start of victimology discussion between broad view that it should study all victims and narrow
vies that it should include only crime victims. Criticized for missionary zeal of its reform policy and
focus on victims of individual crimes rather than socially harmful crimes. The more recent
comprehensive approach considers the victim in the total societal context of crime in the life
domains of family, work and leisure as these realms are shaped by media, lawmakers and interest
groups. Currently it is seen in context of restorative justice in which victims and community are
brought together with offender to restore relations, this brings victims back into the justice equation.
Criminology and public policy:
criminology also policy oriented, the justice system that implements the law and policy of
governments itself is a significant source of employment and expenditure.
2 - What is crime?
An important consideration when defining crime is that crime is contextual, it takes on different
forms depending on the historical context, specific context, social setting, location or situation in
which it occurs. The definitions of crime arrived at by law, government agencies, and criminologist
are used by others to measure the extent of crime. A clear definition is necessary since several policy
decisions concerning social control are made based on a particular definition of crime.
Legal definition:
the legal definition has referred to acts prohibited, prosecuted, and punished by criminal law.
Tappan’s classic definition is illustrative: an international act or omission in violation of criminal law
, (statutory and case law), committed without defence or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a
felony or misdemeanour. The study of criminals should according to Tappan be restricted to those
convicted by the courts. Some argue that this definition is too limited in scope, it takes no account of
harms that are covered by administrative law and are considered regulative violations. Sutherland
first argued that a strict legal definition excluded white collar crime. He argued for extending the
legal definition of crime to include all offenses that are socially injurious of harmful. A second
problem with the definition is that it ignores cultural and historical context of law. Definition varies
from location, even within countries. The law offers only a false certainty for what law defines as
crime is somewhat arbitrary and represents a highly selective process.
Who defines crime:
A related issue is who defines the kinds of behaviours labelled crime. Judicial interpretation also
determines what is crime, they can be appealed, overturned and revised. Even where legislators
make laws, a significant problem is whose views they represent. Some critical criminologists argue
that criminal actions by corporations go unnoticed since they hold economic power in society and
form the law by lobbying, making donations, political action etc.
Consensus and Conflict approaches:
The consensus approach refers to definitions of crime that reflect the ideas of society as a whole. It
assumes that all members of society agree on what should be considered crime. These definitions
constitute a set of universal values. In contrast, the conflict approach refers to definitions of crime
based on the belief that society is composed of different interest groups. These groups are in
competition with each other and it’s most pronounced between the powerful and powerless.
Consensus approach:
consensus theorists try to get around the problem of variation in the law by linking the definition of
crime to social morality ideas of Durkheim who believed that in the kind of integrated community
that preceded industrialization, people were held together by common religious beliefs, traditions,
and similar worldviews. The similarity between people acted as a social glue. Crimes are thus acts
that shock the common conscience, or collective morality, producing intense moral outrage. There is
a consensus between most people of all economic, social and political positions about what is
unacceptable and what is criminal. However this approach disregards the situational context, like
with murder in war. another problem is the question whose morality is important in defining the
common morality, and whether something is not criminal if it doesn’t cause massive outrage.
Social context:
understanding social context is important in defining crime. Whether an issue becomes a public harm
depends on a group’s ability to turn private concerns into public issues or their skills at moral
entrepreneurship. This is the ability to whip up moral consensus around an issue that affects some
individuals or a minority and to recruit support from the majority by convincing them it is in their
interest to support the issue too. Creating a public harm often involves identifying and signifying
offensive behaviour and attempting to influence legislators to ban it officially. What is defined as
crime depends on the power to define and to resist definitions, so it depends on who has access to
media and how skilled moral entrepreneurs are at using this access.
Conflict approaches:
conflict theory is based on the idea that people are different and struggle over their differences.
Society is made up of groups that compete with each other over scarce resources. The conflict over
different interests produces differing definitions of crime. These are determined by the group in
power and are used to further its needs and consolidate its power, the powerless are the victims of
