Murphy 1
There is not a right definition for criminology. There is also not one type of person that we
call a criminologist. What we can say:
“Criminology is the study of crime, justice, law and order issues, and the broader
dynamics of societies in terms of informing how those things exist and are experienced.”
Next to studying crime, justice and order processes in criminology we also consider wider
processes that might have an impact on these things. Think about Social and cultural
context, political climate, nature of economy, processes like globalisation and technological
progress and so on. It is understood that criminology is an interdisciplinary study. People of
different studies come together to cover criminology.
Students need some competencies while engaging criminology:
- Finding appropriate materials: You have to know what good sources are. These
could be journals, academic books, government en NGO reports, academic blogs
etc.
- Using materials in an appropriate way: You have to look where your information
came from, has the information been influenced, what evidence has been discussed
etc. Criminology is an evidence driven science. This means that arguments need to
be supported by appropriate evidence.
- Being a critical enquirer: Approaching information with curiosity to find what it tells us
and what it does not tell us. How are arguments put together, what is evidence,
where are possible gaps.
- Being a reflective learner: Reflecting on your own learning.
- Being a pragmatic researcher: Being able to work with different materials and
different types of information. Learning how to approach different issues with different
methods.
- Being digitally competent : Being able to work with digital sources.
- Being an advocate for change: At some level it is important to want to see positive
change. Like challenging corruption or harmful processes.
CJS : Criminal Justice Systems (CJS). System through which the state responds to
behaviour that is unacceptable. Criminal justice comes in stages:
- Charge
- Prosecution
- Trial
- Sentence
- Appeal
- Punishment.
Intersectionality: How the combination of dynamics such as gender, class and ethnicity can
create issues like criminal justice inequalities.
,We would say that the definition of crime is an intentional act which breaks or goes against a
law of some sort. This definition is very limited and there are some other issues that should
be considered:
- Where have laws come from? Who created them and why?
- Is the law effective at criminalizing all behaviors or events that are damaging or
harmful?
- Are some laws needless?
- What are the consequences of the laws we have?
- Who is affected by the laws we have? Do some laws, intentionally or not, victimise
specific groups.
We should keep in mind that laws are not fixed or static. This means that what we
understand to be crime is also fluid. Government needs legalisation to make new laws. It can
take a long time and it can even take longer to criminalise certain behaviours. Sometimes
damaging behaviours are not considered in law for some time and so are not acted against.
The decision to criminalise some behaviour has to be influenced by something. Like
pressure from the public, the media, pressure groups changing cultures. Behaviour becomes
a crime, only if there is enough reason to make it a crime. It still can be blocked by powerful
actors like environmental laws, financial regulations and so on.
It often happens that damaging behaviours don’t get criminalised while on the other hand
there are a lot of behaviours that are needlessly criminalised and some groups are
seemingly disadvantaged by this. Than there is also behavior that used to not be
criminalised but is now (like rape within marriage).
Socially constructed nature of crime: How much of what is viewed as crime is a product of
the dynamics of a given society at a given point in time.
Deviancy behaviour: Acts that are outside the mainstream values and norms. They are legal
or illegal, but where they are legal, deviant behaviour can often eventually become formally
criminalised, ones there is enough of a reaction against it.
Types of crime:
- Acquisitive crimes: Gaining property, money like robbery, fraud etc.
- Expressive crimes: Emotions like anger, frustration, the act itself is the goal. Often
violent or sexual in nature.
- Property crime: Acquisition of property or damage to property. Like robbery including
damage, vandalism.
- Crimes against the person: Involve act against an individual or group of people.
Violent or sexual.
- Sexual offences: Covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate behaviours
against a person or group, physical or otherwise.
- White collar crime: Acts committed by people usually in a work context. For personal
gain. Opposed to blue collar workers.
- Corporate crime: Acts committed by or on behalf of a company that in some way
benefits company goals. FInancial transactions, negligence, not adhering to health
and safety.
- Crimes of the powerful: Acts committed by those with power. Like governments,
corporations.
, - State crimes: Acts committed by commissioned or advocated in some way by states.
- Peace crimes including crimes against humanity: Acts that are so terrible that they go
against humanity. Like genocide.
- Social harms: Acts that harm communities or specific groups of people and are often
not dealt with by formal laws.
- War crimes: Acts committed during conflicts and wars.
- Status offences/crimes: Acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in
the context of certain conditions.
- Hate crimes: Acts committed where victims are targeted because of their personal
characteristics: age, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexuality and so on.
- Cybercrime: Acts committed using or facilitated by information and communications
technologies.
Sometimes an act can put under multiple labels. This list updates through time. There can
be created new categories.
Digital dealing: Illicit drugs or other illicit items are traded using social media platforms.
, Murphy 2
Theorie: An explanation, or a model, or framework for understanding particular events or
processes.
We use theories to translate difficult terminology into something more familiar. When people
think about criminology they think about offending. This is a crucial aspect of criminology but
it is not the only aspect. Theories that allow us to talk about how crime comes about are
labelled as aetiological theories of crime. This means that they are concerned with causes of
crime.
The meaning of crime can vary between different groups, and places and over time. That's
why accounting for the way people commit crime is based on assuming that certain things
are deemed to be criminal. Theory can help us to consider and understand a range of
different issues connected to crime, law and order and the broader nature of society.
There are some questions that concern criminologists and theories have been developed to
aid understanding and offer explanation:
- What is crime
- How are laws made and what purpose do they serve?
- Who commits crime and why?
- What is the nature of the world around us, including the State and the criminal justice
system?
- Is society fair? How does this relate to crime and law and order processes?
- Who becomes a victim of crime and why?
- How is victimisation experienced? Is this different across groups?
- Why do we punish? How is this done?
- What should be done about crime?
- How do offenders stop offending?
- What are the connections between the media and crime?
- What role do politics play within law and order issues?
- How can we know about / research law and order issues?
Theories can help policy makers. Policy makers create laws, strategies and specific
measures to tackle crime or deal with law and order issues in some way. They might want to
know why people engage in offending so that they can create policies to stop offending.
Heuristic tools: Theories in criminology. Mental short cuts or simplifications for making sense
of something.
Look at the picture. From each angle of the
crime scene you can interpret things differently.
A has a very different view from that of
someone who’s looking from position D.
Using different theories mght help us to
understand different aspects of events and
processes and quite often using more than one
theorie fills in more of the gaps than using one
in isolation. That’s why synthesising theories
can be very useful. Theories get updates over
There is not a right definition for criminology. There is also not one type of person that we
call a criminologist. What we can say:
“Criminology is the study of crime, justice, law and order issues, and the broader
dynamics of societies in terms of informing how those things exist and are experienced.”
Next to studying crime, justice and order processes in criminology we also consider wider
processes that might have an impact on these things. Think about Social and cultural
context, political climate, nature of economy, processes like globalisation and technological
progress and so on. It is understood that criminology is an interdisciplinary study. People of
different studies come together to cover criminology.
Students need some competencies while engaging criminology:
- Finding appropriate materials: You have to know what good sources are. These
could be journals, academic books, government en NGO reports, academic blogs
etc.
- Using materials in an appropriate way: You have to look where your information
came from, has the information been influenced, what evidence has been discussed
etc. Criminology is an evidence driven science. This means that arguments need to
be supported by appropriate evidence.
- Being a critical enquirer: Approaching information with curiosity to find what it tells us
and what it does not tell us. How are arguments put together, what is evidence,
where are possible gaps.
- Being a reflective learner: Reflecting on your own learning.
- Being a pragmatic researcher: Being able to work with different materials and
different types of information. Learning how to approach different issues with different
methods.
- Being digitally competent : Being able to work with digital sources.
- Being an advocate for change: At some level it is important to want to see positive
change. Like challenging corruption or harmful processes.
CJS : Criminal Justice Systems (CJS). System through which the state responds to
behaviour that is unacceptable. Criminal justice comes in stages:
- Charge
- Prosecution
- Trial
- Sentence
- Appeal
- Punishment.
Intersectionality: How the combination of dynamics such as gender, class and ethnicity can
create issues like criminal justice inequalities.
,We would say that the definition of crime is an intentional act which breaks or goes against a
law of some sort. This definition is very limited and there are some other issues that should
be considered:
- Where have laws come from? Who created them and why?
- Is the law effective at criminalizing all behaviors or events that are damaging or
harmful?
- Are some laws needless?
- What are the consequences of the laws we have?
- Who is affected by the laws we have? Do some laws, intentionally or not, victimise
specific groups.
We should keep in mind that laws are not fixed or static. This means that what we
understand to be crime is also fluid. Government needs legalisation to make new laws. It can
take a long time and it can even take longer to criminalise certain behaviours. Sometimes
damaging behaviours are not considered in law for some time and so are not acted against.
The decision to criminalise some behaviour has to be influenced by something. Like
pressure from the public, the media, pressure groups changing cultures. Behaviour becomes
a crime, only if there is enough reason to make it a crime. It still can be blocked by powerful
actors like environmental laws, financial regulations and so on.
It often happens that damaging behaviours don’t get criminalised while on the other hand
there are a lot of behaviours that are needlessly criminalised and some groups are
seemingly disadvantaged by this. Than there is also behavior that used to not be
criminalised but is now (like rape within marriage).
Socially constructed nature of crime: How much of what is viewed as crime is a product of
the dynamics of a given society at a given point in time.
Deviancy behaviour: Acts that are outside the mainstream values and norms. They are legal
or illegal, but where they are legal, deviant behaviour can often eventually become formally
criminalised, ones there is enough of a reaction against it.
Types of crime:
- Acquisitive crimes: Gaining property, money like robbery, fraud etc.
- Expressive crimes: Emotions like anger, frustration, the act itself is the goal. Often
violent or sexual in nature.
- Property crime: Acquisition of property or damage to property. Like robbery including
damage, vandalism.
- Crimes against the person: Involve act against an individual or group of people.
Violent or sexual.
- Sexual offences: Covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate behaviours
against a person or group, physical or otherwise.
- White collar crime: Acts committed by people usually in a work context. For personal
gain. Opposed to blue collar workers.
- Corporate crime: Acts committed by or on behalf of a company that in some way
benefits company goals. FInancial transactions, negligence, not adhering to health
and safety.
- Crimes of the powerful: Acts committed by those with power. Like governments,
corporations.
, - State crimes: Acts committed by commissioned or advocated in some way by states.
- Peace crimes including crimes against humanity: Acts that are so terrible that they go
against humanity. Like genocide.
- Social harms: Acts that harm communities or specific groups of people and are often
not dealt with by formal laws.
- War crimes: Acts committed during conflicts and wars.
- Status offences/crimes: Acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in
the context of certain conditions.
- Hate crimes: Acts committed where victims are targeted because of their personal
characteristics: age, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexuality and so on.
- Cybercrime: Acts committed using or facilitated by information and communications
technologies.
Sometimes an act can put under multiple labels. This list updates through time. There can
be created new categories.
Digital dealing: Illicit drugs or other illicit items are traded using social media platforms.
, Murphy 2
Theorie: An explanation, or a model, or framework for understanding particular events or
processes.
We use theories to translate difficult terminology into something more familiar. When people
think about criminology they think about offending. This is a crucial aspect of criminology but
it is not the only aspect. Theories that allow us to talk about how crime comes about are
labelled as aetiological theories of crime. This means that they are concerned with causes of
crime.
The meaning of crime can vary between different groups, and places and over time. That's
why accounting for the way people commit crime is based on assuming that certain things
are deemed to be criminal. Theory can help us to consider and understand a range of
different issues connected to crime, law and order and the broader nature of society.
There are some questions that concern criminologists and theories have been developed to
aid understanding and offer explanation:
- What is crime
- How are laws made and what purpose do they serve?
- Who commits crime and why?
- What is the nature of the world around us, including the State and the criminal justice
system?
- Is society fair? How does this relate to crime and law and order processes?
- Who becomes a victim of crime and why?
- How is victimisation experienced? Is this different across groups?
- Why do we punish? How is this done?
- What should be done about crime?
- How do offenders stop offending?
- What are the connections between the media and crime?
- What role do politics play within law and order issues?
- How can we know about / research law and order issues?
Theories can help policy makers. Policy makers create laws, strategies and specific
measures to tackle crime or deal with law and order issues in some way. They might want to
know why people engage in offending so that they can create policies to stop offending.
Heuristic tools: Theories in criminology. Mental short cuts or simplifications for making sense
of something.
Look at the picture. From each angle of the
crime scene you can interpret things differently.
A has a very different view from that of
someone who’s looking from position D.
Using different theories mght help us to
understand different aspects of events and
processes and quite often using more than one
theorie fills in more of the gaps than using one
in isolation. That’s why synthesising theories
can be very useful. Theories get updates over
