Week 1: Criminology and Criminal Justice
introdcution
During this first week we will discuss the questions what crime entails and what the object of study of criminology is.
Criminology is an interdisciplinary field, which applies insights from other academic disciplines, such as sociology,
psychology, law, biology, economy, to crimesand harms. Since the emergence of the academic discipline of
criminology, there has been debate on how to define the object of study. Mainstream criminology takes the
view that only acts that constitute a violation of criminal law should be studied. Others include violations of
regulatory laws or even blameworthy harmful behaviour that has not been criminalised or regulated at all.
Another topic of debate has been whether criminology should only address individuals or also include
crimes committed by corporations and states. Finally, the question is whether criminology should only
consider humans or also non-human animals and ecosystems. An emerging field is criminology of the Globa
l south, which criticises the dominance of theories and concepts that have mostly been developed in
Europe and theUnited States.
Reading - introduction to criminology
1, Introduction
criminology can be defined as the study of the nature, extent, causes and control of criminal
behaviour. criminologists try to gain knowledge through theory and research on crime,
criminal behaviour and its control.
2, Criminological questions
criminology is an objective and not a normative scientific discipline. Criminologists study the
reason why specific behaviour is either criminalised, regulated or allowed within certain
boundaries, or not regulated or restricted at all.
Methodology is a key element of criminology.
Criminologists address 5 main questions:
1. definition
a. the main question is qhy certain types of behaviour are defined as criminal,
whereas others are not.
2. the scope of crime problems
a. the size of specific crime problems
3. explanation
a. why and where crimes occur
4. consequences of cirme
a. punishments
5. evaluation
a. how can crime be tackled or prevented and what is the effect of punishment
These 5 questions are addressed at different levels:
● individual level
● organisational aspects
● structural perspective
3, The history of criminology
Baccaria, 1964 argued that the punishment had to be proportional to the impact of the crime
on the “social contract”.
,in the 19th century, positivists believed that visible human behaviour should be studies
empirically and objectively in order to understand and explain it.
Willem Bonger was, in 1905, the first to point out the correlation between economic aspects
and crime.
4, The debate on the object of study of criminology
Edwin Sutherland defined criminology as the study of the making of laws, the breaking of
laws and society’s reaction to the breaking of laws.
A common feature is that the object of study of criminology is limited to behaviour that
qualifies as criminal and is codified as such in penal law. This is known as the mainstream
approach.
The problem with a social harm approach is its broadness. We cannot include every
imaginable hardship in the criminological project. It is difficult to empirically assess whether
behvaiour is harmful.
Only a handful of offenses are considered criminal in every culture: indiscriminate lying;
theft; violence and causing suffering; and incest.
in 1939 Sutherland concluded that criminology should also address ‘violations of law by
persons in the upper socio-economic classes’ which he dubbed “white-collar crimes”, he
defined these approximately ‘as crime committed by a person of respectability and high
social status in the course of his occupation’.
Most criminologists accepted that white-collar crimes as such were harmful, but refused to
agree that offenders were no different than ‘ordinary’ criminals.
Gei (1968) said to distinguish between 4 types of white-collar crimes:
1. Committed by individual actors against random victims.
2. Committed by employees against their employers. (occupational crime)
3. Committed by legal entities (corporations) against their employees.
4. Committed by legal entities (corporations) against customers and random victims.
(corporate crime)
Civil law systems criminalise violations of regulatory laws as economic offenses which are
included in the penal code.
William Chambliss (1989) argued that states could also be involved in criminal activity, in
addition to individuals and corporate entities. Chambliss talked about “state-organised crime”
as ‘acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in the pursuit of their jobs
as representatives of the state’.
Ward (2004) opts for state harm instead. He defines state harm as an act or omission of an
action by actors within the state that results in violaitons of domestic and international law,
human rights, or in systematic or institutionalised harm of its own or another state’s
population.
Teaching Video Social Construction
● criminology explores the bases and implications of criminal laws, how they emerge,
how they work, how they get violated and what happens to violators.
● Broad definition: criminology doe snot just study crimes but also blameworthy
harmful bahaviour.
criminological research questions
, ● definition, what types of harmful behaviour are considered criminal and why?
● Scope, What is the size of specific crime problems? How can this be measured?
How do you commit specific crimes: which knowledge, skills and tools are required?
● Explanation, What causes crime and how is criminal behaviour explained?
○ personal level: biological, psychological, etc.
○ Social and institutional level: historical, cultural, economical, political, etc.
● Consequences, What are the consequences? For perpetrators, victims, societies,
ecosystems?
● Evaluation, How can crime be tackled? What is the effect of punishment? How may
we prevent crime?
Todays topics
● how do societies determine which behaviour should be criminalised?
● Basic premise: we cannot objectively determine what is crime or deviant behaviour;
the value of things, et cetera.
● What we define as criminal behvaiour is the outcome of a process of social
construction.
Only a few types of behaviour are universally rejected as deviant across cultures:
● indiscriminate lying
● Stealing
● Violence and causing harm.
● Incest.
What is crime?
● philosophical approach: aims to objectively define liberty limiting principles
● John Stuart Mill: Harm principle
○ That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any
number of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.
Additional liberty limiting principles (Feinberg)
● Paternalism: liberties may be limited to prevent individuals from causing harm to
themselves.
● Moralism: liberties may be limited when societies reject behvaiour, regardless of
whether the behaviour causes harm.
● offence principle: liberties may be limited if behaviour visibly offends other people,
regardless of harm being caused.
symbolic interactionism
● Social concepts cannot be defined exactly
● sensitising concepts
● interaction (e.g. language images) structures how people experience, interpret and
attribute meaning to everyday reality (Herbert Blumer, 1969)
○ “If people define situations as real they are real in their consequences.”
(Thomas Theorem)
Social construction (1)
● Human social relations and behaviour are regulated through social norms.
, ● A social norm is ‘any standard rule that states what human being should or should
not think, say or do under given circumstances’.
● These norms are continuously defined and redefined by the members of a social
group.
Social construction (2)
● larger communities cannot constantly (re)define norms in direct personal interactions.
● Instead, norms are ‘informally codified’ in what we define as culture.
● Laws are formalised codifications of societal norms.
Social construction (3)
● Cultural norms (and laws) are necessarily simplified representations of the
complexities of everyday life.
● These simplifications are called ‘frames’.
● In Specific situations, there may be a lot of reasons why general norms would
perhaps not apply.
Definition setting (1)
● Communities define their own norms.
● Who: individuals, interest groups, institutions, political parties, religious actors, the
media - increasingly social media - science, et cetera.
● Where: local, national, international
● Definitions are not static but change over time.
Definition setting (2)
● The power to define is spread unevenly within societies.
● Powerful economic actors may exert disproportionate influence.
● Weaker groups in society may not be heard.
Definition setting (3)
● increased complexity of definition setting:
● Increased complexity of societies
● Digitalisation and ‘bubbles’
● Global interests versus national sovereignty
Importance of social construction for criminology
some examples:
● The problem of theorising sensitising concepts.
● Responses to crime: why are some groups treated differently than others?
● The effect of definition power on the criminalisation or harmful behaviour.
● Mass surveillance or ‘deviant’ behaviour?
● The value of wildlife.
● The framing of migrants
● Definition of a terrorist.
introdcution
During this first week we will discuss the questions what crime entails and what the object of study of criminology is.
Criminology is an interdisciplinary field, which applies insights from other academic disciplines, such as sociology,
psychology, law, biology, economy, to crimesand harms. Since the emergence of the academic discipline of
criminology, there has been debate on how to define the object of study. Mainstream criminology takes the
view that only acts that constitute a violation of criminal law should be studied. Others include violations of
regulatory laws or even blameworthy harmful behaviour that has not been criminalised or regulated at all.
Another topic of debate has been whether criminology should only address individuals or also include
crimes committed by corporations and states. Finally, the question is whether criminology should only
consider humans or also non-human animals and ecosystems. An emerging field is criminology of the Globa
l south, which criticises the dominance of theories and concepts that have mostly been developed in
Europe and theUnited States.
Reading - introduction to criminology
1, Introduction
criminology can be defined as the study of the nature, extent, causes and control of criminal
behaviour. criminologists try to gain knowledge through theory and research on crime,
criminal behaviour and its control.
2, Criminological questions
criminology is an objective and not a normative scientific discipline. Criminologists study the
reason why specific behaviour is either criminalised, regulated or allowed within certain
boundaries, or not regulated or restricted at all.
Methodology is a key element of criminology.
Criminologists address 5 main questions:
1. definition
a. the main question is qhy certain types of behaviour are defined as criminal,
whereas others are not.
2. the scope of crime problems
a. the size of specific crime problems
3. explanation
a. why and where crimes occur
4. consequences of cirme
a. punishments
5. evaluation
a. how can crime be tackled or prevented and what is the effect of punishment
These 5 questions are addressed at different levels:
● individual level
● organisational aspects
● structural perspective
3, The history of criminology
Baccaria, 1964 argued that the punishment had to be proportional to the impact of the crime
on the “social contract”.
,in the 19th century, positivists believed that visible human behaviour should be studies
empirically and objectively in order to understand and explain it.
Willem Bonger was, in 1905, the first to point out the correlation between economic aspects
and crime.
4, The debate on the object of study of criminology
Edwin Sutherland defined criminology as the study of the making of laws, the breaking of
laws and society’s reaction to the breaking of laws.
A common feature is that the object of study of criminology is limited to behaviour that
qualifies as criminal and is codified as such in penal law. This is known as the mainstream
approach.
The problem with a social harm approach is its broadness. We cannot include every
imaginable hardship in the criminological project. It is difficult to empirically assess whether
behvaiour is harmful.
Only a handful of offenses are considered criminal in every culture: indiscriminate lying;
theft; violence and causing suffering; and incest.
in 1939 Sutherland concluded that criminology should also address ‘violations of law by
persons in the upper socio-economic classes’ which he dubbed “white-collar crimes”, he
defined these approximately ‘as crime committed by a person of respectability and high
social status in the course of his occupation’.
Most criminologists accepted that white-collar crimes as such were harmful, but refused to
agree that offenders were no different than ‘ordinary’ criminals.
Gei (1968) said to distinguish between 4 types of white-collar crimes:
1. Committed by individual actors against random victims.
2. Committed by employees against their employers. (occupational crime)
3. Committed by legal entities (corporations) against their employees.
4. Committed by legal entities (corporations) against customers and random victims.
(corporate crime)
Civil law systems criminalise violations of regulatory laws as economic offenses which are
included in the penal code.
William Chambliss (1989) argued that states could also be involved in criminal activity, in
addition to individuals and corporate entities. Chambliss talked about “state-organised crime”
as ‘acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in the pursuit of their jobs
as representatives of the state’.
Ward (2004) opts for state harm instead. He defines state harm as an act or omission of an
action by actors within the state that results in violaitons of domestic and international law,
human rights, or in systematic or institutionalised harm of its own or another state’s
population.
Teaching Video Social Construction
● criminology explores the bases and implications of criminal laws, how they emerge,
how they work, how they get violated and what happens to violators.
● Broad definition: criminology doe snot just study crimes but also blameworthy
harmful bahaviour.
criminological research questions
, ● definition, what types of harmful behaviour are considered criminal and why?
● Scope, What is the size of specific crime problems? How can this be measured?
How do you commit specific crimes: which knowledge, skills and tools are required?
● Explanation, What causes crime and how is criminal behaviour explained?
○ personal level: biological, psychological, etc.
○ Social and institutional level: historical, cultural, economical, political, etc.
● Consequences, What are the consequences? For perpetrators, victims, societies,
ecosystems?
● Evaluation, How can crime be tackled? What is the effect of punishment? How may
we prevent crime?
Todays topics
● how do societies determine which behaviour should be criminalised?
● Basic premise: we cannot objectively determine what is crime or deviant behaviour;
the value of things, et cetera.
● What we define as criminal behvaiour is the outcome of a process of social
construction.
Only a few types of behaviour are universally rejected as deviant across cultures:
● indiscriminate lying
● Stealing
● Violence and causing harm.
● Incest.
What is crime?
● philosophical approach: aims to objectively define liberty limiting principles
● John Stuart Mill: Harm principle
○ That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any
number of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.
Additional liberty limiting principles (Feinberg)
● Paternalism: liberties may be limited to prevent individuals from causing harm to
themselves.
● Moralism: liberties may be limited when societies reject behvaiour, regardless of
whether the behaviour causes harm.
● offence principle: liberties may be limited if behaviour visibly offends other people,
regardless of harm being caused.
symbolic interactionism
● Social concepts cannot be defined exactly
● sensitising concepts
● interaction (e.g. language images) structures how people experience, interpret and
attribute meaning to everyday reality (Herbert Blumer, 1969)
○ “If people define situations as real they are real in their consequences.”
(Thomas Theorem)
Social construction (1)
● Human social relations and behaviour are regulated through social norms.
, ● A social norm is ‘any standard rule that states what human being should or should
not think, say or do under given circumstances’.
● These norms are continuously defined and redefined by the members of a social
group.
Social construction (2)
● larger communities cannot constantly (re)define norms in direct personal interactions.
● Instead, norms are ‘informally codified’ in what we define as culture.
● Laws are formalised codifications of societal norms.
Social construction (3)
● Cultural norms (and laws) are necessarily simplified representations of the
complexities of everyday life.
● These simplifications are called ‘frames’.
● In Specific situations, there may be a lot of reasons why general norms would
perhaps not apply.
Definition setting (1)
● Communities define their own norms.
● Who: individuals, interest groups, institutions, political parties, religious actors, the
media - increasingly social media - science, et cetera.
● Where: local, national, international
● Definitions are not static but change over time.
Definition setting (2)
● The power to define is spread unevenly within societies.
● Powerful economic actors may exert disproportionate influence.
● Weaker groups in society may not be heard.
Definition setting (3)
● increased complexity of definition setting:
● Increased complexity of societies
● Digitalisation and ‘bubbles’
● Global interests versus national sovereignty
Importance of social construction for criminology
some examples:
● The problem of theorising sensitising concepts.
● Responses to crime: why are some groups treated differently than others?
● The effect of definition power on the criminalisation or harmful behaviour.
● Mass surveillance or ‘deviant’ behaviour?
● The value of wildlife.
● The framing of migrants
● Definition of a terrorist.
