Chapter 1
1.1
1.2
Aetiological theories : concerned with seeking to explain why crime occurs, and therefore, what
we should do about it.
—> how you tackle crime depends on what you view as being the cause
1.3
Criminology: the study of crime, justice and law and order issues, and the broader dynamics of
society in terms of informing how those things exist and are experienced. (there is no correct
de nition)
—> In addition to studying crime, justice and law ander order processes, there is also
consideration of wider processes which have impact on those things. social and cultural context,
the political climate, the nature of the economy, globalisation and technological progress, human
rights agenda must also be considered when seeking to explore and understand the nature of
crime and justice
1.4
Gibb’s cycle of re ection:
1. describe what happened in a situation
2. consider your feelings and thought at the time
3. evaluate what was good and bad about the experience/s
4. do an analysis in terms of what else you could have done
5. develop an action plan for what you would do now
1.5
Tabel 1.1 summary of many key concerns and topics within modern-day criminology that are dealt
with in this book in some way
The criminal justice system: the process through which the state responds to behaviour that
deems unacceptable. Criminal justice is delivered through a series of stages: charge, prosecution,
trial sentence, appeal, punishment, these processes and the agencies which carry them out are
referred to collectively as the criminal justice system
—> the various processes and agencies include law-making, enforcement of laws through
agencies such as the police, and then the processing, defence and sentencing of suspects via a
system involving the crown prosecution service such as prisons and probation. There are various
agencies whose role is to mange or inspect those processes
—> criminologist are interested in JCS for multiple reasons but also for its potential for
controversies and inequalities to operate within processes of criminal justice (race gender,
employment in uencing factors)
1.6
legal de nition crime: Intentional act which breaks or goes against a law of some sort
—> criminologists point to a range of problems associated with the legal de nition
The law is seen as a set of tools to protect the public an to ensure that society runs in an orderly
manner, must consider range issues:
- where have laws come from, who created them, and for what purpose
- is the law e ective at criminalising all behaviours or events that are damaging or harmful
- are some laws needless
- what are the consequences of the laws we have
- who is a ected by the laws, do some laws victimise speci c groups
laws are are not xed or static —> crime is also uid
—> laws are made at state level, governments must create new legislation to make law—> this
process can be lengthy, but arriving at the decision to criminalise behaviour can take much longer,
meaning that certain damaging behaviours are not considered in law, so not acted against
—> decision to criminalise certain behaviours has to be in uenced by something (media, public, a
political agenda, changing social/ cultural attitudes towards behaviours, technological
developments)—> things only become de ned as crime once there has been enough reason for
fi fi fffl fifffl fi fl fl fi fi
, the state to react to it an even then criminalising some behaviours might be slowed down or
blocked by powerful actors with vested intrests.
Moral and social context of crime: Many damaging behaviours are not or should be criminalised,
while some groups in society are seemingly disadvantaged by the needless or necessity of
criminalising of certain behaviours (gay rights, rape within marriage)
socially constructed nature of crime: how much of what is viewed as a crime is a product of the
dynamics of a given society at a given point in time
Deviancy: acts that are outside the mainstream values and norms of society, they may be legal or
illegal, but where they are legal deviant behaviour can often eventually become formally
criminalised when there is enough reaction against it.
some criminologists prefer to utilise a harm-based approach to think about o ending —> they can
consider working conditions, environmental damage health damage, whereby it is clearly harm
being carried out against people and groups that demands some form of attention and action
—> the more harm done, the greater the severity of the response required, formal law can tend to
catchup up but sometimes not su ciently
1.7 types of crime
Acquisitive crimes: acts that involve acquisition or gain of property, money or anything else that is
a tangible reward. (theft burglary, fraud)
expressive crimes: Acts that do not, seemingly, involve the acquisition of goods, but instead are
linked to emotions and emotional release, where the act self is the goal. Often violent or sexual in
nature
property crimes: acts involving the acquisition of property or damage to property. in addition to
acts such as theft and robbery this includes criminal damage, vandalism ect.
crimes against the person: Crimes that directly involve an act against an individual or group of
people, such as a violent or sexual act.
sexual o ences: acts covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviours against
a person, or group, physical or otherwise
white-collar crime: Acts committed by people usually in a work context, for their own personal
gain. (theft, fraud) O ending in respectable or status-based professions, as opposed to blue collar
(manual workers)
corporate crime: Acts committed by or behalf of a company that in some way bene ts company
goals. This includes nancial transactions, but also negligence, industrial espionage (discovering
secrets rival), not adhering to health or safety or environmental regulations ect.
crimes of the powerful: Acts committed by those in position of power, such as governments,
corporations and business gures, where they abuse their position of power and acts with some
form of corruption and impunity (freedom of the consequences).
State crimes: acts committed, commissioned or advocated in some way by the states to achieve
their goals.
Peace crimes(including crimes against humanity): Acts that are so abhorrent or terrible that they
go against humanity and thus have their own label. The UN sets out what they entail (genocide,
systematic torture)
social harms: Linked to there ‘harms-based de nition of crime’. Acts that harm communities or
speci c groups of people and are often not dealt with by formal laws.
warcrimes: Acts committed during con icts and wars, when state actors breach domestic or
usually international laws regarding warfare, and involve a disregards for human rights.
status o ences/crimes: Acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in the context of
certain conditions. Often this is in the instance of young people having their behaviours
regulated. (alcohol consumption)
hate crimes: Acts committed where victims are targeted because of their personal characteristics.
(age, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexuality)
Cybercrime: Acts committed using or facilitated by information and communication technologies.
fi ffff fffi fi ffi fl fi ff fi
, extra in lecture
Chapter 2 ‘Theory’ and its uses
2.1 What is theory
theory: An explanation, or model, or framework for understanding particular events or processes.
Are all based on a series of assumptions (what is a crime (di erent for d di erent people in
di erent places)) Next to why, theories can help to consider and understand a range of di erent
issues connected to crime, law and order, and the broader nature of society (who victimisation
ect. ), they a ord the possibility for policymaking
Aetiological theories of crime: theories that are about how crime comes about. They are
concerned with causes of crime. What they do mostly take the legal de nitions as starting point
2.2 The problems with theory
in this chapter tried to present a basic and overarching view of theories without the reams of detail
that are often provided.—> too much detail, most signi cant message can be lost, other problem
with theories is that they are often presented a black and white separation (that you have to chose
one model and reject the others) —> however these theories are simpli ed e orts at explanation
early one model can completely explain or make sense of events on their own
like to refer to theories as heuristic tools: mental shortcuts or simpli cations for making sense of
something (usually unrealistic), they provide di erent view points. potentially the viewer is able to
get the same information by seeing the same features of the event, however they also may view
di erent aspects —. could make a di erence in terms of how they think about the vents that
unfolded
criminological theories can be used together to overcome the fact that they are simpli cations. —
> using more theories lls in more gaps than in isolation. Commentators have taken previous
theories and added, amended fused, them to make better sense of events
2.3 key examples of theories in criminology
Classicism and positivism are foundational schools of thought within criminology
Classicism positions: o ending as a consequence of people choosing to commit crime, based on
them weighing-up situations and likely outcomes. Individuals viewed as rational actors who are
self-interested in their actions.
Positivism: presents an opposite account of o ending, where people engage in o ending
because they are in uenced by the forces outside their own control. Some people do not have the
capacity to act rationally instead; internal forces of biology or psychology or external forces of
social conditions and culture can in uence actions
blocks of theory within criminology
(important aspects: why it occurs, what should we do about it, what is the wider nature of society)
1st block: choice, decision making classicist principles —> people choose actively to commit
crime because they expect an outcome. Understanding crime in this way means that in
responding to crime we should look to make o ending more di cult to do and make the
punishment outweigh the gains and discourage o enders
2nd block: Individual pathologies ( individual positivism) —> individual/ internal in uences,
biological or psychological abnormalities of an o ender. In such accounts crime must be dealt
with through treating or rehabilitating o enders to remove the abnormalities or pathology that has
caused the o ending.
3rd block: social in uences (social/ sociological Positivism) —> presents o ending as an outcome
both pathologies of a community, a culture or the social structures of a society. In responding to
crime broader in uences need to be addressed. (inequality)
ff ffff fl flfl fiff fl ff ff ffffff ffff fi ff ffi fi fifi ffff ff fffl fi ff
, 4th block: critical apporaches—> emerged later but has major impact on the eld (in uenced by
marxism) critical theories challenges the status quo and ask question of the role of the state, laws
and the CJS. point to con ict in society and inequalities based on things such as class, ethnicity
and gender. present crime in the context of a wider social processes (inequality, class, power and
the marginalisation of some groups)In such instances crime becomes a mechanism for
responding or surviving for some group, there valuable to wonder who is targeted by lawmakers
and the CJS. Processes of criminalisation are therefore highlighted. . criminalisation nd responses
to crime serve to control elements of the population
5th way of thinking about o ending: integrated accounts —> (not necessarily a distinctive block)
mixture of of in uences from the rst four that links to the earlier point on synthesis of ideas. They
integrate aspects of the other blocks in a process of synthesis to present a more holistic
explanation
di erent theories emerged from blocks, but banding theories together into broader bands can be
useful in terms of appreciating the big overarching arguments that transcend the individual
theories
2.4 how is theory created and how does it work?
theory emerges for a series of processes, it is related to a web of knowledge —> theory is usually
shaped or linked to the speci c questions of interest.
following is a detailed account of how it possible to think theory and what to keep in mind when
thinking about theory, where theory comes from and its purpose: broad issues and concerns of
criminology, speci c questions, concepts, research activities, evidence evaluation and policy
broad issues and concerns of criminology: theories are linked to these in terms of being
concerned with speci c issues, or in allowing us to better understand those broader issues in
some way. Ex. cause of crime such board concerns are usually initial starting points for research
and courses of study.
speci c questions: honing-in from a broader issue or concern, speci c questions are developed
at which capture a speci c aspect of the wider issue, and allow for more in-depth thinking and
analysis or a speci c application of theory ex. cause —> why speci c group
concepts: mental shortcuts which help to describe or label certain phenomena. They are not xed
or universal because our understanding of them can vary across space and time (def. crime).
concepts are important in the web of knowledge because theories utilise speci c concepts within
their analysis. Some concepts might be common but some are speci c to individual types of
theories
research activities: used to newer question they have. research can be in a variety of di erent
forms,(literature-based work, empirical [has multiple forms in it self])
evidence: data gathered from out research then forms evidence which is simply information of
some form that helps to develop thinking about an issue or test pre-existing ideas
evaluation: using the evidence gathered, the next step is to asses what this means and that it tells
us about the issue/question we are considering, a theory might them from from this. (can also be
used to test against pre-axing theories)
policy: action, a set of practices or law-making that is concerned with a ecting change, dealing
with a problem or reacting to it in some way, usually with a hoped-for positive outcome. It’s
arrived from considering the evidence and the subsequent theory regarding the phenomenon.
the criminological web of knowledge is complicated because not only does it show the
relationships between the various aspects of criminological enquiry, its also demonstrates how
inpractice things do not always work in a single direction of in uence
ff fi
fl fifi fi fi fl ff fi fi fl fi fi ff fi fi fl ff fi
1.1
1.2
Aetiological theories : concerned with seeking to explain why crime occurs, and therefore, what
we should do about it.
—> how you tackle crime depends on what you view as being the cause
1.3
Criminology: the study of crime, justice and law and order issues, and the broader dynamics of
society in terms of informing how those things exist and are experienced. (there is no correct
de nition)
—> In addition to studying crime, justice and law ander order processes, there is also
consideration of wider processes which have impact on those things. social and cultural context,
the political climate, the nature of the economy, globalisation and technological progress, human
rights agenda must also be considered when seeking to explore and understand the nature of
crime and justice
1.4
Gibb’s cycle of re ection:
1. describe what happened in a situation
2. consider your feelings and thought at the time
3. evaluate what was good and bad about the experience/s
4. do an analysis in terms of what else you could have done
5. develop an action plan for what you would do now
1.5
Tabel 1.1 summary of many key concerns and topics within modern-day criminology that are dealt
with in this book in some way
The criminal justice system: the process through which the state responds to behaviour that
deems unacceptable. Criminal justice is delivered through a series of stages: charge, prosecution,
trial sentence, appeal, punishment, these processes and the agencies which carry them out are
referred to collectively as the criminal justice system
—> the various processes and agencies include law-making, enforcement of laws through
agencies such as the police, and then the processing, defence and sentencing of suspects via a
system involving the crown prosecution service such as prisons and probation. There are various
agencies whose role is to mange or inspect those processes
—> criminologist are interested in JCS for multiple reasons but also for its potential for
controversies and inequalities to operate within processes of criminal justice (race gender,
employment in uencing factors)
1.6
legal de nition crime: Intentional act which breaks or goes against a law of some sort
—> criminologists point to a range of problems associated with the legal de nition
The law is seen as a set of tools to protect the public an to ensure that society runs in an orderly
manner, must consider range issues:
- where have laws come from, who created them, and for what purpose
- is the law e ective at criminalising all behaviours or events that are damaging or harmful
- are some laws needless
- what are the consequences of the laws we have
- who is a ected by the laws, do some laws victimise speci c groups
laws are are not xed or static —> crime is also uid
—> laws are made at state level, governments must create new legislation to make law—> this
process can be lengthy, but arriving at the decision to criminalise behaviour can take much longer,
meaning that certain damaging behaviours are not considered in law, so not acted against
—> decision to criminalise certain behaviours has to be in uenced by something (media, public, a
political agenda, changing social/ cultural attitudes towards behaviours, technological
developments)—> things only become de ned as crime once there has been enough reason for
fi fi fffl fifffl fi fl fl fi fi
, the state to react to it an even then criminalising some behaviours might be slowed down or
blocked by powerful actors with vested intrests.
Moral and social context of crime: Many damaging behaviours are not or should be criminalised,
while some groups in society are seemingly disadvantaged by the needless or necessity of
criminalising of certain behaviours (gay rights, rape within marriage)
socially constructed nature of crime: how much of what is viewed as a crime is a product of the
dynamics of a given society at a given point in time
Deviancy: acts that are outside the mainstream values and norms of society, they may be legal or
illegal, but where they are legal deviant behaviour can often eventually become formally
criminalised when there is enough reaction against it.
some criminologists prefer to utilise a harm-based approach to think about o ending —> they can
consider working conditions, environmental damage health damage, whereby it is clearly harm
being carried out against people and groups that demands some form of attention and action
—> the more harm done, the greater the severity of the response required, formal law can tend to
catchup up but sometimes not su ciently
1.7 types of crime
Acquisitive crimes: acts that involve acquisition or gain of property, money or anything else that is
a tangible reward. (theft burglary, fraud)
expressive crimes: Acts that do not, seemingly, involve the acquisition of goods, but instead are
linked to emotions and emotional release, where the act self is the goal. Often violent or sexual in
nature
property crimes: acts involving the acquisition of property or damage to property. in addition to
acts such as theft and robbery this includes criminal damage, vandalism ect.
crimes against the person: Crimes that directly involve an act against an individual or group of
people, such as a violent or sexual act.
sexual o ences: acts covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviours against
a person, or group, physical or otherwise
white-collar crime: Acts committed by people usually in a work context, for their own personal
gain. (theft, fraud) O ending in respectable or status-based professions, as opposed to blue collar
(manual workers)
corporate crime: Acts committed by or behalf of a company that in some way bene ts company
goals. This includes nancial transactions, but also negligence, industrial espionage (discovering
secrets rival), not adhering to health or safety or environmental regulations ect.
crimes of the powerful: Acts committed by those in position of power, such as governments,
corporations and business gures, where they abuse their position of power and acts with some
form of corruption and impunity (freedom of the consequences).
State crimes: acts committed, commissioned or advocated in some way by the states to achieve
their goals.
Peace crimes(including crimes against humanity): Acts that are so abhorrent or terrible that they
go against humanity and thus have their own label. The UN sets out what they entail (genocide,
systematic torture)
social harms: Linked to there ‘harms-based de nition of crime’. Acts that harm communities or
speci c groups of people and are often not dealt with by formal laws.
warcrimes: Acts committed during con icts and wars, when state actors breach domestic or
usually international laws regarding warfare, and involve a disregards for human rights.
status o ences/crimes: Acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in the context of
certain conditions. Often this is in the instance of young people having their behaviours
regulated. (alcohol consumption)
hate crimes: Acts committed where victims are targeted because of their personal characteristics.
(age, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexuality)
Cybercrime: Acts committed using or facilitated by information and communication technologies.
fi ffff fffi fi ffi fl fi ff fi
, extra in lecture
Chapter 2 ‘Theory’ and its uses
2.1 What is theory
theory: An explanation, or model, or framework for understanding particular events or processes.
Are all based on a series of assumptions (what is a crime (di erent for d di erent people in
di erent places)) Next to why, theories can help to consider and understand a range of di erent
issues connected to crime, law and order, and the broader nature of society (who victimisation
ect. ), they a ord the possibility for policymaking
Aetiological theories of crime: theories that are about how crime comes about. They are
concerned with causes of crime. What they do mostly take the legal de nitions as starting point
2.2 The problems with theory
in this chapter tried to present a basic and overarching view of theories without the reams of detail
that are often provided.—> too much detail, most signi cant message can be lost, other problem
with theories is that they are often presented a black and white separation (that you have to chose
one model and reject the others) —> however these theories are simpli ed e orts at explanation
early one model can completely explain or make sense of events on their own
like to refer to theories as heuristic tools: mental shortcuts or simpli cations for making sense of
something (usually unrealistic), they provide di erent view points. potentially the viewer is able to
get the same information by seeing the same features of the event, however they also may view
di erent aspects —. could make a di erence in terms of how they think about the vents that
unfolded
criminological theories can be used together to overcome the fact that they are simpli cations. —
> using more theories lls in more gaps than in isolation. Commentators have taken previous
theories and added, amended fused, them to make better sense of events
2.3 key examples of theories in criminology
Classicism and positivism are foundational schools of thought within criminology
Classicism positions: o ending as a consequence of people choosing to commit crime, based on
them weighing-up situations and likely outcomes. Individuals viewed as rational actors who are
self-interested in their actions.
Positivism: presents an opposite account of o ending, where people engage in o ending
because they are in uenced by the forces outside their own control. Some people do not have the
capacity to act rationally instead; internal forces of biology or psychology or external forces of
social conditions and culture can in uence actions
blocks of theory within criminology
(important aspects: why it occurs, what should we do about it, what is the wider nature of society)
1st block: choice, decision making classicist principles —> people choose actively to commit
crime because they expect an outcome. Understanding crime in this way means that in
responding to crime we should look to make o ending more di cult to do and make the
punishment outweigh the gains and discourage o enders
2nd block: Individual pathologies ( individual positivism) —> individual/ internal in uences,
biological or psychological abnormalities of an o ender. In such accounts crime must be dealt
with through treating or rehabilitating o enders to remove the abnormalities or pathology that has
caused the o ending.
3rd block: social in uences (social/ sociological Positivism) —> presents o ending as an outcome
both pathologies of a community, a culture or the social structures of a society. In responding to
crime broader in uences need to be addressed. (inequality)
ff ffff fl flfl fiff fl ff ff ffffff ffff fi ff ffi fi fifi ffff ff fffl fi ff
, 4th block: critical apporaches—> emerged later but has major impact on the eld (in uenced by
marxism) critical theories challenges the status quo and ask question of the role of the state, laws
and the CJS. point to con ict in society and inequalities based on things such as class, ethnicity
and gender. present crime in the context of a wider social processes (inequality, class, power and
the marginalisation of some groups)In such instances crime becomes a mechanism for
responding or surviving for some group, there valuable to wonder who is targeted by lawmakers
and the CJS. Processes of criminalisation are therefore highlighted. . criminalisation nd responses
to crime serve to control elements of the population
5th way of thinking about o ending: integrated accounts —> (not necessarily a distinctive block)
mixture of of in uences from the rst four that links to the earlier point on synthesis of ideas. They
integrate aspects of the other blocks in a process of synthesis to present a more holistic
explanation
di erent theories emerged from blocks, but banding theories together into broader bands can be
useful in terms of appreciating the big overarching arguments that transcend the individual
theories
2.4 how is theory created and how does it work?
theory emerges for a series of processes, it is related to a web of knowledge —> theory is usually
shaped or linked to the speci c questions of interest.
following is a detailed account of how it possible to think theory and what to keep in mind when
thinking about theory, where theory comes from and its purpose: broad issues and concerns of
criminology, speci c questions, concepts, research activities, evidence evaluation and policy
broad issues and concerns of criminology: theories are linked to these in terms of being
concerned with speci c issues, or in allowing us to better understand those broader issues in
some way. Ex. cause of crime such board concerns are usually initial starting points for research
and courses of study.
speci c questions: honing-in from a broader issue or concern, speci c questions are developed
at which capture a speci c aspect of the wider issue, and allow for more in-depth thinking and
analysis or a speci c application of theory ex. cause —> why speci c group
concepts: mental shortcuts which help to describe or label certain phenomena. They are not xed
or universal because our understanding of them can vary across space and time (def. crime).
concepts are important in the web of knowledge because theories utilise speci c concepts within
their analysis. Some concepts might be common but some are speci c to individual types of
theories
research activities: used to newer question they have. research can be in a variety of di erent
forms,(literature-based work, empirical [has multiple forms in it self])
evidence: data gathered from out research then forms evidence which is simply information of
some form that helps to develop thinking about an issue or test pre-existing ideas
evaluation: using the evidence gathered, the next step is to asses what this means and that it tells
us about the issue/question we are considering, a theory might them from from this. (can also be
used to test against pre-axing theories)
policy: action, a set of practices or law-making that is concerned with a ecting change, dealing
with a problem or reacting to it in some way, usually with a hoped-for positive outcome. It’s
arrived from considering the evidence and the subsequent theory regarding the phenomenon.
the criminological web of knowledge is complicated because not only does it show the
relationships between the various aspects of criminological enquiry, its also demonstrates how
inpractice things do not always work in a single direction of in uence
ff fi
fl fifi fi fi fl ff fi fi fl fi fi ff fi fi fl ff fi
