criminology: connecting theory, research, and practice chapter 1 crime, deviance, and criminology: a...
TRANSCRIPT
Criminology: Connecting Theory, Research, and Practice
Chapter 1
Crime, Deviance, and Criminology:
A Brief Overview
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2
Introduction
The study of crime has two main dimensions Behavioral Definitional
Social behavior either conforms to the established order or contributes to social disorder
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
3
What Is Crime?
Legalist perspective Crime is behavior that violates criminal codes and
statutes Makes several unsupported assumptions
Political perspective Crime is socially constructed behavior Emphasizes the role of political power in the creation
of legal definitions
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
4
What Is Crime?
Psychological perspective Crime is maladaptive behavior Definition is very broad and encompasses many
behaviors
Sociological perspective Crime is behavior that threatens the social order Focuses on all actions that cause harm, misfortune,
and distress to others
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
5
What Is Crime?
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
6
What Is Crime?
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Individual Rights or Social Conformity…You Decide
7
What Is Deviance?
Deviance: Behavior that elicits a social reaction by violating the standards of conduct defined by society
Categories of social norms Folkways: Nonbinding social convention Mores: Strong convention about right/wrong Taboos: Prohibition on socially offensive acts Laws: Written formal decree
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
8
What Is Deviance?
Society does not always agree on the social and legal status of some behaviors Even when society does agree, consensus can change
from time to time and place to place The definitions of crime and deviance are subjective and
depend on the specific time and place
Crime: Human behavior that we interpret as violating society’s norms for a specific time and place and that must be controlled and prevented by legal decree
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
9
What Is Deviance?
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
10
What Is Criminology?
Criminology: The scientific study of the incidence and forms of crime and criminal behavior, their causes and consequences, and social reaction to, control of, and prevention of crime
Criminologists are academics, researchers, and policy analysts who focus on understanding the nature and meaning of crime, patterns of criminal behavior, causes of criminality, and society’s reaction to crime
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
11
What Is Criminology?
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
12
The Popular Image of Crime Versus the Reality of Criminal Behavior
Crime is committed by ordinary people
The popular image of crime comes from media portrayals that provide a false representation of crime-related facts and incidents Crimes reported by the media are often the crimes
that take place the least The media focuses on dramatic, unusual, and
shocking events, and places less emphasis on the everyday criminal behavior of regular people
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
13
Criminology and Theory
Theory: A set of propositions that put forward a relationship between the categories of events or phenomena we are studying
Criminological theories must account for the great diversity of crime and incorporate a wide variety of perspectives
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
14
Criminological Research and Public Policy
Criminology research allows policymakers to develop evidence-based strategies and interventions
It is the source upon which we rely to guide our understanding of current criminal justice issues
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Criminology: Connecting Theory, Research and Practice
15
Criminology and the Law
Consensus view Crime is a social phenomenon that is generally
agreed to be harmful, undesirable, and disruptive Criminal law thus defines as criminal all behavior
believed to be repulsive to all individuals in society
Conflict view Crime and deviance are products of unequal power
relationships Crime control thus becomes a tool of the powerful to
control the behavior of the less powerful
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
16
Criminology and the Law
©2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Two Perspectives on Law