CriminologyChapter 1What is Criminology?

What is Crime?• Crime is human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a jurisdiction that has

the power to make such laws• Without a law that circumscribes a particular form of behaviour, there can be no

crime, no matter how deviant or socially repugnant the behaviour in question may be

• In the study of criminology, three major forms of the law must be distinguished: civil, criminal, and administrative

• Civil law deals with arrangements between individuals, such as contracts and claims to property. It exists primarily for the purpose of enforcing private rights

• Criminal law regulates actions that have the potential to harm interests of the state• Serious criminal offences are referred to as indictable offences. It carries a

sentence of 14 years or longer• Summary conviction offences are criminal offences that are less serious than

indictable; it carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail• Hybrid offence is a criminal offence that can be classified as indictable or as a

summary conviction; the classification is usually made by the Crown• Administrative law regulates many daily business activities. Violation of such

regulations generally results in warnings or fines, depending on their adjudged severity

• Although the legalistic approach to crime – which sees crime solely as conduct in violation of the criminal law – is useful in the study of criminology, it is also limiting

• Not easily recognized by any legalistic definition of crime, however, is the social, moral, and individual significance of fundamentally immoral forms of behaviour

• Some activities not contravened by statute nonetheless call out for a societal response

• Another serious shortcoming of the legalistic approach to crime is that it yields the moral high ground to powerful individuals who are able to influence the making of laws and the imposition of criminal definitions on lawbreakers

• Formalized laws have not always existed• Common law: law originating from usage and custom rather than written statutes.

The term refers to non-statutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making

• Statutory law: law in the form of statutes or formal written strictures, made by a legislative or governing body with the power to make law

• Although Canada has enacted a comprehensive federal legal code, it still adheres to the common-law tradition

• From a political point of view, crime is a result of criteria that have been built into the law by powerful groups and that are then used to label selected undesirable forms of behaviour as illegal

• Those who adhere to this point of view say that crime is a definition of human conduct that is created by authorized agents in a politically organized society

• The political perspective defines crime in terms of the power structures that exist in society and asserts that criminal laws do not necessarily bear any inherent relationship to popular notions of right and wrong

Crime and Deviance• Most crimes can be regarded as deviant forms of behaviour• Some forms of deviance are not criminal and the reverse is equally true• Laws are subject to interpretation and may be modified as social norms change over

time• Some forms of behaviour are motivated by religious beliefs• Other forms of behaviour and quite common but still against the law• Some forms of behaviour are illegal in some jurisdictions but not in others

What do Criminologists do?• Criminologist: one who is trained in the field of criminology; also one who studies

crime, criminals and criminal behaviour• Specially skilled investigators, crime-laboratory technicians, fingerprint experts and

others who work to solve crimes are referred to as criminalists• Police officers, corrections professionals, parole officers and others who do the

day-to-day work of the criminal justice system are referred to as criminal justice professionals

• Academic criminologists and research criminologists generally hold doctoral or masters degrees in the field of criminology or criminal justice

• Many criminology professors are involved in research or writing projects, by which they strive to advance criminological knowledge

• The term criminologist may also be applied to persons who have earned undergraduate degrees in the field

• These degrees may provide entry into police investigative or support work, probation and parole agencies, court-support activities, and correctional work

What is Criminology?• Preliterate people explained deviant behaviour in terms of spirit possession• Criminologists must not only deal with a complex subject matter – consisting of a

broad range of illegal behaviours committed by frequently unknown or uncooperative individuals – they must also manage their work under changing

• Ology means “the study of something” and the word crimen comes from Latin, meaning “accusation,” “charge” or “guilt”

• Three other important types of definitions exist. They are: disciplinary, causative and scientific

• Disciplinary definitions are those that focus on criminology as a discipline• Causative definitions emphasize criminology’s role in uncovering the underlying

causes of crime

• There are those who point to the scientific nature of contemporary criminology as its distinguishing characteristic

• Criminology consists of three principal divisions: the sociology of law, scientific analysis of the causes of crime and crime control (Edwin H. Sutherland)

• Another well-known criminologist similarly sees three components of the field: detection (of the offender), treatment, and explaining crime and criminal behaviour

• Criminology includes consideration of possible solutions to the problem of crime• The main definition of Criminology is: an interdisciplinary profession built around

the scientific study of crime and criminal behaviour, including their form, causes, legal aspects, and control

• Four basic questions:• Why do crime rates vary?• Why do individuals differ as to criminality?• Why is there variation in reactions to crime?• What are the possible means of controlling criminality?

• Criminality: a behavioural predisposition that disproportionately favours criminal activity

• Criminology in its present form is primarily a social scientific discipline• Biology, sociology, political science, psychology, economics, medicine, psychiatry,

law, philosophy etc all have something to offer to criminology• Although criminology may be interdisciplinary in its approach to the subject matter

of crime, few existing explanations for criminal behaviour have been successfully integrated

• Criminologists have yet to develop a generally accepted, integrated approach to crime and criminal behaviour

• The phenomenon under study – crime – is subject to arbitrary and sometimes unpredictable legalistic and definitional changes

• Criminology also contributes to the discipline of criminal justice, which emphasizes application of the criminal law and study of the components of the justice system

Theoretical Criminology• Theoretical criminology, rather than simply describing crime and its occurrence,

posits explanations for criminal behaviour• A theory, at least in its ideal form, is made up of clearly stated propositions that

posit relationships, often of a casual sort, between events and things under study• A general theory of crime is one that attempts to explain all forms of criminal

conduct through a single, overachieving approach• Many past theoretical approaches to crime causation were unicausal while

attempting to be all-inclusive• The approaches posited a single, identifiable source for all serious deviant and

criminal behaviour• An integrated theory, in contrast to a general theory, does not necessarily attempt to

explain all criminality but is distinguishable by the fact that it merges concepts drawn from different sources

• Integrated theories provide potentially wider explanatory power than narrower formulations

• No one theory can explain all criminal behaviour• Both theoretical integration and the general applicability of criminological theories

to a wide variety of law-violating behaviours are intuitively appealing concepts

Theoretical Perspectives in Criminology• There are three generally accepted perspectives within criminology• The consensus perspective, the pluralistic perspective and the social conflict

perspectiveThe Consensus Perspective

• The consensus model of social organization is built around the notion that most members of society agree on what is right and wrong

• The consensus perspective is characterized by four principles :• A belief in the existence of core values. The consensus perspective holds that

commonly shared notions of right and wrong characterize the majority of society’s members

• The notion that laws reflect the collective will of the people. Law is seen as the result of a consensus, achieved through legislative action, and represents a kind of social conscience

• The assumption that the law serves all people equally. From the consensus point of view, the law not only embodies a shared view of justice but is itself perceived to be just in its application

• The idea that those who violate the law represent a unique subgroup with some distinguishable features. The consensus approach holds that law violators must somehow be improperly socialized, psychologically defective, or some other lapse which leaves them unable to participate in what is otherwise widespread agreement on values and behaviours

The Pluralist Perspective• Not everyone agrees on what the law should say • Consensus is hard to find• There exists within Canada today a great diversity of social groups, each with its

own point of view regarding what is right and what is wrong, and each with its own agendas

• A pluralistic perspective mirrors the thought that a multiplicity of values and beliefs exists in any complex society and that different social groups will have their own respective sets of beliefs, interests and values

• Although different viewpoints exist, most individuals agree on the usefulness of law as a formal means of dispute resolution

• The basic principles of the pluralistic perspective include:• Society consists of many and diverse social groups. Differences in age,

gender, sexual preference and ethnicity often provide the basis for much naturally occurring diversity

• Each group has its own characteristic set of values, beliefs and interests. Variety in gender, sexual orientation, economic status, ethnicity, and other

forms of diversity produces interests that may unite like-minded individuals but that may also place them in natural opposition to other social groups

• Conflict is essentially resolved through the peacekeeping activities of unbiased government officials exercising objective legal authority

The Social Conflict Perspective• The social conflict perspective maintains that conflict is a fundamental aspect of

social life itself that can never be fully resolved• According to this perspective, formal agencies of social control merely coerce the

unempowered or the disenfranchised to comply with the rules established by those in power

• From the conflict point of view, laws become a tool of the powerful, useful in keeping others from wresting control over important social institutions

• Social order, rather than being the result of any consensus or process of dispute resolution, rests upon the exercise of power through law the conflict perspective can be described in terms of the following key elements:

• Society is made up of diverse social groups. As in the pluralistic perspective, diversity is thought to based on distinctions that people hold to be significant, such as gender, sexual orientation, social class etc

• Each group holds to differing definitions of right and wrong. Moralistic conceptions and behavioural standards vary from group to group

• Those in power are inevitably interested in maintaining their power against those who would usurp it. The powerful strive to keep their power

The Science of Criminology • Armchair criminologists offered their ideas to one another as conjecture –

fascinating “theories” that could be debated ad nauseam• Present-day criminology is decidedly more scientific, which means that it is

amenable to objective scrutiny and systematic testing• A variety of criteria has been advanced for declaring any endeavour “scientific:”

among them are: • The systematic collection of related facts• An emphasis on the availability and application of the scientific method

• More contemporary criminologists are concerned with identifying relationships among the facts they observe and with attempting to understand the many and diverse causes of crime

Theory Building• The goal of research within criminology is the construction of theories or models

that allow for a better understanding of criminal behaviour• A theory consists of a set of interrelated propositions that provide a relatively

complete form of understanding • A complete lunar theory of crime causation would contain specific propositions

about the causal nature of phenomena involved• Theories serve a number of purposes • They give meaning to observations

• Theories within criminology serve the same purpose as those in the physical sciences, although they are often more difficult to test

• Theory building dispenses of the old adage that ‘it takes one to know one’, instead bringing at least the possibility of understanding within the reach of all

The Role of Research• Theories, need to be tested against the real world through a variety of research

strategies, including experimentation and case studies• Knowledge is inevitably built on experience and observation• The crux of scientific research is data collection• Data collection occurs through a variety of techniques, including direct observation,

the use of surveys and interviews, participant observation, and the analysis of existing data sets

• Research can be defined as the use of standardized, systematic procedures in the search for knowledge

• Applied research consists of scientific inquiry that is designed and carried out with practical application in mind

• Pure research, on the other hand, is undertaken simply for the sake of advancing scientific knowledge and is not expected to be immediately relevant

• Primary research is research characterized by original and direct investigation• Secondary research are new evaluations of existing information collected by other

researchers• Scientific research generally proceeds in stages, which can be divided conceptually

among:• Problem identification• The development of a research design • A choice of data gathering techniques• A review of findings, which often includes statistical analysis

Problem Identification• Consists of the naming of a problem or choice of an issue to be studied• The bulk of such research is intended to explore issues of casualty – especially the

claims made by theories purporting to explain criminal behaviour • Much contemporary research in criminology is involved with the testing of

hypotheses• A hypothesis serves two purposes: it is an explanation that accounts for a set of

facts and that can be tested by further investigation, and is something that is taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation

• A variable is simply a concept that can undergo measurable changesResearch Design

• Research designs structure the research process• Research designs consist of the logic and structure inherent in any particular

approach to data gathering• Confounding effects are rival explanations, also called competing hypotheses,

which are threats to the internal or external validity of any research design

• It is necessary to achieve some degree of control over factors that threaten the certainty that experimental intervention did indeed cause the changes observed in study groups

• Controlled experiments are those that attempt to hold conditions constant• Quasi-experimental designs are especially valuable when aspects of the social

setting are beyond the control of the researcher• The crucial defining feature of quasi-experimental designs is that they give

researchers control over the when and whom of measurement, even though others decide the when and to whom of exposure to the experimental intervention

Techniques of Data Collection• All research depends on the use of techniques to gather information, or data for

eventual analysis• Five major data gathering strategies typify research in the field of criminology:

• Survey research: a social science data-gathering technique involving the use of questionnaires

• Case study: an investigation into an individual case• Participant observation: a variety of strategies in data gathering in which the

researcher observes a group by participating, to varying degrees, in the activities of the group

• Self-reports: research investigations of subjects in order to record and report their behaviours

• Secondary analysis: the reanalysis of existing data

Quantitative versus Qualitative Methods• Quantitative methods or techniques – those that produce measurable results that

can be analyzed statistically• Intellectual comfort derives from the notion that anything expressible in numbers

must somehow be more meaningful than that which is not• Numerical expression is mostly a result of how researchers structure their approach

to the subject matter and is rarely inherent in the subject matter itself • Qualitative methods produce subjective results or results that are difficult to

quantify• Qualitative methods are important for the insight they provide into the subjective

workings of the criminal mind and the processes by which meaning is accorded to human experience

Values and Ethics in the Conduct of Research• The most effective way of controlling the effects of biases is to be aware of them at

the outset of the research• The protection of human subject, privacy, and data confidentiality (in which

research data are not shared outside of the research environment) are the most important ethical issues facing researchers today

• Informed consent is a strategy used by researchers to overcome many of the ethical issues inherent in criminological research

• Informed consent means that research subjects will be informed as to the nature of the research about to be conducted

• The very nature of participant observation is such that researchers of adult criminal activity may at times find themselves placed in situations where they are expected to go along with the group in violating the law

• A code of ethics should guide all professional criminologists in their research undertakings

• This code would require the researcher to assume the following personal responsibilities:

• Avoid procedures that may harm respondents• Honour commitments to respondents and respect reciprocity• Exercise objectivity and professional integrity in performing and reporting

research• Protect confidentiality and privacy of respondents

Criminology and Social Policy • Social policy – government initiatives, programs, and plans intended to address

problems in society. the National Crime Prevention Strategy, for example, is a kind of generic, large-scale social police – one consisting of many smaller programs

• High profile cases have caused many to blame the media for creating a current culture of violence

• V-chip – a device that enables viewers to program their televisions to block out content with a common rating. It is intended for use against violent or sexually explicit content

• Studies continue to point to the link between aggression, violence, educational or behavioural problems and television programs or computer games, and yet policy makers have been slow to curtail the production of violent media

• Profit motives of media vendors interfere with policies aimed at crime reduction• Some media consumers may be more susceptible than others• The emphasis on the race/cultural issue has failed to consider other possible

explanations for problems faced by Aboriginal people, such as “community marginalization, inequity of distribution of community resources, and family breakdown and dysfunction”

Social Policy and Public Crime Concerns• The news media, both print and television, seem to be preoccupied with delivering

stories about war, disease, and incidents of violent crime• The media are simply giving the public what it wants• Mass media influence public attitudes and belief about crime:

• The media tend not to report or to emphasize declining crime rates• National crime figures are only published once a year• Crime stories reported by the media are rarely put in a statistical context

• Although Canadian crime rates have been declining steadily for more than a decade, concern over issues of personal and national security remains pervasive

• The majority of Canadians endorse the federal governments anti-crime proposals

• Fear of crime is not necessarily related to the actual incidence of crime• Even if fear of crime has reached unreasonable levels when objectively compared

with the actual incidence of criminal activity, fear remains an important determinant of public policy

The Theme of this Book• Two popular perspectives: social problems perspective and social responsibility

perspective• The first point of view, social responsibility perspective, holds that crime is a

manifestation of underlying social problems such as poverty, discrimination, the breakdown of traditional social institutions, the poor quality of formal education available, pervasive family violence experienced during the formative years, and inadequate socialization practices

• Proponents of this perspective typically foresee solutions to the crime problem as coming in the form of government expenditures in support of social programs designed to address the issue that lie at the root of crime

• The social problems approach to crime is characteristics of what social scientists term a macro approach

• A contrasting perspective, the social responsibility perspective, holds that individuals are fundamentally responsible for their own behaviour and maintains that they choose crime over other, more law-abiding courses of action

• Perpetrators may choose crime, because it is exciting, it offers illicit pleasures and the companionship of like-minded thrill-seekers, or because it is simply less demanding than conformity

• Social responsibility perspective, tends to become increasingly popular in times when the fear of crime rises

• Social programs do little to solve the problem of crime because a certain number of crime-prone individuals, for a variety of personalized reasons, will always make irresponsible choices

• Advocates for the social responsibility approach suggest crime prevention and reduction strategies based on firm punishments, imprisonment, individualized rehabilitation, increased security, and a wider use of police powers

• The social responsibility perspective characteristically emphasizes a form of micro-analysis that tends to focus on individual offenders and their unique biology, psychology, background and immediate life experiences

The Social Context of Crime• Every crime has a quasi-unique set of causes, consequences and participants• Crime, in general, provokes reactions from the individuals it victimizes, from

concerned groups of citizens, from the criminal justice system, and sometimes from society as a whole, which manifests its concerns through the creation of social policy

Making Sense of Crime: The Causes and Consequences of the Criminal Event• Like other social events, crime is fundamentally a social construction

• It does not underplay the costs of crime to individual victims and to society as a whole

• Although a given instance of criminal behaviour may have many causes, it also carries with it many different kinds of meanings – at least one for offenders, another for victims, and another for agents of the criminal justice system

• Social relativity refers to the fact that social events are differently interpreted according to the cultural experiences and personal interests of the initiator, the observer, or the recipient of that behaviour

• Crime means different things to the offender, to the criminologist who studies it, to the police officer who investigates it, and to the victim who experiences it first-hand

• We call the background causes of crime ‘contributions’ and use the word ‘inputs’ to signify the more immediate propensities and predispositions of the actors involved in the situation

• Inputs also include the physical features of the setting in which a specific crime takes place

• Both background contributions and immediate inputs contribute to and shape the criminal event

• The more or less immediate results or consequences of crime are termed ‘outputs’ while the term ‘interpretations’ indicates that any crime has a lasting impact both on surviving participants and on society

• The criminal event is ultimately a result of the coming together of inputs provided by the offender, the victim, society and the justice system

• Offenders bring with them certain background features, such as personal life experiences, a peculiar biology, a distinct personality, personal values and beliefs, and various kinds of skills and knowledge

• Background contributions to crime can be vitally important• Whether individuals who undergo trauma at birth and are deprived of positive

maternal experiences will turn to crime depends on many other things, including their own mixture of other experiences and characteristics, the appearance of a suitable victim, failure of the justice system to prevent crime, and the evolution of a social environment in which criminal behaviour is somehow encouraged or valued

• Foreground contributions by the offender may consist of a particular motivation, a specific intent, or a drug-induced state of mind

• The criminal justice system also contributes to the criminal event through its failure to prevent criminal activity, adequately identify specific offenders prior to their involvement in crime and prevent the early release of convicted criminals who later become repeat offenders

• The failure of system-sponsored crime prevention programs helps to set the stage for the criminal event

• Proper system response may reduce crime • Police response (especially arrest) could, under certain demographic conditions,

dramatically reduce the incidence of criminal behaviour• Immediate inputs provided by the justice system typically consist of features of the

situation such as the presence or absence of police officers, the ready availability

(or lack of) official assistance, the willingness of police officers to intervene in pre-crime situations, and the response time required for officers to arrive at a crime scene

• Few crimes can occur without a victim• Merely by being present the victim contributes to the event, thereby increasing the

severity of the incident• Sometimes, victims more actively contribute to their own victimization through the

appearance of defencelessness, by failing to take appropriate defensive measures, through an unwise display of wealth, or simply by making other unwise choices

• Although lifestyle may provide the background that fosters victimization, a more active form of victimization characterizes ‘victims’ who initiate criminal activity

• Victim-precipitated offences are those that involve active victim participation in the initial stages of a criminal event and that take place when the soon-to-be victim instigates the chain of events that ultimately results in victimization

• The general public contributes to the criminal event both formally and informally• Society’s formal contributions sometimes take the form of legislation, whereby

crime itself is defined• Society structures the criminal event in a most fundamental way by delineating

through legislation and statute what forms of activity are to be thought of as criminal

• Society’s less formal contributions to crime arise out of generic social practices and conditions such as poverty, poor and informal education, various forms of discrimination by which pathways to success are blocked, and the socialization process

• The process of socialization has an especially important impact on crime causation because it provides the interpretive foundation used to define and understand the significance of particular situations in which we find ourselves, and it is upon those interpretations that we may (or may not) decide to act

• Through socialization, individuals learn about the dangers of criminal victimization; but when victimization occurs and is publicized, it reinforces the socialization process, leading to an increased wariness of others, etc

• The contributions made by society to crime are complex and far-reaching• Society’s foreground contributions to crime largely emanate from the distribution

of resources and the accessibility of services, which are often the direct result of economic conditions

• Societal decisions leading to the distribution and placement of advanced medical support equipment and personnel can effectively lower homicide rates in selected geographic areas

• When all the inputs brought to the situation by all those present coalesce into activity that violates the criminal law, a crime occurs

• Together, the elements, experiences, and propensities brought to the situation by the offender and victim, and those contributed to the pending event by society and the justice system, precipitate and decide the nature, course and eventual outcome of the criminal event

• Some of the inputs brought to the situation may be inhibiting; that is, they may tend to reduce the likelihood or severity of criminal behaviour

• Interpretations are ongoing. They happen before, during and after the criminal event, and are undertaken by all those associated with it

• Other interpretive activities may occur long after the crime has transpired, but they are at least as significant

• Societal-level decision making may revolve around the implementation of policies designed to stem from future instances of criminal behaviour, the revision of criminal codes, or the elimination of unpopular laws

• Crime can be viewed along a temporal continuum as an emergent activity that:• Arises out of past complex causes• Assumes a course that builds upon immediate relationships between victim,

offender, and the social order that exist at the time of the offence, and, after it has occurred

• Elicits a formal response from the justice system, shapes public perceptions, and possibly gives rise to changes in social policy

• The integrative point of view results in a comprehensive an inclusive view of crime because it emphasizes the personal and social underpinnings as well as the consequences of the crime

The Primacy of Sociology• The primary perspective from which most contemporary criminologists operate is a

sociological one• Those who argue for the primacy of the sociological perspective emphasize the fact

that crime, as a subject of study, is a social phenomenon• Central to any study of crime must be the social context of criminal event, which

brings victims and criminals together• One of the criticisms of the sociological perspective is its seeming reluctance to

accept the significance of findings from other fields