81-220-1 - Chapter 1

Michelle Palaro
Criminology 81-220-1
Fall 2014
© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 1 -
Crime and Criminology

• The Field of Criminology
– An academic discipline that uses the scientific
method to study the nature, extent, cause, and
control of criminal behavior
– Interdisciplinary science involving two or more
academic fields
• Criminal Justice
– System made up of the agencies of social
control, such as police departments, the courts,
and correctional institutions, that handle criminal
offenders

What Criminologists Do:
The Criminological Enterprise
• Criminal Statistics/Crime Measurement
– Create valid and reliable measures of criminal
behavior through:
• Analysis
• Measurement
• Identification
• Testing

• Sociology of Law/Law and Society/Socio-
Legal Studies
– Investigate the role that social forces play in
shaping criminal law
– Investigate the role of criminal law in shaping
society
– Investigate history of legal thought
– Assess effects of proposed legal change

Policies and Issues in
Criminology Critical Thinking
• Considering the findings of Zgoba and Bachar,
would you advocate abandoning sex offender
registration laws because they are ineffective?
Or might there be other reasons to keep them
active?
• What other laws do you think should be the topic
of careful scientific inquiry to see whether they
actually work as advertised?

• Developing Theories of Crime
Causation
–Psychological
–Biological
–Sociological

• Understanding and Describing Criminal
Behavior
– Victim-precipitated homicide
– White collar crime
– Mental illness
– Terrorist characteristics
– History of abuse

Class Discussion/Activity
Criminologists devote themselves to
understanding the causes of criminal behavior. For
instance, the shooting at the Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The
shooter killed 26 children and teachers.
Can knowing that such crimes are an urban
phenomenon help us understand why they occur
and how they can be prevented?

• Penology: Punishment, Sanctions, and
Corrections
– Penology: the correction and sentencing of
known criminal offenders
• Rehabilitation
• Social control

• Victimology
– Victim surveys
– Victimization risk
– Victim culpability
– Services for crime victims

A Brief History of Criminology
• Classical Criminology
– Theoretical perspective suggesting that
people choose to commit crime
– Crime can be controlled if potential
criminals fear punishment

• Video on Lombroso

• Positivist Criminology
– Application of the Scientific method
• Objective
• Universal
• Culture-free
– Empirical verification
• Value-free

• Sociological Criminology
–Anomie
–The Chicago School
– Individual’s socialization

• Conflict Theory
–Karl Marx
• Bourgeoisie
• Proletariat
• Critical Criminology
– Crime as a product of capitalism

• Developmental Criminology
–Gluecks
–Complex View
• Integration of sociological, psychological,
and economic elements

• Contemporary Criminology
–Rational Choice Theory
–Trait Theory
–Social Structure Theory
–Social Process Theory
– Critical Theory
–Developmental Theory

Deviant or Criminal? How
Criminologists Define Crime
• Deviance includes a broad spectrum of
behaviors, ranging from the most socially
harmful, such as rape and murder, to the
relatively inoffensive, such as joining a religious
cult or cross-dressing
• A deviant act becomes a crime when it is
deemed socially harmful or dangerous; it is then
specifically defined, prohibited, and punished
under the criminal law

• The Concept of Crime
–Consensus View of Crime
–Conflict View of Crime
– Interactionist View of Crime

• A Definition of Crime
– “Crime” is a violation of societal rules of
behavior as interpreted and expressed by
the criminal law, which reflects public
opinion, traditional values, and the
viewpoint of people currently holding social
and political power. Individuals who violate
these rules are subject to sanctions by
state authority, social stigma, and loss of
status

Class Discussion/Activity
• What are 3 behaviors that are deviant but not
criminal and 3 behaviors that are criminal but not
deviant?
• How may behavior you consider non-deviant
could be seen as deviant by someone else?

Criminology and the Criminal
Law
• Code of Hammurabi
• Mosaic Code
• Common Law
– Precedent
–mala in se
–mala prohibitum
• Contemporary Criminal Law
– Felony
– Misdemeanor
• The Evolution of Criminal Law

Criminology and Criminal
Justice
• The Criminal Justice System
• The Process of Justice
–Structured and legal process from initial
contact, through arrest, trial, and post-release

Ethical Issues in Criminology
• What to Study?
• Whom to Study?
• How to Study?

81-220-1 - Chapter 1

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