Introduction

Criminology

· The scientific study of crime, criminals, criminal behavior, and corrections

Three Basic Questions

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2.

3.

Where does our sense of deviance or our sense of right and wrong come from?

1) Absolutism

a. Right and Wrong

b. Mala in se

c. Religion

d. Reason

2) Relativism

a. Categories

b. Human construction

c. Audience/Reaction

d. Judgment

e. Mala Prohibita

Norms, Deviance, and Crime

Norms

· The expectations, or rules of behavior, that develop out of a group’s values and social interaction

· Folkways

· Mores

· Taboos

· Situational

· Internalized and Externalized

· Breach Experiments

Deviance

· Those conditions, persons or acts that are disvalued by society by society or simply offensive

· Positive vs. Negative Deviance

· Pro-normative behavior

Crime

• Conduct in violation of the criminal law(s) of a state, federal, or local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse
• Fluid
• Continuum

Three categories of crimes

• Felony
• Misdemeanors
• Infractions

1) Felony

• A criminal offense punishable by death or incarceration in a prison facility for at least a year

2) Misdemeanor

• An offense punishable by incarceration, usually in a local confinement facility (jail), for a period of which the upper limit is prescribed by statute in a given jurisdiction, typically limited to a year or less

3) Infraction

• A minor violation of state statute or local ordinance punishable by fine or other penalty, but not by incarceration, or specified, usually limited term of incarceration 

General Features of Crime

• Six features need to make a crime in Western Jurisprudence

1) Criminal Act

• Act/Action
• Actus Reus

Legality

• A law must exist to criminalize the act
• Ex post facto laws
• Punishment

2) Guilty Mind

• Mental state
• Mens rea

Special Type of Mens Rea

• Strict liability

3) Concurrence

• The coexistence of an act in violation of the law and a culpable mental state

4) Causation

• A clear link needs to be identifiable between the act and the harm occasioned by the crime

5) Harm

• Someone must be harmed/injured
• Victimless crimes

6) Necessary Attendant Circumstances

• Facts surrounding an event
• Corpus Delicti

How do we control behavior?

• Social control-use of sanctions available through a group or individual to influence and shape the behavior of another or a group
• Sanction-authoritative approval; approval; or a coercive measure

Sanctions (Negative vs. Positive)

· Formal

· Informal

· Negative

· Positive Sanctions

· Negative formal

· Negative informal

· Positive formal

· Positive informal

Criminology as a Social Science

Social

· Relationships

· Interactions

· How society works

· Arrangement

· Culture/Socialization/Organization

· Social Institutions

Science

· Systemized knowledge

· Organization of objectively verifiable senses

· Utilizes scrutinized and rigid rules or methods

· Cause and effect

· Scientific Method

· Reproduction

Wheel of Social Science

• Theory------>Research------>Statistics-------->Policy (Back to theory)

Theory

· A set of interrelated propositions that attempt to describe, explain, predict, and ultimately control some class of events

· Cause and effect

· Time ordering

· Logical consistency

· General theory vs. Specific theory

• Social policies

Research Methods

• COLLECTION THE DATA
• Standardized, systematic procedures
• Rigorous Systematic rules
• Source of data 
• Longitudinal vs. Cross-sectional
• Research Design
• Sampling
• Quantitative, Qualitative, and Evaluative

Statistics

• Analyze and summarize the relationships or lack thereof 
• Distribution
  Measures of Central Tendency

Policy

• Plan or course of actions intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters
• Direct and indirect

Theory Classification

Major Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

1) Functionalism

· Crime is a natural product of society

· Maintain stability

· Equilibrium

· Consensus of values

· Functions of Crime

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

2) Conflict

· Sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups

· Natural conflict

· Struggle

· Power and control

· Law as a tool of the powerful

3 Interactionist

· Generalizations about fundamental or everyday forms of social interactions

· Product of our social interactions

· Symbols and communication

· Non-verbal communication

· Looking glass-self; self is developed in a social context
1)
2)
3)

Broad classifications of levels of explanation

1) Macro

· broad; large scale explanations

2) Micro

· Individual or small groups

3) Bridging

· Combines both macro and micro

Levels of explanation

1) Culture

· Totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior

· Shared, learned, and intergenerational

· Product of the interaction of both material and non-material meanings beliefs, values, norms ..etc.

· Stable

2) Social Institutions

· Organized patterns of beliefs and behaviors centered on basic social needs

· Fulfill essential system requirements

3) Neighborhoods/Community/Groups

· Community-A group of people within a distinct area with distinct characteristics under same government

· Neighborhoods- a group of people living together near each other; groups of neighborhoods make
up communities

· Groups-A number of people interacting together on the basis of shared expectations about one another's behavior

· Primary groups

· Secondary groups

4) Individual

· Single member

Structure vs. Process theories

· Two variations of sociological theories

Structural theories

· Deviance/crime is characterized as a product of stable, macro level patterns of interactions

· Opportunity structure, culture, institutions, values

Process theories

· Deviance/Crime is characterized as a product of fluid sequence of stages, decision points, and negotiations through which behavior and its meaning emerges