A.C. 1.1 & 1.2 - CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES Flashcards
What does malum in se mean (plural mala in se)?
- Latin phrase meaning wrong or evil in itself
- Suggests that some things are not relative to culture or time
- It is also a controversial concept
What does actus reus mean?
Latin phrase for guilty act
What does mens rea mean?
Latin phrase for guilty mind
Legal and social definitions of crime
Social- crime is defined as something that represents a conscious challenge to a prevailing social order and its values (an act that violates norms and values of society)
Legal- an act that violates criminal law (mens rea and actus reus)
What are the 2 types of offences?
Summary offenses- less serious offenses tries in local court by a magistrate, judgement and punishment determined by a magistrate, charges laid by police officers and punishment usually is not very severe (fine or community service)
Indictable offenses- more serious offenses tries by a judge and a jury, judgement is determined by a jury; punishment by a judge, charges laid by a public prosecutor and punishment usually involves imprisonment or a large fine
What are formal and informal sanctions?
Formal- cautions, custodial sentences, conditional sentences, community sentences, penalty notices, fines and discharge
Informal- job loss, peer pressure, social isolation, labelling people, name calling and stereotyping
What is deviance?
An act that goes against what is the usual or accepted standard in society
What are norms?
Defined as rules or exceptions that are socially enforced. Norms may be prescriptive or proscriptive
What are moral codes?
A written, formal and consistent set of rules prescribing righteous behavior, accepted by a person or a group of people
(How people should behave)
What are values?
Values are a cultures standards for discerning what is good and just in society
The social construction of crime
Crime is a social construct and what is considered criminal or deviant is determined by society and social processes.
This means that whether an act is criminal or not is determined by social processes e.g. the introduction of new Acts of Parliament which change the law and constantly change the nature of crime
If crime is socially constructed, you might expect laws to change from culture and from time to time
What does culture mean?
The ideas, customs and social behavior of a particular person or society
What is cultural validity?
Relates to the extent to which the term ‘crime’ can be applied to different cultures
What case study could be used for laws change in different cultures?
Forced marriage and homosexuality
What is temporal validity?
Relates to the extent to which definitions of crime remain constant over periods of time
What case study could be used for laws change in different places?
Homosexuality (Alan Turing Law) or jaywalking in American and Canada compared to the UK. Or gun laws in America compared to UK (Dunblane Massacre)
What are the 3 reasons why laws are applied differently for different circumstances (specifically homicide)?
Diminished responsibility
Loss of control
Automatism
What does diminished responsibility mean?
If an offender can show that their mental condition substantially reduces their ability to understand what they were doing
What does loss of control mean?
A partial defense that may reduce the offense to manslaughter
What does automatism mean?
If the defendant can show that the act was not voluntary, they can plead the defense of automatism
What is the legal age that someone is responsible for a crime in the UK?
10
What case study can be used for age related offenses?
The murder of James Bulger
The purpose of sanctions
What is punishment?
To inflict some kind of loss on the offender and give formal public expression to the unacceptability of the behaviour to the community
The purpose of sanctions
What is incapacitation?
To restrain the offender so as to limit their opportunities to commit further crime
The purpose of sanctions
What is deterrence?
To impose a penalty to either deter the individual from committing further crimes or to deter others from imitating the criminal behaviour
The purpose of sanctions
What is rehabilitation?
Designed to include measures which might contribute to the person desisting from future offences and to assist in their reintegration into society
The purpose of sanctions
What is reparation?
Penalties can involve direct or indirect compensation for the harm caused to victims by the crime
What are mores?
How people actually behave
