Chapter One Flashcards
four definitional perspectives of crime?
legalistic, political, sociological, psychological
crime in legalistic perspective?
human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the fed gov or prov /local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws
shortcoming of legalistic approach>
yields moral high ground to powerful makers of law
to make illegal
criminalize
formal written enactment of a legislative body
statute
law in the form of statutes or formal written strictures made by a legislature or gov body with power to make law
statutory law
three primary forms of law?
criminal, civil, admin
what is criminal law for?
regulate actions that can harm interests of state
3 types of criminal law offenses?
indictable , summary conviction, hybrid offenses
what is civil law for?
enforcing private rights and deals between individuals (ie. contracts, property claims)
what is admin law for?
daily business activities
political perspective of crime?
politically powerful create laws to prevent direct/indirect threats to their intersts
Schwendinger socio definition of crime?
any harmful acts including violation of human rights (direct or indirect)
psych perspective of crime:
form of social maladjustment which can be designated as a difficulty that the individual has in reacting to the stimuli of his enviro in such a way as to remain in harmony with that enviro
human activity that violates social norms
deviant behaviour
three contrasting points of view on how to reach answer on “what is criminal”?
consensus, pluralist, conflict
an analytical perspective on social organization that holds that laws should be enacted to criminalize given forms of behaviour when members of society generally agree that such laws are necessary
consensus perspective
4 principles of consensus perspective
1) most members of society believe in existence of core values
2) laws reflect collective will of ppl, represent social conscience
3) laws serve all ppl equally, is just in application
4) law violators must be improperly socialized, psychologically defective, suffer from other lapse
consensus perspective most applicable where?
in homogeneous societies (not multicultural)
what is pluralist perspective?
analytical approach to social org that holds that a multiplicity of values and beliefs exist in any complex society but that most social actors agree on usefulness of law as formal means of dispute resolution
basic principles of pluralistic perspective
1) society consists of many diverse social groups
2) each group has own set of values, beliefs, interests that may place them in opposition to other grps
3) general agreement that formalized laws useful for dispute resolution
4) legal system is value-neutral
5) legal system concerned with best interests of society
an analytical approach to social org that holds that conflict is fundamental aspect of social life and can never be fully resolved
conflict perspective
key elements of conflict perspective;
1) society made up of diverse social grps with diff defs of right and wrong
2) conflict tween grps is unavoidable cuz compete for power
3) law is tool of power, and those in power want to maintain power
gov initiative, program or plan intended to address probs in society
social policy