FRSC 3110 Flashcards
Type of crime
-violent- degree of violence, how violence is defined
-white collar
-property
-organized
Circumstances of crime
-one incident or repeated
-over time or at once
-one/multiple victims
Perpetrator of crime
-age, occupation, background, health, marital status
-motive
-planning- planned, random, spontaneous
Victim of crime
-individual- known/not known
-group
-society
-reaction/no reaction
Crime changing over time
-some behaviours recognized as crimes+ universally condemned through history
-others previously thought as illegal now legal
-some previous tolerated behaviours suddenly unlawful, even though no measurable increase in threat to public safety
-attitudes toward punishment have changed over time
Important goal of the course:
“Examine the causative factors in effect when a crime is committed and encourage an appreciation of the challenges of crafting effective crime-prevention and crime-control policy.”
4 definitional perspectives in criminology on what is crime:
-legalistic
-political
-sociological
-psychological
Legalistic perspective
Crime: human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a provincial or local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws
-without law to see if behaviour is criminal, there would be no crime
-social, moral+ individual significance of immoral forms of behaviour not easily recognized
-need to consider the temporal element
-a problem is that it seeds the power to those that make the laws
Political perspective
-crime in terms of power structures
-crime is the result of criteria built into the law by powerful groups+ used to label selected undesirable behavior as illegal
-law serves interest of politically powerful
-criminal laws do not bear any inherent relationship to popular notions of right and wrong
Sociological perspective
-crime as an antisocial act necessary to repress in order to preserve the existing system of society (Fattah)
-primarily an offence against human relationships+ then a violation of the law (Classen)
-need a broader consideration of crime than either the legal or political perspectives
Psychological perspective
-crime as a problem behavior
-a form of social maladjustment
-results in difficulties in living within a framework of acceptable social arrangements
-if this definition adopted: criminologists studies would expand greatly
Crime+ deviance
Deviant behaviour: human activity that violates social norms
-some forms are not criminal
-some behaviours are still against the law even if those who engage in them do not think of them as deviant
3 points of view on what should be defined as criminal
- The consensus perspective
- The pluralistic perspective
- The conflict perspective
The consensus perspective
-perspective on social organization
-laws should be enacted to criminalize given forms of behaviour when members of society generally agree that such laws are necessary
The pluralist perspective
-multiple beliefs and values exist in any complex society
-most social actors agree on usefulness of law for dispute resolution
-legal system is value neutral+ concerned with the best interest of society
The conflict perspective
-an approach to social organization that considers conflict a fundamental aspect of social life and can never be fully resolved
-society comprised of diverse social groups
-each group has different definitions of right and wrong
-conflict between groups is unavoidable
-group conflict centers on the exercise of political power
-law is a tool of power
Crime rates+ criminology
-60s+70s time of social upheaval
-increase in alcohol consumption, diverse rates+ use of mind-altering drugs
-dramatic increase of crime rates through the 60s-80s
-contributed to greater interest in discipline of criminology
Criminology (different perspectives)
- Boyd - “the scientific study of crime”
-Gabor – “the systematic study of crime & reaction of
society to criminality”
-Winterdyk – “the scientific study of human behaviour, crime causation, crime prevention, and the punishment and rehab of offenders”
-Schmalleger & Volk – “an interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their forms, causes, legal aspects, prevention, control”
Criminologist approach to criminology
- The study of what motivates people to commit crimes
- Identifying effective crime prevention strategies
Considering the response of society to different crimes
- Identifying effective crime prevention strategies
Criminology- an interdisciplinary study
-draws on sociology, psychology, biology, law, geography, economics
Includes
-Study of law & the history of crime
-why people commit crime & the criminalization process
-Crime responses, prevention and control
-Crime rates and change over time
-Deviance
-Policing, corrections and penology
-And other studies related to the criminal justice system
Criminologist- what do they study
-study crime+ prevention
-criminals+ treatment
-societies responses to crime
-criminalization process
-how certain behaviours become criminalized over time while some become decriminalized
-the stigmatization process — how offenders are treated or “labelled”
-Net widening/shrinking — the potential of new laws and methods to increase/decrease “community” supervision and impact social control
-The effects of smart phones and electronic surveillance
Criminalists what do they study
-collection of evidence from crime scenes
-identify, document, collect, test, analyse+ preserve evidence
-interpret findings+testify in court
4 basic questions of criminology
-why do crime rates vary
-why do individuals differ as to criminality
-why is there variation in reactions to crime
-what are possible means of controlling criminality
Sociological approach- answering questions of criminology
-Focus on the social order and on how social forces work to define crime and create the conditions in which crime can either diminish or flourish
-Examine how social conditions (social context) can influence our laws and our crime rates.
Argue that criminal conduct is more likely to be driven by social conditions than by individual “aberrations”
