Week 1: Intro to Crim

Question 1

What isn’t Criminology

Answer 1

-Not forensic science or criminalistics
-Not criminal justice studies
-Not criminal law
-Not a discipline

Question 2

What is Criminology

Answer 2

A rendez-vous subject
–People from other disciplines join this field
An interdisciplinary field
–A mix of different fields (Psychology, sociology, polisci)
Criminologies not criminology
–multiple different types

Question 3

Edwin Sutherland: definition of Crim

Answer 3

“Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making laws, breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws”

Question 4

Edwin Sutherland: three types of criminological focus

Answer 4

-The making of laws: the study of crime
-The breaking of laws: the study of those who commit crime
-Societies’ reaction to the breaking of laws: the study of the criminal justice system and how different groups respond to law-breaking

Question 5

David Garland definition of Crim

Answer 5

Criminology’s claims to be an empirically grounded, scientific undertaking sets it apart from moral and legal discourses while its focus upon crime differentiates it from other social scientific genres (deviance, control, etc)

Question 6

Modern criminology is the product of two initially separate streams of work

Answer 6

–The Governmental Project
–The Lombrosian Project

Question 7

What is Crime (legal def)

Answer 7

infraction of the criminal law

Question 8

What is crime (harm-based definition)

Answer 8

the level of harm caused by the conduct

Question 9

What is ‘Mala In Se’

Answer 9

something that is universally condemned as crime

Question 10

Crime mostly focuses on what level of crime

Answer 10

Blue Collar/Street Crime
–very little focus on white collar crime

Question 11

Labelling Theory, Crime is…

Answer 11

Crime is a label applied to certain acts under certain circumstances

Question 12

What is Criminalisation?

Answer 12

The process by which certain acts become defined as crimes

Question 13

Crime def based on labeling theory

Answer 13

the outcome or product of interaction and negotiation between social groups

Question 14

Three points about labeling theory and crime

Answer 14

1) The power to label certain acts as crimes is restricted and contested
2) The labeling perspective views crime as relative to time,
place, and audience
3) The labeling perspective also views morality (the notion of right and wrong) as socially construed and subject to conflict

Question 15

Origins of Criminology

Answer 15

Applied medico-legal science
Psychiatry
19th century social reform movements
Second half of 20th Century Sociological Approach to Crime

Question 16

What is the Governmental Project

Answer 16

Empirical studies of the administration of justice; the working of prisons, police, and the measurement of crime

Question 17

What is the Lombrosian Project?

Answer 17

Studies which sought to examine the characteristic of criminals and non-criminals with a view to be or to distinguish the groups, thereby developing an understanding of the causes of crime

Question 18

Who was the first to use the term ‘Criminology’

Answer 18

Paul Topinard, a Frenchman studying the body types of criminals

Question 19

Who is credited with the invention of the term ‘Criminology’

Answer 19

The invention of the term is generally credited to an Italian academic lawyer, Rafelle Garofalo

Question 20

Lacey’s Distinction between Criminology and Criminal Justice

Answer 20

Criminology: concerns itself with social and individuals antecedents of crime and with the nature of the crime as a social phenomenon
Criminal Justice: deals with the specific institutional aspects of the social construction of crime such as policing, prosecution, punishment, etc

Question 21

What is Labeling Therory

Answer 21

Most associated with Howard Becker
Places primary emphasis on the definitional power of the application of labels

Question 22

Social Constructionism (Criminology)

Answer 22

the idea that crime like any other social phenomena is the outcome or product of interaction and negotiation between people living in complex social groups

Question 23

Historical Variation: Britain as the Permissive Age

Answer 23

General loosening of moral codes in this period
A series of liberalizing acts were passed

Question 24

Historical Variation: The American Prohibition

Answer 24

The National Prohibition Act was passed in 1919 and lasted until 1933
Was an amendment to the Constitution

Question 25

Historical Variation: Globalization

Answer 25

The power to determine what is or isn’t a crime resides in the nation-state
Borders between nation-states are increasing becoming porous
The countries and peoples of the world are becoming increasingly interdependent

Question 26

Historical Variation: Emergence of the International Human Rights Law and the International Criminal Court

Answer 26

There is no international consensus as to what constitutes ‘crimes’ in the international arena.
States don’t have to agree with what the ICC says/become signatories