CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY

CHAPTER ONE

CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, students should:

• Explain what is meant by the term criminology.
• Identify the difference between crime and deviance.
• Recognize what is meant by the concept of “criminology in action.”
• Discuss the three most prominent views of the meaning of “crime.”
• Outline the development of criminal law.
• Analyze the different categories of law.
• Articulate the relationship between the criminal law and the U.S. Constitution.
• Synthesize the different purposes of criminal law.
• Compare and contrast the elements of the criminal law.
• Summarize the main ethical issues in criminology.

Lesson Plan Correlated to PowerPoints

• What is Criminology?

Learning Objective 1: Explain what is meant by the term criminology.

Learning Objective 2: Identify the difference between crime and deviance.

A. Criminology Defined: The scientific approach to studying criminal

behavior.

• Crime as a social phenomenon
• Process of making laws
• Breaking laws and the reacting toward the breaking of laws
• Development of a body of general and verified principles

• Criminology and Criminal Justice

1.Criminology explains the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society 2.Criminal justice refers to the study of the agencies of social control— police, courts, and corrections

• Criminology and the Sociology of Deviant Behavior
• Deviant behavior is behavior that departs from social norms, values, and

beliefs

• Not all crimes are deviant; not all deviant acts are illegal
• Criminologists are concerned with the concept of deviance and its

relationship to criminality

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Class Discussion/Activity Have students list three acts that are considered deviant but not criminal and three acts that are criminal but not considered deviant. Discuss why the deviant acts violate social norms but not laws. Also, ask students to discuss why the criminal acts they listed are not considered deviant but are still criminal.

II. What Criminologists Do: Criminology in Action

Learning Objective 3: Recognize what is meant by the concept of “criminology in action.”

• Criminologists are devoted to the study of crime and criminal behavior.

Criminology in action refers to the efforts of criminologists to use their insight, training, and experience to understand human behavior and predict its occurrence.

• Criminal Statistics and Crime Measurement
• Criminologists interested in criminal statistics try to create valid and

reliable measurements of criminal behavior.

• Devise accurate methods of collecting crime data
• Measure the amount and trends of criminal activity
• Determine who commits crime and where
• Measure the effects of social policy and social trends on crime rate

changes

• Design crime prevention programs and measure their effectiveness

• Socio-Legal Studies
• Criminologists interested in the sociology of law are concerned with

the role social forces play in shaping criminal law and, concomitantly, the role of criminal law in shaping society

• The history of legal thought
• How social forces shape the definition and content of the law
• The impact of legal change on society
• The relationship between law and social control
• The effects of criminalization and legalization on behaviors

• Theory Construction and Testing
• A systematic set of interrelated statements or principles that explain

some aspect of social life

• Constructed theories are based on social fact and tested by

constructing hypotheses and then assessing the hypotheses using empirical research What If Scenario What if the United States court system were to institute a “Deviance Court?” Members of this panel would determine which human behaviors were to be criminalized (rendering punishment to the violator). What types of behaviors do you think they would criminalize? What would be the consequences of this court?7

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• Criminal Behavior Systems and Crime Typologies

1. Researching specific criminal types and patterns: violent crime, theft

crime, public order crime, and organized crime

• The research on the links among different types of crime and

criminals is known as a crime typology

• Punishment, Penology and Social Control
• Penology involves creating effective crime policies, developing

methods of social control, and the correction and control of known criminal offenders

G. Victimology: Victims and Victimization

• Measuring the nature and extent of criminal victimization
• Calculating the costs of victimization
• Measuring the factors that increase the likelihood of becoming a

victim

• Studying the victim’s role in precipitating crime
• Designing services for victims of crime

Media Tool “National Crime Victimization Survey”

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245

Read about how the NCVS collects data on criminal victimizations in the United States.

o Discussion: How do victimization surveys help us better understand the

extent and nature of crime?

What If Scenario What if criminologists relied only on measure of crime? What kinds of misunderstandings about crime would this create?

III. How Criminologists View Crime Learning Objective 4: Discuss the three most prominent views of the meaning of “crime.”

Criminologists typically align with one of several schools of thought or perspectives in their field.

• The Consensus View of Crime views crimes as behaviors believed to be

repugnant to all elements of society.

Class Discussion/Activity List as many indicators you can think of that suggests we have a consensus society.

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• The Conflict View of Crime depicts society as a collection of diverse groups

who are in constant and continuing conflict.

Class Discussion/Activity List as many indicators you can think of that suggest we have a conflict society.Comparing your lists, provide an argument for which type of society we have.

• The Interactionist View of Crime holds that people, institutions, and events

are viewed subjectively and labeled either good or evil according to the interpretation of the evaluator.

• Defining Crime

1. Integrated definition: Crime is a violation of societal rules of behavior

as interpreted and expressed by a criminal legal code created by people holding social and political power. Individuals who violate these rules are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of status.

What If Scenario What if we were a true consensus society? How would our society be different?How would our criminal justice system be different? Are their certain crimes that would be handled differently?

IV. Crime and the Law

Learning Objective 5: Outline the development of criminal law.

Learning Objective 6: Analyze the different categories of law.

Learning Objective 7: Articulate the relationship between the criminal law and the U.S.Constitution.

Learning Objective 8: Synthesize the different purposes of criminal law.

Learning Objective 9: Compare and contrast the elements of the criminal law.

• A Brief History of Law
• The concept of criminal law has been recognized for more than 3,000

years

• The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest, established a system of

crime and punishment based on physical retaliation (“an eye for an eye”).

• The Mosaic Code was the foundation for Judeo-Christian moral

teachings and the U.S. legal system.

• German and Anglo-Saxon Legal Codes

See Assignments 1-2 16 15

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