Understanding Crime
Week 1 Lecture Notes
Introduction to Crime, Criminology and the
Context
How we see society?
Social structure
• The way society is organised into di erent parts:
- Institutions
- Social groups
- Statuses
- Roles
Culture
• The meanings and ways of life that characterise society:
- Beliefs
- Values
- Norms and sanctions
- Symbols
What does a Social Problem become a Crime Problem?
• We need to think critically when considering social/ crime problems:
- What makes it a problem (not just a neutral fact)?
- For whom is it a problem?
- Who says it is a problem?
- Who determines how it is responded to?
1. Problem is de ned
2. An o cal response to the problem follows
3. A solution is formed
What is Crime?
• Many diverse conceptions of crime, each re ecting a di erent scienti c and ideological
viewpoint.
• Dictionary de nitions de ne crime as acts or omissions that cause public harm, are forbidden
by law, and are punishable by law.
• The full scope of crime is not conveyed- behaviours that are harmful but not forbidden by law
are excluded.
Crime vs Harm
• Crime refers to acts that are legally prohibited by the state and are deemed to be deserving of
punishment and control.
• Harm refers rot physical and other kinds of injury, distress, injury or damage to humans,
environments and non- human animals resulting form acts or omissions that are either illegal or
legal.
• Harm is a necessary component of crime and trends to be linked with the abuse of power.
• The concept of hair, may be more responsive to considering the range of causes of human
su ering than the concept of crime.
Criminalisation Process
• What is deemed to be criminal and who is de ned as an o ender involves a social process in
which o cials of the state formally intervene and designate certain acts and certain actors as
warranting a criminal label.
• Crime does not ‘exist’ until there has been an o cial reaction to the event.
• Behaviours that are criminalised vary across time and place.
• Crime is socially constructed.
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Week 1 Lecture Notes
Introduction to Crime, Criminology and the
Context
How we see society?
Social structure
• The way society is organised into di erent parts:
- Institutions
- Social groups
- Statuses
- Roles
Culture
• The meanings and ways of life that characterise society:
- Beliefs
- Values
- Norms and sanctions
- Symbols
What does a Social Problem become a Crime Problem?
• We need to think critically when considering social/ crime problems:
- What makes it a problem (not just a neutral fact)?
- For whom is it a problem?
- Who says it is a problem?
- Who determines how it is responded to?
1. Problem is de ned
2. An o cal response to the problem follows
3. A solution is formed
What is Crime?
• Many diverse conceptions of crime, each re ecting a di erent scienti c and ideological
viewpoint.
• Dictionary de nitions de ne crime as acts or omissions that cause public harm, are forbidden
by law, and are punishable by law.
• The full scope of crime is not conveyed- behaviours that are harmful but not forbidden by law
are excluded.
Crime vs Harm
• Crime refers to acts that are legally prohibited by the state and are deemed to be deserving of
punishment and control.
• Harm refers rot physical and other kinds of injury, distress, injury or damage to humans,
environments and non- human animals resulting form acts or omissions that are either illegal or
legal.
• Harm is a necessary component of crime and trends to be linked with the abuse of power.
• The concept of hair, may be more responsive to considering the range of causes of human
su ering than the concept of crime.
Criminalisation Process
• What is deemed to be criminal and who is de ned as an o ender involves a social process in
which o cials of the state formally intervene and designate certain acts and certain actors as
warranting a criminal label.
• Crime does not ‘exist’ until there has been an o cial reaction to the event.
• Behaviours that are criminalised vary across time and place.
• Crime is socially constructed.
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