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Criminology (from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, "accusation", and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
, ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
and
deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the
behavioural
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
and
social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...
s, which draws primarily upon the research of
sociologists
This is a list of sociologists. It is intended to cover those who have made substantive contributions to social theory and research, including any sociological subfield. Scientists in other fields and philosophers are not included, unless at least ...
,
political scientists
This is a list of notable political scientists. See the list of political theorists for those who study political theory. See also political science.
A
* Robert Abelson - Yale University psychologist and political scientist with special int ...
,
economists
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
,
psychologists,
philosophers
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
,
psychiatrists
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
,
social workers
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
,
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
s,
social anthropologists, as well as scholars of
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
.
Criminologists are the people working and researching the study of crime and society's response to crime. Some criminologists examine behavioral patterns of possible criminals. Generally, criminologists conduct research and investigations, developing theories and analyzing empirical patterns.
The interests of criminologists include the study of nature of crime and criminals, origins of criminal law,
etiology of crime, social reaction to crime, and the functioning of law enforcement agencies and the penal institutions. It can be broadly said that criminology directs its inquiries along three lines: first, it investigates the nature of criminal law and its administration and conditions under which it develops; second, it analyzes the
causation of crime and the personality of criminals; and third, it studies the control of crime and the rehabilitation of offenders. Thus, criminology includes within its scope the activities of legislative bodies, law-enforcement agencies, judicial institutions, correctional institutions and educational, private and public social agencies.
History of academic criminology
In the mid-18th century, criminology arose as
social philosophers
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
gave thought to crime and concepts of law. The term ''criminology'' was coined in 1885 by
Italian law
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
professor
Raffaele Garofalo
Raffaele Garofalo (18 November 1851 in Naples – 18 April 1934 in Naples) was an Italian criminologist and jurist.
Criminology theories
He was a student of Cesare Lombroso, often regarded as the father of criminology. He rejected the doctr ...
as ''.'' Later, French anthropologist
Paul Topinard
Paul Topinard (4 November 1830, L'Isle-Adam Parmain, Val-d'Oise – 20 December 1911)Douglas & Ballard (2008), p. 68. was a French physician and anthropologist who was a student of Paul Broca and whose views influenced the methodology adopted b ...
used the analogous French term ''.'' Paul Topinard's major work appeared in 1879.
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scholars of crime focused on reform of criminal law instead of the causes of crime. Scholars such as
Cesare Beccaria and
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
were more concerned with the humanitarian aspects of dealing with criminals and reforming criminal laws. Criminology grew substantially as a discipline in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The first American textbook on criminology was written in 1920 by sociologist Maurice Parmalee under the title ''Criminology''. Academic programs were developed for the specific purpose of training students to be criminologists, but the development was rather slow.
From 1900 through to 2000 this field of research underwent three significant phases in the United States: (1) Golden Age of Research (1900–1930) which has been described as a multiple-factor approach, (2) Golden Age of Theory (1930–1960) which endeavored to show the limits of systematically connecting criminological research to theory, and (3) a 1960–2000 period, which was seen as a significant turning point for criminology.
Schools of thought
There were three main schools of thought in early criminological theory, spanning the period from the mid-18th century to the mid-twentieth century:
Classical,
Positivist, and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. These schools of thought were superseded by several contemporary paradigms of criminology, such as the sub-culture, control, strain, labelling,
critical criminology
Critical criminology is a theoretical perspective in criminology which focuses on challenging traditional understandings and uncovering false beliefs about crime and criminal justice, often but not exclusively by taking a conflict perspective, ...
,
cultural criminology
Cultural criminology is a subfield in the study of crime that focuses on the ways in which the "dynamics of meaning underpin every process in criminal justice, including the definition of crime itself." In other words, cultural criminology seeks ...
,
postmodern criminology,
feminist criminology and others discussed below.
Classical
The
Classical school arose in the mid-18th century and has its basis in
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
philosophy.
Cesare Beccaria,
author of ''
On Crimes and Punishments
''On Crimes and Punishments'' ( it, Dei delitti e delle pene ) is a treatise written by Cesare Beccaria in 1764.
The treatise condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of penology.
History
Beccaria and th ...
'' (1763–64),
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
(inventor of the ''
panopticon''), and other philosophers in this school argued:
# People have
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...
to choose how to act.
# The basis for deterrence is the idea humans are '
hedonists
Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...
' who seek pleasure and avoid pain, and 'rational calculators' who weigh the costs and benefits of every action. It ignores the possibility of
irrationality
Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking, or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate use of reason, or through emotional distress or cognitive deficiency. ...
and unconscious drives as '
motivators'.
#
Punishment (of sufficient severity) can deter people from crime, as the costs (penalties) outweigh the benefits, and severity of punishment should be proportionate to the crime.
# The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective as a deterrent to criminal behaviour.
This school developed during a major reform in
penology
Penology (from "penal", Latin '' poena'', "punishment" and the Greek suffix '' -logia'', "study of") is a sub-component of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activiti ...
when society began designing prisons for the sake of extreme punishment. This period also saw many legal reforms, the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, and the development of the
legal system in the United States.
Positivist
The
Positivist school argues criminal behaviour comes from internal and external factors out of the individual's control. Its key method of thought is that criminals are born as criminals and not made into them; this school of thought also supports theory of nature in the debate between nature versus nurture. They also argue that criminal behavior is innate and within a person. Philosophers within this school applied the scientific method to study human behavior. Positivism comprises three segments:
biological,
psychological and
social positivism.
Biological positivism is the belief that these criminals and their criminal behavior stem from "chemical imbalances" or "abnormalities" within the brain or the DNA due to basic internal "defects".
Psychological Positivism is the concept that criminal acts or the people doing said crimes do them because of internal factors driving them. It differs from biological positivism which says criminals are born criminals, whereas the psychological perspective recognizes the internal factors are results of external factors such as, but not limited to, abusive parents, abusive relationships, drug problems, etc.
Social Positivism, which is often referred to as Sociological Positivism, discusses the thought process that criminals are produced by society. This school claims that low income levels, high poverty/unemployment rates, and poor educational systems create and fuel criminals and crimes.
Criminal personality
The notion of having a criminal personality is derived from the school of thought of psychological positivism. It essentially means that parts of an individual's personality have traits that align with many of those possessed by criminals, such as neuroticism, anti-social tendencies, aggressive behaviors, and other factors. There is evidence of correlation, but not causation, between these personality traits and criminal actions.
Italian
Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), an Italian sociologist working in the late 19th century, is often called "the father of
criminology". He was one of the key contributors to biological positivism and founded the
Italian school of criminology.
Lombroso took a scientific approach, insisting on empirical evidence for studying crime. He suggested physiological traits such as the measurements of cheekbones or hairline, or a cleft palate could indicate "
atavistic" criminal tendencies. This approach, whose influence came via the theory of
phrenology and by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
's
theory of evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variatio ...
, has been superseded.
Enrico Ferri, a student of Lombroso, believed social as well as biological factors played a role, and believed criminals should not be held responsible when factors causing their criminality were beyond their control. Criminologists have since rejected Lombroso's biological theories since
control groups were not used in his studies.
[
]
Sociological positivist
Sociological positivism
Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...
suggests societal factors such as
poverty, membership of subcultures, or low levels of education can predispose people to crime.
Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet FRSF or FRSE (; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in intro ...
used data and statistical analysis to study the relationship between crime and sociological factors. He found age, gender, poverty, education, and alcohol consumption were important factors to crime. Lance Lochner performed three different research experiments, each one proving education reduces crime.
Rawson W. Rawson used
crime statistics to suggest a link between
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
and
crime rate
Crime statistics refer to systematic, quantitative results about crime, as opposed to crime news or anecdotes. Notably, crime statistics can be the result of two rather different processes:
* scientific research, such as criminological studies, vi ...
s, with crowded cities producing more crime.
Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...
and John Glyde read papers to the
Statistical Society of London on their studies of crime and its distribution.
Henry Mayhew
Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...
used
empirical methods and an
ethnographic
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...
approach to address social questions and poverty, and gave his studies in ''
London Labour and the London Poor
''London Labour and the London Poor'' is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the ''Morning Chronicle'' ...
''.
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of a society with uneven distribution of wealth and other differences among people.
Differential association (sub-cultural)
Differential association (sub-cultural) posits that people learn crime through
association
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
. This theory was advocated by
Edwin Sutherland
Edwin Hardin Sutherland (August 13, 1883 – October 11, 1950) was an American sociologist. He is considered one of the most influential criminologists of the 20th century. He was a sociologist of the symbolic interactionist school of thought ...
, who focused on how "a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law." Associating with people who may condone criminal conduct, or justify crime under specific circumstances makes one more likely to take that view, under his theory. Interacting with this type of "
antisocial
Antisocial may refer to:
Sociology, psychiatry and psychology
*Anti-social behaviour
*Antisocial personality disorder
*Psychopathy
*Conduct disorder
Law
*Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003
*Anti-Social Behaviour Order
*Crime and Disorder Act 1998
* ...
" peer is a major cause of delinquency. Reinforcing criminal behavior makes it chronic. Where there are criminal
subcultures
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, pol ...
, many individuals learn crime, and crime rates swell in those areas.
Chicago
The
Chicago school arose in the early twentieth century, through the work of
Robert E. Park
Robert Ezra Park (February 14, 1864 – February 7, 1944) was an American urban sociologist who is considered to be one of the most influential figures in early U.S. sociology. Park was a pioneer in the field of sociology, changing it from a pas ...
,
Ernest Burgess
Ernest Watson Burgess (May 16, 1886 – December 27, 1966) was a Canadian-American urban sociologist born in Tilbury, Ontario. He was educated at Kingfisher College in Oklahoma and continued graduate studies in sociology at the University of Ch ...
, and other
urban sociologists at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
. In the 1920s, Park and Burgess identified five
concentric zones that often exist as cities grow, including the "
zone of transition
Zone of transition is the area between the factory zone and the working-class zone in the concentric zone model of urban structure devised by Ernest Burgess. The zone of transition is an area of flux where the land use is changing.
In the core ...
", which was identified as the most volatile and subject to disorder. In the 1940s,
Henry McKay and
Clifford R. Shaw focused on
juvenile delinquents
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
, finding that they were concentrated in the zone of transition. The Chicago School was a school of thought developed that blames social structures for human behaviors. This thought can be associated or used within criminology, because it essentially takes the stance of defending criminals and criminal behaviors. The defense and argument lies in the thoughts that these people and their acts are not their faults but they are actually the result of society (i.e. unemployment, poverty, etc.), and these people are actually, in fact, behaving properly.
Chicago school sociologists adopted a
social ecology approach to studying cities and postulated that urban neighborhoods with high levels of poverty often experience a breakdown in the
social structure
In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally rel ...
and
institutions, such as family and schools. This results in
social disorganization
In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorgani ...
, which reduces the ability of these institutions to control behavior and creates an environment ripe for
deviant behavior.
Other researchers suggested an added social-psychological link.
Edwin Sutherland
Edwin Hardin Sutherland (August 13, 1883 – October 11, 1950) was an American sociologist. He is considered one of the most influential criminologists of the 20th century. He was a sociologist of the symbolic interactionist school of thought ...
suggested that people learn criminal behavior from older, more experienced criminals with whom they may associate.
Theoretical perspectives used in criminology include
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
,
functionalism,
interactionism
In micro-sociology, interactionism is a theoretical perspective that sees social behavior as an interactive product of the individual and the situation. In other words, it derives social processes (such as conflict, cooperation, identity forma ...
,
Marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
,
econometrics
Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
,
systems theory
Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...
,
postmodernism,
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
,
neuropsychology,
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evol ...
, etc.
Social structure theories
This theory is applied to a variety of approaches within the bases of criminology in particular and in sociology more generally as a
conflict theory
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
or structural conflict perspective in sociology and sociology of crime. As this perspective is itself broad enough, embracing as it does a diversity of positions.
Disorganization
Social disorganization theory
In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorgan ...
is based on the work of Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw of the Chicago School. Social disorganization theory postulates that neighborhoods plagued with poverty and economic deprivation tend to experience high rates of
population turnover.
This theory suggests that crime and deviance is valued within groups in society, ‘subcultures’ or ‘gangs’. These groups have different values to the
social norm. These neighborhoods also tend to have high population
heterogeneity
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
.
With high turnover, informal
social structure
In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally rel ...
often fails to develop, which in turn makes it difficult to maintain
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social order ...
in a community.
Ecology
Since the 1950s, social ecology studies have built on the social disorganization theories. Many studies have found that crime rates are associated with poverty, disorder, high numbers of abandoned buildings, and other signs of community deterioration.
As
working and
middle-class people leave deteriorating neighborhoods, the most disadvantaged portions of the population may remain.
William Julius Wilson
William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist. He is a professor at Harvard University and author of works on urban sociology, race and class issues. Laureate of the National Medal of Science, he served as the 80th P ...
suggested a poverty "concentration effect", which may cause neighborhoods to be isolated from the mainstream of society and become prone to violence.
Strain
Strain theory, also known as Mertonian Anomie, advanced by American sociologist
Robert Merton, suggests that mainstream culture, especially in the United States, is saturated with dreams of opportunity, freedom, and prosperity—as Merton put it, the ''
American Dream''. Most people buy into this dream, and it becomes a powerful cultural and psychological motivator. Merton also used the term ''
anomie'', but it meant something slightly different for him than it did for
Durkheim. Merton saw the term as meaning a
dichotomy between what society expected of its citizens and what those citizens could actually achieve. Therefore, if the social structure of opportunities is unequal and prevents the majority from realizing the dream, some of those dejected will turn to illegitimate means (crime) in order to realize it. Others will retreat or drop out into
deviant subcultures (such as
gang members
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...
, or what he calls "
hobos").
Robert Agnew developed this theory further to include types of strain which were not derived from financial constraints. This is known as
general strain theory General strain theory (GST) is a theory of criminology developed by Robert Agnew. General strain theory has gained a significant amount of academic attention since being developed in 1992.
Robert Agnew's general strain theory is considered to be ...
.
Subcultural
Following the
Chicago school and strain theory, and also drawing on
Edwin Sutherland
Edwin Hardin Sutherland (August 13, 1883 – October 11, 1950) was an American sociologist. He is considered one of the most influential criminologists of the 20th century. He was a sociologist of the symbolic interactionist school of thought ...
's idea of
differential association
In criminology, differential association is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.
The differential associa ...
, sub-cultural theorists focused on small cultural groups
fragmenting away from the mainstream to form their own values and meanings about life.
Albert K. Cohen tied anomie theory with
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
's
reaction formation In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation (german: Reaktionsbildung) is a defense mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency ...
idea, suggesting that delinquency among lower-class youths is a reaction against the social norms of the middle class. Some youth, especially from poorer areas where opportunities are scarce, might adopt social norms specific to those places that may include "toughness" and disrespect for authority. Criminal acts may result when youths conform to norms of the deviant subculture.
Richard Cloward
Richard Andrew Cloward (December 25, 1926 – August 20, 2001) was an American sociologist and activist. He influenced the Strain theory of criminal behavior and the concept of anomie, and was a primary motivator for the passage of the Na ...
and
Lloyd Ohlin suggested that delinquency can result from a differential opportunity for lower class youth.
Such youths may be tempted to take up criminal activities, choosing an illegitimate path that provides them more lucrative economic benefits than conventional, over legal options such as
minimum wage-paying jobs available to them.
Delinquency tends to occur among the lower-working-class males who have a lack of resources available to them and live in impoverished areas, as mentioned extensively by Albert Cohen (Cohen, 1965). Bias has been known to occur among law enforcement agencies, where officers tend to place a bias on minority groups, without knowing for sure if they had committed a crime or not. Delinquents may also commit crimes in order to secure funds for themselves or their loved ones, such as committing an armed robbery, as studied by many scholars (Briar & Piliavin).
British sub-cultural theorists focused more heavily on the issue of
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
, where some criminal activities were seen as "imaginary solutions" to the problem of belonging to a subordinate class. A further study by the Chicago school looked at gangs and the influence of the interaction of gang leaders under the observation of adults.
Sociologists such as
Raymond D. Gastil have explored the impact of a
Southern culture of honor on violent crime rates.
Control
Another approach is made by the social bond or
social control theory
In criminology, social control theory proposes that exploiting the process of socialization and social learning builds self-control and reduces the inclination to indulge in behavior recognized as antisocial. It derived from functionalist theor ...
. Instead of looking for factors that make people become criminal, these theories try to explain why people do ''not'' become criminal.
Travis Hirschi
Travis Warner Hirschi (April 15, 1935 – January 2, 2017) was an American sociologist and an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He helped to develop the modern version of the social control theory of crime and later ...
identified four main characteristics: "attachment to others", "belief in moral validity of rules", "commitment to achievement", and "involvement in conventional activities". The more a person features those characteristics, the less likely he or she is to become deviant (or criminal). On the other hand, if these factors are not present, a person is more likely to become a criminal. Hirschi expanded on this theory with the idea that a person with low
self-control
Self-control, an aspect of inhibitory control, is the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. As an executive function, it is a cognitive process that is necessary for regulating one' ...
is more likely to become criminal. As opposed to most criminology theories, these do not look at why people commit crime but rather why they do not commit crime.
A simple example: Someone wants a big yacht but does not have the means to buy one. If the person cannot exert self-control, he or she might try to get the yacht (or the means for it) in an illegal way, whereas someone with high self-control will (more likely) either wait, deny themselves of what want or seek an intelligent intermediate solution, such as joining a yacht club to use a yacht by group consolidation of resources without violating social norms.
Social bonds, through
peers, parents, and others can have a countering effect on one's low self-control. For families of low socio-economic status, a factor that distinguishes families with delinquent children, from those who are not delinquent, is the control exerted by parents or
chaperonage. In addition, theorists such as
David Matza
David Matza (May 1, 1930 – March 14, 2018) was an American sociologist who taught at University of California, Berkeley from 1961.
Life and Work
Born in New York, he received his PhD from Princeton University in 1959. His research fields inclu ...
and
Gresham Sykes Gresham M'Cready Sykes (May 26, 1922 – October 29, 2010) was an American sociologist and criminologist. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at Princeton University and a Ph.D. at Northwestern University. He taught at Princeton, Dartmouth, and Northwes ...
argued that criminals are able to temporarily neutralize internal moral and social-behavioral constraints through
techniques of neutralization.
Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
is a psychological theory (and therapy) which regards the unconscious mind,
repressed memories and
trauma
Trauma most often refers to:
* Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source
* Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event
*Traumatic i ...
, as the key drivers of behavior, especially deviant behavior.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
talks about how the unconscious desire for pain relates to psychoanalysis in his essay, ''Beyond the Pleasure Principle,''.
Freud suggested that unconscious impulses such as ‘repetition compulsion’ and a ‘death drive’ can dominate a person's creativity, leading to self-destructive behavior.
Phillida Rosnick, in the article ''Mental Pain and Social Trauma,'' posits a difference in the thoughts of individuals suffering traumatic unconscious pain which corresponds to them having thoughts and feelings which are not reflections of their true selves. There is enough correlation between this altered state of mind and criminality to suggest causation.
Sander Gilman
Sander L. Gilman, born on February 21, 1944, is an American cultural and literary historian. He is known for his contributions to Jewish studies and the history of medicine. He is the author or editor of over ninety books.
Gilman's focus is on m ...
, in the article ''Freud and the Making of Psychoanalysis'', looks for evidence in the physical mechanisms of the human
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...
and the
nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...
and suggests there is a direct link between an unconscious desire for pain or punishment and the impulse to commit crime or deviant acts.
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism draws on the
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
of
Edmund Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
and
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded a ...
, as well as
subcultural theory
In criminology, subcultural theory emerged from the work of the Chicago School on gangs and developed through the symbolic interactionism school into a set of theories arguing that certain groups or subcultures in society have values and attit ...
and
conflict theory
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
. This school of thought focused on the relationship between state, media, and conservative-ruling elite and other less powerful groups. The powerful groups had the ability to become the "significant other" in the less powerful groups' processes of generating
meaning. The former could to some extent impose their meanings on the latter; therefore they were able to "label" minor delinquent youngsters as criminal. These youngsters would often take the label on board, indulge in crime more readily, and become
actors
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
in the "
self-fulfilling prophecy" of the powerful groups. Later developments in this set of theories were by
Howard Becker and
Edwin Lemert, in the mid-20th century.
Stanley Cohen developed the concept of "
moral panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", us ...
" describing the societal reaction to spectacular, alarming social phenomena (e.g. post-World War 2 youth cultures like the
Mods and Rockers in the UK in 1964,
AIDS epidemic and
football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
).
Labeling theory
Labeling theory refers to an individual who is labeled by others in a particular way. The theory was studied in great detail by Becker. It was originally derived from sociology, but is regularly used in criminological studies. When someone is given the label of a criminal they may reject or accept it and continue to commit crime. Even those who initially reject the label can eventually accept it as the label becomes more well known, particularly among their peers. This stigma can become even more profound when the labels are about deviancy, and it is thought that this stigmatization can lead to
deviancy amplification.
Malcolm Klein conducted a test which showed that labeling theory affected some youth offenders but not others.
Traitor theory
At the other side of the spectrum, criminologist
Lonnie Athens developed a theory about how a process of brutalization by parents or peers that usually occurs in childhood results in violent crimes in adulthood.
Richard Rhodes
Richard Lee Rhodes (born July 4, 1937) is an American historian, journalist, and author of both fiction and non-fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb'' (1986), and most recently, ''Energy: A Human Histor ...
' ''Why They Kill'' describes Athens' observations about domestic and societal violence in the criminals' backgrounds. Both Athens and Rhodes reject the genetic inheritance theories.
Rational choice theory
![Cesare Beccaria](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Cesare_Beccaria.jpg)
Rational choice theory is based on the
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
, classical school philosophies of
Cesare Beccaria, which were popularized by
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
. They argued that punishment, if certain, swift, and proportionate to the crime, was a deterrent for crime, with risks outweighing possible benefits to the offender. In ''
Dei delitti e delle pene
''On Crimes and Punishments'' ( it, Dei delitti e delle pene ) is a treatise written by Cesare Beccaria in 1764.
The treatise condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of penology.
History
Beccaria and ...
'' (On Crimes and Punishments, 1763–1764), Beccaria advocated a rational
penology
Penology (from "penal", Latin '' poena'', "punishment" and the Greek suffix '' -logia'', "study of") is a sub-component of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activiti ...
. Beccaria conceived of punishment as the necessary application of the law for a crime; thus, the judge was simply to confirm his or her sentence to the law. Beccaria also distinguished between crime and
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
, and advocated against the
death penalty, as well as
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
and inhumane treatments, as he did not consider them as rational deterrents.
This philosophy was replaced by the positivist and Chicago schools and was not revived until the 1970s with the writings of
James Q. Wilson
James Quinn Wilson (May 27, 1931 – March 2, 2012) was an American political scientist and an authority on public administration. Most of his career was spent as a professor at UCLA and Harvard University. He was the chairman of the Council of A ...
,
Gary Becker
Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...
's 1965 article ''Crime and Punishment'' and
George Stigler
George Joseph Stigler (; January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was an American economist. He was the 1982 laureate in Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and is considered a key leader of the Chicago school of economics.
Early life and e ...
's 1970 article ''The Optimum Enforcement of Laws''. Rational choice theory argues that criminals, like other people, weigh costs or risks and benefits when deciding whether to commit crime and think in economic terms.
They will also try to minimize risks of crime by considering the time, place, and other situational factors.
Becker, for example, acknowledged that many people operate under a high moral and ethical constraint but considered that criminals rationally see that the benefits of their crime outweigh the cost, such as the probability of apprehension and conviction, severity of punishment, as well as their current set of opportunities. From the public policy perspective, since the cost of increasing the fine is marginal to that of the cost of increasing
surveillance, one can conclude that the best policy is to maximize the fine and minimize surveillance.
With this perspective,
crime prevention or reduction measures can be devised to increase the effort required to commit the crime, such as
target hardening.
Rational choice theories also suggest that increasing risk and likelihood of being caught, through added surveillance, law enforcement presence, added street lighting, and other measures, are effective in reducing crime.
One of the main differences between this theory and Bentham's rational choice theory, which had been abandoned in criminology, is that if Bentham considered it possible to completely annihilate crime (through the
panopticon), Becker's theory acknowledged that a society could not eradicate crime beneath a certain level. For example, if 25% of a supermarket's products were stolen, it would be very easy to reduce this rate to 15%, quite easy to reduce it until 5%, difficult to reduce it under 3% and nearly impossible to reduce it to zero (a feat which the measures required would cost the supermarket so much that it would outweigh the benefits). This reveals that the goals of utilitarianism and
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econo ...
have to be tempered and reduced to more modest proposals to be practically applicable.
Such rational choice theories, linked to
neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, have been at the basics of
crime prevention through environmental design
Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is an agenda for manipulating the built environment to create safer neighborhoods.
It originated in America around 1960, when urban renewal strategies were felt to be destroying the social fram ...
and underpin the
Market Reduction Approach to theft by
Mike Sutton, which is a systematic toolkit for those seeking to focus attention on "crime facilitators" by tackling the markets for stolen goods that provide motivation for thieves to supply them by theft.
Routine activity theory
Routine activity theory, developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence Cohen, draws upon control theories and explains crime in terms of crime opportunities that occur in everyday life. A crime opportunity requires that elements converge in time and place including a motivated offender, suitable target or victim, and lack of a capable guardian.
A guardian at a place, such as a street, could include security guards or even ordinary pedestrians who would witness the criminal act and possibly intervene or report it to law enforcement.
Routine activity theory was expanded by John Eck, who added a fourth element of "place manager" such as rental property managers who can take
nuisance
Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...
abatement measures.
Biosocial theory
Biosocial criminology is an interdisciplinary field that aims to explain crime and antisocial behavior by exploring both biological factors and environmental factors. While contemporary criminology has been dominated by sociological theories, biosocial criminology also recognizes the potential contributions of fields such as
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
,
neuropsychology, and
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evol ...
.
[Kevin M. Beaver and Anthony Walsh. 2011. Biosocial Criminology. Chapter 1 in The Ashgate Research Companion to Biosocial Theories of Crime. 2011. Ashgate.] Various theoretical frameworks such as
evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory
The evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory is a conceptual framework which seeks to explain trends in violent and criminal behavior from an evolutionary and biological perspective. It was first proposed by the sociologist Lee Ellis in 2005 in h ...
have sought to explain trends in criminality through the lens of evolutionary biology. Specifically, they seek to explain why criminality is so much higher in men than in women and why young men are most likely to exhibit criminal behavior. See also:
genetics of aggression.
Aggressive behavior
Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...
has been associated with abnormalities in three principal regulatory systems in the body:
serotonin systems,
catecholamine
A catecholamine (; abbreviated CA) is a monoamine neurotransmitter, an organic compound that has a catechol (benzene with two hydroxyl side groups next to each other) and a side-chain amine.
Catechol can be either a free molecule or a su ...
systems, and the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Abnormalities in these systems also are known to be induced by
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
, either severe, acute stress or chronic low-grade stress.
Marxist
In 1968, young British sociologists formed the
National Deviance Conference (NDC) group. The group was restricted to academics and consisted of 300 members.
Ian Taylor, Paul Walton and
Jock Young – members of the NDC – rejected previous explanations of crime and deviance. Thus, they decided to pursue a new Marxist criminological approach. In ''The New Criminology'', they argued against the biological "positivism" perspective represented by Lombroso,
Hans Eysenck and Gordon Trasler.
According to the Marxist perspective on crime, "defiance is normal – the sense that men are now consciously involved ... in assuring their human diversity." Thus Marxists criminologists argued in support of society in which the facts of human diversity, be it social or personal, would not be criminalized. They further attributed the processes of crime creation not to genetic or psychological facts, but rather to the material basis of a given society.
State crime
In criminology, state crime is activity or failures to acts that break the state's own criminal law or public international law. For these purposes, Ross (2000b) defines a "state" as the elected and appointed officials, the bureaucracy, and the ...
is a distinct field of crimes that is studied by
Marxist criminology
Marxist criminology is one of the schools of criminology. It parallels the work of the structural functionalism school which focuses on what produces stability and continuity in society but, unlike the functionalists, it adopts a predefined po ...
, which considers these crimes to be some of the most costly to society in terms of overall harm/injury. In a Marxist framework,
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
s,
environmental degradation, and
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
are not crimes that occur out of contempt for one's fellow man, but are crimes of power. They continue systems of control and hegemony which allow state crime and
state-corporate crime, along with state-corporate non-profit criminals, to continue governing people.
Convict
Convict criminology is a school of thought in the realm of criminology. Convict criminologists have been directly affected by the
criminal justice system
Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...
, oftentimes having spent years inside the prison system. Researchers in the field of convict criminology such as John Irwin and Stephan Richards argue that traditional criminology can better be understood by those who lived in the walls of a prison. Martin Leyva argues that "prisonization" oftentimes begins before prison, in the home, community, and schools.
According to Rod Earle, Convict Criminology started in the United States after the major expansion of prisons in the 1970s, and the U.S still remains the main focus for those who study convict criminology.
Queer
Queer criminology is a field of study that focuses on
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
individuals and their interactions with the criminal justice system. The goals of this field of study are as follows:
* To better understand the history of LGBT individuals and the laws put against the community
* Why LGBT citizens are incarcerated and if or why they are arrested at higher rates than heterosexual and
cisgender
Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word ''cisgender'' is the antonym of '' transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is L ...
individuals
* How queer activists have fought against oppressive laws that criminalized LGBT individuals
* To conduct research and use it as a form of activism through education
Legitimacy of Queer criminology:
The value of pursuing criminology from a queer theorist perspective is contested; some believe that it is not worth researching and not relevant to the field as a whole, and as a result is a subject that lacks a wide berth of research available. On the other hand, it could be argued that this subject is highly valuable in highlighting how LGBT individuals are affected by the criminal justice system. This research also has the opportunity to "queer" the curriculum of criminology in educational institutions by shifting the focus from controlling and monitoring LGBT communities to liberating and protecting them.
Cultural
Cultural criminology views crime and its control within the context of culture.
Ferrell believes criminologists can examine the actions of criminals, control agents, media producers, and others to construct the meaning of crime.
He discusses these actions as a means to show the dominant role of culture.
Kane adds that cultural criminology has three tropes; village, city street, and media, in which males can be geographically influenced by society's views on what is broadcast and accepted as right or wrong.
The village is where one engages in available social activities. Linking the history of an individual to a location can help determine social dynamics.
The city street involves positioning oneself in the cultural area. This is full of those affected by poverty, poor health and crime, and large buildings that impact the city but not neighborhoods.
Mass media gives an all-around account of the environment and the possible other subcultures that could exist beyond a specific geographical area.
It was later that Naegler and Salman introduced feminist theory to cultural criminology and discussed
masculinity and
femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...
, sexual attraction and sexuality, and intersectional themes.
Naegler and Salman believed that Ferrell's mold was limited and that they could add to the understanding of cultural criminology by studying women and those who do not fit Ferrell's mold.
Hayward would later add that not only feminist theory, but green theory as well, played a role in the cultural criminology theory through the lens of adrenaline, the soft city, the transgressive subject, and the attentive gaze.
The adrenaline lens deals with rational choice and what causes a person to have their own terms of availability, opportunity, and low levels of social control.
The soft city lens deals with reality outside of the city and the imaginary sense of reality: the world where transgression occurs, where rigidity is slanted, and where rules are bent.
The transgressive subject refers to a person who is attracted to rule-breaking and is attempting to be themselves in a world where everyone is against them.
The attentive gaze is when someone, mainly an
ethnographer
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
, is immersed into the culture and interested in lifestyle(s) and the symbolic, aesthetic, and visual aspects. When examined, they are left with the knowledge that they are not all the same, but come to a settlement of living together in the same space.
Through it all, sociological perspective on cultural criminology theory attempts to understand how the environment an individual is in determines their criminal behavior.
Relative deprivation
Relative deprivation
Relative deprivation is the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong. Peter Townsend, ''Po ...
involves the process where an individual measures his or her own well-being and materialistic worth against that of other people and perceive that they are worse off in comparison. When humans fail to obtain what they believe they are owed, they can experience anger or jealousy over the notion that they have been wrongly disadvantaged.
Relative deprivation was originally utilized in the field of sociology by
Samuel A. Stouffer, who was a pioneer of this theory. Stouffer revealed that soldiers fighting in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
measured their personal success by the experience in their units rather than by the
standards set by the military. Relative deprivation can be made up of societal, political, economic, or personal factors which create a sense of injustice. It is not based on
absolute poverty
Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...
, a condition where one cannot meet a necessary level to maintain basic living standards. Rather, relative deprivation enforces the idea that even if a person is financially stable, he or she can still feel relatively deprived. The perception of being relatively deprived can result in criminal behavior and/or morally problematic decisions. Relative deprivation theory has increasingly been used to partially explain crime as rising living standards can result in rising crime levels. In criminology, the theory of relative deprivation explains that people who feel jealous and discontent of others might turn to crime to acquire the things that they can not afford.
Rural
Rural criminology is the study of crime trends outside of metropolitan and suburban areas. Rural criminologists have used social disorganization and routine activity theories. The FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that rural communities have significantly different crime trends as opposed to metropolitan and suburban areas. The crime in rural communities consists predominantly of narcotic related crimes such as the production, use, and trafficking of narcotics. Social disorganization theory is used to examine the trends involving narcotics. Social disorganization leads to narcotic use in rural areas because of low educational opportunities and high unemployment rates. Routine activity theory is used to examine all low-level street crimes such as theft.
[Stallwitz, A. (2014). "Community-Mindedness: Protection against Crime in the Context of Illicit Drug Cultures?" International Journal of Rural Criminology, 2(2), 166-208.] Much of the crime in rural areas is explained through routine activity theory because there is often a lack of capable guardians in rural areas.
Public
Public criminology
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
is a strand within criminology closely tied to ideas associated with "
public sociology
Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a ''style'' of sociology rath ...
", focused on disseminating criminological insights to a broader audience than academia. Advocates of public criminology argue that criminologists should be "conducting and disseminating research on crime, law, and deviance in dialogue with affected communities." Its goal is for academics and researchers in criminology to provide their research to the public in order to inform public decisions and policymaking. This allows criminologists to avoid the constraints of traditional criminological research. In doing so, public criminology takes on many forms, including media and policy advising as well as activism, civic-oriented education, community outreach, expert testimony, and knowledge co-production.
Types and definitions of crime
Both the positivist and classical schools take a consensus view of crime: that a crime is an act that violates the basic values and beliefs of society. Those values and beliefs are manifested as laws that society agrees upon. However, there are two types of laws:
*
Natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
s are rooted in core values shared by many cultures. Natural laws protect against harm to persons (e.g. murder, rape, assault) or property (theft, larceny, robbery), and form the basis of
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
systems.
*
Statutes are enacted by legislatures and reflect current cultural
mores
Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...
, albeit that some laws may be controversial, e.g. laws that prohibit
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
use and gambling. Marxist criminology, conflict criminology, and critical criminology claim that most relationships between
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
and citizen are non-consensual and, as such,
criminal law is not necessarily representative of public beliefs and wishes: it is exercised in the interests of the
ruling or dominant class. The more right-wing criminologies tend to posit that there is a consensual
social contract between state and citizen.
Therefore, definitions of crimes will vary from place to place, in accordance to the cultural norms and mores, but may be broadly classified as a
blue-collar crime,
corporate crime
In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals acting on behalf of a corpo ...
,
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
,
political crime,
public order crime,
state crime
In criminology, state crime is activity or failures to acts that break the state's own criminal law or public international law. For these purposes, Ross (2000b) defines a "state" as the elected and appointed officials, the bureaucracy, and the ...
,
state-corporate crime, and
white-collar crime
The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a ...
. However, there have been moves in contemporary criminological theory to move away from
liberal pluralism,
culturalism, and
postmodernism by introducing the universal term "harm" into the criminological debate as a replacement for the legal term "crime".
Subtopics
Areas of study in criminology include:
* Comparative criminology, which is the study of the social phenomenon of crime across cultures, to identify differences and similarities in crime patterns.
*
Crime prevention
*
Crime statistics
* Criminal behavior
* Criminal careers and desistance
*
Domestic violence
*
Deviant behavior
*
Evaluation
Evaluation is a
systematic determination and assessment of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to ...
of criminal justice agencies
*
Fear of crime The fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime as opposed to the actual probability of being a victim of crime.Hale, C. (1996)Fear of crime: A review of the literature International Review of Victimology, 4, 79-150.
The fear of cri ...
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The International Crime Victims Survey
The International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) is a large scale international survey project about crime and victimization. The project was set up to fill the gap in adequate recording of offenses by the police for purposes of comparing crime rates ...
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Juvenile delinquency
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Penology
Penology (from "penal", Latin '' poena'', "punishment" and the Greek suffix '' -logia'', "study of") is a sub-component of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activiti ...
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Sociology of law
The sociology of law (legal sociology, or law and society) is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. Some see sociology of law as belonging "necessarily" to the field of sociology, ...
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Victimology
Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims, the relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system—that is, the police and courts, and c ...
See also
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Anthropological criminology
Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology, literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study of criminals) is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived links between the nature of ...
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Crime science
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Forensic psychology
Forensic psychology is the development and application of scientific knowledge and methods to help answer legal questions arising in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes both research on various ...
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Forensic science
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List of criminologists
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Social cohesion
Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...
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The Mask of Sanity''
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Taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
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Public criminology
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
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Qualitative research in criminology
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Quantitative methods in criminology
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Agnew, Robert (2005). ''Why Do Criminals Offend? A General Theory of Crime and Delinquency.'' New York: Oxford University Press.
* Barak, Gregg (ed.). (1998). ''Integrative criminology'' (International Library of Criminology, Criminal Justice & Penology.). Aldershot: Ashgate/Dartmouth. .
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Beccaria, Cesare, ''
Dei delitti e delle pene
''On Crimes and Punishments'' ( it, Dei delitti e delle pene ) is a treatise written by Cesare Beccaria in 1764.
The treatise condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of penology.
History
Beccaria and ...
'' (1763–1764).
* Blatier, Catherine (1998), "The Specialized Jurisdiction: A Better Chance for Minors". ''International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family''. pp. 115–127.
* Bouchard, Jean-Pierre, "Can criminology be considered as a discipline in its own right?" ''L'Evolution Psychiatrique 78'' (2013) 343–349.
* Briar, S., & Piliavin, I. (1966). Delinquency, Situational Inducements, and Commitment to Conformity. ''Social Problems'', 13 (3).
* Clear, T. R. (2009). ''Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Cohen, A. K. (1965). The Sociology of the Deviant Act: Anomie Theory and Beyond. ''American Sociological Review'', 30.
* Horning, A. et al. (2020)
"Risky Business: Harlem Pimps' Work Decisions and Economic Returns" ''Deviant Behavior, 21''(2): 160–185.
* Jaishankar, K., & Ronel, N. (2013)
''Global Criminology: Crime and Victimization in a Globalized Era'' Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group. .
* Katz, J. (1988). ''Seductions of crime: Moral and sensual attractions in doing evil.'' New York: Basic Books.
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Pettit, Philip and
Braithwaite, John (1990). ''Not Just Deserts. A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice.'' New York: Oxford University Press (se
Republican Criminology and Victim Advocacy: Commentfor article concerning the book in ''
Law & Society Review
''Law & Society Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of law and society, which is part of the larger field known as the sociology of law. It was established by the Law and Society Association in 1966 and is published by Wiley- ...
'', Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 765–776).
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Pontell, Henry, Black, W. K., & Geis, G. (2014). "Too big to fail, too powerful to jail? On the absence of criminal prosecutions after the 2008 financial meltdown." ''Crime, Law and Social Change, 61''(1), 1–13.
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Sampson, Robert J. (2012), ''Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Wikibooks: Introduction to sociology
* Wolff, Kevin & Baglivio, M. T. (2017)
Adverse childhood experiences, negative emotionality, and pathways to juvenile recidivism ''Crime & Delinquency, 63''(12), 1495–1521.
criminology : www.inspirationblog.co.in
External links
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Academic disciplines
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Interdisciplinary subfields of sociology
1880s neologisms