Criminology and Criminal Justice Overview

Criminology

• Scientific study of crime and criminal behaviour
• Explains causes of crime, public perception of crime, law, and offenders

Criminal Justice

• Study of social control agencies involved in criminal offenses
• Formation of laws
• Application of laws
• Decision-making processes

Criminal Justice System

• Operates differently in various societies
• Canadian government at all levels responsible for the system's operation

Goals of Criminal Justice System

• Crime control
• Reflects social, political, and economic history of Canada
• Communities play a role in social control and order

Perspectives on Criminal Justice System

• Purposes and functions
• Crime control depends on country history and policy
• Actors in the system operate based on policy
• Crime prevention through general and specific deterrence
• Programs and actions for addressing the causes of crime
• Maintaining justice through retributive measures

Government Responsibility (Federal)

• Creates criminal law
• Correctional facilities for sentences over two years
• Federal prosecutors
• Ministries of Justice and Public Safety
• Ministry of Organized crime reduction and border services

Government Responsibility (Provincial)

• Quasi-criminal legislation and regulatory law
• Provincial courts (summary conviction offenses)
• Provincial police (Quebec and Ontario)
• Provincial corrections
• Provincial ministries of justice

Government Responsibility (Municipal)

• Policing and by-laws

Government Accountability

• Internal and external oversight bodies
• Bar associations, special investigation units, correctional ombudsman
• Flow of cases: Policing (contact, detention, release), Courts (summary/indictable offenses)

Sentencing and Corrections

• Custodial (two-year rule) and non-custodial (probation, community service) sentencing provisions
• DNA databanks, sex offender registries
• Academic study of criminal justice (how laws are made and how society responds to lawbreaking)

Interdisciplinary Nature (of Criminal Justice)

• University and college level study
• Career preparation
• Multidisciplinary fields (politics, geography, sociology, law, psychology, etc.)

What Is a Crime?

• An action or omission that constitutes an offense punishable by law.
• Social norms regulate behavior and social relations, based on shared group evaluations or guidelines.
• Vary according to how widely accepted and how enforced norms are by society.

How Law Transmits Norms

• How much conformity is required
• Violations attract attention and sanctions

Social Power

• The ability to shape and enforce norms, especially in political, economic, or social spheres
• Powerful individuals define standards relating to deviance
• White-collar crimes are financially motivated, non-violent offenses committed by individuals and businesses.

Empirical Representations of Crime

• Quantitative and qualitative data about crime
• Presenting crime data (crime rates, severity, prevalence, incidence)
• Data collection through Statscan and uniform crime reporting (UCR).

Types of Crime and Deviance

• Sexual assault, robbery, burglary, white-collar crime, lifestyle deviance (alcohol/drug abuse, sex work), status deviance (mental illness, obesity, LGBTQ identity)

Historical Views of Deviance

Different types of deviance in history including demonic, psychotic, and exotic views

Sociological Approach to Deviance

• Deviance is inherently social.
• Symbolic interactionism.
• Social meanings arise in social interaction.
• Deviance involves the definition of the act, rather than the act itself.
• Deviance varies and depends on numerous factors.

The Different Kinds of Deviance

• High consensus (homicide), norms regarding these acts are widely shared
• Non-violent, varies by social group
• Historical views of deviance include demonic, psychotic, and exotic views

Lecture 3.2: Deviance

• The state of departing from usual or accepted standards, particularly in social or sexual behaviors
• Historical viewpoints of deviance
• Sociological approach and aspects of deviance.
• Various types and kinds of deviance

Lecture 4.1: Theories of Crime

• Biological theories (e.g., Lombroso, biology influencing origin of deviance)
• Psychological theories (e.g., deviance as psychological illness)
• Key components of the mind's psychological functioning (ID, Ego, Superego)
• Rational choice theory relates to decision-making in a cost-vs-benefit manner.

Lecture 4.2: Social Structure Theories

• Social disorganization (causes of crime in inner cities)
• Anomie and strain theory (cultural goals vs societal means)
• Merton's Strain Theory (conformity, ritualism, innovation, retreatism,rebellion; deviance as a response to cultural/structural strain)
• Adaptations to Strain (conformity, ritualism, innovation, retreatism, and rebellion)

Social Process Theories

• How socialisation leads to conformity or criminality
• Various agents of specializations (family, school, peers, and institutions)
• Differential association theory (crime as learned behaviour through social interaction)

Critiques of Conflict and Power Relations Theories

• Focus on the competitive power struggle between those with and without power to create norms in a society.

Theories of Law

• Consensus perspective: law reflects the shared values of society
• Conflict perspective: law is used by those in power to maintain their position
• Law is based on norms, traditions, and values.

Types of Crimes

• Mala in se (inherently wrong acts) and Mala prohibita (acts that are only criminal because they are prohibited by law)

Defining Crime

• Actions or omissions that constitute a crime (especially those that are punishable by law).

Marxist Criminology

• Origin of crime relates to capitalism
• Focus on exploitation and social class

Power Relations

• Rooted in competition for power and wealth.
• Those in power use their influence to criminalize those without.
• Power enables the shaping of laws and behaviours through different social contexts.
• Those with power use law to criminalize those with less power.

Feminist Theories of Crime

• Focus on gender differences in crime rates, victimization, and patriarchal structures.
• Marxist feminism, focuses on how gender inequality stems from capitalism and class structures.
• Radical feminism discusses how the relationship between men and women creates and perpetuates crime.

Neutralization Theory

• Delinquents justify their criminal acts by rationalizing their behavior and using various means to neutralize their criminal tendencies

Containment Theory

• Factors that influence individuals toward social conformity
• Internal and external factors that lead an individual to resist deviant behaviour

Labeling Theory

• Emphasis is on the interaction between an individual and society. - Individuals are labelled and the consequence of this labeling may lead to a person to engage in further criminal behaviour

Social Control Theories

• Importance of factors that control and contain an individual's deviance (social bonds, and other social control mechanisms).