Sociology of Crime Overview

SOCI 250 Review Document - October 28th, 2023

• Crime Definition: A socially constructed concept defining certain behaviors as requiring formal control and social intervention. Crime is a generic term for acts deemed "wrong" or "anti-social." It was once a private matter handled through personal retribution, but evolved into a social phenomenon addressed by criminal justice systems.

• Characteristics of Crime: A crime violates criminal law, which is a formal definition. Without forbidding an action, there is no crime. It's a normative concept based on values and morals.

• Crime vs. Offence (Canada):

  • Indictable offences: Serious crimes like assault, theft over $5,000, robbery, or murder.
  • Summary offences: Less serious crimes like theft under $5,000, impersonating a police officer, or unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

• Conventional vs. Non-Conventional Crimes:

  • Conventional crimes: Illegal acts committed by individuals or small groups involving direct or indirect contact, e.g., robbery, motor vehicle theft, break-and-enter.
  • Non-conventional crimes: Illegal acts that aren't typically handled by the criminal justice system, e.g., transnational crime (human trafficking, terrorism), white-collar crime (insider trading, fraud), and offenses against public order (drug possession, underage sex, pornography).

Deviance and Decriminalization

• Deviance: Behavior violating a social or moral norm, but not necessarily prohibited by law.

• Decriminalization: Reducing or removing criminal penalties for an act without legalizing it.

Crime and Deviance Hierarchy

• Crime and Deviance Hierarchy: A diagram created by John Hagan, outlining different types of crime by degree of social harm.
• Social diversions: Minor deviations, not subject to regulation.
• Social deviations: Disreputable behaviors, subject to regulation.
• Conflict crimes: Behaviors legally defined as crimes but not universally condemned, e.g., procuring the services of a sex worker.
• Consensus crimes: Generally agreed to be very harmful, thus strongly supported by society's desire to sanction them.

Criminology - Definition and Approach

• Criminology: An interdisciplinary science studying criminal behavior, crime causation, crime prevention, and offender rehabilitation. It encompasses knowledge from various disciplines to formulate theories of criminal behavior. A criminologist is a behavioral scientist who specializes in identifying, classifying, and describing criminal behavior.

Historical Overview

• Origins of Criminology: The Enlightenment (18th century) saw classical criminology emerge, focusing on free will and the certainty of punishment as deterrents. Early 20th Century saw the rise of sociologically oriented positivism, with writers like Maurice Parmelee, Edwin H. Sutherland, and others shaping the field.

Sub-Areas of Criminology

• Criminal Statistics: Researchers analyze crime data to understand and predict criminal behavior. They create programs testing these theories via evidence-based analysis.
• Sociology of Law: Examines how economics, politics, and social forces affect the formalization of social control and social order.

Theory Construction & Types of Criminal Behaviour

• Theory construction (etiology): Focuses on understanding the causes of criminal behavior, rates, and trends. These are often interdisciplinary and provide various orientations.
• Criminal typologies: Organize criminal behavior into various categories using biological or social factors as bases.

Disciplinary Perspectives

• Biology: Explores the possibility of biological contributions to criminal behavior, examining genetic, chemical, and neurological factors.
• Economics: Examines relationships between economic conditions and crime rates.
• Geography/Environment: Considers environmental influences on crime, such as the place of the crime and its layout.
• Political Science: Considers how political decisions concerning the criminal justice system affect the community.
• Psychology: Studies the human mind and behaviour to understand the causes of criminal behavior and personality differences between criminals and non-criminals.
• Sociology: Studies human interaction, examining how values, norms, laws, and social structures influence behavior; is the dominant perspective in North America.

Disciplinary Perspectives on Crime Study

• Biology: Explores potential biological factors or traits related to criminal behavior
• Economics: Considers economic factors and how they potentially affect crime rates
• Geography: Examines geographic distributions of crime patterns and how the environment can influence criminal behavior.
• Political Science: Focuses on how political contexts or choices impact crime.
• Psychology: Studies mental processes and differences to reveal personality factors correlated with criminal behavior
• Sociology: Focuses on societal structures and how those structures or lack of contribute to criminal activity

Official and Unofficial Data

• Limitations of Official Data: Issues with reliability and validity of data. Sampling errors and potential for systematic bias in data collection
• Victimization Surveys: Method for collecting data from victims, used to understand "dark figure" of crime (crimes that go unreported to police)
• Self-Report Studies: Surveys asking individuals about their involvement in criminal activities.

Victimization Related Information

• Victimization Data: Comprehensive data collection on victim experiences with crimes and the criminal justice system.
• Victimization Surveys: Reveal data on perceptions of safety and vicitmizations, based on victim accounts and experiences.
• Victim Precipiation: Theoretical concept explaining how victims may increase their likelihood of victimization through their actions/inactions.
• Secondary Victimization: Negative impacts on victims resulting from their interactions with the criminal justice system. Common issues are insensitive treatment, unhelpful procedures, and lack of consideration for the victim's experiences.

Theoretical Models and Typologies

• Lifestyle Theory: Certain lifestyle habits and patterns of behaviour elevate the person's risk of becoming a victim.
• Routine Activity Theory: Criminal activity occurs when three elements converge - motivatd offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardians
• Social Disorganization Theory: Explains variation in crime rates based on social factors in the surrounding area like poverty, high mobility, and family disruption.

Contemporary Biosocial Theories

• Biosocial Theories: Combines insights from biological and social factors to explain criminal behaviour, looking at how both interact with each other and shape individual actions.
• Interdisciplinary Approach: Combining approaches from multiple fields like biology, sociology and psychology to gain complete understanding
• Genetic Factors / Biomarkers: Exploring possible hereditary biological factors or traits related to crime and criminal behaviour

Other Sociological Theories

• Anomie/Strain Theory: Examines how societal stressors or strain (lacking desirable societal goals or proper means of attaining those goals) lead to crime.
• Social Control Theory: A theory that explains criminal behaviour as a result of social factors like socialization, social bonds, and opportunities available to individuals.
• Labelling Theory: Considers how social interactions and reactions impact criminal behavior, how negative reactions may increase future involvement in criminal activity.
• Moral Development Theory: Explores moral development and how it is formed or shaped.
• Conflict Theory: Assumes that crime is a result of competition between groups, specifically focusing on social or economic disparity. Social conflict leads some to criminal acts either to attain something or otherwise to cope with stress or inequality.

Major Crime Types

• Organized Crime: Groups operating with hierarchical structures, pursuing economic gain through various illegal activities.
• Corporate Crime: Illegal acts undertaken by employees of corporations to benefit the company (ex. fraud, embezzlement).
• Cybercrime: Crimes facilitated through the use of computer technology, e.g., hacking, fraud, identity theft, and cyberterrorism.
• Hate Crimes: Crime motivated by bias, hate, or prejudice against a specific group (often by race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation).
• Homicide: The act of causing another's death. Different degrees and types according to intent, e.g., first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter.
• Sexual Assault: A form of violence where an inappropriate and often violent sexual act is imposed on another person, sometimes without their consent. Varying levels according to severity in the law; e.g., common assault, aggrevated assault, sexual assault with a weapon.
• Theft: A wide range of offenses from petty theft to grand theft encompassing property crimes.
• Arson: The deliberate and malicious use of fire or explosives to damage or destroy property.
• Prostitution: The exchange of sexual services for money or goods, often illegal.

Crime Prevention and Policies

• Restorative Justice: A philosophy of crime control that emphasizes repairing harm and reintegration of offenders into communities.

• Opportunity Reduction: Measures to reduce crime by minimizing opportunities for criminal activity, e.g., improved security measures to deter crime.

Theories of Crime and Criminal Behaviour

• Classical School: Emphasizes free will and rational choice in explaining crime (e.g., utilitarianism, deterrence.)
• Positivist School: Assumes criminal behaviour is influenced by factors like biology, psychology and environmental factors; emphasizes treatment and rehabilitation.

This quiz explores key concepts in the sociology of crime, including the dark figure of crime, social disorganization theory, and the agencies responsible for crime data collection in Canada. Test your understanding of how social structures and perspectives shape our comprehension of crime and its statistics.