1. Criminology: Connecting Theory, Research, and Practice
Chapter 1
Crime, Deviance, and Criminology:
A Brief Overview
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2. Introduction The study of crime has two main dimensions
Behavioral
Definitional
Social behavior either conforms to the established order or contributes to social disorder
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3. What Is Crime? Legalist perspective Political perspective
Crime is behavior that violates criminal codes and statutes
Makes several unsupported assumptions
Political perspective
Crime is socially constructed behavior
Emphasizes the role of political power in the creation of legal definitions
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4. What Is Crime? Psychological perspective Sociological perspective
Crime is maladaptive behavior
Definition is very broad and encompasses many behaviors
Sociological perspective
Crime is behavior that threatens the social order
Focuses on all actions that cause harm, misfortune, and distress to others
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5. What Is Crime?
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6. What Is Crime? Individual Rights or Social Conformity…You Decide
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7. What Is Deviance?
Deviance: Behavior that elicits a social reaction by violating the standards of conduct defined by society
Categories of social norms
Folkways: Nonbinding social convention
Mores: Strong convention about right/wrong
Taboos: Prohibition on socially offensive acts
Laws: Written formal decree
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8. What Is Deviance?
Society does not always agree on the social and legal status of some behaviors
Even when society does agree, consensus can change from time to time and place to place
The definitions of crime and deviance are subjective and depend on the specific time and place
Crime: Human behavior that we interpret as violating society’s norms for a specific time and place and that must be controlled and prevented by legal decree
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9. What Is Deviance?
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10. What Is Criminology?
Criminology: The scientific study of the incidence and forms of crime and criminal behavior, their causes and consequences, and social reaction to, control of, and prevention of crime
Criminologists are academics, researchers, and policy analysts who focus on understanding the nature and meaning of crime, patterns of criminal behavior, causes of criminality, and society’s reaction to crime
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11. What Is Criminology?
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12. The Popular Image of Crime Versus the Reality of Criminal Behavior
Crime is committed by ordinary people
The popular image of crime comes from media portrayals that provide a false representation of crime-related facts and incidents
Crimes reported by the media are often the crimes that take place the least
The media focuses on dramatic, unusual, and shocking events, and places less emphasis on the everyday criminal behavior of regular people
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13. Criminology and Theory
Theory: A set of propositions that put forward a relationship between the categories of events or phenomena we are studying
Criminological theories must account for the great diversity of crime and incorporate a wide variety of perspectives
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14. Criminological Research and Public Policy
Criminology research allows policymakers to develop evidence-based strategies and interventions
It is the source upon which we rely to guide our understanding of current criminal justice issues
Criminology: Connecting Theory, Research and Practice
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15. Criminology and the Law
Consensus view
Crime is a social phenomenon that is generally agreed to be harmful, undesirable, and disruptive
Criminal law thus defines as criminal all behavior believed to be repulsive to all individuals in society
Conflict view
Crime and deviance are products of unequal power relationships
Crime control thus becomes a tool of the powerful to control the behavior of the less powerful
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16. Criminology and the Law
Two Perspectives on Law
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