1. Chapter 1 What is Criminology?
Frank Schmalleger
PowerPoint presentation created by
Ellen G. Cohn, Ph.D.

2. A Fascination with Crime
People are both attracted to and repulsed by crime
TV crime shows, movies, books, websites devoted to crime are very popular
People are fascinated by crime because it is inexplicable

3. Legalistic Perspective
Crime is defined as:
Human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws
This is a legalistic perspective that recognizes that laws are social products

4. Crime and Deviance
Deviant behavior – human activity that violates social norms
Deviance and crime overlap – not identical
Unusual dress styles = deviance
Indecent exposure = crime
Figure 1-1 “The Overlap between Deviance and Crime”

5. What Should be Criminal?
Society lacks agreement about the appropriate legal status of many behaviors
Two contrasting perspectives
Consensus
Pluralist

6. Perspectives Consensus Pluralist
Laws are enacted to criminalize given forms of behavior when agreed upon by members of society
Most applicable to homogeneous societies
Pluralist
Behaviors typically criminalized through a political process, after debate over appropriate course of action
Legislation, appellate court action
Most applicable to diverse societies

7. What Do Criminologists Do?
Criminologist – studies crime, criminals and criminal behavior
Criminalist – a specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of crime
Criminal Justice Professionals – do the day-to-day work of the criminal justice system

8. Academic/Research Criminologists
Ph.D. in criminology, criminal justice, or related field
Teach in colleges and universities
Most conduct research designed to advance criminological knowledge
Most write for publication in journals

9. What is Criminology? Text’s definition of criminology:
An interdisciplinary profession built on the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their manifestations, causes, legal aspects, and control
Focus on causes of criminality
Contributes to the discipline of criminal justice

10. Criminal Justice Criminal justice: Focus on control of lawbreaking
Application of the criminal law and study of the components of the justice system
Police, courts, corrections
Focus on control of lawbreaking

11. Theoretical Criminology
Subfield of general criminology
Primarily found in colleges and universities
Posits explanations for criminal behavior

12. Theoretical Criminology
Theory
Made up of clearly stated propositions that posit relationships, often of a causal sort, between events and things under study
Criminologists have developed many theories to explain and understand crime

13. Theoretical Criminology
General theory – tries to explain most forms of crime through a single overarching approach
Unicausal theory – poses a single identifiable source for all serious deviant and criminal behavior
Integrated theory – tries to explain crime by merging concepts from different sources

14. The Social Context of Crime
Crime is a social event, not an isolated individual activity
Crime is a social construction
Crime may have many causes and many meanings
Crime is socially relative:
Social events are interpreted differently according to the cultural experiences and personal interests of the initiator, observer, or recipient of the behavior

15. Criminology’s Interdisciplinary Nature
Social scientific discipline
Interdisciplinary
Figure 1-3 – “Criminology’s Many Roots”

16. The Primacy of Sociology
Most criminologists operate primarily from a sociological perspective
Advantages
Crime is a social phenomenon
Much contemporary criminology rests on tradition of social scientific investigation
Problems
Reluctant to accept findings from other disciplines
Frequently unable to integrate these findings into existing sociological understandings of crime
Unable to show effective ways to control crime

17. Criminology and Social Policy
Social policies based on research findings are more important than criminological theorizing
Social policy needs to be linked to objective findings of well-conducted criminological research

18. Social Policy and Public Crime Concerns
Social concern about crime not always related to incidence of crime
Crime rates declining since mid-1990s
Polls show majority of respondents believe crime more prevalent today than a year ago
Many see crime problem as “extremely serious” or “very serious”
Concern about crime an important factor in determining public policy