criminology

social defintion

what society believes is wrong within a community. for example most people in the uk would believe it is wrong to have a sex with a 14 year old , but in other cultures in different countries it might not be seen as a problem because society doesn’t label it as one

legal defintion

In our society, it is the legal system which defines crime.for example behaviour that breaks the law and for which you are punished by the legal system.

actus reus

guilty act essentially means committing a crime m

mens rea

guilt mind essentially means having a motive to commit the crime

deviance

behaviour that goes against social norms of a specific group or society, which causes some kind of critical reaction or disaproval

define crime

act or omission that breaks the law and is punishable by law

norms

social expectations that guide behaviour and explain why people act in the way that they do. norms keep in check deviant behaviour while it is expected behaviour, it could vary from one culture to another for instance in the uk we wear sombre colours for a funeral but in china the colour of mourning is white.

moral codes

morals or good ways of behaving, breaking a moral code would be considered serious in society an example would be murder

value

rules shared by most people in a given culture it is what people feel should happen they are more general guidelines than norms for example respecting the elderly

informal sanctions against deviance

frowning upon behaviour

name calling

ignoring behaviour

formal sanctions against deviance

fines or even imprisionment may be appropriate for some deviant acts

define social construction

what society thinks of an object, event or person. how society responds and deals with the object, event or person. a social construct is usually accepted as natural by society

how age can affect the application of the law

the age of criminal responsibility in the uk is 10. this means that any child under the age of 10 cannot be arrested, charged or prosecuted for a criminal offence

an example of age

James bulger

how defence can affect the application of law

where someone has committed murder, but has a partial defence of diminished responsibility or loss of control, an alternative charge of manslaughter is made. the sentence is also reduced from mandatory life to discretionary life.

an example of how defence can change the application of law

Felicia boots admitted to killing her two babies due to postpartum depression and was sent to a psychiatric hospital for 2 years

how a persons past criminal convictions can change the application of law

if someone has past criminal convictions their criminal charger may be harsher compared to someone who has never committed a crime before.

how laws change from place to place and culture to culture

the same actions are not necessarily criminal offences in all places throughout the world, or even policed in the same way

an example of laws changing form place to place

death penalty/ drugs / fem

where is the death penalty illegal

uk, Australia and canada

where is the death penalty legal

china, india and the us

where drugs is legal

Portugal

where FGM is legal

Ghana

why’d laws change firm place to place and culture to culture

cultural idealogies

social norms and values

development

status of women

religion why it changed form place to place

the laws of many countries are based on the religious culture of the country

why status of women change from place to place

in some cultures men have a different status to women. women are perceived to the subservient tom men and as a result, legal and societal rights may vary

why varying views on justice change from place to place

what is considered to be justice and an appropriate legal system can vary among different cultures.

why laws change socially and cultural shifts

as society evolves so do it values and norms. for example the marriage was introduced to reflect changing attitudes towards same sex relationships

political changes why laws change from place to place

shifts in political power can often lead to changes in legislation

public heath and safety challenges why law changes from place to place

laws are also updated to protect public health and safety

3 key events of homosexuality

1553 buggery act = criminalising sex between men death penalty

2010 equality act

2013 legalised same sex marriages

3 key events of women’s rights

1857 matrimonial rights = allowed women to seek divorce through civil courts

1967 abortion act

1970 equal pay acts

3 key events of smoking

1971 health warnings added to cigarette packs

2006 indoor smoking ban

2007 legal age turned from 16 to 18

Nature definition

biology, genes, hormones, brain structure

Nurture definition

environment, surroundings, upbringing

3 physiological theory’s

lombroso/ Sheldon’s somotatypes/ raine

3 genetic theorys

crowe/christansen/Jacob’s ~XYY

lombrossos claims

that the criminal is a separate species, a species that is between modern and primitive humans, he argued that the physical shape of the head and face determined “born criminal”. He claimed that you can tell what kind of crime someone will commit but the way they look.

Lombrossos components

examined facial features and skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3,839 living criminals and concluded that 40% of the criminal acts could be accounted for due to those with atavistic characteristics.for example features of sex offender thick lips and protruding ears

Advantages of Credibility lombroso

-the 1st person to give criminology a scientific credibility most were religious before this

-his work heralded the beginnings of offender profiling

-the theory had a scientific test, large sample group

Disadvantages of credibility lombroso

theory had no control group of non criminals

Deterministic and a reductionist theory

Application of lombroso

he said people will leave prison much more violent than they went in.

Refuting evidence of lombroso

-theory assumes we cannot escape destiny

-only 40% have advsitic features

-scientific racism- some features link to race and ethic groups

• raine found out brain activity linked to criminality not facial features

Supporting evidence of lombroso

Charles goiing found a low order intelligence in convicts, which suggests that there is some genetic base to criminality

Sheldons claims

claimed taht criminal behaviour is linked to a persons physical from. By looking at 4000 men Sheldon claimed that people could be classified into three body types ; ectomorphic, endomorphic and mesomorphic

Components of sheldons

Sheldon asked people to rate 200 photos on a scale of 1 to 7. Half the photos were of college students and half were of juvenile delinquents. The delinquents had a higher average rating as mesomorphic

Advantages of Credibility sheldon

Repeatable

Disadvantages of credibility sheldons

Sheldon’s theory is a deterministic and a reductionist theory

Androcentric study

Analysis of sheldons

Ted Bundy, Dennis Nielsen didn’t fit

Refuting evidence of sheldons

Body types can change

Discriminative based on class

Bias and labelling

Supporting evidence of Sheldon’s

Putwain said A number of studies have confirmed a association between bodily build and criminality

Jacob XYYclaims

Jacob claims the men with XYY are more agressive and inclined to be violent

XYY COMPONENTS

he compared men in prison to men in general to see how prevalent the XYY gene was. 15 per 1000 in prision. 1 per 1000 in general

XYY credibility advantages

Studied extensively for 50 years

XYY credibility diasvanatge

Reductionist and deterministic what abt xxx

Application to xyy

Richard speck had xyy He killed 9 nurses

Refuting evidence

Richard was an alcoholic which played more of a role than xyy

Supporting

The American journal of medical genetics compared XYY males with their XYY siblings and found XYY siblings had lower IQ

Twin studies claims

Lange and Christiansen claim that criminality is a result of genes and can be proven by looking at mZ and Dz twins

Components twin

He studied 30 twins where one had spent time in prision he found 20 of the 13 mz

1 Adavantage of twin

It is assumed that each member of a twin pair is exposed to exactly the same set of environmental influences

1 Disadvantage of twin

Reductionist

Aapplication of twin

Ronald and Reginald kray were monozygotic twins the twins were gangsters involved in murders

refuting evidence twin

Mz twins look alike and may therefore generate more similia social responses than dz twins this hasn’t been accounted for in the studies. Most twin studies are not carried out over a long enough period of time

Ssupporting evidence twin

bouchard 1979 studied twins seperated at birth. Found that identical twins who had different upbringings