What is crime?

What did Garland (2002) claim about 21st century criminology?

It is a product of two separate strands of work and thought: Lombrosian Project and Governmental Project

What is the 'Lombrosian Project'?

Atavism - studying the characteristics of criminals and non-criminals (physiognomy/phrenology). Implies criminal behaviour is inherited/biological

What is the 'Governmental Project'?

Empirical studies focusing on the administration of justice, e.g. workings of police and prisons, and the measurement of crime.

Why is crime considered to be socially constructed?

- Based on collective agreement (society/cultures)

- Legal vs normative approach

- No behaviour is inherently criminal, but is labelled as such for societies/systems to function (Durkheim)

What two elements are needed for behaviour to be defined as criminal?

- Actus reus (guilty act)

- Mens rea (guilty mind)

Legal definition of crime according to Tappan (1947):

"An intentional violation of the criminal law...committed without defence or excuse, and penalised by the state"

How does criminalisation/decriminalisation impact the definition of crime?

- Notion of crime is not fixed or static - constantly evolving/adapting

- Constant process of legalisation/prohibition

- (Tombs and Whyte, 2003): state has the power to label

What is black letter law?

well-established, undisputed legal rules that are generally accepted those involved in the legal system

Which sociologist took a normative approach to crime?

Emile Durkheim

What were the main principles in Durkheim's normative approach crime?

- Social norms leads us to an interest in 'deviancy' (much broader than crime/black letter law)

- Certain amount of deviancy needed in society to reinforce the 'collective conscience'

- If people never transgressed, we wouldn't know between right and wrong.

What does Becker's labelling perspective say about deviancy (1963)?

Deviancy is in the eye of the beholder.

According to Becker, how is deviancy defined?

Deviancy is a social construct defined by the labelling process.

Who enforces rules and labels others as 'outsiders' in Becker's labelling perspective?

Powerful groups, e.g. the state or media

Radical perspectives - Box (1983):

"Definitions of serious crime are essentially ideological constructs"

According to Box (1983), which groups are more likely to be classified as criminals due to definitions of serious crime?

- Young, poorly educated males who are often unemployed

- Working-class, impoverished neighbourhoods

- Frequently belong to an ethnic minority

According to Box (1983), who is more likely to be arrested and imprisoned? What is this in despite of?

- Powerless people - this is despite criminal behaviour of the powerless being less harmful than that of the powerful

Crime as "Ideological Mystification":

Definitions/focus on crime serve to obscure and maintain power structures and dominant ideologies rather than genuinely controlling harmful acts

What is zemiology?

Study of social harms

According to Canning and Tombs (2021), how does zemiology differ in its perspectives of crime?

Moves away from a state-centric definition of crime

Zemiology - continued:

- What hurts people isn't just illegal behaviour

- View that blue-collar crime (e.g. burglary/theft) are 'small beer' compared to the crimes of the powerful.