Sociology

9/21

  • Nothing in the nature of crime that makes it criminal

  • Overcriminalization: the overuse of criminal law to address social issues, regulate ordinary behavior, and punish mistakes

  • Undercriminalization: the failure of the criminal law to prohibit certain socially harmful behaviors that arguably should be made illegal


Legal definition of crime

  1. Hidden crime

  2. When does criminal status begin/end

  3. discretion

  4. incarceration


Positive consequences of sociologists relying on the legal definition of law


UCR → NIBRS

9/17

Criminal: A person being identified as such through federal or state law


Legal Definition of crime: problems with this definition for sociologists

  1. Hidden Crime: Activities that are not reported to authorities, often due to fear of legal repercussions or social stigma, including domestic violence and drug use.

  2. When does the criminal status begin and end?

  • I think once they are convicted of the crime, they societally have the criminal status

    • Factual, legal, and social guilt


9/14

Sociological perspective:

  • Studying human behavior and human interaction

  • We are looking for patterns (something that repeats itself and occurs frequently)

  • How do we identify ourselves based on social class, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, religion, geography


  1. Causes of crime (looking at theories that sociologists have developed to explain acts of crime)

  2. Costs of crime

  3. Trends of crime


Crime: Intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law committed without defence or justification and sanctioned by the state as a felony or a misdemeanor