1

Lesson 1 – Crime, Criminology and the

Sociological Imagination

Robert WonserIntroduction to CriminologyCrime and Delinquency

2

Introduction• U.S. crime rate has declined since 1990s, but

prison/jail population has increased• Prison/jail population is more than 2.3 million

inmates• Criminal justice system costs more than $250

billion annually

• Media distorts our knowledge about crime

• Crime is both an individual problem and a social problem

• Sociological criminology: Sociological understanding of crime and criminal justice

3

Sociological Criminology

• Why do crime rates differ across locations and over time?

• Why do crime rates differ according to key dimensions of social inequality?

• How/Why is the legal response to crime shaped by race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and other extralegal variables?

4

The Sociological Perspective

• People are social beings

• Society shapes:• Behavior• Attitudes• Life chances

5

Emile Durkheim

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)• French Sociologist• Founder of sociology• Research on suicide• The individual act of suicide still had social roots• Focused on social structure

6

Emile Durkheim

• Established the sociological paradigm

• Social structure more important than choice

• Deviance will always exist because all rule-breaking cannot be prevented, crime is a normal part of society.

7

Social Structure

• How a society is organized in terms of social relationships and social interaction• Horizontal: social/physical characteristics of communities• Vertical: social inequality

• C. Wright Mills: social structure the root of private troubles

8

The Sociological Imagination

• The ability to understand structural and historical basis for personal troubles

• Berger observed that sociology studies false claims about reality and“unrespectable” elements of social life•Debunking motif

9

Mutual Relevance of Sociology and Criminology

• Crime, victimization, and criminal justice cannot be fully understood without appreciating their structural contexts

• Crime and victimization are public issues rather than private troubles (Mills)• Rooted in:

Social and physical characteristics of communitiesIn the network of relationships in which people interactIn the structured social inequalities of race and

ethnicity, social class, and gender

10

Crime has two aspects to it:

• Crime as individual problem• Individuals commit crime

• Crime as social problem• Individuals are shaped by social background•Crime is rooted in society’s structure, organization and operation.

11

Rise of Sociological Criminology

• For most of history, crime was a function of supernatural forces•God•Devil•Demons•Witchcraft

12

• Classical CriminologyTheoretical perspective suggesting that people choose to commit crimeCrime can be controlled if potential criminals fear punishment• Eighteenth Century• Focus on rational choice• Crime as a cost-benefit analysis• Criminal law should deter offenders from

choosing to engage in criminality

A Brief History of Criminology

13

• Positivist Criminology•Application of the Scientific method•Objective•Universal•Culture-free•Empirical verification•Value-free

A Brief History of Criminology

14

• Sociological Criminology•Anomie - normlessness•The Chicago School• Individual’s socialization

A Brief History of Criminology

15

Chicago School

• Neighborhood studies•High crime rates linked to social and physical dimensions of the neighborhood

• Differential association• Crime linked to delinquent peers

16

Other Socio-Criminological Theories

• Anomie/Strain theory

• Social control/bonding theory

• Labeling theory

• Conflict theories

17

The Creation of Criminal Law

• Consensus theory• There exists a consensus among people on what

the social norms of behavior are or should be.

• Interactionist View of Crime

• Crime is the product of social learning and labels external to the individual.

• Conflict theory• Members of the public disagree on many societal

norms; law is created by the powerful

• White-collar crime vs. street crime

18

Goals of Criminal Law

• Keep the public safe from crime and criminals

• Articulate a society’s moral values and concerns

• Protect the rights and freedoms of the nation’s citizenry

19

Criminal Intent

• For a defendant to be found guilty, the following elements must be proved:

• Mens rea• Criminal intent

• Actus reas• The criminal act

20

• The Field of Criminology–An academic discipline that uses the scientific

method to study the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior.– Interdisciplinary science involving two or more

academic fields.

• Criminal Justice– System made up of the agencies of social

control, such as police departments, the courts, and correctional institutions, that handle criminal offenders.

Criminology vs Criminal Justice

21

What Criminologists Do: The Criminological Enterprise

• Developing Theories of Crime Causation•Psychological•Biological •Sociological

22

• Victimology

What Criminologists Do: The Criminological Enterprise

23

A Brief History of

Criminology

24

• Deviance includes a broad spectrum of behaviors, ranging from the most socially harmful, such as rape and murder, to the relatively inoffensive, such as joining a religious cult or cross-dressing.

• A deviant act becomes a crime when it is deemed socially harmful or dangerous; it is then specifically defined, prohibited, and punished under the criminal law.

Deviant or Criminal? How Criminologists Define Crime

25

Deviant or Criminal? How Criminologists Define Crime

26

• Crime is a violation of societal rules of behavior as interpreted and expressed by the criminal law, which reflects public opinion, traditional values, and the viewpoint of people currently holding social and political power. Individuals who violate these rules are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of status.

Deviant or Criminal? How Criminologists Define Crime

27

Common Law Holdovers

• Retention of common law concepts of the types of crime and the elements of criminal law violation that must be proved before a defendant can be found guilty• Mala in se: Evil in themselves; violate

traditional norms and moral codes (i.e. murder, theft)• Mala prohibita: Wrong only because

prohibited by law (i.e. drug use, white collar)• Felony: Punishable by more than 1 year in

prison• Misdemeanor: Punishable less than 1 year

28

Research Methods in Criminology

• Scientific study of crime utilizes:• Surveys• Experiments• Existing data• Comparative/Historical analysis• Observation• Interviews