An Overview of Criminology
Criminology aims to understand and explain criminal behavior and crime through observation and extensive research. The overarching idea is that in understanding criminal behavior, criminologists can better construct programs and policies and suggest changes that will prove beneficial in reducing or eliminating crime. As crime evolves and changes, so do the approaches to studying it. As such, criminology is always a growing field, with new information and insights developing every day.
The field does not study offenders alone but also considers the role that victims, law enforcement, environment, and community play in producing or inhibiting crime. In doing so, criminology recognizes that crime is not the result of a single person or characteristic, nor does it only affect the offender. Rather, many factors culminate and lead to criminal behavior. Furthermore, criminology takes into account that crime not only affects offenders, but also victims, community members, and members of the criminal justice system. In exploring all of the facets of crime and possible explanations for criminal behavior, criminologists are better able to create a full picture of crime and its occurrences.
Theories as Essential Curriculum
Theory serves as the foundation of criminology. Simply put, a theory acts as a sensible way for people to understand and help explain criminal behavior and activity (Bernard, Vold, Snipes, & Gerould, 2016). Theories begin with the observation of a particular circumstance and are composed of logical, related concepts that allow criminologists to understand and explain possible reasons as to why the circumstance occurred (Kubrin, Stucky, & Krohn, 2009). By their nature, theories are systematic and provide researchers with the same methods and meaning by which to replicate and understand phenomena (Kubrin et al., 2009).
It is important to note that theories are not simply criminologists’ personal opinions as to how and why crime occurs. Rather, theories are entrenched in research, applicable to multiple situations, and easily proven or disproven by other researchers (Akers, Sellers, & Jennings, 2017). Overall, learning about criminological theories provides students with the tools to better understand the underlying reasons for crime.
Applying and Observing Theories at Work
Individuals’ perceptions of crime and criminal justice can be shaped through popular culture. For example, movies, television shows, music, commercials, and art are all sources of entertainment that can possibly shape an individual’s perception. These sources of entertainment are able to affect what the public believes about crime and related institutions, particularly if the public has little exposure to or knowledge about actual crimes. Some popular examples of entertainment are shows such as Law & Order, CSI, and NYPD Blue. Other examples of popular criminology include the television show Oz, a 7-Up television commercial, the movie Lean on Me, and hip-hop music.
Yousman (2009) examines the ways in which the HBO television drama, Oz, legitimizes both the expansion of the prison-industrial complex and the prevalence of inhumane prison environments. He highlights the hyperviolence and the framing of race and class within the television series, and he explains that viewers enjoyed the violence that was depicted in the series. Many of the viewers expressed how realistic they believed the portrayed prison life was, while also noting that they had never been to jail or prison in their lifetime. The series depicted 72 deaths throughout the six seasons, and the vast majority of those deaths were portrayed as homicides. In contrast to the television show’s depiction of prison life and violence, the most prevalent leading causes of death in prison are suicide, disease, or old age (Yousman, 2009). As a result, individuals’ perceptions of prison life were shaped based on the television show of the HBO television show Oz.
A 7-Up television commercial created by Young & Rubicam caused an uproar when they based a commercial on the old saying, “Don’t drop the soap.” The commercial begins with the protagonist in a prison, who drops a can of 7-Up. He then turns to the camera and says, “I’m not picking that up.” Next, the actor sits in a cell with an incarcerated individual who has his arm around him. The actor goes on to say, “When you drink 7-Up, everyone is your friend.” A few seconds later, the actor says “OK, that is enough being friends.” The commercial then fades to black, but viewers are still able to hear the actor say “Hey, where are you going?”
The commercial was later removed from television after two months as a result of the nature of the ad. The activist group, Stop Prisoner Rape, led the campaign to have the ad taken off of television. The organization believed that the ad was making light of and joking about prison rape, and they argued that it would skew individuals’ perceptions of prison rape (Whitehead, 2010). When television shows and ads make prison rape jokes, they normalize the idea of prison rape. As an idea—in this case, prison rape—becomes normalized, there is a possibility that it is not taken as seriously as it should be, and it becomes a part of common rhetoric about and widely accepted beliefs.
Another example of criminological theories in popular culture is the movie, Lean on Me. Based on a New Jersey high school principal, Joe Clark, a Black educator, who was hired in order to improve the conditions of a predominantly African-American high school and, primarily, to raise students’ test scores in order to prevent the state from taking over the school. In his first act as principal, Clark expels 300 students that were “identified” as drug dealers or troublemakers. Clark not only expelled students, but he also fired teachers that did not agree with his radical measures.
Irwin Hyman (1989) discusses how the movie is misleading and how easily society can be deceived when offered an easy solution. After the movie was released, there was public support for Clark and his tough-guy antics. Individuals even cheered for his actions against the students and teachers. If these radical tactics were used on a parent’s child, they would not be cheering for Clarks’ tactics but would be arguing against them.
Hyman (1989) argues that if these tactics were used by a white principal, then the principal and tactics would be racist. However, since they were performed by an African American principal, they are not. In reality, the takeover of the school by the state was never a threat. Furthermore, the test scores of Clark’s students on the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test were the lowest in the state for 1986 through 1988 (Hyman, 1989).
Regarding popular criminology, the concern is that Lean on Me could shape individuals’ perceptions of the public-school system. For example, an individual could reasonably conclude that expelling “troublemakers” is an efficient way to quickly improve a school environment. Moreover, audiences could view Clark’s radical actions as acceptable or even desirable when considering options for improving a school system if they were to base their opinions on the movie alone. As such, the movie paints a particularly unrealistic, somewhat dangerous standard for viewers.
Hip-hop music is another source of popular culture that has the potential to affect individuals’ perceptions of society. Due to lyrics that are commonly used, hip-hop music is widely associated with violence (Taylor & Taylor, 2007). For example, the popular song “Murder on My Mind” by YNW Melly was in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also No. 1 on Apple Music (Anderson, 2019; Eustice, 2019). The popular song refers to YNW Melly shooting and killing two of his friends. Melly even turned himself in to the police and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder (Hopkins, 2019). The use of explicit, violent lyrics can encourage or lead many youths to copy and act out the lyrics that they hear in songs, though there are other legal concerns about freedom of speech, hip-hop and other music as art rather than a glorification of violence. Individuals, most likely youth, could be affected by hip-hop music and what they believe about music and crime. The study of criminological theories present in hip-hop could be a unique pedagogical tool as well as a historical evaluation and artistic representation of a specific time period. Further, it can highlight the ways in which popular culture can affect views and perspectives about groups of people, leading to a larger discussion of popular criminology.
Popular Criminology and This Book
Popular criminology is a conceptual approach used to interrogate popular understandings of crime and criminal justice and examine the interconnections between crime culture and media (Kohm, 2017). Movies, television shows, music, art, and literature are a few sources of popular criminology that criminologists use. Popular criminology as a field of study could expand the ways in which scholars approach the study of crime and criminal behavior. This book provides several examples of how criminologists can apply criminological theory to popular culture.
The layout of this book is designed to give students insight into how criminologists think about issues. In applying criminological theory to popular culture, the authors show how deeply criminological theory pervades everyday life, not only for the authors themselves but also for the subjects about which they write. The book will change the lens through which students look at the world around them and encourage them to consider the theoretical underpinnings of the books, movies, and music that they love.
As students read, they should notice that each chapter differs from the next in both topic and approach. While this design may seem unusual for students, particularly those who have only encountered only more formal texts, it will show them that there is not one single “right way” to think about criminology. In fact, it is these nuances in how criminologists think and consider topics that create new ways to consider criminological issues. The importance of innovative thinking is invaluable, as it keeps the crimino...