Contemporary Crime

5 Key excerpts on "Contemporary Crime"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  An Introduction to Sociology

  • Karim Murji, Sarah Neal, John Solomos, Karim Murji, Sarah Neal, John Solomos(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  4 What is Sociological about Crime? Eamonn Carrabine

  Learning Objectives

  • To understand the key sociological perspectives on crime and how they have developed over time.
  • To enable critical reflection on the differences between them and grasp some of the ongoing controversies in the field.
  • To become aware of the leading figures and schools of thought in this area of sociology in order to be a confident and critical student of their ideas.
  • To locate analyses of crime in broader sociological debates.
  • To be able to scrutinize broader criminological ‘texts’ (such as film, TV, press, internet) and make sense of them through the theories discussed.

  Framing Questions

  1. In what ways, if any, is crime normal?
  2. Is deviance still a useful concept?
  3. What are the relationships between crime and place?
  4. How do classical ideas impact on more contemporary approaches?
  5. Why do men commit more crime than women?

  Introduction

  The question of crime is one that has the capacity to stretch the sociological imagination endlessly. Crime is a widely used word, a central theme in popular culture and a crucial dynamic shaping the political landscape. Yet, for all the seeming simplicity, there lies considerable complexity and controversy at the heart of the concept of crime. The term ‘crime’ appears in public debate and popular culture as if it is straightforward and obvious what it means, but the concept has many meanings and is rooted in certain social processes that have powerful ramifications.

  Mapping the Terrain

  Crime is always socially defined. Inevitably, this proposition provokes debate, and several competing approaches have been identified, ranging from a ‘legal-consensus’ definition through to one that is best understood as both ‘critical’ and ‘utopian’ (Greer and Hagan, 2001: 208–13). The differences can be summarized as follows:

  • The legal consensus

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Cultural Criminology

  • Anne Wade(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Society Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Crime and Justice: A Global Perspective 2 CONTENTS 2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 28 2.2. Crime ............................................................................................... 28 2.3. The State Of Crime Worldwide .......................................................... 31 2.4. Globalization And Crime .................................................................. 35 2.5. Socio-Cultural Theories Of Crime ..................................................... 38 2.6. How Culture Can Aid In Understanding Criminal Violence ............... 43 2.7. Conclusion ....................................................................................... 47 References ............................................................................................... 49 Cultural Criminology 28 Culture, defined as the sum of values, attitudes, and behavior patterns is one of the important factors influencing crime. This chapter explains crime as a product of culture. The chapter starts with a description of the crime and types of crime. It then discusses the state of crime at a global level. Globalization is considered as a cause of crime by many experts. This chapter explains the relation between globalization and crime and describes how the culture of crime has been globalized. The chapter then explains various socio-cultural theories of crime. Finally, the chapter describes how culture can help in understanding criminal behavior. 2.1. INTRODUCTION Culture may be defined as the sum of total ways of living created by a group of humans in a society, and it includes attitudes, patterns of behavior and values. The influence of cultural may be perceived as a process in which various elements are combined. Criminal activity has many motivators. One area of research that is becoming popular views crime as a product of culture or subculture.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  An Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice

  • Chris Crowther-Dowey(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Red Globe Press

    (Publisher)

  The capacity to comprehend crime from lived experience and mediated versions of social reality is important, but powerful and influential groups in society, including politi-cians and policy makers, also define crime. It is shown that each method of defining crime offers a partial and limited view of the complex processes surrounding the production of definitions of crime. However, taken together they provide a complementary overview. The chapter is split into four main parts. The first provides a rudimentary answer to the question, what is crime? After providing a legalistic definition of crime, the second section shows how crime is understood in common-sense or everyday terms. It looks at five main ways in which crime is seen: on the basis of personal experience, popular press (mass media), political power, practical and professional perspectives, and theoretical perspectives. In the third part, there is a case study tracing the development of legisla-tion related to the police power of stop and search. It examines the various uses of stop and search in relation to a range of different offences, including vagrancy, street crime and terrorism. The fourth section is another case study, the Lambeth cannabis experi-ment, which explores the changing nature of drugs crime and the legislative and policy response to it. WHAT IS CRIME? – A LEGAL DEFINITION This section: ឣ considers the processes involved in defining crime according to a legal perspective ឣ demonstrates that the criminal law changes over time ឣ provides an overview of the official methods and terminology used to classify criminal offences. It is only necessary to turn on the television or glance at a newspaper to see that crime is always in the news (Jewkes, 2004). Society is awash with crime, whether it is represented in factual or fictional terms. Crime is an issue that concerns everybody in one way or another, and this is a situation that is unlikely to change.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Globalisation, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

  Theoretical, Comparative and Transnational Perspectives

  • Valsamis Mitsilegas, Peter Alldridge, Leonidas Cheliotis, Valsamis Mitsilegas, Peter Alldridge, Leonidas Cheliotis(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  38 In the context of discussion here, these approaches suggest possible broaden-ings of or amendments to politico-legal ideas of crime – ones that might reflect sentiments, interests, values or traditions not always seen as fully reflected in criminal law. Because these approaches tend to focus on what crime does, more than on the nature of the criminal, some criminologists extend them to embrace not only acts of individual offenders but also those of corporations, groups, states, state agents or international organisations 39 and even – at the extreme – to include wrongs (such as poverty, racism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism and exploita-tion) that are not necessarily seen as always having specific, identifiable agents. On the other hand, doubts among critical criminologists themselves about such ideas being ‘too woolly and polemical’ 40 may suggest that they go beyond what most popular ideas of crime will encompass. Jeffrey Reiman, criticising such expansive concepts of crime, claims: ‘Individuals think about their actions, they respond to arguments and moral considerations, and their actions are subject to their choices. None of this applies easily to groups or structures.’ 41 Thus, he argues, the idea of individual responsibility is basic to most contemporary ideas of crime. Extensions outside it will need special justification. To go beyond these limited suggestions about conceptualising crime it is neces-sary to return to the notion of networks of community. No meaningful concept of crime could encompass all kinds of popularly recognised harms, injustices or infringements of rights. What could distinguish those that are covered? Crime surely involves some harm, injustice or dehumanising right-infringement pro-duced by the acts of others in a common social environment (embracing both vic-tim and offender) that presupposes basic conditions for co-existence in it.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Psychology and Crime

  2nd edition

  • Aidan Sammons, David Putwain(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  6 The study of offenders and offending requires some agreement between practi-tioners about which people and acts should be studied. This chapter discusses dif-ferent definitions of ‘criminal’, the relationship of offending with age, gender and socio-economic status and different ways of measuring the extent of crime within society. Trends in crime and victimisation are described. Finally, there is a discussion of the psychological effects of victimisation and fear of crime in the general public. What is a crime? What is a criminal? The most straightforward answer to the question, ‘what is a crime?’ is: ‘any act that breaks the criminal law’. Under this view, criminal law sets down, in an objective way, those things that society considers harmful. This apparent simplicity hides a great deal of complexity, as it does not address the question of why some acts are criminal and others are not, or why the acts prohibited by law vary between differ-ent places and change over time. For example, purchase of alcohol by people over the age of 18 is legal in the United Kingdom but not in Saudi Arabia. An 18 year old purchasing alcohol in the UK has occasioned no crime but the very same person in many parts of the US has. And between 1920 and 1933, under the ‘prohibition’ laws, most purchase and possession of alcohol in the US was a crime, regardless of age. So the same act – the purchase of alcohol – either is or is not a crime depending on where and when it took place. Even the act of deliberately killing another human being may or may not be a crime depending on whether the killer did so in order to inherit the victim’s money, to defend herself against a deadly threat, as a soldier under orders on a battlefield or an official carrying out a judicial execution. No behaviour is inherently criminal. Rather, societies define certain acts, under certain circumstances, as criminal for a wide range of reasons.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book