Lesson 1 – Crime,
Criminology and the
Sociological Imagination
Robert Wonser
Introduction to Criminology
Crime and Delinquency
1
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
2
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?
3
The Sociological Perspective
• People are social beings
• Society shapes:
• Behavior
• Attitudes
• Life chances
4
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
5
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.
6
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
7
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
8
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 communities
In the network of relationships in which people
interact
In the structured social inequalities of race and
ethnicity, social class, and gender
9
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.
10
Rise of Sociological
Criminology
• For most of history, crime was a
function of supernatural forces
• God
• Devil
• Demons
• Witchcraft
11
A Brief History of Criminology
• Classical Criminology
Theoretical perspective suggesting that people
choose to commit crime
Crime 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
12
A Brief History of Criminology
• Positivist Criminology
• Application of the Scientific
method
• Objective
• Universal
• Culture-free
• Empirical verification
• Value-free
13
A Brief History of Criminology
• Sociological Criminology
• Anomie - normlessness
• The Chicago School
• Individual’s socialization
14
Chicago School
• Neighborhood studies
• High crime rates linked to social
and physical dimensions of the
neighborhood
• Differential association
• Crime linked to delinquent peers
15
Other Socio-Criminological
Theories
• Anomie/Strain theory
• Social control/bonding theory
• Labeling theory
• Conflict theories
16
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
17 crime
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
18
Criminal Intent
• For a defendant to be found guilty,
the following elements must be
proved:
• Mens rea
• Criminal intent
• Actus reas
• The criminal act
19
Criminology vs Criminal Justice
• 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.
20
What Criminologists Do:
The Criminological Enterprise
• Developing Theories of Crime
Causation
• Psychological
• Biological
• Sociological
21
What Criminologists Do:
The Criminological Enterprise
• Victimology
22
A Brief
History
of
Crimin
ology
23
Deviant or Criminal? How
Criminologists Define Crime
• 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.
24
Deviant or Criminal? How
Criminologists Define Crime
25
Deviant or Criminal? How
Criminologists Define Crime
• 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.
26
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
27
Research Methods in
Criminology
• Scientific study of crime utilizes:
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Existing data
• Comparative/Historical analysis
• Observation
• Interviews
28