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LC1 criminology lecture notes, reading and seminar work
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introduction learning cycle to criminology university of Bristol
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Criminology LC1💡 The black letter definition of crime
Black letter definition is what law terms a transgression of criminal law - crime is an act that
is legally prosecuted by criminal proceedings
CPS has defined the black letter definition of crime as 'any act, default, or conduct prejudicial
to the community, the commission of which by law, renders the person responsible liable to
punishment by fine, imprisonment or other penalty'
very much focused on individualised aspects of crime - mens rea and actus reus - (n.b.
this is hard to transfer into corporate crime)
💡 Thinking critically about the legal definition of crime
Black letter definition doesn't account for below questions when thinking critically
about crime:
who decides or how is it decided that an act is a crime?
is crime related to the harm of the act that is so labelled?
whose interests are served in the definition of crime and why - power relations? state
defines what a crime is
what about police discretion or forms of unintentional error and/or intentional
wrongdoings in the processes and procedures of the CJS?
what about gender, ethnicity, social class, age, sexuality, disability etc. - sociological
variables the definition of crime and the workings of the CJS?
black letter definition doesn't engage in why some acts are criminal i.e. murder vs
workplace deaths - why is that?
💡 Critiques of the Black Letter Definition
1. Without criminal law there is no such thing as crime
Michael and Adler (1933) (Crime, Law and Social Science): 'if crime is merely an instance of
conduct which is proscribed by the criminal code, it follows that the criminal law is the
formal cause of crime'
no act that is intrinsically criminal universally in the world
Ditton (1979) (Controlology): 'no crime has been committed (in law and logic) until a court
finds - i.e. creates for all intents and purposes - guilty intent'
2. Why are certain acts criminalised and other similar or exactly the same
forms of acts are not?
E.g. not all instances of homicide are dealt with as murder
,E.g. Killing can be lawful in certain circumstances, e.g. self defence, provocation, diminished
responsibility, during a legally declared state of war, capital punishment etc.
E.g. Deaths that result from avoidable 'accidents' at work are not usually dealt with by the
CJS, but rather, civil processes
3. Changes to the criminal law
E.g. changes to domestic law in England and Wales that made marital rape a crime - R v R
E.g. decriminalisation of homosexuality - Sexual Offences Act 1967
E.g. examples of historical figures such as Socrates, Emily Pankhurst, MLK, Nelson Mandela
who at some point were condemned as criminals but subsequently came to be considered as
revolutionary heroes (Wayne Morrison in Hale et al's criminology)
4. Differences in the content and application of criminal law within the same
country
Hillyard et al's Atlas of Crime and Justice (2008) and A Spatial Analysis of Crime and
Criminal Justice in England and Wales (2002) illustrates this:
Shows that England and Wales does not have a unified or consistent CJS but, rather,
comprises 43 regional criminal justice systems related to police force areas
E.g. criminal offenders are treated differently in different areas for the same offences
5. Separation of the criminal process from its social, economic and political
contexts
Relates to critical and radical critiques of the study of crime, which assert that crime must
include a consideration of:
why certain acts are criminalised and yet others are merely disapproved of - e.g.
cannabis as opposed to harmful effects of tobacco and alcohol which have greater
harms
why criminal law is differentially targeted and enforced against various groups within
society - e.g. stop and search of young black males in urban areas vs middle-class
white males in rural areas
why some crimes are considered more important than others - e.g. benefit fraud vs tax
evasion
💡 Why is it important that we be concerned with the problem of defining crime?
Reading: Crowther, C. (2007) ‘Defining Crime and Studying Criminology and Criminal
Justice’ in Crowther, C., (2007) An Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
legal definition of crime
criminal behaviour is a form of rule breaking, particularly a violation of criminal law
, However, there is a degree of relativity involved in defining crime
legislation also changes over time and adapts to changes in social attitudes i.e. laws on
homosexuality
classifying offences
three main categories
offences against property
offences against the person
offences against public order
Some offences, deemed more serious, are arrestable or indictable whereas some are not.
role of popular press and media in defining crime and causing moral panic
use of media for understanding crime raises questions about nature of reality and how it is
represented.
role of media in relation to crime relates to 'newsworthiness' (Chibnall 1977) - explains why
some items of news are relevant and given coverage when many are not
media shapes understanding of crime and directs societal responses to it
mass media may generate moral panics about crime (Cohen 1973) blowing the issue
out of proportion and out of line with the actual pervasiveness of the problem
media may produce distorted picture of crime at odds with reality of crime
Reiner (2002) - tendency for the media to over-report serious and violent crimes, such
as murder or rape, in comparison to lesser crimes which occur more often and cause
regular harms - results in distorted picture of crime and criminality
'moral panics' result in 'deviancy amplification'
E.g. Hall et al - sensationalised media propagated notion of black crime and has
resulted in young black boys being stigmatised and criminalised, gave state chance to
divert criticism from economic and social crisis's
stop and search: a case study
example of how legislation is developed to tackle different types of offending
power exercised by police in public places to allay suspicions over behaviour, actions or
appearance of individuals.
degree of subjectivity and selectivity in application of stop and search laws
e.g. early 'sus' laws used in discriminatory ways perceived to be illegitimate and
unjust, police also lacked consent of sections of communities they were policing, in
particular locales or geographical areas (scarman 1981)
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