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Summary Criminology: A Contemporary Introduction
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Introduction to Criminology for Law Students: includes all readings, relevant murphy chapters, lectures and seminars
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Terms and concepts of Introduction into Criminology
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Summary Introduction into CriminologyWeek 1: Introduction: What is criminology, what is crime and who is the
criminal?
Chapter 1: Introducing the landscapes of criminology
Learning outcomes
1. Recognise the nature of what ‘criminology’ is, and its focus around crime and law and
order issues.
2. Recognise the different areas of concerns and issues within criminology.
3. Recognise and understand different ways of defining ‘crime’.
4. Understand possible consequences of how we think about crime.
5. Recognise different labels used to describe types of crime and bunch them together.
1.3 What is ‘criminology’?
There is no one correct definition of criminology, but the most common one is → the study
of crime, justice, and law and order issues, and the broader dynamics of societies in terms of
informing how those things exist and are experienced.
There is also consideration of wider processes:
o Social and cultural context
o Political climate
o Nature of the economy
o Globalisation and technology
o Human rights
Criminology is interdisciplinary → as a field of study it draws in the expertise and knowledge
of people working across many academic disciplines, as well as many areas of employment:
o Sociology
o Psychology
o Law
o Social policy
o Economics
o Geography
o History
1.4 Skills and competencies of a criminologist
Finding appropriate materials → using credible sources.
Using materials in an appropriate way → ask where the source has come from. Evidence-
driven and appropriate referencing.
Being a critical enquirer → approaching topics, arguments, and sources of material with a
natural curiosity for what it tells us, but also what it does not tell us.
Being a reflective learner → actively stopping and taking stock of your own learning, work,
skills, and skills gaps, and asking what has gone well and what has not gone well.
Being a pragmatic researcher → approaching/investigating issues using different
approaches and methods, and thus utilising the best tool for the job being undertaken –
,being able to work with different types of material, types of data and different research
methods.
Being digitally competent → using online materials, social media, different types of data,
different research methods.
Being an advocate for change → this is a political choice, but it is important to want to see
some positive change in some way.
Gibb’s cycle of reflection:
1. First describe what happened in a situation.
2. Consider your feelings and thoughts at the time.
3. Evaluate what was good and bad about the experience.
4. Do an analysis in terms of what sense you could make of the situation.
5. Form a conclusion in terms of what else you could have done.
6. Develop an action plan for what you would now do.
Action planning → you set actions or targets for improvements that are Specific,
Measurable, Appropriate/Achievable, Realistic, and with a specific Time attached to it
(SMART).
1.5 Key topics in criminology
Criminal justice system (CJS) → the process through which the state responds to behaviour
that it deems unacceptable. Criminal Justice is delivered through a series of stages: charge,
prosecution, trial, sentence, appeal, punishment, these processes, and the agencies which
carry them out are referred to collectively as the criminal justice system.
Other key topics:
o Causes of crime
o Class, power, and inequality
o Crime
o Researching crime and justice issues
o Crime statistics
o Criminalisation
o Criminal law, criminal justice processes and institutions
o Desistance from crime
o Differential experiences of crime and justice
o International processes of crime and justice
o Human rights
o Media and crime
o Politics of law and order
o Responding to crime, punishment, and penology
o Social justice
o Types of crime
o Victimisation
o Youth justice
1.6 What is ‘crime’?
Legal definition → crime as an intentional act which breaks or goes against a law of some
sort.
Issues with the legal definition:
o Where have laws come from, who creates them, and for what purpose?
, o Is the law effective at criminalising all behaviours or events that are damaging or
harmful?
o Are some laws needless?
o What are the consequences of the laws we have?
o Who is affected by the laws we have? Do some laws, intentionally or not, victimise
specific groups?
Laws are not fixed or static, which means that what is understood to be crime must also be
fluid.
The decision to criminalise certain behaviours must be influenced by something. Things only
become defined as crime once there has been enough of a reason for the State to react to it.
Moral and social context of crime → many damaging behaviours are not criminalised, while
some groups in society are disadvantaged by the needless criminalisation of certain
behaviours (homosexuality). The law can change as the result of a change in the social and
political climate. There is often a moral component to how we understand behaviours.
Socially constructed nature of crime → what is viewed as crime is a product of the dynamics
of a given society at a given point in time. Deviancy → acts that are outside the mainstream
values and norms of a society. Deviant behaviour can become formally criminalised once
there is enough of a reaction against it.
Harms-based approach → where there is clearly harm being carried out against people,
groups, the environment etc.
1.7 Types of crime
Acquisitive crimes → acts that involve the gain of property, money, or anything else
tangible.
Expressive crimes → linked to emotions, the act is the goal itself. Often violent or sexual in
nature.
Property crimes → acquisition of or damage to property.
Crimes against the person → crimes that directly involve an act against an individual, or
group of people.
Sexual offences → acts covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate sexual
behaviours.
White-collar crime → offending in respectable status-based professions.
Corporate crime → acts committed by or on behalf of a company.
Crimes of the powerful → acts committed by those in positions of power.
State crimes → acts committed, commissioned, or advocated in some way by States to
achieve their goals.
‘Peace crimes’, including crimes against humanity → acts that are so abhorrent or terrible
that they go against humanity.
Social harms → acts that harm communities or specific groups and are often not dealt with
by formal laws.
War crimes → acts committed during conflicts and wars, when State actors breach domestic
or usually international laws.
Status offences/crimes → acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in the
context of certain conditions.
Hate crimes → where victims are targeted because of their personal characteristics.
Cybercrime → acts committed using or facilitated by information and communication
technologies.
, 1.8 Summary and implications
This opening chapter provides an overview of the text and highlights key areas of discussion
in each chapter. It emphasizes the diversity and complexity of the field of criminology, as
'crime' is a multifaceted concept with various perspectives. Criminology and crime are not
static but continually evolving, with new crime categories emerging. Furthermore, it
discusses the concept of "harm" as an alternative to 'crime,' expanding the scope of
criminology to address victimization beyond legal definitions of crime and the criminal
justice system.
Chapter 2: ‘Theory’ and its uses
Learning outcomes
1. Understand what ‘theory’ is and how it is used within criminology.
2. Understand the application of theory for various crime and law and order issues.
3. Recognise some basic distinctions between theory and other aspects of the web of
knowledge, such as questions, concepts, research, and evidence.
2.1 What is theory?
Theory → an explanation, or a model, or framework for understanding particular events or
processes.
We are always seeking to understand and account for things, and this usually means that
some form of explanation is offered.
Aetiological theories of crime → why people engage with crime, the nature of offending,
causes of crime. Accounting for why people commit crime is based on assuming that certain
things are deemed to be ‘criminal’. These theories mostly take legal definitions as a starting
point.
All theories are based on assumptions of some kind.
Critical approaches → ask questions of the taken-for-granted positions of other theories.
Theories have been developed to understand:
o What is crime?
o How are laws made and what purpose do they serve?
o Who commits crime, and why?
o What is the nature of the world around us, including the State and the criminal justice
system?
o Is society fair? How does this relate to crime and law and order processes?
o Who becomes a victim of crime, and why?
o How is victimisation experienced? Is this different across groups?
o Why do we punish? How is this done?
o What should be done about crime?
o How do offenders stop offending?
o What are the connections between the media and crime?
o What role do politics play within law-and-order issues?
o How can we know about/research law and order issues?
Theories within criminology also afford the opportunity for policymaking.
2.2 The ‘problems’ with theory
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