Introduction into Criminology 2022/2023
Terms & Concepts
These are the concepts in the course book that we consider known for the exam. See: Murphy, 2022,
Criminology. A Contemporary Introduction. PLEASE NOTE: you do not need to be able to reproduce the
definition of each concept, but make sure you can explain in your own words, understand, evaluate,
compare and apply.
CH1:
interdisciplinarity of criminology = Criminology is a field of study it draws in the expertise and
knowledge of people working across many academic disciplines, as well many different areas
of employment. This then means that a richness of experiences and knowledge can be
employed in seeking to understand issues
harm vs. crime = Some criminologists prefer to focus on harms caused by various behaviours instead of
focusing explicitly on crime. Harm = damage (environmental damage, health damage). Harm can be caused
by various behaviors that are often not dealt with by law. The more harm dome, the greater the severity of
the response required
criminal justice system = The process through which the state responds to behavior 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
all mentioned crime labels tabel 1.2:
Acquisitive crimes = acts that involve the acquisition or gain of property, money or anything else that is a
tangible reward. They might include theft, robbery, burglary, fraud, and so on.
Expressive crimes = acts that do not, seemingly, involve the acquisition of goods, but instead, are linked to
emotions and emotional release: anger, frustration, etc, where the acts itself is the goal. They are often
violent or sexual in nature.
Property crimes = acts involving the acquisition of property or damage to property. So in addition to acts
such as theft and robbery, this includes criminal damage, vandalism and so on.
Crimes against the person = crimes that directly, involve an act against an individual of group of people,
such as a violent or sexual act.
Sexual offences = acts covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviour against a person,
or group, physical or otherwise.
White-collar crime = acts committed by people usually in a work context, for their own personal gain, e.g.
theft and fraud; offending within respectable or status-based professions, as opposed to ‘blue collar’
workers (manual worker).
,Corporate crime = acts committed by/on behalf of a company that in some way benefit company goals. This
includes financial transactions, but also negligence, ‘industrial espionage’, not adhering to health and safety
or environmental regulations, etc.
Crimes of the powerful = acts committed by those in positions of ‘power’, such as governments and business
figures, where they are abusing their position of power, and acting with some form of corruption and
impunity.
State crimes = acts committed, or commissioned, or advocated in some way by States (government and
associated institution of government) to achieve their goals.
‘Peace crimes’, including crimes against humanity = acts that are so abhorrent or terrible, that they go
against humanity as a whole and they have their own label. The United Nations sets out what these entail,
but they include things such as genocide, systematic torture, and so on.
Social harms = linked to the ‘harms’-based definition of crime, above. Acts that harm communities or
specific groups of people and are often not dealt with by formal laws.
War crimes = acts committed during conflicts and wars, whereby State actors (usually the military and
intelligence agencies) breach domestic or usually international laws regarding warfare, and usually involve a
disregard for human rights.
Status offences/crimes = acts that are prohibited, usually only for certain groups or in the context of certain
conditions. Often, this is in the instance of young people having their behaviours regulated.
Hate crimes = acts committed where the victim or victims are targeted because of their personal
characteristics: age, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture, sexuality and so on.
Cybercrime = acts committed using or facilitated by emerging information and communication technologies,
typically the internet.
social construction of crime = How much of what is viewed as ‘crime’ is a product of the dynamics of
a given society at a given point in time. Crime has a socially constructed nature. Deviancy is important as it
describes acts that are outside of the mainstream values and norms of a society.
(Daarbij geldt dat sommige meer macht hebben om hun definities aan anderen op te leggen dan anderen.)
intersectionality = How the combination of dynamics such as gender, class and ethnicity can interact with
one another to create or exacerbate issues such as criminal justice inequalities. One’s social status and
power of definition depends on where you are placed on different axes of
inequality… and how these impact on one another.
CH2:
Aetiology = In criminology, when spoken of ‘theory’ people are usually thinking about how to understand
the nature of offending. That is, why people engage with crime (aetiological theories).
(In criminology, aetiology refers to the study of the causes or origins of criminal behavior and criminal
activity)
.
, Classicism and rational actors/rational choice = classicism sees offending as a consequence of people
choosing to commit crime, based on them weighing-up situations and likely outcomes. Individuals are
viewed as rational actors, who are self-interested/selfish in their actions. Crime can be a chosen behaviours,
it is an ration act.
Positivism = positivism says that people engage in offending because they are influenced by sources outside
of their own control. These can be internal forces of biology, psychology, or external forces of social
conditions and culture can influence actions.
→ Thus positivism divides itself in two strands: Individual positivism and Social/Sociological positivism
Individual- and Social/Sociological Positivism = individual positivism = internal forces of biology, psychology.
Social/sociological positivism = external forces of social conditions and culture. Both forces can influence
actions.
Block one: choice and decision making. Theories that present offending in relation to choices and decisions
made by an offender, often as part of a rational decision-making process in some form: people actively
choose to commit crime because of the expected outcome.
(classicism is a key theory, this theory would say that we should make offending more difficult, and make the
punishment outweigh the gains of crime to discourage offenders)
Block two: individual pathologies. Theories within which offending is viewed as a consequence in some way
of biological or psychological abnormalities of an offender.
(individual positivism is a key theory, crime must be dealt with through treating or rehabilitating offenders to
remove the abnormalities or pathology that has caused the offending)
Block three : social pathologies. This theory also sees offending as a consequence of abnormality. Offending
is the outcome of the context of processes outside an individual. Pathologies of a community, a culture, or
social structures/a society more widely can be considered.
(Sociological positivism. In responding to crime broader influences need to be addressed.)
Block four: critical approaches. Theories that present crime in the context of wider social processes, such as
inequality, class, power, and marginalisation of some groups. Crime, in such instances, becomes a
mechanism for responding or surviving in groups. Processes of criminalization are highlighted, but the crucial
question is who is targeted by law-makers and the criminal justice system, and why?
A social control argument is offered by some of the theories, that is, criminalisation and responses to
crime serve to control elements of the population.
(critical approaches use concepts such as social control - describing a phenomenon whereby groups of
people are controlled or coerced by powerful groups in society whereas other types of theory do not)
Block five: integrated groups: In this block, theories have combined elements of ideas from the other blocks.
This is done because it is believed that a more comprehensive or complete understanding can be offered. So,
for example, models might combine aspects of theories to account for both social and biological processes
(so called bio-social theories) that influence an individual, or explore aspects of choice and rationality in
the context of some form of individual pathology.
Criminalization = Criminalization is the process by which certain behaviors, actions, or activities are
