Begrippenlijst Criminology: A Contemporary Introduction
Chapter 1: Introducing the Landscapes of Criminology
Criminology 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.
Interdisciplinary It draws in the expertise and knowledge of people working
across many academic disciplines, as well as many diAerent
areas of employment.
Evidence-driven Any claims or arguments need to be supported by appropriate
evidence.
Criminal justice The various processes and agencies include law-making,
system enforcement of laws, the processing, defense and sentencing
of suspects via a system, and the instruments for delivering
punishment.
Criminal justice Because of intersectionality the combination of dynamics
inequalities such as gender, class and ethnicity interact with one another
to create or exacerbate issues.
Legal definition of An intentional act which breaks or goes against a law of some
crime sort.
Needless Some groups in society are seemingly disadvantaged by the
criminalization needless criminalization of certain behaviors (homosexuality).
Socially constructed What is viewed as ‘crime’ is a product of the dynamics of a
nature of crime given society at a given point in time.
Deviancy The acts that are outside mainstream values and norms of a
society.
Harms-based Criminologists consider a range of issues whereby clearly
approach harm is being carried out against people and groups that
demands some form of attention or action.
Types of Crime
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 act 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 Crimes that directly involve an act against an individual, or
person group of people, such as a violent or sexual act.
Sexual oAenses Acts covering all manner of unwanted or inappropriate sexual
behaviors 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. OAending in
, respectable or status-based professions, as opposed to ‘blue-
collar’ (manual) workers.
Corporate crime Acts committed by or on behalf of a company that in some
way benefits company goals. This includes financial
transactions, but also negligence, ‘industrial espionage’, not
adhering to health and safety or environmental regulations,
etc.
Crimes of the Acts committed by those in positions of ‘power’, such as
powerful governments, corporations and business figures, where they
abuse their position of power and act with some form of
corruption and impunity.
State crimes Acts committed, commissioned or advocated in some way by
States (government and associated institutions of
government) to achieve their goals.
‘Peace crimes’, Acts that are so abhorrent or terrible that they go against
including crimes humanity, and thus have their own label. The United Nations
against humanity sets out what they entail, but they include genocide,
systematic torture, and so on.
Social harms Linked to the ‘harms-based’ definition of crime, above. Ats 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, when State actors
(usually the military and intelligence agencies) breach
domestic or usually international laws regarding warfare, and
involve a disregard for human rights.
Status oAences / Acts that are prohibited usually only for certain groups or in the
crimes context of certain conditions. Often, this is in the instance of
young people having their behaviors regulated.
Hate crimes Acts committed where victims are targeted because of their
personal characteristics: age, gender, religion, ethnicity,
culture, sexuality, and so on.
Cybercrime Acts committed using or facilitated by information and
communication technologies, typically the Internet.
Chapter 2: ‘Theory’ and its uses
Theory An explanation, or a model, or framework for understanding
particular events or processes.
OAending When people engage in crime.
Aetiological theories Theories that are concerned with the causes of crime.
of crime
Critical approaches Theories that challenge the taken-for-granted positions of the
of crime other theories.
Choice and OAending in relation to choices and decisions made by an
decision-making oAender, often as part of a rational decision-making process in
theories some form: people actively choose to commit crime because
of the expected outcome.
