CRIMINOLOGY

 Criminology uses the scientific method to

pose research questions (hypotheses),

gather data, create theories, and test their
validity.
 Example – Hirschi (attachment to delinquent

peers and delinquency)

Most important areas of interest for
criminologists?
 The development of criminal law and its use
to define crime
 The cause of law violations
 The methods used to control criminal
behavior
 The extent of crime
Crime & Deviance

Deviance is behavior departing from social norms

A Crime is conduct violating law & subject to
punishment
 Not all criminal acts are deviant (ex. Prohibition)
 Not all deviant acts are criminal
 Each changes over time & place
Crime & Deviance –
Sociology of Law
 Criminologists are concerned with how
deviant acts become crimes and vice versa
 When should crimes be decriminalized?
 When should deviant behavior become
outlawed?
 Crime Sociology
Statistics of Law

Theory Criminal
Construction Behavior Systems

Penology Victimology

Criminology
Crime & Deviance –
Sociology of Law
 Criminologists also concerned with the
impact of the law on human behavior
The Street Criminal: a Profile

 Age-persons between the ages of 15 and 24

 14% of population

 39% of arrests for violent crime

 46.8% of property crimes

 Gender
 70.1% of property crimes and 82.6% of all violent crimes are

committed by males
 Social class
 Violent crimes committed by a few in poor neighborhoods

 White collar and corporate crime committed by more affluent

 Race and ethnicity

 69.7% of arrests involve white people

 People of color are over criminalized

 Deviance and Social Diversity
 Hate crimes
 A criminal act against a person or person’s property by an
offender motivated by racial or other bias
 Gender
 The world applies more stringent normative controls to
women
 Strain due to reality of gender-based inequality
 Judge the behavior of women and men differently
 Why do women commit fewer crimes than men
Deviance and Inequality

Social-conflict analysis
 Deviance and power
 Norms or laws reflect interests of rich and powerful
 Powerful have resources to resist deviant labels
 Belief that norms and laws are natural and good masks political
character
Emile Durkheim:

Functions of deviance: structural-functional analysis

 Affirms cultural values and norms

 Clarifies moral boundaries
 Promotes social unity
 Encourages social change