Concepts
The simple commission of a prohibited act, occurring before societal reaction changes an individual's self-conception.
What is Primary Deviance?
This philosophical approach in criminology assumes free will and rational choice, suggesting criminal activity results from an individual's cost-benefit analysis to maximise pleasure and avoid pain.
What is Classicism?
This philosophical approach, associated with thinkers like Beccaria and Bentham, assumes individuals are rational actors who weigh the costs and benefits of their actions, including potential criminal behaviour
What is Classicism?
Originating from a Greek term for a mark cut into the body, this concept in Labelling Theory refers to labels given by society that carry a mark of disgrace or disapproval associated with a person or their actions.
What is Stigma or Stigmatisation
Stanley Cohen defined this as a condition, episode, person, or group emerging as a threat to societal values and interests, often depicted in a stylised way by the media.
What is a Moral Panic?
Developed by Cohen and Felson, this theory argues that predatory offences occur when a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian converge in time and space
What is Routine Activity Theory
Hillyard & Tombs identify this as a major criticism of the definition of crime, arguing that acts themselves are not intrinsically criminal, such as killing in peacetime versus on a battlefield.
What is Crime has no ontological reality?
This term refers to Lombroso's belief that criminals were throwbacks to a more primitive evolutionary stage, identifiable by specific physical characteristics like head size, facial asymmetry, or ear size
What is Atavism or the Atavistic Criminal?
Edwin Lemert's concept describing deviant behaviour that occurs after an individual's self-conception changes in response to the social reaction and labelling they receive for initial deviance
What is Secondary Deviance?
This term refers to the assumption within Positivism that there are factors beyond an individual's control, such as biology or environment, that constrain people in ways that lead to crime.
What is Determinism?
Ron Clarke defined this as comprising measures directed at specific forms of crime through the management, design, or manipulation of the environment to reduce opportunities and increase risks.
What is Situational Crime Prevention?
This approach, associated with Becker, suggests deviance is a consequence of social groups creating rules, applying them to people, and thereby labelling those people as outsiders.
What is Labelling Theory?
Clarke and Cornish describe these as step-by-step accounts of the procedures and decision-making processes involved in specific crimes, using offenders' accounts to identify decisions and the situational context
What are Crime Scripts?
According to Hudson and Zedner, this must involve an evil for the person, be for an offence by an offender, be the work of personal agencies imposed by an authority, be intentional, and be in response to a criminal offence imposed by judicial authority
What is Punishment?
This philosophical approach argues that punishment is justified based on what it will achieve in the future, aiming at the prevention of future offending through means like deterrence, rehabilitation, or incapacitation.
What is Utilitarianism?