Crime and Punishment
Crime at its simplest is an act prohibited by law upon pain of punishment (Hall-Williams 1964). Theorists such as McCabe (1983:49) stated that no word in legal and criminological terms could define the word crime for the varying content in which an act is categorised. Due to the broad spectrum surrounding crime, differing understandings about human subjects and premises lead to the development of several theories, assumptions and forms of criminal law.
Michael and Adler (1933:2) are often cited as an example of the legal description of crime: “the most precise and least ambiguous definition of crime is that which defines it as behaviour which is often prohibited by the criminal code”. The extending of the definition of crime is heavily debated among sociologists and criminologists. The most notable focus on this is presented through Thorsten Sellin, a famous sociologist of his time. Sellin (1938) argued that the criminal law reflected the values of powerful interest groups rather than the moral standards found in the general population and like Seager (1993:59) who stated that crime was “a form of social construction influenced by social locations and power relations in society”, believed that, what is defined as criminal could vary over time and different societies. This was further emphasised by his explanantion that crime and criminal were an uncertain subject matter that should not be applied to the strict and structured terms and subjects of study defined by non-scientists. Rather, crime and criminal should be a term that allows scientists the ability to define their own terms using concepts that had universal properties and nature. Due to all social groups in society having rules or norms the more complex the society was, the more likely that the norms would come into conflict. An example of this is if one group had power over another with differing conduct norms and because of these conduct norms, how a society relates and develops as well as violations of
Michael and Adler (1933:2) are often cited as an example of the legal description of crime: “the most precise and least ambiguous definition of crime is that which defines it as behaviour which is often prohibited by the criminal code”. The extending of the definition of crime is heavily debated among sociologists and criminologists. The most notable focus on this is presented through Thorsten Sellin, a famous sociologist of his time. Sellin (1938) argued that the criminal law reflected the values of powerful interest groups rather than the moral standards found in the general population and like Seager (1993:59) who stated that crime was “a form of social construction influenced by social locations and power relations in society”, believed that, what is defined as criminal could vary over time and different societies. This was further emphasised by his explanantion that crime and criminal were an uncertain subject matter that should not be applied to the strict and structured terms and subjects of study defined by non-scientists. Rather, crime and criminal should be a term that allows scientists the ability to define their own terms using concepts that had universal properties and nature. Due to all social groups in society having rules or norms the more complex the society was, the more likely that the norms would come into conflict. An example of this is if one group had power over another with differing conduct norms and because of these conduct norms, how a society relates and develops as well as violations of
References: Beck, Ulrich (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. Translated by Mark Ritter. London: Sage. Hall-Williams, J.E (1964) Criminology and Criminal Justice. Lexis Law Publishing. 1982 . Michael, J and Adler, M.J (1933) Crime, Law, and Social Science by Jerome. The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 43(1). Schwendinger, J and Schwendiniger, H (1970) Defenders of order or guardians of human rights. Issues in Criminology. Vol 5, pp. 113–146. Seager, J (1993) Creating a Culture of Destruction, in R. Hofrichter (ed.) Toxic Struggles: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Justice, Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers. pp. 58-66 Sellin, T (1938) Sumner, C (1990) Censure, Politics and Criminal Justice. Buckingham: Open University Press. Sumner, C (1990) Foucault, Gender and the Censure of Deviance, in Lorraine Gelsthorpe and Alison Morris. Feminist Perspectives in Criminology. Buckingham: Open University Press. Sutherland, E (1940) White Collar Criminality. American Sociological Review, Vol 5. Sutherland, E (1945) Is 'White Collar Crime ' Crime? American Sociological Review. Vol 10(2). pp 132-39. Tappan, P.W (1947) Who is the criminal? American Sociological Review, Vol 12 (1)