Ch. 1 What is Criminology PDF

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Lexus Goergean Professor Baskerville What is Criminology? Include the page number from the text where you found your answer.

1. Seeing crime as the result of criteria that have been built into the law by powerful groups is the basis of the ___political: pg. 3_______ perspective on crime. 2. The sociological perspective considers crime to be a(n)

antisocial : pg. 4

act.

3. The _____consensus: pg. 7_____ perspective suggests that behaviors should be criminalized when members of society generally agree that such laws are necessary. 4. ___socialization: pg. 20______ focuses on questions about the causes of criminal behavior. 5. The social ___responsibility: pg 17______ perspective argues that criminal offenders should be dealt with individually. 6. The field of ___criminology: pg. 10________ has contributed the most to criminology. 7. What are the various definitional perspectives by which crime can be defined and how does each perspective define crime? What is deviant behavior? What are the similarities and differences between criminal behavior and deviant behavior? The four various definitional perspectives of crime are Legalistic, Political, Sociological and Psychological. Legalistic is defined as human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the state, the federal government or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws. The political is the result of criteria that have been built into the law by powerful groups which are then used ot label selected undesirable forms of behavior as illegal. The sociological is an antisocial act of such a nature that its repression is necessary for the preservation of the existing social order. The psychological is a form of social maladjustment, especially one which is against the law, that can be seen as a difficulty that an individual has in remaining in harmony with his or her social environment. Pg. 4 Deviant behavior is human activity that violates social norms, pg. 6. Deviant behavior violates norms and rules of society whereas criminal behavior that violates the law. Pg 10 8. What are the two contrasting viewpoints on which the book is built? Explain each and give examples of policies based on each viewpoint. Pg. 16, 17: The two contrasting viewpoints are the social problems perspective which says that a crime comes from an underlying problem. The other viewpoint is social responsibility which says that it is all the individual’s responsibility. 9. What limitations exist with the legal perspective of crime? If the specific law cannot be determined, it may not be further acted upon. Pg. 17 10. Write a summary of the chapter. In the beginning of this chapter, we are introduced to the definition crime, which is a violation of the criminal law. We also go more into detail and construct the problems related to crime. We then moved onto the four definitional perspective such as Legalistic, Political, Sociological and Psychological perspectives. Perspective is important because it helps when

making assumptions and decisions. Deviance and crime are not related, but yet are completely identical. The decisions about who should be considered criminal are made by legislatures that are state and federal levels. Criminology is broken down into multiple parts and is defined as an interdisciplinary profession built around the study of crime. The two themes of this chapter and that will continue throughout the text are social problems perspective and social responsibility perspective. Crime is seen as a social event and not an isolated individual activity, for instance like criminal behavior may have many causes and meanings to why one acts the way that they do. We then get into detail of criminologist, and what their specific job title is and the activities that they give out. Criminal Justice professionals include law enforcement officers, judges, criminal defense attorneys’ correctional officers, and so on. The discipline of sociology has had the most impact on theoretical understandings in crime. It is very important to recognize and address the contributions made by other disciplines that are making the study of crime interdisciplinary. The primary significance of crime and of criminal behavior is fundamentally social in nature and any decision in crime must stem from social policy....