CRIME: Crime is behavior, either by act or omission, defined by statutory or common law as deserving of punishment.

Although most
crimes require the element of intent, certain minor crimes may be committed on the basis of strict liability even if the defendant had no specific
mindset with regard to the criminal action. The three most common concepts of crime used by criminologists are the consensus view, the conflict
view, and the interactionist view. Consensus view of crime. According to the consensus view, crimes are behaviors that all elements of society
consider repugnant. While criminal justice studies the law enforcement system and operations, criminology focuses on the sociological and
psychological behaviors of criminals to determine why they commit crimes. There are different types of crime which can be summarized as: a)
Crime against person b) Crime against property. c) Victimless crimes d) White-collar crimes e) Organized crime f) Corporate crime g) Hate crime h)
Street crime. Crime Against Person. Crimes against the person, also called violent crime
Criminologist Paul Tappan defines crime as “an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law …, committed without
defense or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.”

crime, the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited,
and punishable under criminal law.

Most countries have enacted a criminal code in which all of the criminal law can be found, though English law—the source of
many other criminal-law systems—remains uncodified. The definitions of particular crimes contained in a code must be
interpreted in the light of many principles, some of which may not actually be expressed in the code itself. For example, many
legal systems take into account the mental state of the accused person at the time the alleged crime was committed. Most legal
systems also classify crimes for the purpose of assigning cases to different types of court. Social changes often result in the
adoption of new criminal laws and the obsolescence of older ones. This article focuses on the definition and classification of
crime, how it is measured and detected, the characteristics of offenders, and the various stages of criminal proceedings. The
material draws principally from common, or Anglo-American, law, with supplementary treatment of civil-law and other systems,
including Islamic, African, and Chinese law. For full treatment of particular legal aspects of crime, see criminal law; civil
law; common law; court; police; and procedural law. Particular legal systems are treated in Roman law; Germanic law; Chinese
law; Indian law; Sharīʿah (Islamic law); and Soviet law. Aspects related to crime are also addressed in criminal
justice; criminology; juvenile justice; parole; prison; and punishment.

THE CONCEPT OF CRIME: CRIMINAL CODES

Criminal behaviour is defined by the laws of particular jurisdictions, and there are sometimes vast differences between and even
within countries regarding what types of behaviour are prohibited. Conduct that is lawful in one country or jurisdiction may be
criminal in another, and activity that amounts to a trivial infraction in one jurisdiction may constitute a serious crime elsewhere.
Changing times and social attitudes may lead to changes in criminal law, so that behaviour that was once criminal may become
lawful. For example, abortion, once prohibited except in the most unusual circumstances, is now lawful in many countries, as is
homosexual behaviour in private between consenting adults in most Western countries, though it remains a serious offense in
some parts of the world. Once criminal, suicide and attempted suicide have been removed from the scope of criminal law in
some jurisdictions. Indeed, in the U.S. state of Oregon the Death with Dignity Act (passed in 1997) allows terminally ill
individuals to end their lives through the use of lethal medications prescribed by a physician. Nonetheless, the general trend has
been toward increasing the scope of criminal law rather than decreasing it, and it has been more common to find that statutes
create new criminal offenses rather than abolishing existing ones. New technologies have given rise to new opportunities for their
abuse, which has led to the creation of new legal restrictions. Just as the invention of the motor vehicle led to the development of
a whole body of criminal laws designed to regulate its use, so the widening use of computers and especially the Internet has
created the need to legislate against a variety of new abuses and frauds—or old frauds committed in new ways.

TYPES OF CRIME

For the purposes of data collection and comparison, crime data is usually divided into two broad categories: personal crimes and
property crimes. Personal crimes include crimes of violence such as murder and robbery as well as any other criminal offenses
that involve direct contact between a perpetrator and a victim, such as rape, aggravated assault, and battery. Property crimes are
those in which personal property is the object of the offense and there is no force or threat of force used against the person to
whom the property rightfully belongs. Examples of property crimes include larceny-theft, burglary, motor-vehicle theft, and
arson. Property crimes occur with far greater frequency than personal crimes, making up between 85 and 90 percent of all crimes
reported to U.S. law-enforcement agencies. Expressed differently, according to official data, every 23.1 seconds in the United
States a crime of violence is committed, and every 3.1 seconds a property crime is committed.

Beyond the distinction between personal and property crimes, other more detailed differentiations among criminal behaviors
exist. Some of the more common crime types include violent crime, white collar and corporate crime, organized crime,
and “victimless” crime. Other types not discussed in this article include hate crime, environmental crime, technological crime,
and political crime.

Violent Crime There are four major violent crimes tracked by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and most international
policing agencies: murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Murder/nonnegligent manslaughter involves the willful killing
of one human being by another without excuse or justification. In most cases, accomplices are equally as culpable in the victim’s
death as the person who directly causes the victim’s death. Forcible rape involves unlawful sexual intercourse committed against

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the victim’s will. In the United States the trend has been to view both force by the accused and the victim’s substantial
impairment of power to appraise or control conduct as bases for prosecution for rape. Many countries also recognize statutory
rape—sexual intercourse with a person (usually female) under the legal age of consent (which varies from country to country).
Robbery involves taking personal property from the possession of another against his or her will by the use or threat of force. The
threat of violence is what distinguishes robbery from the lesser offense of theft. Aggravated assault refers to an unlawful attack
by one person on another for the purpose of inflicting severe bodily injury.

Among Western industrialized nations, the United States long has been considered a particularly violent and crime-ridden
society. However, according to the International Crime Victimization Survey, U.S. victimization rates for many personal and
property crimes may not be much different from other nations (Mayhew and van Dijk 1997). This survey notwithstanding, the
United States continues to have rates of murder and other serious violent crimes that vastly exceed those of other highincome
nations.

White Collar and Corporate Crime The greatest economic costs to society from crime come not from those acts commonly
referred to as “street crimes”—that is, the personal and property crimes that receive most of the public’s attention—but from
white-collar and corporate crime. The term white-collar crime was coined by Edwin Sutherland, former president of the
American Sociological Association. In his 1939 presidential address Sutherland discussed persons of the upper socioeconomic
class whose criminal behavior is dealt with much less severely than that of the lower socioeconomic classes (Sutherland 1940).
He defined white-collar crime as “crimes committed by a person of high respectability and high social status in the course of his
occupation” (Rosoff et al. 2003, p. 2), distinguishing it from crime committed by persons of a lower occupational status (“blue-
collar”).

Contemporary criminologists have expanded Sutherland’s definition to include other types of crimes committed in the course of
someone’s legitimate occupation. These more recent definitions of white-collar crime usually contain some or all of the following
elements: an illegal act, committed by nonphysical means, with concealment or guile, to obtain money or property, or to obtain a
business or personal advantage. Criminologists have also begun to recognize corporate crime as a distinct form of white-collar
crime, in which the immediate benefits of the criminal behavior go to a corporation rather than to any particular individual.

In the United States conservative estimates place the material costs of white-collar at more than $300 billion annually. In
comparison, losses from property theft/damages, cash losses, medical expenses, and lost pay due to injuries suffered or other
activities related to other types of crime cost Americans an estimated $15 to $20 billion per year (Rosoff et al. 2003). Similarly,
about 16,000 people are murdered each year in the United States, but far more people die as the result of white-collar criminal
activities. For example, more than 100,000 people die each year in the United States because of neglect of worker-safety
requirements, on-the-job accidents, and exposure to hazardous materials in the workplace (Reiman 2003).

Organized Crime Organized crime refers to criminal enterprises that specialize in vice crimes such as gambling, prostitution,
drug operations, and other correlated illegal activities, including money laundering and racketeering. The origin of organized
crime in the United States is often traced to national Prohibition in the 1920s (Brown et al. 2004). The controversial federal ban
on alcoholic beverages brought about by the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act
created opportunities for criminal syndicates to flourish by illegally supplying liquor; later they were able to expand their
enterprises into vice and other illicit activities. Today, in spite of international efforts to control organized crime, various sources
estimate that international organized crime syndicates draw about $1 trillion in profits each year (Federal Bureau of
Investigation 2006).

Victimless Crime Victimless crime refers to illicit behaviors in which the participants do not recognize that anyone involved in
the illegal transaction is directly victimized by the deed. These crimes are often referred to as “complainantless” because nobody
directly involved is likely to initiate enforcement by complaining to the police. Examples of victimless crimes include
prostitution, pornography, illegal gambling, and drug use. Victimless crime is a contentious label because, while none of the
parties sees themselves as victims, many people argue that society itself is harmed by the prohibited behaviors. For example, it is
argued that illegal drug use drives up healthcare costs for everyone, destabilizes families and communities, drains worker
productivity, and leads to a number of additional social problems. Further, a meta-analysis of North American studies on
prostitution found that prostitutes are very likely to become victims of violence during the course of their work (Farley and
Kelley 2000).

In contrast, other theorists argue that victimless crimes should not be considered crimes at all. Rather, they are private behaviors
that, when criminalized, represent an overreach of the state’s authority. In support of these latter claims, they highlight the
variations in prohibitions from state to state and country to country, and societal ambivalence toward many of the prohibited
activities. Toward this last point, in 2004 an estimated 19.1 million Americans aged 12 or older were current illicit drug users,
spending around $100 billion on illegal drugs. Critics of the criminalization of these behaviors also refer to substances such as
alcohol and tobacco that are legally available but cause greater social harm than illicit substances.

THE SOCIAL PRODUCTION OF CRIME: Perhaps the most understudied area of criminology is the role society plays in
fostering certain types of crime, such as domestic abuse, hate crime, and sexual assault. Over the past century most societies have
changed for the better with regard to recognizing all people as equals irrespective of characteristics such as race, gender, sexual

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orientation, and religion. However, the extensive histories of inequality and violence have undoubtedly shaped how crimes are
defined, and have also played a role in the types of crimes prevalent in any given society. For example, many theorists have
argued that the relatively high rates of serious violent crime in the United States can be traced to the culture of violence produced
during its particularly hostile settlement: African slavery, Native American genocide, and warfare related to Manifest Destiny all
set the stage for a future mired by violence.

Rape presents another example of the social production of crime. For much of world history, patriarchy has been a primary
principle around which societies have been structured. Many theorists have argued that this history of socially constructed male
supremacy is strongly correlated with rates of male-on-female sexual assault and has shaped how sexual assault has been defined
over time. Only in the latter part of the twentieth century did U.S. lawmakers pass laws against marital rape—that is, a rape
committed by a husband upon his lawful wife. Before then, the legal standard in the United States was largely consistent with
that expressed by Sir Matthew Hale, a chief justice in seventeenth-century England, who wrote “the husband cannot be guilty of a
rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract, the wife hath given
herself in kind unto the husband which she cannot retract” (European Court of Human Rights 1995).

Tolerance for rape in marriage, as well as rape laws that historically have protected the property interests of men over the
personal safety of women, may partially explain why rape is so prevalent: each year in the United States nearly 100,000 forcible
rapes are reported to police. This figure does not reflect the estimated 100,000 unrpeorted forcible rapes committed against
women each year in the United States, nor does it capture lesser-degree sexual assaults that do not meet the reporting criteria
required for a charge of forcible rape.

PREDICTORS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Contrary to the efforts of hard-line positivist criminologists who seek to identify biological traits that predispose people to
criminal behavior, and rational-choice theorists who suggest people commit crimes of their own free will, the consensus among
most criminologists is that sociological factors play a significant role in producing criminal behavior. Criminological research has
shown that there is no one socioeconomic factor that has proved an accurate predictor of criminal behavior. However, there are
some variables that seem to affect the likelihood, volume, and type of crimes that occur in particular countries, regions, and
communities. For traditional street crimes, socioeconomic variables such as median income, educational attainment and access to
education, religion, family conditions (e.g., divorce and overall family cohesion), and job availability have been correlated with
criminal behavior. Population density and the degree of urbanization, the concentration of youth in a community, community
stability (e.g., population turnover rates and commuting patterns), alcohol and drug use, the strength of law enforcement agencies
in a particular area, community attitudes toward law enforcement, and even climate and weather have all been shown to affect the
number of and types of crime that occur.

Of all of these links, the correlation between alcohol and drug use and crime receives the greatest attention from both
academicians and policymakers. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 35 to 40 percent of all convicted offenders under
the jurisdiction of U.S. corrections agencies were estimated to have been under the influence of alcohol when they offended.
Alcohol use is widespread among those convicted of public-order crimes, the most common type of offense among those in jail
or on probation. Among violent offenders, about 40 percent of probationers, local jail inmates, and state prisoners, as well as 20
percent of federal prison inmates, were estimated to have been drinking when they committed the crime for which they were
sentenced. Comparatively, in a recent survey of jail inmates nearly 30 percent reported drug use at the time they committed their
offense, and an estimated 16 percent of convicted jail inmates committed their offenses to get money for drugs. According to the
National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 40 percent of adults who were on parole, probation, or some other form of
supervised release from jail were classified as drug dependents or drug abusers, compared to 9 percent of the general U.S.
population (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2005).

In the United States, if recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated one of every fifteen persons will serve time in a
prison during his or her lifetime. However, the lifetime chances of a person being sentenced to a prison term differ based on race,
ethnicity, and gender. Men stand an 11.3 percent chance of going to prison, compared to a 1.8 percent chance for women. This
dramatic difference remains in spite of the significant increases in rates of female criminality since the 1970s. Of even greater
concern to criminologists are the differences that exist along racial and ethnic lines. In 2001, approximately 65 percent of U.S.
state prison inmates belong to a racial or ethnic minority. African Americans have an 18.6 percent chance of going to prison,
Hispanics have a 10 percent chance, and whites have a 3.4 percent of serving time in a prison. Based on current rates of first
incarceration, an estimated 32 percent of black males will enter state or federal prison during their lifetime, compared to 17
percent of Hispanic males and 5.9 percent of white males (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

INADEQUACIES OF THE U.S. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

It comes as no surprise to most criminologists that the U.S. criminal justice system is not an effective tool in preventing crime.
One reason for this lies in the uncoordinated structure of the system itself. As Barkan and Bryjak note in Fundamentals of
Criminal Justice, “the U.S. criminal justice system is only partly a ‘system’ as usually defined. ‘System’ implies a coordinated
and unified plan of procedure. Criminal justice in the United States is only partly coordinated and unified … the U.S. criminal
justice system is really thousands of systems” (p. 7). Another reason the criminal justice system is largely incapable of preventing

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crime is that law enforcement, courts, and corrections are reactive institutions; they respond to crimes already committed rather
than addressing the root causes of criminal behavior before they fester into crime. This is not a condemnation of the efforts of law
enforcement or corrections officers: the criminal justice system simply does not have the resources, expertise, or capabilities to
deal with most predictors of criminal behavior.

Politicians and the public present another obstacle in effectively addressing crime. For many reasons, including sensationalized
accounts of crime in news and entertainment media, the inability of academics to package criminological research in a publicly
palatable fashion, fear promoted by opportunistic political figures, and the unwillingness or inability of the public to inform
themselves on crime and justice issues, the public has a distorted image of the crime problem in the United States (Reiman 2003).
This distorted image leads to ill-advised, impractical, and ineffective criminal justice policies such as “three-strikes” laws (laws
requiring prison terms of 25 years or more for offenders convicted of their third felony or serious crime), mandatory minimum
sentencing, and the mandatory charging of juveniles as adults for certain offenses. These policies appeal to politicians because it
allows them to appear to be “tough on crime” and makes the public think that the justice system is working. However, these
policies represent knee-jerk responses to complex problems of crime; they divert resources from other approaches that carry a
greater likelihood of success, and they take discretion away from sentencing judges and other criminal justice practitioners who
have a more accurate sense of the crime problem. Ultimately, the onus falls upon members of the academic community to debunk
crime myths, dispel stereotypes regarding deviant groups, and promote responsible criminal justice policy.

CRIMINALITY: What is Criminality. While the term criminality is used often in criminology to refer to actual criminal
characteristics of a person (i.e., propensity evidence such as past criminal record, etc.), we use the term criminality to refer to
the extent to which a person's appearance triggers stereotypes about criminals. The state, quality, or fact of being criminal.
noun. 2. The definition of criminality is the state of being illegal. When dealing drugs is illegal and results in jail time, the acts of
the drug dealer are an example of criminality. All criminal behaviors involve the use of force, fraud, or stealth to obtain material
or symbolic resources. As Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) noted, criminality is a style of strategic behavior characterized by
self-centeredness, indifference to the suffering and needs of others, and low self-control. While criminal justice studies the
law enforcement system and operations, criminology focuses on the sociological and psychological behaviors of criminals
to determine why they commit crimes. Social root causes of crime are: inequality, not sharing power, lack of support to
families and neighborhoods, real or perceived inaccessibility to services, lack of leadership in communities, low value placed on
children and individual well-being, the overexposure to television as a means of recreation.

Criminality is the quality or state of being criminal. There are common factors that characterize individuals who commit crime.
Theories of crime vary based on their foundational assumptions of human nature. These theories and the documented
characteristics of criminals have led to the development and use of risk assessment tools with reasonable accuracy. A relationship
between mental disorder and crime exists but is minor and disorder-specific. Crime prevention aims to inhibit the development
of criminal behavior in a variety of ways. Although once contentious, considerable progress has been made since the 1970s in
deciphering ‘what works’ with offenders.

Criminology definition and history

Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, informed by principles of sociology and other non-legal fields,
including psychology, economics, statistics, and anthropology.

Criminologists examine a variety of related areas, including:

 Characteristics of people who commit crimes

 Reasons why people commit crimes

 Effects of crime on individuals and communities

 Methods for preventing crime

Origins of criminology

The roots of criminology trace back to a movement to reform criminal justice and penal systems more than 200 years ago. The
first collection and use of crime statistics in the 19th century then laid the groundwork for generations of increasingly
sophisticated tools and methods, leading to our modern use of descriptive statistics, case studies, typologies, and predictive
analytics.

18th-century origins of criminal theory

Cesare Beccaria’s “On Crime and Punishments,” published in 1764, called for fitting the punishment to the severity of the
crimes, as explained by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

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  Punishments for crimes should be “public, prompt, necessary, the minimum possible under the given circumstances,
and established by law.”

 Punishments are intended to deter the offender from further criminal activity.

 Severity is based on the level of harm caused by the offense rather than the intent of the offender.

The legal reference website JRank highlights the work of Beccaria and Jeremy Benthem: The motivation for people’s choices is
to seek pleasure or avoid pain. Punishment for a crime should deter potential choices to break the law by ensuring that the pain of
potential punishment is greater than the pleasure derived from committing the crime. This idea spurred the first efforts in the U.S.
and Europe to codify and standardize the law.

Mid-20th century development of modern criminology

The mid-20th century development of “modern” criminology involved seeking to understand crime’s causes by studying
sociological, psychological, and economic conditions. The American Law Institute’s work on the Model Penal Code was a 10-
year effort completed in 1962. The code established new standards of criminal liability that considered the mental elements of
crime.

The code served as a model for penal code revisions in several states. It was also instrumental in charting the federal penal code
for the first time. The code inspired other efforts to reform criminal law through criminology research application.

“New Criminology” and the impact of social upheaval on crime

In the 20th century, new approaches to criminology focused on the causes of crime, such as conflicts between social and
economic classes leading to social upheaval, as JRank explains. Social-process criminology emphasizes criminal behavior as
something people learn through interaction with others, usually in small groups.

In contrast, control theory focuses on training people to behave appropriately by encouraging law-abiding behavior. Control
theory’s basis is the belief that personal bonds give rise to our internal controls, such as conscience and guilt, and our external
controls, such as shame, that deter us from breaking the law.

A multidisciplinary approach to criminology

In their research, criminologists consider many perspectives on crime’s causes and effects. This multidisciplinary approach of
criminologists accepts there is no single answer to why people commit crimes. JRank notes attempts to control bad behavior date
back to the earliest civilizations. Today, factors may be biological, psychological, economic, or social. Criminals are motivated
by greed, anger, jealousy, pride, and other emotions. They seek material gain; they want control, revenge, or power.

Potential causes of or motivations for criminal activity include:

 Parental relations

 Hereditary and brain activity

 Hormones

 Education

 Peer influence

 Drugs and alcohol

 Easy opportunity

Criminology and the legal perspective

Criminologists study crime as an illegal action society punishes through the government’s legal system. Researchers focus on the
causes, prevention, and correction of crime generally. By contrast, the legal industry’s perspective of crime emphasizes specific
crimes and punishments governed by statutes and regulations, as well as established legal processes.

The legal definition of a crime is an offense against public law, as UpCounsel explains. To qualify as a crime, the offense must
be punishable, whether by fine, loss of freedom, or other method. Criminologists have broadened the definition of crime to
include conduct that doesn’t violate existing law, as JRank reports. This includes economic exploitation, racial discrimination,
and unsafe or unhealthy work environments.

Criminology resources

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  The Internet Journal of Criminology — Links to government organizations, national and international organizations,
academic institutions, and other criminology resources

 Critical Criminology — A compilation of resources that examine law, crime, and justice from the perspective of
people of color, women, restorative efforts, and community justice

 S. Department of Justice, National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center — Links to criminal justice professional
associations and groups that assist law enforcement in establishing policies, standards, training, and education

Criminology Theories: Classical, Positivist, and Chicago School

Research into criminology theories is primarily sociological or psychological. Sociological theories of criminology perceive
crime as a normal human response to social conditions that are “abnormal and criminogenic,” according to JRank.

Psychological theories of criminology date back to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Crime results from a failure to form
healthy and loving attachments to parents. Behavioral psychology introduced the concept of rewards and punishments: A
rewarded crime is repeated; a punished crime is not.

Three principal approaches to criminology

Today, three criminology theories predominate: the Classical, Positivist, and Chicago schools.

 The Classical School argues that people freely choose to engage in crime. Bentham’s utilitarianism theory states they
are driven either by a desire for pleasure or by aversion to pain, as the Oxford University Press states.

 The Positivist School applies scientific theory to criminology. It focuses on factors that compel people to commit
crimes.

 The Chicago School states that crime results from “social disorganization,” which is defined in the Encyclopedia of
Criminology and Criminal Justice as “the inability of a community to realize common values and maintain effective
social controls.”

Criminology’s impact on reducing and preventing crimes

Two statistical programs run by the DOJ demonstrate the impact that criminological studies have had on responding to,
reducing, and preventing crimes.

 The Uniform Crime Reporting program (UCR) collects information from law enforcement agencies across the country
on dozens of crimes. It is intended to assist researchers in studying crime among neighboring jurisdictions and those
with similar populations or other characteristics.

 The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) analyzes crime incidents, victims, and trends. It collects data on
reported and unreported crimes and provides researchers with demographic data on perpetrators and victims.

Research conducted by the Minnesota House Research Department studied the effectiveness of the theory of criminal
deterrence, which dates back to the 18th century. It reached three conclusions:

 Deterrence is most effective for preplanned crimes.

 Making already-long prison sentences even longer does little to deter crime.

 Increasing the likelihood of getting caught is a more effective crime deterrent than increasing punishment.

Criminology and society’s treatment of criminals and victims

Little attention was paid to the needs of crime victims until the 1970s, when the DOJ’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
determined that a primary reason for unsuccessful prosecutions was the poor treatment of witnesses and victims by the
criminal justice system. Since that time, legislation and law enforcement programs, including the Violence Against Women Act
of 1990, have worked to protect and assist victims and witnesses.

Similarly, criminology research has affected how criminals are treated in custody. The American Bar Association (ABA) has
developed Standards on Treatment of Prisoners that describe correctional policies and professional standards that comply with
constitutional and statutory law.

Criminology has also highlighted the real cost of crimes on individuals, families, and communities. The 2017 report “Costs of
Crime” from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that new study methods will improve the accuracy of
crime cost estimates, particularly in the area of compensating victims for their pain and suffering.

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Criminology theory resources

 “Predicting Pathways into Criminal Behavior: The Intersection of Race, Gender, Poverty, Psychological
Factors” investigates the factors involved in women’s involvement in criminal activity, including economic
disadvantage related to education and employment.

 The National Institute of Justice discusses mapping in law enforcement in this paper: “From Crime Mapping to
Crime Forecasting: The Evolution of Place-Based Policing”.

Criminology vs. criminal justice: what’s the difference?

The primary distinction when it comes to criminology vs. criminal justice is the former’s emphasis on the study of crime and
the latter’s focus on society’s response to crime, as the Balance Careers explains. Criminal justice applies principles and concepts
developed by criminologists to enforcing laws and investigating crimes, as well as to the trial, punishment, and rehabilitation of
criminals.

Criminal justice definition

The Legal Dictionary defines criminal justice as a set of procedures:

 Investigating criminal conduct

 Gathering evidence of the crime

 Making arrests

 Bringing charges in court

 Raising defenses

 Conducting trials

 Rendering sentences

 Carrying out punishments

By contrast, its definition of criminology emphasizes the scientific and academic aspects of the field’s study of crime, criminal
behavior, and law enforcement. Criminal justice includes the work of:

 Police

 Criminal courts

 Prisons and other correctional institutions

 Juvenile justice systems

Criminal justice and effective law enforcement

In the 20th century, the field of criminal justice arose as an effort to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement in light of
expanding due process and other rights for criminal defendants, as Encyclopedia Britannica explains. The study of criminal
justice expanded in the 1980s and 1990s in the form of qualitative descriptive analyses of the operations of specific criminal
justice agencies.

More recent research in criminal justice emphasizes quantitative studies about the effectiveness of particular crime-fighting
strategies and approaches. Researchers have studied whether an abusive spouse’s arrest prevents future incidents of abuse, and
whether prison rehabilitation programs are effective in reducing recidivism.

One area of criminal justice research proven to be ineffective is the effort to predict which offenders are most likely to commit
other crimes. Not only were models unable to identify habitual offenders, but researchers were questioned about whether such
efforts violated people’s constitutional rights. The fear is that offenders may be punished not for what they had done but for what
they might do in the future.

Such issues are at the forefront of modern discussions about the relationships between civil rights and law enforcement. With
numerous studies indicating a need to address systemic racism in many corners of the justice system, future criminologists
will play an important part in creating a more equitable framework for crime prevention.

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Criminology and criminal justice work together to fight crime

Criminal justice and criminology are distinct fields, but they’re closely linked, theoretically and practically. From the viewpoint
of potential criminologists and law enforcement professionals, the big difference is criminology’s focus on science and research,
and criminal justice’s emphasis on application and administration.

For example, criminologists respond to a rise in homicides by studying underlying economic, sociological, and psychological
conditions. By contrast, criminal justice officials respond by working to prevent future homicides and capture the perpetrators.

The two fields merge in applied criminology, which studies “real-world” problems relating to crime and criminal justice. It
applies criminology concepts to actual criminal justice policy and practice. The goal is to make criminology relevant in
addressing crime, victimization, and the relationship between “governmental agendas and knowledge production.”

Criminologists promote crime-fighting efforts via tools such as the New York Police Department’s CompStat system, which is
now used by police departments across the country to combine crime analysis and geographic information system
technologies. Their work suggests innovative ways to improve law enforcement and instill trust in the criminal justice system.

MAJOR CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES

Biological theories of crime asserted a linkage between certain biological conditions and an increased tendency to engage in
criminal behaviour. In the 1890s great interest, as well as controversy, was generated by the biological theory of the Italian
criminologist Cesare Lombroso, whose investigations of the skulls and facial features of criminals led him to the hypothesis that
serious or persistent criminality was associated with atavism, or the reversion to a primitive stage of human development. In the
mid-20th century, William Sheldon won considerable support for his theory that criminal behaviour was more common among
muscular, athletic persons (mesomorphs) than among tall, thin persons (ectomorphs) or soft, rounded individuals (endomorphs).
During the 1960s, significant debate arose over the possible association between criminal tendencies
and chromosomal abnormalities—in particular, the idea that males with the XYY-trisomy (characterized by the presence of an
extra Y chromosome) may be more prone to criminal behaviour than the general population.

Although the popularity of such earlier biological theories has waned, research has continued, yielding important findings. For
example, studies have found general evidence for a connection between biology and criminality for both twins and adoptees.
Twins are more likely to exhibit similar tendencies toward criminality if they are identical (monozygotic) than if they are
fraternal (dizygotic). The fact that identical twins are more similar genetically than fraternal twins suggests the existence of
genetic influences on criminal behaviour. Similarly, studies of adopted children have shown that the likelihood of criminality
generally corresponds with that of their biological parents. The rate of criminality is higher among adopted children with one
biological parent who is a criminal than it is among children who have one adoptive parent who is a criminal but whose
biological parents are not criminals. The highest rates of criminality are found among children whose biological and adoptive
parents are criminals.

Biochemical research in the 1980s and ’90s attempted to identify specific factors associated with an increased risk of engaging in
criminal behaviour. For example, certain neurotransmitter imbalances in the brain (e.g., low levels of serotonin), hormonal
imbalances (e.g., higher levels of testosterone), and slower reactions of the autonomic nervous system appear to be associated
with increased criminality. These factors do not absolutely determine whether a person will commit a crime; indeed, most people
with these factors do not commit crimes. Instead, the presence of these factors merely increases the chance that the person will
engage in criminal behaviour. Because these various biological factors may be influenced by environmental conditions, however,
the direction of causation is unclear.

Researchers have identified other biological factors associated with increased violence and aggressiveness, including
alcohol intoxication, the use of some drugs (e.g., crack cocaine but not marijuana), diet, and the ingestion of toxic substances.
Drinking alcohol has tended to increase criminality temporarily, and the long-term effects of ingesting lead (such as is found in
lead-based paint) have generally been associated with long-term increases in criminality. Further, certain types of head injuries
and complications during pregnancy or birth are correlated with long-term increases in the tendency of the child to commit crime.
The direction of causation in these cases is clearer than with serotonin and testosterone but not entirely certain. For example, it
could be the case that some other nonbiological intervening factor (e.g., poverty) causes the increased tendency to commit crime
and also causes the increased tendency to experience complications during pregnancy and birth, to ingest lead and other toxins,
and to abuse alcohol.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES

Psychologists approach the task of explaining delinquent and criminal behaviour by focusing on an individual’s personality. In
particular, they examine the processes by which behaviour and restraints on behaviour are learned. These processes often are
conceived as being the result of the interaction of biological predispositions and social experiences.

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Among the earliest psychological theories of crime were those based on the work of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Freud argued
that human nature includes a great reservoir of instinctual drives (the “id”) that demand gratification. These drives are restrained
by moral and ethical codes (the “superego”) that children internalize as a result of their great love for and attachment to their
parents. Adults develop a rational part of their personality (the “ego”) that mediates between the drives of the id and the restraints
of the superego. Because the id is a relatively constant drive, criminality is assumed to result from the failure of the superego, a
consequence of its incomplete development. However, the empirical evidence for this theory is thin Later psychological theories
of crime were based on behaviour theory, such as that of the American psychologist B.F. Skinner (1904–90), who viewed all
human behaviour—criminal and otherwise—as learned and thus manipulable by the use of reinforcement
and punishment (see behaviourism). The social learning theory of Ronald Akers expanded behaviour theory to encompass ways
in which behaviour is learned from contacts within the family and other intimate groups, from social contacts outside the family
(particularly from peer groups), and from exposure to models of behaviour in the media, particularly television.

Beyond these broad psychological theories, it is sometimes argued that crime is associated with certain mental conditions. Mental
illness is generally the cause of a relatively small proportion of crimes, but its perceived importance may be exaggerated by the
seriousness of some of the crimes committed by persons with mental disorders. The closure of many American mental
institutions in the 1960s and ’70s thrust many mentally ill people into the surrounding communities, where some of them later
became troublesome. Because authorities had no other place to put them, there was a strong tendency for mentally ill people to
end up in jails and prisons.

One particular personality configuration—antisocial personality disorder—is thought to be strongly associated with criminality.
However, because the criteria for diagnosing the disorder emphasize committing crimes and engaging in crimelike behaviour, it
is unclear whether the disorder is a cause of crime or simply a label that psychiatrists use to describe people who happen to be
criminals. In the 1990s, psychological research was focused on early childhood experiences that tended to lead to criminality in
later life, including poor parental child-rearing techniques, such as harsh or inconsistent discipline. Research also
isolated impulsivity—the tendency to engage in high levels of activity, to be easily distracted, to act without thinking, and to seek
immediate gratification—as a personality characteristic associated with criminality.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

The largest number of criminological theories have been developed through sociological inquiry. These theories have generally
asserted that criminal behaviour is a normal response of biologically and psychologically normal individuals to particular kinds
of social circumstances.

Examples of these approaches include the theory of differential association, which claims that all criminal behaviour is learned
and that the learning process is influenced by the extent of the individual’s contact with persons who commit crimes. The more
an individual associates with such persons, the more likely it becomes that he will learn and adopt criminal values and
behaviours. The theory of anomie, proposed by the American sociologist Robert K. Merton, suggests that criminality results from
an offender’s inability to attain his goals by socially acceptable means; faced with this inability, the individual is likely to turn to
other—not necessarily socially or legally acceptable—objectives or to pursue the original objectives by unacceptable means. The
concept of a criminal subculture—an alternative set of moral values and expectations to which people can turn if they cannot find
acceptable routes to the objectives held out for them by the broader society—represents an integration of the differential-
association and anomie theories. Developed from studies of gangs of delinquents in U.S. cities, the subculture approach has been
disputed by some sociologists, who deny the existence of any subculture of delinquency among the less affluent; the behaviour of
gangs, they argue, is in fact an expression of widespread lower-class values that emphasize toughness and excitement.

Another set of sociological theories also denies the existence of subcultural value systems. Neutralization theory, advanced by the
American criminologists David Cressey, Gresham Sykes, and David Matza, portrays the delinquent as an individual who
subscribes generally to the morals of society but who is able to justify his own delinquent behaviour through a process of
“neutralization,” whereby the behaviour is redefined to make it morally acceptable. Control theory emphasizes the links between
the offender and his social group—his bond to society. According to this view, the ability of the individual to resist the
inclination to commit crime depends on the strength of his attachment to his parents, his involvement in conventional activities
and avenues of progress, and his commitment to orthodox moral values that prohibit the conduct in question.

The theory of low self-control retains the focus on restraints from engaging in crime but argues that those restraints are primarily
internal. People with low self-control, according to this theory, are impulsive and insensitive to others, tend to engage in physical
rather than mental activities and to take risks, and are oriented toward the short term rather than the long term. Advocates of self-
control theory argue that these characteristics result from parental child-rearing practices and coalesce in the individual by about
age eight, remaining stable throughout life.

In contrast, labeling theory portrays criminality as a product of society’s reaction to the individual. It contends that the individual,
once convicted of a crime, is labeled a criminal and thereby acquires a criminal identity. Once returned to society, he continues to
be regarded as a criminal and is consequently rejected by law-abiding persons and accepted by other delinquents. Over time,
therefore, the offender becomes increasingly socialized into criminal behaviour patterns and more estranged from law-abiding
behaviour.

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“Radical” criminological theories focus on power but anchor it in the political and economic structure of society. In particular,
these theories generally explain both crime and criminal justice as by-products of capitalism and explore alternative systems that
might generate more harmonious social relations. Radical theories tend to view criminal law as an instrument by which the
powerful and affluent coerce the poor into patterns of behaviour that preserve the status quo. One such view, the so-called
“peacemaking” theory, is based on the premise that violence creates violence. Advocates of this theory argue that
criminal justice policies constitute state-sanctioned violence that generates rather than suppresses criminal violence.

A similar view is represented by conflict theories, which hold that the powerful pursue their own self-interest though the
enactment and enforcement of criminal laws. According to conflict theory, those with power and wealth are more likely to obey
the criminal law because it tends to serve their interests. In addition, they are better able than poor people to avoid being
incriminated when they do violate the law. Social-structural-strain theories attempt to explain the high rate
of theft for monetary gain in the United States as a product of the class structure of American society. They hold that pressures to
achieve financial success drive people to engage in this type of crime. They also maintain that less-affluent people commit these
types of crime more frequently than wealthy people do, because members of lower economic classes generally have fewer
opportunities to make money through legitimate means.

Finally, ecological theories focus on the influence of neighbourhood organization on criminal activity. Researchers have found
that poorer neighbourhoods, where families frequently move from one location to another and where there is a relatively high
proportion of single-parent households, tend to have higher crime rates. Ecological theorists argue that this is a result of the
inability of neighbourhood residents, because of the chaotic conditions of their lives, to organize effectively to achieve their
goals.

Crime and Criminality scales encompass two very different kinds of research instruments. The first types of scales are the
criminality instruments. These scales measure the degree to which people see certain acts as criminal, either in terms of their
values and beliefs, or in terms of their actual behaviors. The Criminal Attitude Scale falls within this definition and was
developed to measure peoples’ degrees of criminality. These scales also attend to criminality as a phenomenon, as reflected in
the Attitude toward the Prevalence of Stealing Scale

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: Criminal behavior, particularly violent and antisocial behavior, is considered to be a major social
problem with complex causes. It is known that a myriad of environmental, social, and psychological factors are associated with
increased risk of convictions for this type of criminality. Criminal behavior refers to conduct of an offender that leads to and
including the commission of an unlawful act. Criminal behavior is often a difficult topic to discuss, as there are many different
variables that must be taken into account in order to truly define and obtain a thorough understanding of the concept. What is
criminal behavior? “A criminal act occurs when there is a motive, a means, and an opportunity. Criminal behaviors that lead
offenders to recidivate are often called “risk factors” or “CRIMINOGENIC NEEDS” (National Institution of Corrections &
Services). One of the ways to attempt to understand criminal behavior is to gain comprehension and knowledge of criminogenic
needs. These needs are traits associated with criminal thinking and behavior. It has also been dynamically defined as “crime
producing factors that are strongly associated with risk” (LATESSA & LOWENKAMP, 2005). There are several factors related
to increasing risk and criminality related to individuals exhibiting criminogenic traits; however, there is an identified beginning to
criminal behavior, and it starts with biology and genetics.

One study found a person could possess up to eight traits, while others identified that a person can possess up to six. For the
purposes of this article, we will focus on six:

Anti-social values: This is also known as criminal thinking. It includes criminal rationalization or the belief that their criminal
behavior was justified. Individuals possessing this trait often blame others for their negative behavior, and show a lack of
remorse.

Criminal Peers: Individuals with this trait often have peers that are associated with criminal activities. Most are often involved
with substance abuse including drugs or alcohol. Peer influence often persuades the individual to engage in criminal behavior.
They will also typically present with a lack of pro-social community involvement.

Anti-social personality: These traits often include atypical behavior conducted prior to the age of fifteen and can include,
running away, skipping school, fighting, possessing weapons, lying, stealing and damage to either animals or property.

Dysfunctional family: One of the most common traits includes a lack of family support, both emotionally and otherwise. An
individual’s family lacks the ability to problem solve and often is unable to communicate effectively. Family members often
don’t possess the ability to express emotions in an appropriate manner. More often than not, they are also involved with criminal
activity.

Low self-control: This involves one’s ability to control temperament and impulsivity. People that carry this trait often do things
that they didn’t plan, and will fail to think before acting. The mindset is of the here and now, and not on the consequences of the
behavior.

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Substance abuse: The use of drugs or alcohol that significantly affect one’s ability to engage in a successful and productive
lifestyle. There is often an increased tolerance to substances, in addition to an inability to stop use.

A normal assessment process can take approximately sixty day to complete; any more or less can lead to inaccurate results that
may be skewed. Once an officer has an idea of the risk level and has identified the criminogenic traits involved, they can begin
the supervision using appropriate tactics that will help motivate the individual to be successful, but also hold them accountable by
using appropriate sanctions to correct negative behavior during the entire course of supervision. In Part II of this article, we will
discuss some possible ways to enhance motivation, in addition to identifying a few of the appropriate methods of addressing
accountability to ensure compliance with court ordered sanctions.

In criminology, criminal behaviour is a form of antisocial behavior and is any behaviour that has criminal intent,this may result
in a crime being commited, which if detected may lead to a criminal conviction as the result of a adjudication within the criminal
justice system.

The focus of Criminal behavior study is to understand offender better and answer questions like: who criminals are, why do they
commit an offence (In order to define ways of preventing criminal), how do they think, what do they do (in order to predict their
future actions and assist investigation in catching offenders).

Andrews & Bonta, 1998 offered four general definitions of criminal behavior that will fit all the types of it. These four areas
include the following types of act:

1. Prohibited by law and are punished by the state

2. Considered to be violation moral or religious code and is believed to be punishable by a Supreme Spiritual being such
as God

3. Violate norms of society or traditions and are believed to be punishable by community

4. Acts causing serious psychological stress or mental damage to a victim, but is somewhat affordable for offender
(referred as “Psychological criminal behavior” ).

From the all stated above a general definition of criminal behavior can be stated as “Any kind of antisocial behavior, which is
punishable by law or norms, stated by community,” therefore, it is very difficult to define it, because the acts, being considered as
violation at one point of time now is accepted by community.

It is important to distinguish Delinquency from criminal act. The first one refers to acts, that are prohibited by social norms, while
the second one is violation of existing laws defined by a state.

This field includes studying of risk factors and measuring crime in order to assist in prevention meres.

A risk factor in criminality is anything in a persons psychology, what will somewhat increase possibility, that he/she will get
involved in a criminal activity. These may include behavior disorder, lack of education, media influence, poor personal
temperament, low IQ, antisocial beliefs, influence of society or a poor integration in it, poor parenting, etc… You can learn more
about these factors in causes and theories of criminal behavior.

Criminal behavior usually is measured by arrests and charges, self-reported offences (which is believed by some to be more
accurate), actual crime rates, which are usually obtained by governmental organs. By using this kind of information crime reports
are generated, which helps to generally categorize crimes by type and offender characteristics such as gender, age, race and
location.

Causes of criminal behavior

The reasons behind criminal behavior can vary a lot in each particular case, but still they can be grouped in two main categories –
genetics and environment.

When in the mid 19th century the question about the causes of criminal behavior was raised, a lot of psychologists were insisting
that the only reason is genetics. They even considered that a person’s inclination to criminal could be measured according to the
parents mental condition, i.e. if they had some even minor mental problems theirs son/daughter was more likely to become a
criminal. The scientists had their versions of solving a problem, but is it fair if the people with higher risk of committing a crime
would not be allowed by the state and society to live normally and have children?

As the time passed more and more researches and experiments were held and modern approach to this question is that of course
genetics is really important reason behind criminal behaviour, but the environment is also as important as it. This includes the
family the child is born and raised in, the example parents and family can give them, the social status they have, education, etc.

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 Nowadays the psychologists and criminalists agree that what drives a person to criminal behavior is really complex and
complicated mechanism, involving a lot of factors. We can imagine a child, who was born in a “criminal” family (mother is
schizopreniac, father is rapist and murderer) but after he got an education and a job there is nothing antisocial in his behaviors. It
proves that solely genetics can’t determine one’s inclination to the criminal.

So, it is impossible to predict a person’s “criminality” according to some specific factors, but we can still highlight some
circumstances and apply a person to a “relatively higher criminal risk group”.

 Financial problems, or starvation – this is especially common problem in third world countries. When a person has to
struggle every day just to get food to survive, the probability that they become thieves is high.

 Low social status – when one is bullied because of it, they may easily become aggressors and fight back against the
whole society.

 Genetics – some genetical mental disorders, itself, includes increased aggression.

THEORIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR: In order to find the best ways to handle and prevent crime,
examining why do people commit crime is very important. Many theories have appeared and are
appearing since beginning of this study seeking to find the best solutions for this problem. Those theories
are continuing and will always influence forensic/criminal psychologist’s work. I will write a brief review of
basic and other more or less popular theories of criminal behavior. Though these theories are eventually
modified, I will try to be as accurate as possible.
Three broad models of criminal behaviors are the following: psychological, sociological and biological
models. Actually, it is difficult to completely separate them and it is generally accepted, that all of them
play a role in the interpretation of behavior. Though psychological principles can be applied across all the
three models, they all have some specific ones, which would help in implementing across different crime
control policies.

PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES: There are several fundamental assumptions, that are common for
all the psychological approaches to criminal behavior. These are the following:
 The individual is the primary unit of analysis. (Individual human being is considered to be responsible
for acts he/she conducted)
 Personality drives behavior within individuals, because it is the major motivational element.
 Crimes can result from abnormal, dysfunctional or inappropriate mental processes within the
individual’s personality.
 An individual may have purpose of criminal behavior if it addresses certain felt needs.
 Normality is generally defined by social consensus, that is, what is considered as “typical,” “normal,” or
“acceptable” by the majority of individuals in a certain social group.
 Defective or abnormal, mental processes may be caused by a variety of factors such as diseased
mind, inappropriate learning or improper conditioning, the emulation of inappropriate role models, and
adjustment to inner conflicts.
In short, crime control policy based on psychological principles targets individuals and tries to prevent
criminal behavior from this point. Any policy aimed at preventing crime by targeting persons such as
training, education, promotion of self-awareness, rehabilitation, resocialization or identification risks of
criminal behavior are psychological in nature. In addition, psychologists have long recognized that the
best predictor of future behavior is past behavior of the individual (Mischel, W. 1968).

SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES: In this approach scientists are examining criminal behavior from a
sociological point of view. The majority of sociological theories believe, that the criminal behavior mainly is
influenced by combination of social surrounding, political and economic factors.
Offenders are not necessarily viewed as bad people, these theories trend to look at social context of a
person’s situation, examining his race, neighborhood, intelligence, education, family, political and media

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influence, income level, job and career, childhood history to determine why did he/she become
criminal.There are many different theories seeking to explain criminal behavior such as: Social Structure
Theory (which itself consists of Social disorganization, Strain and Cultural deviance theories) differential
association, theory of anomie, neutralization theory, Social Control Theory and many others.

The key idea of Differential association theory, created by Edwin H. Sutherland is, that criminal behavior
is learned through communication with other people. Though that interaction Values, techniques and
attitude to things is learned, that motivates future behavior and in the following case it is criminal act.
Indeed, the more a person sees delinquent acts, which are not criticized by the surrounding community,
the higher is the chance of him/her committing such act.

According to social control theory, if social bounds of a person is weak, he/she will more likely conduct a
criminal act, because people care what others thinks of them and try to conform with social expectations
because of their attachment to others.

BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES: Biological theories purport, that criminal behavior is caused by some flaw
in individual’s biological makeup. According to Raine Study, the causes may be Heredity,
Neurotransmitter dysfunction and brain abnormalities, which could be caused either by the first two or
trauma. Many theories are sharing biological approaches such as: Trait and psychodynamic trait theories,
Lombroso’s Theory, Y Chromosome Theory and others.
There are several types of crime control, which involve artificial interference in human biology such as
Psychosurgery, chemical methods of control, brain stimulation and others.

Psychodynamic therapy was developed by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800’s and has then become a
significant theory in the history of criminality (Siegel, 2005). Freud believed, that every individual carries
“residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which then guides our future
interpersonal relationships” (Siegel, 2005) The theory is a three-part structure consisting of the id, the ego
and the super ego. The id is considered the underdeveloped of primitive part of our markup. It controls
our need for food, sleep and other basic instinct. This part is purely focused on instant gratification. The
ego controls the id by setting up boundaries. The superego is the change of judging the situation through
morality (Siegel, 2005)

Psychodynamic theorists believe that personality of offenders is id-dominated. Which means, that when
they lose control of the ago their id of instant gratification takes over. Other problems causing control of
the ego are poor social skills, excessive dependence on others, immaturity, etc.

Others believe, that offenders are moved by unconscious need to be punished by their previous sins.
Consequently, “crime is a manifestation of feelings of oppression and people’s inability to develop the
proper psychological defense and rationales to keep these feelings under control” (Siegel).

CRIME AS SOCIAL PROBLEM: Many consider crime as a social problem – a problem as defined by society, such as
homelessness, drug abuse, etc. Others would say crime is a sociological problem – something defined as a problem by
sociologists and should be dealt with accordingly by sociologists. Deviance and crime result from being officially labeled; arrest
and imprisonment increase the likelihood of reoffending. Criminal law is shaped by the conflict among the various social
groups in society that exist because of differences in race and ethnicity, social class, religion, and other factors.

Crime is considered a social issue because, irrespective of social class, it has a negative effect on members of society. Thieves
deprive citizens of their property. Armed robbers steal the profits of businesses. Drug dealers destroy the lives of those who steal
and prostitute themselves to buy the drugs. Thugs murder and injure others, depriving families of their loved ones, employers
lose their employees, and governments lose those who contributed to the community in many ways. It affects all of society
negatively.

Laws were created to promote harmony within a society. When people have to live in close proximity to one another, common
rules are required.

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Crime is a violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by somegovernmental authority. It represents some
type of deviation from formal social normsadministered by the state. Crimes are divided by law into various categories,
dependingon the severity of the offence, the age of the offender, the potential punishment that can be levied, and the court that
holds jurisdiction over the case. There is no society in any part of the world, which is without crimes.One of the serious problems
of today’s crimes is that in many cases the criminalsare socially, politically and economically so powerful that they decide the
course of punishment for others while they themselves manage to get escaped completely.

7.1. DEVIANCE AND CONTROL

Deviance is a violation of norms. Whether or not something is deviant depends on contextual definitions, the situation, and
people’s response to the behaviour. Society seeks to limit deviance through the use of sanctions that help maintain a system of
social control. In modern normalizing societies, disciplinary social control is a primary governmental strategy of social control.

7.2. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEVIANCE

The three major sociological paradigms offer different explanations for the motivation behind deviance and crime. Functionalists
point out that deviance is a social necessity since it reinforces norms by reminding people of the consequences of violating them.
Violating norms can open society’s eyes to injustice in the system. Critical sociologists argue that crime stems from a system of
inequality that keeps those with power at the top and those without power at the bottom. Feminist sociologists emphasize that
gender inequalities play an important role in determining what types of acts are actually regarded as criminal. Symbolic
interactionists focus attention on the socially constructed nature of the labels related to deviance. Crime and deviance are learned
from the environment and enforced or discouraged by those around us.

7.3. CRIME AND THE LAW

Crime is established by legal codes and upheld by the criminal justice system. The corrections system is the dominant system of
criminal punishment but a number of community-based sentencing models offer alternatives that promise more effective
outcomes in terms of recidivism. Although crime rates increased throughout most of the 20th century, they have been dropping
since their peak in 1991.

DEVIANCE: Deviance refers to rule-breaking behaviour of some kind which fails to conform to the norms and
expectations of a particular society or social group. Deviance is closely related to the concept of crime, which is law
breaking behaviour. Criminal behaviour is usually deviant, but not all deviant behaviour is criminal. Adult content
consumption, drug use, excessive drinking, illegal hunting, eating disorders, or any self-harming or addictive
practice are all examples of deviant behaviors. Many of them are represented, to different extents, on social media.
The word deviance connotes odd or unacceptable behavior, but in the sociological sense of the word, deviance is
simply any violation of society's norms. Deviance can range from something minor, such as a traffic violation, to
something major, such as murder. In reality, there are likely many factors that play a role in deviant behavior. These
include genetics, personality, upbringing, environment, and societal influences. It is also important to note that
what is considered deviant can vary from one culture to the next. Most societies have laws prohibiting deviant
behaviors such as rape, murder, and theft. Deviance has several functions: (a) it clarifies norms and increases
conformity, (b) it strengthens social bonds among the people reacting to the deviant, and (c) it can help lead to
positive social change. Certain social and physical characteristics of urban neighborhoods contribute to high crime
rates.
Deviance is behavior that violates social norms and arouses negative social reactions. Crime is behavior that is
considered so serious that it violates formal laws prohibiting such behavior. Social control refers to ways in which a
society tries to prevent and sanction behavior that violates norms.
Deviance refers to rule-breaking behaviour of some kind which fails to conform to the norms and expectations of a
particular society or social group.
Deviance is closely related to the concept of crime, which is law breaking behaviour. Criminal behaviour is usually
deviant, but not all deviant behaviour is criminal.
The concept of deviance is more difficult to define than crime. Deviance includes both criminal and non-criminal
acts, but it is quite difficult to pin down what members of any society or groups actually regard as deviant
behaviour. Downes and Rock (2007) suggest that ambiguity is a key feature of rule-breaking, as people are
frequently unsure whether a particular episode is truly deviant or what deviance is. Their judgement will depend on
the context in which it occurs, who the person is, what they know about them and what their motives might be.

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Societal deviance refers to forms of deviance that most members of a society regard as deviant because they share
similar ideas about approved and unapproved behaviour – murder, rape, child abuse and driving over the alcohol
limit in the UK generally fall into this category.
Situational deviance refers to the way in which an act being seen as deviant or not depends on the context or
location in which it takes place. These two conceptions of deviance suggest that, while there may be some acts that
many people agree are deviant in one society, those acts defined as deviant will vary between groups within a
society. Whether or not an act is seen as deviant often depends on:
Theories of Deviance
Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from
the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or non‐criminal. The sociological discipline that deals
with crime (behavior that violates laws) is criminology (also known as criminal justice). Today, Americans
consider such activities as alcoholism, excessive gambling, being nude in public places, playing with fire, stealing,
lying, refusing to bathe, purchasing the services of prostitutes, and cross‐dressing—to name only a few—as deviant.
People who engage in deviant behavior are referred to as deviants.
The concept of deviance is complex because norms vary considerably across groups, times, and places. In other
words, what one group may consider acceptable, another may consider deviant. For example, in some parts of
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Muslim Africa, women are circumcised. Termed clitoridectomy and infibulation, this
process involves cutting off the clitoris and/or sewing shut the labia — usually without any anesthesia. In America,
the thought of female circumcision, or female genital mutilation as it is known in the United States, is unthinkable;
female genital mutilation, usually done in unsanitary conditions that often lead to infections, is done as a blatantly
oppressive tactic to prevent women from having sexual pleasure.
A number of theories related to deviance and criminology have emerged within the past 50 years or so. Four of the
most well‐known follow.
Differential-association theory

Edwin Sutherland coined the phrase differential association to address the issue of how people learn deviance.
According to this theory, the environment plays a major role in deciding which norms people learn to violate.
Specifically, people within a particular reference group provide norms of conformity and deviance, and thus heavily
influence the way other people look at the world, including how they react. People also learn their norms from
various socializing agents—parents, teachers, ministers, family, friends, co‐workers, and the media. In short, people
learn criminal behavior, like other behaviors, from their interactions with others, especially in intimate groups.
The differential‐association theory applies to many types of deviant behavior. For example, juvenile gangs provide
an environment in which young people learn to become criminals. These gangs define themselves as countercultural
and glorify violence, retaliation, and crime as means to achieving social status. Gang members learn to be deviant as
they embrace and conform to their gang's norms.
Differential‐association theory has contributed to the field of criminology in its focus on the developmental nature of
criminality. People learn deviance from the people with whom they associate. Critics of the differential‐association
theory, on the other hand, claim the vagueness of the theory's terminology does not lend itself to social science
research methods or empirical validation.

ANOMIE THEORY: Anomie refers to the confusion that arises when social norms conflict or don't even exist.
In the 1960s, Robert Merton used the term to describe the differences between socially accepted goals and the
availability of means to achieve those goals. Merton stressed, for instance, that attaining wealth is a major goal of
Americans, but not all Americans possess the means to do this, especially members of minority and disadvantaged
groups. Those who find the “road to riches” closed to them experience anomie, because an obstacle has thwarted
their pursuit of a socially approved goal. When this happens, these individuals may employ deviant behaviors to
attain their goals, retaliate against society, or merely “make a point.”
The primary contribution of anomie theory is its ability to explain many forms of deviance. The theory is also
sociological in its emphasis on the role of social forces in creating deviance. On the negative side, anomie theory has

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been criticized for its generality. Critics note the theory's lack of statements concerning the process of learning
deviance, including the internal motivators for deviance. Like differential association theory, anomie theory does not
lend itself to precise scientific study.

CONTROL THEORY: According to Walter Reckless's control theory, both inner and outer controls work
against deviant tendencies. People may want—at least some of the time—to act in deviant ways, but most do not.
They have various restraints: internal controls, such as conscience, values, integrity, morality, and the desire to be a
“good person”; and outer controls, such as police, family, friends, and religious authorities. Travis Hirschi noted
that these inner and outer restraints form a person's self‐control, which prevents acting against social norms. The
key to developing self‐control is proper socialization, especially early in childhood. Children who lack this self‐
control, then, may grow up to commit crimes and other deviant behaviors.
Whereas theory also suggests that people society labels as “criminals” are probably members of subordinate groups,
critics argue that this oversimplifies the situation. As examples, they cite wealthy and powerful businesspeople,
politicians, and others who commit crimes. Critics also argue that conflict theory does little to explain the causes of
deviance. Proponents counter, however, by asserting that the theory does not attempt to delve into etiologies.
Instead, the theory does what it claims to do: It discusses the relationships between socialization, social controls, and
behavior.

LABELING THEORY: A type of symbolic interaction, labeling theory concerns the meanings people derive
from one another's labels, symbols, actions, and reactions. This theory holds that behaviors are deviant only when
society labels them as deviant. As such, conforming members of society, who interpret certain behaviors as deviant
and then attach this label to individuals, determine the distinction between deviance and non‐deviance. Labeling
theory questions who applies what label to whom, why they do this, and what happens as a result of this labeling.
Powerful individuals within society—politicians, judges, police officers, medical doctors, and so forth—typically
impose the most significant labels. Labeled persons may include drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, delinquents,
prostitutes, sex offenders, retarded people, and psychiatric patients, to mention a few. The consequences of being
labeled as deviant can be far‐reaching. Social research indicates that those who have negative labels usually have
lower self‐images, are more likely to reject themselves, and may even act more deviantly as a result of the label.
Unfortunately, people who accept the labeling of others—be it correct or incorrect—have a difficult time changing
their opinions of the labeled person, even in light of evidence to the contrary.
William Chambliss in 1973 conducted a classic study into the effects of labeling. His two groups of white, male,
high‐school students were both frequently involved in delinquent acts of theft, vandalism, drinking, and truancy. The
police never arrested the members of one group, which Chambliss labeled the “Saints,” but the police did have
frequent run‐ins with members of the other group, which he labeled the “Roughnecks.” The boys in the Saints came
from respectable families, had good reputations and grades in school, and were careful not to get caught when
breaking the law. By being polite, cordial, and apologetic whenever confronted by the police, the Saints escaped
labeling themselves as “deviants.” In contrast, the Roughnecks came from families of lower socioeconomic status,
had poor reputations and grades in school, and were not careful about being caught when breaking the law. By being
hostile and insolent whenever confronted by the police, the Roughnecks were easily labeled by others and
themselves as “deviants.” In other words, while both groups committed crimes, the Saints were perceived to be
“good” because of their polite behavior (which was attributed to their upper‐class backgrounds) and the Roughnecks
were seen as “bad” because of their insolent behavior (which was attributed to their lower‐class backgrounds). As a
result, the police always took action against the Roughnecks, but never against the Saints.
GENDER AND DEVIANCE
In the United States, women who cry in public in response to emotional situations are not generally considered
deviant—even women who cry frequently and easily. This view of women has remained relatively constant. Over
the past fifty years, however, society’s perception of men who cry has changed. A man who cried publicly in the
1950s would have been considered deviant. Today, men who cry in response to extreme emotional situations are
acting within society’s norms. Male politicians cry when announcing defeat, male athletes cry after winning a
championship, and male actors cry after winning an award. By today’s standards, none of these men is committing a
deviant act
RELATIVISM AND DEVIANCE

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Deviance is a relative issue, and standards for deviance change based on a number of factors, including the
following:
 Location: A person speaking loudly during a church service would probably be considered deviant,
whereas a person speaking loudly at a party would not. Society generally regards taking the life of another
person to be a deviant act, but during wartime, killing another person is not considered deviant.
 Age: A five-year-old can cry in a supermarket without being considered deviant, but an older child or an
adult cannot.
 Social Status: A famous actor can skip to the front of a long line of people waiting to get into a popular
club, but a nonfamous person would be considered deviant for trying to do the same.
 Individual Societies: In the United States, customers in department stores do not try to negotiate prices or
barter for goods. In some other countries, people understand that one should haggle over the price of an
item; not to do so is considered deviant.
CULTURAL NORMS AND DEVIANCE

In Japan, there are strict norms involving the exchange of business cards. One person presents his or her business
card with the writing facing the recipient, who looks at it for a moment and asks a question about some of the
information on the card. The question may be irrelevant, but it tells the giver that the recipient has read the card and
acknowledges the person and his or her company. A Japanese executive who receives a business card and does not
take the time to look at it and ask a question would be considered deviant.
DEFINITION OF DEVIANCE
As aforementioned, deviance refers to a behavior that is in violation of societal norms. Such behavior is considered
to be immoral and abnormal in line with the agreed norms and standards of a certain culture. But, deviance can be a
complex concept because it varies per societal group, place or time. It also differs from one believe system to the
other.
In order to form a harmonious living environment and contain the behaviors of people, societies opt to subscribe to
certain code of conducts. These have existed from the primitive societies and still reinforced today. Unlike laws,
societal norms are not written down. Instead, everyone is expected to be alert of their existence in a specific society.
Contravention of societal norms is seldom punishable by law unless it overlaps with criminal offences. For instance,
in some countries prostitution is illegal and also deviant in the societies. The law can thus take its course. Where the
behavior is solely considered deviant, society leaders can put pressure on the perpetrator as a control of deviant
behaviors but have no coercive power to punish. The fear of God’s curse is also an agent of control of deviant
behaviors.
Examples of deviance behaviors include prostitution, walking in the streets naked, house breaking, cross-dressing,
transsexual, transgender, and many more depending on the society or the region where one resides. In a nudist
environment, for example, it may be acceptable to walk on the streets nude, and may be seen as a strange attire if
you walk with suits in that environment. Another example goes to countries in Africa where female genital
mutilation is acceptable for circumcision where in America it may be considered as devianT
DEFINITION OF CRIME

Crime is an act of contravening the statues enacted by legislations after lengthy debates on what constitutes a
criminal offense and what penalties to institute for certain crimes. The sociological discipline that concerns itself
with criminal studies is termed criminology. The study can also cover the concepts of deviance that overlaps with
criminal offenses. It is relatively difficult to discern criminal studies from deviance studies (Bader et al.).
Criminal laws are documented in constitutions of societies and anyone found contravening them shall be liable to a
fine, imprisonment or death penalty in some countries such as Botswana. In a nutshell, criminal offenses can be
categorized into personal offenses and property offenses. Other categories include victimless crimes where there are
no obvious complainants, organized crimes committed by organized groups in illegal dealings under legitimate
enterprises, and white-collar crimes that are committed by individuals possessing a high social status. Victimless

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crimes may include prostitution and drug dealings, whereas white-collar crimes may include tax frauds, and
organized crimes may include the shipment of illegal products.
CRIMINAL NATURE OF DEVIANCE AND CRIME

Deviance can be criminal or not, and crime is always punishable. Because deviance is dictated by societal norms, it
bears no coercive power to punish those violating it whereas criminal offenses are punishable by law as determined
by the judicial system. Police enforce arrest the perpetrators.
EXAMPLES OF DEVIANCE AND CRIME

Examples of deviance include walking nude in public places, offering or receiving prostitute services, wearing red
suits during funerals, marriage underage. The examples of crime include murder, rape, house-breaking, shoplifting,
prostitution. As it already been reiterated, the deviant and criminal violations overlap and vary from one society to
the other. For example, in some African countries it may be a norm for under 18 years teenagers to be married
whereas in the United States is considered a crime.

SIN: sin can be defined as the transgression of divine laws. Its very base is religion, while the crime is based upon laws. The
concept of sin is traditional, based on orthodoxy and rigidity. The final decision in sin is taken on the basis of religious books
while in the matter of crime; it is taken by law court. There, sin is an action which offends God. But the term 'vice', or 'vitium', in
medieval thought, had a rather different meaning. Rather than emphasising actions, 'vitium' refers to an individual's flaw. In other
words, sin refers to the act itself; vice, on the other hand,
refers to the tendency to act wrongly. This relatively young
field of study has three principal divisions: (1) the sociology
of law, which examines how laws are made and enforced; (2)
criminal etiology, which studies the causes of crime; and (3)
penology, which addresses society's response to crime and
includes the study of the criminal justice system.

Difference between "Sin", "Crime", "Vice", "Tort", and

"Immorality"

For the sake of scientific study, the sin, the vice, the tort, the
immorality etc, have been dealt with differently in
criminology. A crime is an act against society or law or both
for which it is penalised. Keeping this definition of crime in
view, it will be beneficial to differentiate all these concepts
from crime.

CRIME AND SIN

All the acts against religion are considered sins. Thus, sin can be defined as the transgression of divine laws. Its very base is
religion, while the crime is based upon laws. The concept of sin is traditional, based on orthodoxy and rigidity. The final decision
in sin is taken on the basis of religious books while in the matter of crime; it is taken by law court. Darrow has defined sin in a
most suitable manner. In his words, “Sin……is an offence against God, a transgression against the divine law and any thought,
desire, word, an act or omission against that law”.

CRIME AND VICE

Vices are often included in the category of crimes, but many of them, sometimes are not regarded as crimes. There is a lot of
difference in their aims. The crimes cause harm to others while the vicious or the wicked causes harm to him only. For example,
the vices like gambling, drinking prostitution or deriving pleasure out of illicit sexual intercourse; cause harm to the individual
only. As the harm to the individual indirectly effects, the latter therefore prohibits the vices and generally gives punishment for
them.

CRIME AND TORT

The encroachment upon the individual rights is known as tort. Under-hill has included the following actions in tort.

1. Encroachment of fundamental rights for which one is really authorized.

2. Encroachment of rights for which one is to suffer from personal loss.

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3. The encroachment of social rights of an individual. The losses which can be compensated are counted as tort. The torts can be
compensated, but in a crime a due punishment is given compulsorily by the law itself. In tort the man who has been injured or
damaged by the vicious act, applies to the court for the compensation while in the matter of crime, the state itself punishes the
criminal. The expression, interpretation or any sort of article.

VICE: A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading,
deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an
infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit. Vices are usually associated with a transgression in a person's character or temperament
rather than their morality.[1] Synonyms for vice include fault, sin, depravity, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption.

Depending on the country or jurisdiction, vice crimes may or may not be treated as a separate category in the criminal codes.
Even in jurisdictions where vice is not explicitly delineated in the legal code, the term vice is often used in law enforcement and
judicial systems as an umbrella for crimes involving activities that are considered inherently immoral, regardless of the legality or
objective harm involved.

In the United Kingdom, the term vice is commonly used in law and law enforcement to refer to criminal offences related
to prostitution and pornography.[4] In the United States, the term is also used to refer to crimes related to drugs, alcohol, and
gambling.

Religious police, for example islamic religious police units or sharia police in certain parts of the Arab-speaking world, are
morality squads that also monitors for example dress codes, observance of store-closures during prayer time, consumption of
unlawful beverages or foods, unrelated males and females socializing, and homosexual behavior.

"Vice squad" redirects here. For other uses, see Vice squad (disambiguation).

A vice squad, also called a vice unit or a morality squad, is generally, though not always, a police division, whose focus is to
restrain or suppress moral crimes. Though what is considered or accepted as a moral crime by society often varies considerably
according to local laws or customs between nations, countries, or states, it often includes activities such
as gambling, narcotics, pornography and illegal sales of alcoholic beverages.[6] Vice squads do not concentrate on more serious
crimes like fraud and murder

VICE CRIMES: Vice crimes as defined as those crimes that involve prostitution, the illegal sale/use of alcoholic beverages, illegal
gambling, or distribution or sale of obscene or pornographic material in violation of the law.

How is crime distinguished from sin and morality?

What is the difference between vice and crime?

What are vice crimes?

1. Crime and Sin. For the sake of scientific study, sin, vice, tort, immorality, etc. have been dealt with differently in criminology. A crime is an
act against society or law or both for which it is penalized. Keeping this definition of crime in view, it will be beneficial to differentiate all these
concepts from crime.

All the acts against religion are considered sins. Thus, sin can be defined as the transgression of divine laws. The concept of sin is traditional,
based on orthodoxy and rigidity. The final decision in sin is taken on the basis of religious books while in the matter of crime, it is taken by the
law court. Darrow has defined sin in the most suitable manner. In his words, “Sin is an offense against God, a transgression against the divine law
and any thought, desire, word, act or omission against that law.”

2. Crime and Vice. Vices are, often, included in the category, but many of them, sometimes, are not regarded as crimes. There is a lot of
difference in their aims. The criminal causes harm to others while the vicious or the wicked causes harm to himself only. For example, vice-like
gambling, drinking, prostitution, or deriving pleasure out of illicit sexual intercourse, cause harm to the individual only. As the harm to the
individual indirectly affects the society, the latter therefore prohibits the vices and generally gives punishment for them.

3. Crime and tort. The encroachment of individual rights is known as tort. Underhill has included the following actions in tort.

1. Encroachment of fundamental rights for which one is really authorized.

2. Encroachment of rights for which one is to suffer from personal loss.

3. The encroachment of the social rights of an individual. The losses which can be compensated are counted as a tort. The torts can be
compensated, But in a crime, a due punishment is given compulsorily by the law itself. In tort, the man who has been injured or damaged by the
vicious act applies to the court for compensation while in a matter of crime, the state itself punishes the criminal. The expression, interpretation,
or any sort of article which defames a person for nothing, or trespassing by force are clear examples of torts.

4. Crime and Immorality. All the actions against morality, social patterns or values, or those which are generally thought improper, are put into
the category of immorality. It is not necessary that all immoral acts are crimes. For example, telling a lie is not always a crime but it is in fact an

19
immoral act. Immorality is decided by the intention, not by its result, while a crime is declared by its effect. The study of tort is conducted by the
law. Interpretation of sin is the subject matter of religion. Therefore, here, only the vices shall be discussed. In the study of vices, from the
sociological point of view, the study of sex vices is the most important one, as in social disorganization, it plays a very important role.

EVIL: Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil: envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false
doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. The word “evil” is not merely an expressive term. Rather, to say an action is evil is to
say it is an extreme culpable moral wrong. That could be due to our toleration of small doses of crime. Maybe people have to
work out their inhibitions; and crime, either actual or even when committed by others in fact or fiction, provides the essential
indirect form of self-expression. In that sense, crime for society could be regarded as a necessary evil. Evil, in a general sense, is
defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more
narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible
forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of
natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal.[1] While some
religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing
people.

Evil can denote profound immorality,[2] but typically not without some basis in the understanding of the human condition,
where strife and suffering (cf. Hinduism) are the true roots of evil. In certain religious contexts, evil has been described as
a supernatural force.[2] Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its motives.[3] Elements that are commonly associated with
personal forms of evil involve unbalanced behavior including anger, revenge, hatred, psychological
trauma, expediency, selfishness, ignorance, destruction and neglect

Evil in the broad sense, which includes all natural and moral evils, tends to be the sort of evil referenced in theological contexts,
such as in discussions of the problem of evil. The problem of evil is the problem of accounting for evil in a world created by an
all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God. It seems that if the creator has these attributes, there would be no evil in the world. But
there is evil in the world. Thus, there is reason to believe that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good creator does not exist.

In contrast to the broad concept of evil, the narrow concept of evil picks out only the most morally despicable sorts of actions,
characters, events, etc. As Marcus Singer puts it “‘evil’ [in this sense] … is the worst possible term of opprobrium imaginable”
(Singer 2004, 185). Since the narrow concept of evil involves moral condemnation, it is appropriately ascribed only to moral
agents and their actions. For example, if only human beings are moral agents, then only human beings can perform evil actions.
Evil in this narrower sense is more often meant when the term ‘evil’ is used in contemporary moral, political, and legal contexts.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: 1 : conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond

parental control and therefore subject to legal action. 2 : a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not
punishable by death or life imprisonment. A "juvenile" is a person who has not attained his eighteenth birthday, and
"juvenile delinquency" is the violation of a law of the United States committed by a person prior to his
eighteenth birthday which would have been a crime if committed by an adult. Examples of these types of acts
include (but not limited to): Truancy (skipping school); Underage drinking/purchase of alcohol;
and/or. Underage smoking/purchase of cigarettes
1 : physiologically immature or undeveloped : young juvenile birds. 2a : of, relating to, characteristic of, or suitable
for children or young people juvenile fiction. b : of or relating to young people who have committed or are accused
of committing a criminal offense the juvenile justice system juvenile crime.
Juvenile delinquency is the participation by a minor child, usually between the ages of 10 and 17, in illegal behavior
or activities. Juvenile delinquency is also used to refer to children who exhibit a persistent behavior of
mischievousness or disobedience, so as to be considered out of parental control, becoming subject to legal action by
the court system. Juvenile delinquency is also known as “juvenile offending,” and each state has a separate legal
system in place to deal with juveniles who break the law. To explore this concept, consider the following juvenile

delinquency definition. Definition of Juvenile Delinquency

1. noun. The behavior of a minor child that is marked by criminal activities, persistent antisocial behavior, or
disobedience which the child’s parents are unable to control.
2. noun. A violation of the law by a minor, which is not punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Origin 1810-1820

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WHAT IS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Juvenile delinquency occurs when a minor violates a criminal statue. When a juvenile commits a crime, the
procedures that take place differ from those of an adult offender. In all states, juvenile court systems, and juvenile
detention facilities, deal specifically with underage offenders. While it is common for state statutes to consider
people under the age of 17 as minors, the justice system can charge minors even younger as adults, if the crime
committed is very serious.
Juvenile Delinquents
Juvenile delinquents are often defined as children between the ages of 10 and 17 who have committed a criminal act.
There are two main types of offenders: repeat offenders and age specific offenders.
Repeat Offenders
Repeat offenders are also known as “life-course persistent offenders.” These juvenile delinquents begin offending or
showing other signs of antisocial behavior during adolescence. Repeat offenders continue to engage in criminal
activities or aggressive behaviors even after they enter adulthood.
Age-Specific Offenders
This type of juvenile delinquent behavior begins during adolescence. Unlike the repeat offenders however, the
behaviors of the age-specific offender ends before the minor becomes an adult.
The behaviors that a juvenile shows during adolescence are often a good indicator of the type of offender he will
become. While age-specific offenders leave their delinquent behavior behind when they enter adulthood, they often
have more mental health problems, engage in substance abuse, and have greater financial problems than adults who
were never delinquent as juveniles.
Risk Factors and Predictors of Juvenile Delinquency
Many children garner the label of juvenile delinquent early, often between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Many juvenile
behaviors during the pre-teen and teenage years may be considered normal behavior for children, as they stretch
their boundaries, and struggle to develop their self perception. There are, however, certain signs that a child might
be headed in a bad direction.
Predictors of juvenile delinquencies may appear as early as preschool, and often include:

Abnormal or slow development of basic skills, such as speech and language
 Chronic violation of the rules
 Serious aggressive behavior toward other students or teachers
Studies have found that a number of life circumstances constitute risk factors for a child to become a juvenile
delinquent. While these are many and varied, the most common risk factors for juvenile delinquency include:
 Authoritarian Parenting – characterized by the use of harsh disciplinary methods, and refusal to justify
disciplinary actions, other than by saying “because I said so.”
 Peer Association – usually resulting from leaving adolescents unsupervised, encouraging a child to engage
in bad behaviors when acting with his peer group.
 Low Socioeconomic Status
 Permissive Parenting – characterized by lack of consequences for bad behavior, permissive parenting can
be broken down into two subcategories: (1) neglectful parenting, which is a lack of monitoring a child’s
activities, and (2) indulgent parenting, which is the enablement of bad behavior.
 Poor School Performance
 Peer Rejection

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  ADHD and other mental disorders
Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency
The procedures followed in the juvenile justice system differ greatly from those followed for adult offenders. Each
state has specific programs or systems that deal with juvenile offenders. Juvenile offenders come into police contact
in number of ways. Some are caught committing a crime and arrested, others are referred to police by parents or
school officials. Once the police have become involved, they may choose to deal with a juvenile offender in several
ways. The police can:
 issue a warning and release of the minor
 detain the minor and notify the parents to pick him up
 refer the case to juvenile court
 arrest the minor and refer the case to juvenile court
If the case goes to court, the minor and the parents meet with a juvenile court intake officer. The intake officer can
handle the case informally, referring the juvenile to a probation officer, he can dismiss the case, or he can file
formal charges. When deciding whether to file charges, officers often consider:
 the offense
 the offender’s age
 the offender’s previous record
 the offender’s educational or social history
 the ability of the parents to control the offender’s behavior or seek help
If dealt with informally, the minor reports to a probation officer, and is given advice and ordered to perform
community service, pay fines, attend treatment, or enter probation.
If charges are filed in juvenile court, the minor is arraigned, at which time his charges are read before a judge. The
judge then decides whether to detain or release the juvenile until the hearing takes place. After appearing in court,
three things are possible:
1. Plea Agreement – the minor may enter a plea agreement with the court. This often requires the juvenile to
comply with certain conditions, such as attending counseling, obeying a curfew, or paying restitution.
2. Diversion – the judge may divert the case, which means he retains control over the matter until the
juvenile successfully completes treatment programs or performs community services. If the juvenile fails to
comply, formal charges may be reinstated.
3. Adjudicatory Hearing – the judge may decide to have an adjudicatory hearing, which is a trial in a
juvenile case. While both sides argue the case and present evidence, a juvenile trial takes place in front of a
judge, not a jury. If, at the end of the hearing, the judge decides the juvenile is delinquent, he may order
punishments such as probation, community service, or even detention in a juvenile center.
Preventing Juvenile Delinquency
Prevention of juvenile delinquency serves at-risk youths, their families, and the public, as it can put a stop to the
transition of juvenile offenders to adult offenders. Prevention services are offered by a number of government and
private agencies, and include such services as:
 Substance Abuse Treatment
 Family Counseling
 Individual Counseling
 Parenting Education

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  Family Planning Services
The availability of education, and encouragement of minors in obtaining an education, plays a large role in
prevention of juvenile delinquency. This is because education promotes social cohesion, and helps children of all
ages learn to make good choices, and to practice self-control.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (“OJJDP”) is just one agency that sinks resources into
researching juvenile delinquency, and providing both prevention and rehabilitation programs. The agency also
works toward reducing under-age substance abuse, and gang influence on minors.
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY STATISTICS
Many organizations, including the OJJDP, study juvenile delinquency, and report compiled data in order to learn
what contributes to the issue of juvenile delinquency. Some of the latest juvenile delinquency statistics include:
 In 2012, police arrested 182 violent juvenile offenders for every 100,000 juveniles.
 The peak age for offending falls between 15 and 19 years of age
 52% to 57% of juvenile offenders continue offending into their mid-20s
 By age 30, only 16% to 19% of juvenile delinquents continue to offend
 If a juvenile starts offending before the age of 12, he is more likely to continue offending into adulthood
 The average onset of gang involvement is 16 years of age
 The average onset of drug use is 16 to 17 years of age
JUVENILE DELINQUENT TURNS HIS LIFE AROUND

Youth engaging in illegal behavior is a rampant issue, though most of those juvenile delinquents manage to turn
their lives around, and become a productive and happy member of society.
Actor Mark Wahlberg grew up one of nine children in a three-bedroom apartment. Though successful in today’s
world, he had his fair share of trouble with the law as a minor. At the age of 14, Wahlberg joined a gang, and
remained on law enforcement’s radar until he was locked up at the age of 16, with offenses such as drug dealing
and assault. Wahlberg had attacked two men, blinding one. Having been originally charged with attempted murder,
the charges were later reduced to criminal contempt, for which Wahlberg served only 45 days in a correctional
facility.
After being discharged from the correctional facility, Wahlberg decided to follow in the shoes of his older brother,
Donnie, who had earned fame as part of “The New Kids on the Block.” Mark Wahlberg got a record contract
heading up the musical group “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch,” and put his life back on course.
Wahlberg now has a family with four children, and lives a life dedicated to them, as well as to a number of charity
causes. Wahlberg’s 1993 debut into acting has seen him become one of the most popular actors in and he has a long
list of TV and big screen credits to his name.
RELATED LEGAL TERMS AND ISSUES
 Criminal Arraignment – The arraignment process is used for criminal cases only. In some jurisdictions,
criminal arraignment is only used in felony cases.
 Hearing – A proceeding before the court at which an issue of fact or law is heard, evidence presented, and
a decision made.
 Offender – A violation of law or rule, the committing of an illegal act.
 Restitution – The restoration of rights or property previously taken away or surrendered; reparation made
by giving compensation for loss or injury caused by wrongdoing.

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  Trial – A formal presentation of evidence before a judge and jury for the purpose of determining guilt or
innocence in a criminal case, or to make a determination in a civil matter.
ANOMIE THEORY
The anomie theory was first written in the 1940s by Robert Merton. Merton's theory
explains that juvenile delinquency occurs because the juveniles do not have the means
to make themselves happy. Their goals are unattainable within legal means so they find
unlawful means by which to attain their goals.
An example would be a juvenile who has had a goal to get a job and purchase a car. The
juvenile is not able to find a job to make money so he either steals a car or he steals
money to purchase a car.
SUBCULTURE THEORY
Another theory about juvenile delinquency is the subculture theory. In 1955, Albert
Cohen developed the subculture theory, which is a culmination of several of his
theories. The subculture theory is much like it sounds; juveniles that do not meet the
social standards seek validation from a subculture. The subculture group is formed of
other juveniles who also do not meet the social standards.
These groups then act in manners that are not socially acceptable and rebel against the
socially acceptable standards. According to Cohen, juvenile delinquency is a product of
society. The juveniles commit crimes, such as stealing, because it is not a social norm,
and they do it to fit in with their subculture.
ROLE OF POLICE IN JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM:

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