Hi! As I mentioned in my previous post,
I study criminology, something that the vast majority of people associate with stuff like CSI, NCIS, criminal minds and other similar TV shows.
Well the thing is that these people are only half right.
Criminology is all about social issues, human rights, gay rights, racism, sexism and more.
It's all about the justice system and how it's used or more how it should be used to create well balanced society.
Criminology is so much more than just a study of what is crime and why we commit crimes.
A criminology degree covers everything from Crimes of the Powerful (Yo Bezos, we're looking at you), Gender and Feminism, Prison systems and even sex work.
Crime has different levels, follows different patterns. Something we consider 'bad' or criminal, in different cultures may be totally normal and acceptable, like marrying underaged girls.
Some cultures will allow young girls marry adult men, engage in sexual activities with them and bring children to this world.
In other cultures it's a big no no.
In 69 countries being homosexual is punishable by law, however, in many others gay marriage is fine.
Even though this is not directly about crime, it's the construct of deviance and it's very important if we are trying to understand crime. In 1966 Becker said :
'Social Groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits,but rather a consequence of the application by others and rules and sanctions to an offender'
As Zygmunt Bauman said, to study criminology, we need to 'de-familiarise the familiar'. Not everything is how it seems.
Sutherland suggests that there are 3 main areas to criminology:
- The sociology of law, which examines social aspects and the institutions of law, including the creation and development of law
-Theories of crime causation, sometimes referred to as criminogenesis.
-The study of social responses to crime, which examines in more depth the formal institutions of criminal justice such as the police, courts and corrections.
Unfortunately a lot has changed since the 90s and now we more focus on criminal intersectionality. The crime itself, law in the place the supposed crime was committed, who was victimised and who commited the crime.
It's so hard to give a simple answer when someone tells us to define a crime.
Is it just the act of it?
The harm it caused? The punishment it received?
Hard question really.
The legal definition is : a violation of law and act punished by the law
Sociological definition is :
Crime is a historical invention,
Crime as a Norm Infraction
Crime as Social construct
Crime as an Ideological Censure
There is plenty involved in a crime!
Must admit, I haven't had a clue about it before I actually started studying it!
So what is involved in a crime?
I'm about to give you a crush course, sit tight!
1.Of course we need to take a look at the offender! Who are they, what's their background.
2.The victim itself, if there was one.
3.A reaction it created!
4.The punishment
5.Context to the evwnt
6.How it was discovered and policed.
7.How justice was experienced
8.Why the crime happened, what's the reason? Is it environmental? Psychological? Circumstantial
Have you ever heard about something called Black Letter Law?
Well, it states that crime is an act defined by State and punishable by law.
So basically no law without crime and no crime without law.
Once the law was created, that's how the first criminals were born.
Nils Christie said 'Crime does not exist-in order to understand crime, we must first of all deconstruct how behaviour comes to be labelled as criminal'
Because criminality is not a quality of an act, not at all, it's all about how much we demonise certain behaviours and acts
Before something is labelled as crime, it is not a crime. It's that simple. Definition of crime changes, depending on when it happened and where.
If a black woman walked into a white bar in 1920s it would be a crime, if she did that in 2021 (very glad we don't have racial separation anymore but I will literally write a whole post about that, so hang tight) no one would pay attention to her because it's normal nowadays!
Same with drinking, here in UK when you are 18 you can get as drunk as you possibly can, in USA the legal drinking age is 21.
I really hope I managed to bring you slightly closer to the topic and kept you engaged enough that you still reading it.
I find the idea of crime and how it is received by society as something fascinating. My plan is to make two crime posts a week and the rest will be about my other things I do in life.
I will show you different examples of crime, get in depth about different research techniques, talk about my 13 years of mortuary experience, talk about the most vile humans in history and also about people that received the punishment for crimes they never committed.
Have a lovely day!
Your friendly neighbourhood hobbit
Leto.
I was wondering if you were going to use that Nihls Christie quote, it's a good one, and you can quote Bauman at me until the cows come home - 'When the rich pursue their goals, the poor pay the price' is my particular favourite, mainly because it's so easy to remember!)
Now he was a proper sociological legend, are you close to Leeds, are you old enough to have done any of his courses?
I originally came to Hive planning on getting all sociological, hence the name, but since morphed into just generally writing about life updates and crypto shenanigans.
Nice to have another sociological/ criminological person around, I'll give you a follow and some more !PIZZA.
This comment made me beyond happy!!
I'm so so glad you enjoyed the topic and I have someone to talk about it with!
Unfortunately I've been in Leeds for only 3 years so I missed on a lot of good things but hey ho!
Thank you for your support and help!
So so appreciated!
Ps
It is a good quote also because it's so so true and painful.
Well beyond happy is a good place, to be so I'm glad about that!
I don't meet many people who've even heard of Bauman, let alone read any!
I suppose at least you experience pre-pandemic Leeds, that's something.
True and painful, yes, and increasingly it's the poor who live in rich countries who are paying more of a price as well as those in absolute poverty.
I just try an maintain my little corner of the planet and live as good a life as possible these days, it's not all we can do, but it helps!
Nice to met you too.
!BEER
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BEER.Hey @letothehobbit, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @revisesociology for you. Enjoy it!Do you want to win SOME BEER together with your friends and draw the
BEERKING.Welcome to Hive! I only arrived here very recently too. You've been busy already! This is a fascinating post. I know very little about criminology as a subject and will be reading avidly! I've given you a follow. Looking forward to more 🙏
Hi!
I'm so sorry, I'm still new to it and missed your comment!
I feel a tad ashamed, sorry about!
I'm glad you are enjoying it and I will try my best to deliver❤️
No worries!! I'm terrible at getting back to people immediately anyway.... Still trying to work out finding time for the social media thing. Cheers for the follow. And Happy New Year!! 🎉
Cool topic and the study is not something I know much about. Are you taking college classes or is it independent study? Do you find the theory you study meets with what you see in day to day life?
I'm actually a PhD student at university 😊 I can easily tell that theory is very close to practice. Mostly because it's a study of human behaviour, we can easily assign certain treats to certain behaviours
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