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Making Connections: Sociological Perspectives On Crime and Deviance
Making Connections: Sociological Perspectives On Crime and Deviance
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Making Connections: Sociological
Perspectives on Crime and Deviance
What is Criminology?
The phenomenon of knowledge regarding crime as a social
phenomenon. It includes such aspects as the making of laws, the
breaking of laws, and reacting to the breaking of laws. Its goal is
scientific: to develop a body of general and verified principles and
knowledge regarding law, crime, and treatment.”
Criminology helps us understand our society: crime is a social problem. We need
to understand what social factors contribute to crime, what aspects of society
create the possibility for crime or victimization to happen, and the factors that
shape different kinds of legal outcomes. Criminologists are also interested in why
our perceptions about crime do not always align with reality. For example, people
may believe crime is getting worse, while crime statistics show some variation.
The field of criminology generally falls into three main areas. First, the sociology
of law. This stream is interested in the origin and role of the law. It also is
interested in definitions of crime and the criminal. The most common definition of
crime is legalistic, defined as an act that violates criminal law and is punishable.
Our criminal justice system includes a wide network of organizations that fall under
three main umbrellas: police, courts, and corrections. The main roles of the
criminal justice system are threefold:
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However, people can also influence outcomes ‘through the front door’ by
their ability to pay for excellent legal representation. According to the Law
Society of Ontario (https://lso.ca/getdoc/1a17fa67-7a08-4a5b-b945-
a3fb6ae45e9d/fee-schedule) more senior lawyers charge between $300-
$350 per hour (). Adding research, expert witnesses, and going to trial can
add tens of thousands of dollars in expenses.
In Canada, crimes are defined (in legal terms) primarily by the Criminal Code.
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The Criminal Code
defines the conduct that constitutes criminal offences;
includes rules that set out how people can be guilty of crimes if they help or
encourage others to commit crimes, and rules for how corporations and
other organizations can be found guilty of crimes;
sets out defences that a person can raise if they are charged;
establishes the kind and degree of punishment that may be imposed on
someone convicted of an offence; and
describes the powers and procedures to be followed for investigation and
prosecution of an offence.
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Property crimes and breaking and entering have continued to trend downward and
experienced a 10% drop in 2021. This is perhaps a function of people being more
at home during the pandemic.
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(Moreau, 2022)
The following chart shows is that while homicide rate is slightly higher than the
previous year (788 homicides in 2021, 29 more than 2020), it is overall trending
downward:
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Second, we can
consider the
severity of the
social response:
How severely do
people think we
should punish this
act? Death
penalty? Jail?
Fines? Social
stigma?
And third, we can John Hagen's Pyramid of Crime.
evaluate the (Hagen, 1977)
degree to which an
act is ‘harmful’ and
the criteria we
should use to
make that
determination.
References
Hagen, John. 1994 (1977). Crime and Disrepute. Sage Publications, 1st edition.
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