Key terms in criminology

Dr. Jaromír Hořák

2024
 What is crime?
• an offence dangerous to society whose
characteristics are defined by positive law
• nullum crimen sine lege
• Special and General part of the Criminal code
• wrong x harm
• harmless wrongdoing
• legal liberalism x legal moralism
• delicta mala per x delicta mere prohibita
 criminality?
• aggregate of criminal offences committed
by criminally liable individuals in a certain
area over a certain period of time
• latency of crime
• black number
• grey number
• apparent crime
 DELINQUENCY
• negative social phenomena:
• “crime rate” = the amount of crime
occurring in a particular jurisdiction for
a specific period of time
“Criminal law without criminology is blind
and criminology without criminal law is
boundless”
 Functionalist theories
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• structural functionalism
• institutions, norms, customs
• living organism analogy
• how do societies maintain stability?
• mechanical solidarity x organic solidarity
• "social bonds, based on common sentiments and shared
moral values, that are strong among members of pre-
industrial societies"
• "social bonds, based on specialization and
interdependence, that are strong among members of
industrial societies"
 Anomy
• a little crime is normal in every society
• there are no crimeless societies
• punishment of criminals – social cohesion
• shared values
• catastrophies, wars: state of lawlessness
• values and norms no longer persuasive
• crime rises dramatically
 Strain theory
• Robert King Merton
• 1930s depression x 1950s
• American dream
• „Social Theory and Social Structure“ (1949)
• middle-range-theory
• integrating theory nad empirical research
• Strain theory:
• individual's response to societal expectations and
the means by which the individual pursued those
goals
• self-fulfilling prophecy
Robert King Merton
 Strain theory
• personal goals and legitimate means
come into conflict
• conformity
• innovation
• ritualism
• retreatism
• rebellion
Differential association theory
• concept of social learning
• "self" as a social construct
• through interaction with others, individuals
learn the values, attitudes, techniques,
and motives for criminal behavior
Edwin Sutherland
 Conflict criminology
• influenced by Marxism
• based on a theory of social conflict
• social inequality is the most significant
source of conflict and crime
• Marx's theory of alienation
 Jeffrey Reiman:
• “criminal justice system is biased
against the poor from start to finish:
from the definition of what constitutes
a crime through the process of arrest,
trial, and sentencing“
•
 Cultural conflict
• Thorsten Sellin:
• Culture, Conflict and Crime (1938)
• conduct norms
• Albert Cohen, 1955:
• Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang
• Marvin Wolfgang: subculture of violence