crime
act that violates the law. punished by state
The law
context bound and subject to change
crime as a a social construction
a reflection of the attitudes and beliefs in society
factors affecting definition of crime
culture
age
context
circumstance
factor culture
crime varies cross culturally
factor age
what age should we make individuals responsible for actions
age in UK
in UK it is 10yrs old that you are deemed responsible for your actions
Historical context
the legal system changes its law over time
example of context
homosexuality illegal until 1967
factor of circumstance– mens Rea
the intention to do the crime
factor of circumstance– Actus reus
the crime should be voluntary act, the individual is in control of what they are doing
what are the two core elements of circumstance
mens rea
actus reus
when these are present it is a guilty act
ways of measuring crime
official statistics, victim surveys, offender surveys
official statistics
the office for national statistics monitors crime rates throughout England and Wales
categories include criminal damage, drug crime, violent and sexual crime
based of an incident reported
problem with official statistics
- not every crime is reported, may not be a true representation
- some types of crime difficult to measure– domestic abuse
police recording crime
recored crime, not always resulting in conviction
problem with police recording crime
many crimes go unreported– from fear on involvement, lack of faith in system
victim surveys evaluation
it is a self report technique = poor reliability
unreported crime know as ‘dark side’ of crime
offender surveys
- a offending cim and justice survey was taken place in England and Wales every year from 2003-2006
- it was done to pick up crime trends and patterns of offending behaviour
14th prisoner survey - male offenders
decrease of 20% in self reported drug use
45% reported they were drunk when committing crime
14th prisoner survey- female offenders
50% reported being drunk when committing offence
28% reported alcohol affected their employment
evaluation- offender survey
it can pick up on unreported crimes = more accurate picture of ‘dark side’
