CJ 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Action Committee, White-Collar Crime, Misdemeanor
Document Summary
Most people have a sense of what is criminal, but deciding precisely what is or is not criminal is not as obvious as it may seem. What for one person is deviance, or shrewd business practice, may for others be crime. What is morally reprehensible to one group may be a lifestyle preference to another. Like deviance, crime is a concept with elusive, varied, diverse, and oft-changing meanings. (essential criminology, pg. What is defined as a crime is a contextual matter: takes on different forms depending on the historical period, specific context, social setting, location, or situation. It ignores: (1) socially injurious/harmful situations: covered under administrative law, considered regulative violations. White collar crime (2) cultural and historical context of the law: what is considered a crime changes from location to location as well as. It is influenced by: over time. (1) legislators.