SOC 103 Lecture : Crime & Deviance
Document Summary
Criminology: scientific approach to the study of crime causation, crime prevention, and the punishment and rehabilitation of offenders. Interest to criminologists: development of criminal law and its use in defining crime, the causes of breaking the law, and the methods implemented by a society to control criminal behavior. Social law: how law and the justice systems are socially constructed. Rule of law: ensures that laws are created, administered and enforced on the basis of acceptable procedures promoting fairness and equality. Crime: behaviors and actions requiring social control and social intervention codified in law. Deviance: actions, beliefs, conditions and characteristics that violate social norms, and that may or may not be against the law. Social deviance any acts that involve the violation of social norms. Moral entrepreneurs: people who influence or change the development or enforcement of society"s moral codes. (politicians, governments, scientists, religious institutions, media)