SOC 2700 Lecture : History of Crime.docx

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Scott Brandon

Document Summary

History of crime: part 1: three types of crime explanation. Internal causes: physiology, biology: hair colour, eye colour, face shape, illnesses, abnormalities, lower iq, doctors then able to intervene and treat the person, rehabilitating them, cured rather than punished. Group association: sociology/social sciences: not attributed only to individual components, looks at effects of society, the objective-subjective debate. Conflict/marxist theory crime is tangible, measurable: homicide is always breaking the law. Subjective: behaviour is constructed: how different people interpret meaning of the same event, how crime is discusses, eg. Labelling theory: homicide has defences of self-defence, battered-women syndrome, the classical school of criminology (1680-1800) Tied to the enlightenment period church had less influence. Role of hedonism (self-interest: selfish, not thinking of consequences. Importance of free will: people have the choice to break or conform to the laws. Social contract: morals, what makes people criminal but what makes people abide by the rules of family/peers society.