SOCI 250 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Summary Offence, Cybercrime, Social Forces
Document Summary
Act punishable by law legal definition: a violation of criminal law: definition in criminology: crime is a socially constructed concept used to categorize certain behaviors as requiring formal control and social intervention. Crimes and offenses are different: crime: umbrella term used to refer to any infraction of the law, offences: address the specific type of infraction/crime. Indictable offences (aka felonies in us): serious crimes (i. e. robbery, murder) Summary offences (aka misdemeanors in us): not so serious crimes (i. e. public drunkenness, property offences) Crime and deviance are different/non-interchangeable: deviance: any behavior that goes against social norms. Deviant behaviors/activities can break the law (hence becoming crimes), but don"t always do. Deviant behaviors/activities can be illegal is some places but not others (i. e. recreational marijuana use) crime = relative. Perceptions of deviance & crimes vary over time and place and are shaped by social forces not the behaviors/activities themselves: simplified hagan pyramid supposed to illustrate difference between deviance.
