Criminology Basics

This is your essential guide to applied criminology for WJEC certification. You'll explore how society defines crime, why laws exist, and what happens when people break them.

The content covers both theoretical foundations and practical applications. This knowledge is vital for understanding how our criminal justice system actually works in practice.

Key Point: This unit focuses on real-world applications rather than just theory - perfect for understanding current legal issues and debates.

Understanding Crime and Social Control

Ever wondered why certain behaviours feel wrong even when they're not illegal? It all starts with norms - the unwritten rules like not being loud in cinemas. These differ from values, which are deeper beliefs like respect for human life.

Deviance happens when someone goes against society's expectations. This could be heroic (risking your life for others), eccentric (talking to trees), or harmful (unprovoked attacks). Society responds with sanctions - punishments that can be formal (police, courts) or informal (being ignored by friends).

The legal definition of crime requires two elements: actus reus (the guilty act) and mens rea (guilty mind). However, strict liability crimes like speeding don't need intent - the action alone is enough.

Remember: Not all deviant behaviour is criminal, and not all crimes feel morally wrong to everyone.

Social definitions of crime help explain why some laws aren't enforced equally. White-collar crimes are expensive to prosecute, while victimless crimes like drug possession still cause social harm.

Types of Crimes and Consequences

Crimes are classified by seriousness and subject matter. Summary offences (like speeding) go to magistrates' courts, while indictable offences (murder, rape) face crown court with judge and jury.

Major crime categories include violence against persons, sexual offences, property crimes, fraud, criminal damage, drug offences, and public order violations. Each carries different penalties reflecting society's view of their seriousness.

Court sanctions range from custodial sentences (imprisonment) to community sentences (probation, curfews, treatment programs) and discharges for technical guilt without punishment. Police can issue cautions for minor first-time offences or penalty notices for disorders like shoplifting.

Important: Criminal convictions affect your entire life - from job opportunities to travel restrictions and insurance costs.

Beyond immediate punishment, convictions can exclude you from working with children, require sex offender registration, ban international travel, and restrict adoption rights or jury service.

How Culture Shapes Criminal Law

What's criminal in one culture might be perfectly legal in another. Honour crimes involving family shame are illegal in the UK but still occur in some communities. These cultural conflicts show how law intersects with tradition and religion.

Adultery remains criminal in many Muslim-majority and African countries, with punishments including stoning or fines. In the UK, it's legal but can be grounds for divorce. Religious teachings, particularly the Ten Commandments, heavily influence these differences.

Homosexuality is criminalised in 68 countries but legal throughout Europe and the Americas. Male lawmakers often treat lesbianism less seriously, reflecting historical sexist attitudes about women's sexuality.

Think About It: These examples show how religion, public opinion, and cultural values directly shape what becomes criminal law.

Understanding these cultural variations helps explain why international law is so complex and why human rights debates often centre on criminal justice issues.

How Laws Change Over Time

Laws aren't fixed forever - they evolve with society's changing values. Homosexuality in the UK shows this perfectly: completely illegal in 1885 with life imprisonment, partially legalised in 1967 for over-21s, and fully equalised by 2000.

Key drivers for change included the Wolfenden Report, equality campaigns, progressive politicians, and human rights movements. Each step reflected growing social acceptance and scientific understanding.

Gun control laws show how tragic events reshape legislation. The 1987 Hungerford massacre and 1996 Dunblane school shooting led to complete handgun bans in the UK by 1997. Compare this to America, where despite regular mass shootings, the Constitution's Second Amendment keeps gun ownership legal.

Reality Check: Public campaigns like the Snowdrop Campaign (collecting 750,000 signatures after Dunblane) can directly change laws.

Drug laws are currently evolving worldwide. While possession remains illegal in the UK (5 years jail), countries like Portugal treat it as a minor offence, and Canada has fully legalised cannabis. Different societies are testing different approaches to the same problem.

Law Enforcement and Special Circumstances

Even when laws exist, they're not always enforced equally. Moral panic during events like the 2011 riots led to unusually harsh sentences for minor offences. Typifications mean police often have preconceptions about who looks criminal, affecting working-class defendants more than middle-class ones.

The age of criminal responsibility varies dramatically - 10 in the UK, 16 in China. This reflects different views about when children can truly understand right from wrong and be held accountable for their actions.

Homicide has special defences recognising human complexity. Diminished responsibility applies when mental conditions prevent understanding, loss of control covers situations like sudden provocation, and automatism when someone is forced to act.

Key Insight: These defences acknowledge that criminal behaviour isn't always straightforward - context and mental state matter enormously.

Understanding these nuances is crucial for anyone working in criminal justice, as they affect how cases are investigated, prosecuted, and sentenced in real courts.

Early Biological Theories of Crime

Lombroso's theory (1876) claimed criminals were biologically different - throwbacks to a primitive evolutionary stage called atavism. He believed facial features could identify criminal types and that these people couldn't control their impulses or feel pain normally.

While groundbreaking as the first scientific approach to criminology, his work had major flaws. He used no control groups, and his descriptions of criminals as 'primitive savages' were racist. Modern research has completely disproved links between facial features and criminality.

Sheldon's somatotypes theory focused on body types. Ectomorphs (thin, fragile) were thoughtful, mesomorphs (muscular, athletic) were assertive risk-takers, and endomorphs (rounded, soft) were sociable. Sheldon claimed mesomorphs were most likely to be criminals due to their physical dominance and sensation-seeking nature.

Historical Context: These theories reflect early attempts to make criminology scientific, but they oversimplified complex human behaviour.

Studies found 60% of criminals were mesomorphs, but this might be because tough prison environments favour muscular builds, or because people develop muscle to appear intimidating - not because they're born criminal.

Genetic Theories of Criminal Behaviour

Twin studies test whether criminality is inherited by comparing identical twins (sharing 100% DNA) with non-identical twins (sharing 50% DNA). Results showed 52% of identical twins both became criminal versus only 22% of non-identical twins.

These higher rates for identical twins suggest genetics play a role, but the fact it's not 100% proves genes aren't everything. Environmental factors like shared homes and identical parenting also matter significantly.

Adoption studies provide cleaner evidence by separating genetic from environmental influences. Mednick's research found 20% of adopted children followed their biological parents' criminal patterns, while 14.7% followed their adoptive parents' behaviour.

Critical Thinking: This suggests genes have slightly more influence than environment, but both matter for criminal behaviour.

Jacobs' XYY study examined males with an extra Y chromosome, theorising they'd be more aggressive. He found higher rates in psychiatric hospitals, but his sample was biased - testing only criminals with mental health issues rather than all criminals or the general population.