Aristotle (350 B.C.E) quoted in Jowett (2009) states that: “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. Great Philosophers such as Aristotle helped to set the foundation of what we today define as ‘crime’ showing that even in 350 B.C.E the definitions of ‘crime’ came from what was fist defined as ‘poverty’.
One of the most common definition of ‘crime’ comes from the Labour Government (2007) quoted in Muncie, Talbot and Walters (2010) “Labour Governments ‘Respect’ website 2007 Crime is doing something forbidden by law. That could mean stealing a mobile phone, vandalism, graffiti, mugging, stealing or taking and selling drugs” (Muncie, Talbot and Walters, 2010, p. 3). This definition of crime is very much focused on the ideas of what criminologists would class as ‘street crimes’, crimes that are generally committed by the poorer people within society, young people who come from council estates. However this definition of ‘street crimes’ omits the crimes that are committed in ‘invisible spaces’ which tends to focus more on: domestic abuse, gender abuse and people trafficking and the ‘invisible crimes’ committed by the powerful elites of the world. These crimes tend to be focused on white collar crimes, environmental pollution and illegal arms dealings amongst many more. This definition of crime omits behaviours that are potentially more harmful, that could cause greater pain or loss (Muncie, Talbot and Walters, 2010, p. 3).
Although we have a general definitions of crime, some criminologists argue that crimes is better placed within the concept of social harm, Stuart Henry and Mark Lanier (1998) as quoted in Muncie, Talbot and Walters (2010). pp 16-17 were leading authors who done just that. Criminologists such as “Tifft, 1995 an...
... middle of paper ...
...ns has been a very difficult procedure. Social harm helps to allow for the development of policies and procedures that will acknowledge the roles of governments and other parties in the perpetration of crime.
Works Cited
Jowett, B. (2009) ‘Politics by Aristotle, 350 B.C.E’, Classics, 2009 [On-line], http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.2.two.html (Accessed 9 December 2013).
Muncie, J., Talbot, D. and Walters, R. Crime: Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). P. 3.
Muncie J, Talbot D and Walters R, (2010) ‘interrogating crime’ Crime: Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). The Open University. pp. 16 – 17.
Muncie J, Talbot D and Walters R, (2010), Crime Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). P. 18.
Hilliyard and Tombs (2007) in Muncie J, Talbot D and Walters R, (2010), Crime Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). pp. 18-19.
Schmalleger, Frank. Criminology: A Brief Introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Prentice Hall., 2011.
Kappeler, V. E. & Potter, G.W. (2005). The mythology of crime and criminal justice (4th ed.).
Canadian Criminology: Perspectives on Crime and Criminality. M. A. Jackson and C. T. Griffiths Ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jonovich, 1991. 315-346.
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
• Paton, John, et al., eds. Crimes and Punishment Vol. 2 New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1986.
...duction of Crime." Texas Review of Law & Politics 8.1 (2003): 175-87. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2015.
Crime in this country is an everyday thing. Some people believe that crime is unnecessary. That people do it out of ignorance and that it really can be prevented. Honestly, since we live in a country where there is poverty, people living in the streets, or with people barely getting by, there will always be crime. Whether the crime is robbing food, money, or even hurting the people you love, your family. You will soon read about how being a criminal starts or even stops, where it begins, with whom it begins with and why crime seems to be the only way out sometimes for the poor.
This essay sets out some of the advantages and disadvantages of the concept of 'social harm' hold for the criminologist over that of 'crime'.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Muncie, J., and Mclaughin, E. (1996) The Problem of Crime. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publication Ltd.
Winslow, R. W., & Zhang, S. (2008). Contemporary Theories of Crime. Criminology: a global perspective (). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Young, J. (1981). Thinking seriously about crime: Some models of criminology. In M. Fitzgerald, G. McLennan, & J. Pawson (Eds.), Crime and society: Readings in history and society (pp. 248-309). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Morrison, W. (2009) 'What is crime? Contrasting definitions and perspectives', in C. Hale, K. Hayward, A. Wahadin and E. Wincup, (eds), Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Morgan, R., Maguire, M. And Reiner, R. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.