Sociology - Types of Crime

CRIME
In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an unlawful act punishable by

a state. The term crime does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and
universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been provided
for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is a category created
by law (i.e. something is a crime if applicable law says that it is). One proposed
definition is that a crime, also called an offence or a criminal offence, is an act
harmful not only to some individual, but also to the community or the state (a
public wrong). Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law.
The idea that acts like murder, rape and theft are prohibited exists all around the
world. What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by criminal law of
each country. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code,
in some common law countries no such comprehensive statute exists.
To be classified as a crime, the act of doing something bad (actus reus) must be
usually accompanied by the intention to do something bad (mensria), with
certain exceptions (strict liability). While every crime violates the law, not every
violation of the law counts as a crime. Breaches of private
law (torts and breaches of contract) are not automatically punished by the state,
but can be enforced through civil procedure.
A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. There are
many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless
crimes and violent crimes to white collar crimes.
TYPES OF CRIMES:
Crimes Against Persons
Crimes against persons, also called personal crimes, include murder, aggravated
assault, rape, and robbery. Personal crimes are unevenly distributed in the
United States, with young, urban, poor, and racial minorities committing these
crimes more than others.
Crimes Against Property

Property crimes involve theft of property without bodily harm, such as burglary,
larceny, auto theft, and arson. Like personal crimes, young, urban, poor, and
racial minorities generally commit these crimes more than others.
Crimes Against Morality

Crimes against morality are also called victimless crimes because there is not
complainant, or victim. Prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use are
all examples of victimless crimes.
White-Collar Crime
White-collar crimes are crimes that committed by people of high social status
who commit their crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes
embezzling (stealing money from ones employer), insider trading, and tax
evasion and other violations of income tax laws.
Crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the

course of his occupation. White-collar crimes generally generate less concern in
the public mind than other types of crime, however in terms of total dollars,
white-collar crimes are even more consequential for society. Nonetheless, these
crimes are generally the least investigated and least prosecuted. Following are
the most common forms of white-collar crime : FRAUD, BRIBERY, AIDING
AND ABETTING CRIMINALS, BURGLARY, CORRUPTION, MISUSE OF
POWER, FRAUDULENT ADVERTISMENT, MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS ,
UNFAIR LABOUR PRACTICES, FALSE CERTIFICATES, EVASION OF
INCOME AND SALES TAX, MISSTATEMENT, MISREPRESENTATION,
CONCEALMENT OF FACTS and other crimes which are hidden or are lies
without prosecution due to external pressure.
Public Order Crime

In criminology public order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as crime
which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability
of people to function efficiently, i.e.it is behavior that has been labeled
criminal because it is contrary to shared norms, social values, and customs.
Robertson maintains that a crime is nothing more than an act that
contravenes a law. Generally speaking, deviancy is criminalized when it is too
disruptive and has proved uncontrollable through informal sanctions.
Public order crime should be distinguished from political crime. In the former,
although the identity of the victim may be indirect and sometimes diffuse, it is
cumulatively the community that suffers, whereas in a political crime, the state
perceives itself to be the victim and criminalizes the behavior it considers
threatening. Thus, public order crime includes consensual crime, victimless
vice, and victimless crime. It asserts the need to use the law to maintain order
both in the legal and the moral sense. Public order crime is now the preferred
term by proponents as against the use of the word victimless based on the idea
that there are secondary victims (family, friends, acquaintances, and society at
large) that can be identified.
Political Crime
In criminology, a political crime is an offence involving overt acts or omissions
(where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of state, its
government or the political system. It is to be distinguished from state crime
when it is the states that break both their own criminal laws or public
international law.
States will define as political crimes any behavior perceived as a threat, real or
imagined, to the states survival including both violent and non- violent
oppositional crimes. A consequence of such criminalization may be that a range
of human rights, civil rights, and freedoms are curtailed, and conduct which
would not normally be considered criminal per se (in other words, that is not
antisocial according to those who engage in it) is criminalized at the
convenience of the group holding power.
Thus, while the majority of those who support the current regime may consider
criminalization of politically-motivated behavior an acceptable response when
the offender is driven by more extreme political, ideological, religious or other
beliefs, there may be a question of the morality of a law which simply criminal
ordinary political dissent.
Religious Crimes
Where there is no clear separation between the state and the prevailing religion,
the edicts of the church may be codified as law and enforced by the secular
policing and judicial authorities. This is a highly functionalist mechanism for
enforcing conformity in all aspects of cultural life and the use of the label
crime adds an extra layer of stigma to those convicted.
Ideological Crime
In addition to what is considered traditional organized crime involving direct
crimes of fraud swindles, scams, racketeering and other Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) predicate acts motivated for the
accumulation of monetary gain, there is also non-traditional organized crime
which is engaged in for political or ideological gain or acceptance. Such crime
groups are often labelled terrorist organizations and include such groups as AlQaeda, Animal Liberation Front, Army of God, Black Liberation Army, The
Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, Earth Liberation Front, Hamas,
Hezbollah, Irish Republican Army, Kurdistan Workers party, Lashkar e Toiba,
May 19th Communist Organizations, The order, Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, Symbionese Liberation Army, Taliban, United Freedom Front and
Weather Underground.
Terrorism
People convicted or suspected of certain crimes classified as terrorism by the
government of their country (or some foreign countries) reject that
classification. They consider that their fight is a legitimate one using legitimate
means, and thus their crimes should be more appropriately called political
crimes and justify special treatment in the penal system (as if they were soldiers
in a war and therefore covered by the Geneva Convention. States tend to
consider the political nature of the crimes an aggravating factor in the
sentencing process and make no distinction between the terrorists and
ordinary offenders, e.g. the convicted murderers of Action Direct consider
themselves political prisoners.
Organized Crime
Organized crime is crime committed by structured groups typically involving
the distribution of illegal goods and services to others. Many people think of the
Mafia when they think of organized crime, but the term can refer to any group
that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade,
illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering).
A key sociological concept in the study or organized crime is that these
industries are organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take
on a corporate form. There are typically senior partners who control the
business profits, workers who manage and work for the business, and clients
who buy the goods and services that the organization provides.
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile delinquency involves wrong doing by a child or a young person who is
under the age limit specified by law. As per Section 2(k) of the juvenile justice
(Care and Protection of children) Act, 2000 , juvenile or child means a
person who has not completed eighteenth year of age.
A juvenile in conflict
with law is called a juvenile delinquent. A delinquent is a person under age who
is guilty of anti-social act and whose misconduct is an infraction of law. A
juvenile delinquent is a person is a person of 15 and 18 years who breaks the
law , is a vagrant , persist in disobeying orders whose behaviour endangers his
own moral life as well as others moral life.
Sociology
A normative
definition views
crime
as deviant
behavior that
violates
prevailing norms cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave

normally. This approach considers the complex realities surrounding the
concept
of
crime
and
seeks
to
understand
how
changing social, political, psychological, and economic conditions may affect

changing definitions of crime and the form of the legal, law-enforcement, and
penal responses made by society.
These structural realities remain fluid and often contentious. For example: as
cultures
change
and
the
political
environment
shifts,
societies
may criminalise or decriminalise certain behaviours, which directly affects

the statistical crime rates, influence the allocation of resources for the
enforcement of laws, and (re-)influence the general public opinion.
Similarly, changes in the collection and/or calculation of data on crime may
affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given "crime problem". All
such adjustments to crime statistics, allied with the experience of people in their
everyday lives, shape attitudes on the extent to which the State should use law
or social engineering to enforce or encourage any particular social norm.
Behaviour can be controlled and influenced by a society in many ways without

having to resort to the criminal justice system.
Indeed, in those cases where no clear consensus exists on a given norm, the
drafting of criminal law by the group in power to prohibit the behaviour of
another group may seem to some observers an improper limitation of the second
group's freedom, and the ordinary members of society have less respect for the
law or laws in general whether the authorities actually enforce the disputed
law or not.
A Sociological Look at Crime

Arrest data show a clear pattern of arrests in terms of race, gender, and class.
For instance, as mentioned above, young, urban, poor, and racial minorities
generally commit personal and property crimes more so than other demographic
groups. To sociologists, the question posed by this data is whether this reflects
actual differences in committing crimes among different groups or whether this
reflects differential treatment by the criminal justice system. Studies show that
the answer here is both. Certain groups are in fact more likely to commit
crimes than others because crime is linked to patterns of inequality in the United
States.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
1. 21st Century Criminology Volume 2, J. Mitchell Miller.
2. A Sociology of Crime, Stephen Hester.
Websites:
1. www.preservearticles.com
2. www.sociology.about.com

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CRIME

In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an unlawful act punishable by

Crimes Against Property

Crimes Against Morality

Crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the

Public Order Crime

prevailing norms cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave

changing social, political, psychological, and economic conditions may affect

may criminalise or decriminalise certain behaviours, which directly affects

Behaviour can be controlled and influenced by a society in many ways without

A Sociological Look at Crime

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