This chapter examines the nature of cybercrime and its implications for criminology. It is organized as follows. The first part traces the evolution of the Internet as an environment for the emergence of cybercrime. The second considers the various conflicting definitional problems of cybercrime and offers a method of resolving them. The third part outlines the problems with measuring cybercrime before providing an indication of the scale of the problem. The fourth part briefly explores how those problems are being resolved. The fifth part looks at the governance and regulation of cybercrime, while the final part provides an overview of the various theoretical explanations.
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12. Cybercrime
Matthew Williams and David Wall
Chapter
22. Victims
Pamela Davies
This chapter explores the parameters of the study of the crime victim, and the history and scope of the academic subdiscipline within criminology known as victimology. It discusses victimological perspectives; researching victims of crime; and the extent, nature of, and risks to criminal victimization. The final section examines public policy and practice, considering how and why ‘victim’ is a problematic concept in the context of compensation. It problematizes a number of taken-for-granted victimological concepts, such as victimization and crime victim. This section also shows that key concepts, such as victim precipitation, culpability, provocation, and ideal victim connect to particular ways of constructing the crime victim and understanding victimization.
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5. Researching crime and criminal justice
Emma Wincup
This chapter charts the development of the empirical research tradition in criminology; outlines the range of research designs and methods available to criminological researchers; draws attention to the particular challenges criminologists face when conducting research; and identifies new methodological developments currently influencing criminology.
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7. Crime and media: understanding the connections
Chris Greer
This chapter examines the link between crime and media. It summarizes major themes and debates that have shaped the research agenda, and considers some less well-rehearsed issues such as the changing global communications marketplace, the development of new media technologies, and the significance of these for understanding the connections between crime and media. The chapter is organized as follows. The first section offers some background information and addresses the crucial question of why exploring media images of crime and control is important. The second section considers how scholars have researched crime and media, and presents an overview of the main findings. The third section examines the dominant theoretical and conceptual tools that have been used to understand and explain media representations of crime. The final section considers the evidence for the influence of media representations, both on criminal behaviour and fear of crime.
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18. Crime, culture, and everyday life
Jeff Ferrell and Jonathan Ilan
This chapter focuses on the cultural significance of crime. It examines the way in which crime and culture intertwine within the lived experiences of everyday life, and argues that a host of urban crimes are perpetrated by actors for whom transgression serves a number of purposes. The chapter charts a world of underground graffiti artists, gang members, street muggers, and other ‘outsider’ criminals, whose subcultures are increasingly the subject of media, corporate, and political interest.
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12. Criminology and atrocity crimes
Andy Aydın-Aitchison, Mirza Buljubašić, and Barbora Holá
This chapter explores the key concepts and history of criminology being correlated with atrocity. It explains that atrocity criminology will continue to develop in association with criminologies of overlapping and related phenomena, such as war and organisational crime. The international criminalization of atrocity has been addressed by many authors who emphasize different dimensions, including Austin Turk’s conflict theory. The chapter notes that aetiological inquiry on atrocity features multiple disciplines, integrating a breach of legal or moral prohibition, and theoretical resources that situate individual action in a wider context. It also acknowledges the dilemma surrounding the uniquely criminological approach to the problem of atrocity.
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8. Referencing and avoiding plagiarism
This chapter focuses on referencing and avoiding plagiarism. It explains the meaning of plagiarism in detail and introduces the Harvard style of referencing. It explains when references must be provided in order to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. The chapter discusses referencing printed materials, government publications, legal sources, audio-visual sources, and electronic sources consistently and thoroughly using Harvard (name-date) referencing.
Chapter
1. Studying criminology
This chapter provides an overview of criminology, which is the scientific study of crime. ‘Criminologists’ are generally considered to be the lecturers, scholars, and researchers who create and impart criminological knowledge and understanding to inform the development of academic theories and arguments, and also of policies and practice relating to crime and people who come into conflict with the law. The study of criminology can be divided into three interconnected areas that each contribute to the understanding and knowledge of crime: defining and exploring crime, explaining crime, and responding to crime. We can view these three elements as not only a journey which leads on to research, but also as a triad of criminology. Ultimately, criminologists are interested in the sociological, psychological, legal, policy, and anthropological influences on defining, explaining, and responding to crime. The chapter details what criminology looks like as an academic subject.
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21. Surveillance and security in a risk society
Richard Jones
This chapter considers the issues of security, risk, and surveillance. It discusses the meaning of these terms within criminology; introduces key relevant theories; summarizes criminological research in these areas; identifies some new security and surveillance technologies; and discusses their implications, concerns, and debates surrounding their use.
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1. What is criminology?
This introductory chapter attempts to answer the question ‘what is criminology?’ by exploring the origin of criminology as a discipline together with an overview of some of the types of question that may be of interest to criminologists. It sets out the structure of the remainder of the book, the first part of which introduces the source material that is commonly used in the study of criminology. The second part focuses on academic skills, while the final part concentrates on research methods.
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1. What is crime? Contrasting definitions and perspectives
Wayne Morrison
This chapter, which introduces some of the complex interrelationships surrounding the various ways that crime is constructed and objectified, shows that, in practice and in the literature, there is much disagreement over the exact definition of a crime. It discusses four frameworks in which to make sense of how crime is defined: (a) crime as a social construction; (b) crime as a product of religious authority/doctrine; (c) crime as a reflection of nation-state legality; and (d) more recent concepts beyond the nation state derived from social and political theory.
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15. Gender and Crime
Azrini Wahidin
This chapter explores the links between gender and crime, charts the emergence of feminist perspectives within criminology, examines the different kinds of crimes in which men and women are involved, and considers the complex and changing relationship between masculinity(ies), femininity(ies), and crime. It deconstructs how these relations have been typically understood in criminological theory, and looks at the different ways in which men and women are dealt with by the criminal justice system.
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1. Crime: definitions and conflicting images
This chapter describes the subject matter of criminology as self-evident. Both etymologically and in the largely unquestioning view of early positivists, criminology concerns the content and application of the criminal law of whatever society is under consideration. Such a definition has the advantage of precision: criminologists do not have to worry about the scope of their subject, as the legislature and, in some countries, the judiciary, has fixed it for them. Yet, such a definition is ultimately unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. Inevitably, there are differing views about what should amount to a criminal offence among individuals in the same society. This is where positivists usually draw the line and insist on confining themselves to the legal definitions, although even they must concede that this divergence indicates that the content of the criminal law is not set in stone.
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Introduction—Criminology: its origins and research methods
This chapter discusses the origins of the term ‘criminology’, which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century because a group of theorists laid claim to systematic knowledge as to the nature of criminal behaviour, its causes and solutions. Prior to this, commentaries on crime largely arose out of other enterprises. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the administration of criminal justice in most European countries had been influenced by the views of several writers whose approach, although differing in certain respects, has come to be referred to as ‘classicism’. The basic view as to the organisation of society adopted by the classicists was influenced by the social contract theories of Hobbes and Rousseau. Individuals agree to join together to form a society and there is a consensus within the society for the private ownership of property and the protection of its members from harm.
Book
Alison Liebling, Shadd Maruna, and Lesley McAra
As the most comprehensive and authoritative single volume on the subject, the seventh edition of the acclaimed Oxford Handbook of Criminology is a completely revised collection of 44 essays by leading authors in the field. It is organized into four sections: constructions of crime and justice; borders, boundaries, and beliefs; dynamics of crime and violence; and responses to crime. Criminology is expanding its borders and seeking new answers to questions of crime and punishment, citizenship, and democratic living, including issues of state crime and globalization. Some of the newest areas of study in criminology include migration, asylum, and the integration of global populations following war or famine; privacy and the governance of ‘big data;’ and the movement to abolish the police and prisons. All of these topics, as well as classic questions of the causes and consequences of crime, receive attention here. The editors have also made room for greater inclusiveness and diversity, with a wider range of newer scholars, and taking account of new developments in the fields of zemiology and green criminology, as well as previously neglected themes such as victimology, sexual violence, and atrocity crimes. The chapters contain extensive references to aid further research, and the book is accompanied by an online resource centre featuring: selected chapters from previous editions; guidance on answering essay questions; practice essay questions; web links; and figures and tables from the text.
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13. Contagion and connections: Applying network thinking to violence and organized crime
Paolo Campana
This chapter looks into the application of network thinking to violence and organized crime. The COVID-19 global pandemic showcased how connections matter and far-reaching consequences for the life and well-being of individuals and communities. Infectious pathogens exploit the web of social relations to increase their spread across individuals and places, which then results in the emergence of epidemics. Criminology has been slow to adopt social network analysis, but it does elucidate the mechanisms concerning violence and co-offending that involve gangs and organized crime. The chapter explains that relations and individual characteristics do not need to be treated in opposition to each other, but can be modelled and explored jointly.
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21. Integrated theories of crime
This chapter assesses how crime can be explained in ways that integrate ideas from more than one theory. Integrated theories have merged ideas, explanations, and arguments from more than one theory within a school of theories and even across different schools, thus they may also be called multi-factor or hybrid theories. The chapter begins with an exploration of integrated positivist theories, which can be divided into two main groups: sociobiological theories and social control theories. It then moves on to examine integrated risk factor theories, which can also be divided into two main groups: artefactual risk factor theories and enhanced pathways risk factor theories. The chapter concludes by revisiting the role, context, and influence of integrated theories in the evolution of theories in criminology.
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33. Employability and careers
This chapter highlights employability and career learning. The term ‘employability’ refers to the skills, attributes, and knowledge individuals need for successful careers. Many higher education institutions now include employability as an integral part of undergraduate courses. It may feel a little daunting to focus on employability while grappling with the demands of criminology studies, but both challenges can be tackled simultaneously. Developing an understanding of what employers are looking for will lead to more effective and targeted employability development, and taking the time to explore career options will result in better decision-making. The chapter introduces various tools and techniques to use to support employability development and career planning.
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8. Hate crime
Angus Nurse and Mark Walters
This chapter addresses hate crimes, which are complex, as these offences can be linked to both personal gain or even profit, as well as concepts such as ‘difference’ and ‘othering’. This area of criminology came about primarily because the civil rights movements in the US and the UK raised the profile of racist and (later) homophobic violence so that they became important political and social issues. The chapter looks at a range of different types of hate crime, including offences based on prejudice towards victims because of their disability, race or ethnicity, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, and gender identity. It also identifies some of the factors that can affect these offences in ways that are not immediately obvious. These elements include the influence politicians can have, especially when using language that excludes minority groups and portrays them as a threat to the public or as somehow being ‘Other’ (different and arguably not to be trusted).
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23. Policing
Trevor Jones
This chapter, which considers some key themes within policing research, begins by discussing the definition of ‘policing’, and its growth as a focus of political concern and criminological enquiry. It outlines the organization and structure of policing in England and Wales. The chapter then examines what the police actually do in practice; provides an overview of some contrasting models of policing; and explores several key debates within the policing literature.
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