CSS Criminology Crime and Criminals Syllabus

Crime and Criminals syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Crime and Criminals in CSS Criminology, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Typologies of Criminals

   4 topics

   • Occasional Criminals
   • Habitual Criminals
   • Professional Criminals
   • Situational vs Career Criminals
2. 2

   Organized and Economic Crime

   4 topics

   • White-Collar Crime
   • Organized Crime
   • Corporate Crime
   • Money Laundering and Financial Crime
3. 3

   Victimology

   4 topics

   • Concept and Scope of Victimology
   • Typologies of Victims
   • Victim-Offender Relationship
   • Victim Rights and Compensation

Crime and Criminals flashcards for CSS Criminology

20 of 51 cards from the Crime and Criminals deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Who are occasional criminals?

   Offenders who commit crime infrequently, only when a situation or opportunity presents itself, rather than as a way of life. They do not see themselves as criminals and have otherwise conventional, law-abiding lifestyles.

2. What characterizes the offences of occasional criminals?

   They are sporadic, opportunistic, and tied to specific situations (e.g. shoplifting, occasional fraud). Such offenders lack criminal self-identity, have little prior commitment to crime, and rarely develop a criminal career.

3. Who are habitual criminals?

   Repeat offenders who commit crime persistently and repeatedly, often forming a fixed pattern or 'habit' of offending. They typically have multiple prior convictions and a high likelihood of recidivism.

4. What legal significance do habitual criminals have?

   Many jurisdictions impose enhanced or harsher sentences on habitual offenders ('habitual offender laws'/recidivist statutes) because of their persistent reoffending and demonstrated resistance to reform.

5. Who are professional criminals?

   Offenders who pursue crime as a full-time occupation and main source of income, using specialized skills, planning, and techniques. They identify with a criminal subculture and take pride in their criminal expertise.

6. What distinguishes professional crime from habitual crime?

   Professional crime is skilled, planned, income-generating, and treated as a vocation with status and craft (e.g. con artists, safecrackers). Habitual crime is merely repeated offending, often unskilled and without occupational organization.

7. Which sociologist's work is most associated with the concept of the 'professional thief'?

   Edwin Sutherland, through his 1937 case study 'The Professional Thief', based on the account of a thief named Chic Conwell, who described professional theft as a learned craft with its own skills and subculture.

8. What are the key features of a professional criminal according to Sutherland?

   Technical skill, status within the criminal world, consensus/shared values among professionals, differential association (learning from other criminals), and organization.

9. What is a situational criminal?

   A person who commits crime as a one-time or rare response to a particular set of circumstances or pressures (e.g. crime of passion, theft under desperation). Their offending is reactive to the situation, not a pattern.

10. What is a career criminal?

    An offender who commits crime continuously over a long period as a sustained way of life, accumulating offences across the life course and treating crime as a primary, ongoing activity.

11. Contrast situational and career criminals.

    Situational criminals offend rarely, driven by specific circumstances, with no criminal identity. Career criminals offend persistently over time, treat crime as a lifestyle, and have an enduring commitment to criminal activity.

12. What is a 'criminal career' in criminology?

    The longitudinal sequence of an individual's offending, measured by its onset (age of first offence), frequency, seriousness, duration, and desistance (end of offending).

13. Who coined the term 'white-collar crime' and when?

    Edwin H. Sutherland, in his 1939 presidential address to the American Sociological Society (published 1940; book in 1949).

14. What is Sutherland's definition of white-collar crime?

    A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.

15. Give examples of white-collar crimes.

    Fraud, embezzlement, bribery, insider trading, tax evasion, false advertising, bribery, and securities fraud.

16. How does white-collar crime differ from conventional (street) crime?

    White-collar crime is non-violent, financially motivated, committed by high-status individuals during their occupation, often hard to detect, and exploits trust and expertise, unlike conventional street crime which is typically visible and committed by lower-status offenders.

17. Why did Sutherland argue white-collar crime challenged existing crime theories?

    Because traditional theories linked crime to poverty and social pathology; white-collar crime is committed by affluent, respectable people, showing crime is learned through differential association rather than caused by economic deprivation alone.

18. What is occupational crime?

    Crime committed by individuals for personal gain in the course of their legitimate occupation, against their employer or clients (e.g. employee embezzlement, expense fraud).

19. What is organized crime?

    Continuing criminal enterprise carried out by a structured group that works rationally to profit from illicit activities, using violence, intimidation, and corruption, and often shielded by political protection.

20. What are the main characteristics of organized crime?

    Hierarchical/structured organization, continuity over time, profit as primary goal, use of violence and threats, corruption of officials, restricted membership, division of labor, and provision of illegal goods/services in demand.

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