CSS Criminology Foundations of Criminology Syllabus

What is Bentham's 'hedonistic (felicific) calculus'?

The idea that people rationally calculate the pleasure to be gained versus the pain to be suffered before acting, so punishment must outweigh the pleasure of the crime.

How does the Neo-Classical School modify the Classical School?

It retains free will and deterrence but admits that age, mental state, insanity, and circumstances mitigate responsibility, allowing for individualized punishment and judicial discretion.

What is the core idea of the Positivist School of criminology?

Criminal behaviour is determined by biological, psychological, and social factors beyond the individual's free will, and should be studied scientifically through empirical observation.

Who is regarded as the 'father of modern criminology' and the founder of the Positivist School?

Cesare Lombroso, author of 'L'Uomo Delinquente' (The Criminal Man, 1876).

What was Lombroso's theory of the 'born criminal' (atavism)?

That criminals are evolutionary throwbacks (atavistic) identifiable by physical stigmata (e.g. large jaws, asymmetrical faces) marking them as biologically predisposed to crime.

Who were the other two members of the Italian Positivist 'holy three' besides Lombroso?

Enrico Ferri (emphasized social and economic factors) and Raffaele Garofalo (developed the concept of 'natural crime').

Define 'deviance'.

Behaviour that violates the social norms, expectations, or values of a group or society; it may or may not be illegal.

How do crime and deviance differ?

Crime violates codified criminal law (illegal); deviance violates social norms. All crime is deviant, but not all deviance is criminal (e.g. picking one's nose in public).

Define 'sin' and how it differs from crime.

Sin is an act that violates religious or moral/divine law and is judged by religious authority; crime violates secular state law. An act may be a sin without being a crime, or both.

Define 'vice' in criminological terms.

Immoral or degrading habits or conduct (e.g. gambling, prostitution, drug use) that violate moral standards; 'vice crimes' are those the state criminalizes despite lacking a clear individual victim.

Define 'evil' as distinguished from crime.

Evil is a moral/philosophical judgment of profound wrongness or wickedness; it is not a legal category. An act can be evil without being legally a crime, and vice versa.

What are 'norms'?

Established rules, standards, and expectations that guide and regulate behaviour within a society or group, defining what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct.

What are the main types of norms (per William Sumner)?

Folkways (everyday customs, mild sanctions), mores (moral norms with strong sanctions), taboos (forbidden acts), and laws (formally codified, state-enforced norms).

What is the difference between folkways and mores?

Folkways are routine conventions of everyday life whose violation brings mild disapproval; mores are norms with strong moral significance whose violation brings severe condemnation.

What are 'values' in sociology, and how do they relate to norms?

Values are broad, abstract beliefs about what is good, desirable, and proper in a society; norms are the concrete rules that translate those values into expected behaviour.

Define 'social control'.

The mechanisms, strategies, and institutions by which a society regulates individual and group behaviour to ensure conformity to its norms and values.

Distinguish between formal and informal social control.

Formal control is exercised through codified rules and official agencies (police, courts, laws); informal control operates through unofficial means like family, peers, customs, praise, and ridicule.

Define 'conformity'.

The process of aligning one's attitudes and behaviour with the established norms, values, and expectations of a group or society.

In Merton's strain theory, what is 'conformity' as a mode of adaptation?

Acceptance of both the culturally approved goals (e.g. success/wealth) and the legitimate institutionalized means of achieving them; it is the most common, non-deviant adaptation.

What are the dimensions of security relevant to criminology?

Commonly: national security, human security, physical/personal security, economic security, food security, environmental security, political security, community security, and cyber security.

What is 'human security' as distinct from national security?

Human security centres on protecting individuals from threats to their safety, dignity, and well-being (freedom from fear and want), whereas national security centres on protecting the state from external/internal threats.

What are the main sources of crime statistics?

(1) Official statistics (police/court/prison records), (2) Victimization surveys, and (3) Self-report studies.

What are 'official crime statistics' and who compiles them in Pakistan?

Records of crimes known to and recorded by criminal justice agencies (police FIRs, courts, prisons); in Pakistan compiled by police departments, the National Police Bureau, and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

What is a key limitation of official crime statistics?

They record only crimes reported to and registered by police, so they understate true crime levels and are affected by reporting and recording practices (the dark figure of crime).

Define the 'dark figure of crime'.

The volume of crime that is committed but never reported to, recorded by, or known to the police, and thus never appears in official crime statistics.

Give three reasons crimes go unreported, contributing to the dark figure.

Fear of reprisal, distrust of police, embarrassment/shame (e.g. sexual offences), belief that police can do nothing, the matter seeming too trivial, or the victim being unaware a crime occurred.

What is a 'victimization survey'?

A survey that asks a representative sample of the population directly about crimes committed against them, whether or not those crimes were reported to police.

What is the chief advantage of victimization surveys?

They capture unreported crime, helping to estimate the dark figure of crime and giving a fuller picture than police statistics; e.g. the British Crime Survey / US NCVS.

What is a 'self-report study'?

A research method in which respondents are asked to confidentially reveal the offences they themselves have committed, regardless of whether they were caught or recorded.

What are the main limitations of victimization and self-report studies?

They rely on memory and honesty (under- or over-reporting), suffer from sampling and recall errors, usually exclude victimless and corporate crimes, and self-reports tend to capture only minor offences.