Criminology Coursework: Crime Definition, Approaches, and Challenges

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the definition of crime within the field of criminology. It begins by establishing a general understanding of crime as an act against the law, emphasizing the crucial elements of mens rea (criminal intent) and actus reus (criminal act). The essay then explores various approaches to defining crime, including those based on moral sentiments, sociological structures, and individualistic factors. It examines different perspectives such as biological, cultural, and economic approaches, while also discussing the challenges in defining crime, such as the changing nature of crime, cultural contexts, and legal perceptions. The essay highlights the complexities and controversies surrounding the definition of crime, offering a nuanced understanding of the subject matter.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
CRIME: Definition and Approaches
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What is crime?
According to the ordinary sense, a crime is an act that goes against the law and
punishable under law. There are certain statutory definition of crime has been given in this
case. In its wide sense, a criminal act does not only affect the individual, but the society as a
whole. Every state has their catalogues to define and identify the criminal offences. A crime
should have certain elements such as mens rea or the intention of the offender to commit
crime, actus reus or acts of the offender. According to the general provision of Criminal Act,
these two elements are mandatory. However, there are certain complexities present in
defining crime. According to William Blackstone, crime is an act that opposes the public law
and policies. However, James Stephen has described crime as an act goes against the moral
sentiments. The criminologists have also made certain sociological structures in this regard.
Elliot and Merill have described the connection between social relationship and criminal
activities. Kauzlarich & Barlow, (2009) have interpreted crime as an act that is committed
purposefully. John Mill was of the view to prevent people from committing any wrongful
acts so that they could not engage their mind in criminal activities. According to him, over
criminalisation could be stopped if commission of crime could be restricted. In summary,
crime could be defined as an act that goes against the law and that affects the various aspects
societal structure.
Approaches to define the crime:
In spite of the fact that crude social orders appear not to have used physical
disciplines broadly, in the most punctual long stretches of classified criminal law, the way
toward characterizing wrongdoing was coordinated toward disconnecting people whose
conduct was viewed as unsuitable or perilous and guaranteeing that they would be seriously
rebuffed. This can be regarded as the best approach to defend society. This included good

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judgments about goodness and disagreeableness, and disagreeableness merited the network's
discipline. There are various attempts has been taken to define crime. According to Newburn
(2017), among others, the biological approach, cultural approach and individualistic
approaches are essential to define various factors of crime and its commission. The
individualistic approach concentrates over the mental and biological characteristics of the
individual. Further, it has been contended by him that certain internal factors are fuelled the
criminal to commence illegal acts. However, Coleman and Norris (2013) have focused on the
economical and environmental approach to define the term crime. Further, he has criticised
the biological approach. According to him, there are certain criminals who do not have any
criminal family records. Considering the criminal records, it can be stated that most of the
criminals are committing crime to earn money or due to their circumstantial conditions.
Therefore, it can be stated that there are certain controversies present to define crime. On the
other hand, Reyna et al., (2018) has made certain casual approach to define the delinquent
nature of the criminals. In his words, according to the judicial interpretation, it has been
observed that certain factors like age, sex, poverty could instigate the criminals to commit
offensive acts.
Challenges to define crime:
There are certain adverse situations present to define crime. The first obstacle to this
regard is that the nature of crime has been changed and the application of the old theories
creates problems. Further, the cultural context in this regard has also been changed. Different
cultural context has been posed as a big challenge for the application of criminal approaches.
For instance, in certain countries, polygamy is legal and in other countries, it is illegal.
Additionally, the age for the criminal responsibilities are different in various countries and
this becomes a challenge to consider whether an act of a person is crime or not. Further, the

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legal perceptions of different countries are different and this make the proper definition of
crime difficult and vague.

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Reference:
Coleman, C. & Norris, C. (2013) Introducing Criminology, London: Routledge
Kauzlarich, D. & Barlow, H. (2009) Introduction to Criminology (9th Edition), Lanham:
Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
Newburn, T. (2017) Criminology (3rd Edition.) London: Routledge
Reyna, V. F., Helm, R. K., Weldon, R. B., Shah, P. D., Turpin, A. G., & Govindgari, S.
(2018). Brain activation covaries with reported criminal behaviors when making risky
choices: A fuzzy-trace theory approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 147(7), 1094.
Walklate, S. (2011) Criminology: The basic (2nd Ed., London: Routledge

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