SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Actus Reus, Social Constructionism, Mens Rea
Document Summary
Objective-legalistic vs. social reaction (how crime is defined) Can cause harm but not technically be against the law so therefore not crime. Labour laws, environmental laws, licenses, etc: civil law. Offences that are wrong, with no obvious victim (illegal drug use) Canadian criminal law is informed by objectivist-legalistic perspective. Actus reus proof that you committed the crime. Mens rea whether or not you intentionally committed the crime. The deviant is one whom that label has successfully been applied; deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label (becker 1963:9) Laws change throughout the years as what is socially acceptable changes. Hard labelists believe that no crime, even murder, is illegal. Criminal behaviour is usually deviant, but deviant behaviour is not necessarily criminal. Consider issues of social class, race, and gender. Study the power imbalances that exist between different groups in society. Crime rate = [# of reported crimes / total population] x 100 000.
