Behaviour & Criminality

The term "Criminality" is of course derived from the word "crime" - itself a term rarely critically examined.

Crime consists of the breach of a rule or law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment. When society deems informal relationships and sanctions insufficient to create and maintain a desired social order, there may result more formalized systems of social control imposed by the State. Agents of the State thereby compel individuals to conform to behavioural codes and punish those that do not.

A normative definition views crime as deviant behavior that violates prevailing norms – cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave "normally". This approach considers the complex realities surrounding the concept of crime and seeks to understand how changing social, political, psychological, and economic conditions may effect the definitions of crime and the form of law enforcement, legal and penal responses made by society. Such responses can be very contentious.

For example, as cultures change and the political environment shifts, behavior may be criminalised or decriminalised, which will directly affect the statistical crime rates, determine the allocation of resources for the enforcement of such laws, and influence the general public opinion. Similarly, changes in the way that crime data are collected and/or calculated may affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given "crime problem". All such adjustments to crime statistics, allied with the experience of people in their everyday lives, shape attitudes on the extent to which law should be used to enforce any particular social norm.

There are many ways in which behaviour can be controlled without having to resort to the criminal justice system. But where there is no clear consensus on a given norm, the use of criminal law by the group in power to prohibit the behaviour of another group may be considered an improper limitation of the second group's freedom, and the ordinary members of society may lose some of their respect for the law in general whether the disputed law is actively enforced or not. [November 2008 - Wikipedia.org]

Therefore, "Criminality" refers to the measured condition of crime in a society according to the standards of existing law. When we discuss the level or degree of criminality in a society we are referring to a flexible barometer of criminal activity. Yet many people believe in an inherent condition of criminal behaviour - a "natural level of immoral aberrant behaviour" rooted in the collective DNA of society similar to the biblical story of Cain and his brother Able. Others conflate the two meanings.

Imagine if we made Jaywalking a crime, we should find the "level of criminality" very high as well as our law schools, courts and jails overflowing with new recruits and unfortunates. Tax burdens would rise to finance building jails to incarcerate the flood of new "criminals" and the economy would lose productive, tax generating members. On release, these ex-cons may have lost their old job, maybe sanctioned due to their criminal record or most likely would just be shunned by employers and former business acquaintances. Social dislocations like family poverty and lost parenting would present themselves. Psychological health consequences like loss of self-esteem, depression and suicide would increase. All because of a law.

In this article1 the authors designed six psychology experiments to test the "broken window" theory which - in their opinion - confirmed that people are more likely to break rules when they believe others have done so. This reinforces that the idea that maintaining social order prevents the spread of disorder.

[TBD = In our society, many laws are "civil" in nature and are largely administrative regulations intended to impose a monetary fine or punitive condition (like parking tickets or zoning regulations) and thereby inhibit citizens behaviours in some fashion. Other more serious laws address "criminal" activities/behaviour and are involve server sanctions needing the courts and penal system to determine guilt and punishment.]


Footnotes:
1) "The Spreading of Disorder" Kees Keizer,* Siegwart Lindenberg and Linda Steg, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands. Study Shows How Degraded Surroundings Can Degrade by Constance HOLDEN, Science Magazine, 2008 Nov 21. (also see National Post)