Critical criminology and public order crime analysis

Criminology

The basic tenets and assumptions of critical criminology may be defined and described as a field in which the scientific method is utilized along with "biological, psychological, sociological, and critical methods" to examine the nature of crime in all its various contexts and consequential forms (Woods, 2014, p. 16). As society changes so too does its perspective and therefore its definitions of things such as crime. What used to be considered criminal or immoral by a previous generation is not quite viewed the same way by a later generation -- and vice versa. There is a fluctuation of perception and this can have an effect on the way that crimes are reported, how they are viewed, how society adopts its legislation, etc. Such a theory suggests the quantitative data showing a decrease in crime rates may have a qualitative explanation that is rooted in the shifting of societal attitudes.

For this reason, critical criminology adopts a conflict perspective, such as Queer Theory or Feminist Theory in order to eradicate mistaken notions about effects in criminological perspectives. Thus, critical criminology is based on the tenet that crime is generated in a nature that is itself defined by inequalities within the larger social framework. Critical criminology sets about understanding these inequalities from the various conflict perspectives that exist. Critical criminology's main assumption is that laws, like crime, are connected to the self-perpetuating system of inequalities that arise as a result of social injustices. Essentially and in its broadest and most general sense, critical criminology focuses on the context of criminal actions, by locating them within the mainstream and underground or sub-cultural contexts that might otherwise go ignored by mainstream theorists. Thus, critical criminology helps to shed an alternate light on the subject of crime.

A public order crime is something that critical criminology focuses on. It is a crime that affects or impacts society and the way in which people in communities interact. For example, with a public order crime, an entire community is affected -- as happened with the Trayvon Martin death: the entire national community of African-Americans felt impacted by this case and many people protested the trial of George Zimmerman as a result.