Introduction
This essay advances the view that the question ‘what constitutes crime?’ is worthy of ongoing debate. Definitions of crime are not static nor ‘black and white’. Warren (2012, p. 3) suggests that “most crime is easy to identify” as it involves deviant behaviour typically categorized through harm to person/property/ etc. However, in order to define crime and better understand it, society must look past a surface level connection between deviant behaviour and harm and “consider the broader social processes that help give meaning to crime and its control” (Rosiers & Bittles 2004, p. vii). The essay discusses how legal and human rights frameworks are helpful in addressing this question and defining crime but these definitions are multiple
This essay advances the view that the question ‘what constitutes crime?’ is worthy of ongoing debate. Definitions of crime are not static nor ‘black and white’. Warren (2012, p. 3) suggests that “most crime is easy to identify” as it involves deviant behaviour typically categorized through harm to person/property/ etc. However, in order to define crime and better understand it, society must look past a surface level connection between deviant behaviour and harm and “consider the broader social processes that help give meaning to crime and its control” (Rosiers & Bittles 2004, p. vii). The essay discusses how legal and human rights frameworks are helpful in addressing this question and defining crime but these definitions are multiple