Help with responding to my classmates discussion post below

Hello all,

The legalistic definition says crime is any act that breaks the law (Wellford, 2009). This makes it clear what is a crime and what is not, however laws are made by people in power, so sometimes they reflect the interests of certain groups. This can lead to unfair treatment of some communities, where they are punished more than others for the same behavior. This hurts the idea of equal justice.

The sociological definition sees crime as breaking social rules, not just laws (Wellford, 2009). This helps us understand that what is seen as crime can change depending on culture and society. It shows how unfair biases can make some people labeled as criminals more often. But this definition can be too broad, making it hard to have clear rules and fair punishment.

The social legal definition focuses on crimes that harm society, like murder or theft, but also understands that some laws reflect changing political and social ideas (Wellford, 2009). This view helps us think about whether some laws are fair or if they unfairly punish certain groups. It encourages looking closely at why some behaviors are made illegal.

These different ways of defining crime affect criminology, which studies crime and helps make policies. If crime is defined too narrowly, policies might miss bigger social problems and unfairness. If it is too broad, policies might be unclear or unfair. Criminology's job is to help create fair laws and policies by understanding these definitions and their effects. For example, the Executive Board of the American Society of Criminology opposes using Uniform Crime Reports data to rank American cities as "dangerous" or "safe" without properly considering the data's limits. Such rankings are wrong and harmful because they do not take into account problems like wrong crime counts, big differences within cities, and individual risk factors. These rankings do not make anyone safer but can hurt the city's image and distract from the real social issues that cause crime (Clear & Frost, 2009).