unit 2 1.1 crim

• norms


  specific rules or socially accepted standards that govern people's behaviour.
• values


  general principles for how we should live our lives
• moral codes


  a set of rules, values and principles held by an individual, group, organisation or society as a whole. can be written or unwritten.
• behaviour that is unusual and good


  running into a burning building to save a life
• behaviour that is unusual and bizarre


  having 40 cats
• behaviour that is unusual and bad


  physically attacking someone for no reason
• formal sanctions


  imposed by official bodies, like police, courts, schools etc. involve punishments for breaking written laws
• informal sanctions


  used when rules are not formally written down, when these rules are broken others may show their disapproval in informal ways like refusing to speak to them
• positive sanctions

  sanctions can also be positive, involving rewarding behaviour that society approves of. e.g. praise from a teacher or parent.
• all sanctions are

  forms of social control, meaning ways in which society seeks to control our behaviour.
• criminal behaviour

  is any action forbidden by the criminal law
• actus reus

  "guilty act"
• mens rea

  "guilty mind"
• for a court to consider a defendant's action a crime the action must have:

  actus reus and mens rea
• strict liability

  in some cases mens rea is not required, a wrongful act on its own is enough to convict
• most strict liability offences are

  are "regulatory offences" which aim to regulate how businesses behave
• strict liability also applies to situations like

  speeding or watching tv without a licence as these are offences even if harm is intended
• usually assaulting someone (an actus reus) with the intent of harm (mens rea) is a criminal act unless it is done as

  self defence
• although the law does class many harmful acts as criminal,

  not all harmful acts as criminal
• not all harmful acts are criminal,

  many trivial or victimless acts are still classed as crimes
• rather than relying solely on the legal def,

  we can gain a better understanding of criminal behaviour by looking at how it is defined socially.