According to Quinney, what six community and organizational factors influence whether or not criminal definitions will be applied to an individual? What are the policy implications of these factors?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Quinney’s theory began with a general definition of crime in which it was to be regarded as “a definition of human conduct that is created by authorized agents in a politically organized society.” This was followed by the second proposition that “criminal definitions describe behaviors that conflict with the interests of segments of society that have the power to shape public policy.” The third proposition focused on the “law in action,” asserting that “criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have the power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law.” In a fourth proposition dealing with the sources of the behavior resulting in the criminal label, he asserted that “behavior patterns are structured in segmentally organized society in relation to criminal definitions, and within this context persons engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal.” Fifth, Quinney argued further that the definitions of crime developed by certain social segments had to be successfully diffused within the overall society before the generally accepted social reality could be altered: “Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by various means of communication.” His final proposition summarized the entire theoretical framework: “The social reality of crime is constructed by the formulation and application of criminal definitions, the development of behavior patterns related to criminal definitions, and the construction of criminal conceptions.”