It is very easy to define crime - it is an action which defies the law of the territory in which it is committed. "Behaviour which is prohibited by the criminal code"^[1]

1. ^ Michael and Aeller (1933)

What about laws that are written but not enforced on a day to day basis by officers on the streets? Defining crime like this means there is no place for the obvious 'grey' areas we experience.

"Social order consists of people's expectations which are, by and large...borne out because people are aware of them and live up to them."^[1]

1. ^ Wrong (1994) (not his position however!)

If crime is defined as the breaking of norms this gives an inordinate amount of power to the majority. 'tyranny of the majority' is always a problem in democracy as it means minorities can be forgotten or worse, discriminated against. If crime were simply the infraction of any norms then those in minorities would be constantly 'committing' crimes!

"Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance"^[1] Crime is a social construct because we create laws, thus creating the specific action of breaking them.

1. ^ Becker (1963)

The main problem with this idea of crime is that it denies personal individual responsibility. Regardless of whether these laws have been artificially 'created' or not people have still made a conscious decision to contravene them.

"Crime is a matter of who can pin the label on whom, and underlying this socio-political process is the structure of social relations determined by the political economy"^[1]

1. ^ Chambliss (1975)

This argument confuses ethics and politics. Crime is essentially an action that society has deemed morally wrong, politics should not come into it.

A "Crime" is an act whereby a violation relative to the law, wherever one happens to commit a crime, has taken place.

Moral goodness and badness are irrelevant in determining the definition of a "crime". "Should" and "shouldn't" are irrelevant in defining what a crime is.

What is considered a crime changes over time and therefore it is necessary to look beyond simplistic notions of what is a crime.

Not all four points are correct. The only real definition of crime is the one that would hold up in a court of law - crime is the action of breaking a law/performing an illegal act. Easy really!

Even if the four 'yes' points are correct and crime can be defined in these ways, there are stil four different definitions - hardly 'easily defined!'