Crime is behavior that violates the civil or criminal law and can be punished by the state. It is often defined in terms of its severity and/or the societal consensus over its moral importance. Crimes are usually classified as a felony or misdemeanor offense. The latter typically involves smaller amounts of harm and/or less severe punishments. The former may involve more serious injuries or death and/or harsher penalties such as imprisonment, fines or even the death penalty.
Legal scholars have traditionally argued that the legal definition of crime reflects the moral sentiments of society. They have referred to this view as the “legalistic” perspective. This perspective focuses on the moral indignation that is aroused by certain behaviors and then translated into formal laws through the efforts of interested legislators and moral entrepreneurs. This view also assumes that certain groups have the ability to control the symbolic meaning of what is criminal and that this power is based on their status in social life, such as their wealth, race or occupation.
More recently, some sociologists have challenged the legalistic approach to defining crimes. They point out that a large portion of behavior affecting people’s daily lives escapes the scope of criminal law. This includes work-related accidents and injuries and the activities of corporations and government agencies. This type of activity has been characterized as white-collar crime, and includes such activities as wage theft, embezzlement, Ponzi schemes, bribery and fraud.
Another concern is the difficulty in establishing accurate crime statistics. It is important to keep in mind that the number of reported crimes represents only a small percentage of all crimes committed and it is therefore dangerous to generalize about increases or decreases in crime.