Defining crime: An analysis of organizational influences on police processing of information.

摘要

The current study seeks to apply Goffman's model to the study of the order of social interactions through an examination of (arguably) the most excessive or extreme violations of that order - felonious behaviors that are termed "criminal" – as well as through less excessive or extreme violations that might or might not be termed "crime." This study argues that criminal behavior is a problem behavior that is not acceptable to those involved in an interaction (whether that lack of acceptance exists at the neighborhood, family, city, school, or other level). The research will examine what characteristics make behavior unacceptable by examining reported instances of this behavior and the process through which they become defined as criminal or otherwise. The problem that this work seeks to address is the impact of formal social control organizations and processes on how interactions come to be defined as crime. A grounded theory approach will be used to further develop this view of crime, non-crime, and police work based on the interaction order. This study also seeks to examine how police process other types of information and develop relevant official organizational outcomes as a result of that processing. Implications for theory, research, and practice are examined.