Foundational Concepts

Abstract terms and ideas foundational to how criminology and criminal justice are studied and discussed, independent of any one theory, discipline or institution: ideas such as deterrence, recidivism, due process and the core vocabulary of victimology. A concept belongs here when it is used across more than one theoretical school or across theory, practice and forensic work alike, rather than being the property of a single school of thought, which is instead catalogued as part of that school under Criminology Theories and Schools. It excludes named theories and schools themselves, named individuals, institutions and cases, each of which has its own category, even where a concept and a theory share a name.