Over the past two decades, cultural criminology has emerged as a distinctive perspective on crime and crime control. This broad focus on culture and communication, cultural criminologists argue, allows scholars, students, and the public to develop a deeper and more critical understanding of crime and criminal justice.

Some of the specific areas that criminology covers include:

• Frequency of crimes.
• Location of crimes.
• Causes of crimes.
• Types of crimes.
• Social and individual consequences of crimes.
• Social reactions to crime.
• Individual reactions to crime.
• Governmental reactions to crime.

Cultural criminologists argue that both crime and crime control operate as cultural endeavors, with their personal and social consequences constructed out of contested processes of collective representation and interpretation.

Culture influences crime as differing social groups compete over the definition of crime. 45 This competition reflects the contestation of different cultural forces. The competition over the definition of crime thus provides a “feedback mechanism,” so as crime influences culture, culture in turn influences crime.

Cultural criminology centres on how cultural practices mix with those of crime and crime control in a modern societal setting. It stresses the importance of meaning, symbolism and power relations in explaining the causes and effects of crime and deviance.

Cultural criminology is a subfield in the study of crime that focuses on the ways in which the “dynamics of meaning underpin every process in criminal justice, including the definition of crime itself.” In other words, cultural criminology seeks to understand crime through the context of culture and cultural processes.

One area of research that has been gaining popularity views crime as a product of the culture or subculture to which one belongs, rather than strictly blaming it on individual differences. Variations between the type of crime committed, as well as how it is committed will also be noted as it relates to the topic.

Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. The sociological discipline that deals with crime (behavior that violates laws) is criminology (also known as criminal justice).

`Cultural violence’ is defined here as any aspect of a culture that can be used to legitimize violence in its direct or structural form. Examples of cultural violence are indicated, using a division of culture into religion and ideology, art and language, and empirical and formal science.

Condoning violence against women is one of these drivers, where violence is excused, downplayed, justified or denied; or where blame is placed on the victim rather than responsibility resting with the perpetrator.

Violence can lead to premature death or cause non-fatal injuries. People who survive violent crime endure physical pain and suffering3 and may also experience mental distress and reduced quality of life. Repeated exposure to crime and violence may be linked to an increase in negative health outcomes.

Consequences include increased incidences of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide; increased risk of cardiovascular disease; and premature mortality. The health consequences of violence vary with the age and sex of the victim as well as the form of violence.

Violence ripples well beyond physical harm. It causes depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. In this regard too, violence can be a driver of early death and lifelong ill health.

Spiritual abuse is sometimes called religious abuse. It happens when someone uses spiritual or religious beliefs to hurt, scare or control you. Spiritual abuse can be a form of domestic and family violence.

Examples of psychological violence include acts such as isolation from others, verbal aggression, threats, intimidation, control, harassment or stalking, insults, humiliation and defamation.