PAUL W TAPPAN
An intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law, committed without defence or
justification and sanctioned by the law as felony or misdemeanour.
ELENER HUBERT JOHNSON
An act which the group regards as sufficiently menacing to its fundamental interests to justify
formed reaction to restrain the violation.
ARGUMENT: Traditional definition of crime is too narrow and unnecessarily constrictive of
criminological work. Definitions
First order and Second order definitions of crime are more suitable to the task of humanistic
criminology