Harm: A Substitute for Crime or Central to It?

This chapter argues that harm is central to crime, as reflected in early legal doctrine, ongoing scholarly debate, and contemporary criminal policy, but not a substitute for crime. It describes a systematic, evidence-based approach to operationalising ‘harm’ in criminal policy and criminology, namely, a harm assessment framework; shows how harm assessment can serve criminal policy and criminology; and proposes using ‘harmfulness’ as a criterion for establishing criminality and to inform decisions about law enforcement priorities, sentencing, victim assistance programs and restorative justice, all with the potential to advance social justice. On that basis, the chapter supports the zemiological perspective, without abandoning criminology.