2. What are the patterns and trends in crime?

Question 1

Age; Offending - youth stats AND left realist subcultural explanation

Answer 1

Evidence from Police Recorded Crime suggests that young people are more likely to offend than adults - 50% of crime is committed by young people according to data from official stats and self reports

Lea and Young (Left Realism) believed that there were 3 explanations for youth deviance;

1) marginalisation - young people feel pushed to the edges of society and powerless which leads to frustration (explains violent crime)
2) relative deprivation - deprived compared to others eg less wealth and freedom compared to adults (explains theft)
3) subculture - those above lead youths to form subcultures which may be deviant and criminal and this explains joy riding

Question 2

Age; offending - youth evaluation for stats

Answer 2

McVie - the relationship between age and offending is not quite so clear cut. Data is often grouped into age bands which masks more precise trends eg home office data groups everyone over 21 together which makes it impossible to identify trends in adult offending AND the age groupings for teenagers differ which makes comparisons difficult. Additionally different offenders may have different peaks in ages of offenders but stats fail to break this down eg peak age for burglary are 16 and drug offences 21-25

Gender differences eg female peak age for offending is 15 compared to 18 for males. Girls continue in their teens but it drops markedly after this as they seem to grow out of it whereas offending rates for males don’t decline significantly until well into their 20s.

Therefore not as simple to correlate offending with youths in general.

Question 3

Age; Offending - Adult low due to Hirschi Social Control Theory

Answer 3

Hirschi Right Realist - stated that as people get older they are less likely to commit crime because they have acquired controls which make them think more seriously about crime and it’s impact. Commiting crime is a rational decision whereby criminals weigh up the costs and benefits of crime. As a person gets older there may be greater costs for committing crime eg losing their job or reputation or negatively affect relationships therefore young people may have less controls and social bonds in their life and are more likely to commit crime.

Question 4

Age; Offending - Adult EVALUATION white collar crime

Answer 4

However this does not explain the adult crime that does take place known as White Collar Crime. Croall defines it as crime committed by a person of high social status and respectability in the course of his occupation. Sutherland stated that the financial cost of white collar crime is several times greater than the cost of working class crime and can be occupational, corporate or state crime. It doesn’t translate into official statistics because there is an invisible victim so it’s harder to detect and any cases that do get detected - Croall believe that cases don’t reach the prosecution stage because companies have large resources and skilled lawyers to find a way out.

Question 5

Age - victimisation; age isn’t really a big factor

Answer 5

Young points out that considering victimisation in terms of age alone misses the fact that it’s the combination of other factors eg ethnicity and gender that have the greatest impact on the likelihood of becoming a victim. Eg Islington Crime Survey young white females more likely to be assaulted, then 25-44 the age for Black women and 45+ for Asian women. Therefore pattern identified only when combined with ethnicity

Question 6

Age; victimisation EVALUATION

Answer 6

However this may not be the case because age seems to be a greater determining factor in contemporary society. Intra-Youth crime is becoming a more prominent issue eg rise in gang culture etc therefore offending mostly amongst other youths but also more victims here than we think.

Question 7

Age Intro

Answer 7

Everyone can be a victim of crime or an offender - not subject to any age.

Question 8

20 marker Age Plan

Answer 8

1. Offending is youth more, social control theory is adult less
2. Evaluate this - eg differences in age categories and gender and police officers discretion why youths may appear more and white collar crime goes amiss
3. Victimisation isn’t age determined
4. No it is mostly youths because of gang culture

Conclusion = media and police etc magnify youths over white collar crime etc which can lead to further effects of deviance amplification therefore these factors are to blame for the increase in offending eg corporate crime get away with it and youths encouraged to deviate.
But age alone isn’t a good factor it needs to be combined with social class, gender and ethnicity for a better analysis.

Question 9

40 Marker Plan Age

Answer 9

1. Social Control Theory
2. White collar crime evaluation
3. Lea and Young and Youth Stats
4. McVie category and gender differences
5. Youth victimisation not a big factor
6. Evaluate with increase in intra youth crime
7. Conclusion bringing in theorists
   Problem with police stats with police discretion which is why young people are more visible in stats. Eg stereotyping with stop search arrest may lead to labelling theory and deviance amplification due to self fulfilling prophecy (Interactionalist). And why WCC goes amiss. So perhaps magnifying it when other factors play a big part eg ethnicity gender and social class differences eg why mainly Black working class male youths from deprived areas eg Marxists identify this or Feminists too.

Question 10

Gender Offending; stats and sex role theory

Answer 10

Police recorded crime figures consistently show that males commit 80% of all offending. Data from the ministry of justice 2013 showed that women accounted for only 18% arrests and 25% convictions

Functionalist sex role theory by Sutherland focuses on how as males and females are socialised differently, males are more likely to commit crime. Girls are closely supervised and strictly controlled by their parents during teenage years and are encouraged to stay at home. This can be supported by McRobbies Bedroom culture theory which implies that females spend more time in their bedrooms and so have less opportunity to crime. Boys on the other hand have more freedom and may be encouraged to take risks, be tough and aggressive and therefore have the opportunity to commit crime eg pressure to be breadwinner, protector and provider may be a trigger for criminality.

Question 11

Gender offending; males committing over females EVALUATION

Answer 11

Police discretion - Interactionalists would support this by arguing that the police force label males as deviant due to stereotypes and so are more likely to stop and search them than women, thus being caught and appearing in crime stats more.

Question 12

Gender - offending; Chivalry thesis

Answer 12

This can further be supported by chivalry thesis which suggests that females are treated more leniently by police and courts eg let off with warnings instead of convictions and cautions. Therefore they may be committing more but are getting away with it especially as Adler has said that women’s liberation movement has led to an increase in female crime because they’re leaving the domestic sphere and have more opportunities to commit crime and eg fraud and embezzlement.

Question 13

Gender offending chivalry EVALUATION

Answer 13

Klein has criticised the chivalry thesis for being too simplistic eg it’s racist and classist and applies to white middle class women who are unlikely to come into contact with the criminal justice system in the first place. Therefore there are other factors involved eg class and ethnicity and it’s too simplistic to purely base on gender alone.

Question 14

Gender - victimisation; patterns and types of crime

Answer 14

Trends associated with each gender and the crimes they’re subject to

2011 the US department of justice compiled homicide stats to show males were victims of: murder (77%), drug related (91%) and gang related (95%) compared to females who were more likely to be victims of domestic (64%) and sex related (82%) homicides.

1/4 of women are thought to experience domestic violence in their lifetime (BCS)

Question 15

Gender; victimisation EVALUATION

Answer 15

However these stats are flawed and don’t show the extent of victimisation.

Even though stats still show that women are mainly victims of domestic violence and rape cases, there’s still a large amount of cases that go undetected under the dark figure of crime. Eg Islington crime survey revealed that there were 1200 rape cases compared to the 12 recorded by the BCS. Only 8% of rape victims inform the police about the crime due to several other factors eg a girls reputation, family name therefore underlying reason as to why there’s such a low report rate.

Question 16

Gender Intro

Answer 16

Crime is not subject to a gender - anyone can commit and anyone can offend however the patterns and trends within each can be seen in stats and explained by studies etc.

Question 17

20 Mark Plan Gender

Answer 17

1) Offending - stats and sex role theory etc
2) evaluate with police discretion and chivalry thesis and Adler
3) victimisation eg different types associated with each gender
4) however stats don’t represent the extent to which problems are eg rape and domestic abuse are so low on record rate.

Small conclusion that gender is important but not determining factor eg combined with social class and ethnicity like Pat Carlen combined with social class to find trends. It’s interdependent with these other variables so not determining factor and should be used alongside the others for best opinion.

Question 18

40 marker gender Plan

Answer 18

1) Offending and Functionalist sex role theory
2) interactionalists police discretion why males are more
3) following on women could be doing more but go undetected due to chivalry Thesis especially since Adler said there’s more now
4) evaluate chivalry
5) victimisation eg different types associated with each gender
6) however stats don’t represent the extent to which problems are eg rape and domestic abuse are so low on record rate and make up dark figure of crime

More detailed conclusion that gender is important but not determining factor eg combined with social class and ethnicity like Pat Carlen combined with social class to find trends. It’s interdependent with these other variables so not determining factor and should be used alongside the others for best opinion. 
Feminists will offer the most insight as to gender differences eg some for why women are committing more and others why they’re committing less. 
Marxists would prefer combining with social class because they’d assume that this makes a bigger difference.

Question 19

Social Class; Offending - working class and Murray underclass

Answer 19

Official crime measures eg police recorded rates suggest that youths from WC backgrounds are much more likely to become involved in deviance and criminality than those from wealthier backgrounds. Cohen argued that young wc boys face status frustration as they have little chance of legitimately gaining a higher status in society and may experience blocked opportunities to form a delinquent subculture where they reverse mainstream values. Murray also focuses on the underclass who are responsible for a high proportion of crime and blames the welfare state generosity for this. Eg gives them the opportunity to commit crime and female led households lack of paternal guidance etc more likely to deviate against societal norms.

Question 20

Social Class; Offending - working class EVALUATION

Answer 20

Data from self report studies tend to suggest that the difference between working class and middle class offending rates aren’t as high. Cavadino and Dignan (2001) somehow between the commission of offences and the official rates of prosecution and punishment the difference between the classes gets vastly magnified. Perhaps this is due to police discretion eg institutional class bias in the justice system where working class are more targeted eg in stop and search and therefore more likely caught and so appear in stats more - eg skewed.

Question 21

Social Class; Offending - upper class and white collar crime

Answer 21

White Collar Crime. Croall defines it as crime committed by a person of high social status and respectability in the course of his occupation. Sutherland stated that the financial cost of white collar crime is several times greater than the cost of working class crime and can be occupational eg committed by employees, corporate eg business crime eg tax evasion or state crime eg corrupt gov engaging in criminal activity.

Question 22

Social Class; Offending - upper class and white collar crime EVALUATION

Answer 22

It doesn’t translate into official statistics and so they under estimate the extent of the crime eg it goes unrecorded and unreported. Harder to detect as there is an invisible victim eg a company so wouldn’t appear in victim surveys, if both parties are benefiting in a bribery case etc then no ones gonna report, and CSEW tax evasion is not a category. Furthermore Croall believe that cases that are found - don’t reach the prosecution stage because companies have large resources and skilled lawyers to find a way out.

Question 23

Social Class; victimisation - mostly poor and working class

Answer 23

BCS 2010/11 - young households, line parents and those unemployed are twice as likely to be victims and in general greater chance of being a victim of burglary and theft in inner city cheap areas where lower classes live eg don’t have money to protect house either.

Young discussed the myth of the equal victim suggesting that certain groups such as the poor are hit much harder when they become a victim of crime. This is supported by Kinsey’s findings in the Merseyside Crime Survey; the poor suffer more than the wealthy eg victim of burglary whose uninsured is going to be hit more economically but also subject to multiple victimisation as social problems they face increase their vulnerability to crime eg run down estates leads to street crime.

Question 24

Social Class; victimisation - EVALUATION

Answer 24

No anyone can be a victim due to so many other factors eg

• age
• gender

All classes are effected too eg middle and upper class are also targeted eg Dixon stated that upper class are vulnerable to vehicle crime and criminal damage.

Also sometimes social class can’t be determined before you mug someone etc.

Question 25

Social Class intro

Answer 25

crime isn’t determined by social Class. It’s argued that class doesn’t mean much in today’s society therefore some arguments may seem quite outdated especially when you can’t even tell what class someone is eg and correlations to victimisation etc.

Question 26

20 marker plan social Class

Answer 26

1. Offending happens everywhere eg working class underclass and white collar crime
2. Stats are skewed when shown to us eg WC appear more due to police discretion and upper class appear less due to class bias in the system etc etc so extent of both is over emphasised and under emphasised.
3. Victimisation mostly poor and working class due to x y z
4. Evaluate with no it happens everywhere due to other factors eg age and gender. Even middle and upper classes can be victims too and sometimes social Class isn’t detected
5. Short conclusion saying Social Class Inequality May contribute to both offending causes eg youth culture but CANNOT be a sole factor eg skinheads are male and youth too so that’s gender and age variables combined. However it does play a factor in how stats are presented to us eg institutional bias and may be why people get away or get caught with offending but not why they do it.

Question 27

40 mark plan - social Class

Answer 27

1. Working class and Underclass Murray -
2. Evaluate with interactionalism and police discretion for skewed stats why they appear more
3. Upper class white collar crime
4. upper class appear less due to class bias in the system etc so extent is under emphasised.
5. Victimisation mostly poor and working class due to x y z
6. Evaluate with no it happens everywhere due to other factors eg age and gender. Even middle and upper classes can be victims too and sometimes social Class isn’t detected
7. More detailed conclusion saying Social Class Inequality May contribute to both offending causes from a Marxist perspective eg youth culture but CANNOT be a sole factor eg skinheads are male and youth too so that’s gender and age variables combined. However it does play a factor in how stats are presented to us eg INTERACTIONALIST institutional bias and may be why people get away or get caught with offending but not why they do it.

Question 28

Ethnicity; Offending - Hall research on Mugging

Answer 28

Black people more likely to be labelled as criminals more than white people. Some police officers have been deemed as racist and they’re responsible for creating a moral panic about the crime of mugging between 1972-83. Violence and mugging was portrayed as a threat to stable society and the black mugger was the image in the media portrayed. The British transport police in London were on high alert and there were examples of police pouncing on suspicious Afro-Carribean youths who would then be arrested.
The issue of labelling by the police force is a big problem and this could lead to reported increases of black people committing crime.

Young black males are x7 more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and searched (2009/2010)

Interactionalists and labelling theorists would criticise the authorities eg criminal justice system for stereotyping labelling therefore more likely to pick on them for stop and search and therefore more likely to be caught and appear in crime stats compared to other ethnicities which tend to go away INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Question 29

Ethnicity; Offending - Hall research on Mugging EVALUATION LEA AND YOUNG

Answer 29

Lea and young criticise this view because they state that it is not a myth that some crimes are committed more by ethnic minority groups and they state that official statistics haven’t been fabricated. They do not believe that the police are racist towards black males. Only 8% of crimes are discovered by the police alone and 92% reported by public therefore the police cannot really be racist if most crimes are reported by society. If anything they’re aware that crime differs by ethnicity eg in 2014 stats showed that white people commit more burglary than Afro carribeans but they commit more robbery than any other ethnic group.

Question 30

Ethnicity; Offending Carl Nightingale Research And Hall further research

Answer 30

Carl Nightingale studied young black youths who shared US values eg consumerism but were excluded racially and economically from participating legitimately and so turned to crime to achieve these mainstream values instead.

Halls research on Mugging coincided with a period of economic crisis eg unemployment rose and wages were cut. Afro Caribbean’s became a surplus labour force during the economic crisis and many lost their jobs and wages

Question 31

Ethnicity; Offending Carl Nightingale Research And Hall further research EVALUATION

Answer 31

Hall - therefore If Afro carribbeans were affected so much then street crime was a mechanism to turn to crime eg mugging drug dealing prostitution etc to make ends meet.

Us boys want to achieve success but have to illegitimately eg robbing drug selling etc.

Therefore Marxists are highly critical that there is a strong correlation between ethnicity and economic condition / social Class and therefore crimes are committed for monetary values due to the marginalisation from rest of society. Theycommit crime because they need to etc.

Question 32

Ethnicity; victimisation

Answer 32

Ethnic minority victimisation targeted because of their race shown through BCS (victim survey) and police recorded statistics. These cover racist incidents or racially aggregated offences eg 61,000 racist incidents recorded by police in 2006/2007.

Eg Stephen Lawrence case in 1993 where a black teenager was stabbed to death by racist gang of white youths.

Question 33

Ethnicity; victimisation EVALUATION

Answer 33

Lea and Young argue that a lot of crime is intra racial therefore high rate of black males offending but also victimised with issues eg street culture.

Distinctions can be made statistically too as home office evidence from 2005 states that black people are x5 more likely to be murdered than white people (inter racial) however 1/3 of gun murders are intra racial within the black community.

Therefore most victims are as a result of crimes within them and less to do with race etc.

Question 34

20 mark plan and Conclusion Ethnicity

Answer 34

1. Offending eg Carl Nightingale, Mugging
2. Evaluate with institutional racism and interactionalist and labelling therefore stats are skewed.
3. Victimisation is mostly racist attacks
4. No Cos a lot is intra racial (Lea and Young)
5. Small conclusion using Marxist ans feminist points to say that essentially it’s not an independent factor. And that racism is the root cause when considering ethnicity etc etc

Question 35

40 mark plan and Conclusion Ethnicity

Answer 35

1. Hall Mugging and Institutional Racism
2. Lea and Young critique
3. Hall and Carl Nightingale research
4. Marxist evaluation that it’s economic and society excludes
5. All victims are due to ethnic attacks
6. No mostly intra racial so they offend between their own community
7. Big conclusion

Other factors eg age gender social Class are all interdependent eg feminists argue male prescience and Marxists argue lower working classes FOR WHY crime has been committed!

racism however is a big problem

• can explain why more stop and searches (institutional)
• why more crimes are committed eg excluded in society due to race
• why there are more victims (racist attacks)
• but also potentially why some cases aren’t even dealt with properly (eg Stephen Lawrence case - police deemed as institutionally racist national scandal because even the identities of the killers became known - they couldn’t be punished)

Therefore trends and patterns in stats could be questioned for how much they have been skewed.

Question 36

Global organised crime A01 / intro

Answer 36

Global organised crime is a growing concern but is also a contested category of crime which is used in different ways. It refers to activities of organised crime whereby groups are exploiting their increasing global interconnectedness and interdependence in society.

They’ve also taken advantage of new developments in communication and transportation as well as increasingly open borders that facilitate the international movement of goods and services.

Question 37

Global organised crime - GASTROW and CASTELLS

Answer 37

GASTROW stated that the popular perceptions of global organised crime eg stereotypical Mafia with a God Father boss are out of date. In 2018, criminals make billions of dollars a day in various sectors but the key problem is that state borders are irrelevant to global crime as it makes it hard to track and pursue criminals. This is where Interpol is useful to attempt to facilitate the international police co-operation amongst different countries. CASTELLS further believes that organised crimes are similar to business networks which take the opportunity of Globalisation to link up with other criminals in other countries in order to minimise risk and maximise profits.

Question 38

Global organised crime - GASTROW and CASTELLS - EVALUATION

Answer 38

However this view is challenged by those who stress the relevance of ‘glocal organised crime’ ; which refers to the importance of the local context in which criminal networks function. This refers to ROBERTSONS concept of Glocalisation referring to the intertwining of the global and the local. Eg drug trading is a global enterprise but the way it’s organised in individual countries varies based on the political context, local demographics, culture and law enforcements etc.

Question 39

Global organised crime - contemporary issue of human trafficking

Answer 39

Human trafficking is a multi billion form of organised crime, constituting modern day slavery. They can be kidnapped and transported for forced labour, sexual exploitation and harvesting of tissue/cells/organs. Globalisation has worsened this crime as anyone can be shifted anywhere. For example a contemporary case study could be Albanian Women and Girls who are kidnapped and sold into prostitution in Britain. There are large social effects of this crime on victims for example physical health risks (eg HIV or AIDS) and mental trauma (PTSD). Therefore Obama has declared January as human trafficking awareness month to raise awareness on such a serious issue in modern day society alongside other campaigns etc.

Question 40

Global organised crime - contemporary issue of human trafficking - evaluating

Answer 40

(-) feminists are highly critical of this crime because a Patriachal society gives way to this sort of crime because men take advantage of vulnerable women with the use of violence, force and drugs etc for sexual exploitation.

(-) also these crimes are so well organised that they hardly appear in any crime statistics eg not police recorded crime (as they’re not aware) and not victim based as (victims are trapped) THEREFORE it makes up a dark figure of crime. Overall it’s still a big issue that needs to be tackled as the ILO estimates that there’s 40.3 million victims annually across the world and unfortunately these perpetrators haven’t been caught.

Question 41

Global organised crime
10 marker Plan

20 marker Plan

40 marker Plan

Answer 41

10;
Definition -> Gastrow view -> Castells View -> example of the extent is human trafficking -> difficult to police

20;
Intro and definitions -> Gastrow and Castells view -> Robertson Evaluation -> human trafficking -> feminism and dark figure evaluation

40;
Intro with definitions
Gastrow and Castells
Robertson evaluation
Human trafficking
Feminists evaluation
Difficult to police dark figure of crime etc
Marxists criticise about white collar crime getting away compared to the working class who get prosecuted everyday
Conclusion of how it needs to be better regulated eg internet reg etc

Question 42

Green Crime Intro

Answer 42

Green crime is criminal activity which affects the environment in some way. Examples may include dumping toxic waste, fly tipping or the poaching of endangered species. The reasons why green crime might be viewed as global is because
1) the planet is one unified eco system of humans and other species that are inter connected and depend on eachother
2) single nation states don’t have the power to deal with major environmental crime therefore green crime transcends political and national borders.
AAS points out that like organised crime, green crime demonstrates the intersection of the local and the global; as local environmental harm is often the product of a chain of geographically dispersed events and activities.

Question 43

Green Crime - Carrabine and South

Answer 43

They classified green crime into two distinct types of primary and secondary.

1) primary. These are crimes which directly inflict harm on the environment and people because of damage to the environment. Carrabine recognises four main categories here - air pollution, water pollution, deforestation and species decline / animal rights. These issues are increasingly serious eg 25 million people die every year due to water contamination issues and 10 million hectares of forest are lost each year.
2) Secondary. These are actions committed as a response to the commissioning of primary green crime eg attempts to cover it up by breaking environmental regulations or by dealing aggressively with protestors / environmental groups such as green peace eg when the French secret police blew up their rainbow warrior ship OR using criminal organisations to assist in the dumping of toxic waste eg in Italy the Mafia Control many waste contracts.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE is the 1984 Bhopal Chemical factory incident. This is where Union Carbide a USA fertiliser company set up a factory here and cut safety and maintenance crews as a means to cut corners -> this lead to an explosion where 30 tonnes of toxic gas leaked and spread across a residential area where 100,000 people were effected either by death or left with permanently disabling injuries.

Question 44

Green Crime - EVALUATING Carrabine and South

Answer 44

(-) Marxists are highly critical of these incidents eg Bhopal Incident. This is because they believe that the bourgeoisie shape and define the law in order to benefit their own exploitative interests in the environment; such laws benefit TNC’s eg Union Carbide therefore white collar crime as well as a green one.

BUT Friedrichs believes that such corporate decision making involves a cost benefit analysis in which the risks of cutting corners are weighed against the additional profits which may be generated. Though weighing life up against profit can be seen as immoral, he argues that such calculations play a central role in business.

(-) Furthermore Potter has stated that the poor suffer the most from environmental harms eg losing their livelihood, their way of life or even their health and their life. The rich corporations responsible for green crime usually avoid any responsibility or criminal repercussions.

Question 45

Green Crime - Beck

Answer 45

Beck believes that threats to the environment are due to manufactured risks. In pre modern society, risks to human life were the products of forced outside of peoples control eg poverty, disease and flooding etc which caused death and destruction. In modern society - technology, science, medicine etc began to minimise these risks. Then in late modernity, Beck claims a demand for economic growth and consumer goods has led to manufactured new global risks eg global warming, climate change, cancer, nuclear radiation etc so regardless of who we are or where we live we are all vulnerable to these manufactured risks.

Question 46

Green Crime - Beck evaluation

Answer 46

(+) Becks Idea can be supported with the idea that green crime has accelerated these risks. Eg even though nuclear energy might seem good for producing adequate power outputs - the threat of it malfunctioning eg Chernobyl Incident in Ukraine in 1986. Therefore advancements in society due to technology can lead to errors and problems through green crime incidents.

(-) however little can be done to tackle green crime when it’s so difficult to monitor and police because there are few local / international laws that govern the state of the environment AND the current laws that do exist differ between countries. Finally politicians are reluctant to legislate against TNCs eg OIL companies because of the economic benefits they bring. Therefore once again Marxists would blame capitalism for the depletion of the environment.

Question 47

Green Crime
- 10 marker essay plan

• 20 marker essay plan

Answer 47

10 marker
- definition -> why it’s global AAS -> Carrabine and south 2 strands with reference to examples eg Bhopal, Rainbow ship and GreenPeace etc

20 marker
Intro (definitions and AAS)
Carrabine and south 2 strands using Bhopal as major topic
Evaluate with Marxism, Friedrichs and Potter
Becks Ideas of Manufactured Risk
Evaluate with how green Crime has accelerated (+) and then the green crime measuring difficulties (-)