4. How can crime and deviance be reduced? Flashcards
What are left wing social policies for crime (intro)
Left wing views see the social structure as the main cause of crime, focusing on issues such as inequality, deprivation and social exclusion. Their approach to crime prevention is therefore long term, focusing on structural changes to tackle the social causes of crime
Jock Young - structural changes (left wing social policy point 1)
Left wing policies want long term crime prevention and want to focus on practical steps to reduce crime. Many people have blocked opportunities because of their age, gender or ethnicity and this creates an unfair system which causes crime to thrive.
1) reduce income inequalities between rich and poor eg redistributing taxes and raising minimum wage
2) welfare benefits should be given to the underclass and poorer working class people who really need it
3) leisure facilities should also increase so that members of the public eg youths have useful activities to do in their free time therefore making them less likely to participate in criminal activity
4) reduce unemployment and increasing employment opportunities eg apprenticeships which can be a turning point for young people
EVALUATING Jock Young - structural changes (left wing social policy point 1)
Functionalist would favour this view because All of these factors aim to create cohesive communities where people feel they belong - integrated to lead food lives and become model citizens. By changing social conditions we can reduce the problem of crime.
However such approaches target young, WC, inner city communities but do not tackle elite crime committed by upper middle classes eg Corporate crime therefore Marxists would criticise it. They also believe that such approaches tackle deprivation and manage capitalism but do not tackle the underlying structural inequalities which are the root cause and the only way to fully do this is through Communism.
Feminists would support the theory though because they believe inequality in society needs to be addressed so that males and females can have the same opportunities as eachother and there’s a reduction in crime. Eg pat carlen conducted supporting research looking at working class and underclass women in jail.
Restorative Justice (left wing social policy point 2)
This is another policy to target crime. Braithwhite stated that restorative justice is about the idea that crime hurts and justice should heal. Conversations with the hurt and those who afflicted harm are central to this process. Therefore dialogue between victim and offender gives high rates of satisfaction, offender accountability and reduced reoffending rates. In a controlled setting they meet and discuss reasons why committing and it’s impact and is getting commonly used for murder and rape cases.
EVALUATING Restorative Justice (left wing social policy point 2)
Feminists would criticise the use especially for rape cases because 90% of female victims know their rapist which would make it very difficult in a court room. They would argue that rape victims should be protected eg screen protection or video linking.
It’s also been criticised as a soft approach by the public who tend to support harsher and more retributive approaches eg longer sentences
Lea and Young - policing (left wing social policy point 3)
Focused on the role of the police, criminal justice system and other agencies. They challenge the flaws in current policing eg public lacking confidence in the police and believing they’re prejudiced due to military style policing. The involves the over policing of minor crimes eg drugs and delinquency with stop and search tactics suggesting that the police force use racial profiling etc to identify criminality.
Lea and Young therefore believe that consensual style policing might be the solution - who are friendly approachable and have a good relationship between the police and the local community. They also aim to promote co operation between agencies in society which can affect an Individuals behaviour. They want a more co ordinated approach and more communication in regards to Individuals and families where early intervention is needed to tackle issues eg joining gangs but failure in communication causes problems.
EVALUATING Lea and Young - policing (left wing social policy point 3)
(-) Murray points out that the USA attempted such policies in the 1960s and 70s eg pre school socialisation programmes and guaranteed jobs for young people without skills. He argued that all were notorious failures which didn’t produce long term group results that survive scrutiny.
(+) functionalists however could support the multi agency approach because if each agency in society has a function and works collaboratively to gain a consensus, then members of society can be educated and informed about the consequences of crime which might reduce the chances of them committing criminal acts by acting as a preventative medicine.
Left wing social policies conclusion
Overall this traditional labour gov style approach certainly has its pros as it aims to change society, therefore targeting generational crime etc compared to just deterring current criminals only. It also helps the gov by turning a potential criminal into an employed tax payer. However it also has its cons as in contrast to right wing policies eg harsher sentences etc this may directly control the population immediately seeing the effects on the crime rate unlike with structural changes that have an implementation gap and success dependent on other variables etc in order to see a long term effect on crime.
What are right wing social policies for crime (intro)
They tend to emphasise the individual and the fact that people choose to commit crime because the benefits outweigh the costs. Therefore to reduce crime, we should look at ways to increase the costs of crime as a deterrent.
Situational crime prevention (Right wing social policy point 1)
This refers to right wing measures that essentially are aimed at reducing the opportunities to commit crime and the benefits gained in order to make it seem unappealing. This will increase the risk of the criminal being caught and thus help to reduce the crime rate statistics. They believe that potential victims should become ‘harder targets’ by investing in technology and surveillance eg WALKLATE says that signs such as don’t leave valuables in your car act as a deterrent.
EVALUATING Situational crime prevention (Right wing social policy point 1)
(-) Felson and Clarke criticise the approach because it displaces crime rather than reduces it as criminals simply move to softer targets. Eg CHAIKEN found that a crackdown on New York subway robberies displaced the robberies to the street above
(-) this idea may mean that burglars stop breaking into high security house and concentrate on poorer neighbourhoods. MARXISTS therefore criticise situational crime prevention because it creates a new social inequality where the poor don’t have enough money to defend themselves against crime. They would also be critical that there’s so much focus on targeting petty street crime compared to eg corporate crime which is so costly to society but goes unnoticed.
Control and Zero Tolerance Policing (Right wing social policy point 2)
The view of policing put forward by right realists such as Wilson and Kellings broken windows theory involves prioritising the polices role in ‘order maintenance’ eg by increasing foot patrols. Their ideas are supported by the chief inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales, Tom Winsor (2013) who argues that the police should focus on preventing crime than catching criminals and that a greater focus on targeting would be offenders and potential crime hotspots will save money and reduce crime.
Zero tolerance policing is a related theory that refers to the aggressive policing of minor offences eg vandalism and drug offences as tackling these immediately show that it’s not tolerated, re emphasises norms and values of society and reinforced the certainty of capture. The theory is that the incidence of more serious crime will then be reduced as social controls are increased and a law abiding culture reinforced.
EVALUATING Control and Zero Tolerance Policing (Right wing social policy point 2)
(-) the idea of zero tolerance policing (military style) has been criticised by Marxists because it tends to targets the poor, the working class and ethnic minorities on the streets. However, the powerful middle and upper classes who commit white collar crime are ignored. Therefore right wing policies are ignoring some criminals and letting the rich and powerful escape the element of control. Furthermore it could lead to tensions between the police and local community due to stereotyping and labelling stop and search methods according to Davis.
(+) however an advantage is that it seems to work. For example Zimring showed that in New York , the crime rate fell by 82%. It’s also relatively cheap to implement compared to expensive left wing long term social solutions. It shows immediate effects too and the public feels the somethings being done which gives victims a sense of justice.
Punitive Punishment (Right wing social policy point 3)
Right wing criminologists generally favour harsh and punitive prison sentences which are popular in the USA. ‘3 strikes and you’re out’ is a 1990s USA policy theory whereby if a criminal offends for the 3rd term they would be subject to life imprisonment with no parole even if the 3rd was a minor crime. This policy contributed to the quadrupling of the prison population. Van den Haag stated that ‘prison works’ as if criminals can see they’ll get caught and receive a long prison sentence, they’ll fear prison and it will be seen as a cost of crime because they’ll lose their freedom and so these costs will outweigh the benefits THEREFORE the system needs to be more retributive with longer sentences and harsh prison experiences.
EVALUATING Punitive Punishment (Right wing social policy point 3)
(-) Wilson criticises this approach because he feels that the certainty of capture is more of a deterrent than the potential harshness of the sentence. If criminals don’t believe they’ll get caught then the potential penalty becomes irrelevant eg police should focus more on capturing policies to reduce crime.
(-) Matthews (left realist) criticises prison as 66% of offenders tend to re offend as it’s been referred to as ‘the university of crime’ because criminals socialise and learn new skills that they can try when they’ve been released.
(+) but Functionalists think that it’s good to exclude criminals from society in prison because the value consensus of society can only flourish and work effectively if they’re not present.
