AC3.2

Question 1

Evaluate effectiveness of sociological theories to explain criminality such as Marxism (social structure theory)

Answer 1

Strengths:
• highlights impact of selective law enforced and how white collar crime is under policed
• demonstates differences in power of social classes

Weaknesses:
• ignores non-class inequalities (gender or ethnicity)
• overstates amount of crime in WC
• not all capitalist societies have high crime rates (Japan and Switzerland)

Question 2

Evaluate effectiveness of sociological theories to explain criminality such as Interactionalism - the labelling theory

Answer 2

Strengths:
• shows how law often enforced in discriminatory way
• highlights consequences of labelling
• highlights weaknesses in offical stagistics which allow bias in law enforcement
• highlights role of media for producing moral panics

Weaknesses:
• doesn’t explain why deviant behaviour happens
• criminals don’t need label to know they’re doing wrong
• labelling doesn’t always lead to self fulfilling prophecy

Question 3

Evaluate effectiveness of sociological theories to explain criminality such as Realism - right realism

Answer 3

Strengths:
• stimulated victim surveys and practical measures to combat crime
• found males from lone parent households more likely to offend

Weaknesses:
• too readily accepts crime statistics
• fails to explain white-collar crime
• ignores wider structural causes of crime like poverty
•ignores ^ gap begween rich and poor creating resentment

Question 4

Evaluate effectiveness of sociological theories to explain criminality such as Realism - left realismS

Answer 4

Strengths:
• Explores role of victim in more depth than any other criminological theory
• recognises multiple causes of crime
• neither glorifies or attacks police

Weaknesses:
• doesn’t explain why everyone in relative deprivation fails to turn to crime
• arguably made up of mixture of other theories pulled together
• fails to explain white collar and corporate crime