Age and Crime

Question 1

What is the clearest trend in official crime statistics relating back to age?

Answer 1

That young people are consistently over-represented

Question 2

Young people commit what percentage of all crime reported to the police and recorded in official statistics?

Answer 2

0.5

Question 3

What is the peak age for offenders of both genders?

Answer 3

18 for males, 15 for females

Question 4

Why is youth crime often referred to as juvenile delinquency?

Answer 4

It is more often deviant than most crimes committed by adults, committed for pleasure or excitement rather than monetary gain

Question 5

What is the inverse trend to the over-representation of young people in crime statistics?

Answer 5

Older people are consistently seen as less likely to commit a criminal offence.

Question 6

Who argued that the location and visibility of young people presents greater opportunity for criminal behaviour?

Answer 6

Shaw and McKay

Question 7

What did Shaw and McKay argue about the areas in which young people live?

Answer 7

More young people between the ages of 14-25 live in urban areas compared to other age groups, providing much greater opportunities for crime through the increased number of shops, offices, businesses, cars, houses etc

Question 8

What did Shaw and McKay argue about the type of crime young people commit?

Answer 8

It is more likely to be unsophisticated and opportunistic, and therefore it is more likely to be witnessed and reported than crimes that are difficult to detect, such as white-collar crimes.

Question 9

Ashe year

Answer 9

2008

Question 10

What percentage of 10-25 year olds admitted to at least one of 20 core crimes in the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice self-report study?

Answer 10

0.22

Question 11

What types of crimes were the most common in the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice self-report study?

Answer 11

Theft and assault

Question 12

What motivations did Ashe find were often behind the crimes committed by young people?

Answer 12

Impressing friends or curing boredom

Question 13

What happens as a result of the crimes committed by young people being more visible?

Answer 13

There is a higher rate of reporting, and police will often stereotype young people as ‘potential criminals’. They will then police young people more closely because they are socially visible, causing an increase in the number of crimes committed by young people that are recorded by the police.

Question 14

What are some further visibility reasons that could explain why young people appear to commit more crime than older people?

Answer 14

1. Crimes typically committed by older people may take place within private surroundings of their home, whereas large amounts of youth crime is committed in public places such as clubs or the street where it is more likely to be witnessed 2. Most violent youth crime is likely to be committed in situations involving alcohol and drugs, with clear victims and witnesses.

Question 15

Why has the theory of location and visibility been criticised?

Answer 15

1. It is deterministic as not all young people from urban areas commit crimes, and it cannot account for young people from non-urban areas who commit crime. 2. It could be argued that the high levels of youth crime in urban areas could be more due to the fact that urban areas have higher levels of policing in gender, rather than just greater policing of young people.

Question 16

What did Cloward and Ohlin argue about youth crime?

Answer 16

Social structures in our society limit the opportunities for young people to attain socially approved goals through legitimate means, so in response young people become involved in thievery, fighting or drug-related crimes.

Question 17

What do Cloward and Ohlin about the steep drop in activity after the age of 25?

Answer 17

People take on new roles in their that were not reasonably achievable in their youth, such as wage-earner, parent or spouse, which are variations of the goals young people struggle to legitimately achieve. As people take on more responsibilities, the possibility of severe punishment or jail time becomes a more serious matter, meaning older people are less likely to commit crime as there are greater consequences in their lives should they face severe punishment.

Question 18

What do Cloward and Ohlin argue about the responsibilities of young people and crime rates?

Answer 18

1. The lack of responsibilities held by most young people may also lead to more crime being committed by younger age groups as the perpetrator does not have to consider others in the same way. 2. Young people are rarely in a position to commit major work-related crimes, and can be quickly dealt with by older, higher ranking employees should they commit an act of deviance in the workplace.

Question 19

What is the name of Travis Hirschi’s theory of crime and deviance?

Answer 19

Control Theory

Question 20

What does Hirschi argue?

Answer 20

That all individuals are likely to commit criminal and deviant acts unless they have a reason not to.

Question 21

What did Hirschi argue prevents some people from becoming criminal or deviant?

Answer 21

The existence of social bonds which tend to develop and become stronger as we get older

Question 22

What four key aspects of social bonds did Hirschi identify?

Answer 22

1. Attachment; which involves the development of a conscience through socialisation 2. Commitment; the time and energy we invest into activities that in turn limit time available to be deviant 3. Belief in oneself 4. Commitment to acceptable cultural goals

Question 23

Why did Hirschi argue that social bonds effected youth crime levels?

Answer 23

He argued that when these social bonds are weak, as they often are in young people who are still discovering and developing their position in society, crime is committed.

Question 24

What did Merton suggest about the socialisation processes of middle and upper class youth?

Answer 24

That they place more emphasis on conformity to social rules, which may cause less deviance through the fulfilment of conformity, or more deviance caused by pressure to conform to formal, middle-class norms, which may be difficult for working-class youth

Question 25

What did Merton argue was a reason why middle and upper class youth may commit less crime?

Answer 25

They may have less of a need to support a particular lifestyle through crime because they may have alternative sources of income through their parents, for example, meaning that they are able to conform to norms such as materialism, granting them status within their peer group.

Question 26

What did Merton point out about social pressures to conform?

Answer 26

That this pressure to conform within their peer group may promote juvenile delinquency, particularly in groups of young people where peer pressure encouraged members to adopt forms of deviant behaviour such as underage drinking or truancy.

Question 27

Why has Merton's theory been criticised?

Answer 27

It places particular emphasis on on working class youth and their apparent lack of socialisation, disregarding the crimes of middle and upper-class youths whilst assuming that their socialisation processes are somehow superior.

Question 28

How did Miller expand on Merton's theory?

Answer 28

By arguing that some young people are only considered deviant by middle-class norms, and some juvenile delinquents, for example working-class boys, aren't intentionally flouting typical norms, but instead conforming to the norms of their own class subcultures.

Question 29

What six focal concerns did Miller identify as being likely to lead young working-class boys to delinquency?

Answer 29

1. Smartness 2. Toughness 3. Autonomy 4. Fate 5. Excitement 6. Trouble

Question 30

What did Miller argue about the desire for working-class boys to fulfil their focal concerns?

Answer 30

It pushes young working-class males towards crime as a result of the implicit values of their subculture, with getting into trouble considered a normal part of life for this cultural group.

Question 31

What did Katz and Lang suggest about youth crime?

Answer 31

That most of it is motivated by 'edge work' rather than intentions of material gain

Question 32

What is edge work?

Answer 32

Edge work refers to when people commit crimes for the feeling of excitement, risk-taking and as a consequence of impulsive behaviours rather than extensively planned, intentional criminal activity.

Question 33

In what years did Katz and Lang write about edge work?

Answer 33

Katz (1988) and Lang (1990)

Question 34

What did Katz and Lang explain about edge work?

Answer 34

That there is a 'buzz' generated from these types of behaviours and the adrenaline associated with 'living on the edge' through risk-taking and deviancy, encouraging young people to engage in delinquent activities. Furthermore, peer group status can also be gained through this edge work, such as through vandalism, shoplifting or doing drugs. The peer group encourages and supports individuals who do this.

Question 35

In what year was the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime carried out?

Answer 35

1998

Question 36

What did the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime find?

Answer 36

50% of crimes committed by boys in a longitudinal study of 4,300 young people aged 11-12 included rowdiness and fighting in the street, as well as vandalism and theft of items such as sweets.

Question 37

What did Cohen argue after studying groups of working-class deviant boys?

Answer 37

Deviance isn't an individual phenomenon, but rather collective. The goals set by wider society vary from those set by young people, particularly young working-class males.

Question 38

What goals did Cohen argue young people set?

Answer 38

Young people set social goals of gaining status rather than material wealth, which can be achieved through educational performance and the acquisition of qualifications.

Question 39

What reasons did Cohen argue meant that some young people are unable to achieve their goals of status?

Answer 39

A lack of skills provided to them by their parents, or because they have been placed in the lowest achievement streams in their school sets.

Question 40

What did Cohen call the form of anomie experienced by young people unable to achieve their goals of status?

Answer 40

Status frustration

Question 41

What happens as a result of status frustration mean according to Cohen?

Answer 41

The young people become frustrated by their teachers' treatment of them and the middle-class culture that leaves them unable to succeed and stuck at the bottom of the 'status hierarchy'. In particular, young working-class males turn to gang culture and criminal subcultures, as turning to these groups allows them to access and achieve alternative forms of status, as well as providing an opportunity to retaliate against the groups that had branded them as 'failures'.

Question 42

Why does Matza criticise other subcultural approaches to crime and deviance?

Answer 42

He argues that they overestimate juvenile delinquency by assuming that membership of delinquent subcultures is permanent.

Question 43

What does Matza argue about delinquency?

Answer 43

Individuals instead drift in and out of delinquency, employing techniques of neutralisation to justify their actions, for example saying that their victims 'deserved it' or arguing they were committing the crime to protect themselves. Therefore, crime and deviance is temporary and episodic

Question 44

Why does Matza's theory contrast other subcultural theories?

Answer 44

1. It suggests that many other theories only offer a partial view of crime and deviance in their attempts to explain the over-representation of young people in crime statistics. 2. Furthermore, Matza's approach is more clear in addressing the criticisms that point out how some sociological theories ignore the fact that not everyone who fails in achieving mainstream goals of success joins an illegitimate career structure of crime and gang-culture.

Question 45

Why do feminists criticise all subcultural explanations of youth crime and deviance?

Answer 45

They tend to focus on young working-class males, when Feminists would argue that as a result of patriarchal control and oppression, working-class girls and women face more social barriers that would cause them to turn to crime and deviance, but yet are unable to do so due to the control men exert over women's time, freedoms and finances.

Question 46

Why could it be argued that young people are often treated less favourably by the CJS?

Answer 46

1. They are less likely to be able to afford expensive legal representation, especially those from w/c backgrounds who cannot rely on the financial support of parents 2. The CJS is less lenient on younger offenders as they are viewed as having less responsibilities, such as young children to care for, leading to the belief that serious punishment or imprisonment will have less impact on them. 3. Older criminals are also more likely to commit crimes that are harder to detect and therefore record or report, such as white collar crime and tax fraud. As younger people often do not have jobs or financial positions that allow them the opportunities to commit these crimes, they are more likely to be viewed as criminal or deviant than older people who are viewed as fragile, respectable or simply innocent by the law as their crimes are harder to detect.