Age and Crime: Explaining C/D Flashcards
What does the OCS find?
50% crime is committed by young people
What does Merton suggest?
Strain theory - young people are more criminal
What does Cohen (subcultural) suggest?
Youth are more criminal - due to status frustration
What does Cloward and Ohlin (subcultural) say?
Illegitimate opportunity structures cause higher crime rates for young w/c males
What does Miller suggest
Young w/c males have focal concerns (FEASTT) - leading to higher crime
What does Katz suggest causes higher crime in youths?
‘Edgework’ - thrill and pleasure of crime, can’t get it from other sources
What does the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggest?
Most gangs are made of 13-17 year olds; gangs lead to more crime creating more crime in youths
What does Interactionism suggest causes higher levels of deviancy in youths?
Matza- although we all share subterranean values, youths are more susceptible to ‘drift’ and thus commit more crime
How does Right Realism explain higher crime in youths?
Hirschi - youths are less likely to have strong bonds of attachment therefore committing more crime
How do Taylor, Walton and Young explain higher crime levels in youths (Neo-Marxism)?
Crime is an active struggle against an unjust system - the young commit more crimes as they can see through the capitalist ideology
What do other Interactionists theorise about higher youth crime levels?
They are socially constructed
Cohen - media moral panic
Lemert - primary/secondary deviance - labelling
Becker - relative deviance and labelling theory
Cicourel - stereotypical police assumptions
What does Neo-Marxism think about youth and crime?
Higher crime levels are socially constructed
Hall - media moral panic was only because the RC needed a scapegoat
What do Marxists say about youth and crime?
It is socially constructed, youths are not more criminal
Croall - white collar crime
Snider - cost of corporate crime is 20x than street crime
Chambliss - the RC control and define laws in their interests
