Chapter 1: Interactionist, Right & Left Realist explanations

Question 1

What is a formal agent of social control?

Answer 1

Main job is to control behaviour

Police, government, court, prison

Question 2

What is an informal agent of social control?

Answer 2

Controls behaviour but is not its main role

Family, education, religion, media

Question 3

What does interactionist BECKER say about labelling and crime?

Answer 3

A deviant is someone to whom the label has been successfully applied

Deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people so label.

Question 4

What does interactionist CIRCOUREL say about labelling and crime?

Answer 4

An officer’s decision to arrest is influenced by their stereotypes about offenders
(appearance, background, circumstance)

Use typifications

Justice is not fixed but negotiable

Question 5

What is a typification?

And by who?

Answer 5

CIRCOREL

Common sense theories or stereotypes of what the typical delinquent is like

Question 6

What did Interactionist LEMERT say about labelling and crime?

Answer 6

Primary deviance: deviant acts that haven’t been publicly labelled.

Secondary deviance: result of societal reaction
(Crime- label- rejected by society- criminal rejects society- deviant career)

Master status- known for crime.
Self-fulfilling prophecy arises of deviant career.

Question 7

Who was guilty for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard?

Answer 7

Wayne Couzens
(Police officer)

Given whole life order order in prison without parole

Question 8

What do Right Realists see crime as?

Answer 8

See crime (especially street crime) as a real and growing problem

Undermine social cohesion and destroys social communities.

Question 9

What is Right Realist, MURRAY’S underclass theory?

Answer 9

Believes there is underclass below the W/C that subscribe to deviant values

Lacks morals
Single parents, without both parental discipline, child turns to role models on street, gain status through crime.

Question 10

What is Right Realists, CHARLESWORTH study of poverty in Rotherham?

Answer 10

Rotherham in extreme poverty but low crime rate
(Murray is wrong)

Depression in unemployed
No job = no identity

Question 11

What is Right Realists, CLARKE’S rational choice theory?

Answer 11

Decision to commit crime is based on a rational calculation

If rewards outweigh costs, people are more likely to offend

As perceived costs have declined, crime increased

Question 12

What is Right Realist, HIRSCHI, Control Theory?

Answer 12

Most don’t commit crime due to 4 controls:

Attachment- commitment to family life
Commitment- education, career
Involvement- could loose respect by community
Belief- law, order, discipline, respect

Question 13

What did Right Realists, CLARKE & HIRSCHI say about crime prevention strategies?

Answer 13

Situational crime prevention- reduces opportunities for committing crime

Target hardening: invest more in CCTV, better locks

Question 14

What was WILSONS’s Broken Window Theory?

Answer 14

Any sign of disorder left unfixed sends signal that no no one cares
(drug dealing, graffiti, littering)

Absence of social control

Question 15

What do left realists see crime as?

Answer 15

A real problem for ordinary people especially disadvantaged groups who are the victims

Question 16

What was LEA & YOUNG theory of relative deprivation?

Answer 16

Feeling poor compared to others

Refers to how deprived someone feels compared to others

M/C commit crime as someone else is better than them

Pressure of being successful

Question 17

What do Left Realists say about marginalization?

Answer 17

Young people often feel marginalised and have no power to change their situation

Feel isolated and rejected

Negative treatments from police results in further hostility and resentment towards mainstream society

Question 18

What do Left Realists say about subcultures?

Answer 18

W/C and black people who experience marginalised/ deprivation feelings may form deviant subcultures.

Feels society doesn’t value them so commit crime

Question 19

Why do Left Realists believe Situational crime prevention and environmental crime prevention are doomed to fail?

Answer 19

They only treat the symptoms of crime

Don’t treat root causes

Question 20

What is the Left Realist idea of social and community crime prevention?

Answer 20

Aim to remove conditions that make individuals commit crime

Aim to tackle root cause of crime

Question 21

What was the Perry Pre-School Project?

Answer 21

Project provided high-quality pre-school education to 3/4 yr old Afro-American children living in poverty

Given extra sessions on decision making and problem solving

By age of 40 fewer lifetime arrests for violent crime, more graduated

(Only 1 off study)

Question 22

What do Left Realists LEA & YOUNG believe about policing and control?

Answer 22

Public need to be more involved in policing

Public lack of confidence in police forces them to rely on stop and search

• Sarah Everard raped, kidnapped, murdered by police officer.

Question 23

What are the 3 causes of crime according to the left realists?

Answer 23

Relative deprivation

Marginalisation

Joining sub-culture

Question 24

What did WILKINS say about deviancy amplification?

Answer 24

Official attempt to control deviance or crime leads to increase in level of deviance

Question 25

What does WILKINS say about the labelling theory?

Answer 25

When people and certain acts are defined as deviant, the social group identified as ‘deviant’ are stigmatized and cut off from mainstream society

Question 26

What name does Becker give groups such as the media, police and those who have the power to create and enforce laws?

Answer 26

Moral entrepreneurs