Class Differences in Patterns of Crime

Question 1

what are some trends to do with social class and crime?

Answer 1

-41% of prisoners are unskilled working class (only make up 19% of society)
-Omolade study of 2100 inmates= 43% had no educational qualifications, and 60% claiming benefits
-benefit fraud= £1.3b (2%), while coorporate fraud= £76b (98%)

Question 2

why are the WC more criminal?

Answer 2

-form anti-school subcultures
-limited parental involvement and inadequate socialisation
-relative deprivation and false needs
-gain more negative labels
-marginalisation

Question 3

why are MC less criminal?

Answer 3

-gain positive labels
-do better in school for a number of reasons
-adequate socialisation (more opportunities)
-negotiation of justice
-conformity (strain theory)
-join pro-school subcultures

Question 4

what theories of crime link to social class and crime?

Answer 4

-criminogenic capitalism
-strain theory/subcultural strain
-selective enforcement
-state and law making
-right and left realism
-typical criminal/typifications

Question 5

according to Sutherland, what is white collar crime?

Answer 5

a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation

Question 6

what are the two types of white collar crime?

Answer 6

-occupational- personal gain
-corporate- pursuit of goals

Question 7

what is the definition of coorporate crime according Pearce and Tombs?

Answer 7

any illegal act or omission that is the result of deliberate decisions or culpable negligence by legitimate business organisations and that is intended to benefit the business

Question 8

what is the invisibility of coorporate crime?

Answer 8

that crimes of the powerful are often invisible but when they are visible, they are often not seen as ‘real’ crimes

Question 9

what are the 5 points linked with the invisibility of corporate crime?

Answer 9

-media
-lack of political will
-complexity
-de-labelling
-underreporting

Question 10

explain the media as part of the invisibility of corporate crime?

Answer 10

The media gives very limited coverage to corporate crime and describes corporate crime in a sanitised language. This reinforces the stereotypes that crime is a working class problem

Question 11

Describe lack of political will?

Answer 11

Politicians idea of being tough on crime is focus on the street crime. Surveys run by the home office discover the true extent of ordinary crime but cannot find information on corporate crime

Question 12

describe complexity?

Answer 12

corporate crimes are often complex and law en forces are often understaffed, under resourced and lack technical expertise, and so crimes cannot be investigated effectively

Question 13

describe de labelling?

Answer 13

corporate crime is consistently filtered out from the process of criminalisation. For example they are often labelled as civil and criminal. Limited investigation and prosecution

Question 14

describe underreporting?

Answer 14

A lot of victims on whether they have been victimised and so cannot report. However those who are aware may not regard the crime is a real crime or they may feel powerless and so don’t report the offence

Question 15

what is the conclusion of social class and crime?

Answer 15

we will never know the true extent of crime due to the ‘dark figure’ of statistics, and the idea that the OCS are not valid or reliable