Consensus Theories Of Crime

Question 1

Durkeim : three key ideas about crime

Answer 1

1. A limited amount of crime is inevitable and even necessary
2. Crime has positive fucntions
3. Too much crime is bad for society

Question 2

Crime is inevitable

Answer 2

Not every member of society can be equally committed to the collective sentiments (shared values and morals)

Question 3

Crime perfoms positive functions

Answer 3

Social regulation = each time the police arrest a person, they are making it clear to the rest of society that the particular action concerned is unacceptable , newspapers help to perform the publicity function
Social integration= when particularly horrfic crimes have been committed the whole community joins together in outrage
Social change= provide a constant test to the boundaries of permitted action

Question 4

Durkhiems view of punishment

Answer 4

The function of punishment wasn’t to remove crime from society altogether but to control crime and to maintain the collective sentiments

Question 5

Evaluation of Durkeim

Answer 5

He fails to distinguish between different types of crime and it could be that some crimes may be so harmful that they are dysfunctional
+ marxist and feminist analysis of crme demonstrates that not all criminals are punished equally and thus crime and punishment benefit the powerful

Question 6

Hirschi: bond of attachment

Answer 6

Criminal activity occurs when an individual’s attachment to society is weakened. This attachment depends on the strength of social bonds
The typical delinquent - young, single, unemployed and probably male

Question 7

Evidence for the social control theory

Answer 7

The cambrige study in delinquent development looked at 411 working class males born in 1953 who were studied until their late 30s and found that offenders were more likely to come from poorer, single parent families with poor parenting and parents who were themselves offenders. Good primaru socialisation is essential in preventing crime

Question 8

Support for Hirschi: NASUWT

Answer 8

Based on existing literature and in depth studies of two schools they found that family breakdown and a lack of father figures could be to blame for pupils joining gangs. Children as young as nine were being drawn into organised crime for protection and to gain a sense of belonging because of the lack of positive role models

Question 9

Criticims

Answer 9

• marxism= its unfair to blame marginalised people , they are victoms of an unfair society
• by focussing on the crimes of the marginalised, the right wing elite dupe the public into thinking we need them to protect us from criminals

Question 10

Robert Mertons’ strain theory

Answer 10

Crime occurs when there aren’t enough legitimate opportunities for people to achive the normal success goals of socety

Question 11

Merton: the american dream

Answer 11

A set of meritocratic principles which assured the american public that equality of opportunity was available to all , and a goal of success was pursued through legitimate means
However the structural organisation of the USA mean that the means weren’t fairly distributed

Question 12

Merton’s five adaptations to strain

Answer 12

1. Conformity = pursuing cultural goals through socially approved means
2. Innovation= using socially unapprived means to achieve culturally approved goals
3. Ritualism = using the same socially approved means to achieve less elusive goals
4. Retreatism= to reject the goals and means and escape it
5. Rebellion= to reject the goals and means and work to replace them

Question 13

Criticisms of the strain theory

Answer 13

• strain theory only really explains economic crime

- not all working class individuals turn to crime