Crime

Question 1

Gender-Sex Role Theory

Answer 1

Parsons
diff in crime due to gender roles, men not at home so boys have no male role model. reject feminine behaviour, engage in compensatory compulsory masculinity, leads to aggression

Question 2

Gender- Chivalry Thesis

Answer 2

Pollack
justice system more lenient w women bc men need to protect women, gender diff in crime exaggerated as women less likely to end up in system

Question 3

Gender-Patriarchal Control

Answer 3

Heidensohn
society has control over women so they have less chance to commit crime
home, public and work

Question 4

Gender-Liberation Thesis

Answer 4

Adler
women get liberated=crimes become as frequent and violent as men’s. given more opportunities to commit crime, rise in female crime

Question 5

Gender-Class and Gender deals

Answer 5

Carlen- adopted Hirschi control theory
humans offered deal to conform to social norms
class- working women offer ended material reward w decent living
gender- patriarchal ideology promises marital and emotional reward from family
if don’t get the reward, turn to crime as have nothing to lose (WC women)

Question 6

Theories (functionalism)- Adaptation to Strain

Answer 6

conformity- +goal +means
innovation- +goal -means
ritualism- -goal +means
retreatism- -goal -means
rebellion- -+goal -+ means

Question 7

Theories (functionalism)- Strain Theory

Answer 7

Merton
American Dream (Messner and Rosenfeld)- opps for everyone, not everyone can get money goal through legit means, the strain to success, people have to turn to illegit means
frustration with strain leads to crime
people react differently to strain and adapt

Question 8

Theories (marxism)- Law making

Answer 8

Chambliss
laws created to protect UC
east african colonisation- tax law to benefit uks economy
ruling class have power over what laws created and kept to benefit capitalism

Question 9

Selective enforcement

Answer 9

powerless groups criminalised, crimes of powerful get ignored

Question 10

Theories (interactionism)- Effects of labelling

Answer 10

Master status- label can dominate how society sees them, can’t get job so goes to deviant career
Young- hippies, counterculture, smoked weed and labels then as criminals, internalise it and do hard drugs- becomes master status

Question 11

Primary/Secondary Deviance

Answer 11

Primary- minor
Secondary- major

Question 12

Theories (marxism)- Criminogenic Capitalism

Answer 12

capitalism causes crime by very nature
Poverty- crime only way wc can live
Consumption- advertising leads to wanting goods so turn to crime to get them (utilitarian crime)
Frustration- alienation leads to frustration and aggression (non-utilitarian crime)

Question 13

Theories (functionalism)- Positive functions of crime

Answer 13

Durkheim
Boundary maintenance- distinguishes between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, deterrence
Safety valve- prostitution, doesn’t break up nuclear family, lesser of two evils

Question 14

Theories- (interactionism)- Labelling Theory

Answer 14

Becker
no act is inherently criminal, it is only criminal when people label it as so
it is society’s reaction to the act that makes it deviant.
a deviant is someone who has successfully been labelled as so

Question 15

Social Construction of Crime

Answer 15

act is only a crime bc society says that it is
there is no such thing as an inherently deviant act

Question 16

Theories (marxism)- Ideological functions of crime

Answer 16

Pearce
crimes of powerful get ignored- RC blame other WC/immigrants for taking jobs to stop revolution, distract from crimes of powerful
creating false consciousness- capitalism seems beneficial through laws (health and safety) actually benefits capitalism by keeping worker fit for work
state selectively enforces laws so crime seem to be a WC thing

Question 17

Theories (functionalism)- Status Frustration

Answer 17

Cohen
looks at deviance in WC boys, face anomie in MC school system and have cultural deprivation so at bottom of official status hierarchy- suffer status frustration, reject mainstream values and join deviant subculture

Question 18

Theories (functionalism)- Alternative Status Hierarchy

Answer 18

Cohen
success gained from achieving alternative values through peers
can now achieve their goals (not society’s)
‘leader’ is who achieved opposite values the most

Question 19

Theories (right realism)- Biological Differences

Answer 19

Wilson
differences make some people more predisposed to commit crime- personality like aggression and low impulses control or physical like lower intelligence

Question 20

Theories (right realism)- Underclass

Answer 20

Murray
effective socialisation decreases likelihood of committing crime
depending on welfare state leads to people committing more crime

Question 21

Theories (right realism)- Rational Choice Theory

Answer 21

Clarke
the decision to commit crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of the consequences- if rewards outweighs the costs than people will offend
Right realists say that the costa are low and so this is why crime is rising

Question 22

Theories (right realism)- Broken Windows theory

Answer 22

Wilson and Kelling
essential to maintain orderly characteristics of neighbourhood to prevent crime taking hold- any vandalism must be dealt with immediately or people will see it and add to it

Question 23

Theories (right realism)- Zero Tolerance

Answer 23

should increase the costs of crime to offenders to maximise deterrent
control the streets so people feel safe- no excuse for it and people should be punished immediately

Question 24

Criticisms of Right Realism

Answer 24

causes:
-ignores wider structural causes like poverty
- overstates rationality and how far they make cost- benefit calculations, doesn’t explain impulsive crime
solutions:
-ignores crimes of the powerful
-gives police free rein to discriminate against minorities

Question 25

Theories (left realism)- Relative Deprivation

Answer 25

how deprived someone feels in comparison to other people, leads to crime when people resent others and get frustrated and goes to crime to obtain what they want
media exacerbates this by showing off material goods

Question 26

New Media and crime

Answer 26

Cyber crime arisen due to growth of internet, leads to moral panics as older people dont get new tech and cannot control is well enough. can cause crime or new media can prevent crime as more surveillance

Question 27

Wall- 5 types of cyber crime

Answer 27

-global cyber crime
-cyber violence (causing harm)
-cyber pornography
-cyber deception and theft (identity theft)
-cyber trespass (hacking and spreading viruses)

Question 28

Media distortion of crime

Answer 28

overrepresents violent and sexual crime- Duffy, 46% of media reports about them but only make up 3% of all crimes
exaggerates police success
exaggerate risk of victimisation

Question 29

8 News values

Answer 29

criteria that editors decide if a story is news worthy
-immediacy: breaking news
-dramatisation: action and excitement
-personalisation: human interest stories abt people
-higher status: celebs
-novelty or unexpectedness: new angle
-risk: victim centred stories abt fear
-violence: visible acts

Question 30

Media as a cause of crime

Answer 30

imitation
arousal
desensitisation
transmits knowledge
stimulating desire for unaffordable goods

Question 31

Fear of crime

Answer 31

media causes unrealistic fear of crime by exaggerating amount of violent crime
Tumber- more media consumption means people had greater risk of becoming a victim. correlations doesnt prove that viewing media causes crime
criticism- ignores meanings viewers give to media violence (interpretivist)

Question 32

Left realism- relative deprivation as a cause of crime

Answer 32

mass media increases sense of relative deprivation, pressure to conform can cause deviant behaviour when legit means are blocked (Merton)

Question 33

Postmodernity- commodification of crime

Answer 33

media turn crime into commodity that people desire, encourage to consume crime through images
Hayward and Young- crime and its thrills become commodified. corporations use crime to sell products especially to youths, street hustler criminality w images of success
crime marketed to young people to seem cool and exciting (music videos)

Question 34

Moral panics

Answer 34

media causes crime through labelling. creates moral panic through labelling group as folk devils and presents them in a way that exaggerates the problem, often leads to self fulfilling prophecy
Criticisms- assumes the societal reaction is a disproportionate overreaction
Thornton- little consensus abt what is deviant, what used to be 40 years ago is not today, moral panics are also more routine now and have less imapct

Question 35

Left realism- relative deprivation

Answer 35

how deprived someone feels in relation to another, leads to crime when people resent others for having more than them and obtain things through crime.
Young- bad combo is RD and individualism, encourages pursuit of self interest at expense of others

Question 36

Functionalism and crime criticisms

Answer 36

-based on stats which exaggerates picture as many crimes go unreported, dark figure
-assumes society has shared norms and values
-doesnt take into consideration the effect of agents of social control

Question 37

Evaluation of Merton

Answer 37

shows how behaviour is result of mainstream goals, most crime property crime bc american society values material wealth so highly, lower class crime rates higher bc of lack of opportunity
overemphasises the role of social class- rich people commit white collar crime yet they dont have strain bc they have rescources
not all crime have a goal to comply with societys expectations like rape

Question 38

Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin

Answer 38

provide explanation for diff types of wc deviance in terms of different subcultures
ignore wider power structure and crimes of the wealthy, draw boundaries too sharply between diff types of deviance- some retreatist users are professional dealers and make a good living
assume everyone starts off sharing the same mainstream goals

Question 39

Cicourel- labelling

Answer 39

officers have typifications on what a typical deliquent looks like and will concentrate on these types of people, law enforcement shows class bias as in WC areas people fitted the typifications more, policed patrolled these areas more and so found more crime which reinforced their original bias
other agents reinforce this like justice system- if didnt fit typifications then less likely to get sentences
means that justice can be negotiated

Question 40

Deviance amplification spiral

Answer 40

process in which attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in level of deviance, so more control so more deviance
Young- hippies smoked weed and labelled as criminals so internalised and did hard drugs
Cohen- folk devil and moral panic, press exaggeration of mods and rockers and distortion began moral panic and had more entrepreneurs calling for crackdown, police arrested more people and so confirmed original media reaction so more public concern- DAS

Question 41

Reintergrative shaming- Braithwaite

Answer 41

labels act but not actor, did a bad thing but not a bad person, avoids stigmatising them as evil while making aware of negative impact on other people, avoids pushing them into secondary deviance
crime later lower in places where this happens

Question 42

Criticisms of labelling theory

Answer 42

deterministic- deviant career inevitable
emphasis on negative effects of labelling gives the offender a victim status and ignores real victims of crime
focuses on less serious crimes
fails to explain while people commit crime in the first place before labelled
uc people that label people as deviant so seen more that wc people commit more crime as they do not want to label their own

Question 43

Evaluation of Marxism

Answer 43

shows link between law making and enforcement and interest of capitalist class, puts into wider structural context the insights of labelling theory
ignores relationship between crime and non class inequalities like gender
too deterministic and over predicts crime in wc
not all capitalist societies have high crime rates like Japan
ignores intra class crime- left realists

Question 44

Evaluation of Neo-marxism

Answer 44

focuses too much on male criminality
left realists- romanticises wc criminals who are fighting capitalism but most acc prey on the poor

Question 45

Full social theory of deviance

Answer 45

Taylor et al- comprehensive understanding of crime and deviance that would help change society for the better, two sources: marxism abt the unequal distribution of wealth, labelling theory abt meaning of deviant act for actor societys reaction and effect of label
a complete theory combines: wider origins of deviant act, immediate origins, of act act itself, immediate origins of reaction, wider origins of reaction and effect of labelling

Question 46

Neo-marxism

Answer 46

Taylor argues marxism is too deterministic and think crime is caused by other external factors like anomie subcultures or labelling
instead they see crime as a meaningful action and often argue crime has a political motive and they are deliberately trying to change society

Question 47

Left realism- causes of crime subculture

Answer 47

a subculture is a groups collective response to problem of relative deprivation
diff groups produce diff subcultural solutions- some commit crime to close deprivation gap
still subscribe to values and goals of mainstream society

Question 48

Left realism- causes of crime marginalisation

Answer 48

Young- unemployed youth are marginalised, no organisation to represent them and no clear goals only frustration, being powerless to use politics to improve position they turn to crime to express frustration

Question 49

Criticisms of left realism

Answer 49

fails to explain corporate crime
cannot explain offenders motives as they rely on quantitative data from victim surveys- interactionists
use of subcultural theory assumes a value consensus exists and crime only occurs when this breaks down

Question 50

Left realism and ethnicity

Answer 50

official stats are accurate- ethnic minorities do commit more crime
young black men more likely to be unemployed, feel marginalised, want things bc of consumerism but cannot afford, relatively deprived, causes utilitarian crime
Lea and Young- police often act in racist ways but does not fully explain differences in stats- over 90% of crimes known to police reported by public not police
asian ppl also less criminalised so would have to be selective in their racism

Question 51

Neo marxism and ethnicity

Answer 51

stats exaggerate amount of crime committed by ethnic minorities, they are a social construction
the media criminalise ethnic minorities by labelling them
Gilroy- black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes and that these groups are no more criminal than any other, however due to justice system acting on racist stereotypes they are more criminalised and bigger in official stats. minority ethnic group crime is a form of political resistance against a racist society

Question 52

Neo marxism and ethnicity- policing the crisis

Answer 52

Hall- 1970s moral panic over black muggers that served interest of capitalism, opposition to capitalism in this time was growing due to inflation and rising unemployment so the ruling class needed a force to maintain control, mugging was new name for street robbery and there was no evidence of increase at that time, was soon associated by media police and politicians with black youth, served as scapegoat to distract attention from true cause of problems, set apart wc and stopped opposition to capitalism

Question 53

Male crime- Messerschmidt

Answer 53

masculinity is a social construct and men have to constantly work at presenting it to others, in doing so some men have more resources than others to draw upon
hegemonic masculinity- dominant form of masculinity that men seek to accomplish
crime and deviance is a resource that diff men use to accomplish masculinity
criticism- description of male offenders not an explanation, circular argument, doesnt explain why not all men use crime, over works concept of masculinity

Question 54

Male crime- Postmodernity

Answer 54

men used to use manual jobs to show masculinity, decline of these but increase of night time clubs has provided employment where men can show masculinity
Winlow- bouncers in sunderland, provided young men w employment and opps for illegal businesses and opps to show masculinity through violence

Question 55

Evidence for differences in ethnicity and crime

Answer 55

black people- 13% of prison pop 3% of total pop
7x more likely than white people to be stopped, 3x more likely to be arrested and 5x more likely to be in prison
white victims over identify black suspects- say theyre black even when theyre not sure

Question 56

How is the criminal justice system racist

Answer 56

stop and search- ME more likely to be stopped and searched, 9x more likely in 2020, asian people more likely due to terrorism act of 2000, stephen lawrence- institutional racism in met police
prosecutions- bowling and philips: more likely to drop cases against EM bc evidence is weaker and normally based on stereotypes
sentencing- less likely to be found guilty: police bring in weaker cases that are thrown out by courts
prison- over a quarter of prison population were EM, 4x more likely to be in prison than white people

Question 57

Situational crime prevention

Answer 57

Clarke
pre-emptive approach that relies on reducing opportunities for crime, directed at specific crimes, involve managing or altering environment of crime, aim to increase effort and risk of crime
includes: more cctv, locking doors and windows. crime is opportunistic so need to reduce opportunities
criticisms: causes displacement, ignores white collar crime, assumes criminals are rational, ignores root cause of crime

Question 58

Environmental crime prevention

Answer 58

Kelling
broken windows- absence of formal and informal control, only focused on serious crime and ignore petty crime so situation deteriorates and the area becomes magnet for deviants
zero tolerance- tackle any bad behaviour before it gets worse
evidence- cars taken out of service if they had any graffiti and returned once cleaned, largely removed all graffiti from the subway as a whole. however could have been the extra 7000, the general decline of crime or the rise of employment

Question 59

Postmodernity and synoptican

Answer 59

Mathiesen- everybody monitors everybody
Thompson- powerful groups fear medias surveillance as may uncover damaging info on them
public monitoring public through dashcams
widespread phones means citizens can control controllers by filming police wrongdoings
feeley and simon argue a new technology of power is emerging in the justice system
Actuarial justice- aim is to control groups of people more likely to commit crime, prevent these people from committing crime, based on risks
apply it to surveillance, like airport security where they will check you based on risk factors, seeks to predict and prevent future offending
criticisms- puts people at risk of self-fulfilling prophecy, can lead to more crime as labelled as criminal before theyve even done something

Question 60

Functionalism and punishment

Answer 60

Durkheim- punishment created social solidarity and strengthens value consensus
retributive justice- modern era, little specialisation and solidarity is based on similarity to each other and produces strong collective conscience which when offended responds w vengeful passion to repress wrongdoing
restitutive justice- post modern, extensive specialisation and solidarity based on interdependence between ppl, crime damages interdependence so necessary to repair damage, aims to restore things back to societys equilibrium

Question 61

Marxism and punishment

Answer 61

punishment helps to maintain capitalism as part of repressive state apparatus
imprisonment- hard for ppl to have a revolution if people most likely to are in prison, america not allowed to vote if convicted felon

Question 62

Foucalt and panoptican

Answer 62

sovereign power- control over body and visible punishment
disciplinary power- control over mind through surveillance, more effective in controlling people
panoptican- prison where each prisoner had own cell visible to guards from central watchtower, prisoners didnt know if they were being watched so have to behave at all times in case
carceral archipelago- prison islands where wider society takes on practices and uses surveillance over the population
criticisms- shift from sovereign to discipline is less common than he suggests, exaggerate extent of control and some people resist it, cctv cameras part of panoptican but people arent put off by them (Gill)

Question 63

Prisons

Answer 63

prison used to hold criminals until real punishments, prison is now the punishment itself
recidivism- tendency for criminals to reoffend, becomes master status so cant earn honest living, prison is crime school so people use tricks when they get out and get caught again
penal populism- political parties compete to be tougher on crime, right realists- prisons should be use as deterrent and for serious offenders, people like to see results, like tough prisons bc people responsible for own actions
prison population rocketed in america bc of Reagan who was mass right realist then Clinton made three strikes policy which made the problem worse

Question 64

Alternative to prison

Answer 64

Cohen- net of control
still allows capitalism to control people deeper into society, anti social behaviour order, community service, electronic tag

Question 65

Social and community crime prevention

Answer 65

place emphasis on potential offender and their social context, aim is to remove conditions that predispose individuals to crime in the first place, longer term strategies since they tackle root cause, aims to improve employment and poverty to stop people offending
Perry preschool project- 3-4 year old black disadvantaged children offered two year enrichment program and they had signif less arrests for violent crime drugs and property crime, they also graduated and had jobs

Question 66

White collar crime

Answer 66

Sutherland- wanted to challenge idea that crime is a lower class phenomenon, many crimes committed by powerful are ignored and do not break criminal law
fails to explain between crime against corporation and for corporation

Question 67

Corporate crime

Answer 67

Tombs- powerful companies can influence law so their actions are criminalised, has enormous physical, environmental and economic costs, arguably worse than street crimes
accountants and lawyers hired to put criminal actions into business and get away with it, it is an abuse of trust
media give little coverage, politicians dont care as much, crimes are complex, offences are not labelled to same extent as street crime and is often underreported as people not often aware theyre a victim

Question 68

Explanations of corporate crime

Answer 68

strain- Box- if company cannot maximise profits then it will do it through illegal means
differential association- Geis- if companys culture justifies committing crimes then employees will think same as they will be socialised into it
Labelling- have the power to avoid labelling and cannot afford expensive defence, reluctance of law means less reported so people who reply on stats will underestimate the extent of these offences
Marxism- normal function of capitalism, ideology that corporate crime is less widespread or harmful, can control laws that are not in interest of the state
evaluation: strain and marx overestimates amount of business crime, not all companies would risk it, doesnt explain crime in non profit agencies like police

Question 69

Post modernity and crime

Answer 69

Young- instability in todays society makes crime worse
deindustrialisation led to less jobs, problems in family and heldback welfare spending, led to more exclusion for ppl at bottom
relative deprivation increased as poverty gap increases
cultural inclusion- even poor have access to media
economic exclusion- poor people denied opps to gain prizes of wealth society
boundary between good and bad behaviour now blurred so makes public more intolerant and leads to higher demands for harsher punishments
late modern society is a high crime society with a low tolerance for crime

Question 70

Left realism- tackling crime through policing

Answer 70

Lea and young- police dont spend enough time investigating crime, public needs to be more involved in determining polices priorities and style of policing
police depend on public for 90% of crimes known, police need to improve relationship with communities by investigating more, changing priorities and involving public
multiple agencies needed in order to work like council and schools

Question 71

Left realism- tackling crime through structural causes

Answer 71

causes of crime lie in unequal structure of society and major structural changes needed to reduce crime, must deal with unfairness, provide jobs and housing and cease stereotyping whole groups as criminals

Question 72

Stats abt gender and crime

Answer 72

3/4 convicted in England and Wales are men
by the age of 40, 9% of females convicted and 32% of men are
higher proportion of females are convicted of property offences
men more likely to reoffend

Question 73

Victimisation and ethnicity

Answer 73

comes from victim surveys and police recorded statistics
76,000 hate crimes in England and wales but most incidents go unreported
60,000 racially aggravated offences a year
mixed ethnic more likely to be a victim of crime- 20%
young male and unemployed also contribute to probability of being a victim, ethnic groups younger so more likely to be victim
responded from situational crime prevention to organised self defence campaigns

Question 74

Global criminal economy

Answer 74

as result of globalisation, Castells argues there is now a global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum:
arms trafficking, smuggling of illegal immigrants, trafficking women and children, sex tourism, trafficking body parts, green and cyber crime, drugs trade, money laundering
GCE has a demand and supply, part of the reason for scale of transnational organised crime is demand for its products and services in rich west however GCE could not function without a supply side that provides the source of the drugs demanded in the west
this supply linked to globalisation process, poor drugs producing countries like colombia has large populations of impoverished peasants so drug cultivation is attractive option that requires prices little investment

Question 75

Global risk consciousness

Answer 75

Beck- globalisation created mentality of risk consciousness where risk is seen as global rather than tied to particular place, increased movement of ppl as migrants has caused anxieties in western countries abt risk of crime and need to protect their borders
whether fears are rational of not is different matter, lot of knowledge abt risk comes from the media which is exaggerated and create moral panics, leads to hate crimes
one result is intensification of social control at national level, uk has toughened border control regulations like fining airlines if they bring in undocumented passengers, many have introduced fences and cctv to prevent illegal crossings. another result is increased attempts at international cooperation and control in various wars on terror drugs and crime

Question 76

How globalisation has caused crime

Answer 76

Taylor- socialist, globalisation has led to changes in pattern and extent of crime, free rein to market forces so has caused more inequality and so more crime
created crime at both ends of social spectrum, allowed transnational corporations to switch manufacturing to low wage countries making job insecurity unemployment and crime. deregulation means govs have little control over own economies like job creation while state spending on welfare has declines. marketisation encouraged ppl to see selves as individual consumers and create costs and benefits, as left realists note the increasingly materialistic culture promotes by global media portrays success in terms of a lifestyle of consumption
creates insecurity and crime in the poor and gives opportunities for elite to commit crimes

Question 77

Crimes of globalisation

Answer 77

Rothe and Friedrichs- examine role of international financial organisations like the role of the International Monetary Fund and world bank in crimes of globalisation, these organisations are dominated by major capitalist states, they argue these bodies impose pro capitalist neoliberal economic structural adjustment programmes on poor countries as a condition for the loans they provide, these programmes often require govs to cut spending on health and education and to privatise publicly owned industries and natural resources
this allows western corporations to expand into these countries but also creates conditions for crime, the program imposed on Rwanda in 80s caused mass unemployment and created the economic basis for the 1994 genocide

Question 78

Glocal organisation

Answer 78

new forms of organisation have international links esp w drug trade but crime still rooted in its local context, individuals still need local contacts and networks to find opportunities and to sell their drugs, Hobbs and Dunningham- conclude crime works as glocal system, its still locally based but w global connections, means the form it takes will vary from place to place according to local connections even if it is influenced by global factors such as availability of drugs abroad
they argue changes associated w globalisation have led to changes in patterns of crime- change from hierarchical gang structure to loose networks of flexible entrepreneurial criminals

Question 79

McMafia

Answer 79

Glenny- refers to organisations that emerged in russia and eastern europe following the fall of communism, he traces the origins of transnational organised crime to breakup of soviet union after 1989 which coincided w deregulation of global markets, under communism the soviet state regulated prices of everything but following fall of communism the russian gov deregulated most sectors of economy except natural resources, commodities remained at old soviet prices often only a 40th of world market price so anyone w access to funds could buy oil and gas for next to nothing, selling them abroad at large profit meant these ppl became russias new capitalist class-oligarchs
meanwhile collapse of communist state heralded a period of increasing disorder, to protect their wealth capitalists turned to the mafias that has begun to spring up, these new russian mafias were purely economic organisations formed to pursue self interest, they built links w criminal organisations in other parts of the world

Question 80

Global risk society and environment

Answer 80

many threats to human wellbeing and ecosystem are not human made rather than natural
Beck- in todays late modern society we can now provide adequate resources for all, but the massive increase in productivity and technology that sustains it has created new manufactured risks, many of these involve harm to environment and its consequences for humanity like global heating caused by GG emissions from industry
example- global heating caused hottest heatwave in century and caused wildfires that destroyed parts of russias grain belt so resulting shortage led russia to introduce export bans and pushed up world price of grain, knock on effect in mozambique which relies on food exports and caused 30% rise in price of bread, sparked extensive rioting and looting of food stores that left at least a dozen dead

Question 81

Green Criminology

Answer 81

what if pollution that causes global warming or acid rain is perfectly legal and no crime has been committed- is this a matter for criminologists

Question 82

Green criminology- Traditional

Answer 82

not concerned w such behaviour bc its subject matter is defined by criminal law and no law has been broken, starting point for this approach is national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment, Situ and Emmons- define environmental crime as unauthorised act of omission that violates the law, investigates patterns and causes of law breaking
advantage is that it has a clearly defined subject matter
disadvantage is it accepts official definitions of environmental problems which are often shaped by powerful groups to serve own interests

Question 83

Green criminology- Green

Answer 83

takes more radical approach and starts from notion of harm rather than criminal law, White- proper subject of criminology is any action that harms physical environment and/or the human and non human animals within it even if no law has been broken, form of transgressive criminology as it oversteps boundaries of trad criminology to include new issues, also known as zemiology which is the study of harm, diff countries also have diff laws so same harmful action may be crime in one country but not the other so legal definitions cannot provide consistent standard of harm bc they are the product of individual nation states, can develop a global perspective on environmental harms, this approach is like marxist view of crimes of the powerful- powerful interests like nation states can define in their own interest what counts as unacceptable environmental harm

Question 84

Two views of harm

Answer 84

Anthropocentric- nation states and tncs adopt this which is a human centered view of environmental harm, assumes humans have a right to dominate nature for their own ends and puts economic growth before the environment
Ecocentric- sees humans and their environments as interdependent so that environmental harm hurts humans also, sees both humans and the environment as liable to exploitation esp by global capitalism
in general green criminology adopts ecocentric view as basis for judging environmental harm

Question 85

Types of green crime- Primary

Answer 85

crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earths resource, South identifies 4 types:
Crimes of air pollution-Walters- 2x as many ppl die from air pollution induced breathing problems as 20yrs ago
Crimes of deforestation- criminals include state and those who profit
Crimes of species decline and animal abuse- 50 species a day become extinct, 95% of earths species live in rainforests which is at severe threat
Crimes of water pollution- 25m die annually from drinking contaminated water,Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused mass harm to marine life and coasts, criminals are businesses and govs

Question 86

Types of green crime- Seconary

Answer 86

crime that grows out of flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters- govs often break own regulations and cause environmental harm
State violence against oppositional groups- states condemn terrorism but have been prepared to resort to similar illegal methods themselves, 1985 the french secret service blew up greenpeace ship in auckland harbour killing a crew member, vessel was there to prevent a green crime (french nuclear weapons testing in south pacific)
Hazardous waste and organised crime- disposal of toxic waste from industry is highly profitable, safe and legal disposal is high so seek to dispose illegally, Brigland- after 2004 tsunami hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste that were illegally dumped by europe washed up on somalias shores, many western businesses ship waste to poorer countries

Question 87

Evaluation of green criminology

Answer 87

strengths and weaknesses of green criminology arise from its focus on global environmental concerns, recognises the growing importance of environmental issues
however by focusing on much broader concept of harms rather than legally defined crimes it is hard to define boundaries of its field of study clearly, defining these boundaries involves making moral or political statements abt which actions ought to be regarded as wrong, critics argue that this is a matter of values and cannot be established objectively

Question 88

Culture of Denial

Answer 88

Cohen- argues states now have to make a greater effort to justify their human rights crimes, hes interested in the ways states do this, democratic states have to legitimate their actions and so follow a three stage spiral of denial: 1- state claims there was no massacre but then its shown that it did happen, 2- if it did happen then it was something else, 3- even if it was you say it is, its justified
techniques of neutralisation- cohen examines the ways states deny or justify their crimes, draws on the work of Sykes and Matza who identify 5 neutralisation techniques: denial of injury- we are the real victims, denial of victim- they exaggerate, appeal to higher loyalty- self righteous justifications that claim to be serving higher cause, condemning of condemners- condemning us bc of their racism, denial of responsibility- i was obeying orders
these techniques do not deny that the event occurred but seek to impose a diff construction of the event from what might be the case

Question 89

State crimes

Answer 89

Marxists and critical criminologists argue trad criminology focuses too much on the crimes of the streets and ignored the crime of the suites committed by big businesses
Green and Ward define state crime as illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by or with the complicity of state agencies, includes all forms of crimes committed by or on behalf of states and govs in order to further their policies, most serious form of crime for two reasons:
- Scale of the crime, states enormous power gives it potential to inflict harm on huge scale
-State is source of the law, states role to define what is criminal and uphold the law, its power means it can conceal its crime, it undermines the system of justice and public faith in it

Question 90

Four categories of state crime

Answer 90

McLaughlin:
Political crimes- corruption and censorship
Crimes by security and police forces- like genocide, torture and disappearances of dissidents
Economic crimes- official violations of health and safety laws
Social and cultural crimes- institutional racism

Question 91

Genocide in Rwanda

Answer 91

UN defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnic or religious group, Rwanda became belgian colony in 1922 and belgians used the minority Tutsi to mediate rule over Hutu majority, were not separate ethnic groups and spoke same language, they were more like social classes where Tutsis owned livestock and Hutu did not, belgians ethnicised two groups issuing them w racial identity cards
gained independence 1962 and elections brought Hutus to power, by 90s an escalating economic and political crisis led to civil war w Hutu hardliners in gov attempting to cling on to power by fuelling race hate propaganda against Tutsis, shooting down of Hutu presidents plane triggered the genocide in 94 and in hundred days 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered

Question 92

State-Corporate crime

Answer 92

state crimes often committed in conjunction w corporate crimes, Kramer and Michalowski distinguish between state initiated and state facilitated corporate crime
Challenger space shuttle disaster- in 86 and is example of state initiated, occurs when states initiate or approve corporate crimes, in case of Challenger risky and cost cutting decisions by state agency NASA and corporation Morton Thiokol led to explosion that killed 7 astronauts
Deepwater horizon oil rig disaster- gulf of mexico 2010 is state facilitated, occurs when states fail to regulate and control corporate behaviour which makes crime easier, the rig leased by BP exploded and sank killing 11 workers and causing largest accidental oil spill in history, official enquiry found that while disaster resulted from decisions by companies involved, gov regulators had failed to oversee the industry adequately

Question 93

War crimes

Answer 93

Illegal wars- under international law, war can only be declared by the UN Security Council, many see the US-led war in Iraq in the name of the ‘war on terror’ as illegal
Crimes committed during war or its aftermath- Whyte- describes USAs neo-liberal colonisation of Iraq, in which the constitution was illegally changed so the economy could be privatised, Iraqi oil revenues then seized to pay for reconstruction, 2004 has 48b go to US firms, poor oversight by the occupying powers meant it is unclear where much of this went
Kramer and Michalowski identify other crimes committed during iraq war like torture of prisoners

Question 94

Defining state crime- Domestic law

Answer 94

Chambliss- defines state crime as acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state, however using states own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate, ignores the fact that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions, they can make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts

Question 95

Defining state crime- Social harms and Zemiology

Answer 95

recognises that much of the harm done by states is not against the law, Michalowski defines state crime as including not just illegal acts but legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of the illegal
Hillyard- we should take much wider view of state wrongdoing, should replace study of crimes with zemiology, the study of harms, whether or not theyre against the law, harms would include state faciliated poverty
this definition prevents states from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow them to misbehave, creates a single standard that can be applied to diff states to identify which ones are most harmful to human or environmental wellbeing

Question 96

Defining state crime- Labelling and societal reaction

Answer 96

argues whether an act constitutes as crime depends on whether social audience for that act defines it as a crime, may witness it directly or indirectly through media reports, this definition recognises that state crime is socially constructed and so what ppl define as state crime can vary over time between groups, prevents sociologist imposing own definitions of state crime, definition even vaguer than social harms

Question 97

Defining state crime- International law

Answer 97

base definition of state crime on international law, law created through treaties and agreements between states like Geneva convention, Rothe and Mullins- any action on behalf of a state that violates international law and or a states own domestic law, doesnt use sociologists personal definitions of harm but international law is social construction involving use of power

Question 98

Defining state crime- Human rights

Answer 98

natural rights that ppl have by virtue of existing like right to life and civil rights like the right to vote and to a fair trial
Schwendinger- we should define state crime as violation of ppls basic human rights by the state of its agents
Risse- virtually all states care abt their human rights image bc these rights are now social norms, makes them susceptible to shaming
for the Schwendingers the definition of crime is inevitably political, if we accept a legal definition we become subservient to the states interests
Cohen- criticises their view, some acts like economic exploitation are not self evidently criminal
disagreements over what counts as a human right, some would not include freedom from hunger

Question 99

Explaining state crime- Authoritarian personality

Answer 99

Adorono- identify an authoritarian personality that includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question, argues that at the time of ww2 many germans had this personality due to the disciplinarian socialisation patterns that were common at the time, often thought that ppl who carry out torture and genocide must be psychopaths but research suggests there is little psychological difference between them and normal people

Question 100

Explaining state crime- Crimes of obediance

Answer 100

state crimes are crimes of conformity since they require obedience to a higher authority, many people are willing to obey authority even when this involves harming others, sociologists argue that such actions are part of a role into which individuals are socialised, they focus on the social conditions in which atrocities become acceptable or even required
Green and Ward- in order to overcome norms against the use of cruelty, individuals who become torturers need to be resocialised and exposed to propaganda abt the enemy, torture turned into a job from which they can return to everyday life
Kelman and Hamilton- three general features that produce crimes of obedience, authorisation routinisation and dehumanisation

Question 101

Explaining state crime- Modernity

Answer 101

some commentators argue that Nazi holocaust represented a breakdown of modern civilisation and a reversion to premodern barbarism, Bauman takes opposite view that it was certain key features of modern society that made holocaust possible:
division of labour- each person was responsible for just one small task so no one felt personally responsible for the atrocity
bureaucratisation- normalised killing by making it a repetitive rule governed job
instrumental rationality- where rational efficient methods are used to achieve a goal, regardless of what the goal is
science and tech- from the railways transporting victims to the death camps, to the industrially produced gas used to kill them
Holocaust was a modern industrialised mass production factory system where product was mass murder

Question 102

State crime evaluation

Answer 102

not all genocides occur through a highly organised division of labour that allows participants to distance themselves from the killing
ideological factors important, nazi ideology stressed a single monolithic german racial identity that excluded minorities such as jews, meant they did not need to be treated according to normal standards or morality
thus, while the modern rational division of labour may have supplied means for the holocaust, it was racist ideology that supplied the motivation, decade of anti semitic propaganda preceeded the mass murder

Question 103

Era of mass incarceration

Answer 103

Garland- Usa and Uk moving to era of mass incarceration, been rising rapidly since the 70s and is now 1.4m state and federal prisoners in prisons like rikers island plus 750,000 in local jails, once figures reach these numbers its more incarceration of whole groups instead of individual offenders like young black males, black americans on 12% of us population but 33% of prison population, 6x more likely to be in prison, may have ideological function as US prison system soaks up 40% of the unemployed making capitalism look more successful
argues the reason for mass incarceration is the growing politicisation of crime control, change from reintergration consensus to one based on more punitive and tough on crime policies leading to rising numbers in prison

Question 104

Alternatives to crime

Answer 104

growth in the range of community based controls like curfews and community service, Cohen- argues the growth of community controls has cast the net of control over more people, increased range of sanctions enables control to penetrate ever deeper into society, may divert young ppl into criminal justice system

Question 105

Positivist victimology

Answer 105

Miers- defines it as having three features: aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation, focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence, aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation
the earliest positivist studies focused on victim proneness, sought to identify the social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them more vulnerable to being a victim
Hentig- identified 13 characteristics of victims like theyre more likely to be female or mentally subnormal
identifies certain patterns of interpersonal victimisation but ignores wider structural factors, can easily tip over into victim blaming, ignores situations where victims are unaware of their victimisation

Question 106

Critical victimology

Answer 106

based on conflict theories and shares same approach as critical victimology focuses on two elements:
structural factors- like patriarchy and poverty which place powerless groups at greater risk of victimisation
states power to apply or deny label of victim- victim is a social construct, through criminal justice system process the state applies the label of victim to some but withholds it from others
Tombs and Whyte- show that safety crimes where employers violations of the law lead to death or injury to workers are often explained away as the fault of accident prone workers
disregards the role victims may play in bringing victimisation on themselves through their own choices

Question 107

Patterns of victimisation

Answer 107

class- poorest groups most likely to be victimised, Newburn and Rock- homeless people 12x likely to be victim of violence
age- younger people more at risk of victimisation, most at risk of being murdered are infants under one
ethnicity- minority ethnic groups at greater risk
gender- males at greater risk of being violent attack, 70% homicide victims are male
repeat victimisation- likely to be a victim again