crime Flashcards
left realism
take crime seriously
causes
1-relative deprivation,
how deprived someone feels in relation to others, amplified due to media(Lea and Young)
AO3- lethal combination of relative deprivation and individualism that causes crime as it encourages the pursuit of self interest and causes disintegration of families by undermining mutual support
2-marginalisation
lack of clear goals and organisations to represent interests (workers and trade unions). unemployed youth = marginalised with no clear goals or organisations leading them to frustration which they express through criminality due to being powerless in political means
3-subcultures
criminal subcultures still subscribe to values and goals of mainstream society such as consumerism and materialism, Young ‘full immersion in the american dream’ and when legitimate opportunities are blocked street crime is turned to
AO3- different groups turn to different solutions, some may turn to spiritual comfort
solutions
-military policing, eradicate inequality
right realism
seek realistic solutions not causes
sees crime as a real problem that threatens societies work ethic, criticises other theories for failing to find realistic solutions
causes:
1-biological differences
Wilson and Herrnstein, biosocial theory, crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors, biological factors make some more likely to commit crime
2-socialisation and the underclass
Murray, crime is high due to a growing underclass who are defined by deviant behaviour and fail to socialise children properly, welfare states ‘generous revolution’ leaves them more dependent on benefits and increasing outsider to society, less marriage = more absent fathers = lack of role model and discipline
3-rational choice theory
if the supply and value of the legitimate structure is low, a teenager may make a rational choice that makes more sense e.g steal a car rather than wash them
solutions:
zero tolerance
merton, strain
deviant behaviour is engaged in when individuals are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
The American dream, ideology of meritocratic society that prioritises success and gain, this results in strain between cultural goal of money and lack of legitimate means to achieve this
responses:
conformists, accept goals and legit ways
innovators, accept goals but illegit ways
ritualists, give up on goals but follow rules
retreatists, reject goals and legit ways (drug)
rebels, reject goals and means but replace with revolutionary ones (political radicals)
AO3
shows how behaviour can arise from the same mainstream goals
ignores ruling class crime
doesn’t account for non utilitarian crime
cohen status frustration
wc boys suffer cultural deprivation
suffer SF due to being unable to achieve status in legitimate means
alternative status hierarchy, inverts values of mainstream society, due to failing legitimate means wc turn to illegitimate which offers status for delinquent behaviour
AO3
offers explanation for non utilitarian crime
assumes wc boys share mc goals only to reject them, ignores possibility that they may not have them in the first place and therefore don’t view themselves as failures
cloward and ohlin
wc denied legitimate opportunities to achieve money success, not everyone turns to innovation is successful
criminal subculture, organised crime e.g mafia, longstanding and stable criminal networks
conflict subculture, gang organised by young themselves, high population turnover, loosely organised
retreatist subculture, double failures, drug abuse
AO3
ignores upper class crime
overpredicts wc crime
South- boundaries too sharp, retreatist can be successful still e.g drug dealing
Cicourel, negotiation of justice
decisions to arrest based on stereotypes about offenders
‘typification’ = stereotypes of what a typical delinquent is like
this results in law enforcement showing class bias to wc areas as they fitted the typification’s
justice not fixed but negotiable, e.g when mc youth is arrested he was less likely to be charged, partly because his background didn’t fir their idea of typification’s and partly because mc parents are better at negotiating
durkheim positive functions of crime
inevitability of crime
crime = normal and healthy
1- boundary maintenance
- reaffirms societies shared rules and reinforce social solidarity
-rituals of courtroom dramatize wrong doing and publicly shames offenders
COHEN role played by media to dramatise - folk devils
2- adaptation and change
-all change starts with deviant acts
-e.g stonewall
3- social cohesion
- brings society together in a collective conscious e.g Sarah Everard
too much crime threatens to tear bonds of society, to little means society is repressing and controlling it’s members
AO3
:( crime doesn’t always promote social solidarity, lead to people becoming more isolated e.g women remaining indoors due to fear of attack
lermet
primary deviance
-deviant acts that aren’t publicly labelled (widespread and unlikely to have a single cause)
-‘moment of madness’
secondary deviance
-devisnce that is labelled. result of labelling/societal reaction
-publicly labelled as criminal leading to humiliation, stigmas, and exclusion from society
-provokes crisis of individual concept, a way to resolve this is to accept deviant label
deviant career
-secondary deviance is likely to provoke more hostility due to society isolating them, this can lead to a deviant career e.g ex-convict finding it hard to get a job and feels they have no support so join deviant subcultures
Young and deviance amplification spiral
Young used concepts of secondary deviance and deviant career in his study on notting hill with hippies and marijuana
-initially drugs were part of hippies lifestyle (primary deviance)
-persecution and labelling lead to hippies seeing themselves as outsiders so they retreated into their deviant subculture embracing sfp
-not act itself but hostile reaction that creates serious deviance
DAS
-attempt to control deviance leads to more deviance
Cohen- folk devils and moral panic, societal reaction to mods and rockers, press exaggeration and distorted reporting lead to police cracking down and deviance amplification spiral
folk devils = opposite of dark figure
folk devils- overrepresented
dark figure- under represented
coroners dilemma
Atkinson
-official statistics= merely a label coroners attach to deaths
-impossible to know meanings behind the dead gave to their deaths
-more than 10 sleeping pills, almost sure it’s suicide
The state and Law making
-law enforcement serves capitalist class
-Chambliss, laws that protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy
-ruling class have power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten them
-Snider, capitalist state= reluctant to pass laws that regulate activities of business or threaten profitability
crimogenic capitalism
-capitalism in it’s nature causes crime
-wc cause crime due to capitalism leaving them in poverty, alienation (violence) and obtaining consumer goods advertised to them
-Gordon, Dog eat dog, profit motive encourages greed and need to win all leads to white collar crime such as tax evasion
crime= rational response to capitalism which is expressed through crime being in all social classes
class and gender deals
Carlen
-most female crime is wc
-wc women confrom with 2 promises
1 class deal, women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities
2 gender deal, patriarchal ideology promises women maternal and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to conventional gender norms
AO3, neglects crime committed by women who HAVE these deals
Heidensohn control theory
-control at home, Dobash and Dobash, mens dissatisfaction with wives domestic duties result in violent attacks (restriction on time and movement confines them to house)
AO3- underplays free will
-control in public, 54% women avoid going out after dark vs 14% mean (media reports rape to add fear)
AO3- outdated as women go out more
-control at work, glass ceiling, sexual harassment to keep women in their place
AO3- more women now in higher positions (also explains why female crime has increased)
black, population statistic
- 3% population
-13.1% prison population
