Crime Flashcards
1
Q
Materialism
A
Presents people with a perfect life. Leads to experience of material depreciation, leads to them committing crime.
2
Q
Desensitisation
A
The media exposes people to violent crimes regularly. Some argue this exposure makes people less sensitive to crime and more likely to commit.
3
Q
Imitation / crime
A
Viewers see a crime and want to copycat
4
Q
Social learning theory
A
Bandura (Bobo doll study)
5
Q
Arousal
A
Violent and sexual imagery in the media may ‘stimulate’ potential criminals and may become a factor in them turning to crime
6
Q
Knowledge of crimes (media)
A
People can learn criminal techniques through the media, whether its using media to communicate and search, or simply watching TV/film is teaching them
7
Q
Moral panic
A
Is an exaggerated overreaction by society to a perceived problem, which is usually driven and/or inspired by the media. The reaction to this enlarges the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness.
8
Q
Stages in moral panic
A
- The media identify group as a folk devil
- The media present the group in a negative, stereotypical way and exaggerate the scale of the problem
- Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, police chiefs and other ‘respectable’ people condemn the group of its behavior
9
Q
Folk Devils
A
Person/Group deemed as a threat to social values
10
Q
Folk Devil in media example - Mods & Rockers - Cohen
A
- 2 groups of WC teens
- mods = smart and rode scooters
- rockers = leather and rode motorbikes
- groups created disorder by smashing windows/throwing stones
- disorder was relatively minor, media overreacted
11
Q
Media exaggeration/distortion
A
The media exaggerates the numbers involved and the extent of violence and damage. Usually done through dramatic headlines
12
Q
Prediction
A
The media regularly assumes and predicts further violence and conflict would occur
13
Q
Symbolisation (folk devils)
A
The media creates symbols for the ‘folk devils’ which are all negatively labelled. E.G. associating people with certain clothing, hairstyles, clothing etc
14
Q
Deviance amplification spiral - cohen
A
Media’s portrayal of events produced a deviancy amplification spiral. Made the problem seem to be spreading/out of hand
- causes increased marginalisation and stigmatisation of folk devils
- media definitions of situations are crucial in creating moral panic, because people rely on media for information about folk devils as they rarely experience themselves
15
Q
Example of folk devil in media
A
Young mother - 2023
- villainised for ‘blocking up the NHS’
- under 18 moving out
- often first calls after birth is to council announcing homelessness
16
Q
Evaluation of media creating moral panic
A
- Audiences are passive recipients of the media - passive just accept and believe whereas active go against
- who decides whether social reactions are an overreaction
17
Q
Crimes affected by globalisation
A
Fraud
Drugs
Human trafficking
Dark web
Endangered species trafficking
Green crimes
Money laundering
International terrorism
18
Q
Taylor - Book - Crime in context (Globalisation)
A
Globalisation has led to inequality, therefore leading to a higher crime rate
19
Q
Winlow (crime) - Deindustrialisation
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Deindustrialisation has led to more crime, masculinity has to be found in other ways e.g. fighting
20
Q
Functionalist Durkheim & Crime
A
Sees crime as a normal part of all healthy societies
21
Q
Durkheim believes crime serves 2 positive functions
A
- Boundary maintenance - shared norms and values are reaffirmed by punishment. - Function is punishing
- Adaptation & Change - all change starts with an act of deviance. Challenging existing norms results in new culture and morality with our society stagnating (staying still)
22
Q
Crime is seen as normal & Healthy in societies by Durkheim - CRIME IS FOUND BECAUSE..
A
- crime is found in all societies as not everyone is socialised equally
- diversity of lifestyles/values
23
Q
Anomie
A
Normlessness
- Groups or individuals feel disconnected from commonly accepted norms and values of society. This often occurs during periods of rapid social change, where norms become unclear or lose influence over people’s behaviour.
24
Q
AO2 for Durkheim - how much crime is too much
A
Tears the bands of society too little is repressing - stifling individual freedom and preventing change
25
Cohen and crime
Another function of deviance ‘a warning’ that an institution isn’t running properly. For example - truancy levels may determine the problems with the education system.
26
Subcultural theory - Strain Theory - Merton
Argues people engage in deviant behaviour - when they were unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.
2 elements - structural - society’s unequal opportunity
- cultural factors focus on success goals but not on legitimate ways of achieving them
Deviance is the result of the strain between these two things
27
Merton’s strain theory A02: The American Dream
- achieve this goal using legitimate means such as education and hard work in a career
- based on an ideology that their society is meritocratic and anyone who makes the effort can get ahead
- yet many groups are denied the opportunity due to poverty, inadequate schooling or discrimination
28
Merton’s strain theory A03 (American dream)
- increases pressure to do well, other people live the dream
- why is there more pressure to deviate - increased frustration - strain to Anomie (norms)
29
Criticisms of Merton strain theory (A03)
- official statistics may cause issues - because lower class are caught in crime more. Also it doesn’t cover everyone
- not everyone is concerned by money
- only covers crimes to do with money (utilitarian) not non-utilitarian crimes such as murder
- Marxists argue it ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich
30
Voulentarianism
Free will - doesnt resort to crime
31
Durkheim crime key ideas
Functionalism sees society as based on value consensus (common values)
- used for socialisation/social control
- crime is healthy for society - not too much nor little
32
Durkheim crime evidence (Boundary Maintenance)
Crime produces a reaction from society. Unites members on condemning the wrong doer.
Adaptation/change - all change starts with an act of deviance
33
Labelling theory - internationalist (bottom up)
- why some people get labelled and others dont
- crime is socially constructed, same as labels
34
Who gets labelled
- appearance, background, situation, circumstances
- studies show agencies of control are more likely to label certain groups as deviant/criminal
35
Labelling theory A02 police officer study
Police officers decision’s of youths
- based on physical appearance, dress, manners, gender, class, ethnicity, time/place
- evidence shows those found in high crime areas late at night are more likely to be stopped
36
Labelling A02 - Cicourel
Data collected using both participant and non participant observation over 4 years.
- he went out on patrol with the police and sat in on courtroom proceedings
- he also undertook the role of an unpaid probation officer
He did this for 4 years - longitudinal and primary first hand research
He found that these officials tended to apply stereotypes, such as associating certain neighborhoods or social groups with higher likelihoods of criminal behavior. This led to a biased process of labelling certain individuals (often from marginalized communities) as delinquents or criminals, based not on objective evidence but on the social and economic background of the suspects.
Cicourel argued that social class and appearance played a significant role in how individuals were labelled, rather than any inherent criminal behavior. He also showed that official labels could influence future interactions with the justice system, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy where individuals who were labelled as criminals were more likely to continue offending due to the social stigma attached to them.
37
Cicourel labelling study A03
- Hawthorne affect may reduce validity
38
The dark figure
Is the difference between official statistics and the ‘real’ rate of crime. Because we do not know how much goes undetected, unreported and unrecorded
39
Lemert - primary deviance
Refers to deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. Lemert argues that it is pointless to try to understand the cause of primary deviance, because it is both widespread and also usually trivial (e.g. fare dodging, fake id, littering) and mostly goes uncaught. This type of deviance is not part of an organised deviant way of life and people don’t make habit of it. - explained as ‘moment of madness’ - primary deviants don’t generally think of themselves as deviant.
40
Lemert - secondary deviance (result of labelling)
Result of social reaction (labelling). Being caught and publically labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised, shamed, humiliated or excluded from society.
Once labelled others see them only as label, becomes their MASTER STATUS. - self fulfilling prophecy
YOUNG - hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill - initially drugs were not important, they were used but not defined by them. Then police persecuted and labelled them as drug users the hippies saw themselves as outsiders
41
Secondary deviance A03
People have free will and can choose whether to accept the label
42
Cohen - deviance amplification
Labelling theorists use this term to describe a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in it
43
Cohen - deviance amplification A03
Similar to lemerts idea of secondary deviance. In both cases the societal reaction to an initial deviant act leads not to successful control of the deviance, but to further deviance, which in turn leads to a greater reaction and so on.
44
Marxism and crime
Marxists agree with labelling theorists that the law is enforced disproportionately against the working class and therefore crime statistics cannot be taken at face value.
They criticise the labelling theory for failing to examine the wider structure of capitalism within which law making, offending and enforcing take place
Bourgeoisie - own means of production
Proletariat
45
Crimogenic capitalism and crime - Marxism
Meaning - by its very nature it causes crime
- based on exploiting wc
- using them for profit
- crimes may be only way for wc
Gordon argues dog eat dog - ruthless competition between capitalists
46
Marxist ideological functions of crime and law
Perform functions for capitalism - laws appear to benefit wc but don’t
Pearce - laws benefit ruling class e.g..
- keeping workers fit for work, giving capitalism a ‘caring face’ creates a false consciousness among workers
- divides wc by encouraging workers to blame criminals for their problems than wc
47
The state and lawmaking - Marxism (chambliss) EA
Chambliss argues that laws serve the interests of private property
A02 - English introduces tax paid in cash in EA (EAST AFRICAN) colonies - cash can only be made by working in colonies
48
Marxism and crime A03
- useful to explain how rich are still in power
Criticisms
- capitalist companies still get sued e.g. diddy
- it largely ignores the relationship between crime and non-class inequalities such as ethnicity or gender
- it is too deterministic and over-predicts the amount of crime in the working class: not all poor commit crime
- reductionist - only looks at class crime/ignores other
49
Neo Marxists - 2 ways agreeing with Marxist view on crime
Society is based on exploitation and class conflict, extreme inequalities of wealth. Enforces laws to benefit capitalists and criminalise WC
50
Neo Marxism and crime - disagree with Marxism and crime
They reject the Marxism view of determinism and take a volulentatristic view (free will). Crime is meaningful action and conscious choice by the actor. Often has political move, such as redistributing wealth from rich to poor
51
Neo Marxism and crime - Taylor theory of deviance
Unequal distribution of power and wealth. What society labels as deviant is influenced by class struggles and who holds power. Crime is also socially constructed, meaning its not the same for everyone
52
Neo Marxism - critical criminology A03 - left realists
1 - romanticise working class crime, when in reality these criminals prey on the poor
2 - they do not take crimes seriously ‘robin hoods’ and ignore its effects on w/c victims
53
Crimes of the powerful - White collar
Crime committed by a person of responsibility and high social status in the course of occupation e.g. stealing data from a customer
Evidence - swindling accounts
Impact - going to be better off but cause harm to people stolen from
CJS response - fines, prison sentence - loopholes as powerful
54
Crimes of the powerful - types of corporate crime
Occupational crime - for personal
Corporate gain - widespread and pervasive for the purpose of bettering the company
Evidence - google, apple, facebook, amazon, Microsoft, eBay
Functional crimes such as tax evasion
Impact - do more harm than ordinary street crime e.g. one estimate puts the cost of white collar crimes in the USA as over 10X than ordinary crimes
CJS response - law created by bourgeoise
55
Crimes of the powerful - Abuse of trust
Abusing trust of public - e.g. Jimmy Saville
Response of CJS - fines/prison
56
Crimes of the powerful - Abuse of trust
Abusing trust of public - e.g. Jimmy Saville
Response of CJS - fines/prison
57
Crimes of the powerful - invisibility of corporate crime
Evidence - media under represents corporate crime - eBay illegal every year but not in media
Companies are getting away with it and keeping their reputation intact
Response of CJS - not seen as a real crime
58
Crimes of the powerful - corporate crime A03
- law abiding may be more profitable than law breaking e.g. US pharmaceuticals that complied with regulations to obtain a license were able to access lucrative markets in poorer countries
- Both strain theory/marxism over predict the amount of business crime e.g. maintaining the goodwill of other companies they do business with may prevent them resorting to crime
- non-profit agencies such as police, army or other civil service e.g. state agencies in communist regimes committed crimes against health/safety environment and consumers
59
Gender and crime - Trends - A02/evidence
- 4/5 convicted are men therefore women are convicted less
- by 40 9% of women VS 32% of men had a criminal conviction
- men are 15x more likely to commit homocide and overall commit serious crimes
- female crimes are less likely to be reported - e.g. prostitution, involves men and women
60
Gender and crime - chivalry thesis - pollak A02/3
Police officers are socialised into acting chivalrously towards women, therefore less likely to prosecute women and women are less likely to be let off than men. E.g self report studies show 1/11 female self reporters were prosecuted
A03: men are 2x more likely to shoplift however women get caught and attention brought to more
Under reporting of crimes against women - only 87% of women report sexual assault
61
Gender and crime - bias against women A01/2
Double standards - punish girls but not boys for promiscuous activity. Such girls can end up in care without ever having committed an offence
Sharpe found when analysing 55 youth worker records that 7/11 girls were referred for support because they were sexually active but none of the 44 boys
- also women who do not conform to accepted standards of heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly
62
Gender and crime - functionalist sex role theory
Explains gender differences in crime through the socialisation of males and females within society. Parsons - traditional family structures play a critical role in shaping behaviour - nuclear family men take instrumental breadwinner role and women take the expressive socialising role. Therefore boys lack a constant role model at home and may reject feminine behaviours such as gentleness - may adopt ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ which encourages aggression/risk taking
Cohen - absence of male role results in boys joining gangs to seek masculine identity
A03 - walklate criticise as boys biologically assume women to be expressive due to child bearing capability
63
Gender and crime - Carlen: Gender and class deals
- most convinced serious female criminals = working class/studies 39 15-46yr old women convicted of crimes
Believes humans act rationally and being offered a ‘deal’ of rewards in return for not conforming to social norms. People turn to crime if the rewards seem to outweigh the risk
- working class women conform to two types of rewards or deals:
- the class deal - women who work will be offered material rewards
- gender deal - patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life and conforming to the norms of conventional domestic role
- if not able to take a deal they resort to crime to escape
64
Gender and crime: Heidensohn - Patriarchal control
Argues women are very confirmative and commit less crimes than men because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and reduces their opportunities to offend:
Control at home - men control women, if unhappy they reduce women’s spend on activity and leisure therefore restricting time outside of home. They also resort to domestic violence. - daughters also develop bedroom culture so therefore less likely to deviate to street behaviour
Control in public - by fear or male violence towards them - also what they wear can develop a ‘reputation’ could be thought of as loose or as a sex worker
Control at work - sexual harassment is widespread ‘keeps women in place’, glass ceiling stops them committing white collar crimes
65
Gender and crime: The liberation thesis
If patriarchal society exercises control over women to prevent deviation , if there was a less patriarchal society and more equal then women’s crime rates will become similar to men’s
Adler argues as women become more liberated from patriarchy crime will become more serious. Liberation has led to new type of female criminal. Adler argues changes in structure of society has led to changes in women’s offending behaviour - no longer commit female crimes (shoplifting/prostitution) and doing male crimes (white collar/violence)
Evidence - rise in participation in male crimes
- growth of girl gangs - desire for control/ to look ‘hard’
Criticisms A03 - crime rate grew from 1950’s - before women’s liberation movement
- most women committing crimes are working class therefore less likely to be affected by liberation movement
