Crime And Deviance Flashcards
1
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory- Inevitability of Crime
A
- Too much crime is destabilising society but it is inevitable and universal- every society has some level of crime and deviance
- Why found in all societies:
=not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values
=there is diversity of lifestyles and values- different groups develop their own subcultures - Modern societies tend towards anomie (normlessness)- the rules governing behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut=weakened shared collective conscience resulting in higher levels deviance
2
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory- Positive Functions of Crime
A
- Boundary maintenance=crime reaffirms society’s shared rules and reinforces social solidarity- reinstating values of law abiding majority and discouraging rule breaking
- Adaptation and change=there must be some scope for people to challenge existing norms and values- society will not be able to change if people are suppressed
=too much crime threatens to tear the bonds of society apart
=too little crime means society is controlling its members too much which prevents change - Safety valve=crime and deviance occurs on a low-level to avoid harsher crimes being committed which could threaten society
- Warning sign=crime indicates an institution is not working as it should and that change should take place to sort this
3
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory- Criticisms
A
- Ignores how deviance affects different groups or individuals within society
- Crime doesn’t always promote solidarity
- Does not elaborate on how much deviance is required for society to function successfully
4
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Merton’s Strain Theory- American Dream
A
- Merton’s explanations:
=structural factors- society’s unequal opportunity structure
=cultural factors- strong emphasis on success goals and weaker emphasis on legitimate means to achieve them - Deviance is the result of strain between:
=the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
=what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately - The American dream=meritocratic society where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead- in reality, many opportunities are blocked
Strain between goal of money success and lacking legitimate opportunities=frustration=pressure to resort to illegitimate means
5
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Merton’s Strain Theory- Deviant Adaptations to Strain
A
- Conformity:
Individuals accept culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately - Innovation:
Individuals accept goal of money success but use illegitimate means to achieve it - Ritualism:
Individuals give up on trying to achieve the goals, but have internalised the legitimate means, so follow rules for their own sake - Retreatism:
Individuals reject both goals and legitimate means and become dropouts - Rebellion:
Individuals reject existing society’s goals but replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about change and create a new type of society
6
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Merton’s Strain Theory- Evaluation
A
- Explains patterns shown in official crime statistics but takes these stats at face value- over representing W/C crime
- Ignores power of ruling class to enforce laws that criminalise poor but not rich
- Assumes there is a value consensus and ignores people may not share this goal
- Only accounts for utilitarian crime for monetary gain
- Ignores role of group deviance
7
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Subcultural Strain Theories- Cohen: Status Frustration
A
- Criticises Merton’s explanation:
=sees deviance as individual response to strain ignoring deviance committed in groups
=focuses on utilitarian crime committed for material gain- ignores crimes with no economic motive - W/C boys face anomie=culturally deprived=bottom of official status hierarchy=status frustration=reject M/C values and resort to delinquent subculture
- Alternative status hierarchy=inverting values of mainstream society offered to boys in which they can achieve in- creating own illegitimate opportunity structure so can win status from peers through delinquent actions
8
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Subcultural Strain Theories- Cloward and Ohlin: Three Subcultures
A
- W/C youths denied legitimate opportunities to achieve and form subcultures which turn to violence
=differences due to unequal access to legitimate opportunity structure and illegitimate opportunity structure
=difference neighbourhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities to learn skills and develop criminal careers - Criminal subcultures:
=apprenticeship into utilitarian crime
=neighbourhoods where stable criminal subculture and hierarchy of adult crime
=criminals train youths with right abilities and provide opportunities on criminal career ladder - Conflict subcultures:
=areas high population turnover preventing stable criminal network
=only illegitimate opportunities in gangs
=violence provides release frustration at blocked opportunities and alternative status hierarchy earned by winning turf from rival gangs - Retreatist subcultures:
=double failures both in legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures
=illegal drug use
9
Q
Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories- Subcultural Strain Theories- Cloward and Ohlin: Three Subcultures- Evaluation
A
- Ignore crimes of wealthy, wider power structure and over-predict W/C crime
- Try to explain different types W/C deviance in terms of different subcultures
- Draw boundaries too sharply between different types- actual subcultures fit into all/none
- Reactive=deviant subcultures form in reaction to failure to achieve mainstream goals- wrongly assuming everyone shares these goals in first place
10
Q
Interactionism and Labelling Theory- Social Construction of Crime
A
- Deviance is a social construct
Becker=groups create deviance by creating rules and applying them to people labelled and outsiders
=act/person becomes deviant when labelled as such - Differential enforcement:
=social control agencies label veteran groups as criminal
=Piliavin+Briar=police decisions to arrest based on stereotypical ideas - Typifications: Cicourel=stereotypes of typical delinquent who are more likely stopped, arrested and charged
=W/C and ethnic minority juveniles more likely arrested
=M/C juveniles don’t fit typification, parents can negotiate on behalf less likely charged - Social construction of crime stats:
W/C people fit typifications=more policing=more arrests
=crime stats not valid picture of patterns
=Cicourel=cannot take at face value or use as a resource- treat as a topic and investigate process of how constructed
Dark figure=difference between official stats and real rate of crime- victim surveys/self report studies gain more accurate view
11
Q
Interactionism and Labelling Theory- Effects of Labelling
A
- Lemert=by labelling as deviant, society encourages them to become more deviant
- Primary and secondary deviance:
Primary=deviant acts not publicly labelled- those who commit don’t see themselves as deviant
Secondary=results from societal reaction- becomes individuals master status - Self-fulfilling prophecy:
Live up to label=secondary deviance
Further societal reaction=deviant subculture to support them in deviant career
Young=drug use peripheral to hippies (primary) / police persecute as junkies (secondary) / deviant subculture around drugs (SFP) - Deviance amplification spiral=controlling deviance leads to more deviance and greater attempts at control etc etc
Cohen- folk devils of mods and rockers:
Media exaggeration began moral panic / moral entrepreneurs called for crack down resulting in more arrests and concern / demonising mods and rockers as folk devils marginalised them further=more deviance
12
Q
Interactionism and Labelling Theory- Mental Illness and Suicide
A
- Douglas: meaning of suicide:
Rejects official stats (social constructs about labels applied by coroners)- discover deceased’s meanings using qualitative methods - Atkinson: coroners’ common-sense knowledge:
Use taken-for-granted assumptions to construct social reality
Ideas of typical suicide affected verdict - Mental illness:
=How person becomes labelled as mentally ill and effects of labelling- person’s negative response gives group reason to fear for their mental health and leads to medial label=master status
=Goffman=possible effects of institutionalisation
Mortification of self=old identity killed off and replaced by new inmate one- achieved by degradation rituals
13
Q
Class, Power and Crime- Explaining Class Differences in Crime
A
- Official stats=W/C more likely offend
- Functionalists=crime product of inadequate socialisation- W/C have independent subculture explaining higher crime
- Strain theory=class structure denies W/C people opportunity to achieve by legitimate means
- Subcultural theories=Cohen=W/C youths are culturally deprived and unable to educationally achieve- status frustration- delinquent subcultures to gain status: criminal, conflict, retreatist
- Labelling theory=reject view official stats valid picture who commits most crime- role of law enforcement agencies power to label W/C as criminals
14
Q
Class, Power and Crime- Marxism, Class and Crime
A
- Criminogenic capitalism:
It’s very nature causes crime
W/C crime=poverty / only way of obtaining consumer goods / alienation causes frustration and aggression - The state and law making:
Law making and enforcement serves interests of capitalism
Chambliss=laws to protect private property basis of capitalist economy
Ruling class power to prevent new laws harmful to their interests - Selective enforcement:
Reiman=crimes of powerful less likely criminal offences
Higher rate of prosecution crimes of poor - Ideological functions of crime and law:
Laws benefit workers and capitalism- false consciousness
Selective law enforcement=crime W/C problem- encouraging them to blame each other rather than capitalism
Selective enforcement distorts crime stats
15
Q
Class, Power and Crime- Neo-Marxism: Critical Criminology
A
- Taylor, Walton+Young=criticise Marxism for determinism
- Voluntarism:
Crime is conscious choice often with political motive- criminals deliberately struggling to change society - Fully social theory of deviance:
Comprehensive theory help to change society for better
=Marxist ideas about unequal distribution wealth/who has power make and enforce law
=Labelling theory’s ideas about meaning of deviant act for actor, societal reactions to it and effects of label on individual
16
Q
Class, Power and Crime- Crimes of the Powerful
A
- Sutherland=white-collar crime=committed by person of respectability and high status in course of occupation
=occupational crime=committed by employees for personal gain
=corporate crime=committed for company’s benefit - Scale of corporate crime=widespread, routine and pervasive: financial crimes/crimes against consumer and employer/crimes against environment
- Abuse of trust:
White-collar crime greater threat as promotes distrust of institutions and undermines fabric of society - Invisibility of corporate crime:
=media give limited coverage
=lack of political will
=lack of resources and expertise to investigate effectively
=de-labelling
=under-reporting
17
Q
Class, Power and Crime- Explanations of Corporate Crime
A
- Strain theory:
Company will employ illegitimate means to achieve goal of maximising profit
Clinard+Yinger=companies law violations increased as profitability declined - Differential association:
If deviant subculture justifies committing crime, employees socialised into criminality - Labelling theory:
Companies have power to avoid labelling- inability of enforcement to investigate effectively reduces offences actually labelled - Marxism:
Capitalism seeks to maximise profits which causes harm- corporations comply with law only if enforced strictly
18
Q
Realist Theories of Crime- Right Realism
A
- Offer practical solutions to crime and see it as product of: biological differences, inadequate socialisation, rational choice
- Biological differences:
Some people innately predisposed to commit crime- aggressive personality/low IQ - Underclass:
=Murray=welfare state encourage failure to socialise children properly
=generous welfare provision=benefit-dependent lone parent families
=boys lack discipline/role model=delinquent subcultures - Rational choice theory:
=committing crime based on choice over cost-benefit analysis
=perceived costs of crime are low so benefits outweigh=more crime - Solutions to crime
=orderly neighbourhoods to avoid crime taking hold
=zero tolerance policing
=crime prevention policies reduce rewards of crime and increase costs - Criticisms:
=ignores structural causes of crime
=over-emphasises control of neighbourhoods
=police only boosted arrest rates for minor deviant acts
19
Q
Realist Theories of Crime- Left Realism
A
- Takes crime seriously as recognises that main victims are from disadvantaged groups and there’s been a real increase in crime
- Relative deprivation:
How deprived someone feels in relation to others- resort to crime to obtain what feels entitled to
=cultural inclusion- poor have access to media’s materialistic messages
=economic exclusion- of poor from opportunities to gain prizes - Subculture:
Criminal subcultures subscribe to society’s materialistic goals- legitimate opportunities blocked- resort to crime - Marginalisation:
No organisation to present them/no clear goals- frustration expressed through criminal means - Late modernity and crime:
=harsher welfare / job insecurity / poverty
=crime found throughout society / less consensus on acceptable behaviour / public demand harsher control - Solutions:
=Democratic policing: Military policing / local communities involved in policy making / multi-agency approach
=Reducing inequality: structural changes to tackle discrimination and provide decent jobs - Criticisms:
=ignores harms done to poor by powerful
=over-predicts W/C crime
=quantitative data not motives
=focuses on high-crime inner city areas
20
Q
Gender, Crime and Justice- Gender Patterns in Crime
A
- Men appear to commit more crime but women underestimated in official stats- female crimes less likely reported and prosecuted
- Chivalry thesis=CJS more lenient to women as agents are men who socialised to act chivalrously- protective so less willing to charge
+women more likely cautioned
+women less likely jailed for similar cases
~male crimes don’t get reported
~self-report studies show men commit more crime - Bias against women=CJS treats women more harshly especially when deviate from norms
=double standard girls not boys
21
Q
Gender, Crime and Justice- Functionalist Sex Role Theory
A
- Parsons=gender socialisation and role models nuclear family
=expressive role / adult role model / boys reject this
=compensatory compulsory masculinity
=instrumental role makes socialisation difficult for boys
=absence male role model boys turn to street gangs as source of identity
22
Q
Gender, Crime and Justice- Heidensohn: Patriarchal Control
A
- Control at home:
=domestic role provides restrictions on time and movement and confines to house- no opportunity offend
=men impose this role on women
=daughters have bedroom culture and required to do more housework - Control in public:
=by fear of male sexual violence
=by fear of being defined as not respectable - Control at work:
=subordinate position reduces criminal opportunity- glass-ceiling
23
Q
Gender, Crime and Justice- Carlen: Class and Gender Deals
A
- Hirschi’s control theory=humans act rationally and controlled by offering deal / people commit if don’t believe get rewards
=class deal- women who work will get decent standard of living
=gender deal- women who conform to conventional domestic role gain material and emotional rewards of life
- Liberation thesis=as women liberated from patriarchy, offending similar to men’s
=opportunities more equal and adopted traditional male roles and so commit more male crimes
24
Q
Gender, Crime and Justice- Females and Violent Crime
A
- Criminalisation of females:
Female arrests for violence risen but this not matched by victim surveys
=rise in arrests due to CJS widening the net- prosecuting females for less serious crimes than previously - Moral panic about girls:
Drunk and disorderly, out of control and looking for fights according to media
=affecting sentencing decisions
=SFP and amplification spiral
25
Gender, Crime and Justice- Gender and Victimisation
- More homicide victims male by friend but female victims more likely to know killer
- Fewer women than men victims of violence
- Mismatch between who has a greater fear and who is most at risk
26
Gender, Crime and Justice- Masculinity and Crime
- Messerschmidt=masculinity is social construct and accomplishment men have to work at presenting
=hegemonic masculinity- paid labour / subordination of women / uncontrollable sexuality
- White M/C youths=accommodating masculinity in school to achieve M/C status but outside masculinity is oppositional
- White W/C youths=oppositional masculinity in and out of school as less chance success
- Black lower W/C youths=gang membership masculinity as little expectation of job due to racism
- Criticisms:
=circular argument
=not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
=tries to explain all male crimes with masculinity
27
Gender, Crime and Justice- Winlow: Postmodernity, Masculinity and Crime
- Globalisation=loss traditional manual jobs where masculinity expressed through labour
Service sector=legal employment, criminal opportunity and express masculinity
- Bodily capital:
Postmodernity=organised professional criminal subculture
Develop physical assets to maintain reputation and employability in
28
Ethnicity, Crime and Justice- Alternative Sources Of Statistics
- Victim surveys:
=ask to identity ethnicity of criminal
=crime takes place within rather than between ethnic groups
~rely on memory of events
~only cover personal crimes
~exclude crimes by and against organisations
- Self-report studies:
White, mixed and black commit most offences
+challenge stereotype black more likely offend
~evidence is inconsistent
29
Ethnicity, Crime and Justice- Ethnicity, Racism and the Criminal Justice System
- Policing:
Mass stop and search / police violence / racism towards minority ethnic communities
- Stop and search:
Ethnic minorities more likely
Black=9 times
Asian=more likely under terrorism act
=police racism- Macpherson report
=disproportionality in stop and searches represent ethnic differences in offending
- Arrests and cautions:
Black=3 times likely
Black and Asian arrestees=less likely caution
- Prosecution and trial:
CPS more likely drop cases against EM minorities
- Convictions and sentencing:
Black and Asian less likely guilty
- Pre-sentence reports:
Allow for discrimination
- Prison:
Black=4 times likely white
Black and Asian more likely longer sentences
30
Ethnicity, Crime and Justice- Left Realism
- Lee+Young=ethnic differences reflect real differences in levels of offending
=racism led to marginalisation / emphasis on consumerism leads to relative deprivation / form subcultures which produce crime
- Cannot explain differences via police racism as would have to be selective against blacks for it to cause such differences
- Criticisms:
Asians arrested less than blacks due to different stereotypes
31
Ethnicity, Crime and Justice- Neo-Marxism
- Differences in stats do not reflect reality- outcome of social construction stereotyping EM groups as more criminal
- Gilroy: myth of black criminality
Created by racist stereotypes / CJS act on these / EM criminalised and over-represented in stats
=form of political resistance against racist society
~romanticises street crime
- Hall: policing the crisis
Moral panic over black muggers served interests of capitalism- distract from true cause of unemployment
32
Ethnicity, Crime and Justice- Ethnicity and Victimisation
(Brought into greater focus after Macpherson report)
- Victim surveys and police-recorded statistics: racist incidents and racially aggravated offences
- Mixed ethnic backgrounds have highest risk of victimisation
=young, male, unemployed also linked but stem back to discrimination
~long term psychological impact needs to be considered also
- Responses=situational crime prevention measures to organised self-defence campaigns that physically defend neighbourhoods from racist attacks
33
Crime and the Media- Media Representations
- Over-represent violent and sexual crime
- Portray criminals and victims as older and more M/C
- Exaggerates police success
- Exaggerate risk of victimisation
- Overplays extraordinary crimes
34
Crime and the Media- News Values and Crime Coverage
- Distorted news media reflects that news is a social construction
- News values=criteria by which editors decide whether story is newsworthy
=Immediacy
=Dramatisation
=Personalisation
=Higher-status
=Simplification
=Novelty
=Risk
=Violence
35
Crime and the Media- Fictional Representations
- Surette=fictional representations of crime follow the law of opposites- opposite to official stats and similar to news coverage
=property crime underrepresented but violence, drugs and sex crime overrepresented
=fictional sex crimes committed by strangers not acquaintances
=fictional cops usually catch their perpetrator
-Recent trends:
=reality shows featuring young, non-white underclass offenders
=tendency to show police as corrupt and brutal
=victims become more central with law enforcers as their avengers and audiences to identify with suffering
36
Crime and the Media- Media as Cause of Crime
=Imitation of deviant role models
=Desensitisation through repeated violent images
=Transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques
=Glamourising offending
37
Crime and the Media- Fear of Crime
- Exaggerates violent crime and risk of certain groups
- Schlesinger+Tumber=tabloid readers and heavy tv users had greater fear going out at night
38
Crime and the Media- Relative Deprivation
- Media represents everyone with images of materialistic life as a goal to which they should strive
=sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion by marginalised groups who turn to crime to get material goods
- Hayward+Young=late modern society is media-saturated and emphasises consumption- crime turned into a commodity
39
Crime and the Media- Moral Panics
- Moral panic=exaggerated and irrational overreaction by society to a perceived problem
Result of boundary crisis
- Mods and rockers (Cohen):
=marginal disagreement between two groups
=media exaggerated numbers and seriousness of disagreement
=media predicted further conflict would ensue
=symbols of mods and rockers were negatively labelled
=moral entrepreneurs call for crackdown
=SFP
=deviance amplification spiral
- Deviance amplification spiral:
=making it appear the problem was out of hand
Increased control respond and further stigmatisation
=defining two groups and emphasising differences
More people adopted identities
40
Crime and the Media- Perspectives on Moral Panics
- Functionalism:
=way of responding to anomie created by change
=media raise collective conscience and reassert social control when central values threatened
- Neo-Marxism:
=Hall=moral panic of mugging served to distract attention from crisis of capitalism
41
Crime and the Media- Global Cybercrime
- Cybercrime=computer-mediated activities that are illegal or illicit and are conducted through global electronic networks
- Jewkes=internet creates opportunity for conventional crime (fraud) and new crime using new tools (software piracy)
Wall=cyber-trespass / cyber-deception / cyber-pornography / cyber-violence
- Policing cybercrime=difficult due to sheer scale of internet and globalised nature causes problems for jurisdiction
- Surveillance=provides police and state with greater opportunity and control
42
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Crime and Globalisation- Global Criminal Economy
- Increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders
=trafficking / smuggling / laundering / drugs trade
- Demand has increased so supply needs to too
=Colombia- drug cultivation=little investment but high prices
43
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Crime and Globalisation- Global Risk Consciousness
- New insecurities with risk being seen as global
- Fears among populations coming from media which exaggerates dangers=moral panics
- Resulting in intensification of social control at national levels
=UK toughened border control and have no limit on how long in immigration detention
44
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Crime and Globalisation- Capitalism
- Globalisation=greater inequality and rising crime by giving free rein to market forces
- Marketisation, deregulation etc. create insecurity, widen inequalities and encourage people to turn to crime
- Creating criminal opportunities linking global trends to capitalist economy changes
- IMF and wold bank dominated by capitalist states that impose views on poorer countries, creating conditions for crime
45
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Crime and Globalisation- Patterns of Criminal Organisation
- The way crime is organised is linked to economic changes brought about by globalisation
- Glocal crime organisations=international links but rooted in local context- led to changes in patterns of crime now flexible and opportunistic
- McMafia=organisations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe following fall of communism- increasing disorder meant wealthy tuned to Mafia to protect assets
46
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Green Crime- Overview
- Green crime=crime against the environment
- Increase in productivity and technology created manufactured risks (dangers never faced before)- risks to environment are global=late modern society as global risk society
=Traditional criminology:
Not interested in environmental crimes that don't violate the law
+defined subject matter
~accept official definitions that are manipulated
=Green criminology (Zemiology):
Interested in environmental crimes that involve any harm, even if laws have not been broken
+transgressive as includes new issues
+legal definitions not consistent so this is global
- Anthropocentric=TNC's and nation-states as human-centred view of environmental harm
- Ecocentric=green criminology as environmental harm hurts humans also
47
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- Green Crime- Types
- Primary=result directly from destruction and degradation of earth's resources
=crimes of air pollution
=crimes of deforestation
=crimes of species decline and animal abuse
=crimes of water pollution
- Secondary=grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters
=state violence against oppositional groups
=hazardous waste and organised crime
=environmental discrimination
- Evaluation green criminology:
+recognises growing importance of environmental issues and need to address harms and risks
~hard to define boundaries of field of study
48
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- State Crime- Overview
- State crime=illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with complicity of, state agencies
=state's enormous power gives potential to inflict harm on huge scale
=the state's role is to define what is criminal, uphold the law and prosecute offenders
- McLaughlin=four categories of state crime: political / security and police forces / economic / social and cultural
- Case studies:
=Genocide in Rwanda- two groups racially separated/one came to power/met with conflict from opposition/genocide
=State-corporate crime- Challenger space shuttle disaster / Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster
=War crimes- Illegal wars / crimes committed during war or its aftermath
49
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- State Crime- Defining
- Domestic law:
Chambliss=state crimes are acts defined as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state
~state can avoid ciminaisin own actions
- Social harms and zemiology:
Michalowski=state crime includes not just illegal acts but legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to illegal acts
+prevents making laws that allow misbehaving
+single standard applied to different states
- Labelling and societal reaction:
State crimes are socially constructed so what people regard as it varies overtime and between culture
+prevents imposing own definition
~vague
- Human rights:
Schwendinger=state crime is violation of basic human rights by state or its agents
+all states care about human rights image
~other violations of acts are not criminal
50
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- State Crime- Explaining
- Authoritarian personality (Adorno):
People commit crime as affinity for authority and wiling to obey such figures- due to harsh parenting- evident with Nazis
- Crimes of obedience:
People commit crime as acting as agents for the state and are powerless to disobey- evident with Milgram
=authorisation
=routinisation
=dehumanisation
- Modernity:
Features that made the Holocaust possible: division of labour / bureaucratisation / instrumental rationality / science and technology
51
Globalisation, Green Crime, Human Rights and State Crime- State Crime- Evaluation
=Not all genocides occur through organised division of labour that allows distancing from killing
=Ideological factors also important
- Culture of denial (Cohen):
States make greater effort to justify crimes
Democratic states=deny it happened entirely / if it did happen they will blame something else / even if it is what is assumed, it is justified
=techniques of neutralisation
=denial of victim/injury/responsibility
=appeal to higher loyalty
52
Control, Punishment and Victims- Crime Prevention and Control- Situational Crime Prevention
- Clarke=situational crime prevention is a pre-emptive approach that relies on reducing opportunities for crime
=directed at specific crimes
=involve managing/altering immediate environment of crime
=increasing effort and risks of committing crime and reducing rewards- target-hardening measures and increased surveillance
- Criticism=situational crime prevention does not reduce crime. but displace it
=spatial- different place
=temporal- different time
=target- different victim
=tactical- different method
=functional- different type
- Evaluation:
=does reduce crime but some displacement
~focuses on opportunistic petty street crime
~rational choice theory
~ignores root causes of crime
53
Control, Punishment and Victims- Crime Prevention and Control- Environmental Crime Prevention
- Wilson+Kelling=broken windows that are not dealt with send a signal that no one cares which spirals to decline
- Absence of formal social control and informal means community feels intimidated and powerless
- Solution=crack down on any disorder through environmental improvement strategy and zero tolerance policing
54
Control, Punishment and Victims- Crime Prevention and Control- Social and Community Crime Prevention
- As poverty is a cause, social policies may have crime prevention role
- Perry pre-school project=two year olds an intellectual enrichment programme- fewer arrests in adulthood than control group
55
Control, Punishment and Victims- Surveillance
- Surveillance=observing people to gather data and use it to regulate behaviour
- Foucault: the Panopticon:
Sovereign power=monarch physical power over bodies and punishment visible spectacle
Disciplinary power=govern body and mind through surveillance
=Panopticon- prison design where guards can see prisoners but not other way around=constantly behave as if are being watched
- Synoptic surveillance=increase in top-down surveillance and surveillance from below- everybody watched everybody
- Actuarial justice and risk management:
Feeley+Simon=actuarial justice as predicting likelihood of people offending
Risk factors=people risk score- profiles target certain groups
- Labelling and surveillance:
CCTV target black males=SFP=criminalisation increased
56
Control, Punishment and Victims- Punishment
=deterrence- prevent future crime from fear of punishment
=rehabilitation- reforming offenders so don’t commit again
=incapacitation- removing capacity to re-offend
=retribution- society entitled to take revenge on offender
- Durkheim:
Punishment=uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values
=retributive justice- severe and vengeful punishment as strong collective conscience
=restitutive justice- repair damage due to interdependence between individuals
- Marxism:
Punishment=repressive state apparatus defending M/C property
=punishment reflects economic base
=imprisonment dominant as time is money
- Trends in punishment:
=changing role of prisons- now seen as punishment itself / rising population / EM over-represented
=transcarceration- moving people between different prisons- blurring boundary between CJS and welfare agencies
=alternatives- community-based controls- net of control over more people
57
Control, Punishment and Victims- Victims of Crime- Positivist Victimology
- Victims=suffered harm through acts or omissions that violate laws of the state
- Miers:
=aims to identify factors that produce patterns in victimisation
=focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
=aims to identify victims who have contributed to own victimisation
- Victim proneness=social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them different and more vulnerable than non-victims
=female/elderly/mentally subnormal
- Victim precipitation=victim triggered events leading to their homicide
- Evaluation:
+Wolfgang shows importance of victim-offender relationship
~ignores wider structural factors
~victim-blaming
58
Control, Punishment and Victims- Victims of Crime- Critical Victimology
- Critical victimology:
=structural factors place powerless groups at greater risk of victimisation
=state's power to apply/deny label of victim is social construct- applied to some but withheld from others
- Safety crimes are explained as fault of accident prone workers- denice 'victim status' and blames them for it
- Ideological function of de-labelling as hides crimes of powerful
- Evaluation:
~disregards role victim plays in bringing about own victimisation
+valuable in drawing attention to social construction
59
Control, Punishment and Victims- Victims of Crime- Patterns of Victimisation
- Class:
Poorest groups are victimised
=crime rates highest in areas unemployment
- Age:
Younger groups are victimised
=teenagers more vulnerable to abuse
- Ethnicity:
Ethnic minorities are victimised
=more likely under-protected yet over-controlled
- Gender:
Males victimised violent attacks
Women victimised sexual violence
=70% homicide victims are male
- Repeat victimisation:
If you have been a victim once, you are likely to be one again
=4% population victims of 44% crimes
60
Control, Punishment and Victims- Victims of Crime- Impact of Victimisation
- Serious physical and emotional impacts
=disrupted sleep / helplessness / increased security-consciousness
- Impact indirect victims
=witnesses to sniper attacks have grief-related dreams
- Secondary victimisation=further victimisation at hands of CJS
=rape victims so poorly treated- double violation
- Fear of victimisation:
=women more afraid going out for fear of attack but young men main victims of strangers
