crime and deviance Flashcards
functions of crime for society
durkheim: crime is inevitable as not everyone is equally socialised there are positive functions
- boundary maintenance
- adaption and change
criticisms of durkheim
claims that society needs a certain amount of crime but does not specify how much is necessary
crime does not always bring people together often it does the opposite
prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of mens sexual frustrations without threatening the family
davis
strain theory
mertons strain theory 5 adaptations
- conformity
- innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
criticisms of strain theory
- it takes official crime statistics at face value which over represents the working class crime
- marxists say it ignores the power of the ruling class to make laws that criminalise the poor
- only counts utilitarian crime and not any crime that doesn’t come with monetary gain
status frustration
cohen:
- alternative status hierarchy: boys gain alternative stays from forming subcultures and going against school
strain theory subcultures
cloward and ohlin
- criminal subcultures: offers a career in crime
- conflict subcultures high population with loosely organised gangs where they use violence as a release
- retreatist subcultures
eval of cloward and ohlin
- matza says that the youth are not as fixed to their subcultures as they might suggest
- they agree with merton and cohen that crime is a working class phenomenon
social construction of crime
becker: deviant acts are only considered deviant is society labels it so
dark figure of crime is the difference between the real rates of crime and the official statistics
primary and secondary deviance
lamert
reintigrative shaming and disintergrative shaming
braithwaite
suicide stats can show the numbers but not the motives thats why u need qualitative data
douglas
fuctionalism class differences in crime
the law is a reflection of societies values, crimes happen because inadequate socialisation
marxists say that capitalism causes..
crime (criminogenic)
crime is a logical response to capitalism thats why there is crime in all classes
gordon
eval of marxists
- taylor: deterministic and overestimates how many of the working class will commit crimes
- left realists say that it ignores all the crime that is intraclass (wc on wc)
neo marxism
taylor: anti determinism - people have free will and that crime is a conscious decision that often has political motives
crimes of the powerful
sutherland: white collar crime
criticisms of white collar crime
fails to distinguish between
- occupational crime
- corporate crime, not as seen because it is harder to investigate and gets less coverage
explanations of corporate crime
stain theory meton
labeling theory
right realism
believe street crime is a real and growing issue and that is destroys communities
right realism causes of crime
reject structural theories as they found three causes to crime
- individuals biological differences e.g. aggression and risk taking (murray low iq)
- inadequate socialising (murray single mums)
- rational choice theory
criticisms of new right explainations of crime
- bio and rational choice clash
- overestimates the rationality of the criminal especially in violent or intoxicated
- ignores wider structures such as poverty
zero tolerance
wilson and kelling: broken widow
left realism
similar to marxists but they do not believe in a large violent overthrow of the government they believe in gradual change
left realist causes of crime
lea and young three causes
- relative deprivation
- subcultures
- marginalisation
criticisms of left realists reasons for crime
- fails to explain corporate crime
- cant explain offenders motives as they rely on quantitative data
- relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not everyone that experiences it commits crime
- focused on high crime in a city which makes it unrepresentative
chivalry thesis
pollark: men are socialised to treat women in a certain way which makes police less likely to arrest women and makes judges less likley to charge them with a crime
criticisms of chivalry thesis
- self report studies show that men are more likely to commit a crime (halls found that men were more likely to commit crimes in all categories of offending)
-under reported crimes of men against women particularly sexual crimes
feminists argue points
girls are punished for promiscuous activities
criminal justice system is patriarchal as judges make sexual comments and victim blame
7 out of 11 girls refereed to for support out of 55 youth work files for sexual activites but none out of 44 boys
sharpe
women cannot commit as many crimes because men make them stay at home and so they do not have the opportunity to commit crime
hidensohn
controls
public - women are controlled in public as they fear for crimes to be committed against them
work: women are controlled in the work as their superiors are men and sexual harassment is common in the work place
liberation thesis
adler: as women gert more equal to men in society female crime rate will increase with it.
criticisms of liberation thesis
- crime rate for women started increasing in the 50s and lots of liberation came for women in the 60s
- its mainly working class women that commit the crimes but middle class women benefit from liberation more
messerschmidt
men commit crimes to achieve masculinity such as hegemonic masculinity
problems with hegemonic masculinity
not all men commit crimes to achive a masculine status
is it really a cause of crime or a description of the criminal
winlow
bouncers achieve masculinity through legal means and also illegal by drug dealing and tobacco trade
increase in allegations of oppressive policing in the 70s
phillips and bowling
black people stats
three times more likely to be arrested and not as likely to be let off with a caution
cps
if a case goes to court it is more likely to be dropped if they are an ethnic minority
lea and young say this is because they are often arrested with little or no evidence
neo marxists say that the stats are a social construct from racist labelling and discrimination in the cjs
black criminality is a myth
gilroy: the idea of black criminality is a myth created by the racist stereotypes, differencess in crime are as a result of police and cjs acting on stereotypes
- most black and asians in the uk come from former british colonies where they are taught to resist oppression
criticisms of gilroy
lea and young - first gen immigrants were very law abiding so unlikley they past that down
asian crime rates are equal to or lower then whites so if gilroy is right then police are only racist to blacks
