Crime And Deviance Flashcards
define crime
crimes are an illegal act for which someone can be punished by the government more so a gross violation of law.
define deviance
deviance is any behaviour that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society. deviance can be criminal or non-criminal.
why is crime and deviance a social construct?
neither of them are universal concepts, meaning the although the definitions are agreed around the world, example are not. they are cultural, locality, historical and age relative.
how is crime and deviance affected by cultural differences?
there are certain laws which no matter where you go I the world you know are illegal to commit, e.g. murder.
adultery is not illegal in most countries around the world, however it is illegal in Taiwan. in Michigan you can receive life imprisonment for adultery.
how is crime and deviant affected by contextually?
when thinking of deviance context is necessary, not only in terms of geographical location but in terms of place and time.
e.g. it is not deviant to wear a Bikini at the beach, but to wear it at a job interview it is deviant.
examples of age affects deviance not crime.
- it is legal for a child aged 5-16 to drink alcohol at home.
- at the age of 14 you can get a part time job for a max of 2 hours on a school day.
- in UK nations the age of consent is 16.
- you can apply to a dart a child at 21.
how is crime and deviance historically relative?
what may. have been considered deviant in the past is no longer so and acts that were once legal have become illegal.
e.g slavery was once considered a sign of wealth and privilege, today it is illegal across the world.
e.g homosexuality was in ancient times very common practice, it was then considered deviant and in todays society it is common practice.
examples of when acts became illegal.
1991 - rate within marriage was made illegal.
1994 - informally organised raves were made illegal.
2007 - the smoking ban.
2016 - the psychoactive substance act.
what is the ideological state apparatus (ISA)?
maintain the role of bourgeoisie by controlling peoples ideas, values and beliefs.
what is the repressive state apparatus (RSA)?
maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by force such as police, army and courts.
who created the the ISA and RSA?
Althusser
give an example of the RSA.
the Black Lives Matter movement - the media was key to promote ideological control around the riots and ideologies of conformity however, when this broke down the police and polices effectively went to criminalise protests.
what are Durkheim’s three key ideas about crime and deviance?
1 crime is inevitable and necessary.
2 crime has multiple positive functions for society.
3 too much crime is bad for society.
how does Durkheim say that crime is inevitable?
crime is present in all societies that exsist and it always will.
he does however say that crime is mow industrialised societies is higher.
why Is crime inevitable?
this is because people aren’t as equally connected to the collective sentiments because of the variations in individuals lives, meaning that it becomes impossible of one true collective as nobody has the same lived experiences.
what is a society of saints?
a society assists is exactly what it sounds like. a society filled with perfect behaviour.
what would a society of saints cause?
a society of saints would cause the general expectations in society to be so high that the slightest slip would be deemed as a serious offence, resulting in awful prosecutions.
how is crime and deviance necessary?
Durkheim argues that all social change begins with some form of deviance. in order for changes to occur, yesterday’s deviance becomes today’s norms.
crime and deviance sociologists and statistics.
there are a lot of crimes that arnt deviant and vice versa … give a government department of transport.
according to the government department of transport, over 52% of drivers exceed the speed limit on 30mph roads.
what is Althusser’s repressive state apparatus?
Althusser argued that the state consists of two apparatuses which keep the bourgeoise in power, one of which is repressive state apparatus.
- repressive state apparatuses maintain the rule of the bourgeoise but force, such as the police, army and the courts.
give an example of the repressive state apparatus.
when considering the Black Lives Matter movement, the media was key to promote ideological control around the riots and ideologies of conformity. however, when this broke down, the police and policies effectively went to criminals the protests.
what are Durkheim’s 3 key ideas about crime and deviance?
- crime is inevitable and necessary.
- crime has multiple positive functions for society.
- too much crime is bad for society.
what are the positive functions of crime - the publicity function (Erikson)?
Erikson pointed out that the dramatic setting of the courtroom where the lawyers and judges dress in special clothes, and where there is a ceremony, condemns a persons actions in a public arena. in contemporary society, newspapers also help to perform the publicity function, with their often lurid accounts of crime acts.
what are positive functions of crime - acts as a warning device - Cohen?
Cohen suggest that certain deviant acts are useful warning devices to indicate that an aspect of society is malfunctioning. this may draw attention to the problem and lead to measures to solve it.
what does Durkheim say about too much crime?
Durkheim believed that the result of too much crime would lead to the development of a state he called ‘anomie’. this means that people regard the social expectations to respect the rights and the need of other as unimportant and prefer to look after their own interests, even at their neighbours expense.
- they return to their natural state of greed and self-interest, and this results in the long-term collapse of social order and harmony.
- anomie is dangerous and harmful to all.
what do Merton and Nightingale say?
they have pointed out that for some the desire to achieve the success gaol of society outweighs the pressure to obey the law, advertising only adds to this strain between the legitimate means and the gaols of material success.
what does Rothkopf say about the ‘superclass’?
the ‘superclass’ who are mainly the people who run global corporations, and at they very bottom we have the lower class (in the developed world) and the slum dwellers, the street children and the refugees in the developing world.
what does Bauman say about capitalism, inequality and Crime?
Bauman points out that the super wealthy effectively segregate themselves from the wealthy, through living in exclusive gated communities and travelling in private jets and armoured vehicles with security entourages. if people can afford it, they move to a better area, and send their children to private schools.
however, this doesn’t prevent the poor and the rich from living side by side.
what does Chambliss say about crime being justified?
Chambliss even goes so far as to say that economic crime ‘represents rational responses to the competitiveness and inequality of life in capitalist societies’.
this is because the visible evidence of massive inequality gives the people at the bottom a sense of injustice, anger and frustration that the lack of wealth distribution is being flaunted in their faces.
what does Manheim say about how the law benefits the elite and works in their internet?
he writes that ‘the history of criminal legislation on England and in many countries shows that an excessive prominence was given by law to the protection of property’.
- Chambliss has argued that ‘at the heard of capitalist system lies the protection of private property’.
what does Snider say about health and safety laws?
Snider argues that capitalist states are reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns and which might threat profitability.
what is Stuart Hall’s black mugger study?
moral panic was created over black criminality, to create diversion ways form the wider economic crisis - marxists called this a ‘crisis of capitalism’.
unemployment hit everyone hard, especially black people, who turned to the informal economy.
the ruling class sought to divide working class to prevent anti-capiatlsit activism.
headlines consist of ‘black youths out of control’.
he found that a moral panic arose around black people.
what does Sinder say about crimes being costly?
Sinder points out that the cost of white colour crime and corporate crime to the economy far outweighs the cost of street crime by ‘typical’ criminals.
what do the general accounting agency say about the cost of fraud?
the general accounting agency of the USA has estimated that hundreds of savings and loan companies have failed in recent years due to insider dealing, failure to disclose accurate information and racketeering.
the cost to the taxpayer in the USA of corporate bailouts is estimated to be around $500 billion, or $5000 per household in the USA.
what does Gordon say about ideological functions?
gordon argues that the police mainly focus on policing working class (and underclass) areas and the justice system mainly focuses on prosecuting working and underclass criminals.
- the system ignores the crimes of the elite and the middle classes, although both of these classes are just as likely to commit crimes as the working class.
- Gordon argues that the disproportionate prosecution of working class criminals ultimately severs to maintain ruling-class ideology (thus performing ‘ideological functions’ for the ruling class’).
what are Gordons 3 benefits of law enforcement for capitalism?
- define individuals as ‘social failures’.
- imprisonment of the lower classes neutralises opposition to the system.
- imprisonment of the underclass also sweeps out of sight the ‘worst jetsam of capitalist society’.
in additional fourth benefit is that the focus on working class crime means that society attention is diverted away from the immorality and greed of the elites.
who commits white-collar crime? give statistics
university of Cincinnati school of criminal justice - three-quarters of white-collar offenders are white males.
- 2020 global study on occupational Frau and abuse-about half of occupational fraud perpetrators have a university degree.
- 2020 global study on occupational fraud and abuse, 39% of fraud perpetrators at non-profit organisations are owners or executives.
what is labelling (Becker)?
his key statement about labelling is ‘deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by other rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label’.
what do Townsley and Marshall say about police and labelling?
studies f police officers by sociologists such as Townsley and Marshalls study show that they operate using stereotypical assumptions or tales about what is ‘suspicious’ or ‘criminal’ in terms of social types and behaviour.
- for example the decision to stop or arrest sometime may be based on whether they correspond to a stereotype.
what does Holdaway say?
Holdaway notes that there is strong evidence that suggest racial stereotyping by some police officers may be a crucial element governing their decision to stop black people and their interaction with black people, especially African-Caribbeans, i.e. some officers see all black people as potentially criminal.
what are the home office statists on police stop and search?
home offie statists on police stop and search released in march 2010 can be used to support the idea that racial stereotyping underpins policing because they reveal that the police stop and search black people and asians six times and two times respectively more than white people.
what is primary deviance (Lemert)?
Lemert argues that primary deviance is widespread and often trivial in nature. such acts have little significance for a persons status or identity. those who commit primary deviance often do not see themselves as deviant.
what is deviancy amplification (Triplett)?
Triplett notes an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance such as truancy.
what is secondary deviance (Becker and Lemert)?
this societal reaction and the subsequent labelling of the person as a criminal, deviant, etc is know as ‘secondary deviance’. both Becker and Lemert argue the secondary deviance can have negative consequences in that being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised, shunned and excluded from normal society.
what is social policy and shaming (Braithwaite)?
Braithwaite suggest there are tow types of shaming available to the criminal justice system:
- disintegrative shaming
- reintegrative shaming.
Braithwaite argues that the concept of reintegrative shaming avoids stigmatising or negative labelling the offender as ‘evil’ or ‘bad’ while at the same time making them aware of the negative impact of their actions upon others.
give some criticisms of labelling theory.
Ackers argues that labelling theory puts too much emphasis on societal reaction - he argues that the act is always more important than the reaction to it, e.g. rape, murder and child abuse are always deviant.
- however, Pulmmer in defence of labelling theory, pint out that labelling theory’s emphasis on societal reaction is valuable because many activities are defined as deviant or non-deviant depending on the audience and/or the social contact in which it occurs, e.f. soft drugs use is acceptable to many younger people but is deemed deviant but the establishment.
Becker - there are no such thing as deviant acts …
Becker argues that there is no such thing as a deviant act - no acts is intrinsically criminal or deviant in itself, in all situation and act all times. instead, it only defined as such when others label it as ‘wrong’.
- in other words, it is not the nature of the act that makes it deviant, but society’s reaction to it. as Webb notes, deviance is in the eye of the beholder.
what does Becker say about power?
argues that the social construction of deviance requires two actives:
one group - which normally lack power, acts in a particular way.
another group - more power, resounds negatively to it and defines it as criminal.
- for Beck, therefore, a deviant is simply someone to whom a negative label has been successfully applied and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour shay people with more power label, e.g. parents, teacher, police officers.
what does Becker say about rules?
Becker is interested in why and how rule gets made because it is the breaking of those rules that create the potential for deviance.
- in this sense, interactionism is interested in how social controls such as laws can create the potential for deviance.
- Becker rejects the functionalists idea that rules and laws are the products of value consensus or universal agreement.
- instead he notes the powerful groups create rules or laws ad label those who fail to inform to these social controls as criminals or outlaws/ousiders.
what does Becker say about moral entrepreneurs?
Becker notes that in wester societies, those with the power to label others as deviant are often ‘moral entrepreneurs’ - religious leaders, politicians, editors ad journalists - who lead campaigns to change the law and label particular types of behaviour as criminal or deviant.
what does Becker say about agents of social control?
Becker notes that agents of social control, particularly the police and the judiciary work in behalf of powerful groups to label and therefore define the behaviour of less powerful groups as problematical.
they do this by saying these groups disproportionate negative attention in terms of stop and search, arrest, prosecution and giving them custodial sentences etc.
what does Murray say about the ‘underclass’?
right realists, Murray suggest that both in the USA and UK, there exists a lower-class subculture or underclass below the ‘respectable’ working-class, which subscribes to deviant and criminal values rather than mainstream values.
- he claims that parents in this underclass transmit this deficient culture to their children via socialisation.
- he suggested that they criminal underclass is going as a result of welfare dependency.
what does Walters say in support for a criminal underclass?
Walters argue the young criminal underclass exists as a result of ‘growing up surrounded by deviant, delinquent, and criminal adults in a practically perfect criminogenic environment that is one that seems almost consciously designed to produce vicious, predatory unrepentant street criminals’.
what is Clarke’s rational choice theory?
individuals have free will and the power to reason and thus choose their own actions.
- Clarke argued that an individuals decision to commit crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences of their actions.
- if the perceived rewards of crime outweigh the perceived costs of crime, or if the rewards of crime appear to be greater then those of non-criminal action, then people are more likely to choose to offend.
what doe Felson say in support for rational choice theory?
in a similar analysis, Felson notes that if community controls (e.g. from family, neighbours, the community, etc.) are strong, this increases both the risk of being caught and punished, and deters crime.
- however, all too often, especially in inner city areas, community controls are weak, and the risk of being caught and punched is low.
what is Wilson’s zero tolerance policing?
Wilson stressed the certainty of capture which he lives will result in the risks of being caught outweighing the benefits of crime.
- he particularly recommended ‘zero tolerance’ policing, i.. the police should jeep the streets lear of all deviant elements especially those crimes which threaten to undermine or threaten the sense of community in neighbourhoods such as prostitution, begging dug-dealing and drunkenness
- he believes that the streets should be flooded with police in order to bother deter crimes and so that law-abiding citizens can feel safe. this police proved to be very successful in New York in the 1990s.
what is Wilsons broken windows theory?
argues that if signs of disorder and lack of concern of others are allowed to develop then Crome rates rapidly increase. he suggest it is essential to maintain the orderly character of neighbourhoods to prevent crime taking hold.
- any sign of deterioration such as graffiti or broken windows must be dealt with immediately because failure to deal with these problems send out a clear signal to criminals and deviants that no one cares which encourages the escalation of crime.
what is Rex and Tomlinson’s working class values?
Rex and Tomlinson point out that survey evidence suggest that the poor subscribe to the same sorts of values as everybody else and that their poverty is often caused by factors beyond their control, e.g. economic recession, globalisation, government policies, etc.
how does Cohen say that new right thinking leads to class inequalities and victimisation?
the rich live in ‘gated communities’ guarded by technology and private security forces. this has the effect of displacing crime to poorer less protected areas such as council estates and inner cities.
what does Lyng say about edge work?
with no other outlets for they anger and frustration at being excluded from the lifestyles they aspire to, they are more likely to involve themselves in various forms of what Lyng calls ‘edge work’.
- this involves all manner of thrill-seeking and risk-taking behaviour, not necessarily criminal or deviant, but the pursuit of peril may include exploring the boundaries between legal and criminal behaviour, potentially leading to Crome and violence, anti-social behaviour, rioting, and self-destructive confrontations with the law.
what does Runciman say about relative deprivation?
the concept of relative deprivation to explain crime. this refers to how someone feels in relation to others, or compared with their own expectations.
- the concept of relative deprivation helps to explain the apparent paradox of increasing crime in the context of an increasingly wealthy society. although people are better off today, they have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because of the media and advertising have raised everyones expectations for material possessions.
what does Sutherland say about white collar crime?
Sutherland defines white collar crime as ‘crime committed by a person of respectability by a person of respectability and high social status’ in the course of their job, i.e. managers professionals such as solicitors, accountants and doctors, directors of companies, etc.
what does Croall the collar crime?
Croall notes that such crime is normally carried out whilst employed in particular riles and often involved the abuse of authority, position and trust in order to cary out and conceal the crime.
- she lists fraud, accounting, offences, tax evasion, insider dealing and computer crime as typical white collar crimes.
what does Croall say about companies committing crimes?
Croall notes that comapiens also commit crimes. in other words, a board of directs or a team of managers actively choose to break the law in order to financially benefit the company, i.e. by increasing their profits or the value of shares in the company.
what does Box say about crime against consumers?
Box points out when a company kills or harms consumers or customers, the law often does not define the action as a criminal offence. rather it is defined as a lesser civil offence.
give some work related death statistics.
between 1965 and 1995 in the UK, 25,000 people were killed at work. 70% of these deaths were due to employers negligent violation of health and safety laws. however, it is rare that employers are subject to criminal prosecution because the health and safety executive, a civil agency, lacks the power to impose the criminal sanctions that might be imposed on an individual killer.
why is white-collar crime not reported or record? (Croall).
Croall argues that despite the high economic and personal costs of white collar and corporate crime, it is not regarded as a serious problem by the general public for a number of reasons.
why does white-collar crime happen? (Reiner).
Reiner notes that in th 21st centruy money has become the main source of status. unfortunalty this aspiration is like to lead to anomie because it cannot be satisfied - as Reiner notes ‘ there is no intrinsic end-point to the pursuit of monetary success - it is alway possible to chase more’.
- he notes that financial success breeds desire for more money rather than job satisfaction. Reiner argues that corporate and white collar crimes committed by the rich and powerful are therefore caused gy the anomic pressures that result from a society that values monetary success so high.
what are Walter and Millers focal concerns?
Miller suggested the working-call boys were socialised into a number of distinct values that together meant they were more likely than others to engage in delinquent or deviant behaviour. Miller described these values as ‘focal concerns’.
concerns include:
- excitement
- toughness
- smartness
- trouble
- autonomy
- fate.
what is Heidensohn’s control theory?
according to Heidensohn, gils are controlled by fathers and the relatives until they are married when they are controlled by their husbands. the fact that boys and young men spend more time away from older or otherwise authoritative figure could account for their higher levels of criminality, especially anti-social behaviour.
what does Heidensohn say about domestic violence?
Heidensohn suggests that domestic violence is just one criminal way men express control in private - it Alis happens in public through harassment on the streets.
what does Parsons say about gender roles?
Functionalist Parsons traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender rips in the traditional nuclear family.
while me take the instrumental role, perfumed largely outside the home, women perform the expressive role in the home where they take main responsibility for socialising children.
- whilst this gives girls access to a role model it tends to mean that boys reject feminine models of behaviour that express tenderness or emotion. instead bias tend to distance themselves by engaging in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through anti-sola and deviant behaviour.
what does Cohen say about lack of male role models?
Cohen suggest that the lack of a role model means that boys turn to street gangs as a source of male identity, where status is earned through toughness and aggression.
explain Heidensohn & Carlen theory that girls have more to lose?
Heidensohn and Carlen back this theroy by suggesting that females have more to lose if they turn to crime. their socialisation means that their central role os ‘guardians of domestic morality’ caries with it an repetition to set good examples and not take risks.
- meaning that they commit less crimes.
what is Anderson’s chivalry thesis?
suggest that the criminal justice system is ‘parernalistic’ and as such has a stereotypical view of females as helpless and naïve. as such the CJS is more likely to treat females more leniently than men and ket them off for offences.
- its not that women don’t commit crime, its that they are let off more than men.
give some of the ministry of justice statistics for chivalry thesis.
women are consistently treated more leniently by the law (e.g. first offenders about half as likely to be given a sentence of immediate imprisonment as their male counterparts).
- 49% of women recorded as offering decided a caution, compared to 30% for males.
- Hood studied over 3000 defendants ad found that women were 1/3 less likely to be jailed for a similar offence to men.
what does Pollak say about female offenders?
he suggest that men are raised to be respectful and courteous to women so are more likely to treat them with leniency, however women are also much more subversive due to biology and therefore are better at hiding their crimes.
what does Flood and Page say about female offenders?
Flood and Page found that women who admitted to their crime and showed remorse were less like to be charged than men in the same situation.
what is Campbell study of female offenders?
Campbell conducted a self study report and found that women were more likely to be cautioned then changed and that the ratio of male to female juvenile offending was more likely 1.33 boys: 1 girl, then the official figure of 1 girl for every 8.95 boys.
what does Alder say about changes in women’s offering behaviour?
argues that as changes in the structure of society have led to changes in women’s offending behaviour. as patriarchal controls weaken and opportunities in work and education have been more equal, women have become more equal, women have started to adopt traditional male behaviours n both legitimate and illegitimate activity.
- as a result women are no longer just committing traditional female crimes such as prostitution and shop lifting but also more typically ‘male’ crimes such as violence and white collar crimes.
what is Ladette culture?
the phrase “Ladette’ describes females who are taking on more typical male characteristics and as a result are more likely to take risks, disrespect authority and engage in drinking and violence. ‘Ladette culture’ has become somewhat of a moral panic lately.
give some ethnicity and crime statistics.
- 605 of whites were found guilty compared with 52% of blacks and 44% of asians.
- 13.2% of UK prison population is back compared with being 2.8% of the over 15 populations. asian and mixed-race people are also over-represented in the prison population; yet white people who represent 88.3% of the population only make up 73.8% of the prison population.
what is Reiner’s canteen culture?
Canteen culture amongst the police, including: suspicion, macho values and racism, which encourages racist stereotypes and a mistrust of those from non-white backgrounds.
what does Bowling and Phillips say about labelling?
higher levels of robbery among black people could be the product of labelling that arises from the use of regular stop and search procedures, which in turn leads to self fulfilling prophecy.
what is Stuart Hall’s policing the crisis?
hall examined the moral panic over ‘mugging’ in the early 1970s, using marxist insight. selective and stereotypical reporting represented young black men as potential muggers and given the role of folk devils. in fact, mugging (not an official category of time in any case) was not increasing dramatically.
hall explained the moral panic in terms of a crisis of British capitalism: the state deflected attention on to a small group who could be scapegoated and on whom the state could be portrayed as cracking down firmly, using new repressive piling which would be useful in tackling future unrest.
young blacks were suitable for their role because of their visibility and powerlessness in the sense of lacking organisations or representatives to speak on their behalf.
what are Sharp and Budd’s black offenders study?
Black offenders were most likely to have contact with the criminal justice system in their lifetime and new more like to have been arrested, been to court and convicted. this is despite their lower levels of offending compared to white people generally and with youths in particular.
- 2014, the data showed 65 black, 23 asian, 28 mixed race individuals being stopped and searched per every thousand in the population, compared with 15 white individuals per every thousand.
what did Lea and Youngs say about inner city crime?
high levels of crime really do exist in inner city areas where there are often high numbers of members of ethnic minorities, and draw attention to the fact that those who live here are the main victims of crime as well.
what does Pryce say about subcultures?
subcultures responses include the hustling subcultures described by Pryce in his ethnographic study of St Pauls in Bristol, with young blacks involved in petty street crime, drug dealing and prostitution, getting by from day to day.
what is shaw and McKay’s broken window thesis?
suggest that inner city areas are transient communities that don’t develop social solidarity and where new migrants don’t put down roots.
it is therefore likely that such communities are less key to self-regulate than suburban or rural communities, and are therefore more likely to have broken windows.
what does Gilroy say about political nature of crime?
the political nature of black crime - Gilroy, a neo-marxit, agrees that young blacks are targeted by the media and the police, but argues that black crime is different in that it is a conscious continuation of anti-colonial struggles in the West Indies, just in a new context. it is therefore black crime is political and potentially revolutionary, a political response to inequality and discrimination.
what is Held’s globalisation definition?
the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual.
what does Castells say about global criminal economy?
argues that there is now a global criminal economy worth over 1 trillion per annum and this takes a number of forms:
- drug trade
- people smuggling
- trafficking cultural artefacts and endangered species.
how does Taylor say that globalisation lead to rising crime?
writing from a socialist perspective, argues that globalisation has led to changes in the patterns and extent of crimes. by giving free reign to market forces globalisation has created greater inequality and rising crime rates.
- he also Staes that globalisation has led to the creation of crime at both end of the spectrum, from the social elects and transnational corporations to the poverty stricken.
what is Beck’s risk society?
argues that developments in the fields of science and technology have themselves brought about problems such as global warming and increased in terrorism. for example, scientists appear o contradict ones another findings, which in itself causes the general pubic to question science itself and he suggest that a loss of respect for experts generally creates this uncertainty.
in turns, thus has led to what Beck has led to the emergence of a ‘risk society’, where we are now faced with issues that would have not faced society before.
- this is because a vast amount of the risk we face is now invisible and universal. and therefore they unescapable, even the rich can’t escape. this is an interesting concept especially when considering crime and globalisation.
what did Ericson et al.’s findings of Torontos press?
45-71% of quality pass and ration news was about various forms of deviance.
what did Williams and Dickinson’s find out about news space?
British newspapers devoted 30% of their news space of crime.
what did Schlesinger and Tumber find about reporting of crime?
in the 60’s the focus was on murders and petty crimes, by the 1990’s reporting included more on drugs, child abuse, terrorism, football hooliganism and muggings. he media had also been preoccupied with sex crimes.
what did Greer (not the feminist) find about media exaggerating the extent of violent crimes?
Greer - ‘all media tend to exaggerate the extent of violent crime’.
- most crime is fairly routine, trial and non-dramatic. however, tv programmes like crime watch often pick up one or more serious and violent offences with reconstructions giving quite frightening, dramatised insights into the crimes committed. this focus on he exceptional and the dramatic is a routine feature of crime dramas on TV or film, and gives a false and misleading impression of the real extent to such crimes.
what did Baudrillard say about hie people understand crime?
media creates reality - people have no underatnding of Crome only the representations of crime that experience through the mass media.
what was Rob White’s definition of green crime?
any action that harms the physical environment and any creatures that live within it, even of no law has technically be broken.
what did Rob White say that where the two main views of green crime?
ecocentric - damage to the environment is damage to the other species as well putting the human race at risk in the future.
anthropocentric - humans have the right to exploit the environment and other species of their own benefit.
what was Nigel South et al.’s classification of green crime?
primary - harm inflicted on the environment.
secondary - crime that grows out of flouting the rules.
why does Wolf say that green crime is discriminative?
Wolf sates that it those in the developing word, the poor and ethnic minorities that are most likely to face the effects of environmental crime. this is due to their inability to move away from areas where these crimes take place.
give an example of how green crime is discriminative?
the people of Bhopal in India who were the victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in December 1984. over 2,000 died immediately due to the leak but it is estimated that over 8,000 have died since of gas related illnesses, as many of the local people were unable to move away from Bhopal after the incident.
what does Wolf say about corporations and businesses being responsible?
Wolf also states that corporations and businesses may be responsible for the majority of the air, water and and pollution die to illegal dumping and health and safety breaches, but they are not the only perpetrator of environmental crime.
what does Santa say about the military?
points out that the military are the biggest institutional polluters due to the amount if unexploded ordinance and shrapnel that is left behind in war zones. these can have lasting effects due to the toxicity of these items. he uses the example that farmers in Norther France and Belgium are still finding ordinance and shrapnel left over over from world war 1 and some fields are still unusable for agriculture.
what is Becks green risk society?
Beck explains green crime/environmental damage as part ‘the risk society’, whereby modern industrial societies create many new risks - largely manufactured through modern technologies - that were unknown in earlier days.
how does Beck say that ‘smog is democratic’?
his argument is that environmental problems are truly global - he argues that ‘smog is democratic’, which suggest that traditional social division - class, ethnicity and gender - may be relatively unimportant when considering the impact of many environmental problems.
give an alternative to Becks argument.
marxists offer an alternative analysis of the consequences of green crime to that of Beck. markets argue that current social divisions are actually reinforced in the face of environmental harms, the poor people bearing the bring of harms.
what is Green and Wards definition of state crime?
state crime are crimes committed by governments. they were defied as ‘illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with, the complicity of sate agencies’.
what does Schwendinger say about sate crime as human right violations?
that we should define crime as that which violates basic human rights rather than law breaking . therefor states which don’t regard human rights are criminals. but their view is a little different, they say that any sate that practices imperialism, racism, sexism or inflict economic exploitation on their citizens are committing crimes.
what does Cohen say about human rights?
human rights violations like war crimes and torture are obvious, but other acts like economic exploitation are not illegal just morally wrong.
what does Cohen say about states culture of denial?
argues that states conceal and legitimate their human crimes. he says this because human rights and state crimes are increasingly central to both political debate and criminology because of the impact of the human rights movements like Amnesty international an increased focus on victims.
what does Kelman say about crimes of obedience?
he studied ‘crimes of obedience’ and found 3 features that produced these crimes:
1. authorisation - when acts are approved by a form of authority.
2. routinisation - if its a routine people can commit it in a detached manor.
3. dehumanisation - when the enemy is portrayed as sub-human rather then human and described as animals, monster, etc.
is street crime worse than state crime? (Wilson).
Wilson considers predatory street crime to be a far more serious matter than consumer fraud, anti trust violations because predatory crime, makes difficult or impossible the maintenance of meaningful human communities.
what does Bauman say about situation crime prevention creating ‘fortress cities’?
situation crime prevention turns contemporary cities into ‘fortress cities’ where people are controlled and kept safe. in his image of the future development of cities, he imagined people not daring to travel far for the ‘fortresses’ just as people sought protection in medieval fortified towns.
what does Lyng say about seduction of crime?
(postmodernists) argue that the seduction if crime comes from the thrill of taking risks. from the perspective the situational crime prevention methods provide a challenge and therefore extra levels of thrill and risk.
give some statistics oof prisoners to support the marxist view on who ends up in jail.
10% of men and 30% of women have had a previous psychiatric admission to hospital before they come into prison.
- 48% of all prisoners are at, or below, the level expected of an 11 year old reading, 65% in numeracy and 82% in writing.
- 71& of children in custody have been involved with, or in the care of, social services before entering custody.
define crime
crimes are an illegal act for which someone can be punished by the government more so a gross violation of law.
define deviance
deviance is any behaviour that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to warrant disapproval from the majority of society.
deviance can be criminal or non criminal.
is crime and deviance a social construct?
yes - neither crime nor deviance are universal concepts, meaning that although the definitions are agreed around the world, example are not. they are cultural, locality, historical and age relative.
what are some cultural differences in crime and deviance?
there are certain laws that are illegal no matter where you go, e.g. murder (other than in certain tribes).
- adultery is not illegal in most countries, however it is illegal in Taiwan where you can receive up to a year in prison.
- prostitution is illegal in Ireland but legal in Germany.
how can contextually affect crime and deviance?
time and place - e.g. it is not deviant to ware a bikini on the beach, but to wear a bikini to a job interview is deviant behaviour as its against the norms and values of society.
how can generation affect crime and deviance?
the age of a person also plays a bug part in wether their behaviour or actions are considered criminal or deviant. in terms of criminality, in the UK, a person is not considered criminally responsible until the age of 10.
for deviance behaviours that are considered acceptable for a younger person maybe considered for a younger person may not be considered deviant in an elderly person, e.g. smoking.
how can history affect crime and deviance?
both crime and deviance are historically relative. why may have been considered deviant ij the past is no longer so and acts that were Ince legal have become illegal.
give an example of historical crimes.
slavery was once considered a sign of wealth and privilege, today it is illegal across the world.
give an example of historical deviance?
homosexuality was in ancient times considered common practice, however from the Middle Ages onwards it was considered deviant, however today it is considered acceptable.
give examples of crimes historically in the UK.
1991 - rape wishing marriage became illegal.
1994 - informally organised raves made illegal.
2007 - the smoking ban
2016 - the psychoactive substance act.
what is the ideological state apparatus (ISA)?
maintain the role of bourgeoisie by controlling peoples ideas, values and beliefs, i.e. religion, media and education.
- the media, reproduces class inequality by transmitting ideas from generation to generation and failing the working class deliberately.
what is the repressive state apparatus (RSA)?
matin the role of the bourgeoisie by force such as police, army and courts.
who developed the ISA and the RSA?
Althusser
give an example of ISA and RSA.
when considering the black lives matter movement, the media was key to promote ideological control around the riots and ideologues of conformity. however, when this broke down the police and policies effectively went to criminalise protests.
functionalism and crime
what are Durkheim’s three key ideas about crime?
- crime is inevitable and necessary
- crime has multiple positive functions for society.
- too much crime is bad for society.
how does Durkheim say that crime is inevitable?
he argues that crime is present in all societies that exist and it always will be, he does however say that crime is more industrialised societies is higher then premodern, but this is of course going to happen.
what reasons does Durkheim give for why crime is inevitable?
people aren’t as equally connected to the collective sentiments because of the variations in individuals lies, therefore it becomes impossible for a one true collective as nobody has the same lived experiences.
this means people assimilate differently with the collective sentiments causing crime and deviance.
what is collective sentiments?
shared values, norms and beliefs.
what is a society of saints?
a society filled with perfect behaviour. this would cause the general expectations in society to be so high that the slightest slip would be deemed as serious offence, resulting in awful prosecutions.
how does Durkheim say that crime and deviance is necessary?
Durkheim argues that all social change begins with some form of deviance. in order for changes to occur, yesterday deviance becomes today’s norm.
e.g. small changes such as tattoos and piercings.
larger changes such as the abolition of slavery.
give a critique of Durkheim’s theories relating to crime and deviance.
he does not explain why certain people are more likely to commit crime than others, he is most interested in the nature of the relationship between deviance and order in society.
- he stresses harmony of society and the belief that the law reflects the interest and views of the majority of the population. he seems to ignore the concept of power. it is generally accepted that in all societies some groups have greater ability than the bulk of the population to influence the law making process.
what are the 6 positive functions of crime?
- marking the extremities of acceptable behaviour.
- the publicity function.
- helps to reflect the wishes of the population and legitimises social change
- bonds are strengthened.
- provides a safety valve
- acts as a warming device to indicate that aspects of society is malfunctioning.
what is making the extremities of acceptable behaviour?
the law clearly marks the extremities of acceptable behaviour.
each time the price arrest a person, they are making it clear to the rest of society that, the particular action concerned is unacceptable.
what is the publicity function?
Erikson has pointed out the dramatic setting of the courtroom where the lawyers and judges dress in special clothes and where there is a ceremony, which condemns a persons actions in a public arena. in contemporary society newspapers also help to perform the publicity function, where their often-lurid accounts of criminal acts.
- the courts and the media are ‘broadcasting’ the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, waring others not to breach the walls of the law.
how can crime help to reflective the wishes of the population and legitimates social change?
criminals provide a constant test of the boundaries of permitted action. e.g. every Tim a person is prosecuted for a crime attention is drawn to the commission of the act.
- people can also express their feelings about this - in most cases they simply and unquestioning accept the illegality and evil nature of an act, but sometimes they may feel sympathy for the criminal.
- when the law is clearly out of step with the feelings and values of the majority, legal reform is necessary. criminal therefore, perform a crucial service in helping the law to reflect the wishes of the population and legating social change.
how does crime and deviance strengthen bonds?
another elect of the ‘bindery testing’ function. when feelings of mutual horror or fear, so the bonds between then are strengthened.
e.g. the James Buldger case
how can deviancy provide a safety valve?
provides a relatively harmless expression of discontent. in thus way social order is protected.
e.g. Cohen suggests that ‘prostitution performs such a safety value function, without treating the institution of the family’.
it can provide a release form the stress and pressure of the family life without undermine family stability, since relationships with prostitutes and their clients usually doesn’t involve strong emotional attachments.
how can crime and deviance act as a warming device to indicate that an aspect of society is malfunctioning?
Cohen also suggest that certain deviant acts are useful warning devices to indicate that an aspect of society is malfunctioning. this may draw attention to the problem and lead to measures to solve it.
what can too much crime lead to?
Durkheim says that this results in the development of anomie. this means that people regard the social expectations to respect the rights and the needs of others as unimportant and prefer to look after their own interests even at their neighbours expense.
- they return to their natural state of greed an self-interest thus results un the long term collapse of order and harmony. - anomie, then is dangerous and harmful to all.
what is Mertons strain theory?
come increased when there was a strain between societies success goals (achieving material wealth) and the available opportunities to chic those goals through legitimate means (having a well paid job).
- Merton called this imbalance between goals and the ability to achieve them ‘anomie’.
how does Mertons strain theory link to crime?
Merton argues that crime was higher among working classes because they had fewer opportunities to achieve material success through legitimate means and were more likely ti adopt innovative cultural responses in order to achieve material success through criminal means - e.g. burglary or drug dealing.
what is Mertons typology of crime and deviance?
