Crime And Deviance Flashcards
Durkheim, func, c and d
Value consensus/collective consciousness (socs shared sets of core values.) funds argue that in/formal soccon set what counts as dviant, d believed that as soc became more complex and modern, soc agencies became less effective at ensuring value consensus—> more c and d in post industrial socs
Interacts, c and d
Critical of funcs and value consensus as soc is too cpmplex, implies deviance is universal and fixed. Inters argue that normality is relative, and soccon. C and d, v and n are in a constant state of change. Inters acknowledge that some powerful groups can. Impose their definitions on others and label them as c and d
Depends on pov, time, place culture. Eg alcohol
Weberian c and d
Agreed w Marxists- wealthy dominate definitions of normality. But critical to the fact Marxists are reduce the power and inequality to just class. Believe there were other sources of inequality other than class- race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, authority, coercion
Feminist c and d
Argue that in a patriarchal society. Men define what is normal and deviant. Eg for cases of rape, females are victim blamed.
Eval of Soccon of c and d
Some inters argue that there’s no such thing as normal or deviant behaviour. Some activities will never be morally positive. C and d are an invention of those w power, arguing that it is not real isn’t comforting to victims of crime.
Inters believe crime rates can be lowered through decriminalisation but this idea can be more easily be applied to trivial crimes rather than serious crimes.
Official Crime Statistics (OCS)
Dark figure of crime in ocs
Strengths of ocs
Limitations of ocs
Victims surveys eg csew
Limitations of csew
Other victims surveys, Islington crime surveys, Young et al
What did young say abt the Islington crime survey
Dobash and dobash crime survey
Limitations to crime surveys
Young’s eval of victim surveys
Self report studies
Campbell self report study findings
Edinburgh study of youth transitions and crime, Srs
Srs limitations
Farmington evidence of Srs limitations
Attribution of Srs (limitation)
Ethics of Srs (limitation)
Functionalist view on ocs
Nr and right realist view on ocs
Left realists view on ocs
Feminist view on ocs
Marxist view on ocs
Inter view on ocs
Radical criminologist view on ocs
Social class and offending, Sutherland
Points out that criminality has higher incidence in the lower socioeconomic class. However the only evidence of this is found through young people and points towards the chaotic bgs assoc w poverty and deprivation.
Social classs and offernding, Social Exclusion unit
Reported that prisoners have a history of Soc excl, more likely to have grown up in care, poverty, and to have a family member convicted than the general pop. 5% rate of unlemplotement for gener pop, 67% of prison pop had been unemployed prior to imprisonment, 32% had been homeless compared to 0.9% of the gener pop
Social class and offending, Williams et al
Found that factors that were more freq in prisons. Were : having run away from home, exp violence, drug and alc misuse w/in the family. Regularly truanting from school. Literacy and numeracy lvls were signif lower than the gen pop. Most theories try to explain wc crime through lack of money and status, ocs show who gets caught. The gap between mc and wc crime isnt as big as ocs suggest.
Cavadino and Dignan, social class and offending
The difference between classes is ‘vastly magnified’ due to the different types of offences and class bias w/in the stages of the criminal justice system.
Gender
Ocs show men commit 80% of all offences
Peak age for female offending is 15, m is 18 and doesn’t decline significantly until their 20s.
Deprivation may impact females more than men- female offenders are more likely to be on benefits (2010/11)
Age and offending, McVie
Ocs suggest young people are more likely to offend than adults. Suggest there is not a clear relationship between offending an age. Age band grouping can disguise precise trends which make it hard to compare. Also different offences may leak in different ages. However statistics don’t break this down.
Age and offending, Soothill et al
Found the peak age of conviction for some crimes such as burglary is around 16 or less but drug offences peak between 21-25z age patterns in offending can be questioned- youth crime may be more viable than adult crime which may go undetected
Ethnicity and crime
Black men are 8x more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts. Interactionists say that this is due to the prejudice of police officers
Social class and victimisation, Young
British crime surveyed 2010/11 young households, lone parents, the unemployed are twice as likely to be burgled than the average household.
Young- ‘myth of the equal victim’ certain groups like the poor are hit harder by crime when they become victims. The poor suffer more than the wealthy from the effects of crime. Eg uninsured are more affected by insured. Poor people are subject to ‘multiple victimisation’ the social problems they face increase their vulnerability to crime.
Gender and victimisation, young
Men are victims or crime more than women.
Women are two times more likely to report being victims of non sexual partner abuse, and 7x more likely to be victims of sexual assault.
Young- ‘meaning of the punch’ being in different situations, power dynamics are masked by statistics. Feminist argue that research for domestic violence dramatically mask the problem
Hammer and Saunder found unstructured interviews with women women in Leeds found 20% of women had been sa’d and not reported it.
Walk late and gender victimisation
Considered repeat victimisation and why women remain in abusive relationships and why women are unable to leave or report the abuse. They may have nowhere to go (made worse by children) some women lack economic independence. They may also have psychological issues- self blame, dependency, and lack of confidence
Age and victimisation, young
Older people are more likely to fear crime, young people are more likely to be victims of crime.
Young argued the fears are not as irrational as they seem.
Islington crime survey found over 45s had a lower crime rate than younger people but were more likely to be injured or lose time off work from attacks.
Ethnicity and victimisation
2005 home office evidence suggest black people are 5x more likely to be murdered than white people in England and wales.
Global organised crime definition and examples
Structured group of 3 or more people existing with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes and offences.
Drug/human trafficking, counterfeiting, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering.
Proving GOC
difficult to detect because it is hard to define. Only a fraction of criminal activity was discovered in 2009.
Organised crime is an 870 billion business annually.
The response to goc is slow and hampered by the diversity of the groups, lack of international cooperation, border issues
Gastow and goc
Lllular perception of oc such as the Maria and drug cartels are out of date and ‘fuel conflict, destroy the environment, corrupt governments, and drain resources’
G suggest the problem is that state boarders are irrelevant to goc (which makes them hard to track and police)
G predicts that inc wealth gapes will contribute to the demand for cheap contraband goods
Castell and goc
Sees goc groups as resembling business networks. Opportunity to link with criminal groups across countries- eg they may base management and production in low risk areas w little regulation but aim their marketing in more affluent places.
Robertson and goc
‘Glocalisation’- intertwining of the global and local. Local conditions impact global phenomenon eg the way drug trade is organised is based on political context, local demographics, culture, and law enforcement
What is green crime?
Crime that affects the environment
Eg dumping toxic waste, fly tipping, poaching endangered species.
There can be an overlap between goc and green crime.
Aas and the link between goc and green crime (glocalisation)
Green crime can intersect local and global impacts. Eg environmental harm is often due to a ch of geographically dispersed events and activities
Green crime is debatable and Marxist opinions
Not all activities that had the environment are illegal. Eg deforestation, co2 emission, mass fishing.
They all involve abuse of power in pursuit of profit.
Marxists would argue that the damage done exceeds ‘street crime’ and is an abuse of power from profit
Potter and Green crime
Shows that green crime caused public unrest eg fuel protests.
P argues that crime should be considered in terms of harm rather than the definition that those in power put down
Absence of clean drinking water- the poorest people suffer.
The rich corporations responsible avoid criminal repercussions
Carrabini, two types of green crime
Primary green crime- directly harm the sentiment and people. C recognised four main categories: air+water pollutions, defirestation, and species decline/animal rights
Secondary crime- actions committed as a response to green crime, eg attempts to cover it up by breaking environmental regulation or dealing w protesters aggressively OR using criminal organisation to assist w dumping toxic waste. As well as using state violence against environment groups.
Taylor, Marxist, effects of globalisation
Argues the inc in capitalism and globalisation has led to greater inequality and rising crime. T claimed globalisation created crime at both ends of the social spectrum.
Lower social group- Lack of legitimate employment opportunities caused by outsourcing to cheaper labor places means illegal options become more appealing.
Higher social group- Globalization of money markets has led to an increase of insider trading, tax evasion and wide scale fraud.
Beck, post mod, risk consciousness
(Risk consciousness- means out of control)
argues that society today is a Global Risk Society. (risks in the modern era are ‘man-made’ or ‘manufactured risks’) therefore the consequences were unpredictable. Eg global warming, flooding
This links in with the idea that individuals have adopted ‘risk consciousness’
Green crime is therefore on the socio-political agenda.
Potter Marxists
Green crime is an act of power as the ruling class define the law to benefit their own exploitative interests. Wcc is easy to get away with, especially in developing nations.
Eg green crime is more serious than street crime as it leads to more serious problems. Mostly the poor suffer from green crime- losing job or living in unhealthy conditions whereas the rich corporations avoid any damage.
Eco feminism
Believe humans are interdependent with the environment. Environmental harm hurts humans too. The environment and humans are liable to exploitation, especially global capitalism.
Eco feminists believe that the earth is oppressed and exploited in the way women are by the patriarchy. Men are to blame for environmental harm. Women do not harm the earth due to their ‘natural’ and maternal instincts.
Four positive aspects of crime, Durkheim func
1) Reaffirming the boundaries
2) changing value
3) social cohesion
4) safety valve
negative aspect of crime
Anomie (normlessness) small amounts of c and d can prevent it as long as it is punished, if two much crime is allowed or value consensus breaks down, then it leads to anomie. This threatens the stability of society which may cause a sudden change in gov, coup/revolution, disaster leading to destruction, major economic upheaval such as the London riot of 2011.
Members of society are concerned with their own selfish interests instead of social values.
A collapse of collective conscious leads to crime
Reimpose collective value to regain control after an anomie caused by too much crime.
Positive aspects of crime, 1) reaffirming boundaries
When a crime becomes public in the media, or punishments, or court ceremony. May also involve agencies of social control- police, criminal justice system
Positive aspects of crime 2) changing values
Public outcry and sympathy for people prosecuted can lead to changes in law eg cannabis use.
Positive aspects of crime 3) social cohesion
When a horrific crime takes place there is a shared outrage which leads to a strengthened community. Eg 9/11 terrorism provided social solidarity over the shared shock and grief
Positive aspects of crime 4) safety valve (Davis)
It is a pressure release. For example prostitution is functional as men are deemed to haste greater sexual needs than women.
Davis’ study of prostitution suggest that sec workers provide sexual satisfaction without threatening the family as an institution(??check prep). Men have to let off steam to prevent worse deviance such as long term affairs and rape.
Prostitution is less damaging, a safe outlet for sexual tension, and less threatening to society
Criticism of Durkheim
Assumes that there’s a common value system to deviate from. Fails to identify and theorise the role of sbcs in the creation of crime. Seen as naive for accepting Ocs as valid and failing to explain the motivating factors for deviant acts
Hirschi (right realist) bonds of attachment/why people don’t commit crime
Criminal activity is caused by weakened societal attachment but strengthened by four crucial bonds.
1) attachment- extent we care about others opinions
2) commitment- personal investment in life. What is there to lose?
3) involvement- how busy we are. Time and space for c and d?
4) belief- how strong is a persons obedience for society rules. H suggests that the greater the attachment the lower the level of criminality
Merton (func) strain theory
Society provides capitalist goals and socially acceptable means to achieve it (eg American dream)
Goals- Economic and material wealth
means- hard work, educational achievement. Basically meritocracy
There are five adaptations to the strain experienced when the goal is not attainable.
Conformity, innovation, retreatism, rebellion, ritualism
Mertons give adaptations to strain
Conformity- continue to accept the goals and means, despite low chances of success
Innovation- accepting goals of society but using different means, including criminality
Retreatism- reject goals and means. Dependency on drugs and alcohol
Rebellion- goals and means are rejected and substituted by different ones. Eg political activism or religious fundamentalists.
Ritualism- means are used but the sight of the goal is lost. Eg police blindly enforcing law without looking at the value of justice.
Eval of Merton, criticised by Taylor (Marxist)
Fails to consider wider power relations in society. It doesn’t address the question about who makes and benefits from the law.
Merton is wrong to assume:
- there’s a value consensus in American society
- most crime is carried out by the wc
Young
Argues key institutions stress meritocracy, which young argues is a myth and that the ‘chaos of inequality’ characterises financial rewards. Uk Business leaders and celebrities are paid obscene amounts while full time hard workers are struggling to get by.
Y argues that there is a contradiction between culture which stress the important of monetary success and consumerism and the institutions that make up the social structure which fails to deliver material success for the vast majority of people.
Y notes that this contradiction produces anomie- feelings of unfairness, humiliation, and deorivation. Y argues that a lot of violent crime is a response to this anomie
Erikson, wayward puritans
Argues members of a community will ppt in confrontation w a deviant person who transgresses the community boundaries. Confrontation may take the form of ‘public degradation ceremonies’ such as public trials or media coverage, or twitter.
According to erikson boundaries are always shifting. There has been a relaxation of public reaction, eg attitudes to homosexuals.
Another function of deviance and social reaction can be seen as helping society to progress by showing a new value consensus emerging
False class consciousness
Proletariat don’t recognise they’re being exploited by the bourgeoisie which contributes to their own exploitation as they continue to follow laws
Snider, Marxist
Investigated the deviant and criminal activities of big businesses and givernments. S notes that the capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that may affect their profit.
She points out the capitalist state spends a lot of money to make their company successful and to gain investors
Snider says the state is reluctant to pass laws that would protect the environment or worker health as it discourages investors from
Chambliss view on crime
Says that green generated by capitalism motivates crime at every level of society. People use whatever means their class position can provide to commit crime. Wcc communities have more effective means at their disposal to commit more effective crimes.
Gordon (mar) view on crime
Crime is rational in a ‘dog eat dog’ capitalist society. Especially for poor Americans. Us law enforcement also support capitalism
- individuals are defined as ‘social failures’ and as responsible for their own crimes rather than the capitalist institution
- imprisoning select members to neutralise opposition. American and black British people are heavily over represented among arrests for ‘street crime’ such as robbery/aggravated assault
- labelling criminals as animals to justify hiding them in prisons. If criminals problems were made public, the whole system may be questioned
- selective law enforcement maintains ruling class and to reinforce ruling class ideology, which allows them to get away with immoral crimes.
What is the Marxist ideology
Ideology- a system of ideas and beliefs. The dom ideology in society are the ideas which suit maintaining the ruling classes power, and making sure the proletariat stay powerless(form of control)
Althusser (mar) and control over the proletariat
Proletariat controlled through 2 sets of institutions
- Repressive State Approaches (RSAs) directly and obviously controls proletariat. Forms of formal control. Functions through violence
- ideological state apparatus (ISAs) subtle, socialise society into accepting capitalism. Informal soc con. Functions through ideology.
Application to deviance as ISA shows devisnts as a warning to divide us, keep us scared, and justify the use of the RSA
Box (mar) crime is socially constructed by the powerful
Murder is seen as avoidable killing but many of those aren’t classed as murder.
Box notes that we are encouraged to see murder as involving stereotypical victims, perpetrators, weapons, and motivation. Other types of avoidable murder such as neglecting health and safety as seen as less serious
Power crime and mystification, box, Marx
Any sociologist who decides to include the word mystification in their view point should be locked up for a very long time
Marx and alienation
Bonger
Selective law enforcement
Marxist Eval
Ev
D
R
R
Taylor, Walton, young (nm) and the ‘radical theory of crime’
Chambliss saints and roughnecks
Observed two high school boy gangs.
- ‘Saints’, white upper mc, constantly deviant- truancy, drinking, vandalism. No one officially arrested during the two year study. They utilised their status and ‘good rep’ to negotiate their way out of classes and cheat on hw and tests. They chose their weekend delinquency sites carefully so they would not be recognised
- ‘Roughnecks’- lower class, constantly in trouble w police and community despite their similar rates of deviance. They were perceived as typical gang members and subjected to more community vigilance. Police were aware of them and looked for opportunities to arrest
Chambliss conclused that ‘selective perception’ and labelling mean that outspoken poor kids will be noticed whether their actions are deviant or not. While other kids with established reputations as disciplined will be invisible when they deviate.
Hall et al (nm) policing the crisis
Agrees with interactionalists that labelling can lead to moral panic- specifically about mugging in the 1970s. The media covered a statistical increase that was impossible to verify due to the confusion of what constituted as mugging. It came to be associated with black men due to early stories.
Hall put it into historical and social context and found Britain was experiencing an economic crisis- high unemployment, lowered wages. This created unrest. Strikes, protests especially in inner cities. This affected the government and ruling class who felt forced to control the crisis by clamping down on dissenters
At the same time racial tension was building up. Politicians linked competition for jobs and resources to immigration.
A moral panic was created by hardline reaction of police in response to mugging cases and sensationalist media reporting.
Hall argued the ‘black mugger’ served as a scapegoat for the social problems of the day and provided a distraction from economic worries all while tougher policing and control was justified and accepted by the public
Crit of nm
Crit of nm
Cloward and Ohlin, illegitimate opportunity structure (sbc explanation)
Sees deviance as a reaction to problems in achieving the values of mainstream culture. Inability to achieve valued goals
Cloward and Ohlin, illegitimate opportunity structure (sbc explanation)
Sees deviance as a reaction to problems in achieving the values of mainstream culture such as success and money through legitimate means. They innovate using illigiaate means to attain them. 3 responses
- criminal sbcs organised crime (eg the mafia) where career criminals can socialise youth into their own criminal can socialise youths into their own criminal career, which may result in material success
- conflict sbcs- gangs organised by young people based on claiming territory
- retreatist sbcs- based on mertons retreatisist but as a group, instead they may abuse drugs and alcohol and petty crime
Cohen, status frustration, sbc explanations
Argues youth deviance is associated with short term hedonism (instant gratification) c recognised the acute pressure of conformity within a friendship and how important group status is. Wc boys are aware of mainstream value like educational achievement, good job, financial success. They understand a mc boy can achieve status through legitimate means.
A wc boy who clings to the value system will see himself as inferior compared to mc boys. They feel ‘status frustration’
In delinquent sbcs status may be achieved through alternative criteria, eg being food in a fight, deviancy to earn status, can look down on mc boys who don’t measure up to their status
Miller focal concerns, sbc explanations
Wc boys have their own focal concerns (values) which have the potential to lead them to deviant behaviour, different mc values which can help explain why deviant levels are higher within the wc. Focal concerns (6) of young wc boys
- trouble
- toughness and machoness
- smart/streetwise
- excitement
- fate
- autonomy
Conforming to this value is more important to working class boys than mc codes of conduct
Criticising sbcs theories
- generalised wc culture
- miller- no evidence that it is specific to wc values. Box points out it can apply to any man across the classes
- cohen- no discussion of females. Unrealistic for boys to work out what mc values are and invert them
- cloward and ohlin- there’s are three clear distinctions irl, no discussion of female deviance
Matza, inter
Criticised sbc theories- young people drift in and out of delinquency and grown out of it when they reach adulthood. M points out when young people justify their delinquency they rarely reference status frustration or strain or values (focal concerns. M also argues that only a small percentage of wc youth actually get in trouble w the police or join gangs
Katz
Argues status frustration isn’t an accurate reason to justify the cause of sbcs, young people commit crime for the please or thrill from the risk of getting caught, power over others. Katz also notes violent crimes in terms of thrill and power over others is rational when achieving the goal of hegemonic masc
Lyng
Used the concept of edge work to describe exploring the edges along cultural boundaries and undertaking activities that push those boundaries as a reason why young people commit crime: crime is a form of gambling’s provides pleasure thrill and excitement as it allows young men in particular (esp those w little econ security) to exercise a form of control over their lives
Scarton and Gordon ‘culture of resistance’
Polcing, media coverage and political debate centre around ‘race’ being the problem. Ethnic minorities are consistently discriminated. They are in a significantly worse economic position than the white majority. As a response a ‘culture of resistance’ has emerged. Crime is a form of organised resilience and has origins in anti colonial struggles. When youth commit crimes as a political act rather than criminal
Lea and young criticise scarton and Gordon
by pointing out the majority of crime is ‘intraracial! Which can’t reflect political struggles against the white majority. Y and L accuse writers such as Scranton as romanticising crime. In doing so they ignore the real harm to the victims
Cccs and ysbcs
Criticism of Marxist sbc theories
Malinowski
Pacific Islanders studied. Young boy died by suicide because he was publicly accused on incest. When Malinowski inquired about incest the islanders were disgusted and horrified. However Malinowski found incest was not uncommon as long as the people taking part were discreet. If it became obvious and public the islanders reacted with abuse and ostracised the members. They were often driven to suicide
Becker linking the Malinowski study
Used it to argue that just because a rule is broken it doesn’t mean others will define it as deviant. Some has to draw attention to them/enforce them. The people who do so are usually interested in the issue. Eg for the incestuous islanders the rule was enforced by the rejected explorer of the girl involved. If the person is successfully labelled, then consequences follow this leads to limited choices afterwards for the accused (suicide of one of the islanders)
Kituse
People respond differently to rule breaking. K Interviewed 75 get students to elect their response to (presumed) sexual advances from homosexuals. The responses ranged from complete tolerance to extreme hatred.
Kituses study reflects how Interactionist reject the idea that Ocs are a realistic reflection of crime. Inters argue that they’re a result of a sense of assumptions and judgements made by the agencies of social control
Becker, deviance as a soccon, and sfp
People may be mislabelled or not labelled at all. B argued deviance is not due to behaviour but rather due to the responses of others to the behaviour
Sfp- internalised label which affects a persons self concept. They live up to the label
Becker, master status
When a deviant label becomes the main id of an individual. It controls them and how others respond to them. It is difficult to remain unaffected after the master status is assigned, which may lead to exclusion and judgment. Makes it difficult to maintain jobs and have relationships. Once this label is applied all other labels become unimportant. Some groups are able to reject the label. Eg Reisse study of male prostitutes, see them as straight despite having sex with men.
Becker, deviant career
Individual joins a deviant group or sbc which may rationalise and support deviancy. The individual is then more likely to see themself as deviant and internalise the label. Plummer applied this to homosexual—>master status—> internalise—> pursue a ‘homosexual career’ which may involve sbcs, frequenting gay venues, or becoming more camp (exaggerated and typical characteristics of gay men
Lemert, primary and secondary deviance
P- rule breaking, little importance
S- consequence of the responses of others
L studied the coastal Inuits of Canada and found deviant stuttering. He suggested it was caused by the great importance attached to ceremonial speech making. A failure to speak well lead to great humility.
Children became so occupied with the slightest difficulty while conscious of their parents pressure, they became anxious which led to chronic stuttering (secondary deviance) the parents reaction to minor speech defects was primary deviance
Matza
Argues youth drift in and out of deviance. They feel a moral obligation to obey the law but also pressure to pursue ‘subterranean values’ (excitement and risk taking that challenged morally acceptable values. Techniques of neutralisation to justify and prevent a deviant is from forming, which enables the youth to drift back into legitimate activity and to preseve their self concept as a decent person.
There are five techniques of neutralisation to justify deviant behaviour
Matza five techniques of neutralisation
1) denial of responsibility ‘Not my fault’ ‘not within my control’
2) denial of injury ‘it did no harm’
3) denial of the victim, argue they deserve it
4) condemnation of the condemners, argue those labelling the behaviour as deviant are in the wrong or hypocritical
5) appeal to higher loyalties, other values friendship, family, profit are behind the behaviour.
Matza argues most youth grow out of deviance as they take on adult responsibilities, a few internalise the deviant label
Young, NOT FINFISHED (inter) agencies of soccon on the role of social construction of deviance
Looked at societal reaction to drug taking amongst some alienated young people who faced a problem of anomie and evolved into a bohemian sbc. Seeking out like minded people and and smoking seed as a solution to their problem. Powerful groups in wider society saw this sbc as a threat to their interests. Took action through mass media and criminal justice stem. The deviancy increase (devamp) the increased deviance may be a result of increased isolation induced by the condemnation of the original deviance. Alternatively may be rebellion induced.
Cicourel
Ocs are often the result of interactions and negotiation between youth, the criminal justice system. Studied two cities which were similar sizes and socioeconomic characteristics.
One city employed more probation officers and kept more detailed records on offences had constantly high levels of crime and juvenile delinquency, the other city fluctuated depending on media publicity and public concern. Cicourel concluded that agencies of control and their policies operate to construct the official picture of juvenile justice in the USA
Becker and rules (???)
Disregards Marxists and functionalists explanation for rules (made by the rich to benefit them/social cohesion) inters argue laws are a reflection of the activities of people who actively seek to create and enforce laws. Reasons- new laws benefit the activities directly or the activists believe in society
Becker
Inters Eval
Rational choice theory, Clarke (right realist)
- argues the decision to commit crime is a rational choice based on calculations of the likely consequences. If the perceived rewards of crime outweigh the perceived costs of crime. Or if the rewards of crime appear to be great than non criminal behaviour, then people are more likely to offend.
Control theory, hirschi social bonds (rr)
Those w strong family and friendship networks, responsibilities, morality, involvement in social activities are less likely to commit crime. Prison population stats support his idea
Wilson (rr)
Argues the morals of society must be upheld implies that lying to understand or justify criminals isn’t desirable. Suggests long term trends in crime can be accounted for primarily by three factors
- young men are more likely to commit crimes
- may be changed in the benefit and cost of crimes at different times due to accessibility, economy, the availability of jobs and so on which will change age the rate at which crimes occur especially property crimes
- broad social and cultural change in society: reinforced through the family, media, and religion may influence general norms and values which may in turn affect the extent to which certain attitudes risk individuals are tempted into deviance/willing to conform
Wilson, crime and punishment
If a criminal believes they won’t be captured the punishment is irrelevant. The environment plays a key role is creating a culture of order and acceptable behaviour. The individual won’t be tempted to be deviant if police are visible ‘clamping down’. Then a culture will be created where residents report crime more (informal social control) if there is an impression that no one cares and the disorder is prevent then events previously law abiding people may see it as acceptable to join in with deviant behaviour
Wilson and killing
Argue community will change its behaviour in the face of low level disorder. Staying indoors and ‘not getting involved’ tends to escalate the likihood that crime will start to flourish (with noone to challenge it) which can lead to urban decay—> crime flourishes. Those who can will move away, the area goes into a downward spiral. W and k argue once an area has a criminal culture there is little point in trying to police it. A foot patrol becomes useless jn A very crime ridden area. Police should spent efforts elsewhere, where a difference can be made. Those areas at the tipping point should be identified in order to restore order with a visible police presence.
Wilson
Stated wicked people exist, emphasise that there is a biological element to criminal behaviour. They challenge the left wing criminologists who seek to deny the importance of I dk j characteristics of impulsiveness or temper. Argue some people are predisposed to criminality. These criminal traits are heightened by a lack of proper socialisation. In a strong nuclear family these tendencies are suppressed. Single parent families/rise which lack a commitment to society’s norms and values may not provide the important socialisation needed.
Herrnstein (rr)
Main challenge of right realism is that it plays down the causes of offending, focusing only on the failures in social control and punishment. YOUNG argues the deviance and control cannot be studied independent of each other
Broken window study, Wilson and kelling (rr)
Police study in New York in the mid 70s. Police increased foot patrols over five years, residents said they felt safer and crime reduced. Police increased foot patrols over five years residents said that they felt safer and crime reduced. Police had a better relationship with residents and had taken on an ‘order maintenance’ role, addressing low level deviance like public drink was, rowdy behaviours and begging. Psychology study- Rojin window phenomen. When a derelict building has one broken window, the others will soon follow. If something is identified as uncared for they will see it as acceptable to further vandalise it.
Broken window study, Wilson and kelling (rr) zimbardo influence
Zimbardo left on abandoned car in a mc area and one in a rundown area. The latter was quickly vandalised and was completely stripped within a few days. The former was untouched until zimbardo smashed a window. And within a few hours the car had been destroyed.
For w and k it demonstrated that once communal barrier have been broken down, and deviance can happen anywhere. Suggest that ‘untended behaviour’leads to a breakdown of of community controls.
For the by experiment the presence of the police and their ability to adress low level disorder created an orderly environment less conducive to crime
Wilson and crime being allowed to flourish
Wilson argued once crime is allowed to happen it flourishes. According to his analysis in community a proportion of the population is likely to engage in petty crime such as vandalism. In most communities this behaviour is prevented from going further by the comments of other members in the local community ‘kept in check’ by community. If unchecked the area breaks down and gradually there are more serious and frequent crime
Wilson order maintenance
Police parched offender and endure the law isn’t broken does relatively little to reconstruct communities and prevent crime. Police should instead concentrate on order maintenance- using the law to ensure smaller civilities (rowdy youth, public drug use) are all crushed. According to Wilson this would create a different view of what is acceptable behaviour- make public areas safe again for majority
Wilson and Herrnstein the cause of crime
Argue crime is inevitable but more likely if they are socialised into acceptable behaviour during childhood by the family they lack regard for each other. Claim families with low intelligence are more likely to be ‘discordant’ and less likely to socialise children correctly. However the act of committing a crime depends upon the perception of the person that the advantages of crime outweigh the potential disadvantages
A version of Wilson’s order maintenance was adapted
In New York under the slogan zero tolerance. This led to a decline in crime.
Etzioni
Developed communitarianism. For e, changes in moderns society have psyched decision making further and further away from local communities. As a result people loose interesting in their community and see themselves as powerless which reinforces their acceptance that it is not their job to control others- but the role of the police.
Etzioni argues for fully taking back control over local offender and providing support to those in need locally will reconstruct social control.
Eval of right realism
Rec and Tomlinson. Cohen. Matthews. Jones
Murray new right under class
distinct lower class sbc below the wc with criminal and deviant values instead of mainstream values. They transmit this culture to their child by socialising them to have a culture of dependency, lack of discipline and respect, criminality, laziness. (Cycle of poverty)
M blames over generous welfare
M condemns single mothers and argues that for fatherless boys ‘illegitimacy is a greater indicator of criminality than poverty.
Girls without fathers are emo danced and search for a father substitute and get pregnant at an early age.
Boys without fathers tend to have poor impulse control, become sexual predators and are unable to get up at the same time every morning for a job
Murray and Herrnstein (Nr)
Considered the impact of cognitive ability (intelligence) on criminal behaviour. Used IQ data to demonstrate the correlation. They controversially linked low IQ with race.
Marsland (new right)
Argued the welfare state is responsible for the emergence of the underclass because of welfare benefits. M argued that it undermined people committed and obligated to supported one another. People in the underclass are ‘work shy’ they are able to work but chose not to because of the benefits
Clarke rational choice theory (right realism)
Criminality is a conscious choice. The more criminal opportunities available and likelihood or getting caught. Rr responses to making more difficult and capture more likely
Murray opinion on underclass
Sees underclass as lacking moral values and commitment to marriage and family life.
A large percentage of underclass children are raised by single mothers which is allegedly inadequate.
Absent fathers- boys lack potential discipline and appropriate male role models
As a result young men turn to other delinquent role models on the street. Status through crime instead of supporting family with a steady job. Hostile towards police and authority. R realists see the underclass as the main cause of crime in inner city area and on council estate
Eval of underclass theory
Realist criminology
Let realism
Young left realist
left idealists overemphasise wcc and street crime and romanticise criminals as victims of the circumstance or a misunderstood rebel. Robin Hood thesis.
According to left realistic there’s been a real and significant inc in the levels of street crime and the fear that surrounds it, which cannot be explained by police bias and moral panics.
The perception of crime as a problem has significantly affected people’s lives and behaviours. Eg in the Islington crime survey 80.5 percent of people saw crime as problem affecting their lives. Women were especially affected as they were afraid of going out at night.
Square of crime left realism
Lea and young, crime in terms of three interrelated concepts
Relative deprivation
Marginalisation
sbcs
Young (and Hutton) exclusive society
Left realism Eval
Sutherland defined wcc
as crime committed by a person of high social status is the course of his occupation.
Croall challenged sutherlands definition of crime
Not all of the activities are criminal (due to laws protecting upper class) If the status of the person is important their position of trust can be abused to cause harm. Croall defines it as ‘an abuse of a legitimate occupational role that is regulated by law’
Crime (Croall?) argued there are two distinct types of wcc (third type)
1) occupational crime- employees in their jobs- stealing from employer
2) corporate crime/ businesses/corporations, often motivated by a desire to inc or protect profits
3) state crime- carried out by a nation state such as war crimes, genocide, arms trading.
Wcc is difficult to estimate and investigate.
People with power are able to abuse the financial and political power to escape arrest. This explains the unrepresentation of Wcc in Ocs. As wel as unlikely to appear in victim surveys. Victims of fraud may be unaware they are victims.
If a company is the victim of employee wcc it may not publicise the matter.
Corruption is seen as victimless. It can be argued the public is the victims of wcc. Eg prices rising to cover losses caused by wcc
Marxism and wcc, Box (split) see card number 77
The ruling class use the laws to serve their own interests. Those in power are able to manipulate the public perception of crimes.
Box pointed out that the societal definition of criminality has a mental image of thief. Likely a shoplifter rather than a company ceo charging high prices
Tombs, elaborated box’s point
Analysed death at work caused by employer activity. Found 1316 fatal injuries between in a one year span. Fatal illnesses such as asbestosis and lung disease produced a further 1702 deaths. T concludes that the scale of unlawful workplace death outweighed the number of recorded homicjdes that year (834 in England, wales and Scotland)
Goldstraw-white
Found those convicted of wcc don’t see themself as criminal. Semi structured internviewd with 41 offenders imprisoned for wcc (eg tax evasion ranging from 18-100million) they didn’t accept that they had done something wrong and distinguished themselves from other inmates. They stressed that they didn’t ‘hurt’ anyone. And resisted the label of criminal.
