Crime and deviance Flashcards
1
Q
Strain theory - Merton
A
- society has major stress on being successful (goals)
- it is impossible for everyone to achieve success in socially acceptable way (means)
- stress on achieving goals promotes deviant behaviour
- there is a strain on what people want to achieve and what they can achieve
- responses to anomie: conformity, innovation (accepts goals, rejects means), ritualism (means accepted, lost sight of goals), retreatism (goals and means forgotten - drugs), rebellion (rejection of goals and mean, have alternative ones - terrorists)
2
Q
evaluation of strain theory
A
- fails to explain why an individual chooses one deviant act over another
- only focuses on utilitarian crime - what about vandalism, fighting etc.
- ignores why some find it harder to achieve society’s goals than others - inequality, and why majority of people are law-abiding when many people feel the means is to hard
3
Q
Control theory - Hirschi
A
- everyone is potentially deviant and law abiding behaviour is abnormal
- there is no cause of criminal behaviour
- the point is not to seek causes but to understand how social control is achieved
- criminal activity is when individual attachment to society is weakened
- Attachment - extent to which we’re concerned about needs of others
- commitment - how much we invested in our life
- involvement - how busy is our lifestyle
- belief - amount of conviction we have in terms of obeying rules of society
- Hirschi found a correlation between these factors - more attached to conventional people and activities, less likely to commit crime
- eg. boys doing well in school, close to fathers, less likely to have delinquent friends
4
Q
evaluation of control theory
A
- feminists - ‘malestream’ sociology - although his conclusions rest on boys’ attitudes and beliefs, his theories are supposed to apply to adults and both sexes
- Marxists - people aren’t naturally inclined to commit crime - class and culture is more important factor, fails to recognise why some feel more marginalised
5
Q
Cohen - status frustration
A
- most crime is committed in groups is not always utilitarian crime committed for material gain
- WC boys fail in MC school system as they face cultural deprivation and are left at bottom of status hierarchy
- unable to achieve by legitimate means - status frustration
- resolve frustration by rejecting MC values and joining delinquent subculture where norms are reverse of mainstream
- subcultures offer an alternative status hierarchy where status is achieved through delinquent means
6
Q
evaluation of status frustration
A
+ explains non-utilitarian crime eg. vandalism
- assumes WC boys start off with MC goals and reject them when they fails, ignores that they may have never shared these goals and don’t see themselves as failures
- unlikely that delinquent subcultures consciously invert norms of mainstream culture
7
Q
Cloward and Ohlin - 3 types of subcultures that lead to crime
A
Criminal (eg. mafia):
- in neighbourhoods with stable criminal culture and established hierarchy
- youth associate with adult criminals and are provided with opportunities to succeed in criminal career
Conflict:
- in areas with too high populations resulting in anomie preventing criminal network developing
- only illegitimate opportunity is in gangs
- violence is release for frustration and alternative source of status
Retreatist:
- unable to succeed in legitimate and illegitimate structures
- turn to retreatist subcultures usually based on drug use
8
Q
evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin - 3 types of subcultures
A
- ignores crime of the wealthy and overestimates WC crime - doesn’t tackle issues related to gender or class - don’t question why WC struggle to succeed in legitimate structures
+ explanation for different TYPES of WC crime through subcultures
9
Q
Miller - focal concerns
A
- subcultures don’t arise from inability to achieve success
- WC have different set of values (focal concerns): excitement, toughness, smartness, autonomy, fate
- focal concerns lead to crime and deviance in order to achieve status
- excitement - non-utilitarian crime
- autonomy - take matters into own hands rather than getting help from police etc
- fate - don’t consider consequences of actions as future already decided
10
Q
evaluation of Miller - focal concerns
A
- generalises all WC people saying they’re bound to be gang members or delinquents
- WC having different norms and values contradicts functionalist view that everyone is socialised into value consensus
11
Q
Matza - subterranean values and drift
A
- we all have delinquent values and criminal urges but we learn to keep them suppressed (young more likely to be criminal)
- we use neutralisation to justify crimes
- neutralisation techniques: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, appeal to higher loyalty (friends)
- the fact everyone uses attempts to neutralise their crimes shows everyone shares the same values otherwise they would believe their act was correct
- we drift between delinquency and conformity throughout life
12
Q
evaluation of subterranean values and drift
A
- it is not easy to just ‘drift’ in and out of delinquent activity when there are consequences to the activities eg. prison, stigma
- not everyone attempts to neutralise or justify their crime, some show no remorse
- neutralisation techniques could be seen as excuses to avoid punishment rather than ‘drifting’ back into mainstream values
13
Q
Carrabine - corporate crime
A
- we entrust high status professionals with our finances, health, security and personal info
- eg. GP Harold Shipman believed to have murdered over 200 patients by obtaining pethidine by forgery an deception and enough morphine to kill 360 people - only received a warning and continued to practise
14
Q
ways that corporate crime is invisible
A
- little media coverage
- lack of political will - more interested in street crime
- crimes are complex
- de-labelling - offences labelled as civil not criminal, penalites are fines not jail
- under-reporting
15
Q
classical marxist view on crime
A
- capitalism is criminogenic - corporate crime is inevitable because capitalism is based on greed
- whole system based on explotation of WC by RC - RC only get richer and WC increasing poverty
- not surprising that those who can’t afford basic necessities turn to crime
- non-utilitarian crimes explained by expressing frustration at their explotation
16
Q
evaluation of marxist view on crime
A
- presents WC criminals as passive - puppets who can’t help but commit crime because of economic circumstances
- crime still exists in communist societies eg. Soviet Union in 20th century
17
Q
reasons white collar crime is ‘invisible’ and justified
A
- often victimless
- company can afford to replace anything stolen
- lack of awareness
- institutional protection - company doesn’t want to look bad so won’t take case to court
18
Q
example of a famous white collar crime in US
A
Enron
- energy supply company that made orders appear as profit before any money had actually been exchanged
- makes the company appear wealthier so people invest in it thinking the company was more successful than they were
- a prominent figure in the company was friends with George Bush and got him to refuse to investigate (deregulation)
19
Q
Pearce - marxist view on corporate crime
A
- even laws that appear to help the working class really help the bourgeoisie
- eg. health and safety laws provide the ruling class with a healthy workforce to make more money off of
20
Q
Chambliss - marxist view on crime
A
- most laws in US and UK protect people who own property
- did a study in Seattle and argued ruling class were part of a crime syndicate and used their wealth and status to bribe officials and avoid punishment
- he said the criminal justice system wasn’t there to catch the ruling class and was selectively applied to the working class
21
Q
evaluation of Chambliss’s view on corporate crime
A
- there are some laws that protect working class eg. minimum wage
- powerful people do get criticised legally eg. Katie price tax evasions, Trump
- most people in contemporary society own property so doesn’t specifically protect RC
22
Q
Graham - marxist view on crime
A
- investigated how government policed illegal trade of drugs, amphetamines in particular
- Even though there was a ‘war on drugs’, politicians decided not to restrict amphetamine production and distribution because most was made and sold by pharmaceutical companies - making profit for bourgeoisie
23
Q
Hall - neo-marxist view on corporate crime
A
- there was a ‘crisis of capitalism’ and the resulting unemployment had a disproportionate impact of black people, some chose to enter the informal economy which sometimes involved crime
- this created a moral panic about black WC crime, taking attention away from crime committed by the ruling class
24
Q
Taylor and Young ‘Fully social theory’
A
anti-deterministic, more volunteristic
When considering a deviant act marxists should consider:
1- structural origins
2- immediate cause of crime
3- the act itself and reason behind it
4- immediate social reaction to act
5- wider origins of social reaction
6- outcome of social reaction
25
Q
evaluation of Taylor, Walton and Young’s fully social theory
A
- Rock (realist) - romanticises criminals into ‘Robin Hood figures’ when not all crime is politically motivated
- feminists - focuses only on male crime
- most crime committed by WC is against WC not RC
26
Q
Young - left realism causes of crime
A
Crime is deep rooted in social conditions
Rise in living standards since WW2 has meant a rise in crime rate.
- relative deprivation - social media allows everyone access to messages of material wealth which is not attainable by most so people feel deprived in comparison
- subculture - a group’s solution to relative deprivation, want society’s goals but achieve them by illegitimate means
- marginalisation - powerless groups in society such as unemployed youths use violence and rioting as political action
27
Q
left realism - solutions to crime
A
- police becoming more accountable to local communities and involve them in deciding policies and priorities
- crime control should involve a multi-agency approach involving schools and social services
- police shouldn’t have allowed their relationship with the public to break down
- reduce social inequalities
28
Q
evaluation of left realist view on crime
A
- overlook importance of crimes of the powerful (corporate crime) and focus too much of inner-city crime making the problem appear worse
- deterministic - not all individuals who experience relative deprivation commit crime
- relies on quantitative data from official stats and victim surveys - not true picture and no in depth explanation
29
Q
Matthews and Young - square of crime (left-realist)
A
4 methods to explain crime:
1. state and agencies - decide if an act is a crime and how to enforce it
2. offender and their actions - the crime they committed and why
3. informal social control - public react to crime in different ways
4. victim - decide whether to report a crime
Importance of different elements varies from crime to crime eg. corporate crime has different victim-offender relationship and is regulated differently by agencies of social control
30
Q
Wilson and Herrnstein - right realist view on causes of crime
A
- Biosocial theory - some people have a more aggressive, risk-taking personality caused by biological differences
- This makes these certain people more likely to commit crime
31
Q
Murray - right realist view o causes of crime
A
- New Victorians - those who are respectable, seek employment and are happy to be responsible marital parents
- New Rabble - form an increasing underclass and have distinct criminal tendencies and values falling outside wider held values
- single parents, dropping out of education/employment/family are major concern
- development of underclass is related to increases in crime
- communities become fragmented as response to crime is to withdraw into home - loss of informal social control
32
Q
Wilson and Kelling - broken window theory
A
- communities should be prevented from deteriorating
- if a window is broken, rowdiness on the street will go unchallenged and problems will grow
- increase in vandalism and youths hanging around means law-abiding citizens are reluctant to come out
- if communities see measures are made to enforce law they’re more likely to report a crime
- resources will be wasted on those areas which have gone too far, they’re unable to be restored
33
Q
Clarke - right realist rational choice theory
A
- crime is a choice
- most criminals are rational actors, if risk of getting caught is low or punishment isn’t severe they’re more likely to commit the crime
- they are rational in that they weigh up costs and benefits to assess whether a crime is worth committing
34
Q
right realist view on solutions of crime
A
- Etzioni - communitarianism - building up a community of law-abiding citizens to make crime less likely
- Wilson - police should carry out ‘order maintenance’ rather than law enforcement - reduce the likelihood of them committing the crime low in the first place eg. repairing broken windows
- zero tolerance
- tough sentences
35
Q
Matthews - criticism of right realist view on crime
A
- little evidence to support that broken windows actually lead to more crime
- incivility determined by crime not other way around
36
Q
Jones - criticism of right realist view on crime
A
- decline in communities more likely related to lack of investment than the underclass
37
Q
Young - criticism of right realist view of crime - zero tolerance policy
A
- success rate of zero-tolerance policies is a myth peddled by politicians and police to try and take credit for the falling crime rate
- crime rate in New York has been falling since 1985 before zero-tolerance
- police need arrests to try justify falling crime rate leading them to make arrests for more minor crimes which weren’t previously labelled as deviant
38
Q
sex role theory - Parsons
A
- women socialised into more caring/nurturing role leading to a lower crime rate for them
- men are socialised into being tough and dominant which is more prone to criminality that being compliant
39
Q
evaluation of sex role theory
A
- it is very outdated - stereotypical gender roles are not as prominent in contemporary society and boys and girls are socialised in a more similar way
- there are other reasons for committing crime - material gains, poverty
- some females do commit crime
40
Q
Carlen - class gender deals
A
- interviewed 39 WC women convicted of a crime
- WC women led to conform through:
Class deal - women who work are offered material rewards
Gender deal - patriarchal ideology offers material and emotional rewards from family life when conforming to conventional domestic gender role - if these rewards aren’t available or worth the effort, crime is more likely
- WC women lack the controls that keep most from committing crime - they’re often without qualifications so find hard to get legitimate work, attachment to family may be weak due to abuse
- having criminal record reinforces future criminal behaviour as it reduces chances of legitimate job and family
41
Q
Heidenson - differential control
A
- women are controlled at home, work and public by the patriarchy - by reputation, time, opportunities etc.
- females are more conformist because society imposes more control on their behaviour
- women more likely to be controlled by their role as mother or wife of have little time for criminal behaviour
- they have threat or fear of male violence or getting a bad reputation
42
Q
Chivalry thesis - Pollak
A
- women are treated leniently by the CJS - softer sentences if at all
- most criminal justice agents are men who are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women - protective attitude
- CJS is therefore more lenient with women so their crimes are less likely to end up in official stats
- this gives an invalid picture of crime that exaggerates the extent of gender differences
43
Q
Heidenson and Carlen - double deviance
A
- some say women are given harsher sentences than men because they’ve committed a crime against their gender and society
- they’ve defied their caring, nurturing role and it’s a shock
- double deviance - crime against society and their gender norms
44
Q
Adler - liberation theory
A
- due to feminism and equality women are more likely to get involved in crime as seriously and frequently as men
- patriarchal controls and discrimination have lessened and opportunities in education and work have become more equal, women have adopted a more traditionally male role in both work and crime
45
Q
Coercive control - explanation of crime
A
- coercive control is most commonly committed by men against women
- a partner controlling who you see, clothes, finances, stalking you - used to frighten or harm their victim
- Prison Reform Trust - 57% prisoners have been victims of domestic violence, 65% for those aged 16-25
- eg. stealing if partner denies access to finances, hiding partner’s drugs/weapons, taking responsibility for partner’s crime
46
Q
Messerschmidt - men and crime
A
- masculinity is social construct that men have to constantly be presenting to others
- hegemonic masculinity is dominant form that most men wish to accomplish - crime and deviance are resources to achieve this
- White MC youths - in school masc achieved by subordinating themselves to teachers, outside school expressed through drinking, pranks, vandalism
- White WC youths - less chance of educational success so masculinity constructed around sexism - being tough and opposing teachers’ authority eg. Willis
- Black WC youths - fewer expectations of reasonable jobs so masc expressed by gang violence or property crimes
- MC - white collar or corporate crime
47
Q
evaluation of Messeschmidt view on men and crime
A
- masculinity isn’t explanation of crime but a description of male offenders eg. tough and controlling - crimes may just be committed by males with violent characteristics - circular argument
- not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
48
Q
Winlow - men and crime
A
- decline of traditionally male jobs where men would express masculinity
- more service sector jobs eg. clubs, pubs, bars - legal employment and criminal opportunities
- Sunderland bouncers - employment as well as illegal business ventures in drugs, alcohol, protection rackets, expressing masculinity through violence
- bodily capital - helps men maintain reputation and employability
49
Q
Lea and Young - view on ethnicity and crime
A
- stats represent real differences in offending
- racism has led to marginalisation and economic exclusion of minority ethnic groups
- this leads to relative deprivation and the forming of black criminal subcultures
50
Q
neo-marxist view on ethnicity and crime (including Gilroy and Hall)
A
- stats are social construct resulting from racist labelling and discrimination of CJS
- black criminality is social construction and takes attention away from crisis of capitalism
- Gilroy - black crime is a form of resistance against society
- Hall - moral panic of black muggers was used as a scapegoat to distract from crisis of capitalism in 70s - creates fantasy crime wave - more arrests for a crime give impression of increase in the crime itself
- black crime isn’t solely caused by media and black labelling, also black youth being marginalised through unemployment in crisis of capitalism
51
Q
Fitzgerald view on ethnicity and crime
A
- street robbery rates higher in deprived areas where young black people are more likely to live due to discrimination in housing and job market
52
Q
Macpherson report
A
- Stephen Lawrence murdered by racist gang
- nobody was successfully prosecuted until 19 years later, despite lots of evidence eg. video footage of gang bragging about killing a black man
- police didn’t acknowledge the racist motives of the killers
- macpherson report in 1999 described the Metrpolitan police as racist
- racism and institutional racism is deeply ingrained in attitudes of police officers
- racist victimisation - someone selected as victim of crime because of their race, ethnicity or religion
53
Q
William and Clarke - ethnicity and crime
A
- black people more likely to be guilty of ‘joint enterprise’ (they foresaw that someone else was going to commit a crime and are prosecuted), usually on account of gang membership
- 75% black prisoners identified as gang members, 39% white prisoners
- these differences were largely caused by the use of joint enterprise to secure convictions
54
Q
official stat - distribution of ethnicities making up prisons compared to population
A
- black people make up 4% of population but 14% of prisons
55
Q
strain theory - ethnicity and crime
A
- black boys statistically underachieve in school and are therefore denied social mobility by legitimate means
- this leads to them turning to illegitimate means to achieving society’s goal
56
Q
sources of crime stats
A
- police recorded crime
- victim surveys - reported and unreported crime (more accurate than police recorded crimes)
- self-report studies - anonymous questionnaires
- court and prison records
57
Q
how does globalisation enable crime?
A
- communication technologies - spread of info, harder for countries to shield people from political news eg. collapse of communism in Eastern Europe partly due to them hearing about it in other countries
- cheap air travel - human trafficking, smuggling, terrorism
- deregulation of financial and other markets
- influence of global mass media - relative deprivation
58
Q
Castells - globalisation and crime
A
- major aspects of global criminal economy:
arms and weapons trafficking
nuclear weapons
drugs - high demand from West and USA
modern slavery
59
Q
Taylor - globalisation and crime
A
- transnational companies move to low-wage countries producing job insecurities, unemployment in the previous country and inequalities in the new country
- workers paid extremely low wage and work in terrible conditions to cut down on costs for the company
- globalisation creates criminal opportunities on grand scale for elite groups eg. insider trading
60
Q
Chambliss - domestic law - state crime
A
- state crime is acts defined by law as criminal acts committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state
- the state itself defines what state crime is
61
Q
evaluation of Chambliss’s definition of state crime
A
- the state can create laws to avoid criminalising themsleves
- they can allow themselves to carry out harmful acts
- eg. Nazi Germany passed law allowing disabled people to be sterilised
62
Q
Hillyard - state crime
A
- we should replace study of crimes with zemiology - study of harms
- this definition prevents the state from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow themselves to cause harm to groups
- this creates a single standard that can be applied to all states to identify which ones are the most harmful
63
Q
evaluation of Hillyard - state crime
A
- who decides that is classed as ‘harmful’?
- harm is subjective so a boundary needs to be established to hold all states to a single standard
64
Q
Schwendingers - state crime and human rights
A
- state crime is when basic rights are denied
- sociologists should protect human rights
- transgressive criminology - going beyond traditional boundaries of criminology defined by criminal law and investigating the rights taken away from victims of state crime
65
Q
Adorno - explanation of state crime
A
- Authoritarian personality - excessive willingness to obey orders of superiors without question
- eg. nazi soldiers
- justifies crime
66
Q
Beck - green crime
A
- smog is democratic
- In a shared environment, we are all equally vulnerable regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or class for the impact of environmental problems
67
Q
Chunn and Menzies - green crime
A
- we should consider instances of societal harm such as environmental damage as crimes, whether they break the law or not
- some acts not defined as crimes are more harmful to the environment than ones that are
68
Q
Walters - green crime
A
- growing of genetically modified crops in UK causes ecological harm but continues bc it’s profitable
- environmental law breaking - illegal actions which break laws that aren’t always enforced
- eg. British nuclear industry has illegally disposed of thousands of barrels of radioactive waste in seas around channel islands
69
Q
Thornton and Beckwith - green crime
A
- 24,000 ppl die each year as result of air pollution - is legal or subject to less rigorous regulation
70
Q
cohen and young - media
A
- news is social construction - outcome of social processes where some stories are rejected and some are selected
- news values are the criteria journalists and editors use to decide if a story is newsworthy:
immediacy
dramatisation
personalisation
higher-status people
simplification
unexpectedness
risk
violence
71
Q
cohen - mods and rockers moral panic
A
- mods and rockers were minor to begin with but amplified by the media
- media portrayal caused deviance amplification spiral - made it seem the problem was out of hand leading to control response from police
- creates marginalisation and stigmatisation of these groups
- mods and rockers portrayed as folk devil - major threat to social order and values
- caused boundary crisis - uncertainty around acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
72
Q
Beck - moral panic
A
- we live in a ‘risk society’ where things that previously would’ve caused a moral panic are now seen as normal
- the concept is too vague nowadays to explain situations where a crisis marks people’s day - hard to define what a moral panic is
73
Q
hall - moral panics
A
- dismisses idea of moral panic - certain crimes are sensationalised but CJS’s ability to solve them is overstated too so public concern is soothed away
- there are rational concerns about real crimes producing real harm to victims - dismissing this as a moral panic denies anxieties that people have
- moral panics are a zombie concept
74
Q
McRobbie - moral panic
A
- concept of moral panic is outdated in a media-saturated society
- new tech, growing sophistication of media audiences, 24/7 news, competition between media organisations, changing reporting of and reactions to, events that would’ve once caused a moral panic
75
Q
Clarke - situational crime prevention
A
- preemptive approach about reducing opportunities for crime
- target hardening to reduce burglar rewards and prevent opportunists who commit crime on impulse
- eliminating tunnels, more light, CCTV, security guard, alarms, good locks
- focusing on root causes of crime doesn’t offer solutions
76
Q
criticism of Clarke - situational crime prevention
A
- only displaces crime to another place
- only focuses on particular crimes eg. not fraud etc
- ignores root causes of crime
77
Q
social and community crime prevention and example
A
- attempts to tackle root causes of offending - poverty, unemployment, poverty
- eg. The Perry preschool project - 2yr intellectual enrichment programme, focused on disadvantaged black children
- they were given extra curricular experiences and as adults had better education, health, employment and fewer criminal records than their peers
78
Q
Whyte - criticism of social and community crime prevention
A
- crimes of the powerful and environmental crimes aren’t tackled in this way - reflects priorities of politicians tasked with crime prevention
79
Q
Foucault - surveillance
A
- modern society - disciplinary power is governed by surveillance subjecting individuals to conformity through self-surveillance
- use of CCTV cameras means people are unaware if they’re actually being watched so control their behaviour
- surveillance used in schools, asylums, workhouses, factories, prisons to induce conformity through self-surveillance
80
Q
Durkhiem view on punishment
A
- functions to uphold social solidarity
- retributive justice - traditional society - severe and cruel, motivation is purely expressive
- restitutive justice - modern society - necessary to repair the damage eg. compensation
81
Q
marxist view on punishment
A
- maintains social order
- punishment is related to class system and how it serves ruling class
- each economic system has its own punishment system
- money fines are impossible without a money economy
82
Q
Christie - victims
A
- ‘victim’ is socially constructed
- the ideal victim is weak, innocent and blameless eg. a child or elderly person attacked by a stranger
83
Q
positivist victimology - Miers
A
- there are patterns in victimisation and factors that make people more likely to be a victim
- people contribute to their own victimisation
84
Q
Taylor - globalisation and crime
A
- globalisation has allowed trans-national corporations to move to low wage countries producing insecurities in their previous country and inequality in the new country
- globalisation creates criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups eg. insider trading
85
Q
Castells - globalisation and crime
A
- there is a global economy worth over £1 trillion per year
- cheap air travel has enables cries such as human trafficking, weapons trafficking, drugs and modern slavery
86
Q
evaluation of globalisation and crime increasing
A
- many of these crimes have existed for years - human trafficking, the drug industry and terrorism crossing borders has been happening for centuries
- there is nothing unique about the recent changes associated with globalisation
87
Q
Chambliss view on state crime
A
- state crime is acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs
- the state itself defines what state crime is
88
Q
Cohen - state crime spiral of denial
A
- there is a spiral of denial that states use when accused of abusing human rights
- ‘it didn’t happen’ - denying it ever happened
- ‘it’s not how it looks’ - something different happened or someone else did it
- ‘it had to be this way’ - the abuse was justified or they deserved it
89
Q
human rights abuse example
A
Guantanamo Bay
- in USA everyone has the right to a fair trial and to not be abused or tortured for punishment
- After 9/11 attacks - many allegations that US abused the terror suspects and that they still haven’t had a fair trial and are being held in a detention centre in Guantanamo Bay
90
Q
A
