Crime And Deviance

Question 1

What does Durkheim believe about crime and deviance?

Answer 1

They’re inevitable within society, as not everyone can comply with the rules of society

Question 2

What are the reasons as to why Durkheim thinks crime and deviance are normal and integral parts within all healthy societies?

Answer 2

1.) Ineffective socialisation (poor upbringing which leads to individuals struggling to learn and share the basic values everyone else agrees with)

2.) Rapid social change may lead to ANOMIE, meaning individuals may not comply with the same rules and values they did before changes in society

Question 3

What are Durkheim’s positive functions of crime?

Answer 3

1.) Boundary maintenance - It brings society together to condemn crimes and reaffirm/clarify the behaviour that’s actually acceptable (bringing about social solidarity/cohesion)

2.) It encourages social change and progression (today’s deviance may be tomorrow’s morality)

Question 4

What are Durkheim’s negative functions of crime?

Answer 4

1.) Anomie (criminals won’t feel a sense of belonging, being made an outcast)
2.) Egoism (people will only look out for their own intentions, growing suspicion and distrust amongst society)

Question 5

Evaluation of Durkheim on crime

Answer 5

+ He offers a social explanation for the causes of crime other than it being biologically and psychologically determined (these were factors that were prevalent during his time)

• He ignores how the victims of crime are the ones who are really affected from crime
• Durkheim doesn’t identify the particular groups of people who are more likely to commit crime

Question 6

What is Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 6

It explains how within the American capitalist society, the causes of crime and deviance were due to a lack of meritocracy and structural inequality (basically unequal opportunities due to class position)

Question 7

What 2 things does Merton say deviance is a result of?

Answer 7

1.) Structural factors: what institutions actually allow individuals to achieve

2.) Cultural factors: the goals a culture actually encourages individuals to achieve

Question 8

Evaluation of Merton’s strain theory

Answer 8

+ He shows how deviant behaviour can arise from groups of people who have the same mainstream goals (e.g conformists and innovators, but innovators are more likely to commit crime)

+ He provides an explanation for the disproportionately high level of WC in criminal stats/prison (due to there being a lack of meritocracy in the American capitalist society)

• Merton is too deterministic as he doesn’t account for the WC who have experienced strain and are economically disadvantaged, yet don’t turn into criminals and actually comply with mainstream values in society
• He assumes value consensus (in thinking financial success is the only one)
• He only focuses on utilitarian crime (money crimes, not violence/vandalism/sexual crimes)

Question 9

How do subcultural theories agree with Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 9

They both agree with anomie, where criminals have different values/norms from mainstream culture

Question 10

What is Albert Cohen’s concept of ‘status frustration’?

Answer 10

It refers to the lack of recognition young people require most when forming their identities and are becoming more conscious as to who they are - it can be gained through educational success;

However, there comes those who fail and start questioning their self-worth and ‘status’ in society

Question 11

How does Cohen differ from Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 11

He focuses on crimes committed in groups (not just individuals), and he also looks at non-utilitarian crimes

Question 12

According to Cohen, how may status frustration lead to crime?

Answer 12

Youngsters may want recognition from their peers, so they may stoop as low as to turn to crime and deviant behaviours

Question 13

Evaluation of Albert Cohen’s “status frustration” concept

Answer 13

+ He acknowledges how crime can be a collective response to strain, and how it can be non-utilitarian crimes committed

• Still only focuses on WC and not MC
• Doesn’t focus on girls forming deviant subcultures
• He doesn’t focus on white collar crimes (corporate crimes e.g financial fraud)

Question 14

Why did Cohen agree with Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 14

They both claim that crime is a WC phenomenon

Question 15

What do Cloward and Ohlin recognise that Merton and Cohen do not?

Answer 15

There’s not only unequal access to legitimate means, but also illegitimate means (such as drugs and gangs)

Question 16

3 different types of subculture gangs Cloward and Ohlin identity that an individual can join:

Answer 16

1.) Criminal subcultures: being trained for a career in crime to the point of committing utilitarian crime (white collar crime)

2.) Conflict subcultures: Gang type behaviour which resorts to violence (in order to express frustration so they can gain status and respect)

3.) Retreatist subcultures: The groups of people who have failed to succeed in both legitimate and illegitimate means, therefore turning to excessive drug misuse (basically the lowest of the lows)

Question 17

Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin’s illegitimate opportunity structure:

Answer 17

+ It further expands from Merton’s and Cohen’s theories into explaining how criminal subcultures aren’t just for material gains, but drug use and violence as well

• However they ignore MC males and female subculture crime

Question 18

What does interactionist Howard Becker claim?

Answer 18

Howard Becker assumes that there’s no such thing as crime and deviance, only those with the power to define and label an act as such. Acts are therefore deemed as such with the result of the reaction from society (moral panic).

Question 19

What are moral entrepreneurs?

Answer 19

Those who lead a moral crusade in order to change the law: these people may be classed as deviant because they’re breaking the law

Question 20

What is an example of a moral crusade, and how does this tie into Becker’s thinking?

Answer 20

Before 1972 in the UK, homosexuality was a criminal offence, however now it isn’t

-Therefore Becker thinks that what is considered as crime or deviant varies over both time and between cultures

Question 21

What is Becker’s concept of selective labelling?

Answer 21

What’s labelled as deviant depends on 3 things:

1.) Who has committed the act
2.) Where the act was committed
3.) The interaction and negotiations between the suspect and law enforcement agencies (policeman, lawyers, prosecutor etc.)

Question 22

What did Reinr (1994) find about the police?

Answer 22

That they’re more likely to stop, arrest and prosecute young men from lower classes and ethnic minority groups

Question 23

What does the EHRC (Equality and human rights commission) claim about the police?

Answer 23

That the police are 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white.

Question 24

What did Pilivian and Briair find about the police?

Answer 24

That the police’s decision to arrest someone who’s young is based on physical cues, their mannerisms/character, gender, class and ethnicity.

Question 25

What are the consequences of labelling?

Answer 25

-Individuals are stigmatised and ostracised from society, forcing them to join deviant subcultures

-A self-fulfilling prophecy is produced (where all negative labels become true for the individual as they internalise the negative labels given to them)

Although labelling may help social agencies to identify potential criminals, it may actually AMPLIFY OR CAUSE DEVIANCE AND CRIMES WITHIN SOCIETY.

Question 26

What is the consequence of media exposure/coverage and the reactions for crime and deviance?

Answer 26

It may amplify the levels of crime and deviance, as:

1.) The media tends to over-exaggerate circumstances
2.) This leads to greater moral panic and public concern over the ‘deviant’ subcultures committing the acts that are being discussed in the media (thus leading to labelling)
3.) The police then have to take more action in carrying out more arrests

4.) The media will then report these arrests and other law enforcement activities, which’ll reinforce public fear
5.) Police may make more arrests as a result, however some of these may be unwarranted/unnecessary because of the labels
6.) This causes a reaction to the unfair treatment of those that fall in the category of the negative labels, which could result in further deviance

Question 27

What is Aaron Cicourel’s concept of the negotiation of justice?

Answer 27

It explains how justice isn’t fixed but negotiable, as the MC can talk or bribe their way out of being punished (e,g for juvenile delinquency)

Question 28

Strengths of Interactionism and Labelling theory on crime:

Answer 28

+ Becker and Cicourel carefully interpret criminal stats as they can be misleading in trying to paint the WC in a negative light [therefore they don’t take stats at face value, but rather investigate the police’s activities, as these stats only tell us who the police are arresting (not truly reflecting the actual crime happening in society)]

+ Interactionists understand the role of law enforcement agencies in using labelling to affect the public’s perception of a typical ‘criminal’ (this may rather amplify/exasperate deviance because of self-fulfilling prophecies)

+ Interactionists also notice the abuse in police discretion when using discriminatory stop-and-search methods on WC and ethnic minorities

Question 29

Weaknesses of Interactionism and Labelling theory on crime:

Answer 29

• Taylor, Walton and Young argue the labelling theory is wrong for saying deviance is created as a result of the power of law enforcement agencies and societal reaction (e.g premeditated killings for personal gain can’t be justified as ‘just an act until social agencies and societal reactions make it deviant)
• Interactionists fail to explain why individuals commit crime in the first place
• They’re too deterministic in assuming that people will turn more deviant once they’ve been labelled as a criminal
• Interactionists fail to explain why the creators of the rules benefit (unlike Marxists who do explain this)

Question 30

According to Lemert, what are primary and secondary deviance, and how can they be effects of labelling?

Answer 30

-Primary deviance: deviant acts that haven’t been publicly labelled as such (e.g fare dodging)

-Secondary deviance: The result of societal reaction (e.g the public labels and stigmatisations)

Secondary deviance leads to a ‘master status’ (receiving negative labels), which results in self-fulfilling prophecy

Thus amplifying deviance

Question 31

Evaluation of the effects of labelling :

Answer 31

+ Stanley Cohen states that social control agencies may use labelling which may cause a deviance amplification spiral (because of increased moral panic)

• Downes & Rock state that it’s too deterministic to assume that people will follow a deviant career once they’ve been negatively labelled

Question 32

What are Braithwaite’s concepts of reintegrative and disintegrative shaming?

Answer 32

-Disintegrative shaming: Stigmatises the crime as well as the criminal

-Reintegrative shaming: Stigmatises just the act rather than the person

Question 33

What does Braithwaite think about reintegrative shaming?

Answer 33

When it’s used in societies, crime rates tend to be lowered (as it encourages forgiveness and rehabilitation): it aims to avoid secondary deviance and all of the negative labelling

Question 34

Evaluation of Braithwaite’s concept of reintegrative shaming:

Answer 34

+ It may be beneficial for criminals as they’re aware of their wrongdoings so that they can better themselves

+ Hirschi’s bonds of attachment concept supports reintegrative shaming, as offenders may re-forge their attachments to society if they’re forgiven and rehabilitated

• However people argue that those who have committed the most heinous crimes (e.g sexual assault) can never be redeemed because of their mental incapabilities