Crime and Deviance

Question 1

How do functionalists see society?

Answer 1

• Functionalist perspective of crime
• Based on a value consensus, people share a common culture of norms, values, beliefs and goals promoting social solidarity

Question 2

How do functionalists believe social solidarity is achieved in society?

Answer 2

• Socialisation, instils shared culture internalising the same norms and values
• Social control, institutions reward good actions and punish bad ones instilling a shared moral compass

Question 3

Why did functionalist Durkheim believe crime was inevitable in every society?

Answer 3

• Not everyone receives the same degree of socialisation so some are not socialised into the same norms and values
• Diversity of lifestyles and values, some subcultures may view some behaviour as normal and another may see it as deviant

Question 4

In the eyes of functionalists, how do more complex societies face a higher risk of anomie?

Answer 4

• Rules governing behaviour are less clear due to more complex divisions of labour making people increasingly different from one another weakening the collective conscience resulting in higher levels of deviance

Question 5

In the eyes of functionalists, what are the positive functions of crime?

Answer 5

• Boundary maintenance, unites people in condemnation of wrongdoing reinforcing collective conscience and social solidarity such as a courtroom dramatising wrongdoing
• Adaptation and change, social change begins with an act of deviance such as the legalisation of homosexuality
• Safety valve, a way for people to relieve stress to prevent greater bad such as men soliciting prostitution to prevent domestic abuse
• Diagnosing society’s problems, E.G high truancy rates means the education system may need reforming

Question 6

According to functionalists, what levels of crime in society are undesirable?

Answer 6

• Too much crime leads to anomie and the destruction of society
• Too little crime means society is too repressive preventing change and individual freedom

Question 7

What are the criticisms of the functionalist belief that crime is inevitable and positive to society?

Answer 7

• Durkheim never specifies which amount of crime is the right amount in society
• Ignores the negative effects of crime, such as prostitution sustaining the nuclear family but negatively impacting the women who are illegally trafficked
• Deviance does not always promote solidarity, E.G women having to stay isolated for fear of being attacked when outside and alone

Question 8

What is Merton’s functionalist strain theory?

Answer 8

• The theory that people commit acts of deviance when they are unable to commit mainstream goals through socially acceptable means

Caused by a combination of
- Structural factors, societies unequal opportunities

• Cultural factors, emphasis on success, less focus on how to achieve it

Question 9

How does the American dream perpetuate Merton’s functionalist strain theory?

Answer 9

• American culture values material success achieved meritocratically
• The reality is different with opportunities being unequal due to things like discrimination, poverty etc.
• This creates a pressure to succeed making people resort to illegitimate means like crime and deviance
• America perpetuates this by placing more focus on success and not the measures to succeed

-

Question 10

Why are there different reactions to Merton’s functionalist strain theory and what are they?

Answer 10

• An individuals position in social structure affects their access to legitimate measures of success forcing some to source illegitimate means where others wouldn’t
• Conformists, achieve mainstream goals in legitimate ways (middle class)
• Innovators, achieve mainstream goals in illegitimate ways such as theft or fraud (working class)
• Ritualists, internalised legitimate means but no desire to succeed (lower middle class in dead end jobs)
• Retreatists, reject mainstream success and legitimate means (mentally ill, addicts, homeless etc.)
• Rebels, Reject mainstream goals by replacing them with new ones (political radicals and counter cultures such as anarchists) `

Question 11

What are the strengths of Merton’s functionalist strain theory?

Answer 11

• Most crime in America is property crime due to material wealth being valued so highly
• Lower class crime rates are higher due to their lack of opportunity to achieve mainstream means legitimately

Question 12

What are the weaknesses of Merton’s functionalist strain theory?

Answer 12

• Takes crime statistics at face value which overrepresent working class crime and is too deterministic in saying that working class people all deviate
• Marxists argue it ignores the power of the ruling class to criminalise the proletariat
• Assumes there is a value consensus of money success that people do not deviate from
• Does not explain non-utilitarian crime
• Ignores roles of group deviance such as delinquent subcultures

Question 13

What is a functionalist subcultural strain theory and how does it criticise Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 13

• See deviance as the result of a delinquent subculture deviating from mainstream goals and replacing them with their own obtained through alternative status

Criticises Merton’s theory for two reasons:

• Merton ignores that most deviance is committed in groups especially amongst the youth
• Merton ignores non-utilitarian crime such as assault and vandalism

Question 14

What is A.K Cohen’s functionalist status frustration?

Answer 14

• Working class boys experience culture clash with middle class school system due to cultural deprivation leaving them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy
• The boys then form groups seeking alternative status through deviance such as truancy and vandalism replacing official status through value inversion

Question 15

What are the evaluations of A.K Cohen’s functionalist status frustration theory?

Answer 15

Strengths
- Offers an explanation of non-utilitarian crime unlike Merton

Weaknesses
- Like Merton, assumes there is a value consensus of middle class goals ignoring the possibility of the boys not sharing the goals in the first place

Question 16

What is Cloward and Ohlin’s functionalist three subcultures strain theory?

Answer 16

• The key reason different subcultures react in different ways is not only unequal access to legitimate means but unequal opportunities to illegitimate means as well resulting in three different types of subcultures
• For example, drug dealers have to obtain suppliers and if one isn’t accessible then neither is the opportunity

Question 17

What are the three different types of subcultures according to Cloward and Ohlin’s functionalist three subculture theory?

Answer 17

• Criminal subcultures, provide youths with an apprenticeship in utilitarian crime due to long standing criminal organisation being local
• Conflict subcultures, areas of high population causing social disorganisation disabling formation of stable criminal culture, loose gangs form providing a release for young men’s status frustration
• Retreatist subcultures, double failures who fail legitimately and illegitimately instead engaging in drug abuse

Question 18

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Cloward and Ohlin’s functionalist three subculture theory?

Answer 18

Strengths
- Provide explanation for non and utilitarian crime

Weaknesses
- Ignores the crimes of the wealthy
- Over-predicts amount of working class crime
- Ignores wider power structure that create and enforce laws
- Assumes criminals can’t be part of multiple subcultures
- Assumes the working class share middle glass goals and have to experience status frustration to change

Question 19

What is Cicourels interactionist negotiation of justice theory?

Answer 19

• Police constrict criminal typifications based on classist and racist stereotypes, leading them to patrol certain areas more leading to more arrests and confirming stereotypes
• Other agents of social control reinforce this, E.G probation officers not supporting non-custodial sentences for the working class
• This shows that justice is negotiable as middle class people can use their socially accepted background to improve their chances of avoiding punishment

Question 20

What does Cicourel’s interactionist negotiation of justice theory suggest about official crime statistics?

Answer 20

• Do not give a valid picture of crime and cannot be used as a resource
• Should be used as a topic for sociologists to research investigating the processes that created them

Question 21

How do interactionists believe crime statistics are socially constructed, what is the effect of this and what other sources can we use?

Answer 21

• At each stage of the CJS agents of social control choose whether or not to continue with the case meaning statistics show behaviour of social control agents not criminals
• This produces the dark figure of crime, the difference between the recorded socially constructed rates of crime and the actual unknown rates of crime
• To get a better idea of the real rate of crime other sources such as self report studies or the crime victim survey of England and Wales can be used

Question 22

What is the difference between primary and secondary deviance according to interactionist Lemert?

Answer 22

• Primary deviance, committed every day by normal people and impossible to source. E.G fare dodging or pushing in line
• Secondary deviance, result of negative labels by society and excluded, their master status is replaced by ‘criminal’ starting an identity crisis only solved by accepting the label starting a self fulfilling prophecy and the further deviance after this is labelled secondary deviance
• Secondary deviance provokes more negative reactions from society reinforcing the label beginning a career of deviance such as convictions leading to a criminal record leading to unemployment calling the need to commit crime

Question 23

In the eyes of interactionists, what is the deviance amplification spiral and what is an example of one?

Answer 23

• An exponential increase in levels of crime caused by attempts to control it
• Stanley Cohen’s mods and rockers demonised by moral entrepreneurs who began moral panics. The moral panic was confirmed by the bigger crackdown on the group resulting in the moral audience further marginalising the group as folk devils causing them to commit further deviance

Question 24

According to interactionist Braithwaite, what are the two types of labelling and how can one be positive?

Answer 24

• Disintergrative shaming, the crime and the criminal is seen as bad
• Intergrative shaming, the crime but not the criminal is seen as bad
• Intergrative shaming makes the person aware of their wrongdoing while also allowing others to feel empathy for them allowing them to change before committing secondary deviance

Question 25

According to interactionist Douglas, how are suicide statistics socially constructed?

Answer 25

• Tell us about the activities of the coroners rather than suicide victims
• Declarations of suicide depend on interactions between coroners, friends, doctors etc.
• E.G a religious coroner may be reluctant to claim a death as suicide as it is seen as a sin
• Douglas believes we should use quantitative methods such as analysis of suicide notes or unstructured interviews with friends and relatives

Question 26

According to interactionist lemert, how are mental ilness diagnosis socially constructed?

Answer 26

• Some people don’t fit into groups and are excluded due to primary deviance
• The person responds with secondary deviance giving the social audience another reason to exclude them and members begin to agree on the persons odd behaviour confirming the suspicions of being conspired against.
• –The reaction to the confirmation confirms the suspicions of family members leading a psychiatric intervention with the person being labelled as mentally ill replacing their master status
• This is confirmed by Rosenhan’s pseudo patient experiment where researchers entered themselves as hearing voices and were labelled as schizophrenic despite acting normal

Question 27

What is interactionist Goffman’s theory of institutionalisation?

Answer 27

• Old master status is symbolically killed and replaced by inmate after undergoing a mortification of self
• This is aided by degradation rituals such as handing in personal belongings happening in other institutions such as prison or the military
• Goffman also notes that not all are susceptible to institutionalisation as some develop ways of maintaining their old master status

Question 28

What are the criticisms of interactionist labelling theory?

Answer 28

• Assumes a deviant career is inevitable once a label is applied
• Focuses on effects of labelling on the labelled rather than the victim of the crime
• Focuses on less serious crimes such as drug taking
• Fails to explain why primary deviance is committed in the first place
• People may actually choose secondary deviance instead of being forced into it

Question 29

According to marxists, what is criminogenic capitalism and how does it lead to crime?

Answer 29

Capitalism is criminogenic due to its nature relying on the exploitation of the proletariat causing factors such as:

• Poverty may mean the working class have to commit crime to survive
• Poverty may mean the working class have to commit crime to obtain consumerist goods advertised by capitalism
• Alienation may lead to lack of control resulting frustration and therefore non-utilitarian crime
• Profit hunger causes people to commit white collar crime such as tax evasion

Question 30

According to marxist, William Chambliss how does law enforcement serve the needs of capitalism?

Answer 30

• Introduction of English law into British East African colonies
• The British needed a plentiful supply of labour in order to farm tea, coffee, sugar etc.
• Introducing tax laws that were illegal to not pay meant the native people had to work to pay them therefore providing a steady stream of labour

Question 31

According to Marxists what is selective enforcement?

Answer 31

• All classes commit crime but ethnic minorities and the working class are criminalised but the crimes of the powerful such as white collar crime are ignored as they benefit capitalistic, profit hungry interests

Question 32

According to marxists, how do laws that support the working class on the surface actually benefit capitalism?

Answer 32

• Laws that seem to benefit the working class include workplace health and safety laws
• In reality this keeps workers fit to work serving the needs of capitalism
• Even then they serve the needs of workers they are not enforced. E.G corporate homicide law in 2007 has only been enforced once in 8 years despite high amounts of negligence caused deaths at work
• Criminologists, psychologists etc. portray criminals as disturbed hiding the criminal face of capitalism

Question 33

What are the evaluations of marxist theory on crime?

Answer 33

• Ignores the relationship between non-class inequalities and crime
• Deterministic, not all people in poverty commit crime
• Not all capitalistic societies are high in crime such as Japan and Switzerland etc.
• Marxists ignore intra-class crime causing harm to victims

Question 34

According to neo-marxist, Taylor et al, how is marxism too deterministic?

Answer 34

• Neo Marxists believe that saying crime is committed by the working class due to poverty is too deterministic
• Neo Marxists say crime is voluntaristic saying crime is a meaningful political action such as attempt to distribute wealth from the rich to the poor and are not puppets of capitalism

Question 35

What are the evaluations of critical criminologist and neo-marxist taylor et al?

Answer 35

• Romanticises criminals as political activists ignoring the negative impact of the crime

Question 36

According to Marxists what is white collar crime?

Answer 36

• Sutherland made the term white collar crime but didn’t distinguish between occupational and white collar crime and most of the harm committed by companies isn’t illegal and are only administrative offences
• Pearson and Tomb widened the definition to include breaches of civil and administrative law due to the fact those in power create what is criminal

Question 37

According to marxists, Which types of crimes constitute corporate crime?

Answer 37

• Financial crimes, tax evasion, bribery, money laundering etc.
• Crimes against consumers, false labelling, selling unfit goods etc.
• Crimes against employees, sexual and racial discrimination, wage violations etc.
• Crimes against the environment, illegal pollution of air, water and land etc.
• State-corporate crime, when companies associated with the state commit crime

Question 38

According to marxists, what are some examples of corporate crime?

Answer 38

• Crime against consumers, Poly implant prothese had used breast implants containing cheaper, faulty chemicals in 300,000 women across 65 countries
• Crime against employees, Palmer estimates 50,000 yearly UK deaths are a result of occupational diseases and 1100 work deaths are caused by employers breaking the law
• Crimes against the environment, Volkswagen admitted to building engines that detected when they’re being tested hiding emissions 40x the legal limit

Question 39

According to marxists, what factor contribute to the invisibility of corporate crime?

Answer 39

• The media giving little coverage and when they do they use polished language such as work deaths being ‘accidents’
• Lack of political will. politicians focus on street crime rather than corporate
• Complexity of corporate crime, law enforcers cannot understand them so they can be punished
• De-labelling, crimes are often civil not criminal and punishments are mostly fines.
• Under-reporting, people may feel powerless against a large organisation and the victim may be the environment or society and therefore not know its being exploited

Question 40

According to marxists, what event exposed corporate crime?

Answer 40

• There are many factors hiding corporate crime but the financial crash of 2008
• Campaigns against corporate crime arised such as UK uncut and Occupy

Question 41

What is marxist Sutherland’s differential association theory?

Answer 41

• Crime is the product of learning criminal behaviour, the more deviants we associate with the more likely we are to commit deviance
• Therefore, a company with criminal values is more likely to socialise new hires into criminal values

Question 42

What are some examples of the disproportionate gendered crime rates?

Answer 42

• 3/4 people convicted are male in England and Wales
• By the age of 40, 9% of women have criminal records compared to 32% of males
• More males commit sexual offences and more women commit property crimes
• Men are more likely to be repeat offenders and 15x more likely to be convicted of murder

Question 43

How could gendered crime rates not represent the reality of gendered crime committed?

Answer 43

• ‘female crimes’ such as shoplifting or prostitution are less likely to be reported compared to ‘male’ crimes such as murder
• Women are less likely to be punished heavily due to traditional gender stereotypes painting out women as empathetic and vulnerable

Question 44

What is Otto Pollack’s chivalry thesis?

Answer 44

• Criminal justice agents act in chivalrous ways due to traditional gendered roles giving them more lenient punishments which is reflected in the official statistics
• This is reflected in self report studies, 1700 14-25 found males were more likely to offend but the gap was smaller than official statistics
• Men were 2,3x more likely to offend in the past year compared to 4x more likely according to official statistics

Question 45

What is some evidence to support Otto Pollack’s chivalry thesis?

Answer 45

• Females are more likely to be released on bail and not on remand
• Women are more likely to be punished with fines, community service or given shorter sentences than men
• 1/5 males receive a sentence after shoplifting compared to 1/9 women

Question 46

What evidence is there against Otto Pollack’s chivalry thesis?

Answer 46

• Men are more likely to commit offences, especially violent ones, the gender gap increases the more violent the offences
• Undereported crime against women, 2012, 8% of female rape victims reported it and women suffer 35 assaults before reporting domestic abuse

Question 47

According to feminist Heidonsohn, how does the criminal justice system treat women harshly when they deviate from gender norms?

Answer 47

• Double standards, Women are punished for premature sexual activity but not men, 55 youth record found that 7/11 girls were referred for sexual activity but 0/55 boys
• Women who deviate from motherhood are punished more harshly due to the criminal justice system punishes women based on stereotypical gender roles

Question 48

How does feminist Carlen’s beliefs support feminist Heidonsohn’s bias against women theory?

Answer 48

• Women are jailed based on their ability to be a traditional woman rather than the seriousness of their crimes. E.G Scottish women were more likely to be jailed in Scotland if their children were in care

Question 49

What is functionalist Talcott Parsons’ sex role theory?

Answer 49

• Crime patterns surface from traditional gender roles of the nuclear family
• Men act as breadwinners acting outside of the home with women acting as childcare operating inside the home
• This gives girls an adult role model but it also leads to boys rejecting feminine role models and emotions such as tenderness engaging in deviant behaviour known as compensatory compulsory masculinity
• A.K Cohen agrees stating that the lack of male socialisation is made up for in delinquent subcultures through violence and other crime

Question 50

What are some criticisms of functionalist Talcott Parsons’ sex role theory?

Answer 50

• It’s too reliant on biological theories that aren’t tested, the theory assumes women are best suited to raise children due to their ability to give birth

Question 51

What is heidonsohn’s theory of patriarchal control?

Answer 51

• Women commit less crime than men because they are more greatly controlled reducing opportunities to offend

Control at home

• Women can be controlled financially restricting leisure time and therefore time outside
• Women’s time is greatly reduced due to their house chores which they are likely to be abused for by male partners for not completing properly
• Women develop a bedroom culture socialising at home due to amount of housework such as childcare

Control in public

• Fear of sexual violence, Islington crime survey found 54% of women feared crime after dark compared to 14% of men
• Societal pressure to impress, women feel the need to act and look a certain way due to patriarchal pressure
• Women controlled in school’s through the male gaze and sexual labelling such as ‘slag’

Control at work
- Glass ceiling prevents female controlled work places and therefore female corporate crime
- Sexual assault widespread in male dominated industries

Question 52

What is feminist Carlen’s class and gender deals theory?

Answer 52

Women are offered 2 deals where they rewards are offered for conforming to social norms
- Class deal, working women earn a good standard of living
- Gender deal, women earn material and emotional rewards for conforming to traditional gender roles

When the reward is less than the effort chance of crime increases due to either deal not providing the means of living

Question 53

Who did Carlen study and how did they contribute to her class and gender deal theory?

Answer 53

• Unstructured interview of 15-46 convicts who committed a range of crimes with the worst offenders being working class

Class deal
- 32/46 had always been poor
- Qualifications earned in jail did not help to get a job
- Humiliation to claim benefits

Due to losing the class deal they felt they had to turn to crime to get out of poverty

Gender deal
- They were subject to physical and sexual abuse from male family members. Over half were in care breaking family bonds. Running away from care left them poor and homeless

The trauma from the gender deal was not worth the rewards

Question 54

What are the evaluations of Carlen and Heidonsohn’s gendered crime theories?

Answer 54

• Both control and gender deal theories attribute most of women’s ability to commit crime to external forces, This underplays the extent of free will of women in changing their situations
• Carlen’s study is small and only studied working class serious offenders so it may not be representative

Question 55

What is feminist Adler’s liberation theory and evidence to support it?

Answer 55

• Increasing freedom of women leads to more opportunity to commit the same type and level of crime as men
• Increasing freedom in societal institutions has led to women adopting traditional male roles leading them away from traditional female crimes like shoplifting

Evidence to support the theory includes
- 1950’s-90’s female offences rose from 1 in 7 to 1 in 6
- Growth of girl gangs in the midlands during the 2000’s with girls adopting male behaviour types

Question 56

What are some criticisms of Adler’s liberation theory?

Answer 56

• Female crime rates rose in the 1950’s before the liberation movement in the 1960’s
• Liberation movement is the least likely to help working class women where most of the crime happens
• Links with male dominated crime come from the relationship with prostitution

Question 57

What is Steffensmeier and Schwartz’s theory of net widening?

Answer 57

• There has been no increase of women’s crime but there has been an increase of punishing women for lesser crime
• Policies such as mandatory arrests for domestic violence result in the couple both being arrested even when the woman may clearly be the victim
• Previously female crime was seen as a welfare issue but has been relabelled as criminality
• Women are being increasingly convicted of trivial offences such as low level altercations which is known as defining deviance up

Question 58

What trends are there between gendered crimes and victims?

Answer 58

• 70% of victims are male which are most likely killed by a friend or acquaintance
• 60% of cases where the female knew the victims it was an ex-partner
• 1/4 women will experience domestic violence
• women are 5x more likely than men to report sexual abuse

Question 59

According to James Messerschmidt, how does masculinity contribute to male crime?

Answer 59

• Masculinity is an accomplishment that needs to be constructed and presented with some men having more resources to work on it (like high wage and subordination of women) than others, this is known as hegemonic control

Various groups have various tools to construct their masculinity affecting them differently:

• White middle class youths, achieve oppositional masculinity outside of school through alcoholism and pranks but are subordinate to teachers to achieve middle class status
• White working class youth, oppositional masculinity in and out of school through sexism, being tough and opposing school values
• Black lower class youths, may use violence and gang membership to express masculinity due to less chance of achieving hegemonic masculinity due to lower position in job market

Question 60

What are some criticisms of Messerschmidt?

Answer 60

• Doesn’t explain why not all men use crime to achieve masculinity
• Uses masculinity to explain every crime from murder to joy riding to embezzlement
• Circular argument, they are male crimes because they are committed by males

Question 61

How does Winlows study show the relationship between globalisation and gendered crime?

Answer 61

• Studied bouncers in Sunderland, an area of unemployment due to de-industrialisation resulting in the loss of masculine jobs but the rise of the night sector
• Work as bouncer provided men with unemployment and the ability to commit crime such as selling drugs and protection rackets as well as masculinity through violence

Question 62

What are some examples of black and Asian people being overrepresented in crime statistics?

Answer 62

• Black people are 3% of the prison population but 13 of the prison population
• Asian people make up 6.9% of the population but 8% of the prison population

Question 63

What is an example of a victim survey, how do they help and what are the limitations?

Answer 63

• Crime survey of England and Wales, asks people if they’ve been a victim of a crime in the past year
• Can gain information about ethnic offending rates by asking the victim to identify the offender

Weaknesses
- Rely on the victims memory and may identify the victim as black even when they’re not sure
- Only cover personal crimes which make up 20% of all crimes
- Exclude under 10s, meaning some groups are excluded with lower average age
- Exclude crimes against and by organisations

Question 64

What is an example of a Self report, how do they help and what are the limitations?

Answer 64

• Graham and Bowling, 2500 people, found offending rates were very similar for whites and black people 44/43% but desi rates being up to 30% lower
• This challenges the stereotype that black people are more likely to offend and supports the stereotype that Asian people are less likely to offend

Question 64

What are some other explanations for ethnic differences in offending rates?

Answer 64

• Fitzgerald, neighbourhood, white and black offending rates were the same where very deprived areas came into contact with affluent ones
• Sharp and Budd, getting caught, black people more likely to commit crimes where a victim can identify them and more likely to engage in prior deviance such as expulsion attracting more attention

Question 65

What is racist victimisation and what brought it into focus?

Answer 65

• When someone is selected to be a target because of their race, ethnicity or religion
• The murder of Stephen Lawrence 1993 was seen as racist victimisation after the release of the Macpherson report

Question 66

What stats show the extent of racial victimisation in the UK?

Answer 66

• 76000 race and 6800 faith hate crimes in 2019/20
• 60000 racially aggravated annual crimes