Crime and Deviance Flashcards
Gender and Crime
stats and chivalry thesis
Most crime is committed by males
4 out of 5 offenders are male
Males are convicted of more serious crimes, including violent and sexual crimes.
Some sociologists argue that the official stats underestimate the amount of female crime - 1. Female crime is less likely to be reported (e.g. shoplifting is less likely to be reported than violent crime by men. 2. Even when women’s crimes are reported they are less likely to be prosecuted
The idea that women are less likely to be prosecuted for their offences is known as Chivalry Thesis. Pollak is saying that women are positively labelled by male agents of social control as a result of their socialisation.
Evidence for - Self-report studies- show that female offenders are treated more leniently. Official stats – show that females are more likely to receive a fine than go to prison.
Evidence against - Farrington and Morris – found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences. Many male crimes do not get reported. For example, the crimes of the powerful ( Corporate crime is committed by men)and rape.
Gender and Crime
functionalist sex role theory
Parson’s theory focuses on gender socialisation and role models in the nuclear family to explain gender differences in crime
Parsons - Women perform the expressive role at home, including primary socialisation. Men take the instrumental role, performed outside of the home. This makes socialisation difficult for boys.
A. K Cohen said that the absence of an adult male role model in the home means that boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity. Here they earn status through delinquent acts.
Gender and Crime
CARLEN
Carlen studies 39 working-class women who had been convicted of a wide range of crimes. 20 were in prison or youth custody. Carlen argued that most convicted serious female criminals are working-class.
Carlen argued that working-class women conform through the promise of two deals; The class deal and the gender deal
To evaluate, Carlen’s sample was small and unrepresentative. It was only 39 people and half of them were in custody.
Gender and Crime
females and violent crime
There has been an increase in female convictions for violence, showing that women are now committing more ‘male’ crimes. This seems to support liberation thesis
Gender and Crime
gender and victimisation
Victim Surveys like the CSEW ( Crime Survey for England and Wales) show gender differences in victimisation and in the relationship between victim and offender.
More men are victims of violence and homicide.
More women than men are victims of intimate violence.
Ethnicity and Crime
official statistics and analysis
Official statistics show ethnic differences in the likelihood of being involved in the criminal justice system.
E.g. Black people are 7 times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched.
Blacks are 5 times more likely to be in prison.
To analyse, this can mean that either ethnic minorities are more likely to commit an offence or to be suspected of committing an offence.
Ethnicity and Crime
victim surveys and evaluation
They ask victims to say what crimes they have been a victim of.
Black people are more likely to be identified as the offender in muggings.
Evaluation - they exclude under 16s,. They rely on the victims’ memory. White victims tend to over-identify Blacks as offenders. They exclude white collar and corporate crime
Ethnicity and Crime
self-report studies
They ask individuals to disclose crimes they have committed.
Ethnicity and Crime
what are the 3 main sources of statistics on ethnicity and criminalisation?
offical statistics
victim surveys
self-report studies
Ethnicity and Crime
stop and search
Black people are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
Only a small proportion of searches result in an arrest.
The Macpherson Report (1999) found evidence of institutional racism in the Metropolitan police force
Ethnicity and Crime
arrests and cautions
The arrest rate for black people is over 3 times higher than for white people. However, once arrested, blacks and Asians are less likely to receive a caution.
To analyse, ethnic minorities may not receive a caution because they do not admit to the offence, and so are more likely to be charged
Ethnicity and Crime
sentencing
Hood – found that black men were 5 x more likely to be jailed, even taking into account previous convictions and the seriousness of the offence.
Blacks are 5 times more likely to be sent to jail than whites.
Blacks and Asians are likely to serve longer prison sentences.
Green Crime
what is green crime?
Green crime refers to crimes/harm done to the environment, including to non-human animals
The question asked is whether criminologists should look at all green crime where pollution has been caused leading to global warming, or only that which is illegal
Green Crime
global risk society and the environment
Beck argues that most threats to humans and to the environment are now man- made.
Many of these things involve harm to the environment and have serious consequences for the environment.
These risks are on a global scale, so Beck has called late modern society – ‘global risk society’
Green Crime
the two views - traditional and green criminology
traditional criminology and green criminology
T.C only studies the patterns and causes of law breaking.
If the pollution is legal, then traditional criminology is not concerned with it.
GC is more radical. It focuses on the notion of ‘harm’ rather than criminal law. Many of the worst environmental harm caused was legal, so GC has a much wider field to examine than that of TC.
Analysis - TC is criticised for accepting traditional definitions of green crime. GC is criticised for making subjective value judgments about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong. GC is similar to the Marxist approach with the ‘crimes of the powerful’.
Green Crime
two views of harm- anthropocentric and ecocentric
Nation-states and TNC’s apply an anthropocentric (human-centred) view of environmental harm. Humans have a right to dominate nature, putting economic growth before the environment.
GC takes an ecocentric view that sees humans and their environment as interdependent, so that environmental harm hurts human-beings too.
Green Crime
South (2008) identified two types of green crime:
- Primary green crimes- result directly from the destruction and degradation of the Earth’s resources.
- Secondary green crimes – involve not following rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters.
Green Crime
toxic waste dumping
Legal disposal of toxic industrial waste is expensive, so businesses may dispose of it by using ‘eco-mafias’ who profit from illegal dumping.
Illegal waste dumping is often globalised.
In some cases dumping is not even illegal
Analysis - Eco-feminists believe that the earth is oppressed and exploited in the same way that women are exploited by patriarchy. Men are to blame for environmental harm.
Globalisation and Crime
globalisation
This term refers to the increasing connectedness of societies: what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events.
Globalisation and Crime
capitalism
From a Marxist view point, Taylor said that globalisation has led to even greater inequality.
This has produced rising crime and new patterns of crime.
For the elite, globalisation creates large scale criminal opportunities.
Globalisation and Crime
global risk consciousness
Global crime creates new insecurities or ‘risk consciousness’. Risk is now seen as global rather than tied to particular places.
For example, economic migrants and asylum seekers have caused growing anxiety in western countries.
For example, the UK has tightened its border control regulations.
Globalisation
the global criminal economy
Held et al suggests that there has been a globalisation of crime: the increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders, and the spread of transnational organised crime.
Castells (1998) states that the global criminal economy is worth £1 trillion a year.
The drugs trade is said to be worth £300 - £400 billion a year at street prices. Money laundering of the profits from organised crime is said to be worth £1.5 trillion a year.
Functionalism
DURKHEIM
Functionalists view society as a stable system based on value consensus, this produces social solidarity. Society has two ways of achieving this: socialisation and social control
Functionalists view crime as inevitable and universal. Durkheim sees crime as a natural part of a healthy society.
Boundary maintenance
Durkheim argued that all change started as deviance.
Functionalists identify further positive functions of deviance;
Davis – prostitution acts as a safety valve for men’s sexual desires without threatening the nuclear family.
Cohen – deviance acts as a warning light showing that an institution is malfunctioning (E.g. high truancy rates shows something is wrong at school)
Functionalism
criticisms of Durkheim
Functionalists explain crime in terms of the function it performs for society, however, this positive function may not be the reason crime actually exists in the first place.
Functionalism assumes that crime performs a positive function for society as a whole (solidarity), but it ignores the individual victims of crime. Crime isn’t preforming a positive function for the victim.
Functionalism
MERTON
Merton argued that individuals become involved in deviant behaviour when they cannot achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means. 1) Structural factors – unequal opportunities in society
2) Cultural factors – strong emphasis on success goals and a weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them.
Merton thinks that deviance is the result of the strain between the goals a culture encourages individuals to aim for and what the structure of society actually allows them to achieve.
Analysis - Merton saw American society as heading towards anomie (normlessness) as the norms are too weak to stop some people from using deviant means to achieve the American dream.
Functionalism
the american dream
The ‘American dream’ emphasises money success. They are expected to pursue this through education and hard work.
The ideology claims that society is meritocratic, however, in reality poverty and discrimination block opportunities
Functionalism
strengths and weaknesses of Merton
Strengths - He explains why the rates of working-class crime are higher, because they have the least opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately. Also, most crime is property crime because society values material wealth so highly.
Criticisms - Merton takes official stats at face value. It’s too deterministic, not all working-class people commit crime. It ignores the power of the ruling in making and enforcing laws.
Functionalism
A.K Cohen
Cohen agrees with Merton that most deviance is a result of the lower classes inability to achieve success by legitimate means (e.g. education). STATUS FRUSTRATION
Cohen argued that working-class boys face anomie in a middle-class education system. They are culturally deprived and lack the necessary skills to succeed, meaning that they are left at the bottom of the official status hierarchy. Therefore, they suffer status frustration.
Cohen criticised Merton; because he saw deviance as an individual response to strain, ignoring the group deviance of delinquent subcultures.
Criticism of Cohen - Cohen assumes that working-class boys start off sharing the same success goals as middle-class boys, believing that they form a subculture when they fail. But this may be wrong there is a possibility that they never shared those goals and so aren’t reacting to failure.
Functionalism
Cloward and Ohlin
Cloward and Ohlin agree with merton that working-class boys are more likely to commit crime because they lack legitimate opportunities.
They believe there are 3 types of subcultures: Criminal subcultures, conflict subcultures and retreatist subcultures
Strengths - Cloward and Ohlin try to explain the different types of working class deviance in terms of subcultures, unlike Merton.
Weaknesses - They ignore the crimes of the wealthy, over predicting working-class crime.
They draw distinctions too sharply between the different subcultures, Actual subcultures often show the characteristics of more then one type. E.g. Smith’s study on drugs gangs. Conflict subculture ( County lines gangs) combined with criminal subculture ( mafia style organisation)
Marxism
Marxists don’t think that crime and deviance play a positive role in society, unlike the Functionalists.
Crime and deviance play a positive role for the ruling class.
Marxists focus on explaining white-collar and corporate crime committed by the middle-classes.
Marxists argue that the police and the CJS work on behalf of the ruling class ( bourgeoisie).
Marxism
ALTHUSSER
Law is part of the super structure of society. Althusser describes it as part of the ‘ideological state apparatus’ which helps to justify or hide social class inequality. The inequality starts in the economic structure and then the law helps to ensure that the working-class don’t challenge the unjust organisation of capitalist society.
Marxism
STEPHEN BOX
Stephen Box said that the law reflects the interests of the ruling class.
Stephen Box said that the ruling-class has the power to prevent laws being passed which are not in their interest.
Marxism
GORDON
Gordon argues that capitalism is responsible for crime committed by working-class people because the value system is criminogenic.
This means that crime is a natural and inevitable consequence of capitalism.
Gordon argues similarly that capitalism encourages a ‘dog eat dog world’ and a system of ruthless competition.
Marxism
white collar and corporate crime
Croall distinguishes between white-collar and corporate crime.
