Crime And Deviance Flashcards
What is value consensus
Shred noms and values of society that enable us to co-operate and live harmoniously alongside each other
What are the two key mechanisms that functionalists belie enable us to achieve this solidarity?
- socialisation - into share norms and values
- social control - rewards for conforming and punishments for misbehaving
What is it called when too much crime is too disruptive for society and results in social breakdown?
Anomie - Durkheim sees this as a cause of suicide
What does Durkheim say about crime ?
He argued that crime is normal and healthy for society
What two reasons do functionalists offer for why crime is inevitable for society
- not everyone is equally socialised into shared norms and values, prone to deviance
- different groups develop their own subcultures with their own norms and values
What are Durkheim’s two positive functions for society?
Boundary maintenance - crime reproduces a reaction from society and reinforces the commitment to shared norms and values. Therefore, crime is for reaffirm social solidarity and reinforce society’s shared rules
Adaptation and change - all acts of change start with deviance there must be a reason for something to change
Benefits of prostitution and pornography
Davis - prostitution was functional for society
Polsky - pornography is also beneficial
As they are a safety valve for a release of men’s frustration without threatening the nuclear family
AO3 of Davis and Polsky
Cohen - argued that evidnce could be a key indicator that an institution is not functioning correctly - high truancy rates in schools
Erikson - society is organised in a way to promote deviance and police regulate deviance and keep criminality low rather than getting rid of it
AO3 of functionalism
- Durkheim never explains what is the ‘right’ amount of crime
- Functionalists do not explain why crime exists in first place
- Functionalists explains why crime functions for society but not for the group as a whole
- Crime doesn’t always promote solidarity but may make people more isolated
What is Merton’s strain theory ?
People engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimates means therefore, resort to criminal means
Merton’s developed strain and adapted from Durkheim concept of anomie
Structural factors - unequal opportunity
Cultural factors - strong on the success goals and weaker on using legitimates means to achieve them
What is the American dream?
Success for one and all and that goal can be achieved through self-discipline, study, qualifications and hard work
Issues with the American dream
- many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities legitimately due to poverty, inadequate schooling and discrimination
What does the strain between cultural goal of money sauces and lack of legitimate opportunities produce?
Cretes frustration and pressure to turn to illegitimate’s means such as crime and deviance to be able to achieve the goal.
Strain to anomie
What are the five types of adaptation to achieving a goal?
- conformity - accepts and strives
- innovation - accepts but illegitimate
- ritualism - give up on the goal but internalised legitimate means
- retreatism - reject both (drop out)
- rebellion - rejects society’s goals but have their own new ones
Strengths of Merton’s theory
- shows both normal and deviant behaviour can arise from same goal
- lower class crime rates are higher due to opportunity
- most crimes are utilitarian
- examines patterns in OS
Criticisms of Merton
- over represent the working class
- too deterministic
- ignores power of the ruling class
- assumes everyone shares the same goal
- ignores violent crime
What is a subcultural strain theory?
See deviance as the product of delinquent subculture with different vale from those of mainstream society
What does Cohen say about deviance ?
That deviance is largely a lower class phenomenon resulting from their inability to achieve socially stressed goals
How does Cohen criticise Merton’s strain theory
- ignores that a lot of deviance is committed by groups eg the young
- focuses on utilitarian crime ignores non-utilitarian where there is no economic motivation
What is status frustration ?
Most part that gaining a status through an alternative set of values but Cohen say that those who are most likely to commit deviance acts with be lower streams at school and live in deprived areas
What does Cohen argue i the key influencing factor for delinquent boys ?
School because it is primary agency of awarding and denying status
Alternative status hierarchy (lower stream boys)
- inverts values of mainstream society
- what society values the delinquent hate
- offers an alternative status hierarchy where they can achieve
- create own opportunity which they can win status from their peers through delinquency
AO3 of Cohen
Cohen assumes that working class boys share the same goals are middle class boys no never actually see themselves as failure
What three types of deviant subcultures to cloward and online based their evidence of the existence of legitimates and illegitimate opportunity structures
- criminal subculture
- conflict subculture
- retreatist subculture
AO3 of Cloward and Ohlin
- reactive theories of subculture as they explain deviant subculture as a reaction of failure to achieve mainstream goals
- everyone starts off by sharing same mainstream goals
- miller argues that lower class has their own independent subculture
He explains six focal concerns of the working lass males not due to frustration but because they want to achieve their own goals
What do recent strain theories say about young people?
They argue that the young have other goals other than money success. They desire to be treated like ‘young men’.
What do messenger and rosenfeld say?
That they agree with Merton and the American dream for the base of the theory but have a more contemporary view that they make the obsession with individual monetary success and ‘winner take it all’
What is different about the labelling theory?
The theorists are interested in how and why certain acts and people are labelled as deviant and the consequences - Becker
What does labelling theory see deviant identities created from?
They seem them as created by interactions with control agents
Which theorist approach doesn’t agree that there’s a difference between those who offend and those who do not?
The Marxist approach
Functionalism in labelling
They are problem takers that they take for granted that official statistics are a ru representation of crime and who commits it instead they seeks to find ways to discover crime and find causes
What do interactionists argue about criminal and deviant behaviour ?
They argue that most people commit deviant or criminal acts but not everyone however these who are caught are often stigmatised
What is role of moral entrepreneurs ?
They are people who lead a ‘moral crusade’ to change the law in belief it will be benefit those whom it is applied to
What are the two effects of a new law?
- creation of a new group of outsiders - outlaws or deviants who break the new rule
- the creation or expansion of a social control agency - police courts they enforce rules and label offenders
What did Platt say ?
That the idea of juvenile delinquency was created as a result of a campaign by Victorian moral entrepreneurs to protect young people at risk.
What is beckers study of cannabis use in the USA?
He looked into the outlawing of cannabis use in the USA back in 1937 until this it had been widely used however, it was dangerous to young people
What are the factors that depend on whether a person is arrested and charged?
- their interactions with agency control
- their appearance, background and biography
- situation and circumstances of the offence
What did piliavin and briar found?
That the police decisions to arrest a youth is based on factors such as their dress and manner as well as gender class ethnicity and time
What did the study of ASSBOs find?
That there were disproportionately used against ethnic minorities
What are typifications?
Theory of what the delinquent is like and then police concentrate o certain ‘type’ of offender leading to bias
What is the commonness theory?
That juvenile delinquency was caused by broken homes, poverty and poor parenting
What is found about middle class youth?
It is found that the middle class youth are less likely to be arrested and they don’t fit the ‘typical delinquent’ and the parents can negotiate better
What does cicourel argue about official statistics?
They should not be use as a resource as they do not represent facts about crime and should be used for investigation as will shed light on the activities of social control agencies
What is the dark figure of crime?
The idea that crime stats are a social construct and the dark figure of crime is the difference between the official statistics and the ‘real’ rate of crime
What did Lemert say?
That there are two different types of deviance and there are different consequences for those who are labelled
- primary deviance - not publicly labelled its a self concept
- secondary deviance - society reaction and will be stigmatised and excluded
What is a master status?
A social position that defines a person’s identity and behaviors in social situations
What does Becker say about a master status?
That it can go into a crisis and they will internalise the label leading to self fulfilling prophecy
What does Lemert refer to further deviance as?
It’s a result from acting out the label as secondary deviance and can lead to a deviant career and subculture
Jock Young and the drug use in North London
He studied the hippie marijuana user in Notting Hill finding that the drug use was only labelled due to them being Hippies
AO3 of labelling
Downes and rock found that we can’t predict whether someone who has been labelled will follow a deviant career because they are always free to choose not to deviate
What is deviance amplification?
When deviance is tempted to be controlled and instead leads to an increase in deviance. More an more control leads to more and more deviance
Explain the mods and rockers case
Cohen - the press exaggerated and distorted the image of the events taking place which lead to a moral panic the moral entrepreneurs called for a ‘crackdown’. Police were arresting more and giving harsher penalties
Similar to Lemert idea of secondary deviance
AO3 the key difference with functionalism and labelling
Functionalist theories believe deviance leads to social control whereas labelling theories say social control leads to deviance
Folk devils vs dark figure of crime
Folk devils are over represented and dark figure is under represented
What does Triplett say?
He states how there are more tendencies to se young offenders as evil and police are less tolerant of minor offences. State has re labelled minor status offences a more serious
What s Braithwate say?
He found a more positive role for labelling:
- disintegrative shaming -crime and individual labelled as bad
- reintegrative shaming - just the act labelled the person is seen as doing a bad thing not actually as a bad person
Why is braithwates findings more likely to avoid deviancy amplification ?
Avoids the stigmatisation of the offender but makes them aware of their actions
Read over suicide and mental illness
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AO3 for labelling - 6 points
- deterministic
- offender often gains a victim status
- assumes offenders are passive victim of labelling
- fails to explain primary deviance
- implies that it’s out labelling deviance would not exist
-usually focus on les serious crime such as drug-taking
What do official statistics across the world show social class differences?
Working class are or likely commit offences than the higher social classes
What do functionalists claim about working class crime ?
That not everyone is socialised into the same set of shared values
Miller said that working class have their own subcultural values which clash with the mainstream
What is the labelling theory of working class crime ?
They would say that the stats are correct and that theories are the problem takers
What do subcultural theories think about working class crime?
Clowards and ohlin use the concept of illegitimate opportunity structure to explain why a range of different rimes are more likely to happen amount working class
What is the Marxist view on crime
In some ways they agree with the labelling theory that the law is against the working class however, the criticise that the labelling theory fails to examine the wider structure of capitalism
What does criminogenic mean ?
Marxist idea that capitalism by its very a nature actually causes crime
Why do Marxists believe that the capital system is resulting in crime?
Poverty- crime is the only way they can survive
Consumer goods - rime may be the only way the can gain consumer goods to eep up with the advertisement
Alienation - lack of control over their own lives leading to frustration and aggression
Explain the ‘dog eat dog’ system
Competition amongst capitalists and profit motivates the mentality of greed and self-interest. They seek to win all costs and do this by tax evasion
What does Gordon argue
He state that crime is a rational choice among the capitalist however, is correctly shown in official statistics as it over represents working class crime
What does agencies of social control mean ?
That the law and police only serve the interest of the ruling class
Explain what Chambliss says
What does Snider argue?
Argues that it is still the case the capitalist state is still luaus reluctant to pass leads that regulate businesses and threaten their profitability
What does selective enforcement mean?
Marxists explain how the powerless groups such as working class and ethnic minorities are criminalised and the CJS tend to ignore crimes of powerful
What did Reiman find?
That the rich get richer and the poor get prison. As there is evidence that crime committed by higher class is less likely to be viewed as criminal
What are the ideological functions of the law?
That the law, crime and criminals all perform ideological function for capitalism.
- health and safety
- power of the state
AO3 for selective enforcement
- ignore relationship between crime and important non-class inequalities such as gender and ethnicity
- not all capitalist societies have high crime rates - japan
- left realists state how Marxist tend to ignore the intra-class
Points that neo-Marxist agree with Marxist
- state selectively enforces and makes laws that criminalise the working class
- capitalism should be replaced by a classless society and it would reduce crime
- Capitalist societies are based on exploitation and class conflict
Points that neo-Marxists disagree with Marxist
Taylor et all argue how it is too deterministic arguing that workers are driven to commit crime out of economic necessity. Neo-Marist claim how crime happens due to voluntaristic elements
Explain neo-Marists take on crime
That crime and deviance s jaded caused by any external factors that is all voluntary and that we all have free will. That criminals aren’t passive puppet they are comitting crime to express a social change
What are the 6 points of a fully social theory of deviance ?
- the wider origins of the deviant act
- the act itself and meanings
- the wider origins of societal reaction
- the immediate origins of the deviant act
- the immediate origins of societal reaction
- the effects of labelling
AO3 for critical criminologists and of neo marixst
- romanticise criminals as Robin Hood figure who fight capitalism
- Burke argues that their explanations are too general and too idealistic so don’t reduce crime
Who first came up with white collar crime ?
Sutherland he defined it a a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social class
What is the difference between corporate crime and occupational crime ?
Corporate - committed by employees for the organisation to increase profits
Occupational - stealing crime a company
What do Peace and Tombs redefined corporate crime as ?
“Any illegal act or omission that in the result of deliberate or culpable negligence by a legitimate business organisation that is intended to benefit the business”
Includes breaches of the administrative and civil law
Name 6 corporate crimes
- financial crime
- crimes against consumers
- crimes against employees
- crimes against environment
- state-corporate crime
Give two examples of abuse of trust
- Harold shipman
- uk dentists have claimed pay-outs from the NHS for treatment they haven’t done
What are crimes of the powerful relatively invisible ?
- the media
- lack of political will
- crimes are often too complex
- de-labelling
-under-exporting
AO3 of corporate crime being invisible
Since the financial crisis of 2008, there has have been campaigns highlighting the tax avoidance such as occupy
Strain theory explanation of corporate crime
Box develops on Merton when companies can’t achieve maximum profit gain it by illegal means
Marxist explanation of corporate crime
Result of normal functioning of capitalism so it is inevitable.
Box argues that capitalism has created mystication corporate crime is less widespread and harmful than wc crime
Differential association explanations of corporate crimes
Sutherland - crime is a behaviour learned in social context. If a company allows crime to take place employees will pick this up:
Deviant subculture
Techniques of neutralisation
Labelling theory explanation of corporate crime
As the powerful are able to get better funds for better lawyers they are more likely to be un-labelled
AO3 of class, power and crime
- nelken would argue it’s unrealistic how much business crime happens
- law abiding could actually be more profitable
What do realists argue about crime?
- that there has been a real increase in crime
- concerned about the widespread fear of crime on the victims
- other theories have failed to offer practical solutions
What are the two types of realist approaches?
- right realists - new right, ‘get tough’ stances on crime
- left realists - socialists and favour different polices to reduce crime
What crime do right realists fear is the worst and how do they want to fix it?
Street crime, through zero tolerance policies in relation to street crime
Right realists arguments of other theories ?
- they argue Marxist emphasises too much on capitalism causing crime
- labelling focus too much on ‘other to blame’
- argue crime is rational choice and people are not passive
What is the right realist approach ?
To control crime through control and punishment rather than through rehab and tackling the issues and they criticise other theories for failure to provide practical solutions
Explain biological differences and who states it
Right realists
People are more pre-disposed to commit crime than others from personality traits
Herrstein and Murray argue that the main cause is low intelligence
Explain socialisation and who states it
Right realists
Effective socialisation can decrease the risk of them becoming offenders. The best family to adapt is the nuclear family
Charles Murray - that the increasing crime is due to underclass
Bennett, Dilulio and Walter’s - what background you grow up in
Explain rational choice theory and who said it
Right realists
Clark
All individuals have free will and power of reason so decision is based on choice and the rational calculation of consequences
What does Wilson suggest ?
The value of legitimate opportunities declines at the same time as the cost of illegitimate’s opportunities also decline hen very likely crime rates will rise
What are the 3 ideas linked to rational choice ? Felson
- a motivated offender
- a suitable target
- absence of a capable guardian
AO3 of evaluations of right realists
- right realism ignores structural causes of crime
- doesn’t explain utilitarian crime
- overstates biological element - lily et al found that IG differences account for less than 3% of differences in offending
What are the right realists solutions to tackle crime
- Wilson and kelling - broken windows
- zero tolerance polices
- target hardening
AO3 of the right realist solutions
- young argues the success of zero policing in New York has been largely exaggerated and in fact a myth that politicians and police used for an already decreasing crime rate
- target hardening and zero tolerance just displaces it
- zero tolerance policies allow the police to discriminate
What approaches do left realists criticise ?
- traditional Marxists - focus too much on crime neglecting wc
- neo-Marxists - romanticise the working class as stealing from the rich as they have to
- labelling theorists - see the working class as victims
Explain the aetiological crisis
There has been an explanation for the real increase of crime
Young states how the increase has happened as there has been an increase in reporting and labelling the poor so it has been socially constructed
Explain relative deprivation and who argues it
Left realists
Lea and young argue that it is ho deprived a person feels in relation to other and this leads to crime as people resent to each other for having more
Explain subculture and who argues it
Left realists
Work on Merton, cohen and cloward and ohlin as they have blocked opportunities.
They argue that subculture is a group response to the problem of relative deprivation
Explain marginalisation and who argues it
Left realists
A marginalised group is a group that lacks clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. For example the unemployed youths so will result to crime out of frustration
What year did we see an increase of crime and why?
1970s because there was an increase in unemployment and a low of unskilled manual jobs
What are the three reasons that young ones about the growing contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion as a source of relative deprivation?
- media saturation
- greater emphasises on leisure and consumption
- failure of the ideology of meritocracy
Explain the second aetiological crisis
There has been a fall in crime since the 1990s which makes it no longer a threat however as a social construct people still believe that crime is increasing
What has the rise of anti social behaviour lead to ?
Government focus with things like ASBO’s however, they have lead to key feature like:
- blurring of the boundaries
- subjective definition
- flexibility
How do left realists believe that we should tackle crime?
Improving policing and control along with dealing with the structural causes of crime
Explain the policing and control
Kinsey, lea and young that police need to be more pro active as 90% of crime is reported to them by others. They need to improve their relationships with local communities, take a multi-agency approach and have accountability towards the community
Explain the tackling of structural causes of crime
Young argues that we must argue with the unequal structure of society and become more tolerant of differences and avoid stereotyping
AO3 of left realists
- unrepresentative view make crime appear more of a problem than it is
- they assume the existence of the value on senses and that crime occurs when this breaks down
- Henry and milovanovic argue that left realists basically explain that street crime is committed by poor and corporate crime by upper class
