crime and deviance Flashcards

Question

Social policy | The social distribution of crime and deviance

Answer 1

* 1999 drive to increase number of police officers recruited from ethnic minorities * Followed by murder of Stephen Lawrence and Macpherson Report (1999) * A decade later numbers had increased with minority ethnic officers accounting for around 4.4% of total police force * Falls short of 7% target set by Home Office to reflect the proportion of ethnic minorities in the population as a whole * 2009 it felt that 7% target wasn't realistic and it was replaced with individual targets for each police force to reflect ethnic make-up of their local communities

Answer 2

* Official arrest data for 2012-13 show that of all arrests 85% = men, 15% = women * Higher proportion of men reported being a victim of violencce than women * Men are more likely to be a victim of violence by an acquaintance or stranger * Women are more likely to be a victim of domestic violence * Male prison population has increased over the last 10 years

Answer 3

Male prison population has increased over the last 10 years while female population has decreased ## Footnote Females make up just under 1 in 20 prisoners in 2014

Answer 4

* Relationship between victims and perpetrators also differs by gender * Homicides against men were most likely to be committed by a friend or acquintance (39%) * Homocides against women were most likely to be committed by a partner or ex-partner (51%)

Answer 5

* Tend to be functionalist * Argue that boys tend to be socialised to be physical, competitive, aggressive, macho, and risk-taking * Girls tend to be socialised into being compliant, conformist and reserved ## Footnote * Carlen (1998) * Heidensohn (1996) * Pollak

Answer 6

Argue patriarchal ideology encourage men to dominate women therefore it is no suprise that women are much more likely to be the victims of crime

Answer 7

* There are very few women that work within the criminal justice system * Women only made up 25% of all judges in 2014 * Significant increase from previous years but a long way from equal

Answer 8

Women are treated in a paternalistic way by the police and the courts which may result in them being treated more lienently ## Footnote * Feminist idea, Smart

Answer 9

* Shows that there is a strong relationship between social class and crime * The poor and working-class are overrepresented in the roles of both victims and perpetrators * Wealthy do still commit crimes

Answer 10

* Households headed by someone who was unemployed were over twice as likely to be victims of domestic burglary compared with households headed by an emplyoyed person * Respondents in higher-income households were more likely to be victims of plastic card fraud * 7.1% of respondents in households with a total income of £50,000 or more were victims of plastic card fraud compared with 3.5% in households with a total income of less than £10,000

Answer 11

* Working-class or the poor have weak ties with society * Because poor groups are marginalised and experience social deprivatin they face social exclusion and poor life chances

Answer 12

There is a very strong relationship between crime and socio-economic position

Answer 13

* Because poorer groups are more likely to be the victimsand perpetrators of crime it is likely that the police label those at the bottom of the social class scale more readily * Likely to extend to the rest of the criminal justice system who are predominately middle class too * Poor are more likely to commit the kinds of crime which tend to be more visible such as antisocial behaviour, vandalism etc * Middle class are more likely to commit crimes such as fraud and embezzlement which are very much hidden from the public ## Footnote AO3 * Do not reveal why many poor people don't commit crimes and why some are more likely than others * Combined impact of ethnicity, gender and class which can lead to higher/lower levels of crime and these must be taken into account together

Answer 14

* Carried out at an organisational level * using the business as a front for criminal behaviour * Can be difficult to identify which individuals should take responsibility for corporate crimes * often under-reported and unpunished (similar to white-collar crimes)

Answer 15

Capitalism leads to white-collar crime and corporate crime by creating a drive for profit meaning that some companies commit crimes out of desperation to make big profits

Answer 16

* Argue that strain theory operates on all levels * Among the more affluent in society people may feel a sense of status frustration or relative deprivation which may drive them to innovate and commit crimes to achieve their goals

Answer 17

* Suggest that as people become more and more wealthy the begin to feel they can act 'above the law' * Individuals may forget or overlook the fact that there are victims of their crimes

Answer 18

1. Difficult to detect 2. They are hard to punish 3. Once punished, individuals often escape punishment 4. These crimes often involve wealthy individuals or groups 5. These crimes may not have a victim ## Footnote 1. Large companies are often prvate and it can be hard for investigators to gain access to information. Where access is gained people are likely to be able to cover thier tracks to ensure no oe finds out about the crime 2. Large companies are often very wealthy and can afford expensive lawyers and law suits so they stand a very good chance of defending themselves. Also individuals working at this level are likely to be perceived as hard-working and middle class meaning they may be treated more leinently 3. There is a range of different ways of puniishing companies that include fines or enforcemet notices. This often means that individuals who were responsivle for making decisions or acting against the law go unpunished. Wealthy companies can absorb the costs of fines 4. These individuals or groups are powerful and have networks of support who may use their power to persuade law keepers to punish them more leniently or not at all 5. For example, where 2 powerful groups are benefiting each other through money laundering there is no immediate victim which makes it difficult to detect the crime

Answer 19

1. Greater geographic mobility leading to greater cultural diversity 2. The twofold effect of Western ideas spreading and engulfing other forms of local culture, while simultaneously allowing local ideas, customs, and practices to be protected, shared, and reaffirmed

Answer 20

Greater oppurtunities for corporate crime (including money laundering, tax avoidance, illegal waste disposal etc) ## Footnote As a result of working across legal jurisdictions

Answer 21

* The buying and selling of people for exploitation is profilic * People are smuggled illegally from one part of the world to another * The people trafficked are used for slavery, prostitution and sexual exploitation, forced labour and sometimes organs

Answer 22

* The trade of illegal drugs is increasingly globalised as drug smugglers operate across national boundaries * Countries such as Colombia have struggled to stop powerful drug cartels from producing and supplying drugs their wealth and influence are considerable ## Footnote United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013) * European crime-fighting agency Europol, the annual global drugs trade is worth around $435 billion a year * This represents nearly 1% of total global trade

Answer 23

* Cybercrime - crimes related to the internet and computers which have become possible over the past few decades * Internet is comparatively new and widespread so it has been difficult for lawkeeping agencies to police and regulate (includes crimes such as identity theft, computer theft, fraud and phishing, abuse through exploitation) * Although strategies are now in place to deal with many of these crimes many continue to go undetected * Have been notable examples of high-level corruption such as the misuse of computer software by security agencies who have gained access to people's private internet accounts without their consent * Cybercrime still not fully understood

Answer 24

* Attempts to address the recent surge in international crimes have been made * Such as the development of the international Interpol and Europol * These are crime agencies which involve 190 countries working together within the existing legal framework of each country to try to catch criminals on the run and co-operate in major cross country investigations * They also collect statistics and examine patterns of crime to suggest global strategies for member countries * Response to recent years of global crime

Answer 25

* Direct or indirect damage to the environment * Laws are now in place to cover some green crime but not all forms and not everywhere * Good example of a new form of the socially constructed nature of crime * Not necessarily any consistency in laws across different countries * There is debate about what is a green crime since environment can be defined in a multitude of ways * Can be difficult to detect and police and deciding who is resposible as there may be no direct link * This topic cannot be understood with considering globalisation as companies and countries have increasingly worked togetheer in business and governance

Answer 26

Chernobyl disaster of 1986 ## Footnote * In Ukraine * Led to spread of toxic radioactive materials over a geographic area of thousands of miles * Multiple effects on soil and people's health * Damage affected not just Ukraine but also Russia and Belarus * Effects included a battle to caontain the nuclear contamination to avoid a greater catastrophe which involved over 500,000 workes and costed approx 18 million roubles * 31 immediately died * long-term effects (cancer, soil contamination) still being investigated

Answer 27

Governments commiting illegal acts Failing to take action to prevent harm to its citizens or citizens from elsewhere ## Footnote These may be war crimes (e,g, genocide )

Answer 28

The state decides what is to be considered a crime and what isn't. This can lead to state crimes going unpunished/undetected ## Footnote * State crimes have only recently been prosecuted through human rights and war crime courts * Requires significant effort and evidence to prove that a state is accountable for a criminal activity

Answer 29

* An extension of right realist approach to crime * Right realists assume that everyone is potentially likely to commit crime especially when potential crome is a part os someone's everyday routine * All crimes are based on rational choice * Therefore wants to reduce oppurtunity for crimes to be committed and for risk of being caught to be increased ## Footnote AO3: * Criticised for simply resulting in cime moving to other places that aren't undder surveillance. Known as displacement

Answer 30

* Building positive, trusting relationships between the police and the public e.g. public meetings to discuss issues. Making the police more accountable and transparent in their actions. These ideas can be seen withiin recent governments, with the development of police sommissioners who are publicly accountable positions * Policies to reduce cultural and material deprivation such as Sure Start to encourage better parenting, to reduce social exclusion and to increase social mobility. In both the coalition and conservative government Sure Start has been all but abandoned * Community building, working together with police with schemes such as Safer Neighbourhoods which encourage individuals to pre-empt crimes for example through securing their homes more effectively * Police to liase with other agencies such as social workers, schools, and doctors to create a multi-agency approach to understand better the social issues facing criminals and victims to support and encourage the vulnerable to report crime for example

Answer 31

* Greater police presence and especially making sure that the police are perceived to be effective and tough on crime e.g. statistics available about the efficiency of the police * Policies to encourage parents to be stricter with their children. For example, controversially giving fines to parents who allow their children to traunt from school * Encouraging schemes that encourage local communties to watch and report each other e.g. Neighbourhood Watch * Aim to make crime harder e.g. introducing CCTV ## Footnote AO3: * Do not focus on the social causes of crime. For example, social inequalities. * Cannot account for the selective policing which occurs in certain groups (some ethnic minorities for example)

Answer 32

* Believe it is possible to prevent crime through making crime less acceptable/normal in the environment * Based on argument that a stance on crime deters others from believing that they can commit crime

Answer 33

* May 2014 prison population in England and Wales was 84,305 * Between June 1993 and June 2012 prison population in England and Wales increased by 41,800 prisones to over 86,000 * Prison system as a whole has been overcrowded in every year since 1994 * End of March 2014, 77 of the 119 prisoners in England and were overcrowded * This suggests that either there are a growing number of crimes or that prison simply does not work in acting as a detterent

Answer 34

* Punishment is a way to maintain capitalist society by punishing those who seek to challenge the system which is so exploitative and negative towards the working-class * The ruling class can exert their formal social control * It is the ruling class who create laws and this avoids them being policed and caught for their own crimes

Answer 35

* Agrees with functionalist views on the importance of the law and mechanism of social control * They argue that where social control is weak, crime occurs * Prison is effective * Threat of prison deters potential criminals * Purse zero tolerance policy * Approache includes cheaper alternatives to prison such as curfews, electronic tagging devices * Because prison numbers have grown costing the state a huge amount of money and making cheaper alternative punishments attractve ## Footnote Right realists don't see swollen prison numbers as evidence that prisons are ineffective however the conservative government has seeked to encourage people to take greater responsibility for their own behaviour or face punishment

Answer 36

* Punishment is also connected with rehabilitisation and reducing the risk of the person reoffending through tackling the causes for them offending in the first place (typically material and cultural deprivation) * Means for example, re-educating offenders, working with them to ensure that they find a place within the community once they have been released to avoid reoffending, reducing their sense of marginalisation and social exclusion * Approach to punishment includes alternatives to incarceration such as community service

Answer 37

* Idea that someone who omits an offence actually tries to make up for he crime that they commited * This form of paying back might include apologising to the victim or the victim's family and is a way of ensuring that the criminal is seen to be apologising for their decision and changing their views * Sometimes supported by right realists * Highly controversial

Answer 38

* Allows courts to defer at pre-sentence stage in order for the victim and the offender to be offered restorative justice at earliest oppurtunity * 85% of victims surveyed as very or quite satisfied with restorative conference * 27% fewer crimes were committed by offenders who had experienced restorative justice compared to offenders who hadn't * Restorative justice = cost-effective

Answer 39

* Police recorded statistics * Victim surveys * Self-report studies

Answer 40

Drawn from the records that are kept by the police and other official agencies which are regularly published for the public to read ## Footnote * Drawn from the records that are kept by the police and other official agencies * Records are published every 6 months by the Home Office * Official statistics are useful for revealing long-term patterns in crime as they have been collected since 1857

Answer 41

* Positivists argue that official crime statistics are useful for understanding large-scale macro crime patterns * Includes the fact that the statistics also allow sociologists and the public to explore the police clear-up rate to measure police efficiency * Reveal where the police might need to concentrate their resources to reduce crime * Provide the public (often the media) with information on crime patterns which may warn them or educate them about their behaviour * Provides a basis for sociologists to explain crime including what is and what is not shown in the statistics * Reveal police assumptions and stereotyping as the statistics are in part generated by the activities of the police themselves and the offenders they choose to pursue and the offences they choose to be record

Answer 42

* Based on information that the criminal justice agencies collect * Crimes cannot be recorded if they are not reported in the first place and in reality a high proportion of crimes aren't reported to the police e.g. due to emberassment * Statistics may reflect the attitudes of the poice e.g. overrepresentation of particular ethnic minority groups in crime statistics * Not all crime is recorded even when it is taken to the police. In any 1 year it is estimated that only 57% of all the crimes reported to the police make it into official statistics * Issue of police interpretation of a crime. Police play an important role in filtering the information supplied to them by the public acording to what they see as important * There are many factors which may affect their decision to record the crime including severity, categorisation, police view on the importance of the crime, social position of person reporting crime and if police feel it may benefit their career * Courts play an important role in determining the official crime statistics. The processes that occur in court also inevitable socially constructed, the result of numerous social processes. British courts work on the assumption that many people will plead guilty. In fact only 75% of the people going through court on average plead guilty. Can be influenced by personal appearance, judgements based on a person's gender, ethnicity or social class * Government influences definition of crime and subsequently the way that they are recorded. What is considered to be a crime changes over time also in response to cultural changes and the influence of powerful groups such as the media. Comparing crime rates over time can be difficult because definitions of crimes change. For example, the use of cannabis as its use is more widespread the numbers of offences for possessing it have dropped. Police statistics make it look as if cannabis use is dropping when in fact the opposite is happening

Answer 43

Research carried out into specific or general areas about the kinds of crimes people have been a victim of ## Footnote A sample of the population euther locally or nationally who are asked about which offences have been committed against them over a period of time

Answer 44

* Reveal the kinds of crime which people think are not worth reporting to the police. Due to the anonymous nature of victim surveys people may be more comfortable to reveal more personal embarrassing crimes * They allow the victim to define the crime in their own terms and therefore there is no imposition of police bias in the reporting or classification of the crime * Provides greater understanding of the perspective of the victim. Garland (2001) suggests that in the past most people believed that the government had crime control in hand

Answer 45

* Rely on victims' memories and recollections which may be faulty or biased. Categorisation of the crimes that has been committed against them is left to the person filling in the questionnaire which can lead to innacuracy in the categories * Overlook a range of crimes such as fraud and corporat crime (any crime where the victim is unaware of or unable to report a crime) * Even though victim surveys are anonymous sexual offences still appear to be under-reported * Dependent on people being aware that they are victim. Media play a key role in this as they provide illustrations of crimes and generally heighten sensitivity towards certain forms of behaviour. Known as sensitising the public towards certain types of activity that can be seen as a crime worth reporting * May not include a wide range of the population. British Crime Survey has the problem of not collecting information from those under the age of 16.* However partly overcome by the British Youth Lifestyles Survery (2000) which was carried out specificallyy to obtain detailed information on crimes against younger people*

Answer 46

Research carried ot usually in the forms of an interview or questionnaire that asks people about the crimes which they have committed ## Footnote * Where a sample of the population are selected and usually using questionnaires and interviews aasked what if any offences they have committed

Answer 47

* People may not tell the truth about crimes they've committed * May cover-up crimes for fear of being punished for them * They may also forget and misinterpret their own behaviour for various reasons * Respondents may not understand what is and what is not classed as crime thus innacurate results

Answer 48

* Believe social problems/issues are discoverable and to some degree can be improved through use of scientfic methods * Based on an exploration of the victim as somehow different to others in their general make-up putting them at greater risk than others ## Footnote Theorists * Mendelsohn (1956, 1974) * Von Hentig (1941, 1948) * Miers (1989) AO3 * Assumes that the identity of the victim is known and that there is a law in place to prevent thaat particular form of harm which isn't always the case * There is a tendency to concentrate (almost exclusibely) on victims of conventionsl interpersonal crimes particularly those involving violence and predatory attitudes towards the property of others

Answer 49

* Seek to challenge the existing social and order wish to see changes to make society more fair and just * Includes Marxists and feminists * Argue that victims are constructed in such a way that reinforces and justified structural inequalities * The state looks after its own interests and uses its power to apply the label of victim in a way which deflects the real inequalities in society ## Footnote Theorists * Mawby and Walklate (1994) * Tombs and Whyte (2003) AO3 * Ignoring the fact that not all crimes are committed by the powerless and at time the powerless do seek and get legal redress * Ignores the fact people do behave in a less responsible way which means they're partially responsible for being a victim * Useful in highlighting the way in which victim status is applied by the powerful to reinforce structural inequalities

Answer 50

Whom crime is directed

Answer 51

Refers to the negative experience which people have going through the process of reporting the crime

Answer 52

People close to the victim may also be affected by the crime ## Footnote Example, where someone is murdered and the family subsequently has no breadwinner. Children and adults may also be disturbed and distressed by witnessing a crime which can leave long-term psychological effects

Answer 53

* Lone parents and the unemployed are more than twice as likely to be burgeled as the average household in 2004 * 67% of the homeless population suffered a theft compared to 1.4% of all adults in England and Wales

Answer 54

* Mark and Lansley (1985) argue that poor people suffer disproportionately from victimisation as well as from the effects of victimisation. There is a known link between inequalities increasing in income and an increase in crime * Marxists argue that the working-class are the victims of crime as part of their exploited powerless position within capitalist society. It's the ruling class who have the power to decide what constitutes a victim and to apply the label of victim

Answer 55

* People of mixed ethnic origin were also at higher risk of becoming a victim (11%) of a personal crime than people from Asian (6%) and White (6%) ethnic groups * More than half of people from Bangladeshi and Pakastani ethnic backgrounds still live in low-income households making them more prone to being victims

Answer 56

* Some ethnic groups are more likely to be victims of crimes and this is often linked to the cultural and material deprivaion that they're more likely to experience * Hate crimes and racially motivated crimes are further reinfored by police behaviour and public stereotypes * Some ethnic minorities are less likely to report crimes as they do not trust the police who they may see as being institutionally racist

Answer 57

* In 2011/2012 as in previous years more than two-thirds of homocide victims (68%) were male * In contrast women were more likely to be a victim of domestic abuse

Answer 58

Women are much more likely to be the victims of domesic violence, men are much more likely to be the victim of a violent crime by a stranger

Answer 59

* Households headed by young people are more than twice as likely to be burgled as the average household * 8% of children aged 10 to 15 have experienced violent crimes in the last year; 5% have experienced violence with injury

Answer 60

* Young people are much more likely to be the victims of crime than middle-aged people * The elderly are more likley to be the victims of crimes * This may be because the elderly are less likely to be able to report crimes against them such as abuse in care homes due to their age and status