Crime and Deviance Flashcards
Define crime
An act which goes against laws, which is illegal. It is usually associated with behavior against the formal, written laws of a given society. The punishment of crime is likely to be far more serious than the punishment of ‘deviance’ in general but obviously different laws are treated in varying ways.
Can an act be criminal and deviant?
Yes, because it could be breaking both social and legal rules.
Is all deviance negative?
No, because it is possible to deviate in a positive action, although it is usually associated with a negative action.
How is deviance socially constructed?
Behavior can vary in being normal or abnormal depending upon the situation the social actor is in. Norms also vary across both time and space - they vary within a society historically, and between societies.
How is crime and deviance relative?
Crime and deviance are relative to time, place and culture. Meaning that what counts as crime and deviance varies from time to time, place to place and culture to culture.
Name three methods used to measure crime
Official statistics, self-report studies and the British crime survey (victim surveys).
What are official statistics?
Police recorded crime, based on police records, on the records kept by the police of crimes which they have recorded.
What do official statistics show and tell us?
Each year, statistics produced from police records provide an official account of the volume of crime and trends in crime.
What are self-report studies?
Ask people whether they have committed a series of offences. They are usually based on a self-completed questionnaire or interview.
What do self-report studies show and tell us?
Respondents are presented with a list of offences and asked which they have committed over a period of time, usually 12 months.
What is The British Crime Survey, a victimisation study?
Respondents are asked what types of crimes they have experienced in the last year, whether they fear crime, how they try to avoid it and their opinions of the criminal justice system.
What do victim studies show and tell us?
The BCS is intended to find out about the prevalence of crimes that have not been reported, therefore presenting a different picture from official crime statistics which depend on police recording reported crimes. It’s an annual survey, interviewing 4,000 people a year.
What issues are there with reporting crimes?
Crimes may not be reported where offences are trivial, the victim is not insured so cannot claim compensation, the offender is known and the victim fears repercussions, the victim has offences to hide or has little faith in the police.
What other information does the BCS provide?
Information on fear of crime and precautions people take against it, which could be useful to policy makers. It also shows what sorts of people are most at risk of crime.
Define honour killings
The murder of a person accused of ‘bringing shame’ upon their family.
Define cultural capital
Forms of knowledge, skills, education, advantages that a person has, which gives them a higher status in society.
Define civil religion
A belief system that attaches sacred qualities to society itself and makes the nation-state the object of quasi-religious worship.
Define utopia youtopia
A community of society possessing highly desirable or near perfect qualities.
Define social solidarity
A set of norms, values and morals that hold a certain group of people together.
Define consumer capitalism
A theoretical economic and social political condition in which consumer demand is manipulated, in a deliberate and coordinated way, on a very large scale, through mass-marketing techniques, to the advantage of sellers.
What are the strengths of using official statistics?
- May be the only available source
- Relatively cheap, easily accessible and up-to-date source of data
- Able to notice trends/changes over time
- Cross cultural comparisons are possible
- “Before” and “after” studies
What are the weaknesses of using official statistics?
- Not really accurate
- Can distort the truth
- Selective law enforcement
- Invisibility of white collar crime and cyber crime
- Large dark figure of hidden crime
What are the strengths of using self-report studies?
- Can measure a participants perception
- Can see in-depth opinions
- There’s observational and objective data
- Quick and simple to administer