Crime and deviance

Question 1

Official statistics.

Answer 1

Official statistics are used extensively by sociologists as an indicator of the amount and type of crime
BRITISH CRIME SURVEY;
information given by victims aswell as non victims of crime. Its face to face survey asking people who are living in the UK on their experiences of crime.
OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS;
- Govt department
- Hard statistics
- Only information is on those who are crime of victims.

Question 2

Age

Answer 2

1. Crime and deviant activities are mainly carried out by the young between 14-25
2. After 25 years people take on responsibility whereas at the age of 14 there is intense pressure.
3. Main interest is self gratification
4. Form deviant subcultures to express opinions.
5. Have material gains, excitement and sense of control when involved in crime.
6. Rebellion is a natural not deviant condition for young people as they seek to establish own identity.

Question 3

Location

Answer 3

Urban ares have higher rates of crime due to it providing more opportunities for crime as theres more shops, houses and offices and cars.

Question 4

Gender

Answer 4

1. There are striking differences in the patterns of recorded crime.
2. Statistics indicated men commit more crime than women.
   E.g violent and sexual offences.
3. 2002 80% of offenders were men.
4. Chivalry Thesis
5. eval
6. Functionalist sex role theory
7. Patriarchal control
8. Liberation thesis
9. Messerschimidt - masculinity

Question 5

Chivalry Thesis

Answer 5

1. The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents such as police officers and judges who are men are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women.
2. Therefore the criminal justice system is more lenient to women so their crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics.
3. Women are also more likely than men to be cautioned rather than prosecuted.
4. Roger - one third of women less likely to be jailed.

EVAL;
1. women show remorse so therefore cautioned.
2. feminists argues a double standard exists because the criminal justice system is patriarchal.
‘Judge wild said if she didn’t want it shut her legs’
3. Feminists now see 50% increase in women being more independent and men less chivalrous.
4. Less serious crimes are less likely to go to jail but statistics are misrepresented due to stereotype as if women do commit more crime then there demonised - bias against women - society not socialised to see women commit crime.
e.g Myra hinley and rose west.

Question 6

Functionalist sex role theory.

Answer 6

1. Explanation of gender differences in crime came from focusing on differences in the socialisation of males and females.
2. Functionalists trace differences in crime + deviances to the gender roles in the conventional nuclear family. where male have instrumental role and female expressive
3. Males reject feminine models of behaviour that expresses tenderness and emotion and instead engage in compensatory compulsory masculinity through aggression.
4. Also lack of adult role model means boys are more likely to turn to male gangs as a source of masculine identity where status is earned by act of toughness.

EVAL;

1. Sandra Walklate argues we’re biologically programmed to act different rather than socially.
2. Feminists put forward alternative explanation stating females socialised not to commit crime due to patriarchal society and their subordinated position.

Question 7

Patriarchal control;

Answer 7

Heidensohn argues the most striking thing about women’s behaviour is how conformist it is- they commit fewer crimes
This in her view is due to an patriarchal society imposing control over women, reducing the opportunities to offend.
CONTROL AT HOME;
1 womens domestic role imposes retrictions on time confining them to the house.
Men restrict time outside as they control the finances, however women now work.

2. CONTROL IN PUBLIC;
   Controlled by threat and fear of mens violence such as sexual violence as media portrays rape.
3. CONTROL AT WORK
   controlled by male supervisors- sexual harrassment keeps them in place.
   and subordinate positions reduce opportunity due to glass ceiling.
   However women are now more equal and have more opportunities.
   EVAL
   Liberation thesis;
   Alder argues as women become liberated from patriarchy crimes are becoming more frequent.
   - Women’s liberation led to and increase in female crime]
   - As patriarchal control decreases and opportunities increase women adopt traditional male roles
   - Women have greater confidence, assertiveness and more opportunities to commit white collar crimes.

Question 8

Messerschimidt - masculinity

Why do men commit more crime?

Answer 8

1. Focused on the concept of masculinity to explain mens higher rate of offending.
   2, Crime and deviance is a resource that different men may use for accomplishing masculinity.
   - WHITE MIDDLE CLASS
   subordinate themselves for teachers in school and use oppositional masculinity outside such as drinking and vandalism.

• WHITE WORKING CLASS BOYS;
  less chance of educational success so have oppositional masculinity in and out of school
• BLACK WORKING CLASS BOYS;
  Use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity

EVAL:

1. Doesn’t explain why all men use crime to achieve masculinity
2. masculinity could just be a description to make offenders
3. Overworks the concept of masculinity virtually all crime from joy riding to embezzlement.

Question 9

Social class;

Answer 9

'working class commit more crime'
Blue collar crime = working class 
white collar crime = middle class e.g fraud. 
1. Socialisation and the underclass. 

1. Right realists - Charles Murray 1990 
argues crime rates are increasing due to the growing number of underclass who are defined by deviant behaviour and fail to socialise kids. 
2. underclass is growing due to the welfare state as its led to decline in marriages and increase lone parent families. 
3. Also men don't have to take responsibility so don't work and live of benefits. 
4. Lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents so boys lack paternal discipline turning to delinquent role model on the street and gaining status through crime. 

2. MERTONS STRAIN THEORY;
3. strain theories argue that people engage in deviant behaviour when unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.
4. Robert adapted durkehims concept of anomie to explain deviance.
5. Mertons explanation combines two elements;
   a) Structural factors = unequal opportunity structure
   b) cultural factors- strong emphasis on success goals and weak emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them.
6. For merton deviance is the result of a strain between two things;
   a) Goals that culture encourages individuals to achieve
   b) What institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately.

Question 10

explaining ethnic differences in offending

Answer 10

Left realists - the statistics represent real differences in the rate of offending.
Neo marxism; statistics are a social construct resulting from racist labelling and discrimination.
LEFT REALISTS - Lea + young 1993
- They say crime is a result of marginalisation, relative deprivation and subcultures.
MARG- racism led to marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing.
DEP- media promotes a sense of deprivation by promoting materialistic goals that ethnic minorities can’t reach by legitimate means.
SUB - therefore response is to form delinquent subcultures which produce high levels of utilitarian crime such as theft as a means of coping with relative deprivation.
those groups who feel like they don’t belong form utilitarian crimes such as violence and riots.
- They don’t accept that police racism is a cause for offending or differences in statistics. They believe theres real differences in level of relative deprivation and marginalisation.
EVAL; even though they say police crime doesn’t effect stats, critics say they do as since the 911 attacks the rates of offending amongst asians have increased- which is likely to be caused by police sterotyping them as dangerous.

NEOMARXISM ;
while left realists see official statistics as reflecting real differences in rates of offending, others argue that those difference don’t reflect reality.
Differences are the outcome of process of social construction that say ethnics are criminals
- Gilroy and stuart et al support this view;

GILROY- THE MYTH OF BLACK CRIMINALITY;
- Argues the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes.
- due to police acting upon those stereotypes they appear more in stats
- In gilroys view ethnic minority crime can be a form of political resistance against a racist society.
- Their struggles taught them how to resist oppression e.g by riots and therefore they adopted the same forms of defences against a racist society.
EVAL;
- stephan lawrence = police racism
- Most crimes are interethnic so the criminal and victims have same background.
- colonial struggle cannot be passed down.

STUART HALL ET AL 1979;

• Govt used the media to create a moral panic to show black muggings were cause of inflations and divert the attention of strikes.
• panic was about a supposed growth of black mugging however hall states there had been no increase in crime significant.
• Hall et al argued myth of black mugger served as a scape goat to distract attention from the true cause of high unemployment - capitalist crisis

EVAL;
Capitalist crisis marginalised black youth through unemployment and this drove some into the lifestyle of petty crimes as a means of survival.

Downes + rock argue hall et al wasn’t consistent in claiming black crime wasn’t rising but also that it was due to unemployment

• moral panic not explained
• Left realists argue fear of mugging isn’t panicky but realistic.

Question 11

Neo marxism - ethnic differences in offending

Answer 11

NEOMARXISM ;
while left realists see official statistics as reflecting real differences in rates of offending, others argue that those difference don’t reflect reality.
Differences are the outcome of process of social construction that say ethnics are criminals
- Gilroy and stuart et al support this view;

GILROY- THE MYTH OF BLACK CRIMINALITY;
- Argues the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes.
- due to police acting upon those stereotypes they appear more in stats
- In gilroys view ethnic minority crime can be a form of political resistance against a racist society.
- Their struggles taught them how to resist oppression e.g by riots and therefore they adopted the same forms of defences against a racist society.
EVAL;
- stephan lawrence = police racism
- Most crimes are interethnic so the criminal and victims have same background.
- colonial struggle cannot be passed down.

STUART HALL ET AL 1979;

• Govt used the media to create a moral panic to show black muggings were cause of inflations and divert the attention of strikes.
• panic was about a supposed growth of black mugging however hall states there had been no increase in crime significant.
• Hall et al argued myth of black mugger served as a scape goat to distract attention from the true cause of high unemployment - capitalist crisis

EVAL;
Capitalist crisis marginalised black youth through unemployment and this drove some into the lifestyle of petty crimes as a means of survival.

Downes + rock argue hall et al wasn’t consistent in claiming black crime wasn’t rising but also that it was due to unemployment

• moral panic not explained
• Left realists argue fear of mugging isn’t panicky but realistic.

Question 12

Key studies for ethnicity and crime

Answer 12

1. Macpherson report;
   Police officers handled the stephan lawrence case in a racist manner which triggered the report.
   it was on institutional racisms within the met police.
   it made 70 recommendations aimed specficialy at improving police attitude and stressed the importance of an increase in number of black and asian police men.
   as police should reflect the communities they serve
   13 forces failed to recruit any different ethnic police men and only 150 had been recruited.
   Report also proposed changing some laws e.g amending the double jeopardy law so can be tried twice for a crime.

Question 13

Functionalist explanation of crime and deviance.

Answer 13

Functionalists argue that crime and deviance can only be explained by looking at the way societies are organised socially.- their social constructs.

2. They say crime is caused by society rather than the circumstances of the individual.
3. As a break down in society can lead to anomie breaking down the collective conscious
4. Therefore functionalism is seen as a structuralist theory.

Emile Durkheim;
1. States that in pre- industrial societies crime was rare because families and religion were powerful agencies of socialisation and social control.
2. This ensured an influential combination of both consensus and community.
3. He believed that crime was higher in cities which undermined the authority of religion and family. therefore they experienced more anomie- sense of moral confusion that weakens commitment to shared values and norms encouraging crime + deviance.
4. however while they saw too much crime as destabilising society they also saw it as inevitable and universal.
5. They said crime is normal and integral part of a heathly society and say too little crime is as damaging as too much.
6. Crime has functions to benefit society;
a) Acts of crime and deviance can provoke positive social change- highlight inadequate laws
Albert Cohen says it acts like a warning to change policies.
b) Terrorism creates public outrage- creating and reinforcing social solidarity against offenders.
c) punishment reinforces / reassures society is functioning effectively.
EVAL;
1. doesn’t explain why certain social groups commit more crime
2. Neglect the fact that crime are dysfunctional - crimes you cannot gain anything from e.g murder that have no purpose and no change to society.

Question 14

Mertons strain theroy- Crime and deviance

Answer 14

1. Strain theories argue that people engage in deviant behaviour when unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.
2. Deviance is the strain between what our culture encourages us to do and what is allows us to do.
3. In a capitalist society - mass media socialises individuals into believing that material success is a realistic goal.
4. Merton argues that resources and opportunities are not fairly distributed in a capitalist society. Those at the bottem experience strain between goals and legitimate institutional means.
   They can produce anomie in which individuals could respond to in various ways;
   a) conformity; cope and make the most of it
   b) innovation- goals remain strong and turn to illegal means of achieving them
   c) ritualism - lost sight of materialistic goals and derive satisfaction from meaningless jobs
   d) retreatism ; reject both goals and means and drop out of society.
   e) Rebellion - rebel and seek to replace goals and means with alternatives.
   - Merton concluded that criminals are not that different from law abiding citizens. They have the same goals to achieve material success.
   EVAL
5. Merton doesn’t explain why some commit crime yet others conform retreat or rebel.
6. he explains crime that results in economic gain but doesn’t explain violent or sexual crimes.
7. White collar + corporate crimes arise from access to opportunities rather than being blocked from them.

Question 15

subcultural theory of crime and deviance

Answer 15

subcultural theories focuses on explaining why young working class people commit crime- known as juvenile delinquency.
2. Also tries to explain why juvenile delinquency has a collective or subcultural character (committed part of a larger group. 

ALBERT COHEN;
1. argues like merton that delinquency is caused by a strain of cultural goals and the institutional means of achieving them.
2. He suggests that young people want status, feel valued and respect. Middle class achieve this by parents and success at school so by teachers.
3. However working class boys are denied status in school as parents fail to equip them with the essential skills thus placed in bottem sets and unable to aquire essential knowledge.
Such boys leave school with no or few qualifications and work in low paid jobs so denied status by society.
4 Cohen argues this results in low self esteem and frustration and therefore they experience anomie called ‘status frustration’ and respond by developing gangs and subcultures who reverse norms and values of dominant culture and award status on anti school delinquent behaviour.
EVAL
1. Most working class boys conform to school despite education failure.
2. ignores female delinquency
3. neglects role of social concern e.g police stereotypes.

Walter Miller;
Argues that working class juvenile delinquents are merely acting out and exaggerating mainstream values of working class subculture.
2. suggests that working class have developed a series of focal concerns giving meaning to their lives
e.g heighted sense of masculinity which sees violence as an acceptable problem solving deviance.
-desire for excitement and being anti authority e.g domestic abuse.
3. Living out these focal concerns compensates the bordem of school.

Richard cloward and Lloyd Ohlin;
Argue that the type of crime committed by young people depends on the type of illegitimate opportunity structure thats available to them in their area.
They identify 3 types of deviant subcultures that result;
1. CRIMINAL STRUCTURES;
provides youth with apprenticeship in utilitarian crimes where theres established hierarchy of adult professional crimes.
2. CONFLICT SUBCULTURES;
High masculinised territorial crime/ violence. violence provides release of mens frustration
3. RETREATIST SUBCULTURES;
people who fail to gain access to either of the other two from this subculture where major activity is drug use.
CRITICIMS ;
1. most young working class people experience status frustration but do not become delinquents.
2. Some people drift in and out of delinquency and tend to grow out of it.
3. Subculture theories neglect role of police who are stereotypical - frequently stop and search and arrest young working class boys.

Question 16

Walter miller subcultural theory

Answer 16

Walter Miller;
Argues that working class juvenile delinquents are merely acting out and exaggerating mainstream values of working class subculture.
2. suggests that working class have developed a series of focal concerns giving meaning to their lives
e.g heighted sense of masculinity which sees violence as an acceptable problem solving deviance.
-desire for excitement and being anti authority e.g domestic abuse.
3. Living out these focal concerns compensates the bordem of school.

Question 17

Richard cloward and Lloyd Ohlin;

subcultural theory

Answer 17

Richard cloward and Lloyd Ohlin;
Argue that the type of crime committed by young people depends on the type of illegitimate opportunity structure thats available to them in their area.
They identify 3 types of deviant subcultures that result;
1. CRIMINAL STRUCTURES;
provides youth with apprenticeship in utilitarian crimes where theres established hierarchy of adult professional crimes.
2. CONFLICT SUBCULTURES;
High masculinised territorial crime/ violence. violence provides release of mens frustration
3. RETREATIST SUBCULTURES;
people who fail to gain access to either of the other two from this subculture where major activity is drug use.
CRITICIMS ;
1. most young working class people experience status frustration but do not become delinquents.
2. Some people drift in and out of delinquency and tend to grow out of it.
3. Subculture theories neglect role of police who are stereotypical - frequently stop and search and arrest young working class boys.

Question 18

Marxists view on crime and deviance

Answer 18

1. Marxists view on deviance adopts a conflict view
2. They say the economic base or infrastructure determines the precise nature of the superstructures. e.g the way the economy is organised will determine the norms, values and what is defined at deviant.
3. Classical Marxists content that
   ; capitalism itself is a crime and that it causes crime
4. Marxists argue capitalism is based on oppression and economic exploitation of the majority. - creates a dog eat dog world where greed, violence and corruption flourish.
   - Marxists state that crime happens as a result of inequality and poverty “poverty is the mother of all crime” marcus
5. Marxists suggests that deviance means to stray from the norms and values of the ruling class since they control the means of production.
   They have the power to define working class activities as deviant and in doing so control them
6. The rich make the laws in order to protect their wealth and power. Therefore benefit fraud blue collar crimes are punished more harshly than white collar crimes.
7. According to Marxists the real criminals are the rich who exploit the rest making us poor.
   criminals are just rejecting the society we live in.
8. DAVID GORDAN ;
   suggests that most working class crime is a realistic rational response to inequality
   he claims considering the nature of capitalism we shouldn’t ask why are working class commiting crime but instead ask why are they not commiting more crime.
   - Gordan argues the ideology of capitalism encourages criminal behaviour in all social classes
   e.g need to win at all costs or go out of business encourages capitalists to commit white collar crime
   - capitalism also encourages a culture of envy among poorer sections of society encouraging criminal reaction.

LOUIS ALTHUSER;
Argues that law is an ideological state apparatus which functions in the interests of the ruling class to maintain and legitimate class inequality in the following ways;
a) concerned with protecting capitalist wealth
b) box notes that the power, kill , maim and injure + steal from members of society but these acts aren’t covered in the law.
c) law enforcements favour the rich e.g benefit fraud attracts prison and prosecution yet tex fraudsters rarely get taken to court.
d) white collar crime is under policed and under punished.

CORPORATE CRIMES;
Selling dangerous good to consumers
25,000 people killed in workplaces 70% due to employer violation
Hazal croall;
notes despite the fact these coporate crimes are far worse than working class crimes they are not regarded as a seriious problem
offences are invisible
and responsisbilty is neglected- difficult to see where the blame lies.
and many regulating bodies warn offender rather than prosecute.

CRITISMS ; 
ignores the relationship between crime and non class variables such as gender 
and and the courts sometimes acts against the interests of the capitalist class. Mps expresser scandel.

Question 19

8. DAVID GORDAN ;

Answer 19

8. DAVID GORDAN ;
   suggests that most working class crime is a realistic rational response to inequality
   he claims considering the nature of capitalism we shouldn’t ask why are working class commiting crime but instead ask why are they not commiting more crime.
   - Gordan argues the ideology of capitalism encourages criminal behaviour in all social classes
   e.g need to win at all costs or go out of business encourages capitalists to commit white collar crime
   - capitalism also encourages a culture of envy among poorer sections of society encouraging criminal reaction.

Question 20

LOUIS ALTHUSER;

Answer 20

LOUIS ALTHUSER;
Argues that law is an ideological state apparatus which functions in the interests of the ruling class to maintain and legitimate class inequality in the following ways;
a) concerned with protecting capitalist wealth
b) box notes that the power, kill , maim and injure + steal from members of society but these acts aren’t covered in the law.
c) law enforcements favour the rich e.g benefit fraud attracts prison and prosecution yet tex fraudsters rarely get taken to court.
d) white collar crime is under policed and under punished.

Question 21

Neo marxism - crime and deviance

Answer 21

Taylor walton and young; New criminology 1993
1. Much of their work agrees with classical marxists in that inequalities lie at the root of crime
2. however as opposed to being driven to crime these sociologists insist criminals choose to commit crime.
3. They reject all theories that see behaviour as driven by external forces.
4. They see individuals as turning to crime as the meaningful attempt to construct his own self conception
5. Deny that crime is caused by biology, anomie, member of subculture, or by labelling and poverty.
6. They stress that crimes are often deliberate and conscious acts with political movements. see crime as a political act.
7. Thus womens liberation movement, black power movement and gay liberation front are examples of people fighting back against the injustice of capitalism.
8. They state that many crime against property involve the redistribution of wealth - poor stealing from the rich
9. hope for a soicalist not a communist society with greater emphasis on freedom where deviants are accepted.
10. Neo marxists want us to look at deviance and how its classified rather than how we class crime.
STUART HALL AND PAUL GILROY;
1. look at relationship between race and crime and say its politically motivated.
2. Claims mass media creates a view that black criminals are pathological
3. this creates a moral panic and they become heavily policed diverting people away from real issues = capitalism.

CRITICMS ;

1. over romanticizing working class criminals as robin hood.
2. Reality is many victims of crime are working class
3. difficult to imagine political motive underpinning crimes such as rape and domestic violence and child abuse.
4. too idealistic to tackle crime practically.

Question 22

Labelling theory

Answer 22

1. Labelling theorists are interested in how and why certain acts come to be defined or labelled as deviant in the first place.
2. They therefore see crime and deviance as a social construction where no act is inherently criminal. It comes to be so where others label it as such.
3. This is stated by Becker 1963 who claims that an act become deviant when others percieve it as such and that it is not the nature of the act that is deviant but the nature of societies reaction to the act.

Process of labelling
1. secondary deviance is the result of a societal reaction that is of labelling
2. sociologists argues that once an individual is labelled others will only see them in terms of that label- it becomes their master status.
3. This can provoke a crisis for the individuals self concept leading to a self fulfilling prophecy.
4. where the individual lives up to their label ultimately becoming their label. This is illustated in jack youngs study of hippies who smoked marijuana. labelling by control culture and society led to the hippies increasingly seeing themselves as outsiders.
where they began developing a deviant subculture
Grew hair long and drug use became a central activity inviting futher attention from society resulting in a self fullfilling prophecy.
5. Lemert refers to the further deviant that results from acting out the label as secondary deviance.
6. The secondary deviance is likely to prove further hostile reactions from society leading to the deviant career of the individual. This may be due to employers not wanting to employ them. leading to them joining a deviant subculture.
7. They may join deviant subculture as this is where deviant opp are offered and deviant behaviour is rewarded confirming their deviant identity. This may also be due to outside factors such as marginalisatoin.
8. in result of tring to control deviance a deviance amplification is created. this is where the attempt of controlling deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance.
Example of deviance amplification being applied to group behaviour is stanley cohens moral panic - study of social reaction to mods and rockers.

Study of moral panics and the role of the media.
The media exaggerated and distorted the facts of two minor stabbings as they exaggerated the seriousness and scale of the event creating a moral panic in society.
- The demonising of the mods and rockers as folk devils caused further marginalisation as outsiders resulting in more deviant behaviour on their part.
EVAL;
It tends to be deterministic- implying that onces someone is labelled a deviant career is inevitable. However in many cases people may choose a different path to follow.
2. Its emphasis on the negative effects of labelling gives the offender a victim status- right realists argue this ignore the real victims
3. Ignores the fact people may choose deviance.
4. Fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place.
5. implies that without labelling deviance would not exist. However other theorists say other reasons do exist. such as functionalism who use mertons strain theory argue people engage in deviant behaviour when unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.

Question 23

Right realists

Answer 23

1. crime is a real problem not a social construction
2. for Right realists crime is the product of three factors
3. biological differences
   - Wilson and Herrnstein ;
   in their view crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors.
   - biological differences between individuals makes some people innately strongly predisposed to commit crime than others. e.g personal traits such as aggressiveness,risk taking a low impuse control put greater people at risk of offending.
   - Murray argues the main cause of crime is low intelligence - which they see as biologically determined. which like marxists say your born into your social class but say due to social construct.
4. Socialisation and the underclass;
   for Right realists the best socialisation is the nuclear family as effective socialisation decreases the risk of offending as they internalise the morals of right and wrong.
   - CHARLES MURRAY
   - Argues crime rate is increasing due to the growing rate of the underclass who are determined by their deviant behaviour and unable to socialise kids properly. The underclass is growing to the welfare state which allows increasing number of people to be dependent of the state. It has led to decrease in marriages and increase in lone parent families. So men no longer have to take responsibility in supporting their families so don’t work.
   - however he argues lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents especially for young boys.
   absent fathers meant that boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models so they turn to delinquent tole models committing crime.
   - For murray the underclass isn’t only a source of crime but it also threatens societies cohesion by undermining values of hard work and personal responsibility.
   EVAL ;
5. Charles worth looked at effects of poverty in council estate and conducted participant observations and interviews.
   poor economic conditions had negative effects on people physical and mental health. some people were motivated to commit crime. however not many indicators of this anti-social underclass murray had described.
6. RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY;
   Ron clarke 1980 argues that the choice to commit crime is based on the rational calculation of the likely consequence.
   if perceived rewards outweighs the perceived costs of crime or if the reward appears to be greater than the those of non criminal behaviour = more likely to offend.
   -Right realists argue currently the perceived cost is low that is why crime rates is increasing . e.g little risk of getting caught and lenient punishments
   - Felson argues that for crime to occur
   - there must be a motivated offender
   - a suitable target
   - absence of a capable guardian
   he argues informal guardians are more effective than formal ones.
   EVAL;
7. Right realists over emphasis the rationality of offenders e.g vandalism or violence where there is no benefit.
8. Over emphasis biological factors as according to lily et al 2002 IQ differences accounts for less than 3% of differences in offending.
9. Preoccupied with petty crime ignores coroperte crime which is more costly and harmful.
   TACKLING CRIME;
10. right realists do not believe it’s beneficial to deal with crimes causes such as biological and socialisation since they cannot be change easily.
11. Instead seek to devise practical measures to make crime less attractive.
12. Main focus is on control, containment and punishment of offenders rather than eliminating underlying causes.

Question 24

1. biological differences

Answer 24

1. biological differences
   - Wilson and Herrnstein ;
   in their view crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors.
   - biological differences between individuals makes some people innately strongly predisposed to commit crime than others. e.g personal traits such as aggressiveness,risk taking a low impuse control put greater people at risk of offending.
   - Murray argues the main cause of crime is low intelligence - which they see as biologically determined. which like marxists say your born into your social class but say due to social construct.

Question 25

2. Socialisation and the underclass;

Answer 25

2. Socialisation and the underclass; for Right realists the best socialisation is the nuclear family as effective socialisation decreases the risk of offending as they internalise the morals of right and wrong. - CHARLES MURRAY - Argues crime rate is increasing due to the growing rate of the underclass who are determined by their deviant behaviour and unable to socialise kids properly. The underclass is growing to the welfare state which allows increasing number of people to be dependent of the state. It has led to decrease in marriages and increase in lone parent families. So men no longer have to take responsibility in supporting their families so don't work. - however he argues lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents especially for young boys. absent fathers meant that boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models so they turn to delinquent tole models committing crime. - For murray the underclass isn't only a source of crime but it also threatens societies cohesion by undermining values of hard work and personal responsibility. EVAL ; 1. Charles worth looked at effects of poverty in council estate and conducted participant observations and interviews. poor economic conditions had negative effects on people physical and mental health. some people were motivated to commit crime. however not many indicators of this anti-social underclass murray had described.

Question 26

3. RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY;

Answer 26

3. RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY; Ron clarke 1980 argues that the choice to commit crime is based on the rational calculation of the likely consequence. if perceived rewards outweighs the perceived costs of crime or if the reward appears to be greater than the those of non criminal behaviour = more likely to offend. -Right realists argue currently the perceived cost is low that is why crime rates is increasing . e.g little risk of getting caught and lenient punishments - Felson argues that for crime to occur - there must be a motivated offender - a suitable target - absence of a capable guardian he argues informal guardians are more effective than formal ones.

Question 27

TACKLING CRIME; | right realists

Answer 27

TACKLING CRIME; 1. right realists do not believe it's beneficial to deal with crimes causes such as biological and socialisation since they cannot be change easily. 2. Instead seek to devise practical measures to make crime less attractive. 3. Main focus is on control, containment and punishment of offenders rather than eliminating underlying causes.

Question 28

Left realists

Answer 28

1. Left realists are reformists rather than revolutionary sociologists 2. They believe in gradual social change rather than the violent overthrow of capitalism as a way of achieving equality. 3. They believe we need to develop explanations of crime that lead to practical strategies to reduce it. CENTRAL IDEA: 1.Crime is a real problem particularly affecting most disadvantaged groups who are the main victims 2. accuse other sociologists of not taking crime seriously. MARXISTS ; concerntrate crime of powerful and ignore working class crime and effects NEO MARXISM - over romantize working class crime 'robin hood' stealing from rich and political resistance. LR point out that working class steal from other working class and not the rich. LABELLING THEORY; see working class criminals as victims of discriminatory labelling by social control agents - neglects real victims - working class are victims rather than criminals. LEFT REALISTS; see a real increase in crime especially working class crime and say its wrong to assume that statistics are showing an increase due to more reporting - as it is real as more people reporting due to being victims. Victims surveys show the scale of problem is even greater than that shown by official statistics. Disadvantaged groups are at bigger risk of becoming victims LEA AND YOUNG - 3 related causes to crime; 1. Relative deprivation; - as living standards have increased so have criminals - people feel resentment that others unfairly have more than them so resort to crime to obtain what they feel they're entitled to. - More deprivation due to media advertising material possessions raising expectations. = crime if cannot afford it. - For young the lethal combination is relative deprivation and individualism- concerned with own self interest so encourages pursuit of self interest at expense of others causing crime. - increasing individualism is causing the disintergration of families and communities by undermining values of mutual support. 2. Subcultures; - see subcultures as a groups reaction to the failure to achieve mainstream goals. - Subculture is a groups collective solution to problem of relative deprivation. - some groups may turn to crime to close the deprivation gap. - others may turn to religion as it offers spiritual comfit. - left realists argue criminal subcultures still subscribe to values and goals of mainstream society such as materialism and consumerism but opportunities are blocked so resort to crime. 3. Marginalisation - marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. - Groups such as workers have trade unions who are organisations to put pressure on workers so no need to turn to violence to achieve goals - By contrast unemployed youth are marginalised - have a sense of resentment and frustration and express this through criminal means such as rioting and violence. LEFT REALIST ways of dealing with crime; 1. Policing and control; cycle created as police rely on public for information but they are loosing faith in them so do not provide it, so police us millitary policing style leading to victimisation so once again have no trust in police. They argue - police should be involved with local communites - must be accountable for locals and deal with their concerns - multi agency approach needed involving coucil social services. 2. Structural causes; - Causes of crime lie in unequal structures of society so major structural changes needed to reduce levels of offending. young says provide equal opportunities. be tolerant of diversity and cease sterotyping. 3. Left realism and govt policy; - They have most influence on govt policy than most theories e.g new labour have similar views tough on causes of crime - asbo Focus on the young to stop criminal behaviour before it starts. EVAL ; succeeded on drawing attention to reality of crime and effects on victims criticised; 1. Argues accepts authorities definition of crime committed by poor instead defining the problem as being on of how powerful groups do harm to poor - Marxists says ignores corporate crime which is more harmful and costly. 2. Interactionists argue because they rely on victim surveys so quantitive data they cannot explain victims motives so qualitative data needed. 3. Relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not all those who experience it commit crime.

Question 29

1. Relative deprivation;

Answer 29

1. Relative deprivation; - as living standards have increased so have criminals - people feel resentment that others unfairly have more than them so resort to crime to obtain what they feel they're entitled to. - More deprivation due to media advertising material possessions raising expectations. = crime if cannot afford it. - For young the lethal combination is relative deprivation and individualism- concerned with own self interest so encourages pursuit of self interest at expense of others causing crime. - increasing individualism is causing the disintergration of families and communities by undermining values of mutual support.

Question 30

2. Subcultures;

Answer 30

2. Subcultures; - see subcultures as a groups reaction to the failure to achieve mainstream goals. - Subculture is a groups collective solution to problem of relative deprivation. - some groups may turn to crime to close the deprivation gap. - others may turn to religion as it offers spiritual comfit. - left realists argue criminal subcultures still subscribe to values and goals of mainstream society such as materialism and consumerism but opportunities are blocked so resort to crime.

Question 31

3. Marginalisation

Answer 31

3. Marginalisation - marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. - Groups such as workers have trade unions who are organisations to put pressure on workers so no need to turn to violence to achieve goals - By contrast unemployed youth are marginalised - have a sense of resentment and frustration and express this through criminal means such as rioting and violence.

Question 32

LEFT REALIST ways of dealing with crime;

Answer 32

1. Policing and control; cycle created as police rely on public for information but they are loosing faith in them so do not provide it, so police us millitary policing style leading to victimisation so once again have no trust in police. They argue - police should be involved with local communites - must be accountable for locals and deal with their concerns - multi agency approach needed involving coucil social services. 2. Structural causes; - Causes of crime lie in unequal structures of society so major structural changes needed to reduce levels of offending. young says provide equal opportunities. be tolerant of diversity and cease sterotyping. 3. Left realism and govt policy; - They have most influence on govt policy than most theories e.g new labour have similar views tough on causes of crime - asbo Focus on the young to stop criminal behaviour before it starts.

Question 33

Crime prevention ; 1. Situational crime prevention;

Answer 33

1. Ron clarke 1992 describes Situational crime prevention as a pre-emptive approach that relies on reducing opportunities for crime. 2. 3 measures of crime aimed at SCP; - they are directed at specific crimes - involve the managing and altering on the immediate environment of crime. - aims at increasing the efforts and the risks and reducing the rewards - done through target hardening lock door and windows - increase surveillance and pre payment cards. 3. Underlying situational crime prevention approaches are opportunistic or a rational choice theory of crime- so criminals act rationally weighing up costs and benefits of crime before committing it. 4. This contrasts with crime that stress root causes such as early socialisation or capitalist exploitation . 5. Clarke argues that most theories offer no realistic solution to crime, the obvious thing is to focus on the immediate situations. 6. Malcum felson said reshaping the physical environment of the bus terminal reduced criminal activity. DISPLACEMENT; One criticism is that they do not reduce crime but simply displace it. 2. if criminals are thinking rationally they would respond to target hardening by moving to softer targets. 3. Chaiken et al 1974- Found that a crack down on subway robberies merely displaced them to the roads above. EVAL; 1. Situational crime prevention works to some extent in reducing certain kinds of crime - but with most they displace it. 2. Tends to focus of petty opportunistic crime ignoring white collar and corporate crimes which are more harmful and costly. 3. It assures criminals make rational calculations - unlikely in events of violence and under influence of alcohol and drugs.

Question 34

Environmental crime prevention

Answer 34

1. Wilson and Kelling use the phrase broken windows to stand for all the various signs of disorder and lack of concern for individuals that are found in some neighbourhoods. e.g graffiti and dog fouling 2. They argue leaving broken windows un-repaired, tolerating aggressive behaviour ect sends out signals no one cars. 3. In such neighbourhoods social control and informal control are absence 4. As police are only concerned with serious crimes and turn a blind eye to petty nuisance behaviour. while the community feel intimidated and powerless. 5. Therefore they move out and area becomes a magnet for deviants. ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY; 1. Wilson and Kellings key ideas is that disorders and absences of control leads to crime . 2. Solution is to crack down any disorders by a two fold strategy a) Environmental improvement strategy; - any broken window must be repaired immediately otherwise more will follow. b) Police must adopt a zero tolerance policing strategy; They must be pro-actively tackle crime preventing serious crime taking root. EVIDENCE; 'clean car programme' - instituted on the subway where cars were immediately taken out to get cleaned if had graffiti on them - result was it was removed graffiti. HOWEVER: not clear how far the zero tolerance was the cause of improvement; - NYPD benefited from 7000 extra officers - General decline in crime in major cities at the time including those that didn't adopt the zero tolerance policy. - It's been suggested that fall in murder rates owed more to improved emergency services rather than policing.

Question 35

Social and community crime prevention

Answer 35

1 Social and community crime prevention strategies place the emphasis firmly on the potential offender and their social context. 2. The aim of these strategies is to remove the conditions that pre-dispose individuals to commit crime in the first place. 3. These are longer term strategies as they attempt to tackle the root causes of offending rather than simply removing the opportunities. 4. Causes of crime are often rooted in the social conditions e.g poverty. Therefore social reform programmes which address these situations have element of crime prevention even though thats not their main focus. e.g policies to reduce unemployment reduce crime as a side effect. EXAMPLE: community programme aimed at reducing criminality is pre perry school project for disadvantaged black children who were given an 2 year intellectual enrichment programme. Compared to others- by 40 less had fewer life time arrests and graduated and had jobs. Calculated for every dollar spent on programme - 17 dollars saved on welfare spending on prison. EVAL; 1. Take for granted nature and definition of crime 2. focus on lower level crime ignore white collar crime

Question 36

Punishment

Answer 36

1. One measure which people believe is effective in preventing and reducing crime is punishment esp prison. 2. One justification of punishing offenders is that it prevents future crime - this can be done through; DETERRANCE; punishing the individual discourages them from future offending. - Thatchers short sharp slack regime in young offenders institution. INCAPACITATION; its the use of punishment to remove the offenders capacity to offend again .e.g imprisonment, execution - prison works as it removes the offenders from society. RAHABILITATION; idea that punishment can be used to reform or change an individual so they no longer offend. e.g providing education or training them enabling them to earn a honest living.

Question 37

Punishment - functionalists

Answer 37

Durkheim functionalists; the function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values. punishment expresses societies emotion of moral outrage at the offence. societies share values are reaffirmed and members come to feel a sense of moral unity though ritual orders. TWO TYPES OF JUSTICES; 1. Retributive; in traditional society theres little specialisation and solidarity between individuals is based on similarity. produces a strong collective conscious which when offended responds with vengeful passion to repress wrongdoer. punishment is cruel. 2. restitutive; In modern society extensive specialisation and solidarity is based on resulting interdependence between individuals. Crime damages this interdependence so neccesary to repair this damage through compensation. Aimed to make restitution- restore things how they were before offence - restore the equilibrium of society.

Question 38

punishment marxists

Answer 38

1. punishment is related to the nature of a class society and serves the interests of the ruling class. 2. The function of punishment is to maintain the existing social order. As part of the repressive state apparatus its a means of defending ruling class property against lower class. Imprisonment reflects capitalism- George and otto argue under capitalism imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment because a capitalist economy is based of exploitation of wage labour. - Melossi sees imprisonment as reflecting capitalists means of production as capitalists puts a price of workers time and prisoners do time to pay for crime. Prison and capitalist factors both have similar strict discipliary style - involving subodination and loss of liberty.

Question 39

Focault - birth of prison

Answer 39

two different types of punishment; 1. Sovereign power; When monarch had power over people and their bodies inflicting punishment on body as a means of asserting control. 2. Disciplinary power; In this form of control - it seeks to govern not just the body but the mind and soul also. it does so through surveillance- due to fear of being watched makes them self discipline themselves. Focault illustrates Disciplinary power with panopticon. panopticon design in which all prison cells are visible to the guard from a central watch tower but guards are not visible to prisoners. prisoners don't know when they are being watched but do know they might be being watched. surveillance turns to self surveillance and discipline becomes self Discipline. Effects on human soul and control takes place inside them causing them to fear.

Question 40

Alternatives to prison

Answer 40

past= goal in dealing with offenders was diversion such as welfare and treatment Recent years growth in community based controls such as curfews and tagging.

Question 41

Victimisation

Answer 41

British crime survey ; 1. face to face survey including non victims of crime asking about property and violent crimes 2. positivists woud prefer this as its closed questions 3. Quantifiable data 4. risk of becoming a victims fallen 5, women fear more yet less likely to become a victim. 6, 1 in 4 report it Victimology; Victim is a social construct just like crime and criminals. as the sterotype of the ideal victim is favoured by media and public as a weak innocent and blameless individual such as small child and old women. study of victims is known as Victimology Positivist Victimology; Miers defines it as having three features ; 1. Aims to identify factors that produce patterns in victimisation - esp those that make some individuals or groups more likely to be victims 2. focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence 3. aims to find victims who have contributed to own victimisation. Positivists studies sought to identify the social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them different and more vulnerable. HANS VON HENTIG; Identified 13 characteristics such as women , elderly and mentally subnormal. victims in some way/sense invite victimisation e.g car doors open or display Eval; BCS survey say women less likely to become victimes. example; Marvin wolfgang - study of 588 homicides found 26% involved victim precipitation where victims triggered event leading to homicide. EVAL; fiona brookman -2005- notes wolfgang shows the importance of victim/offender relationship- many homicides matter of chance of who becomes victim. - ignores wider factors influencing victimisation e.g poverty. CRITICAL Victimology; Based on conflict theories Focuses on two elements ; 1. Structural factors; such as patriarchy and poverty where powerless groups are placed at greater risk. Mawaby and walklate argue victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness. 2. States power to apply/deny label of victim; victim is a social construct in the same way as criminal and crime. Through justice system it applies label to some but withholds it from others e.g police deny to press charges against man for assulting women denying her of her victime status. TOMBS AND WHYTE 2007; Says state controls what we know so we never know who is a victim of crime. as safety crimes where employers violation of law leads to death is explained as fault of accident prone workers. as with many rape cases denies V of her victim status and blames fate - note the ideological function of this failure to label by concealing the extent of victimisation and real causes hides the crime of the powerful. - theres a hierarchy of victimisation; powerless more likely to be victimised yet least likely to have it acknowledged. EVAL; 1. disregards role victims play in bringing it on themselves. - secure homes 2. Value in drawing attention to the way the victim status is controlled by the power and how it benefits them at expense of powerless.

Question 42

Patterns of victimisation

Answer 42

risk is unevenly distributed between social groups. 1. CLASS ; Poorest groups are more likely to victimised. Marginalised and homeless are more more likely to victimised. 2. AGE; Young people are more likely to be at risk of being victimised. e.g. sexual harrassment risk of being murder = infants below 1 The older are at risk of abuse e.g nursing homes where victimisation is less visible 3. ETHNICITY ; minority ethnic groups are at greater risk than white at being victims of crime and racially motivated crime. in relation most likely to feel under protected and over policed 4. Gender ; Men are at greater risk than females of becoming victims of violent attacks. 70% of homicide victimes are men women more likely to become victims of domestic violence. 5. REPEAT VICTIMISATION; if been a victim once you are more likely to become one again.

Question 43

impact of victimisation

Answer 43

Crime has many serious physical and emotional impacts on its victims. Variety of effects included disrupted sleep, feelings of helplessness, increased security consciousness- they all depended on the crime. may also create difficulties in social functioning. SECONDARY IMPACT idea that in addition to impact of crime itself individuals may suffer futher victimisation at the hands of criminal justice system. Feminists argue rape victims are poorly treated by the police and courts amounting to double violation. FEAR OF VICTIMISATION; - crime may create fear of becoming a victim, surveys show this fear to often be irrational e.g women fear of going out for fear of attack yet young men more likely to attacked. - Feminists attacked on fear of crime saying it focuses on womens passivity and psychological state when we should be looking at their safety