Crime and deviance Flashcards
What is crime
When someone breaks the law
What are the laws
The written rules of society
Deviance
When someone behaves in a way that breaks an unwritten rule of society. That person will behave in a way that is unusual and unexpected
What does relative deviance depend on
Culture
Time
Position
Situation
Types of deviance
Deviance depending on position and role Situational deviance Cross-cultural deviance Historical deviance Absolute deviance
Deviance depending on position and role
Something that is deviant for many but occupation/role may make it on deviant
Situational deviance
Something that is deviant only in certain situations
Cross-cultural deviance
Something that is deviant in some cultures e.g. not bowing in Japan
Historical deviance
Something that is only deviant only at a certain time e.g. smoking was much more socially acceptable in the past then now, abortion and homosexuality have also become less deviant, wearing fashion from the 17th century would be deviant now
Absolute deviance
Deviant acts that are deviant everywhere regardless of time, culture etc. e.g. murder, rape
How did Howard Becker define deviance
Deviance is not a quality of what people do [the act]. Rather it is a quality of how people react to what you do
How did Anthony Giddens (1993) define deviance
Not conforming to a given norm, or set of norms, which are accepted by people in a community or society
Becker and Labelling Theory
No action in itself is deviant -> It has to excite some social reaction from others -> It depends upon who commits it, who sees it, and what action is taken about it
How is deviant behaviour effectively controlled
By sanctions that promote conformity.
Sanctions may be formal or informal
Agents of social control
The many groups of people and institutions our behaviour is controlled by
What is the divide between formal and informal social control
The difference in the way family controls us compared to the police
What are some formal agents of social control
The government The penal system (prisons and other sanctions) The army The judiciary (court system) The police
How does the government control society
Through the Houses of Parliament, the government legislates to control social behaviour
How does the penal system control society
These are the different ways law-breakers can be punished and controlled
How does the army control society
Defends a country, but may also be called in to prevent large scale law breaking
How does the judiciary control society
Courts decide how to punish law breakers e.g. absolute discharge, fine, probation
How does the police control society
A force to enforce the law
What are the aims of punishment
Protection Retribution Deterrence Reformation Vindication Reparation
Protection as an aim of punishment
Keeping the public from being harmed, injured or threatened by criminals
Retribution as an aim of punishment
Getting even with the person who committed the crime
Deterrence as an aim of punishment
Putting people off doing crimes as they will be caught
Reformation as an aim of punishment
To change someone’s behaviour for the better and help them change their attitude
Vindication as an aim of punishment
Shows that the law is right and must be respected at all times
Reparation as an aim of punishment
Help the offender give something back to community and wider society
Community service
Working for free to help community
Meets aim of vindication and reparation
Advantage and disadvantage of community service
Helps the community but still can commit same crime
Electronic tagging
Restricts location and police can monitor your whereabouts
Meets aim of vindication and deterrence
Advantage and disadvantage of tagging
Police can always find you but still can commit same crime
Fines
Pay a compulsory charge for your crime
Advantage and disadvantage of fines
Deterrent but not proportionate as it has a greater effect on a low income family as opposed to high income
Probation
Probation officer helps the criminal to change
Advantage and disadvantage of probation
Give them a second chance but can lie about being reformed
Positives of prison
Protects society from dangerous and violent criminals
Isolate those who deserve punishment from family and friends
Stop people reoffending
Acts as a deterrent and meets aim of vindication
Gives criminals chance to reflect on actions
Negatives of prison
Schools for crime
Prisons breed resentment, bitterness and revenge
Most reoffend on release - doesn’t change behaviour
Prison record makes it difficult to get a job on release
Offenders families suffer through no fault of their own
Relationships can break down
Most crimes are not pre-meditated and so prison is not going to deter
How is the family an agent of social control
Teaches us right and wrong
Discourages deviant behaviour
The family manipulates its children to promote and/or forbid gender specific behaviour
How is religion an agent of social control
Teaches us right and wrong
Threat of Hell or damnation
In the past, religions provided a formal systems of control as you could be imprisoned for disobeying religious rules
How is work an agent of social control
Need to conform to rules and laws to earn a living
Formal sanctions for those who do not conform
Where are CCTV cameras usually found and why
In shops to stop theft
In bars to stop fights
On roads to monitor traffic
Pros of CCTV cameras
Deterrence
Catches criminals
Makes people feel safe
Cons of CCTV cameras
Invasion of privacy
Just displaces the crime
Alternatives to prison sentencing
A police caution Reprimand Community service Probation ASBO's Corporal Punishment Curfews Death penalty Electronic tagging Fines Mental health orders
Police caution
Official warning to deter people from getting involved further in crime. Formal and informal
Reprimand
Formal verbal warning by police officer to a young person
ASBO’s
Anti - Social Behaviour Order
Individual social orders e.g. banning people from a certain area
Community service
Offenders ordered to work in society for free e.g. cleaning graffiti
Corporal punishment
Physical punishment e.g. whipping
Curfews
Often part of an ASBO, limiting the amount of time an offender may be allowed out in public
Death penalty
Capital punishment
Illegal in Britain
Electronic tagging
Attaching a tag to the offender to control and monitor where they are
Mental health orders
Granted if the crime is due to mental illness
Probation
Being offered supervision instead of prison to ensure that offending stops
What did Paul Willis find out in his study, ‘Learning to Labour’ (1997)
For working class boys there is a counter-school subculture Boys chose not to conform to norms and values of school but peer pressure, workplace and family influence them Clear that working-class boys get working-class jobs
Reasons for rise in crime
More state action
More laws
More sensitivity
More victims
Why is the BCS an important alternative to the Official Crime Rate
The BCS includes crime which are not reported to the police
Without the BCS the government would have no information on these reported crimes
How often is the Official Crime Rate (OCR) compiled
Annually by the police for the Home Office
What does the OCR show as typical criminals
Male Working-class Youthful Disproportionally black Had a poor education From a broken home
What do sociologists argue about the OCR
It seriously underestimates the real or true rate of crime
The BCS suggests that the true level of crime is at least twice the OCR
What is the ‘dark side’ of crime statistics
The difference between the OCR and the real rate
Why are criminal statistics a social construction
Because they are the product of social processes
The involve not only offenders but reporting and the behaviour of the police
What percentage of crimes are estimated to be reported and recorded
31% by the BCS
Percentages of victims underreporting crime
44% thought it was not serious
33% of victims thought the police would be unsuccessful solving the crime
22% felt the police wouldn’t be interested
4% were too scared of reprisals
2% - inconvenience
Why are some crimes not reported
Victimless e.g. drug-taking or prostitution
Humiliation e.g. domestic violence or rape
Corporate and white-collar crimes are extremely hard to detect and thus report
What does Moore, Aiken and Chapman (2000) see the police as
Filters, only recording some of the crimes reported to them
Factors affecting whether the crime is reported or not
Seriousness 'Social status' of victim Classification of the crime Discretions Promotion and relations to work
Why does seriousness affect whether the crime is reported
The offence may be regarded as to trivial
Why does ‘social status’ of the victim affect whether the crime is reported
Important people tend to get a more favoured response than the poor, down and outs and homeless
Why does classification of the crime affect whether the crime is reported
Minor assaults may not be investigated how aggravated assaults usually are
Why does discretion affect whether the crime is reported
Each police officer has the discretion to press charges or let the individual off - even if they are known to be ‘guilty’
Why does promotion and relations at work affect whether the crime is reported
Police officers have to tread a tightrope between trying to impress senior officers and not appearing too keen (as this makes more work for their colleagues)
What is ‘cuffing’ or ‘Spanish practices’
The dishonest practice of not recording crimes
Why was there a suggested fall in crimes in the 90’s
It was manipulated by police ‘cuffing’ rather than a real fall in crime rates
Victim Surveys
Surveys of people who are asked to report all cases where they have been a victim of crime recently
Gives a clearer idea of the extent of crime, who is likely to be a victim and people’s fears when crimes
Highlight the risk of repeat victimisation of victims
Weaknesses of victim surveys
Relying on people’s memory is a problem as recollection may be incorrect or biased
Sometimes people put crimes into the wrong categories
Surveys exude white-collar crimes such as fraud and corporate crime: these become effectively invisible crimes
People will not report ‘victimless crimes’
Underreporting of personal attack, domestic violence
Self-Report Studies
These ask people to honestly confess to crimes they have committed over a period of time
They can be an important way of getting a better picture of some crimes like drug use
Weakness of Self-Report Studies
Steven Box (1971) argues self-report studies suffer from issues of validity, representativeness and relevance
May not cooperate
May lie
Why the gender difference in crime
Gender socialisation Social Control Opportunity/lack of opportunity Chivalry thesis Inaccurate statistics Biological Theory Sex-role Theory Transgression
How does gender socialisation explain the gender difference in crime
Boys are more likely to be brought up and tough and aggressive, and girls to be more compliant so they are more likely to follow the law
How does opportunity/lack of opportunity explain the gender difference in crime
Boys tend to have more freedom than girls and so have more opportunities to commit crime
How does social control explain the gender difference in crime
Men may restrict women in their daily lives so they are mothers and housewives, which leaves them little time to commit crime Frances Heidensohn (1985) says women commit so few crimes because of the ways in which they are ideologically controlled
How does the chivalry thesis explain the gender difference in crime
There is a common belief that all the male-dominated police force and courts are easier on women. Males are more likely to be prosecuted and women cautioned for offences
How does inaccurate statistics explain the gender difference in crime
Statistics that show that men commit more crimes could simply be a reflection of labelling male youth by the police and not show a true representation of the crime committed by women
How does Biological theory explain the gender difference in crime
It argues that ‘normal’ females have a disposition that repeals them from deviant and criminal behaviour
How does the Sex-role theory explain gender difference in crime
From infancy, children are socialised differently
Female roles contain elements such as caring, passivity and domesticity
Male roles contain elements such as toughness, aggression and sexual conquest
Argued that females generally lack the values typically associated with delinquency
(Laddettes challenge this)
How does transgression explain the gender difference in crime
It considers as diverse as self-imposed curfews; treatment of women as victims; domestic violence, abuse and rape
Who argued that there is a ‘normative masculinity’
James Messerschmidt argued that there is a general idea of what a real man should be (normative masculinity) highly valued by most men
Masculinity is something men constantly work at
Businessman achieves masculinity by exercising control over women at work (Marxist female theory)
What did Messerschmidt say about middle class males
Middle class boys achieve educational success but at the expense of emasculation In school they adopt an 'accommodating masculinity'
What did Messerschmidt say about working class males
Working class males adopt an ‘oppositional masculinity’ both in and out of school, which is more aggressive in nature
What did Bob Connell say about black males
Young black males can be sucked into property and violent crime as ways of enhancing ‘hegemonic masculinity’
Why are black people more likely to be involved in crime
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Less opportunities
Social depravation - more black people in poverty and working class communities
Racist people in authority
Less BME people recruited to work in the criminal justice system & no promotions
Institutional racism
Describes any kind of system of inequality based on race
A process that produces racist outcomes , even when individuals themselves act without racist intent
What leads to institutional racism
Unintentional prejudice
Discrimination
Where does institutional racism take place
Organisations such as police and schools
How does inaccurate statistics link to ethnicity and crime
Stats suggest that some members of some ethnic groups are over represented in the prison population relative to their proportion in the general population.
Afro-Caribbean are 7x more likely to be imprisoned
What has the court system been accused of
Favouring white middle class defendants, this explains the larger amount of black men in prison
What may the level of crime be linked to
Poverty and relative deprivation
What did Hall say
High level of unemployment among young black men leads young black men to opt out of mainstream society and turn to crime
What are single parent families statistically associated with
Higher rates of juvenile offending
Afro-Caribbean minority youth are more likely to be raised in lone-parent families than their white peers
Stephen Lawrence case
Stabbed to death in 1993 due to an unprovoked racial attack
Men who murdered him were not imprisoned until 2013 but 3 are still loose
Conformity
Following the rules
Formal agents of socialisation
Carried out by agents that exist only to control society
Informal agents of socialisation
Carried by agents to control society, although control is not their primary function
Delinquency
The anti-social, undesirable behaviour of young people
Alienation
Not feeling part of a wider society or culture; feeling separated and cut off
Ann Widdecombe (2008)
Increase in young females associated with violence and crime
Social documentary explained why girls are finding crime and gang violence attractive
Girls claimed carrying knives and using them for protection was seemingly normal
What did A Parson state
Stated that the middle class and upper class are less likely to commit crime than the working class due to socialisation
Rulings by the European Union
All member states shall not subject anyone to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
All member states shall ban smoking in enclosed premises open to the public
Member states should criminalise and impose penalties of a certain level for sexual exploitation of children and child pornography
These rulings are evidence that there is some attempt to standardise what’s deviant
Examples of informal sanctions
Making a comment when someone pushes ahead of you in a queue
A teacher may reprimand a student who is misbehaving
Examples of positive sanctions
Praise
Rewards
How is the media an informal agent of social control
Presents images (stereotypes) of how individuals are expected to behave Informally sanctions deviance by broadcasting acceptable and unacceptable standards
How is the education system an informal agent of social control
Teachers employ many informal sanctions to discourage certain behaviour
The hidden curriculum is employed to encourage and discourage certain behaviour from girls and boys
Peer group as an informal agent of social control
We all have a need to ‘fit in’ and join a ‘cultural comfort zone’
Discourages inappropriate behaviour through being ostracised from the group
How do Marxists view the police
Servants to the ruling class - way to maintain power and wealth Enforce laws passed by ruling class and make sure working class doesn't threaten the system Creation of police connected to rise of capitalism
Absolute discharge
The person is guilty but no action is taken against them
Conditional discharge
No action is taken, but if the person commits another offence they will be sentenced both the new and old crime
Combination order
A combination of probation and community service
How is prison a punishment
Lose their freedom Have no proper income Not allow the company of their families and friends (except at visiting time) Not allowed sexual relationships Cannot wear their own clothing Cannot use personal items Are often in overcrowded and unpleasant conditions Are told what to do majority of time
When are young people treated as adults in terms of crime
17
What is the age for criminal responsibility
10
Factors linked to delinquency
Family problems e.g. breakdown of marriage
Failure at school
Use of alcohols and drugs
What did Albert Cohen say about delinquency
It’s caused by ‘status frustration’ boys who were failing school found
Needed approval and feeling of success but didn’t get this at school
Subculture based on rudeness, disobedience and breaking the rules
Could win status amongst peers and get revenge
What did David Matza say
Everyone has two sets of values
Conventional values - which most people keep to most of the time
Subterranean values - such as aggression, greed and sexuality
Delinquents follow the subterranean values in the wrong place, at the wrong time
What group is social control weakest on
Teenagers as they don’t have the responsibilities adults have
Controlling delinquency
Curfews
Parental responsibility
After school clubs
Reducing exclusions from school
Why are Asians seen as law-abiding
Greater economic success
Strength of religious belief
A distinct culture that provides a feeling of belonging and alternative source of status
Stronger family and community ties providing effective social control
What did the Joseph Rowntree Foundation find
Harassment is a part of daily life for many black and Asian people, and that the authorities fail to take it seriously
Why do some children develop antisocial behaviour
Poor parenting
Troubled family life
Their own low reasoning ability
What did Farrington say
Problem children grow up into problem adults who produce more problem children
What are some features of subcultures and how do they cause delinquent behaviour
Little value placed on education - truancy and bad behaviour
No respect for authority - rudeness to teachers and other adults
Dislike of school rules - breaking those rules or testing boundaries
No respect for public property - vandalism and graffiti
Enjoyment of thrills and risk - fights
