Crime and Deviance Flashcards
Functionalism: Durkheim.
Positives of crime: Boundary maintenance. Reaffirms existing values. Functional rebels (Nelson Mandela). Stronger community cohesion (riots).
Negatives of crime:
Anomie (weak/unclear collective conscious).
Egoism (collective conscious too weak to restrain selfish desires).
Functionalism: Merton.
Western culture values competition, wealth and success.
In order to achieve these goals, there are five responses:
Conformity (limited success)
Innovation (uses crime)
Ritualism (regulated by their job)
Retreatism (goals rejected, turn to drugs/alcohol)
Rebellion (other goals are substituted).
Functionalism: AK Cohen.
Two functions of deviance:
Acts as a safety valve.
Shows that an aspect of society is dysfunctional.
Functionalism: Evaluation.
Difficult to accept a single consensus.
Overemphasises collective conscious.
Does not explain all crimes.
Does not.explain why some are more prone to deviance.
Subcultural: AK Cohen.
Lower class boys suffer status frustration. They lack the same means to achieve goals and feel inadequate. In response, they form antischool subcultures.
Subcultural: Cloward and Ohlin.
Delinquency drift - in and out of subcultures.
Class of subcultures:
Criminal: role models, follow a hierarchy.
Conflict: gangs, gain respect through violence.
Retreatist: double failures, turn to drugs and alcohol.
Subcultural: Evaluation.
Does not explain utilitarian crime or female delinquency.
Difficult to nearly categorise crimes.
Assumes the different classes share the same goals.
Marxism: Overview.
Criminal law benefits the ruling class.
Legitimised use of violence through laws/police/army.
Capitalism emphasised by the criminal justice system and media.
Tax evaders are warned, benefit fraud is prosecuted.
Low prosecution of white collar crimes.
Marxism: Snider.
Laws threatening corporations are rarely passed or not enforced. Corporate crimes are more harmful than street crimes but less prosecuted. Easier to prosecute individuals.
Marxism: Chambliss.
Criminogenic capitalism. Crime is expected in capitalist societies.
Inadequate welfare provision encourages crimes.
Dog-eat-dog mentality.
Marxism: Taylor, Walton and Young.
Should consider wider aspects of crime. Crime is a conscious and deliberate choice.
Marxism: Evaluation.
Ignores non-class inequalities.
Overpredicts working class crime.
Japan and Switzerland are capitalist societies with low crime rates.
Corporations are prosecuted (Wolf of Wall Street).
Interactionist: Lemert.
Primary deviance - rule breaking.
Secondary deviance - consequence of the response of others.
Interactionist: Cohen.
Disintegrative shaming - removed from society.
Reintegrative shaming - emphasis on act over individual.
Demonisation of whole groups through the media leads to moral panics and formation of subcultures.
Interactionist: Cicourel.
Typification of a criminal: poor, single parent, working class, ethnic minority. Middle class parents can negotiate children out of trouble.
Interactionist: Evaluation.
Blames police/doctors as agents of inequality rather than the source (ruling class).
Right Realist: Overview.
Crime is caused by:
Biological predisposition.
Socialisation.
Rational choice.
Right Realist: Murray.
Working class lack male role models leading to a culture of dependency. Tougher sentencing needs punishment to outweigh the rewards.
Right Realist: Wilson.
Damaged architecture, leads working class to believe authority does not care.
Right Realist: Wilson and Kelling.
Broken windows theory: monitoring and maintenance. Zero tolerance policing.
Ignores areas which have lost social order.
Right Realist: Evaluation.
Development of ‘stop, question and frisk’. Zero tolerance policing reduced crime. Focuses on minor offences. Ignores causes. Increased prison population.
Left Realist: Lea and Young.
Inequality causes crime. Marketisation increases relative deprivation. High modernity leads to high cultural inclusion but social and economic exclusion.
Left Realist: Kinsey, Lea and Young.
Consensus policing - democratically elected police force.
Full investigations to increase crime detection.
Left Realist: Evaluation.
Development of tougher sentencing.
Hughes: if relative deprivation was the cause, there would be more crime.
Ethnicity: Bowling and Phillips.
Victimisation risk - 7.2% non white, 5% white.
Ethnic minorities live in higher victimisation areas.
More likely to be young, unemployed and spend their leisure time in public areas.
Black/Asian more likely to be stopped and searched.
More likely to remain silent, seek support and deny the offence.
Ethnicity: Hall.
Young black men were the scapegoats of the 1970s moral panic due to stereotyping.
Ethnicity: Gilroy.
Myth of black criminality - overrecorded due to police stereotypes and racist labelling. Black crimes are political.
Ethnicity: Evaluation.
Most black crimes are interracial and therefore cannot be political.
Social Class: Overview.
Most criminals are from a working class background. Of 2000 prisoners between 2006-2007, 42% had no qualifications. Middle class crimes are underrepresented.
Social Class: Reiner.
Crimes of the poor are more visible.
Social Class: Marx.
Lumpenproletariat - working class not in work, income is from begging, prostitution or utilitarian crime.
Social Class: Miller.
Working class - toughness, smartness, excellence. Leads to deviance.
Gender: Overview.
Males commit more violent crimes, women are more likely to shoplift.
Gender: Pollack.
Women are more skilled in deception because of menstruation. Chivalry thesis: women are treated more leniently because society is socialised into being protective. Women are more likely to be warned or let off prison.
