CRIME AND DEVIANCE - REDUCTION

Question 1

What are the three main areas to reduce crime?

Answer 1

crime prevention, crime punishment and crime control

Question 2

How do left wing policies aim to achieve crime prevention?

Answer 2

Focus on the organisation of society and especially the inequalities that disadvantage which create the environment where crime becomes the norm
Their approach to crime prevention is therefore focusing on structural changes to tackle the social causes of crime:
Reducing income inequalities - through a more distributive taxation policy, raising minimum wages and increasing benefits
Raising the living standard and quality of life for poorer families - building more affordable social housing and improving recreational activities
Reducing unemployment - through investment in apprenticeships and training
Improving education and reducing educational inequalities

Question 3

How do left wing policies aim to achieve crime punishment?

Answer 3

Aims to reintegrate the offender back into society, having addressed the causes for offending
Restorative justice: recognises the impact of the offending on the victim, the community and the offender themself
Recognises that both the offenders and victims benefit by taking an active role in the justice process (eg victims may be asked to meet the offender and explain the impact of the crime, and the offender is encouraged to consider their reasons)
Can be seen as a set of principles, rather than a particular practice
Braithwaite (re-integrative shaming)

Question 4

What does Braithwate argue?

Answer 4

Aims to reintegrate the offender back into society, having addressed the causes for offending
Restorative justice: recognises the impact of the offending on the victim, the community and the offender themself
Recognises that both the offenders and victims benefit by taking an active role in the justice process (eg victims may be asked to meet the offender and explain the impact of the crime, and the offender is encouraged to consider their reasons)
Can be seen as a set of principles, rather than a particular practice

Question 5

How to left wing policies aim to achieve crime control?

Answer 5

change of policing (Lea and Young)
The promotion of more co-operation between the agencies within society and multi agency working can affect and control behaviour
The police, local council, social services, media, religion, community groups, and education authorities all have roles to play in improving ‘moral context’ in which crime is committed (Lea and Young)

Question 6

What do Lea and Young argue about crime control?

Answer 6

focus on the changing of policing as the public lack confidence in the police
Stems from a drift seen towards military policing, rather than consensual policies, where a vicious circle is related where military policing leads to less co-operation which leads to more military tactics
The relationship between the police and community needs to be improved by ‘minimal policing’ with trust and co-operation
The ‘over-policing’ of minor crimes (eg drug offences) is part of the problem as other crimes are ‘under policed’ (eg domestic violence, racially motivated crime and white collar crime)
argue that for a more co-ordinated approach between these agencies, including communication about those ‘at risk’ of offending/victimisation, would allow for early prevention

Question 7

How do right policies aim to achieve crime prevention

Answer 7

Clarke argues that criminality is usually a conscious choice and the criminal opportunities that are available and the likelihood of consequences are significant factors affecting criminality
Situational crime prevention are specific measures making particular crimes harder to commit or capture more likely
Target hardening
Environmental crime prevention

Question 8

What is target hardening?

Answer 8

refers to the increasing of security surrounding the ‘targets’ of crime, such as houses, cars and other property (eg installing alarms and locks)
Clarke gives examples of theft from telephone boxes were virtually eliminated when aluminium coin boxes were replaced with steel ones, and car thefts were reduced dramatically in Germany when steering column locks were made compulsory in all cars in 1963

Question 9

What is environmental crime prevention?

Answer 9

can be seen as wider measures, relating to public environment
Designing of public housing estates, where areas are designated as ‘public’, ‘semi-private’, or ‘private’, with the recognition that public areas are the most vulnerable to crime since no one has direct responsibility for them
Surveillance, which can be direct (CCTV or security guards) or more subtle (using clear, not opaque doors and barriers in flats)
The BSIA estimated in 2013 that there’s one surveillance camera for every 11 people in the UK
Improved lighting, which studies have suggested have a significant effect on crime reduction by making crime more visible and reducing opportunities as more people are out on the streets
Painter and Farrington showed that the incidences of crime decreased by 43% where street lighting was improved

Question 10

How do right wing policies aim to achieve crime punishment?

Answer 10

Right wing criminologists generally favour harsh and punitive sentences
Retributive justice is often based on the idea that the punishment must fit the crime
As well as deterrence and retribution, a key role in harsh penalties lies in shaming and stigmatisation of the behaviour, which acts as a form of public denunciation
Charles Murray argues imprisoning offenders for life takes them off the streets and means that issues of rehabilitation and reoffending become irrelevant
Argues that this is a choice which has to be made, incarcerating large sections of the population is inevitable if crime rates are to be reduced
Wilson disagrees with retributive punishment, as he feels that the certainty of capture is more of a deterrent than the potential harshness of the sentence
Suggests that if potential offenders do not believe they will be caught, then the potential penalty becomes irrelevant

Question 11

How do right wing policies aim to achieve crime control?

Answer 11

Right wing ideas in social control are linked to the crime prevention approaches such as increased surveillance
Stigmatisation can also be a very effective method, involving the community sanctioning reckless behaviour rather than tolerating it
Wilson and Kelling
Murray

Question 12

What does Wilson and Kelling argue about crime control?

Answer 12

argue that policing and order maintenance involves prioritising the police’s role in ‘order maintenance’, for example by increasing foot patrols
Their ideas seem to be supported by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales who set out his ideas in 2013, that the police should focus more on preventing crime than catching criminals
Refers to the aggressive policing of minor and anti-social crime as zero tolerance policing, and by tackling vandalism immediately to show it’s not tolerated, re-emphasises shared norms and values and reinforces the certainty of capture
This method was famously pursued in New York in the 90s, and Zimring showed that between 1990-2009 the homicide rate declined by 82% and other crime rates fell dramatically

Question 13

What does Murray argue about crime control?

Answer 13

argues that an overgenerous welfare system encourages ‘feckless’ behaviour, and prevents families and individuals from taking responsibility for their actions
Argues that benefits should be cut, and that if families cannot afford to bring up their children, then they should be adopted
Stigmatisation can also be a very effective method, involving the community sanctioning reckless behaviour rather than tolerating it

Question 14

What is evaluation of left wing policies to reduce crime?

Answer 14

Murray
Restorative justice has limitations as it relies on the co-operation of all parties and therefore formal justice systems will be needed if co-operation doesn’t work
HOWEVER Marshall
Shapland
Gilroy

Question 15

What did Murray argue about left wing policies to reduce crime?

Answer 15

argued that the USA attempted such policies in the 1960s-70s (eg pre-school socialisation programmes and guaranteed jobs) but they were all ‘notorious failures’ which had no long term impacts
The long term nature of schemas lowers the likelihood of funding and follow through by the government is slim

Question 16

What does Marshall argue about restorative justice?

Answer 16

points out that the majority of individuals offered the chance to participate indicated they’d like to and later failures to carry through are much lower than failures to pay court ordered fines

Question 17

What did Shapland do?

Answer 17

did a 7 year research into restorative justice and found that the majority of victims chose to participate in face-to-face meetings with the offender
85% of victims who took part were satisfied with the process
There was a significant decrease in reoffending and cost savings of up to £9 per £1 spent on restorative justice

Question 18

What does Gilroy argue about left wing policies?

Answer 18

argues left realist views of community policing are simplistic and underestimate the deliberate racist strategies which underpin the policing of some policing

Question 19

What is evaluation of right wing policies to reduce crime?

Answer 19

Simon points out that ‘charging people’ is difficult and expensive, which can explain why policy-makers have abandoned this approach, focusing instead on restricting people’s movements and actions
Cohen portrays the growing trend towards social control as catching up more and more people in ‘ever larger nets if ever finer mesh’, as punishment extends from prison through the community, and the variety of sanctions keeps growing
Davis presents a similarly bleak picture of segregated cities and a culture of fear created by the right wing policies, leading to a form of social engineering which may have ‘ominous racial undertones’
Some argue more control is a price worth paying, and a common response to concerns about increasing control is that those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear