Crime And Devience ๐ฉ๐ฟโโ๏ธ Flashcards
What type of rules are in society and what to the enforce ?
Informal- parents/ friends enforce rules keeps society in order.
Formal - police - laws
Eg mag court 3 lay people
Crown court 2 jury 1 judge
Criticisms of Durkheim
- More small scale society than large scale
- More negative out come then positive
- Does not point out issues of power - only interest of bourgeoisie than everyone
What are the 4 stages of Durkheimโs idea of crime?
- Re-affirming boundaries- publicity surrounds the criminal, allowing society to see what happened when you step over the boundaries
- Change in values - public outcry of crime some sorry , may reflect in a change in law
3.social cohesion - shared outrage of crime- sense of belonging
- Safety valve - deviant expressing their discontent in society in a non-criminal way, avoiding more challenges to occur
What are Mertonโs goals and means?
- Society gives individuate clear life goals to achieve eg. Get a good education - get good job
- Not everyone has means to achieve leading to a strain
- The high pressure to succeed leads them to deviant acts
Merton believes people commit crime because they are responding to a social situation
What is an anomie?
When an individual feels a sense of normlessness and the regulation of behaviour breaks down, driving them to suicide or delinquency.
How are goals determined ? + Eg (key sociologist- MERTON)
The value in their culture
American dream- (meritocracy) you can be whoever you want to be regardless of background
Give an example of strain (Merton)
Wc youths in the USA are socialised to strive for the American Dream, but are unable to reach that level of success due to the lack of opportunities. This leads to a strain of being unable to success legitimately leading to an anomie to meet those goals .
What are Mertonโs 5 responses to societyโs goals ?
- Conformity - accepts goals of success- achieve legitimately- MC UC privileged - doctor
- Innovation - accept goals- lacks means to achieve legitimately- theft / organised crime
- Ritualism- rejects goals of success - stick rigidly to legitimate means lose point of success- office workers
4.Retreatism- reject goals- reject legitimate means - societyโs dropouts - drug/alcohol dependent
- Rebellion- rejects goals of success replace with their alternative goals - replace with own means - radical groups
Mertonโs criticisms
Cohen argues that juvenile behaviour is not driven by money
Sociologist reject that society is based of goals , rather itโs based on conflict
What do Marxists believe breads materialism?
What does he believe with laws?
Capitalist society
Believes that laws are enforced to favour the bourgeoisie and work against the proletariats causing conflict
What values are capitalist societies based on?
- Materialism - the value of material possession
- Consumerism- wanting the latest material
- Competition - keeping up with the neighbours new car etc.
What does Marxists argue about the media and capitalism/ materialism?
Argues that the media reinforces materialism consumerism and competition through advertising
reality Hollywood TV shows based on rich lives that people are unable to afford
This leads to them turning to illegitimate means to obtain them
What are the problems with the Marxist approach ?
- Not all laws benefit the bourgeoisie๏ฟผ eg. Worker rights for the proletariats
- Functionalists argue that Society is based on values consensus and not conflict (crime is good for society)
- Some Feminists argue that Marxists ignore parochial issues in society
What are the two ways agents of social control use their interests for the bourgeoisie?
- Certain types of crime are more likely to be targeted (more visible than white collar crime)
- Certain social groups are more likely to be targeted
What is white collar crime?
Crime committed by bourgeoisie in high positions of law - likely to be undiscovered as they can cover tracks and frame proletariats for their crimes (invisible crime)
What is corporate crime? Why are they difficult to sue?
Crime committed by a corporation
Eg. Unsafe products being sold
Difficult to sue as they have good lawyers
What theory does Heidensohn use to explain why women have lower rates of crime than men?
Control theory -
Are controlled/threatened byโฆ
HOME- Threat of sexual violence and domestic violence
PUBLIC- sexual violence
WORK- pay gap sexual violence
What is the chivalry theisis?
Women are treated more leniently in the criminal justice system as they are more softer and feminine than male offenders
Double deviancy thesis?
Women being treated more harshly in society as they have not only broken the law but their gender role
How do men control womenโs reputation in public? (Heindensohn )
Men control womenโs behaviour in the public using their reputation of sexuality
Who are daughters control at home compared to sons ? (Heidensohn)
Daughters made to Saturday close at home or in their bedrooms (bedroom culture) than sons as the outside world is dangerous for females , restricting their freedom
Why are women so controlled ? What does it lead to them committing compared to men?
They are expected to do their expressive roles of childbearing and chores allowing them to have more opportunities with domestic crime such as shop lifting unlike males who have high positioned jobs committing WWC
What is the gender deal?
If you stick to your gender stereotype , women will be awarded with emotional rewards - husband and baby = happy
What is class deal?
Work hard and gets good wage you will be rewarded with material possessions
What interview did Carlen used and who with?
Unstructured detailed tape interviews with 39 female offenders๏ฟผ
What did carlen find out for why did the 39 WC females offend ?
Failed to achieve the class and gender deal due to poverty - society failed to meet their desires for a good life as promised
So women turn to crime to gain what they desire
What did carlen find out on why the women chooses to commit?
They had nothing else to lose, no family or friends and rejected class deals
What did Carlen find out using the social control theory ?
Human beings are neither good or bad , but will make the rational decision to turn to crime when the advantages weight out the disadvantages
Was Carlenโs Interviews representative?
No as she only interviewed 39 WC
Also forgot the factor of ethnicity
When is crime more likely to be committed ?
When social control breaks down
What is the explanation of Criminal behaviour? Remember -> CLASSIC
Conflict (Marxists)
Labelling
Anomie
Strain
Subculture
Inadequate socialised
Conflict (Feminism)
How did Beaker describe a label?
A sticky tag which is hard to remove once placed
What does Beaker argue that a deviant act depends on?
Depends on
time and place
Who commits and who is the victim
Who does Beaker believe makes the rules in society?
Groups that have a powerful position in society
How does Beaker explain how a deviant career is reached?
Lady starts doing illegal drugs
Caught and publicly shamed and is labelled as a deviant
The label changes how others as she is now a junkie . This becomes her master status as it overrides she other statuses as a daughter
She now gets treated like a criminal, friends not wanting to go out with her because they think she may steal to support her habit causing her to lose everything
This drives her to a deviant career with people like her causing her to identify as a criminal as she learns better ways to support her habit illegitimately
What does Beaker argue about what labelling produces? Why?
Self fulfilling prophecy
What are some criticisms of the interactionalist approach? (Beaker -> labelling)
Does not explain why the crime was committed in the first place
Ignores that some chose to break the law rather than being victims
Does not take the power inequality to focus
How does Cohen Believe crime is committed ?
Due to status frustration - individuals feeling frustrated by the lack of opportunities to change their status
Due to inadequate socialisation eg poor parenting
This leads to violence or formation of subcultures made to challenge authority as WC are unable to compete with MC
What is an interactionalist explanation of why young people become delinquents ?
MATZO
DELINQUENCY AND DRIFT- as young people have no responsibility, they slowing drift to delinquency
But as they become an adult , they drift out of it due to the new responsibilities
What is Edgeworks theory on why young people commit crime? (Lyng)
Commit acceptable but risky behaviour to feel that thrill
What is Brokeโs theory on why youths commit crime ? (Marxists)
Youths use crime as a magical response to the dull world of capitalism
Do not have the face of financial pressure
they are free to commit criminal behaviour
This ends when they reach adulthood and become trapped by capitalismโs debt and mortgage
Critics of Cohen?
Feminists argue that cohen only focuses on male subculture and not the female side of status frustration
What are official stats ?
Large amounts of quantitive data obtained by the mixed methods approach recourses by police
Advantages and Disadvantage of official stats
All serious crimes are included
Disadvantages- not all crimes are discovered or reported eg. Workplace theft
Victim has to be identified and recognised may think itโs an accident
Crime may be seen as too trivial (small to be recorded)
May be a social construct - victims of abuse too sensitive
May hate the police
Scared of consequence
What is the dark figure of crime?
Unreported crime that official stats ignore
What are victim surveys ?
Large scale at home interview for victims of crime
What are the positives and negatives of victim surveys
Positives- more accurate than police recorded crime
Uncovers the dark figures of crime
Include A specific domestic violence survey
Helps make policies to tackle crime
Negative - may not be away that they are a victim
May not admit to being a victim
Survey may tends not to acknowledge all crimes may lead to a less accurate result
What are self report studies ?
Amongst 10-15 yr olds in a household offending drug use
Advantages and disadvantages of self report studies ?
Advantages- may uncover dark figures of crime
Uncover info of offender
Provides info of offenders that have not been dealt with witch will help finalise polices
Disadvantages-
People may lie / exaggerate leading to invalid data
Thies who are homeless or live in communal homes cannot take part
Only in young people and not on criminal gangs
Most crimes uncovered tend to be trivial as people do not want to admit serious crimes
What are the 3 research methods used in crime and deviance?
Official stats
Victims surveys
Self report surveys
What are the functionalists view on crime stats?
See official stats as a true reflection of crime and see it playing down the inaccuracies of crime
What are the feminists view in crime stats?
Unrepresentative sue to the chivalry thesis and in domestic abuse crimes and rape
What are Marxists perspective on crime stats ?
Doesnโt represent the white coller crime
Only concentrate on WC offences
What are interactionalistโs view on crime stats ?
Crucial due to the labelling process as some people are more prone to be labeled as deviant/criminal
What are the two reasons why there is a change in values In crime being committed ?
- Variation in crime rates could be linked to how much money is invested in CCTV surveillance
- Changes in the way police record crime ( new rules )
What were the two main years police stats changes + why?
1998- clearer distinctions between similar crimes and emphasis on recording
2003- victim centred approach
What could an increased amount of crime recorded actually mean?
That police are improving in recording crime more
What do interactionalist argue about the social construct of crime ?
Itโs an end product of a group of peoples choice and decisions such as police victims and criminals
What do labelling theorists argue about crime statics?
That itโs the polices reaction and power to define a behaviour as deviant
This means that it may not provide a true image of crime
What is institutional racism?
Hidden unconscious and unintended discrimination embedded in an organisation
What are the percentages of people out of 1000 are In prison?
69.5% black
28.8 mixed
20 white
29.4 Asian
3% of pop is black yet 12% Is makes up prison system
