Crime Control and Prevention Flashcards
What are the 2 types of social control?
- Formal: written laws of society enforced by gov and CJS e.g. police, army
- Informal: unofficial ways of stopping crime - enforced by social pressure not the government e.g. family, education, local communities
What is Hirschi’s theory of crime?
AO1/2
Agrees that there are shared values and socialisation that causes people to not commit crime. These are the 4 controls in people’s lives that cause them to not commit crime:
1. Attachment: people are sensitive to the needs of people they are attached to and so obey the law
2. Commitment: to conventional activities e.g. school, work make people not want to risk their commitments by being criminals/deviant e
3. Involvement: in activities and communitymean people don’t have the time/ opportunity to commit crimes e.g. youth clubs cause decline in knife crime
4. Belief: people share belief in norms and values e.g. following the laws that cause them not to commit crimes
What are research examples of control theory?
AO2
Farrington and West: The Cambridge Study in DFelinquent Development:
- Looked at 411 WC males from birth until their late 30s
- Found offenders were more likely to come from poorer, lone parent families
- Suggests that primary socialisation is essential in preventing crime - LACK ATTACHMENTS -> CRIME
NASUWT:
- Family breakdown and lack of father figures leads to crime - LACK OF ATTACHMENT
- Children as young as 9 join gangs to gain a sense of belonging - LACK INVOLVEMENT
- The influence of gang culture has soared in recent years - no BELIEF in norms and values of society
How can we analyse Hirschi?
AO3
There are now more policies relating to control which reduce crime e.g. ASBOs, neighbourhood watch, zero tolerance policing
How can we evaluate Hirschi?
AO3
- Interactionists: no direct link between these controls and criminality - doesn’t explain why someone can have all 4 controls and still commit crime e.g. Harold Shipman
- Can be used to justify controlling marginalised groups - suggests society needs to be protected from these people as they lack controls
What is Durkheim’s view of control?
AO1
- Re-affirming boundaries: media and public shaming shows society what will happen if they break the laws e.g. child abuse cases cause public outrage
- Changing values: every so often when people are taken to court, important questions are raised about the justice system reflecting changes in tme, values, and ideas e.g. Kirinjit Ahluwalia got a life sentence for murdering her abuser but after appeals and campaigns it was reduced to manslaughter
- Social cohesion: crime also strengthen social cohesion, when horrific crimes are committed, the community comes together e.g. community united to clean up after 2011 London Riots
- Safety valve: deviance acts as a pressure release - allows individuals to express themselves in ways that aren’t criminal e.g. using escorts instead of prostitutes
What is Althusser’s view?
AO1
- Repressive state apparatus: physical means of control that prevents going against the bourgeoisie through fear of threat or coercision e.g. police, military
- Ideological state apparatus: controls people by making them internalise bourgeoisie ideals and develop a false class consciousness e.g. family, education
What is Heidensohn’s theory?
AO1/2
Control Theory: male dominated patriarchal societies control women more effectively than men thus making it more difficult for them to commit crime.
Women are controlled in 3 ways:
1. The home: have more household commitments e.g. childcare, cooking, cleaning. Duncombe and Marsden: triple shift
2. In public: girls are less likely to be out at night or travel alone. Media also perpetuates double standards that make public scrutiny an added reason for women not to commit crime
3. At work: glass cieling restricts access to white collar crime, harrassment keeps women in fear
What is sovereign power?
(Foucalt)
- Pre-19th Century
- Monarch had total power
- Physical punishment exerted on the body was used
What is disciplinary power?
(Foucalt)
- After 19th Century
- Our mind is under surveillance
- Exercised by schools, workplaces, etc
- We are constantly under surveillance and have no idea when we are being watched so we practice self-surveillance and self-discipline
- The threat of violence is not required
What was Bentham’s panopticon?
AO2/3
- A prison model with a watchtower in the middle with the cells circling it
- Prisoners never know if they’re being watched
- This forces them to practice self-surveillance as they have to assume they’re being watched at all times
- ANALYSIS: Technology now makes this apply to all of us e.g. cookies, CCTV, snap maps, Alexa, Siri
How does Goffman evaluate the panopticon?
AO3
- Prisoners often find ways of resisting control
- Foucault ignores the expressive/emotional aspects of punishment - it’s not all about control
What is the dispersal of discipline?
(Foucalt)
AO1
- In the 19th Century there was a move towards disciplinary power with focus on conformity through self-surveillance e.g. workhouses, mental assylums, factories, schools
- Currently we have a ‘carcarel achipelago’ of non-prison based social controls e.g. community service
- All institutions enforce control e.g. education, family, social services
How can we evaluate Foucalt?
AO3
- Public humiliation is NOT disappearing. The media, especially social media, has become a modern day stocks and pillory (Greer and Reiner: guilty by press). Community service is also a form of public humilation
- Norris: there is very little evidence that CCTV prevents crime. London is one of the most CCTV-heavy cities in the world but is still in the top 5 most criminal cities in England
- Gill and Loveday: most burglars and shoplifters are NOT put off by CCTV
What sociologists argue the opposite of Foucault?
AO1/3
- Mathiesen: Foucault is outdated - he argues that the few in power are able to monitor the many. But in reality the media enables the many to monitor the few
- Thompson: This type of surveillance is concerning for people in power
- Mann et al: ‘sousveillance’ - individuals can monitor those in power
- e.g. Matt Hancock and Prince Andrew have been monitored and exposed by the general public
How does McCahill evaluate Mathiesen, Thompson, and Mann?
AO3
- We still have hierachies in surveillance
- Those in power still have more control and power over surveillance
- Bottom-up surveillance is not always possible
What is the feminist view of surveillance?
AO1
Koskela: surveillance is an excuse for the male gaze - an opportunity for men to exploit women’s sexuality. E.g. airport scans, the security industry being male-dominated. Also men do more crime but are screened at the same rate as women which is unfair
What do Haggerty and Ericson point out?
AO1
Surveillance technologies
- 2 or more forms of surveillance combined to create new forms of surveillance
- e.g. assemblages like ring doorbells
What do Freeley and Simon talk about?
AO1/2
Actuarial justice and risk management:
- ‘Risk factors’ are assessed - crime is controlled by looking at the likelihood of an individual becoming a criminal e.g. based on age, gender, ethnicity, location
- Anyone scoring over a certain score can be searched
- e.g. men pay higher car insurance as they are more likely to crash, certain people are selected for checks at the airport
How is Freeley and Simon’s view of power different to Foucault’s?
AO1
- It focuses on groups rather than individuals
- It is not interested in the rehabilitation of offenders but rather preventing them from offending
- It uses calculation of risks/ actuarial anyalysis
How can we evaluate Freeley and Simon?
AO3
- Young: actuarial justice is a damage limitation strategy - reduces risk of crime by using stats. This is a good preventative tool - NOT reactionary - predicts crime before it happens
- Self-reinforcing stats: if only certain groups are targetted then crime will only be found from certain groups
- Becker: labelling theory - actuarial analysis will have typifications - this leads to a social construction of ‘usual suspects’ of crime
- Marxist: it disproportionately targets the proletariat - the WC tend to live in poor ‘criminal’ areas
What is Clarke’s reason and solution for crime?
AO1
Rational Choice Theory:
- Criminals only commit crime when the benefits outweigh the repercussions
- Thus an individual will commit crime when they have a lower chance of being caught
- The solution is target hardening e.g. bright street lights, neighbourhood watch - situational crime prevention (SCP) this will make the potential costs of commiting crime lower than the benefits
How does Felson reflect Clarke’s theory?
AO2
- We can make it impossible to commit crime by ‘designing it out’
- e.g. anti-homeless benches, public toilets being more well lit and less isolated
How can we analyse Clarke?
AO3
2009 Home Office Campaign: ‘Don’t advertise your homes to thieves’ - encouraged public to close windows and keep keys out of sight to prevent being seen as an easy target to thieves
How can we evaluate Clarke?
AO3
- Wrongfully assumes crime is always a rational choice. Katz and Lyng: ‘edgework’ - crime is often just for the thrill and SCP and target hardening won’t change this
- Gill and Loveday: very few robbers, shoplifters, burglars, etc are put off by CCTV which would make crime a less rational choice according to Clarke
- Doesn’t deal with the root cause of crime and just attacks the individual
How does Chaiken et al evaluate situational crime prevention?
AO3
SCP does NOT stop crime it just displaces it. 5 types of displacement:
- Spatial: the crime just happens somewhere else
- Temporal: they’ll just do it at a different time
- Target: will find a different victim
- Tatical: might change method e.g. use weapons
- Functional: type of crime might change e.g. go online
What is Wilson and Kelling’s reasons and solution for crime?
AO1
- Visible signs of crime and civil disorder e.g. broken windows, vandalism create an urban environment that promotes even more crime and disorder
- There is never just one broken window - once an area starts to deteriorate law abiding citizens start leaving leading to more crime
- Some areas are “too far gone” - money should be spent saving areas that can still recover
- The solution is zero tolerance polcing - if you punish the first broken window others won’t be broken. Also environmental crime prevention/ communitarianism is needed - the community should take responsibility for preventing their area deteriorating
How did Kelling apply his theory?
AO2
- Advised the mayor of New York in the 1980s and created the Clean Car Programme
- Cars with vandelism were taken off the road immediately and only returned once cleaned
- This forced individuals to take responsibility for their car and community
What is a research example of broken windows theory?
AO3 - from 2008 so relevant
Keizer et al: field experiment
- left a letter with money visibly in it on the sidewalk
- in a nice, clean street only 13% of passers-by stole the envelope
- in a street with litter it was 25%
- in a street with graffiti it was 27%
How does Young evaluate Wilson and Kelling?
AO3
- Zero-Tolerance policing success is a myth used by politicians to take credit for falling crime - rates were already falling before it was implemented
- Gives police power to target whoever they want which is dangerous
What are the solutions to crime according to Lea and Young?
AO3
- Policing: police rely on info from the public but the relationship with the public is strained so they need to improve it and increase public involvement - this would make people feel less marginalised
- Dealing with deeper structural issues and causes of crime: e.g. poverty, unemployment, racism. Can be done by improving welfare provision and preventing labelling in schools
- Multi agency approach: different agencies working together to tackle crime e.g. schools, charities, police, local council.
What impact have Lea and Young had on policy?
AO2
- New Deal: policies targetting the long-term unemployed, precarious workers with retraining and education programmes
- Sure Start: provided WC families with cultural capital e.g. parenting lessons, toys, books
- Minimum Wage: introduced in 1998 to tackle pracarious employment and poverty. Will be raised to £12.21 from April 2025
- Educational Maintenance Allowance: £30 a week to WC students over 16 - required full attendance
- Free School Meals: reduces relative deprivation
What is social and community crime prevention?
(includes scholars)
AO1
- Lea and Young: Everyone’s perspective needs to be considered when creating policy. The public should be involved in policymaking
- Matthews and Young: the square of crime the state, public, victim, and offender should all work together to bring justice
How can we evaluate social crime prevention?
AO3
Too idealistic - the public often don’t want to help the police. Ethnic minorities may not trust them due to institutional racism. Certain communities may have a bad relationship with their police e.g. Liverpool has a bad relationship with their police as they blamed the public for the Hilsborough Disaster. This lead to a culture of not cooperating with police to the point that when 8 year old Olivia Pratt was murdered in a gang war the police had to offer a reward for people to come forward as no one wanted to speak with police
What was the New Labour government’s approach to crime?
A02
Tony Blair: “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”
- ASBOs - targetted minor petty crimes e.g. vandalism
- ABCs (acceptable behaviour contracts) - individuals voluntarily sign contract admitting their crime - mainly used to reform young offenders
- Parenting orders - aimed at parents of poorly behaved children
- Curfews and Dispersal: police can break up groups of more than 2, local communities have power to enforce curfews
How can we evaluate New Labour policies?
AO3
- Most have been scrapped - weren’t viable in the long-term, or stopped working as they became a badge of honour e.g. ASBOs becoming ‘cool’
- Ignores white collar crime
- Reactionary - didn’t actually tackle root causes
How can we evaluate left realism?
AO3
- Henry and Millovanovic: realist approaches rely on the state’s definition of crime. Should use a transgressive approach which would allow white collar crime to be targetted
- Overfocus on inner city areas
- Based on OCS which overrepresent EMs and WC
