Crime & deviance

Question 1

Define crime

Answer 1

Legal wrong followed by legal consequences, punishable by law

Question 2

Define deviance

Answer 2

Disapproved by majority of society

Question 3

Define social order

Answer 3

General conformity to n&v’s, interests of achieving social order

Question 4

Define social control

Answer 4

Society is persuaded to follow rules, agencies ensure conformity

Question 5

What is the difference between informal & formal social control?

Answer 5

Formal: military, courts, police, criminal justice system
Informal: peer & religious groups, workplace, education system, media

Question 6

How are OCS produced & collated

Answer 6

From court, prison, police records & CSEW
Collated by Home Office

Question 7

What is police recorded crime?

Answer 7

Supplied by police forces & transport police
Definitive measure of crime, include what police are aware of

Question 8

What are 4 strengths of PRC?

Answer 8

Easy to access
Up-to-date
Whole counts not estimates
No ethical issues

Question 9

What are 4 limitations of PRC?

Answer 9

Doesn’t include undetected/unrecorded
Misses unrecorded- dark figure of crime
Not providing a complete picture
Accuracy varies by area
Pressure on police to meet targets

Question 10

What is the ‘dark figure of crime’?

Answer 10

All unrecorded crime, unlikely to be in proportion

Question 11

What is the problem with police discretion

Answer 11

Corrupt officers misrecording
Linked to typical criminal stereotype

Question 12

What do functionalists say about PRC?

Answer 12

Trust quantitative as facts
Reliable & representative
Police represent society
Typical criminal is a ‘starting point’

Question 13

What do New Right sociologist say about PRC?

Answer 13

Accept that crime is represented by PRC
Laws made to benefit equally
Police represent interests of the whole society
Focus on explaining criminality by underclass

Question 14

What do left realists say about PRC?

Answer 14

Shouldn’t be dismissed, should be supplemented by other methods

Question 15

What do some feminists say about PRC?

Answer 15

Accept that females commit less
Look at high levels of social control for females

Question 16

What do Marxists say about PRC?

Answer 16

PRC is a tool of control
Used to scare & justify more policing

Question 17

What do interactionists say about PRC?

Answer 17

Focus on social construction of statistics (labelling)

Question 18

What do radical criminologists say about PRC?

Answer 18

Combine Marxism & interactionism
Focus on power on police for political reasons
Idea used to challenge over-representation of ethnic minorities

Question 19

What do others sociologists (like feminists) say about PRC?

Answer 19

Female offenders treated differently in courts & if anything males are underrepresented in crime
Challenge accuracy of statistics

Question 20

What does a victim survey involve?

Answer 20

Asks about the crimes they have been victim to, like the CSEW

Question 21

Discuss the CSEW

Answer 21

Nationally representitive
Response rate of CSEW
Reflects profile of general population
Questions about property & personal crimes
Able to reveal extent of domestic crimes more than in PRC

Question 22

What are 4 limitations of the CSEW

Answer 22

Victimless crimes
Only people over 16 in the past
Only a sample/estimate
Response rate 75%

Question 23

Who conducted the Islington crime surveys?

Answer 23

Jones, Maclean and Young
Kinsey

Question 24

What did the Islington crime & Kinsey’s survey focus on?

Answer 24

On specific geographical areas
Impact of crime on the vunerable
Degree that crime had shaped lives

Question 25

What are some of the findings from the ICS?

Answer 25

1/3 of households touched by serious crime 1/4 of people avoided going out after dark 28% felt unsafe in own homes 1/2 of the women did not go out after dark 46% worried about mugging, 40% actually knew someone who had been mugged

Question 26

What did Young say about the ICS?

Answer 26

Trained researchers able to conduct sympathetic interviews which reported high rater of female victimisation

Question 27

What are 4 limitations of victim surveys?

Answer 27

Young says the 'dark figure of crime' is still present Accuracy relies on memory and honesty People's threshold of crime may differ Problem with response rates, affects representitivness & generalisable Those who don't respond may include victims of sexual offences Non-victims may not repsond= overestimation

Question 28

What do self-report studies measure and focus on?

Answer 28

Asks peopls what crimes they have committed Large-scale sample Focus on types of deviance Quantitative, involve list of offences/tick boxes