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Sociology > Crime & Deviance > Flashcards

Crime & Deviance Flashcards

1
Q

Social control

A

Methods used to persuade individuals to conform to the dominant norms of society

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2
Q

Deviance

A

Rule-breaking behaviour that fails to conform to social norms

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3
Q

Crime

A

Law breaking behaviour that contravenes the criminal law of a society

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4
Q

What does Durkheim say de two positive functions of crime are?

A

Boundary maintenance - crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members in condemnation for the wrongdoer & reinforcing their commitment to the shaved norms & values
Adaption & change - all change starts with an act of deviance. There must be some scope for them to challenge and change existing norms & values, at the first instance it will inevitably appear as deviance

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5
Q

What does Newburn suggest crime is?

A

A label attached to certain forms of behaviour which are prohibited by the state, und have some legal penalty against them

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6
Q

What does Downs & Rock suggest about crime being a social construction?

A

Ambiguity is a key feature of rule-breaking, as people are frequently unsure whether e particular episode is truly deviant or what deviance is

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7
Q

What does Plummer say the two types of deviance are and what do they mean?

A

Societal deviance= forms of deviance that most members of society regard as deviant
Situational deviance= the way in which au act being seen as deviant or not depends on the context or location which it takes place

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8
Q

What is Merton’s strain theory?

A

Anomie is created by a strain between the consensus view of what people should aim for in life (goals) and the consensus view of now you should go about achieving it (means)

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9
Q

5 modes of adaptation

A
  1. Conformity
  2. Innovation
  3. Ritualism
  4. Retreatism
  5. Rebellion
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10
Q

Criminogenic

A

Something that leads to criminality

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11
Q

For A.k. Cohen, how do w/c boys suffer from status frustration?

A

They face a problem of adjustment to the low status they are given in mainstream society

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12
Q

Millers focal concerns

A

The distinct values that w/c boys were socialised into that mean that they are more likely than others to engage in delinquent or deviant behaviour

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13
Q

Strengths of strain theory

A

Most crime is property crime, because American society values material wealth so highly
L/c crime rates are higher, because they have the least oppertunity to obtain wealth legitimately

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14
Q

Weaknesses of strain theory

A

Takes official stats at face value which over-represent w/c crime
Marxists argue it ignores the power of the r/c to make and enforce the laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich
It explains how deviance results from individuals adapting to the stain to anomie but ignores the role of group deviance

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15
Q

What do Cloward and Ohlin agree with Merton on?

A

w/c youths are denied legitimate oppertunities to achieve ‘money success’, and that theirdeviance stems from the way they respond to the situation

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16
Q

What are Hirischi’s four bonds of attachement?

A
  1. attachment
  2. commitment
  3. involvement
  4. belief
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17
Q

What does Hirischi say about his bond of attachment?

A

Those who are more likely to commit crimes are those who do not have family attchements, work commitments, get involved in school or have a clear moral code

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18
Q

Weaknesses of Hirischi’s four bonds of attachement

A

He does not really address the issue of why some members of society have secure bonds of attachment and others don’t
Marxists & feminists would point out that there is not a value consensus that benefits all members of society

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19
Q

Strengths of Hirischi’s four bonds of attachement

A

Introduces new ideas of how to prevent crime and how to achieve social order
His ideas have influenced social policy makers in that they are interested in how attchament can be promoted and deviance reduced

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20
Q

Cloward and Ohlin view on subcultures

A

Attempts to explain why different subcultural responses occur- key reasom is not only unequal access to the legitimate oppertunity structure, but unequal access to illegitimate oppertunity structures

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21
Q

Cloward and Ohlin’s three types of deviant subcultures

A

Criminal, conflict and realist

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22
Q

What do police use to make decisions to arrest according to Pillavin & Briar (labelling)?

A

Police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues
Officer decisions can also be influenced by gender, class and ethnicity as well as time and place

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23
Q

Cicourel (labelling)

A

Officers’ decisions to arrest are influenced by their stereotypes about offenders
Found that officers’ typifications (their commonsense theories/stereotypes) led them to concentrate on certain ‘types’

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24
Q

Master status

A

Secondary deviance is a result of societal reaction- labelling. When someone is labelled they are only seen in terms of the label- this is their master status

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25
Q

Deviant career

A

Secondary deviance is likely to provoke further hostile reactions from society and reinforce the deviant’s ‘outsider status’- this leads to a deviant career

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26
Q

Deviancy amplification

A

A term used by interactionist sociologists to refer to the way levels of deviance or crime can be increased by attempts to control it

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27
Q

Miller’s (functionalist) ideas on class difference in crime

A

L/c has developed an independent subculture with its own destinctive norms and values which clash with those of the main stream culture.

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28
Q

Criminogenic Capitalism (Marxist view of class and crime)

A

Crime is inevitable because capitalism is criminogenic
Alienation- leads to frustration and agression which leads to non-utilitarian crimes

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29
Q

The state and law making (Marxist view of class and crime)

A

Law making and law enforcerment only serve the interests of the capitalist class
CHAMBLISS argues that laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy
SNIDER argues that the capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate their activities or treaten their profit

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30
Q

Selective enforcement (Marxist view of class and crime)

A

Police and courts chose who they shopuld criminalise and who they should not
W/c and ethnich minorities are criminalised while police and courts tend to ignore crimes of the powerful

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31
Q

Ideological functions of crime and law (Marxist view of class and crime)

A

The law,crime and criminals performe an ideological functions foe capitalism
Laws are occationally passed that appear to benefit the w/c and not capitalism- however PEARCE argues that such laws often denefit the r/c too by giving capitalism ‘caring’ face

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32
Q

What type of crime does Snider say causes more damage than ‘street crime’?

A

Corporate crime

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33
Q

Strengths of the Marxist view of crime

A

Useful explanation of the relationship between crime and capitalist society
It shows a link between law making and enforcement and the interests of the capitalist class

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34
Q

Weaknesses of the Marxist view of crime

A

Largely ignores the relationship between crie and non-class inequalities like ethnicity and gender
Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates
Left realists argue that marxism ignores intra-class crimes such as burglary, which cause great harm to victims

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35
Q

NEW CRIMINOLOGY

A
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36
Q

What is white-collar crime?

A

Crimes committed by employees for their own personal gain, often against the organisation for which they work

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37
Q

What is corporate/organised crime?

A

Offences commited by large companies, or inividuals acting on their behalf, which directly benefit the company and may involve increasing the company’s profits or chances of survival

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38
Q

Reasons for the invisability of corporate crime

A
  • the media
  • lack of political will
  • the crimes are often too conmplex
  • de-labelling
  • under-reporting
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39
Q

Think Merton for one and Marxist idea for another

What are the explanations for white-collar crime and corporate crime?

A
  • Strain theory
  • Differential association
  • Labelling theory
  • Concequence of capitalism (Marxist view)
  • Cultural criminology
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40
Q

What do left ralists see as the main underlying cause of crime?

A

Inequality

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41
Q

What do right realists see as the main underlying cause of crime?

A

The welfare state and the breakdown of informal and formal controls

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42
Q

How is biological differences a cause of differing crime rates and who came up with the idea?

A

Wilson and Hernstein

Biological differences between individuals can make some people commit more crime e.g. personality

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43
Q

How is inadiquate socialisation/the underclass a cause of differing crime rates and who came up with the idea?

A

Murray

Rising crime rates are due to the growth of the under-class whic he describes as individuals whith deviant behaviour who fail to properly socialise their children- due to welfare dependency which has expanded since the 1960s

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44
Q

How is rational choice theory a cause of differing crime rates and who came up with the idea?

A

Clarke

Individuals are rational with free will, meaning that deciding to commit a crime is a choice based on a cost-benefit calculation

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45
Q

What is Kelling’s ‘broken windows’ thesis?

A

Argues that maintaining order in neighbourhoods is crucial to prevent crime. They claim that small signs ofdisorder must be addressed immediately to stop more serious crimes frim taking root

46
Q

‘Zero tollerance’ policing

A

The strict enforcement of laws against minor offences like prostitution and begging. It seeks to immediately crack down on any form of undersirable behaviour to maintain order and make law-abiding citizens feel safe

47
Q

What do right realists believe that crime prevention should focus on?

A

Controlling, containing and punishing offenders. This includes measures like ‘target hardening’, increasing prison use and ensuring punishments occur swiftly to maximise their deterrant effect

48
Q

Strengths of the right realist explanation of crime

A
  • seeks to address the imediate causes of crime and provides policies for reducing the oppertunities of crime
  • it has influenced gov. policy
  • it recognises that crime is a real problem affecting real people with real concequences
49
Q

Weaknesses of the right realist explanation of crime

A
  • it ignores wider structural cases such as poverty
  • it overstates ofenders’ rationality and how far they make cost-benefit calculations borfore committing a crime
50
Q

What are the three related causes of crime for Lee and Young and what do they mean?

A
  1. relative deprivation- feeling of being deprived compared to others
  2. subculture- groups that develop alternative norms and values which can lead to crime
  3. marginalisation- the social exclusion of certain groups
51
Q

Strengths of the left realist explanation of crime

A
  • stresses the significance of victims and so produces a more rounded way of understanding criminality
  • draws on theories such as Merton’s strain theory and sub-cultural theorists which means it offers a fuller explanation than most
52
Q

What are the three methods of collecting infomation?

A
  1. self-report studies
  2. police-recorded stats (PRC)
  3. victim surveys
53
Q

How is the biological differences between the sexes an explanation of female crime?

A

Women are innately different from men in ways that make them less susceptible to commit crime

54
Q

How does Pollak’s Chivalry Thesis explain female crime?

A

Male officials in the CJS are more lenient to women as they are socialised to be gentler towards women

55
Q

How does sex role theory (functionalist view) explain female crime?

A
  • Consernedwith the socialisation of men and women to gender roles (instramental and expressive)
  • Gender socialisation encourages women to adopt feminine characteristics which cause them to avode risk-taking behaviour
56
Q

How does Heidensohn’s patriarchal control (feminist view) explain female crime?

A

females are less likely to commit crime because they are subject to closer levels of social control than men are - in the home, public, and workplace

57
Q

How does Carlen explain female crime through class and gender?

A

female criminality was the result of rejecting socially-approved pathways for women
class deal- women who choose employment rewards for labour, given comforts of material gain, are incentives for women to not commit crime
gender deal- women who conform to traditional roles gain emotional rewards and financial security by their partner

58
Q

how does Adlers liberation thesis explain female crime?

A

suggests that the increasing rates of female crime is due to changing gender roles and freedom from traditional norms

59
Q

Hegemonic masculinity

A

A male identity that defines what it is it be a ‘real man’

60
Q

According to Katz, what do young men learn early on in life?

A

That they can only show manly qualities

61
Q

What percentage of murderers are men?

A

85%

62
Q

What percentage of rapists are men?

A

99%

63
Q

What percentage of domestic violence case are performed by men?

A

95%

64
Q

What percentage of dating violence are men?

A

95%

65
Q

How does the social construction of masculinity perpetuate male criminality?

A

Men feel as though they have to live up to the masculine qualities such as strong, respected and tough so are more likely to find themselves in situations where they commit crime

66
Q

What does Messerschmidt mean by hegemonic masculinities?

A

Work in the paid-labour market, the subordination of women, heterosexism and the driven and uncontrollable sexuality of men

67
Q

What does Messerschmidt mean by subordinated masculinities?

A

Include gay men who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as l/c and some ethnicity minority men, who lack resources to do so

68
Q

What are the three different forms of rule breaking between classes and ethnicities that demonstrate masculinity for youths?

A

White m/c youths- subordinate themselves to teachers in order to gain m/c status, leading to an accommodating masculinity in school which is different to their masculinity outside of school

White w/c youths- have less chance of educational success so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school

Black w/c youths- have few expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity

69
Q

What societal changes have occurred in recent decades that have caused a crisis for masculinity?

A

Globalisation = shift in global economy = people in the west cannot get manual labour jobs which was where men could express their masculinity

70
Q

What does Batchelor argue is the cause for the moral panic about girls?

A

Points to media depictions of young women as ‘drunk and disorderly, out of control and looking for fights’

71
Q

What percentage of the population do black people make up compared to the percentage of the prison population they make up?

A

Population- 3%
Prison population- 13.1%

72
Q

What ethnic group are underrepresented in all staged of the criminal justice process?

A

White

73
Q

What did Phillips and Bowling find about victim surveys?

A

White victims may ‘over-identify’ blacks saying that the offender was black even when they are not sure

74
Q

How much higher was the arrests for blacks over the arrests for white?

A

Arrest rate for blacks was 3x the rate for whites

75
Q

In 2014 what fraction of the prison population in the UK was made up of minority ethnic backgrounds?

A

1/4

76
Q

What do the left realists Lea and young argue about the differences in crime across ethnic groups?

A

Police often act in racist ways that result in unjustified criminalisation
The ethnic differences in status reflect real differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic groups

77
Q

What does critical criminology argue about the differences in crime across ethnic groups?

A

Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbeans and Asians

78
Q

What is the neo-Marxist argument about the differences in crime across ethnic groups?

A

The ruling class are normally able to rule the subordinate classes through consent

79
Q

In 2014/15 how many racist incidents were recorded by the police in England and Wales?

A

54,000
HOWEVER most go unreported

80
Q

How does the media distort crime?

A

It over-represents violent and sexual crime (these crimes only make up 3% of all recorded crimes)

It portrays criminals and victims as older and more m/c than those found in the criminal justice system

It exaggerates the risk of victimisation, especially to women, white people are higher status individuals

Exaggerates police success in clearing up cases

Crime is reported as a series of separate events without structure

It overplays extraordinary crimes and underplays ordinary crimes

81
Q

What is the example of a moral panic?

A

Mods and rockers:
Mods- smart dressed and rode scooters
Rockers- leather jackets and rode motorbikes
Media exaggerated the munger and extent of the violence
Mods and rockers were labelled negatively and associated with deviance

82
Q

Globalisation

A

The process by which the world is becoming more interconnected

83
Q

Impacts of globalisation on crime

A

Crime is becoming increasingly global

84
Q

How has globalisation created new opportunities for crime?

A

Arms trafficking
Trafficking in nuclear materials
Smuggling of illegal migrants
Trafficking in women and children
Sex tourism
Trafficking in body parts
Cyber crimes
Green crimes
International terrorism
Smuggling of illegal goods
Trafficking in cultural artefacts
Trafficking in endangered species
The drugs trade
Money laundering

85
Q

What do Hobbs and Dunningham call crime?

A

A ‘global’ system

86
Q

What % of the worlds GDP did organised crime account for in 2009?

A

15%

87
Q

Green crime

A

Crimes committed against the environment

88
Q

Primary green crime

A

Crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the ‘earths resources’

89
Q

What are the four main types of primary green crime that South identifies?

A
  1. Crimes of air pollution
  2. Crimes of deforestation
  3. Crimes of species decline and animal abuse
  4. Crimes of water pollution
90
Q

Secondary crime

A

Crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters

91
Q

What does South suggest are the two examples for secondary crime?

A
  1. State violence against oppositional groups
  2. Hazardous waste and organised crime
92
Q

What is Whites green criminology?

A

The idea that the proper subject of criminology is any action that harms the physical environment and/or the human and non-human animals within it

93
Q

What are the four types of state crime identified by McLaughlin?

A
  1. Political crimes
  2. Crimes by security and police forces
  3. Economic crimes
  4. Social and cultural crimes
94
Q

His is the genocide in Rwanda an example of state crime?

A

Civil war where 800,000 Tutsis were killed and 1/3 of the Hutus pop participated

95
Q

What is Chambliss’ domestic law?

A

Acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state official

96
Q

What is Adorno eat al’s authoritarian personality?

A

Includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question

97
Q

Punishment prevents couture crime through…

A

Acting as a deterrence
Providing rehabilitation
Incapacitation

98
Q

Situational crime prevention

A

Pre-emotive approach that relies, not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing opportunities for crime

99
Q

Environmental crime prevention

A

Zero tolerance policing- instead of police merely reacting to crime, they must proactively tackle even the slightest sign of disorder, even if it is not criminal

100
Q

Social and community crime prevention

A

Aim is to remove the conditions that predispose individuals to crime in the first place

101
Q

Durkheim perspective on punishment

A

It reinforces social solidarity and shared values
Two types of injustice:
1. Retributive
2. Restitutive

102
Q

Marxist perspective on punishment

A

It serves the r/c interests and defends social order
Prison system mirrors capitalist production

103
Q

Positivist victimology

A

Three features:
1. Aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation
2. Focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
3. Aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation

104
Q

Critical victimology

A

Focuses on two elements:
1. Structural factory’s like patriarchy and poverty
2. The states power to apply or deny the label of victim

105
Q

Patterns of victimisation: class

A

Poor are more likely to be victimised
Newborn and Rock- homeless are 12x more likely to experience violence than the general population

106
Q

Patterns of victimisation: age

A

Younger are more at risk
Teenagers are more at risk than adults to offences including assault, sexual harassment, theft, etc

107
Q

Patterns of victimisation: ethnicity

A

Minority groups are at greater risk of

108
Q

Patterns of victimisation: gender

A

Men are more likely to be victims of violent attacks
Women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual harassment and stalking

109
Q

Patterns of victimisation: retreat victimisation

A

If you have been a victim once your more likely to be a victim again

110
Q

Secondary victimisation

A

The idea that in addition to the impacts of the crime itself, individuals may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system

Sociology (5 decks)

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