crime - main perspectives x supporting theorists

Question 1

interactionists

Answer 1

• official stats don’t offer valid picture of who commits most crime
• pillavin x briar : law agencies hold stereotypes -w/c are the ‘typical criminals’ = shows power of agencies to label the powerless
• physical cues determine police response e.g. suspects age, gender, class

cicourel - w/c more likely to be labelled as delinquent –> SFP , if m/c arrested they’re more likely to be treated more leniently.

ev: deterministic - assumes all labels are internalised + individuals lack free will to reject them
- blames external factors

Question 2

marxism

Answer 2

• Gordon - capitalism is criminogenic –> by its very nature it causes crime bcos its based on the exploitation of w/c
• this means ppl commit crime out of necessity + as it is the only way to obtain consumer goods + alienation causes crime thru frustration
  poverty e.g. London riots - stealing nappies, luxury goods
  alienation - setting office buildings alight

ev: not all w/c commit crime - deterministic

Question 3

functionalists - Durkheim

Answer 3

Durkheim -
- boundary maintenance: crime produces reaction from society uniting members in condemnation of wrongdoing and reinforcing commitment to shared norms x values –> reinforce social solidarity e.g. Lucy Letby

-crime is inevitable and universal
too much - threatens tearing bonds of society apart
too little - society is controlling members too much preventing social change and restricting individual freedom e.g. Nelson Mandela- helped end apartheid system of racial segregation, Suffragettes - women’s right to vote
Davis - crime is safety valve - prostitution releases men’s sexual frustrations without threatening nuclear family.