Criminology unit 2

Question 1

What are values ?

Answer 1

General principles or guidelines for how we should live our lives. They tell us what is right and wrong.

Question 2

What are norms ?

Answer 2

Specific rules or socially accepted standards that govern people’s behaviour in particular situations. Linked to societies values.

Question 3

What is a moral code and example ?

Answer 3

Used to describe a set of basic rules, values, and principles held by an individual, group, organisation or society as a whole.
Example - Police Code of Ethics - respect

Question 4

What does criminal mean ?

Answer 4

An action that breaks a written formal rule in society, to break the law by the action having two elements - actus reus (guilty act) and mens rea (guilty mind).
Actus reus - physical action
Mens reus - A state of mind to commit a crime

Question 5

What does deviant mean ?

Answer 5

A behaviour/ action that does not conform to the main rules of society (disapproved of)

Question 6

What are the two exceptions to defining a crime ?

Answer 6

Strict liability - Sometimes the wrongful act is enough to convict, even if the act wasn’t premediated ( mens reus)
Self defence - Not a crime as long as the force used was reasonable

Question 7

What are examples of criminal, deviant and criminal/deviant behaviour ?

Answer 7

Criminal - murder
Deviant - swearing
Criminal/Deviant - rape

Question 8

What are the issues with the legal definition of crime ?

Answer 8

Differing views - public may have a different perception than the legal definition of what is a crime, example - users of soft drugs don’t view themselves as criminal
Law enforcement - some laws aren’t enforced, not a priority for the police, crimes that are complex costly and time consuming i.e. white collar less likely to be investigated
Law making - not all acts people think should be crimes have laws made against them, dependent on who is influencing law makers, laws changed to reflect public legalisation of homosexual marriage 2013

Question 9

What are the sanctions for deviance ?

Answer 9

Formal - schools excluding pupils for bullying or courts fining individuals for theft
Informal - people telling others off or refusing to speak to them

Question 10

What are sanctions against criminals ?

Answer 10

Court sanctions, Community sentences, Financial penalties, Discharges, Cautions

Question 11

What are the implications of committing a crime ?

Answer 11

Punishment by the courts and receiving a criminal record
Exclusion from certain jobs
Placed on the Violent and Sex Offenders Register

Question 12

What is social construction ?

Answer 12

Newburn (2007) - suggests that crime is basically a label that is attached to certain forms of behaviour which are prohibited by the state, no act in itself is criminal, an act only becomes a crime when it is labelled as ‘crime’.

Question 13

What are examples of laws that differ from culture to culture ?

Answer 13

Polygamy - legal in 58 countries, majority Muslim, however some Muslim countries restrict i.e. Türkiye, bigamy UK 7 year imprisonment
Why difference ? religion - Qur’an permits men to take up to four wives, Tradition - some African Communities
Adultery - Legal in UK, Many Muslim majority countries consider it criminal, Punishment in Indonesia can be stoning or caning
Why ? Religion - ten commandments against adultery, tradition - laws against in patriarchal societies
Cannabis - Sale legal in Canada, UK possession 5 years prison, supplying 14 years prison
Difference ? Norms and values- societies with a greater emphasises on ind. freedoms may see drug use as victimless or they have right to do what they want with their body, ideas on control of usage - some countries see cannabis as a gateway drug

Question 14

How do laws change over time ?

Answer 14

Laws relating to children - 1800s children work as young as six, factory act exclude children from working, schooling compulsory 1800s and children’s act (2004) welfare important
Change ? Social construction of childhood, fundamental rights of children
Physical punishment - Capital punishment (execution) still exists but is illegal in the UK since 1965, Coropal Punishment illegal in UK since 1967
Homosexuality - Made a crime in 1885, leaglised in 1967 for males aged 21+, age of consent was reduced to 18 in 1994 and 2000 to 16
Change ? Human rights - concerns with equality - with the state having no right to control citizens private lives, campaigns - stonewall and campaign for homosexual equality equalised age of consent.

Question 15

How laws change due to circumstance ?

Question 16

Biological theories - Lombroso

Answer 16

Physical features of criminals differ from those of non criminals
Lombroso argued that criminals were physically different from non criminals, spent years measuring and recording details of the faces of prisoners
A male with four or more of these physical features was born ‘criminal’ - Asymmetry of the face or head, large monkey like ears, large lips, long arms
Criminals - atavistic (reverting to an ancestral trait) , savages, uable to control impulses

Question 17

Evaluation of Lombroso

Answer 17

+ Lombroso was the first person to study crime scientifically, using objective measurements to gather evidence
- LOmbroso failed to compare his findings on prisoners with a control group of non prisoners
- ‘primitive savages’, Lombroso equates non western societies with criminals, form of racism

Question 18

Biological theories - Sheldon

Answer 18

Certain ‘somatotypes’ are linked to criminal behaviour
Conducted research examining 4,000 photographs of men - college students and delinquents and found 3 body types
Rating them on scale of 1 to 7 on resemblence to mesomorphy
Endomorphic - (fat and soft) tend to be sociable and relaxed
Ectomorphic - (thin and fragile) are introverted and restrained
Mesomorphic ( muscular and hard) aggressive and adventurous
many convicts were mesomorphic, least likely to be ectomorphic

Question 19

Evaluation of Sheldon

Answer 19

+ Glueck and Glueck found 60% of offenders were mesomorphs
- Social class may be true cause of criminality, convicted criminals are working class males manual jobs and athletic build
- labelling theory - troublemaker, self fulfilling prophecy

Question 20

Genetic theories - XYY theory

Answer 20

Some crime might be attributable to a chromosome abnormality
Additional chromosome - ‘XYY’
‘XYY’ men are known as super males, more aggressive and violent than males with single Y chromosome.
Jacob’s et al - XYY men are over represented in prison 15 in 1000 men have the condition compared to 1 in 1000 in the general population

Question 21

Evaluation of XYY theory

Answer 21

• Syndrome is very rare so cannot explain all crime
• Nothing to prove the syndrome causes violent behaviour
• Jacob et al found an association between XYY syndrome and offenders imprisoned for violent behaviour

Question 22

Genetic theories - Twin studies

Answer 22

The belief that heritable traits may increase the risk of criminal behaviour
Monozygotic - 100% of DNA and Dizygotic - 50% of DNA
Concordance rate - The probability that if one twin has a characteristic the other twin will have the characteristic.
Johannes Lange - investigated 13 MZ twins and 17 DZ twins, Found 10 of the 13 had served time in prison. Only two DZ twins served time.

Question 23

Evaluation of Twin studies

Answer 23

• Impossible to establish cause and effect
• High concordance rates may be due to identical environments.
  +Logical to examine whether the behaviour of MZ twins is identical because their genes are.

Question 24

Genetic theories - Adoption studies

Answer 24

Hutchings and Mednick - Studied 14,000 adopted children and found a high proportion of boys with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions too.
Suggests that there is a strong link between genetics and criminality.

Question 25

Evaluation of adoption studies

Answer 25

+ Overcomes the problem of twin studies in which you cannot establish cause and effect
- Adoptees often placed in a similar environment to biological family so similar behaviour will be produced
- Many children not adopted immediately after birth could be true cause of criminality

Question 26

Individualistic theories - Psychodynamic theory

Answer 26

unconscious processes determine our behaviour
early childhood experiences determine adult personality
inkblot tests - By giving criminals an ambiguous picture to analyse the therapist can make conclusions about personality
Tripartite model - ID - presents birth, pleasure principle (instant gratification), offender will act impulsively
Ego -age two, reality principle, reduces conflict between id and superego using defence mechanisms, moralistic and judgemental when perfection is not achieved
superego - age 5,morality principle, standards of same sex parent and responsible for guilt, struggle to accept change, rigid lifestyle
Dominant ID causes criminal behaviour - develops if they don’t develop an ego or superego identifying with sane sex parent, stable home environment needed for transition between pleasure and reality principle
Defence mechanisms - repression, denial, displacement

Question 27

Psychodynamic theory supporting research

Answer 27

Bowlby (1944) - Studied 44 juvenile delinquents, compared them to non criminal juveniles
of the criminals 39% had experienced separation from their mothers for six months or more, during the first five years compared to just 5% of the control group

Question 28

Evaluation of Psychodynamic theory

Answer 28

+ Shows the importance of early socialisation and family relationships in understanding criminal behaviour.
- Critics doubt the existence of the unconscious mind as how can we know about it if it is unconscious
- Psychodynamic explanations are unscientific and subjective

Question 29

Individualistic theories - Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 29

Criminal behaviour is a result of a particular personality type
based his results on analysis of responses to a personality questionnaire on 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital where he worked.
Personality is made up of two dimensions - Extraversion vs Introversion
Neuroticism vs Emotional stability
Psychoticism was added as a further personality dimension, people who score high more likely to engage in criminal behaviour.
PEN = Criminal personality - Run a higher risk of offending as it is difficult for them to learn to control their immature impulses.
we learn through conditioning, some individuals inherit a nervous system that causes them to develop a criminal personality
extraverts have a nervous system that needs a high level of stimulation from their environment leads to impulsive behaviour
Neurotics are harder to condition into following society’s rules because their high anxiety levels prevent them learning from punishment from their mistakes.

Question 30

Evaluation of Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 30

+ useful in describing how some measurable tendencies could increase a person’s risk of offending
- Eysenck used self report questionnaires - social desirability bias, so lie
- evidence on prisoners shows a correlation between personality type and criminality but doesn’t prove that personality type causes criminality

Question 31

Individualistic theories - Social learning theory

Answer 31

learn behaviour and crime directly through reward and punishment and indirectly through observing another person be rewarded and punished and imitating that behaviour
learn through watching behaviour of others, rewarded more likely to imitate this behaviour, punished less likely to imitate this behaviour = Vicarious reinforcement
Observe criminal behaviour from role models - similar to the observer will imitate this behaviour

Question 32

Bandura bobo doll study

Answer 32

66 children divided into 3 different conditions
all three observed adults be verbally and physically aggressive towards the bobo doll
imitation of behaviour depended on consequences observed
learnt through observation
if an individual observes a model getting rewarded for their criminality the behaviour is more likely to be imitated.

Question 33

Evaluation of social learning theory

Answer 33

+ bobo doll experiment showed the model did have an effect on the child’s behaviour
- lab experiment - low ecological validity
- ethical issues - issues concerning protection from both psychological and physical harm

Question 34

Individualistic theories - Behaviourism

Answer 34

We are born as blank slates
All behaviour is learned in which we learn behaviour through consequences (operant conditioning)
Skinner operant conditioning with the rats
Positive reinforcement - Behaviour is likely to occur again because received a reward when a certain behaviour was performed
negative reinforcement - Behaviour likely to be repeated because it has resulted in avoidance of something unpleasant
Positive punishment - Adding something unpleasant as a consequence
Negative punishment - Taking away something pleasant

Question 35

Individualistic theories - Cognitive theories

Answer 35

Cognition - refers to thinking and mental processes such as attitudes, beliefs, problem solving, decision making and how we interpret the world around us
Kohlberg’s moral development theory - Offenders are more likely to be in the pre conventional level, in which they omit crime as they think they can get away with or gain rewards such as money, status etc
They are likely to think solely in terms of whether their actions will lead to rewards, rather than how it might affect others.
Yochelson and Samenow argue that criminals are prone to faulty thinking
Hostile attribution bias - They may misinterpret the actions of other people. This misread no aggressive cue may trigger a disproportionate often violent response
Schoenenberg and Justye (2014) presented 55 violent offenders and a non aggressive group with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions
The violent offenders were significantly more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostile compared to the comparison group.

Question 36

Sociological theories - Functionalism

Answer 36

Argue that society is a stable structure whereby most people conform to the norms and values of society, however, crime is inevitable
Crime performs important functions - normal integral part of all healthy society
Boundary maintenance - crime unites people in outrage against criminal behaviour, reinforcing social control. By punishing criminals - reassert boundaries of acceptable behaviour
Social cohesion - when horrific crimes committed, the community draws together
Social change - some deviance necessary to defy laws which are outdated, enabling society to progress - ‘functional rebels’
Merton’s strain theory - argued that most individuals have access to the legitimate opportunity structure to aim to achieve the American Dream : hard work at school and a career
However, not everyone has equal chance of achieving success legitimate - some experience ‘blocked opportunities’ - working class individuals are often blocked by poverty and inadequate schooling. These individuals experience a ‘strain’ between the goal society says they should achieve and the lack of legitimate means to do this. They then turn to crime.
Innovation, Ritualism, retreatism, Rebellion
Durkheim - crime is inevitable and necessary for societal functioning, societies’ with little crime can stagnate and perish as they fail to adapt to evolving needs

Question 37

Evaluation of Functionalism

Answer 37

Durkheim - (-) does not look at what the causes of crime were
(-) argues crime is healthy for society but doesn’t specify how much
Merton - (+) working class crime rates are higher because they have less opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately
(-) only sees deviance as an individual response, ignoring the group deviancy
(-) ignores crimes of the wealthy and over predict the amount of working class crimes

Question 38

sociological theories - subcultural theories

Answer 38

focused on collective response to such blocked opportunities
Cohen - status frustration : working class taught middle class norms and values, working class children can’t achieve middle class norms and values, working class suffer status frustration, working class then reject middle class norms and values, delinquent subcultures form (these subcultures commit non - financial and malicious crimes) , this offers an alternative route to gain status
Cloward and Ohlin - not only is there a legitimate opportunity structure but also a illegitimate opportunity structure, an illegal means to meet goals
Individuals will experience strain in terms of access to the illegitimate opportunity structure, in which depending on where you live, impacts upon access to the illegitimate opportunity structure.
Criminal subcultures - engage in crime due to exposed to criminal role models and values in the environment, if they prove to be dedicated they are given opportunities to take their criminal paths further
Conflict subcultures - engage in violence against one another to gain status and respect
Retreatism subcultures - lacks of gangs and crime - so organise around illegal drug use - spending time with others who have dropped out of society.

Question 39

Evaluation of subcultural theories

Answer 39

(+) show how subcultures perform a function for their members by offering solutions to the problems of failing to achieve mainstream goals
(-)assume that everyone starts with mainstream goals and turns to a subculture when they fail to achieve them
(-) ignore crimes of the wealthy and over predict the amount of working class crime

Question 40

Sociological theories - Interactionism

Answer 40

Not the nature of the act that makes it deviant but the nature of society’s reaction to the act
A deviant is simplu soemone to whom the label has been successfully applied and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people so label
crime and deviance is a social construct
Becker - socially constructed by those in power, less concerned with the characteristics of deviants than the process by which they become outsiders, negative label - self concept - label reinforced - master status - deviant career
Lemert - Primary : the acts committed before they are labelled as deviant , secondary : the societal reaction and the impact it has upon future behaviour - deviancy amplification
Jock Young - self fulfilling prophecy - the deviants accept the public perception of them and internalise the deviant label

Question 41

Evaluation of Interactionism

Answer 41

(+) shows how attempts to control deviance can trigger a deviance amplification spiral and create more deviance
(-) wrongly implies that once someone is labelled a deviant career is inevitable
(-) emphasis on the negative effects of labelling gives offenders a victim status potentially limiting how responsible we view offender to be

Question 42

Sociological theories - Marxism

Answer 42

crime does not benefit the whole of society. crime benefits those in power.
certain laws and how they are enforced benefit powerful people
the crimes of the powerful are often responded to differently
attention is diverted from the really serious crimes
young, male, black and working class people may commit more crime but this is due to social exclusion and deprivation
selective law enforcement - power to choose whether or how to punish a person who has violated the law
Box (1983) - serious crime is ideologically constructed as property crimes and violent crimes committed by the working class, than major harms caused by businesses or government
bourgeoise - the rich
proletariat - the exploited

Question 43

Evaluation of Marxism

Answer 43

+ does provide an explanation for crime that covers all social classes and a variety of offences
- largely ignores other non class equalities
+ highlights the impact of selective law enforcement and how white collar crime is under policed

Question 44

sociological theories - left realism

Answer 44

argue that crime is a real problem to be tackled and not just a social construction created by control agencies
concerned with the disadvantaged in society
see society as an unequal capitalist one, believe in gradual change
believe we need practical explanations of crime that offers solutions to reduce it
look at crime on an individual level and what factors cause individual to commit crime
Lee and Young explain crime through - marginalisation : those who are marginalised or socially excluded may feel abandoned or frustrated experiencing economic, social and political deprivation
subcultures - those who share a sense of deprivation and frustration will develop lifestyles to allow them to cope with this problem
relative deprivation - relates to the feelings of deprivation people may experience when they compare themselves to the others. The media fuels this by promoting materialism and false needs.
Bulimic society - our consumerist society gorges itself on media images of the good life but their own economic circumstances forces them to vomit of their expectations of lifestyles
economic exclusion increases, social exclusion, breakdown of communities and families, crime and disorder diseases
leading to a less tolerant society, harsher restrictions towards the excluded and deviant
Solutions to crime, CCTV, community policing, community service, community centre, ethnic minority police officers

Question 45

Evaluations of left realism

Answer 45

+ draws attention to the importance of poverty, inequality, and relative deprivation as the underly