Definitions of CRIME!! Flashcards
What is social control?
Means by which society tries to ensure that its members behave as others expect them to. -Boundaries indicating acceptable and non behaviour.
-TO conform to laws, rules and norms
What are the 2 types of social control, explain>
- Formal- Practiced by specific agencies- role in maintaining law and order
-Informal- How we are persuaded to conform by being taught what is acceptable and not. - socialised.
What is formal social control practiced by?
Criminal justice system- government, police, courts, prisons.
What is informal social control practiced by?
Agents of socialisation-
Family, education, peer groups, workplace, religion, mass media
What are the 4 agents of social control?
- Legislature, Judiciary, police- enforce law and investigate, penal system
What is the legislature?
Branch of government responsible for legislating- making laws
- House of commons + House of Lords= House of parliment
What is the judiciary?
-Courts try those accused of crime- convict or sentence the guilty.
-Crown court- serious crime
-Magistrates courts- minor
-Variety of sanctions available for guilty
What sanctions are available to the court to use on the guilty?
- Fine, probation, prison, community service, conditional discharge… TO NAME A FEW
What is the penal system?
- Refers to the people and organisations that deal with offenders.
-Prison and probation service
What are 4 purposes of penal system?
- Punish guilty, provide retribution
- Rehabilitate, training, teaching
- Deter, warning to others
- To protect public from danger
What are used to control and punish deviance, crime and delinquency?
- Sanctions, positive, negative, formal, informal
- Promote conformity
3 types of sanctions involved in crime..
- fine- prison sentence- death
Example of sanction in deviance..
-Comment to show disapproval such as teacher sending out pupil for misbehaving
What is eccentricity?
Deviance that is tolerated rather than rewarded or sanctioned.
What is deviance?
- Behaviour by individuals of social group that fails to conform to culturally expected norms of behaviour
What is crime?
Formal act of deviance that violates statue law- breaks society’s formals laws and rules
Why are deviance and crime described as relative? Depends on.. (5)
- No absolute way of defining these terms.
- Deviance is relation to a particular standard, standards are not fixed or absloute.
-Depends on time, place, person (age gender, class), situation, culture (country)
How does Howard Becker highlight social construction in labelling theory?
- No action in itself is deviant, it has to excite some social reaction from others. Depends upon who commits it, who sees it and what action is taken about it.
What impacts the definition of a crime?
- Just or unjust- dog lisence
- time - Before industrialisation most serious crimes were religious in nature ( Blasphemy).
Normative defintions?
- Commonsense definitions of something. Common set of shared values
Relativistic definitions?
- Understand society is too complex for common sense understanding- not in total consensus
What are the 3 types of deviance?
- Historical - considered deviant today may be normal in future- smoking, abortions, gay
- Cross cultural- Culturally determined- change overtime
- Situational- Depends on who is doing it and in what situation.
SOCIALLY DEFINED- SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
