deviance + crime

Question 1

what is a crime?

Answer 1

an act that violates criminal law and is punishable through the law

Question 2

in criminal law, who declares itself as the injured party?

Answer 2

the state

Question 3

how are crimes legally defined in canada?

Answer 3

criminal code

Question 4

what two things are needed for a person to be convicted of a criminal offence?

Answer 4

actus reus and mens rea

Question 5

what is the actus reus?

Answer 5

a particular events or state of affairs was ‘caused’ by the accused person

Question 6

what is the mens rea?

Answer 6

the condct was accompanied by a state of mind with an intent for harm / to kill

Question 7

what are factors that affect the crime rate?

Answer 7

1. report sensitive
2. policing sensitive
3. definition sensitive
4. media sensitive
5. real trends

Question 8

what are report sensitive crimes?

Answer 8

stuff that isn’t reported, it is a sensitive thing (SA and domestic abuse

Question 9

what are policing sensitive crimes?

Answer 9

Some crimes they won’t respond to, some they will, depends on severity or what they deem appropriate

Question 10

what are definition sensitive crimes?

Answer 10

ex. sexual assault: changed the law in 1983
Women previously couldn’t have come forward for rape if it was their husband
Added new things in the law ie: unwanted touching

Question 11

what are media sensitive crimes?

Answer 11

ex. elderly abuse: media started reporting and now there was an interest
People saw it become a problem and were aware of it and could now recognize and start reporting it more

Question 12

what is the real trends crime swap?

Answer 12

one crime goes down because another goes up

Question 13

what makes crime a social construct?

Answer 13

1. there are no universally condemned acts
2. what is considered to be a crime changes over time
3. distinction between criminal and non-criminal is sometimes ambiguous

Question 14

consensus theory is the same as what other kind of theory?

Answer 14

structural functionalism

Question 15

who do consensus theorists believe constructs the laws on crime?

Answer 15

the people. there is a consensus in society about what is criminal

Question 16

what is the problem with consensus theory?

Answer 16

everyone has a consensus on violent crimes like murder, but when it comes to prostitution, sex work, and drugs, is that criminal?

Question 17

what do structural functionalists believe when it comes to what is criminal?

Answer 17

good for all all to agree on what is criminal = more societal stability

Question 18

structural functionalism comes from who’s theory?

Answer 18

darwin

Question 19

durkheim believed that crime was normal because?

Answer 19

no society was free of crime
some crime was functional because it increased social cohesion

Question 20

what three things make crime functional?

Answer 20

1. criminal courts are spectacles
   - if we went into criminal court, we will see how someone who has been given harsh sentence gets rightful punishment / sentence
   - reaffirm social value, have a just society
   - promote social cohesion
2. system processing of crime allows for societal change (improved function)
   - it evolves (change laws)
   - our societal functioning can improve because things can change (weed now legal)
3. crime employs people
   - police officers, social workers, psychologists, criminologists

Question 21

what do critical theorists believe about who constructs the laws on crime?

Answer 21

there is no consensus on what should / should not be criminal
laws are the result of a political process: the elites of society determine what should and should not be criminal to keep “common people” under control

Question 22

what are marxist conflict perspectives on crime?

Answer 22

conflict is rooted in the very structure of capitalist society
- superfluous behavior (rioting) needs to be controlled -> develop lows and procedures to deal with externalities of capitalist

Question 23

marxists focus on the relations between? how did this affect people at the political, economic, and legal levels?

Answer 23

crime and social arrangements in society:
- political (people drafted to war, did not want to go)
- economic (the hippies: did not want to work, wanted more freedom, how do we manage)
- legal structures (access to money, good lawyers)

Question 24

how is it believed that socio-economic status influences criminal behavior?

Answer 24

historically, lower class have been seen as responsible for crime: they are people at the margins of society, unemployed, in poverty, little education, government dependent

Question 25

what is the actual relationship between socio-economic status and crime?

Answer 25

lower SES are in more police-reported statistics higher class may be involved in more crime, but it goes unreported

Question 26

what is the marxist view of crime based on economic status?

Answer 26

if everyone has enough money, there will be no crime

Question 27

what is quinney's critical marxist theory of crime control?

Answer 27

1. american / canadian society is based on an advanced capitalist economy (well situated in democracy) 2. state is organized to serve the interests of the dominant economic class (boss does not pay you your overtime, you break into their house to steal money, you get arrested, not them) 3. criminal law is an instrument of the state and ruling class, laws put in place to protect it 4. crime control in capitalist society is realized through institutions and agencies controlled by political elite (big pharma put addictive drugs on the market and did not go to jail, but family members who got addicted are in jail) 5. contradictions of advanced capitalism require subordinate classes remain oppressed by whatever means necessary 6. only the collapse of the capitalist society and creation of a new society will solve crime

Question 28

what were the three fundamental findings wright found in regards to SES and criminal behavior?

Answer 28

1. link between SES and crime is indirect - correlation may be there, but not direct - poor person that goes to underfunded school, place them in a middle-class school, will commit less crime 2. low SES promote delinquency - alienation (outside), financial strain, aggressive - stress can lead to bad behavior, more likely to lash out 3. high SES promotes delinquency - wealthy feels above the law, easy to pay money to get out of trouble - more free time to get involved in criminal activity

Question 29

what is edwin sutherland's white collar crime?

Answer 29

crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation

Question 30

why do very few white collar crimes result in jail convictions?

Answer 30

1. more often addressed through civil agencies than courts (bank would rather phone and talk to you about having information stolen than have it spread all over the news) 2. citizens prefer receiving civil damages rather than criminal punishment for offender (bread) 3. WC criminals escape prosecution because of class position and privilege (better lawyers) 4. WC prosecutions are limited to primary offender (not the WC criminal, just the guy who was told to do the dirty work)

Question 31

what did marxist research find on corporate crime?

Answer 31

profit maximization (make more money than the previous year) mandate of capitalism creates strong

Question 32

what are transnational corporations? why are they hard to regulate?

Answer 32

- most powerful corporations - hard to regulate them because they are all over the world (Coca-Cola is bottling in Canada, new legislation released, do not like, can pack up and move) - lots of money

Question 33

what does the rule of law depend on?

Answer 33

the willingness of citizens (majority) to comply - this requires the state to be perceived as legitimate by its citizens

Question 34

when is there a crisis of state legitimacy?

Answer 34

legitimacy of state is questioned if it cannot provide peace, security and protection, and fails to live up to its end of the social contract may lead to crisis of legitimacy

Question 35

what happens if a crisis of legitimacy occurs?

Answer 35

- state no longer maintains authority to govern - can lead to civil unrest and threaten state's power - some areas can cause change (your laws don't make sense and they are harming people -> lead to change)

Question 36

what are the harms that are perceived to be caused by the under-regulated business practices of major corporations?

Answer 36

- growing economic inequality - growing uncertainty and unrest (lack job security, more precarious) - externalities (environmental crisis overwhelm our system and question our respect for the government)

Question 37

what did a focus on neoliberalism lead to a shift towards?

Answer 37

huge increase in insecurity, privatization and deregulation (private companies and COVID = more death)

Question 38

in symbolic interactionist theories, what is the thought behind coerced mobility theory?

Answer 38

round up all the bad people, put in jail = communities safe?? not exactly

Question 39

what did rose and clear find in their study that proves that locking up criminals does not make the community safer?

Answer 39

- although you have someone there committing crime, but the money that they steal is feeding families - now that you have taken that person out of society, now you have an entire family at risk

Question 40

what was chambliss' saints and roughnecks experiment?

Answer 40

- studied students in US high school - criminals / deviance within highschool had two groups: saints and roughnecks - watch how teacher interacts with students - students who were doing the same behaviors were not treated the same - saints: middle class - roughnecks: poor communities, truancy, steal - if saints raced cars, boys were just being boys; but if roughnecks do it, more likely to get yelled at, fined, go to jail - parents: middle class parents would say it was not possible for their kid to do that, but poor families would acquis and say that they understood, take my child, fine them, etc