Environmental/Ecological Approaches - Crime

Question 1

What do these approaches examine?

Answer 1

The relationship of crime to places and time

Question 2

What are these theories linked to?

Answer 2

Structural and subcultural functionalism

Question 3

How are these theories relevant today?

Answer 3

They inform contemporary policy e.g. on housing, immigration, crime prevention etc

Question 4

What are Shaw and McKay’s concentric zones?

Answer 4

Divided a city (Chicago) into 5 of these zones:

- each zone had a different economic and social profile = different crime rates

Question 5

What is the ‘zone of transition’ suggested by Shaw and McKay?

Answer 5

The pooper zone surrounding the central business district - where offending is the highest

Question 6

What is social disorganisation suggested by Shaw and McKay?

Answer 6

Informal mechanisms of control, such as the family, which normally prevent people engaging in crime were weak or absent in the ‘zone of transition’

Question 7

What is cultural transmission suggested by Shaw and McKay?

Answer 7

The next generation are socialised into seeing crime as the norm, looking up to successful criminals as role models

Question 8

What are two evaluation points of Shaw and McKay?

Answer 8

1) have been critiqued for confusing where people live with where they commit crime
2) Bottoms points out that the concentric zones model does not fit most European cities

Question 9

What is Sutherland and Cressey’s theory of Differential Association?

Answer 9

They argue if people interact with others who support law breaking and criminal behaviour they are likely to do so themselves

Question 10

What are Sutherland and Cressey’s 4 factors in the Differential Association model?

Answer 10

1) Frequency: how often they interact
2) Duration: how long interactions last for
3) Priority: at what stage in their life interaction happens e.g. childhood
4) Intensity: how important the person they are interacting with is to them

Question 11

What does Morris suggest about housing policies?

Answer 11

Argued that the key reason for a concentration of delinquents in certain areas was due to local council housing policies

Question 12

What is Baldwin and Bottom’s concept of tipping?

Answer 12

When the anti-social minority grow in numbers their delinquent and criminal behaviour will drive away some of the more law-abiding families
= family and friends of the anti-social residents move in, increasing the amount of criminal behaviour
- the estate becomes tipped + classed as a problem area

Question 13

What is Skogan’s concept of disorder?

Answer 13

Argues that social control breaks down when there is a combination of physical deterioration in local buildings and parks, and an increase in social disorder in the form of public alcohol and drug use

Question 14

What are Skogan’s 3 consequences of disorder?

Answer 14

1) It undermines the mechanisms of informal social control
2) It generates worries about neighbourhood safety, people avoid going out at night = easier for crime to be committed
3) This causes law-abiding people who can afford it to move out of the area

Question 15

What is Sampson’s idea of lack of collective efficacy?

Answer 15

1) Within deprived areas there was lots of interaction between residents = less social control + positive role models for children
2) There was little community organisation, no sense of community
= more likely to commit crime

Question 16

What is the Brantinghams’ cognitive map?

Answer 16

Suggest we each hold cognitive maps of where we live:
- argue we are more likely to commit crime when we encounter opportunities to commit crime in areas which we are familiar with
= explains higher crime rates in areas such as the zone of transition

Question 17

What is Clarke’s Opportunity Theory?

Answer 17

Likelihood of an offence occurring depends on 2 factors:

1) Target attractiveness: how attractive the object to be stolen is to the offender
2) Accessibility: how easy the object is to steal

Question 18

What is Cohen and Felson’s idea of Routine Activities?

Answer 18

Argue crimes are most likely to be committed when the day-to-day activities of potential offenders come into contact with opportunities to commit crime

Question 19

What do Cohen and Felson suggest about ‘capable guardians’ and the time of day crime is committed?

Answer 19

1) Crime is more likely to be committed when there is no ‘capable guardian’ to keep watch e.g. a police officer
2) The time an offence happens needs to be taken into consideration - the same place can be safe during the day but can become an area of crime in the night

Question 20

What do Shearing and Stenning suggest about the privatisation of public places?

Answer 20

Argue that the owners of public spaces have taken over responsibility of policing them - through the use of CCTV and private security firms
= police have been increasingly confined to the more peripheral parts of town, including deprived housing estates

Question 21

What is Hobbs’ idea of The Nocturnal Economy?

Answer 21

Crime rate vary depending on crime:
- almost 3/4 of violent crimes in urban areas occur during the weekend between 9pm and 3am
Hobbs argues control of the night-time economy has been passed from the police to private security firms

Question 22

What are the strengths of the Ecological explanations?

Answer 22

1) Approach has been influential in government and placing policies
2) Explanations in the approach have enabled the police and local authorities to adapt police strategies

Question 23

What is a weakness of the Ecological explanations?

Answer 23

Does not explain the reasons why people commit offences