Exam Questions Crime Flashcards
Outline two reasons for the inevitability of crime (4)
- Socialisation might fail > not everyone socialised on norms and values
- fragmentation of society > diversity of values
Outline three positive functions of crime (6)
- Boundary maintenance > commit crime > punished by the CJS > reminds other citizens of value consensus
- Warning device > when society needs to adapt and change as a result of a crime
- Safety Valve > Davis > maintenance of social order > prostitution > men release sexual tension
Outline three criticisms of the Functionalist understanding of crime and deviance (6)
- Ignores victims of crimes
- The intention of crime isn’t to create social solidarity
- doesn’t provide explanation of the causes of crime
Outline three ways individuals adapt to strain (6)
- Conformity > accept the cultural goals and strive to achieve them legitimately
- Innovation > individuals accept the goal of money success but use ‘new’ illegitimate means
- Retreatism > individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means > dropouts > drug addicts
Outline three criticisms for strain theory (6)
- official statistics over-represent W/C
- ignores the crimes of the powerful
- it ignores non-utilitarian crime > violence and vandalism
Outline two criticisms of strain theory according to subcultural theory (4)
- Merton sees deviance as individual > crime is usually committed by groups
- it ignores non-utilitarian crime > violence and vandalism
Outline two reasons why boys may suffer from ‘status frustration’ (4)
- Cultural deprivation > not succeeding through legitimate means
- Material deprivation > looking for monetary gain
Outline three types of delinquent subculture (6)
- Criminal > organised crime
- Conflict > gangs and post codes > unorganised
- Retreatist > fail to achieve illegitimate means
Outline three reasons why crime is socially constructed (4)
- dark figure of crime > crimes that are not included in official crime statistics
- labelling > society decides what’s criminal or not
Outline two roles of moral entrepreneurs (4)
- labelling > decides what’s and who’s criminal or not
- influence legislation > moral panic
Outline three impacts of labelling on an individual or groups (6)
- Deviant career > label becomes master status
- impacts official crime statistics
- leads to deviance amplification spiral
Outline three criticisms of labelling theory (6)
- assumes that without labelling, crime wouldn’t exist
- treats the offender as the victim
- too deterministic > assumes that labelled individuals will continue to commit crime
Outline three ways capitalism may cause crime (6)
- Poverty under capitalism > crime is the only way W/C can survive
- Relative deprivation > consumerism leads to more attention of material gain
- Alienation > anger > violence and disorder
Outline two ideological functions of crime and the law (4)
- laws benefit the ruling class > caring face of capitalism
- selective law enforcement > crime appears to be largely W/C
Outline three criticisms of the Marxist understanding of crime (6)
- ignores the relationship between crime and non-class inequalities > ethnicity and gender
- too deterministic > over-predicts the amount of crime in W/C
- not all capitalist societies have hight crime rates > the US and Finland