intro

Question 1

define crime

Answer 1

acts that contravene criminal law

Question 2

Newburn (2007)

Answer 2

crime is attached to certain behaviours prohibited by the state , suggests that as crime is defined by criminal law, the fact that criminal law varies between countries, proves crime is socially constructed, reinforcing the idea that nothing in itself is criminal

Question 3

Define social control

Answer 3

various methods used to persuade/force individuals to conform to the dominant norms/values of group or society (achieved by a range of sanctions)

Question 4

Downes and Rock (2007)

Answer 4

ambiguity is a key feature of rules breaking as people are unsure of what counts as deviant (often dependent on context)

Question 5

Plummer (1979)

Answer 5

two aspects of defining deviance :

Societal deviance (generally agreed by society e.g murder/rape/drink driving)

Situational deviance (depends on context/location)

Question 6

Ways crime is proved to be a social construction:

Answer 6

1.There is non-deviant crime (parking ticket,underage drinking)

2.Time – deviance changes based on standard of behaviour at time (smoking indoors was legal until 2007)

3.Society or culture – culturally relative (alcohol illegal in Islamic countries , acceptable in UK)

4.Social group - (smoking cannabis in group of young people is not seen as deviant, but it is seen as deviant/illegal by wider society)

5.Place/context (murder/killing someone in war – still taking a life but viewed very differently)