intro to crime and deviance

Question 1

what is crime?

Answer 1

an act which breaks the law and is subject to official punishment.

Question 2

what is deviance?

Answer 2

an act which breaks social norms, may or may not be criminal

Question 3

what is delinquency?

Answer 3

acts which are criminal or considered antisocial committed by young people.

Question 4

proof that deviance is socially constructed?

Answer 4

varies over time - homosexuality.
varies by place - polygamous marriages.
society and attitudes.
situational - screaming at football match.

Question 5

what is situational deviance?

Answer 5

subcultures develop norms that may be odd to mainstream culture but acceptable to them. eg white face paint on goths.

Question 6

an example where deviance is rewarded?

Answer 6

soldiers receiving medals even though they’re killing someone.

Question 7

why are murderers punished unlike soldiers who are rewarded?

Answer 7

because soldiers are conforming to value of bravery whereas murderers are deviating from value of human life.

Question 8

what are the 5 types of punishment and what are they?

Answer 8

retribution - punishment.
deterrance - aims to put future criminals off, fear of getting same punishment.
rehabilitation - prevent future crime by changing behaviour.
incapacitation - remove person from society.
restoration - offender makes direct amends to victim.

Question 9

what methods of punishment would functionalists favour?

Answer 9

retribution, deterrance and incapacitation.

Question 10

what methods of punishments would marxists and interpretivists favour?

Answer 10

restoration, rehabilitation.

Question 11

what is social control?

Answer 11

various methods used to make sure people obey social norms and values, such as positive and negative sanctions.

Question 12

what leads to social conformity?

Answer 12

socialisation and social control?

Question 13

what is formal social control?

Answer 13

carried out by agency specifically set up to ensure people conform to set of norms eg the law.

Question 14

examples of formal social control?

Answer 14

police, courts, prisons.

Question 15

what is informal social control?

Answer 15

carried out by agencies whose primary purpose is not social control.

Question 16

examples of informal social control?

Answer 16

family, education, media (advertising can lead to conformity in gender roles and reporting consequences of norm breaking), workplace, peer group (fear of rejection)

Question 17

two main approaches explaining deviant behaviour?

Answer 17

biological - suggest deviants born with defect.
psychological - suggest smth wrong with mind rather than body eg mental imbalance.

Question 18

what did Lombroso argue about criminals?

Answer 18

throwbacks to primitive humans. physical signs such as big ears and large jaws.
no support for this.

Question 19

what do Moir and Jessel argue about criminals?

Answer 19

low IQ is inherited and leads to impulsivity.
also caused by low levels of serotonin.
men more likely to commit crime.

Question 20

criticisms of biological theories?

Answer 20

impulsivity doesn’t = criminal
explains changes in behaviour but doesn’t actually explain crime.

Question 21

what does Eysenck argue about criminals?

Answer 21

extroverts more likely to commit crime as they seek adventure and harder to condition.

Question 22

what doe Bowlby argue about criminals?

Answer 22

children need mother or psychopathic personality develops.

Question 23

criticisms of psychological theories?

Answer 23

neglect social and cultural factors - values are learnt not genetically determined.
most sociologists reject priority given to early childhood experiences.

Question 24

what should you make links to when discussing official stats of crime?

Answer 24

research methods.

Question 25

what are crime stats useful for?

Answer 25

see patterns of who is convicted of crime.
offers trends as been recorded since 1850s.
cheap and very easily available.
measure performance of agencies such as police.

Question 26

drawback of crime stats?

Answer 26

ignores dark figure of crime.
many crimes not reported.
many crimes not recorded.
many crimes unnoticed.

Question 27

what is screening out?

Answer 27

crimes getting dropped without being investigated.

Question 28

what was introduced in 2002, improving reliability and consistency of crime stats?

Answer 28

national recording standard - reduce police discretion in recording reports of offences.

Question 29

what is a problem with police not recording all crimes?

Answer 29

future crimes not prevented and victims don’t get support needed.

Question 30

strength of victim surveys?

Answer 30

form of triangulation with official stats to find insight into unreported and unrecorded crimes.

Question 31

drawback of victim surveys?

Answer 31

relies on presumption that people are aware they have been victim and accurately remember what happened.

Question 32

drawbacks of csew?

Answer 32

homeless not included but very vulnerable to crime.
victims of DV probs won’t admit.
corporate crimes excluded

Question 33

advantages of self report studies?

Answer 33

official data is more biased and unrepresentative.
learn about offenders who did not get caught.
evaluate effectiveness of policies.

Question 34

disadvantages of self report studies?

Answer 34

may overexaggerate crimes
may underexaggerate crimes
offenders least likely to fill in survey
many parents didn’t want children taking part.
most won’t admit big crimes.

Question 35

what is massaging crime figures?

Answer 35

falsified data produced to make themselves look better, affecting reliability.

Question 36

why have crime figures risen?

Answer 36

easier to report crime due to technology.
more valuables insured.
less tolerance of sexual crimes.
new opportunities such as credit card fraud.