LO1, Social Structure

Question 1

Social construction of crime

Answer 1

• refers to someone that has been made or defined by society, rather than occurring naturally
• what counts as criminality is simply which ever acts a society defines as criminal

Question 2

Historical and cross cultural evidence

Answer 2

-shows that what is classed as criminal/deviant can change overtime and vary between cultures

Question 3

What is culture

Answer 3

• includes the social behaviour and norms in human societies
• the shared values, beliefs, customs and traditions of a specified group of people

Question 4

How do laws change from culture to culture

Answer 4

• religious beliefs
• tradition
• public opinion
• different norms and values
• the status of different groups of people within a culture

Question 5

How do laws change over time

Answer 5

• changing norms and values
• campaigns for change
• landmark events or cases
• political backing
• growing knowledge and understanding as a result of research

Question 6

Examples of laws changing

Answer 6

• homosexuality
• guns
• child labour
• capital punishment
• double jeopardy
• prostitution

Question 7

Changing laws in different places

Answer 7

• same actions aren’t criminal offences even in places that have similar cultures, e.g, UK/USA
• not policed the same way in England than wales

Question 8

Changing laws in different places, examples

Answer 8

• cannabis: Durham police don’t prioritise people who grow it, but Cumbria do
• possession is illegal in England an wales, but has been decriminalised in some countries with a similar culture
• within England the law is policed differently according to police priorities and resources

Question 9

How are laws applied to different cultures

Answer 9

• in theory the law is applied equally to everyone:
• two people suspecte of the same crime should be treated, in the same way by the criminal justice, there are different circumstances which laws are applied to

Question 10

How are laws applied to different cultures, examples

Answer 10

• moral panic
• stereotypes/typifications
• age of criminal responsibility
• grounds of diminished responsiblilty

Question 11

Stereotypes/typifications

Answer 11

• the law might be enforced differently against different groups in society
• police officer and judges hold typifications about which people are ‘typical criminals’ often based on gender/race/class/ethnicity
• these factors can influence the application of formal sanctions

Question 12

Age of criminality responsibility

Answer 12

-two people may commit the same criminal act but will be treated differently by the law if they are below the age of criminal responsibility

• criminal responsibility in:
• Scotland=12
• EU= no lower than 12
• England= 10
• wales and northern island= 10

Question 13

Grounds of diminished responsibility

Answer 13

• if a défendent can show that their mental conditions sustainability reduced their ability to understand what they were doing or their ability to form a rational judgement
• this reduces the conviction from murder to man slaughter