Main Theorists Flashcards
Durkheim (F)
- Boundary maintenance - united members condemn crime, reaffirming shared values , e.g. punishment.
- Adaptation + change - deviance is necessary to allow society to move forward and progress.
- Feminists: crime doesn’t always promote solidarity, e.g. women stay in orders for fear of attack.
Davis (F)
Safety valve - minor crimes prevent more serious ones, e.g. prostitution for men’s sexual frustrations, pornography (Polsky).
Cohen (Subcultural)
- Status Frustration - w/c boys due to suffering from cultural deprivation + lack skills to achieve in m/c schools, so resolve frustration by joining delinquent subcultures.
- Deviance Amplification Spiral - press exaggeration leads to moral panic, e.g. mods + rockers as ‘folk devils’.
- Lack of male role models means boys are likely to turn to all-male street crimes for a source of masculine identity.
- Increase in international human rights organisations means state has to make greater effort to conceal crimes.
Merton (Strain)
- People engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate goals.
- American Dream - expectation to pursue money success through legitimate means: education + hard work.
- Strain to Anomie - pressure to conform to norms can cause deviant behaviour when opportunities are blocked.
- Conformity; innovation; ritualism; retreatism; rebellion.
Cloward + Ohlin (Subcultural)
- Criminal subcultures - opportunity for employment on criminal career ladder.
- Conflict subcultures - violent gangs + claiming territory.
- Retreatists subcultures - fail both il/legitimate opportunities, based on illegal drug use.
Becker (Labelling)
Moral Entrepreneurs - people who decide what is morally acceptable within society, e.g. police, courts, etc.
Piliavin + Briar (Labelling)
- Police decisions to arrest youths is based on physical cues (dress), as well as gender, class + ethnicity, time + place.
- e.g. anti-social behaviour order was used against EMs.
Cicourel (Labelling)
- Typification - stereotypes on what a delinquent is like, e.g. law enforcement shows class bias by patrolling w/c areas.
- O.S recorded by police don’t provide a valid picture - sheds light on activities + processes on control agencies.
- m/c able to negotiate non-criminal labels for their misbehaviour.
Interactionalists
- Statistics provided by the criminal justice system (CJS) show actions of police + prosecutors.
- Dark figure of crime - difference between O.S and ‘real’ rates of crime.
- Alternative stats - e.g. victim surveys, self-report studies.
Lemert (Labelling)
- Primary Deviance - deviant acts that haven’t been publicly labelled.
- Secondary Deviance - deviant act is witnessed + label is attached to the person committing the act + becomes master status, leading to a SFP with a deviant career.
Braithwaite (Labelling)
- Reintegrative shaming - labels the act as bad, making actor aware of negative impact + encourages others to forgive them - lower crime rates.
- Disintegrative shaming - labels criminal + excluded from society.
Gordon (Interactionalism)
Crime is a rational reaction to capitalism, e.g. greed, profit, competition + materialism, hence found in all classes.
Chambliss (M)
- Law is shaped to protect property + profits of the rich + powerful - serves the interests of the capitalist class.
- Domestic law - defined by law as criminal + committed by state officials in pursuit of jobs as representatives of state.
Snider (M)
Governments reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten profitability as it effects donations.
Reiman (M)
Selective law enforcement - police + law ignore crimes of the powerful + criminalise w/c + E.M.
Pearce (M)
Laws are occasionally passed which on the surface look like they are to benefit the w/c, giving capitalism a ‘caring face’.
Jenabi (M)
Law against corporate homicide (2007), but there was only one successful prosecution despite large numbers of deaths.
Box (M)
Review of self-report studies found that women who commit serious offences are not treated more leniently.
Criminogenic capitalism (M)
- Nature leads to crime as it causes exploitation of the working class.
- Poor turn to crime in order to afford the necessities.
- Frustration of exploitation can lead to violence.
Taylor (N.M)
- State makes + enforces laws that benefit the r/c + criminalise the w/c.
- Capitalism should be replaced by a classless society, which would reduce the extent of crime.
- Free will - criminals make conscious choice to commit crime, not passive puppets shaped by capitalism.
- More unemployment in the west as TNCs switch manufacturing to low-wage countries.
- Deregulation means governments have little control over their economies.
Sutherland
- White Collar Crime - committed by a person of respectability + high social status.
- Occupational crime - committed by employees for personal gain.
- Corporate crime - committed for organisation in pursuit of goals.
- White collar crime is a greater threat as it promotes distrust of social institutions + undermines fabric of society.
Pearce + Tomb
- Corporate crime - omission that is a result of negligence or deliberate action to benefit the business.
- Financial crimes; crimes against consumers; against employees; against environment; state-corporate crimes.
Tombs
- Power to define an act as criminal - powerful corporations can influence the law so their actions aren’t criminalised.
- Corporate crime has enormous costs: physical (death, injury), environmental (pollution) + economic (consumers, workers, taxpayers).
Carrabine
We entrust corporations with our finances, health, security + personal information; however, abuse of trust.
Wilson + Herrnstein
Biosocial theory - some innately predisposed to commit crime, e.g. personality traits like aggression, risk taking.
Herrnstein + Murray
Main cause of crime is low intelligence, which they see as biologically determined.
Murray
- u/c fail to properly socialise their children, lone-mothers seen as ineffective socialisation agents.
- Absent fathers means that boys lack parental discipline, so younger turn to delinquent role models on the street.
Clarke
Rational Choice theory - commit crime if perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs → perceived costs are low.
Right Realists
- Causes of crime cannot be easily changed (e.g. socialisation + biological differences), so instead seek practical measures to make crime seem less attractive.
- e.g. main focus on control, containment + punishment of offenders.
Wilson + Kelling
- Zero Tolerance - essential to maintain orderly characteristics in neighbourhoods to prevent criminals taking control.
- e.g. any signs of deterioration, such as graffiti or vandalism, should be dealt with immediately.
- Myth of zero tolerance: introduced in NY (1994); however crime rates had been falling since 1985, 7000 new NYPD.
Left Realists
- Victims surveys shows disadvantaged groups are at greater risks of being victims.
- Tackling Crime: better relationships between the public and police - military policing alienates communities; multi-agency approach - involvement of social services, schools, public.
- Dealing with social inequalities will reduce the crime rate, e.g. Perry preschool project.
- Focus on high-crime inner-city areas gives an unrepresentative view that makes crime appear greater.
Lea + Young
- Although people are better off, media + advertising raises people’s expectations for material possessions (R.D).
- Marginalisation - unemployed youth have no organisation sense of resentment, leading to violence + rioting.
- Subculture - group’s feeling of relative deprivation, delinquent subcultures of young, unemployed black males.
- Statistics represent real differences in rates of offending.
Young
Ghettos in US that are immersed in the American dream - culture hooked on Gucci, BMW, Nikes.
Weber
Theodicy of Deprivilege - subcultures act as an explanation for their disadvantage.
Heidensohn + Silvestri
4/5 convicted offenders are men in UK; by age of 40, 9% of women have a criminal conviction + 32% of men.
Gender Differences
- Women convicted more for property offences (expect burglary).
- Men convicted more for violence + sexual assault.
- Men are more likely to be repeat offenders, have longer criminal careers + convicted for more serious crimes.
- Female crimes are less likely to be noticed (shoplifting).
- Prostitution won’t be reported; women let off more lightly.
Pollack
- Chivalry thesis - men are socialised to be ‘chivalrous’ to women, so avoid arresting them - invalid statistics.
- O.S: women likely to be released on bail rather than custody; women likely to receive a fine; women receive shorter prison sentences; 1/9 for prison sentence for shoplifting compared to 1/5 men.
Graham + Bowling
Self-report studies found that differences between gender offences was smaller.
Hood
- Women were about 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases.
- Black men 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence that is three months longer (nine for Asians) than whites.
Under-reporting of male crimes against women
- Yearnshire: women suffer 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence.
- In 2012, only 8% of women who were victims of a serious sexual assault reported it to the police.
Heidensohn
- Courts treat women more harshly when they deviate from gender norms + double standards.
- Women who don’t conform to motherhood are punished more harshly.
- Patriarchal Control - women are more conformist due to control at home, in public + at work.
- Gender inequalities in labour market leads women to turn to theft or prostitution to gain a decent standard of living.
Adler
Liberation thesis - liberated from patriarchy, crimes are becoming more frequent + more masculine / serious, e.g. white-collar crime (women in senior positions at work).
New Right
Absence of matrifocal lone parent families so turn to street gangs.
CSEW (2012)
- 70% of homicide victims are men.
- 60% of women are killed by (ex) partner.
- 10x women are S.A than men.
- Only 8% of women report assault, 1/3 who don’t report believe that the police couldn’t help much.
- Estimates 89,000 racist incidents go unreported.
Parsons
Functionalist Sex Role theory - boys engage in aggressive + anti-social behaviour; women perform expressive role in home + are socialised as more passive (bedroom culture).
Walklate
Parsons assumes that because women bear children they are best suited for the expressive role.
Crime Survey
54% of women avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime.
Carlen
- Class deal - material rewards.
- Gender deal - emotional rewards from family life - if rewards are available, women are likely to turn to crime.
- Concluded that poverty + brought up in care / oppressive family life are the main causes for their criminality.
Denscombe
Girl gangs - females engaged in risk-taking behaviour + girls were adopting male stances (looking hard + in control).
Chesney-Lind
- Poor + marginalised American women are more likely than liberated women to become criminals.
- Policy for mandatory arrest has led to a steep rise, e.g. both may be arrested for fighting in domestic violence cases.
Burman + Batchelor
- Moral panic - media depictions of young women as drunk + disorderly.
- Also, increase in reporting, recording + prosecuting young women accused of violent offences.
Messerschmidt
- Hegemonic masculinity - dominant, prestigious form that men wish to accomplish, e.g. white collar as success.
- White m/c youths: accommodating (subordinate) status in school with an oppositional form outside (vandalism, etc).
- White w/c youths: less chance at educational success, so masculinity is oppositional in both, e.g. Willis: lads.
- Black l/c youths: fewer expectations of a reasonable job, so use gang membership + violence as masculinity.
Winslow (PM)
- Globalisation + postmodernity has led to a decrease in traditional manual jobs where w/c expressed their masculinity so have moved to service sector.
- e.g. become bouncers + opportunity for illegal business ventures like drugs + alcohol.
Official Statistics (Ethnicity)
- Over-representation of EMs.
- Black people = 3% of the population, but 13.1% of prison population.
- Asians make up 6.5% of the population but 7.7% of prison.
Ministry of Justice
- Blacks are 7x more likely to be stopped than whites.
- 3x likely to be arrested; 5x more likely to be in prison.
Victim Surveys
Great deal of crime in intra-ethnic (takes place between ethnic groups).
Phillips + Bowling
- White victims over-identify blacks, even when not sure.
- Victim surveys only covers personal crimes.
- Oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities - over-policing + under-protection - negative stereotypes.
Sharp + Budd
- Self-Report Studies.
- Mixed ethnic origins were most likely to say they committed an offence, e.g. drug use.
- EMs commit crimes (e.g. robbery) where victims can identify them.
Terrorism Act (2000)
Police can stop + search vehicles whether or not they have reasonable suspicions (Asians most likely).
Macpherson Report (1999)
Investigation of murder of Stephen Lawrence showed ingrained racist attitudes + institutional racism.
Crown Prosecution Services (CPS)
More likely to drop cases against EMs, P+B: weak evidence + based on stereotypes.
Neo-Marxism
Stats are a social construction resulting from racist labelling + discrimination in CJS.
Gilroy
Myth of black criminality - EM crimes are a form of political resistance against a racist society, e.g. Black Panthers.
Hall
- Policing the crisis - moral panic of black muggers despite no evidence of a significant increase in crime at the time.
- Crisis of capitalism increasingly marginalises black youths through unemployment - petty crime as a means of survival.
FitzGerald
Role of neighbourhood factors - street robbery was highest in poor areas where blacks were more likely to live.
Waddington
- Locality theory - certain areas are more densely populated with EMs.
- Zones of transition where crime rates are much higher due to the lack of social cohesion.
Sewell
- Lack of father figure.
- Negative experiences of white culture.
- Media influence of hip-hop / rap with construction of hyper-masculinity around violence + status symbol of designer clothes.
Racist Victimisation
- Individual is selected as a target due to their race, ethnicity or religion, e.g. Macpherson.
- Racially aggravated offences - offender is motivated by hostility toward members.
- Police recorded 54,000 racist incidents (2014/15); however, CSEW estimates 89,000 incidents are unreported.
Williams + Dickinson
- British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime.
- Give a distorted image of crime, criminals and policing compared to official statistics.
Ditton + Duffy
- Over-represent violent + sexual crime.
- 46% of media reports, but made up only 3% of recorded crimes.
Felson
- Dramatic fallacy - media overplay extraordinary crimes
- Age fallacy - shows older victims.
- Bus terminal in NY reshaped, e.g. small sinks to deter homeless washing.
Walby
Distorted picture of rape: typically carried out by known perpetrator instead of ‘psychopathic strangers’.
Baudrillard
Hyper-reality - people have no understanding of crime, only the representations of crime they see in the media.
Gerbner
Heavy users of TV had higher levels of fear of crime.
Greer + Reiner (Interactionalists)
Media as a cause / fear of crime ignores meanings viewers give to media violence.
McRobbie + Thornton
Moral panics are now routine + have less impact.
Wall
- Cyber-trespass - hacking, sabotage + spreading viruses.
- Cyber-deception + theft - identity theft, phishing + violation of intellectual property rights.
- Cyber-pornography - involving minors + access to them.
- Cyber-violence - cyberstalking + hate crimes / speech.
- Global cyber-crime - policing crime is difficult due to the sheer scale of the internet + limited resources of the police.
Jewkes
ICT permits routine surveillance through the use of CCTV camera, electronic, fingerprints databases, etc.
Held
Globalisation of Crime - the growing interconnectedness of crime across national borders.
Castells
- Global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum.
- Smuggling; trafficking; cyber + green crimes; terrorism; laundering; trade.
Beck
- Global risk consciousness - anxiety in western countries to protect borders, e.g. UK has toughened border control.
- Global risk society - risks involve harming the environment + consequences for humanity, e.g. global warming.
Lash and Urry
Increased deregulation + fewer state controls over business + finance.
Glenny
- McMafia - growth in organised crime networks based on economic links.
- Deregulation of global markets + the fall of USSR.
- Gangs disperse around the world.
White
- Green criminology - focuses on the notion of harm (environment, human, animals) rather than criminal law.
- Powerful interests of the nation-state + TNCs define laws in their own interests on environmental harm.
- Anthropocentric approach - humans have the right to dominate nature + put economic growth before the environment.
Roscoff
Western businesses ship their waste to be processed in third-world countries due to low costs (dispose for $3 a ton).
South
Poorer groups are worse affected by pollution, e.g. black community houses next to garbage dumping.
Green + Ward
- State crime - deviant activities perpetrated by state + governments in order to further their policies.
- Estimate figure of 262 million people murdered by governments during the 20th century.
McLaughlin
- Political crimes (corruption).
- Crimes by police + security (genocide, torture).
- Economic crimes (violation of health + safety laws).
- Social + cultural crimes (institutional racism).
Kramer + Michalowski
- War crimes: America justified its invasion of Iraq as self-defence by claiming weapons of mass destruction.
- Unjustified torture of prisoners, e.g. Abu Ghraib prison filled with ‘sadistic abuses’.
- Terror bombing of civilians had become normalised, e.g. America bombing Syria, Iraq, Palestine.
Michalowski
- Legal acts that are similar to illegal ones based on the harm they cause.
- Zemiology - study of harms + whether or not they are against the law.
Rothe + Mullins
International law - action on behalf of a state that violates international law + state’s own domestic law.
Schwendinger
Human rights - violation of people’s basic human / natural rights + civil rights.
Clarke
- Situational crime prevention - make it harder to commit crime by designing out crime; crime is opportunistic, so must reduce opportunities to commit crimes.
- Target hardening measures: increased surveillance (CCTV); bars + bolts on windows; park benches prevent homeless.
Foucault
- Sovereign power - public + physical forms of punishment.
- Disciplinary power - discipline through surveillance.
- Panopticon - self-surveillance on prisoners, monitoring with a view of rehabilitation reflects society.
- Over-estimates the power of surveillance in changing behaviour; Goffman: inmates are able to resist control.
Norris
While CCTV reduced crime in car parks, it had little to no effect on other crime; potentially displaces crime instead.
Gill + Loveday
Few robbers, burglars, shoplifters + fraudsters were put off by CCTV - only acts as ideological function.
Mathiesen
Synoptic surveillance - media allows people to watch everyone.
Thompson
- Powerful groups fear media’s surveillance as it can uncover damaging information about them, acting as social control.
- Public monitor each other through video cameras, dashboard, etc - acts as evidence in case of an accident.
- 18th century punishments like hanging for theft were apart of ‘rule of terror’ of aristocrats over the poor.
Lyon
- Social sorting + categorical suspicion - monitored based on level of risk certain groups pose.
- e.g. Lewis: Muslim suburbs placed under surveillance due to counter-terrorism scheme (150 ANPR camera).
Lewis
Muslim suburbs placed under surveillance due to counter-terrorism scheme (150 ANPR camera).
Reduction (Punishment)
- Deterrence - punishing the individual discourages them from future offending.
- Rehabilitation - punishment can be used to reform offenders, e.g. providing education + training for prisoners.
- Incapacitation - use of punishment to remove offender’s capability of offending again, e.g. capital punishment, imprisonment.
- Retribution - offenders deserve to be punished + society is justified to take revenge.
Althusser
Repressive state apparatus - through coercive power like police + army.
Rusche + Kirchheimer
Punishment changes as economic needs changes, e.g. cheap prison labour.
New Labour
Imprisonment for petty offenders, leading to overcrowding in prisons.
Garland
Penal welfarism - punishment should reintegrate offenders into society.
Christie
- Victim is socially constructed.
- Ideal victim portrayed by the media as weak, innocent + blameless.
Wolfgang
Victim precipitation - victim triggered the event leading to the homicide, e.g. initiation through violence.
Tombs + Whyte
- ‘Safety crimes’, employers’ violation of the law that leads to death / injury is explained as ‘accident prone’ workers.
- By concealing true extent of victimisation + its causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful.
Newburn + Rock
Homeless people were 12x more likely to have experience violence, 1/10 being urinated on.
