MT1 - Theories on crime (30 marker)

Question 1

Functionalism - Durkheim

Answer 1

Says crime is:

1 - Inevitable

2 - Functional - a certain amount of crime strengthens social bonds. Crime reaffirms boundaries of acceptable behaviour through degrading ceremonies.

Question 2

CRITICISMS OF DURKHEIM

Answer 2

Doesn’t explain why certain people are more likely to commit crimes than others.

Question 3

Functionalism - Merton

Answer 3

1 - crime exists because everyone shares the same goals in life (the American dream) but not everyone can achieve these goals legitimately so they turn to illegitimate means.

2 - people react to pressure to achieve AD through:
Conformity (legitimate means)
Innovation (Break law for money)
Ritualism (Give up on AD)
Retreatism (Give up and turn to drugs)
Rebellion (Replace AD with new values)

Question 4

CRITICISMS OF MERTON

Answer 4

Assumes that everyone shares the same values.

Question 5

Functionalism - A-Cohen

Answer 5

1 - Subcultural theory - bad behaved w/c boys develop delinquent behaviour and realise they cant be successful through ed. They suffer status frustration (anger because their aspirations are blocked)

2 - They then form subcultures, as an illegitimate opportunity to achieve status.

Question 6

CRITICISMS OF A-COHEN

Answer 6

Assumes value consensus – that everyone shares the same norms and values.

Question 7

Right Realism - Herrnstein and Murray

Answer 7

main cause of crime is low intelligence which they see as biologically determined.

Question 8

Right Realism - Murray

Answer 8

Dependency culture has led to a decline in marriage and increase in single mothers on benefits. Because these single mothers cant socialise their children properly, mostly boys, lack discipline and this causes delinquent behaviour.

Question 9

Right Realism - Clarke

Answer 9

The decision to commit crime is based on rational choice of consequences.

Question 10

CRITICISMS OF RIGHT REALISM

Answer 10

Ignore wider structural causes of crime such as poverty.

Question 11

Marxism - What causes crime

Answer 11

Capitalism causes crime because its criminogenic, causes crime by its own nature.

Question 12

Marxism - Who breaks the law/Why

Answer 12

Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class (workers are exploited and feel alienated leading causing them to be angry and commit crime)

Ruling class commit white collar and corporate crimes

Question 13

Marxism - The purpose of laws

Answer 13

Maintains false class consciousness

Question 14

CRITICISMS OF MARXISM - Taylor et al

Answer 14

theory is deterministic

Question 15

Neo-Marxism - New criminology - why people commit crime

Answer 15

Crime is a conscious choice by the working class to redistribute the wealth from the rich to the poor.

Question 16

Neo-Marxism - New criminology - is crime positive or negative - Taylor et al

Answer 16

Crime as positive as it is pro-revolutionary.

Question 17

CRITICISMS OF NEW CRIMINOLOGY - feminists

Answer 17

Theory is gender blind - ignores female crime

Question 18

Neo-Marxism - Left Realisms - why people commit crime - Lea and Young

Answer 18

Relative deprivation causes crime (feeling of lacking something compared to what others have)

Question 19

Neo-Marxism - Left Realisms - is crime positive or negative

Answer 19

negative - impact on victims should be considered

Question 20

CRITICISMS OF LEFT REALISM

Answer 20

not all people who feel relatively deprived commit crime

Question 21

Interactionalist - Becker

Answer 21

crime is a social construct its not the nature of the act that makes it criminal, but the nature of society’s reaction to it.

Question 22

CRITICISMS OF INTERACTIONIST THEORY

Answer 22

deterministic - it suggests that people are passive and do not react against their labels.

Question 23

Interactionalist - Cicourel

Answer 23

He carried out a participant and non-participant observation study of policing and found that police officers’ decisions to arrest are based on typifications - the stereotypes they held about offenders.

When middle class youths are arrested, they are less likely to be charged. This is because their background does not fit the stereotype of a typical criminal and because their parents have the cultural capital to negotiate with the police. Cicourel concludes that justice is not fixed, it is negotiable.

Therefore, OCS can’t be trusted.