Postmodernism and Crime Flashcards
What do Postmodernists believe about crime?
A rapidly changing society leads to diversity, so crime needs to evolve beyond law-breaking.
Crime is socially constructed and doesn’t reflect today’s diverse society = out of date.
What are the causes of crime?
- Individualism: Self-focused means crime is used to construct identities, reflects a lifestyle choice. E.g: caused by emotion.
- Edgework: Katz and Lyng, people commit crime for the thrills they get from ‘living on the edge’. ‘Buzz’ of emotion from risk-taking, not due to rational choice or structural factors. E.g: vandalism.
- Hate Crimes: Motivated by hostility and judgement. Levin and McDevitt = hate crimes create pleasure by inflicting suffering on those they perceive as different or ‘lesser’ to themselves, may gain status through committing hate crimes.
Evaluation = Offers explanations for non-utilitarian crimes, but fails to explain why statistics show patterns of crime, challenging the idea that it is a one-off event.
What is crime as ‘social harm’?
Henry and Milovanovic = crime should be reviewed so that it is about people using power to show disrespect to others, as well as crime.
Harms of reduction - when someone uses their power in a way which results in an immediate loss of possession, or causes injury. e.g: theft/murder.
Harms of repression - when someone’s future growth or development is threatened. e.g: bullying, hate crimes.
Evaluation = provides a fuller picture of crime beyond the law but does not address how structural inequalities may cause crime.
What do Postmodernists say about the CONTROL of crime?
1 - Surveillance techniques to control everyone. E.g: CCTV, ring doorbells. Becoming ‘surveillance societies’ where we lose privacy.
2 - Justice becoming more individualised, customised to each individual and recognising the particular circumstances. E.g: mental illness.
3 - Increased use of control agencies such as private security firms.
Evaluation = explains contemporary developments such as CCTV but doesn’t recognise that offenders of corporate crime may be able to benefit from this.
