postmodernism explanations of crime

Question 1

key areas

Answer 1

1. Explaining crime through individual choices NOT structural causes
2. Thrill seeking and excitement
3. Re - defining crime - types of Harm
4. Reducing social harm - surveillance

Question 2

Explaining crime through individual choices NOT structural causes

Answer 2

• society is characterised by fragmentation, increased individualism, diversity, fluidity and (sometimes) chaos.
• not interested in any patterns of crime/ structural reasons e.g marginalisation, anomie and strain, capitalism
• crime reflect individual experiences and choices which cannot be generalised or explained through one explanation
• free will in an individual world means that any crime is committed by a number of infinite individual causes therefore we will never know for sure why.

Question 3

Thrill seeking and excitement

Answer 3

Levin and McDevitt - perpetrators of some hate crimes, derive thrills and escape by inflicting suffering on those who are different

Katz - ‘seductions of crime’ - most young males are bored due to a lack of self knowledge and feeling like they ar drifting. Katz argues crime provides an entertainment from boredom and gives a sense of belonging

Lyng’s ‘Edgework’ - exploring the limits of criminal behaviour is exciting and appeal to young people. It provides a form of ‘accomplishing masculinity’ and status in w/c subcultures - whilst showing control

Question 4

Re - defining crime - types of Harm

Answer 4

• concept of ‘crime’ is not useful, as it merely reflects the socially constructed ideas about certain behaviours that fall into narrow criteria. Lack of social cohesion and increased diversity = crime
• laws are created by people from particular cultural and social viewpoints, which fails to reflect an increasingly diverse range of social norms
• PM’s - it is necessary to go further than the legal definitions of crime and develop a wider conception of crime based on justice and respect for people’s chosen lifestyles.
• Henry and Milovanovic - crime should go beyond narrow legal definitions to a wider conception of ‘social harm’ embracing all threats and risks to ppl pursuing diverse identities.

Question 5

2 forms of harm according to PMs

Answer 5

Harms of reduction - power is used to cause a victim immediate loss or injury e.g burglary or murder

Harms of repression - power is used to restrict future human development, such as hate crimes and sexual harassment.

Question 6

Reducing social harm - surveillance

Answer 6

• reducing crime requires a range of strategies (small, large, public, private) these strategies should be fragmented to reflect crime - growing emphasis on private crime prevention (rather than police)
• policing policies have become localised and community-based focusing on a range of localised and fragmented identities (gender, ethnicity) e.g voluntary use of Sharia courts - certain crimes are more severe in certain areas – crime strategies cannot be generalised
• Foucault argues surveillance is likely to become an effective way to regulate behaviour and reduce crime - deters people from crime. UK is the highest user of CCTV cameras in the world (1 camera for every 9 people)
• Bauman and Lyon say ‘Liquid surveillance’ is a concept to explain many forms of surveillance e.g phones, chips, passport photos which all monitor people (gov) which erodes right to privacy

(form of social control)

Question 7

evaluations of PM

Answer 7

• doesn’t explain why most people don’t use their power to inflict harm on others and fails to account for why some people do engage in harmful acts to assert identity

fails to recognise that the consumer society, in which personal identity is tied up with purchases of material goods can lead to resentment among those who cannot afford it

many people still have strong conceptions of what is right and wrong , which underpin the law and much sociological theory of crime

LR Lea - PM theories are not much than a re-discovery of labelling theory or radical criminology, which concluded long ago crime was a social construction and that power was a crucial element in that

major causes of crime ARE DUE TO STRUCTURAL INEQAULITY

fail to explore why people do not commit crime

ignores the issues of selective law enforcement addressed by marxism and labelling theory