SOC - Debates in crime

Question 1

Crime as a social construct ( Interactionists)

Answer 1

• No act us universally deviant, some acts are labelled as deviant by those with influence and power

Question 2

Crime as a social construct (Marxists)

Answer 2

• The law is made by the wealthy. Most laws serve to protect the assets of those born into the higher social classes. Capitalism uses the law to criminalise the poor who do not obey (Chambliss).

Question 3

Crime as a social construct (realists)

Answer 3

Sociologists need to be less engaged with theoretical debates and, instead, focus on pragmatic ways to solve crime and to protect society. For victims of crime, the experience feels very real and should not be termed as a social construction.

Question 4

Crime as a social construct (Functionalists)

Answer 4

Laws are passed to reflect the values of society. If an act is deviant, then that is because it goes against the belief system that most of society adopt. We should accept the law when studying crime.

Question 5

Why is crime considered as a social construct?

Answer 5

• Laws can change over time
• Circumstance can change how we view crimes
• Laws can change across cultures
  Thus showing it is a construction of the societies we are in

Question 6

Solutions to crime ( Post modernist)

Answer 6

Surveillance EG Panopticon prison

Question 7

Solutions to crime ( Interactionists)

Answer 7

• Young People drift in and out of deviance
• It becomes a problem when they begin to see themselves as deviant
• Remove labels surrounding deviance so that people can still have a typical career and not have an association with other offenders.
• decriminalisation for minor offences

Question 8

Solutions to crime ( Right Realists)

Answer 8

RCT - increase the chances of getting caught with methods such as CCTV OR increase punishments so much to ensure the costs are severe enough so people won’t take the risk
BWT - repair criminal damage immediately and and crack down on behaviours that can make the presence of crime appear tolerated

Question 9

Solutions to crime ( Left Realists)

Answer 9

Kinsey Lea and Young - It is important the police improve their relationship with the public. In particular the lower social classes who are usually the most knowledgeable about crime. Community policing could create the presence of friendly officers

Question 10

Measuring Crime

Answer 10

1. Police Recorded Crime– now published by the ONS
2. CSEW
3. Self Report Studies carried out by Sociologists

Question 11

ONS/Home Office stats

Answer 11

• Police recorded crime has been collected since 1857
• Under 10% of recorded crime comes from the police finding evidence through routine patrols, stop and searches etc. Most crime, that the police know of, is reported from the public.
• Critic - Cicourel

Question 12

CSEW

Answer 12

• A victimisation survey – face to face interviews
• Seeks to measure the amount of crime in England and Wales
• Has measured crime since 1981
• Can provide a better representation of crime than Home Office statistics as it captures crimes that people may not bother to report
• survey which asks members of the public about their experiences of crime over the last 12 months
• Records all types of crimes including crimes which may not have been reported to the police
• Survey uses both people who have experienced crime and people who haven’t
• In 2015/2016, 50,000 households across England and Wales were invited to participate.

Question 13

Issues with police recorded crime

Answer 13

A crime must be recognised, reported, and then recorded; many issues arise at each step which can lead to it not being recorded as a statistic

Question 14

Why might a crime not be recognised/ Evidence that supports WCC

Answer 14

Hughes and Langan argue WCC is undetected because of: 
Low visibility
Diffusion of Responsibility
Diffusion of Victimisation
Complexity

Question 15

Why might a crime not be reported?

Answer 15

Walby argues that many women do not report domestic abuse to the police reasons such as:
Fear
Shame/embarrassment
Lack of confidence in the police

Question 16

Why might a crime not be recorded?

Answer 16

Cicourel’s observations found that when police were dealing with middle class offenders, they were more likely to be persuaded by parents that they could rehabilitate their own child and so the cases did not go through a formal process

Question 17

Why is the CSEW seen as more valid and reliable?

Answer 17

LEA AND YOUNG:
The dark figure of unrecorded crime = crime unknown to the police. If the CSEW is accurate, then the difference between the two data sets on the graph above represents todays dark figure

Question 18

Why does the CSEW not capture the whole picture?

Answer 18

WALBY: does not capture the true extent of domestic abuse in society as it fails to look at repeat offences.

Question 19

Why is the ONS seen as useful ? (Positivists)

Answer 19

Durkheim, would draw attention to the fact that Police recorded crime has been collected since 1857.
- we can calculate patterns and trends as we have numerical data that goes back hundreds of years

Question 20

Why are crime stats seen as useful? (Realists)

Answer 20

Lea and Young, would draw attention to the fact that many patterns emerge in both police recorded stats and the CSEW so are reliable.
E.g. poverty and crime shows a link in both measures of crime. WC can be offender and victims

Question 21

Edwin Sutherland

Answer 21

Defines WCC as “crimes committed by persons of high social status in the course of their occupations”.

Question 22

Types of WCC

Answer 22

• Occupational Crime
• Corporate Crime
• Green Crime
• State Crime

Question 23

Types of crime sociologists should focus on (Realism)

Answer 23

Right :
Official statistics confirm that crime is dominantly a working class activity and this should be the focus for today sociologists.
Left :
Street crime is reported by the public because it causes the most harm to them. Sociologists should focus on victims of street crimes who experience emotional harm.

Question 24

Types of crime sociologists should focus on (Interactionist)

Answer 24

The type of crime we focus on is not overly significant. What is significant is how society reacts to it. If people react to White Collar crime, then it will gain more attention and more individuals who get caught when they engage in it. Then they will be labelled.