Social class and crime Flashcards
blue collar crime
criminal activities associated with those from lower backgrounds
give 2 reasons why white collar and corporate crime is invisible
lack of awareness + limited enforcement
1 contemporary example of selective law enforcement
differential treatment of drug offences
class bias
favour higher social classes and discriminate lower backgrounds
2 examples of white collar
money laundering
judicial bias
prejudice that can influence a judge’s decision - making process
white collar crime
corporate crime
a person uses their job for personal gain
crimes committed by a company in order to increase profits
Trend in Social Class and Crime
- Prison statistics = prison populations are made up more from the w/c than from the m/c or u/c
- Types of crime = w/c = street crimes such as theft, assault and shoplifting. m/c = more white-collar crime, corporate crime and cyber crime
Explanations for Trends
(Selective Law Enforcement)
the police force and cjs treat the w/c and m/c differently. M/c are to get a slap on the wrist as they’re seen as having made a mistake but w/c are more likely to get arrested for the same crime
Explanations for Trends
(Selective Law Creation)
those who create the law are often of the middle and upper classes, this means they’re able to manipulate the law into benefitting their own needs and will know ways to manipulate the law for their benefit
Explanations for Trends
(Labelling + Stereotypes)
w/c are often labelled as being more criminogenic and therefore the cjs sees them as making conscious choices to commit crime where as middle class are seen as making a mistake or unintentionally committing a crime
Explanations for White Collar and Corporate Crime:
Strain Theory
Theory (Reiner) = explains w/c crime by using Merton’s Strain Theory, but also explains m/c crime and wcc by suggesting that there is no limit to success financial or material so even those who appear successful can feel strain
Explanations for White Collar and Corporate Crime:
Control Theory
(Murray) = underclass is responsible for the majority of street crime
(Hirschi) = suggests that the underclass are more likely to lack impulse control and bonds to the community which prevent them from committing crime
Explanations for White Collar and Corporate Crime:
Criminogenic Capitalism
(Gordon) = capitalism not only encourages the w/c to be criminal by creating a culture of envy and hostility. They commit utilitarian crime to survive in a capitalist’s system and commit non-utilitarian crime to vent frustration at being oppressed. M/c crime can be explained as capitalism encourages those who are rich to enrich themselves further
Explanations for White Collar and Corporate Crime:
Labelling Theory
(Becker) = w/c are unfairly tattered by the cjs, they are less likely to be able to negotiate the system to their advantage. The police tend to patrol w/c areas more which results in w/c crime statistics being higher than m/c (Cicourel) = typifications, police patrol w/c areas more
