Social Distribution of Crime Flashcards
Holdaway et al. - Canteen Culture
Holdaway claimed that there was a ‘canteen culture’ that existed within the police force. He claimed that many officers held prejudicial thoughts about members of the African Caribbean community and therefore told negative stories and shared derogatory jokes at their expense. Holdaway argued that many new recruits felt under pressure to conform to this ‘canteen culture’.
Lea and Young - Causes of Crime
Lea and Young believe that crime is caused by relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation. When it comes to ethnic minority crime, they believe that the racism of our society leads to the ‘economic exclusion’ of ethnic minority communities.
Moynihan - Ethnic Minority Crime
Right realists view cultural deprivation as one of the main reasons for crime occurring. Moynihan claims that the main cause behind ethnic minority crime is poor socialisation caused by ineffective family structures. Moynihan suggests that cultural deprivation can become a cycle in single parent families as the children are likely to fail in education.
Hall - Divide and Rule
Hall suggests that the ruling class use racism as a tool to divide the proletariat and prevent a revolution. He refers to this as divide and rule.
Hall claims that, through the media, the bourgeoisie have used ‘moral panics’ about ethnic minority groups that have led to clear divisions due to racial tensions. He talks specifically about the 1970’s portrayal of the ‘black mugger’; a media representation of young black men that demonised them in the eyes of the public.
Pollack - Chivalry Thesis
Pollack discusses the ‘chivalry thesis’; an idea that suggests the criminal justice system treats men and women differently. He claims that this stems from gender role socialisation.
The criminal justice system is traditionally dominated by men who are raised to be ‘chivalrous’ towards women. This means that when faced with a female offender, male police officers are more likely to treat them leniently.
Heidensohn - Treatment of Women by CJS
In many domestic abuse cases, women choose not to report the majority of incidents to the police. Heidensohn claims that the criminal justice system treats women very poorly when investigating claims of sexual assault or domestic violence.
This is because women are viewed to have deviated from stereotypical gender norms, e.g. if they act in a sexually promiscuous way they are not performing their expressive role.
Parsons - Sex Role Theory
Parsons suggests that women are less likely to be criminals due to their genetic characteristics, this is called sex role theory. He argues the importance of the ‘expressive leader’ in the primary socialisation of children and suggests women have more to lose if they turn to criminal activity.
Heidensohn - Patriarchal Control
Heidensohn claims that women are generally more likely to conform to society’s norms and values than men and therefore tend to be restricted when it comes to criminal or deviant activity. She claims that because of ‘patriarchal control’, women are used to being controlled by men throughout their lives and consequently do not have the same opportunities to commit crime.
Adler - Liberation Thesis
Adler suggests that as female progression evolves, so will the opportunity for women to commit crime. She refers to this as the ‘liberation thesis’. As women become more prevalent in traditionally male spaces such as employment women will have more opportunity to commit crime, such as white collar crime.
Messerschmidt - Masculinity and Crime
Messerschmidt suggests that men constantly work at developing their masculinity, which is deemed to be an achievement in the eyes of other men.
Messerschmidt claims that masculinity is characterised by:
- Being paid for employment
- The subordination of women
- Heterosexuality
- Being sexually active
Castells - Global Criminal Economy
Castells claims that there is now a ‘global criminal economy’ that is worth over $1 trillion a year.
There are a number of different forms of globalised crime that exist:
- Cyber-crimes – crimes on the internet such as identity theft and hacking
- Green crimes – crimes against the environment
Beck - Global Risk Consciousness
Beck discusses the emergence of an increasing ‘global risk consciousness’. Globalisation promotes insecurity as it continues to lead to vast changes around the world.
Taylor - Inequality of Capitalism
Taylor claims that globalisation has led to an increase in crime. He believes that the inequality of capitalism is now increasing further due to how corporations use globalisation to their advantage.
He argues this is due to transnational companies operating in countries where low wages can be paid and suggests that governments are easily influenced by large corporations.
Wall - 4 Types of Cybercrime
1) Cyber-trespass:
Spreading viruses or hacking into other systems without permission.
2) Cyber-deception and theft:
Identity theft or stealing from bank accounts.
3) Cyber-pornography:
The sharing and watching of child pornography.
4) Cyber-violence:
Causing emotional harm or encouraging physical violence online.
Hobbs and Dunningham - Global Crime
Hobbs and Dunningham argue that due to technological developments such as the internet, individuals now have easy access to others around the world that will assist their criminal activity.
They argue this creates ‘global’ crime, this is when global criminal economies begin to trade in local areas. For example, a global drug organisation recruiting local drug dealers to sell their illegal products.
