Sociology - Crime and deviance Flashcards
What are the different ways to build a picture of crime
- Official crime statistics
- Victim surveys
- Self report studies
What pattern in recorded crime was there from 1902 - 1950
A gradual rise
What pattern in recorded crime was there from 1950 - 1980
A steep rise
What pattern in recorded crime was there from 1980 - mid 1990
A rapid increase
What pattern in recorded crime was there from mid 1990 - 2015
A gradual decline
What are official crime statistics
Official crime statistics are generated by crimes that are recorded by the police and then processed through the criminal justice system.
What are victim surveys
Large-scale surveys of the population asking people what crimes have been committed against them in a given period.
What are self-report studies
Self-report studies ask people to reveal crimes that have commited and how often they have done so
Why do crime statistics not show the true extent of crime
- Crimes have to be reported and recorded to be included in offical crime statistics
what do crime statistics depend on
- detection
- reporting
- recording
what is the criminal activity that is not shown in statistics called as it is not reported or recorded by the police ?
The dark ( or hidden ) figure of crime
what is the functionalist perspective on the use of criminal data
- they accept most statistics as accurate and representative of most crime
- they view it as useful for establishing patterns and trends
What is the marxist view on the use of criminal data
- statistics provide a biased view on crime
- they under represent crime of the bourgeoisie
- they give the impression that most criminals are working class
What is the feminist view on the use of criminal data
- statistics under represent the extent of female crime
- they also under represent the extent of crime by men against women
what is the interactionist view on the use of criminal data
- statistics are social constructions
- they reveal only the steriotypes and the institutional sexismand racism of the crimianal justice system
- the patterns within statistics provides a guide to the police for the typical offender
- more likely to favour self-report and victim surveys as they involve less bias
what are the factors explaining why people commit crimes
- biological
- psychological
- sociological
what are the biological explanations for crime
- Lombroso argued that the shape of the skull can determine a persons character
- Genes can determine someone’s character and behaviour
- Neurodivergensity can be a cause on criminal or deviant behaviours
what are the psychological explanations for crime
- maternal separation / deprivation
- emotional trauma
John Bowlby - 1944
- He found that the relationship between the infant and the mother was crucial to socialisation.
- He found that half of the juvenile thieves he had studies had been separated from their mothers for at least 6 months before the age of 5
- he concluded that maternal separation in the child’s early life caused permanent emotional damage that could lead to criminal behaviour
what are the sociological explanations for crime ?
- Socialisation
- Anomie
- Labelling
- Structural theories
- Sub-cultures and peer groups
How does socialisation affect criminal behaviour?
- People learn norms and values by copying their parents and other groups such as peer groups
- If young people have inadequate socialisation they may not understand how to behave appropriately and they might act in criminal ways.
How does anomie affect criminal behaviour and what does it say?
- The breakdown of norms governs accepted behaviors
- happens when rules of how people should act with one another break down
- for example internet trolling becoming normalised
how does labelling affect criminal behaviour?
- Labelling ( the interactionist theory by becker ) says that the behaviour of some people may cause them to be stereotyped and labelled as deviant or criminal
How do subcultures and the peer group theory affect criminal behaviour?
- Groups can develop their own set of norms and values outside of society’s
- To fit in with the group, individuals may follow this new set of norms and values
What did merton say about Social theory and structure?
Merton a functionalist believed in strain theory and status frustration :
- a sense of frustration arises in individuals or groups because they cannot achieve status within society
- people often feel that society has certain expectations of them
- the strain caused by people unable make this status within society might make people to behave criminally to achieve this status
What does Merton say the five ways in which people may respond to success goals within american society are?
- Conformity
- Innovation
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
What is the functionalist perspective on crime?
- Functionalism offers a consensus structuralist perspective on crime
- This is because functionalists believe a value consensus exists in society
- They also believe that society is governed by rules that tell people how to behave
What does Durkheim ( functionalist ) believe about crime and societies function ?
- Crime in small amounts is necessary for society to function.
- He argues that crime is inevitable as not everyone can be fully integrated into the norms and values of society
What functions do functionalists believe crime performs?
- re-affirming the boundaries of society
- changing values
- social cohesion
- safety valve
What are the criticisms of the functionalist perspective on crime?
- However small amounts of crime can be positive too much is more harmful.
- In periods of social change or stress people do not share common values within society and people start to think of themselves rather than following social norms
- functionalists ignore that people have free will when arguing that they are controlled by society
What is the Marxist perspective on crime?
they explain criminal behaviour n the following ways:
- The basis of laws
Law creation
Law enforcement
- Individual motivation
What are the criticisms of the marxist perspective on crime?
- Over emphasis on class inequalities and ignores other inequalities such as ethnicity and gender
- Not all individuals are forced into crime by circumstances they cannot control
What is the Interactionist perspective on crime ?
- explains why some people or acts are defined as deviant or criminal, while other people carrying out similar acts are not labelled as deviant or criminal
- Focuses on what is defined as criminal or deviant and how people react to the labels
- suggests that most people commit criminal or deviant behaviour but only some are labelled for doing so
What are the criticisms of the interactionist perspective?
- It tends to remove the blame from the people who commit deviant or criminal behaviour and instead blames those who label the person
- It assumes that the act is not deviant until labelled so
- It doesn’t explain why some people choose deviant and criminal behaviour
What is the feminist perspective on crime?
- the feminists perspective focuses on female offending and female experiences within the criminal justice system
What are the criticisms of the feminist perspective on crime?
- It focuses on gender and ignores other factors such as social class and ethnicity
- it doesn’t explain how some people choose criminal and deviant behaviour
How does social class affect criminal behaviour?
- Inaccurate statistics
- Socialisation
- Material deprivation
- Education
- Anomie
- Labelling
How do inaccurate statistics affect social class and crime
- Statistics on crime are not necessarily representative
- Crimes by working class individuals are more identifiable and more targeted by the police
How does socialisation affect social class and crime ?
-Children develop the norms and values of their parents
- working class children are more likely to develop norms and values different to working class children
How does material deprivation affect social class and crime
- Children from working class families may also suffer from material deprivation where they are unable to afford items they need
- This may result in these individuals to turn to crime to acquire these necessities
How does education affect social class and crime
- Working class youths are more likely to be placed in lower sets, fail at school and be in lower paid jobs
- A lack of money may lead to criminal behaviour
How does labelling affect social class and crime
- Poorer groups within society are more likely to be the victims and perpetrators of crime, and police and others tend to label them more readily
What are the different types of white collar crimes
- Ocupational crime
- professional crime
- corperate crime
- computer crime
What is white collar crime
- Crime commited generally by middle class individuals in the course of their work
Edwin sutherlands theory
What are the reasons that statists show that men commit more crimes than women
- Innacurate statistics
- Different socialisation
- Oppotunitys to commit crime
- Social control
- Civalry thesis
How do innacurate statistics depict more men to commit crimes
- male crimes tend to be violent and therefore more noticed
- women are seen to be innocent and so people may not suspect them of commiting crimes
How does different socialisation lead to more men commiting crime
- Traditional gender based characteristics are adopted by men and women leading to:
- Men being more aggresive and to partake in risk-taking behviours
- Women may aviod the risk that comes with commiting crime as they have been socialised to be emotional and less competative
How do different opportunitys to commit crime lead to men commiting more crime than women
-
- Bedroom culture means that teenage girls tend to spend more time at home
- Teenage girls tend to be taken to social events by parents compared to boys who may walk
How does social control lead to men commiting more crime than women
- women may be forced into more family-centred roles by men
- men may place themselves into the breadwinning role with more oppotunity to commit crime
- daughters are more closely controlled than sons
How does the civalry thesis lead to more crime being commited by men than women
- male dominated police courts may be more leniant on women because they infantalise women and see it importent for them to care for their family
Case study
Women, crime and poverty
Carlen 1988
- She found that working class women who had been convixted of crime felt powerless and oppressed
- they saw themselves as the victims of injustice when they could not find a ligitimate way of earning a living
- many of the women felt they had nothing to loose when commiting crime as they already lived in peverty
- she used in depth interviews of a group og mainly working class women
what do statistics show about ethnic groups and crime
- there are higher levels of crime amoh=ng certain ethnic groups
- Afro-carribian males are over represnted within prisons
How are black people trated compared to white people within the CJS
- two times more likely to be cautioned by the police
- three times more likely to be arrested
- more likely to recive prison sentances
- five times more likely to be in prison
Case study
Outsiders - Becker
1963
- Becker talks bout how an act only becomes deviant once others define it as so
- whether the act is concidered deviant is dependant on who what where and when the act happened
- this leads to a master status and deviant carrer
Interactionalist
What are factors relating Ethnicity and crime
- Innacurate statistics
- Labelling
- Institutional racism
- Media representation
- Socialisation
- Material deprevation
- Education
What are the links between crime and age
- Status frustration
- Social class
- Edgework
- Socialisation
- Police steriotyping
Why are lower class young males more likely to engage in criminal activity
- their subcultures have characteristics thst carry the risk of law breaking with them
- these are characteristics such as toughness, excitment and mascutlintiy
What is edgework
- Alot of youth criminal activity is motivated by young people looking for excitment and thrills
Stephen Lyng (1980)
Delinquant boys
1955
- Cohen argues that young people suffer from status frustration in the form of lack of independant status in society
- They will drift into criminal or deviant behaviour because of lack of responsibility and looking for thill
- The peer groups become more important than family as it provides identity and status
- The group identity can envolve crime and deviant acts
Functionalist - Cohen
what is social control
- Social control refers to the methods used to control individuals and group bevaiour
What is informal social control
- Unwritten rules
- Approval and disaproval of people around us
- Positive and negative rewards such as: Praise and job premotions or poor school marks and teasing
What is formal social control
- formal rules
- Police force and the CJS
- Schools
Case study
Women and crime 1985
- Women are more likely to conform to society and therefore commit less crime
- House and child care restric womens time and movement
- Men have finantial control over their wives as the breadwinners
- Daughters are more closely controled than sons
Heidensohn F - Femenist
What is the Functionalist perspective on social control
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