theorys of crime Flashcards
Crimogenic capitalism
marxism - capitalism causes crime
the wc feels that crime is their only way out of poverty and to survive, they would commit crime such as vandalism theft and violence.
the mc would commit crimes out of greed
Strain theory
functionalism (merton) - everybody would want the american dream (big house, luxury goods) but not everybody is financially able to achieve it. Many individuals would become frustrated that they’re unable to achieve the american dreams and Merton would argue that they all would respond in a different way to achieving the american dream.
Conformity,Innovation,Ritualism,Retreatism,Rebellion.
strain theory - conformity
accepting the goals of society and striving to achieve it through legitimate means ( going to university ans getting a well paid to be financially able to afford)
strain theory - innovation
accepting society’s goals but using illegitimate means to achieve it as they would lack legitimate means to achieve it e.g drug dealing, armed robbery.
strain theory - ritualism
giving up on the goals of society but have internalized legitimate means. Follow the rules anyways.
strain theory - retreatism
rejecting both the goals and meanings of society and become dropouts e.g homeless and drug users.
strain theory - rebellion
individuals would reject society’s goals and means, so would replace them with new ones and desire to create and new type of society.
subcultural theories - cohen
functionalism (cohen) - the education system is viewed to be middle class dominated, it results in the lower classes being unable to achieve mainstream success goals (causing frustration). Merton argued that deviance is an indivuals response to strain and young wc would commit crimes in groups e.g vandalism and theft.
Furthermore: the crimes have no economic motive its committed for material gain.
The state and law making - marxism
The rc has the power to prevent any laws that would harm their interests and they’re allowed to pass laws to support them.
e.g The primark child labour
selective law enforcement
The criminal Justice system choose which crimes to prosecute and which they will ‘turn a blind eye to’.
The powerless groups (the working class) will be prosecuted whereas the mc may only be charged with fines.
ao2 : online hate crimes (10 years in prison)
bhopal distster ( only charged with. 480 million
Ideological functions of crime and law
The purpose of the ideology is to distort the wc into thinking that they’re all enemy’s. This would benefit the rc as the wc wouldn’t unite and decide to rebel against the capitalist system.
Critical criminology
neo marxism - not all crime would be caused from GAP factors. Some criminals would commit crime for voluntaristic approach.
They are aware of their own class position.
example : just stop oil political motive.
subcultural theories - cloward and ohlin
agree with Merton and Cohen that everybody was want to achieve the goals of society e.g the American dream.
Not everyone would turn to innovation when they’re unable to achieve the goals but some may not have access to the illegitimate opportunities, illigetimate opportunity structure.
illegitimate opportunity structure - criminal subcultures.
offer an apprenticeship in utilitarian crime and would have a longstanding stable criminal culture
illegitimate subcultures - retreatist subcultures
the people who would fail to achieve success in the education system and within subcultures
they would become ‘double failures’
turning into retreatists and take illegal drugs.
labelling - differential enforcement
police typically arrest based on stereotypical ideas of who society perceived to be criminals
young, black caribean, wc males who would wear clothing brands such as Nike, under armour.
ao2 : statistics show that young black males are 7 times more likely to get stopped and searched by police in the streets.
4 reasons why crime is good
boundary maintenance - crime would produce a reaction (rituals of the courtroom) from society which would reinforce the shared norms and values, discourages others from rule breaking
ao2 : 2011 riots everyone came together to clean up the streets after the riots.
adaption and change - Durkheim - individuals with new ideas and values should not be shut down due to social control, change always starts with an act of deviance, crime is a way for them to challenge the existing norms and values.
ao2 : clares law allows people to find out if their partner has an abusive or violent past. Named after Clare wood who was killed by her partner in 2009.
safety valve - davis- crime can release men’s sexual frustrations without threating the monogamous nuclear family.
ao2 : prostitution.
warning light - cohen - indicates when an instituation is malfunctioning, informs society that a change needs to occur.
ao2 : high rates of turancy indicated there was a problem in the education system.
Typifications ( negotiation of justice)
cicourel - argues that police use typifications of the ‘typical deviant’
the individuals who would fit the typifictations are more likely to get stopped by police
wc : more likely to be stopped due to fitting the typifications and would be harshly treated
mc : juveniles are less likely to fit typifications and would have cultural capital or connections to lawyers which would persuade the police they aren’t serious offenders.
effects of labelling
labelling certain people to be deviant would encourage individuals to commit more crime and deviance (secondary deviance)
primary deviance - deviant acts that have not been caught and publicly labelled.
indivuals would then begin to act upon the negative label that they have received and make this their master status.
self fulfilling prophecy
being labelled may provoke a crisis for the indivuals self identity, one way to resolve this would be through indivuals accepting the negative label they have received.
this would lead to them committing more crime which would increase the crime rate in society
may join a subculture that would offer them a deviant career
the deviance amplication spiral
stanley cohens study - deviance amplication spiral - the attempt to control crime but it just results in it increasing, mods and rockers were only an issue when the media painted them out to be and the police decided to make more surveillance and arrests.
right realism - biological differences
Wilson and hernstein - crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors. Biological traits would make some people predisposed to crime e.g heightened agression or low intelligence.
inadequate socialisation - right realism
the nuclear family are undermined by the welfare state which is a preserve incentive encouraging SPFs which would create a depency culture. These people would form an underclass and fail to socialise their children into the norms and values. The welfare state would mean that men aren’t needed in the family which would lead to less male role models who would display tough love
rational choice theory - right realism
clarkes - assuming that all individuals have free will, deciding to commit crime is a choice based on the consequences and the rewards. If the rewards outweigh the consequences they’re more likely to commit crime meaning that there should be more severe consequences and should enforce a zero tolerance policy against crime.
broken windows - right realism
Wilson and Kellings - we must keep neighbours orderly to prevent crime taking place. E.g. dealing with graffiti and targeting the groups or individuals who commit low level petty crimes to ensure they can’t get away with this deviant behaviour. Ultimately this would reduce individuals developing on their criminal behaviour and would reduce the amount of serious crimes being committed.
ao2 : washing ppl
relative deprivation - left realism
the poor have access to media’s materialistic messages yet would lack the opportunity to achieve the wealth and this would fuel a sense of relative deprivation causing the wc to commit more crime.
subcultures - left realism
not all subcultures would lead to crime e.g. some may turn to religion for a sense of conformity. However criminal subcultures would subscribe to society’s materialistic goals but opportunity’s would be blocked so they would turn to crime.
marginalisation - left realism
Young - society has changed and the wc don’t have job security from the loss of unskilled jobs. The wc would mainly have job insecurity, higher unemployment and harsher welfare policies which would fuel a sense of marginalisation. This would increase the crime rates.
Left realism solutions - reducing inequality
The poorest communities in the uk are the most marginalised and have the most relative deprivation so are more likely to join subcultures due to blocked opportunities. If the government invest more into the welfare state then the wc won’t have as much anger meaning they’re less likely to commit crime.
left realism solutions - democratic policing
The police rely on the public for information on crimes that are happening, must be influenced by the needs of the public to win back their trust to hand in more information and tackle crime.
