topic 13 - social class and crime

Question 1

Merseyside and Islington Crime Surveys

Answer 1

poor communities:
risk of victimhood
repeated victimhood
traumatic experiences, couldn’t insure goods/“design out” crime
hostile police-community relationships

Question 2

stats from youth detention centres and prisons

Answer 2

11% prisoners ran away from home as child

50% male and 33% female excluded from school

1/3 experienced abuse

74% comes from poorest 20%

Question 3

Reiner

Answer 3

74% in prisons were unemployed/lowest occupational level

Question 4

Houchin

Answer 4

Glasgow
60% from most deprived council estates

Question 5

Omolade

Answer 5

43% had no educational qualifications

Question 6

Functionalist and right realist explanations:

Answer 6

Merton
A. Cohen
Clarke
Hirschi

Question 7

Neo Marxist explanations

Answer 7

CCCS
Hebdige
Scraton

Question 8

Gordon

Answer 8

SELECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT

Upper/middle class criminals RARELY PROSECUTED (e.g. Grenfell tower): occasional prosecutions hide this.

Working class = SCAPEGOAT. Considered SOCIAL FAILURES + WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE for their crimes (2010 London riots, hedonism and disrespect focussed on rather than context: Duggan, 1500 people prosecuted)

Question 9

Cicourel

Answer 9

official police stats not always accurate of true crime…

3 stages of dealing w delinquents:

1. Stop/interrogate 🛑, based on behaviour interpreted as SUSPICIOUS 🤨
2. Arrest 👮‍♀️, based on suspect’s appearance/manner/replies 🗣
3. Probation officer 👮‍♂️ assesses suspect based on picture of ‘typical delinquent’ (‘broken home’, bad attitude, low grades etc)

Behaviour of individual has huge effect of label 🏷 placed upon them.
WORKING CLASS MORE LIKELY TO BE NEGATIVELY LABELLED!
middle class: polite, apologetic 😊, parents more likely to convince po it won’t happen again

JUSTICE CAN BE NEGOTIATED

Question 10

Snider

Answer 10

DOMINANT IDEOLOGY FAVOURS THE POWERFUL IN CRIME

working class street crime is focussed on disproportionately

lack of focus on corporate white collar (bourgeoisie)

ruling class use social control to construct laws that control and punish working class while distracting from crimes of ruling class

e.g. 2008 MPs claimed for expenses they weren’t entitled to (£1600 duck house for pond, porn, wallpaper)
—> not taken seriously by police, took a journalist 4 years to get police involved seriously

2008 National Fraud authority:
— benefits fraud £1bn
— tax evasion £15bn

corporate crime: business crime motivated by profit e.g. VW manufactured cars that cheated emissions tests ]