unit 2 ac1.2

Question 1

Kroeber and Kluckholm suggest that no society accepts the following behaviours ……

Answer 1

1. indiscriminate lying
2. theft
3. violence
4. incest

Question 2

What does Howard Beckers labelling theory suggest?

Answer 2

‘deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender’ - criminal/deviant behaviour and how its governed is socially constructed

Question 3

what 3 factors make the social construction of crime change

Answer 3

1. time e.g. homosexuality was decriminalised by the sexual offences act 1967
2. place e.g. the same criminal offences are not necessarily in place throughout the world e.g. smoking cannabis , legal in some states, illegal in england and wales but calls to decriminalise it
3. culture e.g. different cultures view crimes differently even at the same point in time e.g. adultery is not illegal in England and Wales where the state refuses to become involved in individuals’ private morality. However, in certain states in America such as Florida and Arizona, adultery is punished by imprisonment.

Question 4

examples of change in uk law

Answer 4

Sometimes, criminal offences are repealed by law-makers: witchcraft; homosexuality.
Formal sanctions against offenders change too: abolition of capital punishment.
Sometimes, an act is legal but new offences are created to control behaviour connected to it: Prostitution - soliciting for the purposes of prostitution (Sexual Offences Act 1959)
Laws can change to keep pace with, e.g. medical, forensic or technological advances - Ann Ming’s campaign to change law on double jeopardy (Criminal Justice Act 2003)

Question 5

how is rule of law applied when being trialled

Answer 5

age of offender
mental capacity of offender e.g. diminished responsibility, automatism