Urban Criminal Collaborations

Question 1

What percent of offences are committed jointly

Answer 1

50%

Question 2

Why don’t Fraser and Hobbs like the the concept of the gang?

Answer 2

Ahistorical
Rigid
More to do with popular imagery
Imply concentrated deviant intent

Question 3

Are adult or youthful urban collaborations more studied

Answer 3

Youthful urban collaborations are long studied

Question 4

Where did the concept of the gang originate from

Answer 4

20th century Chicago school of sociology rigorous empirical investigation

Question 5

What did Thrashers study of Chicago street gangs find

Answer 5

Identified patterns of deviant social interactions and traced the evolution of gangs to well structured groups

Question 6

What is the American dream ideology

Answer 6

Promoted upward mobility through education and hard work

Especially prevalent in North American cities like Chicago

Question 7

What is Merton’s strain theory

Answer 7

Strain between societal expectations and personal experiences of blocked advancement, leading to deviant paths like gangsterism

Question 8

What is Albert Cohen’s reaction formation

Answer 8

Working class males felt alienated from middle class school values leading to status frustration

So formed subcultures with rival values emphasising martial prowess, promiscuity, substance misuse, and subversive humor

Question 9

What did Downes 1966 say about working class lads

Answer 9

Working class lads in London east end were dissociated from middle class values, focusing instead on replicating their parents working class values

Question 10

What is Convergence in the context of gang research

Answer 10

The Americanisation of the gang concept in Britain

Question 11

What does the ecology of fear theory suggest about violence in the drug trade

Answer 11

It is seen as a reaction to perceived threats posed by young working class males from criminalised ethnicities

Question 12

What does aggressive policing of gangs lead to

Answer 12

Can escalate violent confrontations and occasionally lead to major urban unrest and riots

Such as the 1992 LA riot

Question 13

What is the political-economy perspective of criminal collaboration

Answer 13

Causal factors driving recruitment into criminal collaborations and societal reactions

Limited institutional support

Question 14

What is the behavioural analysis of the gang

Answer 14

Focuses on gang formation and social reactions in order to gang related crime as issues of criminal justice

Question 15

What was Pitts (2008) push and pull analysis of gangs

Answer 15

Working class males are pushed into gangs due to blocked legitimate opportunities and pulled by the alternative opportunities gangs provide

Question 16

What is the difference between America and Britains welfare state

Answer 16

American cities historically have had limited welfare support - pushing youths towards gangs

Post war Britain welfare state reduced the push and pull factors into gangs

Question 17

How did Britains welfare state change

Answer 17

Reduction in the welfare state in Britain (combined with contraction of full time and unskilled employment) led to a convergence in the social and economic conditions of UK and US

Question 18

What did Hallsworth and Young (2008) conclude from their study on gangs in London

Answer 18

They challenged the common perceptions of gangs and emphasise the importance of social and economic policy interventions

They criticised the ‘gang talk’ industry and ‘tame’ criminologists

Question 19

What did Fraser (2015) argue from his study of gangs in Glasgow

Answer 19

Emphasised the role of territorial identity and neighbourhood nationalisms in shaping criminal collaborations

Question 20

What did Ralph’s, Medina, & Aldridge (2009) focus on in their gang study in Manchester

Answer 20

How definitions and labelling of gangs can influence their behaviour

Question 21

What did Thrasher say about working class neighbourhoods in the context of inter-generational collaborations

Answer 21

Working class neighbourhoods serve as a source of labour for adult crime groups

Question 22

What do violent territorial disputes provide for the gangs

Answer 22

Training for activities such as extortion and territorial domination

Question 23

What are the two main criminal collaborations in the 1960s

Answer 23

North London - the Krays

South London - The Richardsons

Question 24

What are ‘manors’ in the context of gangs

Answer 24

Territories

Question 25

What is the consequence of going into other collaborations ‘manor’ uninvited?

Answer 25

Provoke violent resistance and could escalate into turf wars

E.g. shooting of George Cornell

Question 26

What is phantom capitalism of long firm frauds

Answer 26

supposedly legitimate business dealing consumer durables - after gaining trust the ‘business’ places a large order and disappears without payment

Question 27

Why could phantom capitalism of long form frauds exist during the 1960s but not now?

Answer 27

Certain historically specific conditions

• boom in demand for consumer durables due to increased disposable incomes

• at this time businesses didn’t have to register their business or provide an audit trail - which could’ve been used to track down payment

Question 28

What does Fraser and Hobbs (2017) mean by the ‘underworld’

Answer 28

They describe it as ‘a transgressive annex of proletarian industrial culture’

Meaning a realm of adult criminal collaboration that is enabled by the ‘upperworld’ of legitimate commerce

Question 29

What is the impact of the changing upperworld on the underworld

Answer 29

A subsequent restructuring of the underworld

Introduces new opportunities for collaborations whilst making older ones redundant

For example new opportunities associated with the ‘smart city’

Question 30

What was the impact of de-industrialisation on the underworld?

Answer 30

Impact on recruitment into collaborations

Collapse of the ‘factory’ and unskilled labour removed the conditions in which working class neighbourhoods could be reproduced

This disruption, displacement, and gentrification of working class areas altered the transition from youthful into adult collaborations, meaning new methods of recruitment were needed

Question 31

How did the emergence of post-industrial economy create opportunities for collaborations?

Answer 31

Supply of sex and drugs to consumers from this economy, facilitated by club ‘bouncers’

Question 32

How did deindustrialised cities aim to reinvent themselves?

Answer 32

Through the liberalisation of alcohol licensing

Night time economy boomed as more licenses were granted

Question 33

What are the three main ‘command centres’ of financial and informational power?

Answer 33

London
New York
Tokyo

Question 34

What did globalisation enable?

Answer 34

Transnational organised crime

Question 35

Where has there been an increase in recorded drug off offences in the UK?

Answer 35

Provincial towns (including south wales valleys)

Question 36

Where are the principal places in the UK in which narcotics are imported

Answer 36

Historic centres - e.g. London/Manchester/Birmingham

Question 37

Does the evolved drug market correlate with Mayhew and Engles approach

Answer 37

The rookeries of the ‘Great Towns’ of England persist, but are no longer contained within the boundaries of the Victorian slums

Question 38

How do adult criminals now recruit adolescents into the illicit drug trade

Answer 38

Grooming

• offering adolescents money and gifts that have to pay back through ‘work’

Question 39

In the new illicit drug trade, what ‘work’ are adolescent recruits expected to do?

Answer 39

Transport drugs from the principal city regions to end users in the smaller towns/provinces

Concept of ‘county lines’

Question 40

What does the concept of county lines signal?

Answer 40

The changing scope and dynamics of urban criminology in the current context of ‘smart cities’