Crime: Labelling - Cicourel

Crime statistics (Topic v Resource)

Statistics tell us more about the people making them than they do about actual crime in society, what they view as a crime etc. Crime statistics Shouldn’t be used a s a resource, we should instead be studying how statistics are made themselves.

Typifications

Officers decision to arrest someone based upon stereotypes of what a delinquent is like, resulted in law enforcement showing class bias (wc areas and people fitted stereotype better), wc areas patrolled more and results in more arrests which reaffirms stereotype.

Found that other agents of social control withing CJS had typifications e.g. probation offers held common sense theory delinquency caused by broken homes.

The Negotiation of Justice

Justice is negotiable e.g. when young mc person is arrested they are less likely to be charged, partly because background doesn’t fit police ‘stereotypes’ and partly because parents more able to negotiate successfully on his behalf (link to cultural capital)

The social construction of crime statistics

Crime statistics are created by police, sociologists, politicians, probation officers etc.