Crime and Deviance

Edward Sutherland (1949)

People from “chaotic social backgrounds” are more likely to be involved in crime as both perpetrators and victims.

Social Exclusion Report (2002)

32% of prisoners have been homeless, and are more likely to have grown up in care.

Williams et al (2012)

It’s more common for the prison population to have: run away from home, truant from school and have no qualifications.

Cavadino and Dignan (2001)

The difference between working and middle class crime is not as high as PRCF suggest, due to bias in the CJS towards the higher classes.

The British Crime Survey (2010-2011)

Young households, lone parents and unemployed people are 2x as likely to be burgled, and unemployed people are 2x as likely to be victims of violence.

Young (1988)

“The myth of the equal victim” - working class people are impacted more by crime than upper classes.

Merseyside Crime Survey (1984)

The poor suffer more heavily from the impact of crime, and are more likely to experience multiple victimisation.

Ministry of Justice

Men commit approximately 80% of crime each year.

In December 2019, men made up 79,000/82,000 prisoners in the UK.

Chivalry Thesis

Women are treated more leniently by the CJS

Young (1988)

“The meaning of a punch” - all crimes are not created equal

Hammer and Saunders (1984)

20% of women on a street in Leeds had been sexually assaulted and not reported it.

Stanko (2002)

Over a 24 hour period, an incident of sexual assault was reported every second in the UK.

Walklate (2006)

Many women were unable to leave abusive relationships, especially if they had children with the abuser or were financially dependent on them.

Cuckooing

When elderly people have their homes taken over by gangs to store drugs.

10-17 year olds are only 10% of the population…

…but are responsible for 23% of police recorded crime.

McVie (2004)

Grouping crime data into age groups can mask specific findings.

Young (1988)

Age should be considered alongside other social factors when looking at crime statistics.

Islington Crime Survey

Young white females are 29x more likely to be assaulted than those over 45.

CSEW (2009)

Began including children ages 10-15 and found higher levels of victimisation among children than PRCF suggest.

Gov.UK (2023)

27.2 stop and searches occur per 1000 black people, whereas only 5.6 occur per 1000 white people.

Bowling and Phillips (2006)

The crown prosecutor on service are more likely to drop cases involving black suspects due to a lack of evidence.

Eastern European Immigration Moral Panic

Politicians and the media falsely link higher crime rates with immigration despite crime levels not being impacted by immigration.

Ministry of Justice (2007)

The Muslim prison population has doubled in the last 10 years to 12,000 people.

CSEW (2012-2013)

Mixed race, Black and Asian ethnic groups are more likely to be victims of personal crime than white people.

Home Office (2005)

Black people are 5x more likely to be murdered than their white counterparts.

In 1/3 gun murders, both victim and suspect are black.

Gov.UK (2017-2020)

Men from mixed ethnic backgrounds are the more likely to be victims of crime than men from any other group.

Despite being only 3.1% of the population in 2013…

…Black people composed 14.2% of all stop and searches.

Franko Aas (2007) - global organised crime

The cross border activities of organised crime groups, exploiting to their advantage, increasing global interconnectedness

Gov.UK (2019-2020)

There has been a 50% rise in modern slavery crimes recorded by the police

The Guardian (2019)

Over 1100 children were trafficked into the UK for the drug trade

ONS (2020)

Roughly 3.2 million people are impacted by fraud every month

Gastrow (2013)

• Popular perceptions of organised crime groups are outdated and romanticised

• National borders are irrelevant to organised crime groups but essential for governments trying to tackle them

Castells (2000)

Organised crime groups function like business and even link with other crime groups.

Robertson (1995)

‘Glocalisation’ - the impact of global organised crime is dependant on local conditions and vice versa

Franko Aas (2007) - Green Crime

Any crime that impacts the environment or wildlife

Carrabine et al (2004)

• primary green crime - directly inflicts harm on the environment e.g littering

• secondary green crime - crimes committed to try and assist green crime e.g modern slavery

Potter (2010)

Studied food riots around the world and found that the poorest always suffer the most from environmental damage

Erikson (1966) - functionalism

• argues that public degrading ceremonies deter criminals from offending

• looked to previous crime to show how society is progressing e.g pride parades

Davis (1961) - functionalism

• Crime and deviance can act as a ‘safety valve’ to allow groups to let off stream

• e.g saw prostitution as a safe outlet for men to prevent rape from occurring, and so the crime of prostitution prevents the worse crime of rape

Merton (1938) - functionalism

Strain theory

Albert Cohen (1955) - subcultural theory

Status frustration

Cloward and Ohlin (1961) - subcultural theory

Criminal, conflict and retreatist subcultures.

Miller - subcultural theory

Focal concerns

• Trouble

• Excitement

• Autonomy

• Fate

• Smartness

• Toughness

Winlow (2001) - subcultural theory

Young boys are often pushed towards violence through the media. Masculine identities stem from fighting.

Ferrell (1999) - cultural criminology

explains that cultural criminology stresses the “energy of everyday life”

Katz (1988) - cultural criminology

Lure and attractions of crime

Lyng (2005)

“Edgework” - pushing the boundaries of the law to escape societal constraints

Young (2003) - cultural criminology

Bulimic society - intensity of exclusion

Presdee (2002) - cultural criminology

The carnival of crime

Becker (1963) - interactionism

Outsiders - deviance is socially constructed and so identity factors don’t matter when examining crime

Cohen (1972) - interactionism

Moral panic and folk devils

Malinowski (1966) - interactionism

Publicly labelling deviance is what makes it severe

Lemert (1951) - interactionism

Primary and secondary deviance

Matza (1964) - interactionism

Young people drift in and out of deviancy, but feel a moral obligation to the law.

Young (1971) - interactionism

Deviancy amplification

Althusser (1970) - Marxism

Repressive state apparatus and Ideological state apparatus help to maintain a capitalist structure

Box (1983) - Marxism

Power and Crime - “avoidable killings” vs murder

Sutherland (1949)

White collar crime is “a crime committed by someone of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation”

Tombs (1999) - Marxism

The amount of unlawful workplace deaths vastly outweighs the number of homicides

Goldstraw - White (2010) - Marxism

Those convicted of white collar crimes don’t view themselves as real criminals

Chambliss (1973) - Neo Marxism

The saints and the roughnecks

Stuart Hall (1978) - Neo Marxism

Policing the crisis - mugging

Taylor, Walton and Young (1972) - Neo Marxism

3 reasons for crime

• Circumstances surrounding the choice to offend

• The outcome of the act

• Effects of the societal reaction

The CCCS - Neo Marxism

Youth deviance is a reaction to young people’s identity feeling under threat

Hirsche (1969) - right realism

A lack of at least ¼ social bonds causes crime:

• Attachment

• Commitment

• Involvement

• Belief

Charles Murray (1984) - right realism

Sterilise the underclass to stop crime

Wilson and Kelling (1982) - right realism

Broken window theory

Clarke (1980) - right realism

Crime will occur when the benefits of criminality outweigh the costs

Wilson (1975) - right realism

Crime can only be addressed by enforcing the law e.g. three strikes and you’re out policy

Matthew’s and Young (1992) - left realism

Square of crime

Braithwaite (1989) - left realism

Disintegrative - shaming the individual

Reintergrative - blame society

Lea and Young - left realism

Relative depravation and marginalisation

Heidensohn - feminism

Women are more controlled in society so commit less crimes

Pat Corlen (1987) - feminism

Women who reject the class and gender deal are more likely to engage in criminality

Smart (1976)

Girls are limited to the private domestic sphere

Adler (1975) - feminism

Women’s liberation increases their participation in crime

Messerschmidt (1993) - feminism

Hegemonic masculinity causes criminality