Crime and deviance

Deviance

To deviate from the norms and expectations of society.

Clinard (1974)

Believed 'deviance' should be reserved for acts which society finds impossible to tolerate.

Crime

Acts which break the formal, written rules of a society.

Newburn (2007)

An act is only a crime when a label has been attached to it. Changes according to time, place and context

Social construct

A concept or practice that is construct of a group.

Societal deviance (Plummer)

Acts most members of society consider deviant (Likely to be criminal)

Situational deviance

Acts where deviating depends on context or location (less likely to be criminal)

Durkheim

Crime and deviance are inevitable, and 'crime is an integral part of society'

Boundary Maintenance

Punishment reaffirms society's values, showing what's not acceptable

Social cohesion

People unite to condemn particularly horrific crimes, tightening social social bonds

Social change

Functional rebels change collective conscience, but it starts with deviance

Acts as a safety valve

Minor crimes and acts of deviance can avoid bigger issues, by releasing the stress

Acts as a warning device (Cohen)

Crime shows society isn't working properly, so can be used to correct the issues before too much damage is done

Boosts employment and economy (Cohen)

Crime and deviance creates jobs for police officers and other criminal justice system workers

Anomie

The absence of norms and values, and the breakdown of the collective conscience. Occurs during periods of great social change or stress

Egoism

When the collective conscience becomes too weak to restrain individuals selfish desires.

Dysfunction

Where some parts of the social structure don't work as intended, bringing problems (e.g. strain, anomie)

Cultural factors

Emphasis on achieving shared success goals, but not the legitimate ways of achieving such goals

Structural factors

Society's unequal opportunity structure

Merton

People have shared goals and that in an equal society, not everyone has the opportunity for these

Criminogenic

Factors thought to bring about criminal behavior in an individual

Merton's Strain Theory

Explains deviance in terms of a society's cultural goals and the means available to achieve them, as well as patterns of deviance through how people respond to the strain, through the modes of adaptation

Modes of adaptation

Conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion

Conformity

Accepts the cultural goals and legitimate means to success

Innovation

Accept the cultural goals but not the legitimate means to achieve them

Ritualism

Don't accept cultural goals, but do accept the legitimate means to achieve them (low income, no ambition for improvement)

Retreatism

Don't accept cultural goals or the legitimate means to achieve them, those who have 'dropped out' of society

Rebellion

Don't accept the cultural goals or the legitimate means to achieve them, they replace them and try to bring about social change

Strengths of Merton's strain theory

Influential, stood test of time, other theories based on it, Renier still sees it as useful (explains 2011 England riots etc)

Weaknesses of Merton's Strain Theory

Ignores people striving to achieve a variety of goals at the same time, underestimates middle and upper class crime, overestimates working class, fails to explain crimes without materialistic rewards, ignores role of subcultures and illegitimate opportunities

Hirschi's control theory

The four social bonds encourage self-control, pulling people away from crime. They are: commitment, attachment, beliefs and involvement

Commitment

People are committed to activities (e.g. work, family, school) and would rather conform than risk these

Attachment

People attached and care for friends, family, and their needs, opinions and wishes

Belief

People share a moral belief about human rights and obeying the law

Involvement

People are too busy with school, work, sport etc to have the time to commit crime

Durkheim's control observations

What factors contributed to conformity and social change in small, pre-literate societies

Mechanical solidarity

Doing something (or not) out of fear of the consequences

Organic solidarity

Having a moral conscience instilled with a sense of the larger social structure

Utilitarian

Useful

A. Cohens: Status frustration

Youth believe in the goals, but legitimate road is blocked, feel denied a status so make a delinquent subculture

Reversal of accepted forms of behaviours

Gain respect by rebelling, gain status in subculture rather than society by reversing its values

Revenge for being denied a status

Juvenile offences can be to get back at society, not financially motivated

Strengths of Status frustration

Looks at groups, not individual, explains senseless crimes

Weaknesses of status frustration

Doesn't explain upper/middle class crime

Cloward and Ohlins: Opportunity subcultures

Working class kids face blocked opportunities, but how they respond depends on their neighbourhood and opportunity to join a local subculture

Criminal subcultures

Stable working class areas have an established pattern of adult crime = alternative career path and training opportunities = useful crimes

Conflict subcultures

Disorganised areas lacking social cohesion, high population turn over = violence, mugging, gang warfare

Retreatist subcultures

Double failures retreat into addiction funded through petty theft, prostitution

Strengths of opportunity subcultures

Explains organised crime, and lack of it, in the UK

Weaknesses of opportunity subcultures

Doesn't explain upper/middle class or female crime, not everyone fits nicely into 1 of the 3, lacks temporal validity

Millers: focal concerns

Working class subcultures have existed for centuries, mainly men and revolves around Central characteristics: trouble, exicitement/thrills, toughness, smartness, autonomy/freedom

Marshall

Built on subcultural theory but had 3 youth groupings(peer groups, gangs, organised crime groups), all technically 1 subculture

Box

Only applys to a minority of offenders who originally accepted mainstream values then turned against them

Matza

No distinctive subcultural values, but all groups use a shared set of subterranean values

Subterranean values

Values at the margin of society, exist in leisure and mildly deviant activities

Katz

Crime draws young males in as its thrilling

Lyng

Edgework: young males search for pleasure through risk taking, acting in ways that are on the edge between security and danger e.g. 'joy riding'

Maffesoli

Subcultures aren't stable, clearly defined groups. Instead fluidity, occasional gatherings, dispersal. Neo-tribes: flexible, open, changing state of mind

Matza and sykes

Techniques of neutralisation theory

Techniques of neutralisation

denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, appeal to higher loyalties

Denial of responsibility

The offender will propose that they were victims of circumstance or were forced into situations beyond their control

Denial of injury

The offender insists that their actions did not cause any harm or damage

Denial of the victim

The offender believes that the victim deserved whatever action the offender committed.

Condemnation of the condemners

The offenders maintain that those who condemn their offense are doing so purely out of spite, or are shifting the blame off of themselves unfairly.

Appeal to higher loyalties

They had to do it because of some moral stand, e.g. couldn't leave my mate

Social construction of crime and deviance

Is the way that what is seen as criminal or deviant varies from time to time and place to place (Becker)

Moral entrepreneurs

People that work to have their moral concerns translated into law (Becker)

Labelling theory

A behavior is deviant if people have judged the behavior and labelled it as deviant (Becker)

Master status

Once a label has been successfully applied, all other qualities are ignored - only responded to in terms of this statement

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Something occurs simply because its been predicted

Deviant careers

The processes involved in a label being applied (or not) and the person taking on (or not) the self image of deviance (Becker)

Primary deviance

Rule breaking, of little importance in itself (Lemert)

Secondary deviance

The consequence of the responses of others, is significant (Lemert)

Folk devil

A group that is defined as a threat to society's values (S Cohen/Young)

Moral panic

Labels applied to a group by the authorities, causing them to become more deviant (S Cohen/Young)

Deviance amplification

When labelling someone makes deviance worse (S Cohen/Young)

Lemert

Studied costal Inuits of Canada who attached great importance to speaking well. Chronic stuttering (secondary deviance) response to parents response to initial minor speech defects (primary deviance)

S Cohen

Two 60s youth cultures sometimes clashed at holidays, publicity over exaggerated the issue = worse deviance (moral panic)

Young

Looked at marijuna users in Nottingham Hill- few took hard drugs/were professionals until labelled as dangerous

Creating rules

Laws reflection of activities of people who create/enforce laws, so they benefit moral entrepreneurs directly

Malinowski

Incestuous tribe and public shaming - ethnographic study on Trobianol islands where incest between cousins is comon but illegal. One young man accused of it so committed suicide

Cicourel

Negotiation of justice - decide to stop an individual so negotiations begin. Try to talk their way out of trouble but harder if fit typical image of a delinquent, then handed to a juvenile officer (use same typifications) and decide the label. Most labelled delinquent = wk.cl.

Box

The naughty Jury - A jury found a woman guilty of theft of a small amount of money then lied about travel + out of pocket expense to get more money = took more than the woman

Chambliss

Saints and Roughnecks - Upper class deviants chose delinquency locations carefully, got out of class, cheat + get better grades but not seen as deviant whereas poor kids doing the same are

Braithwaite

Suggests distinguishing between two types of shaming: disintegrative and reintegrative shaming

Disintegrative shaming

Being publicly labelled, encouraged to feel ashamed by being stigmatised as an offender, separates them from the community

Reintegrative shaming

Criminal behaviour is acknowledged, emphasis more on the act than the lack of worth of the individual, takes steps to reintegrate them = easier to be law abiding

Strengths of labelling theory

Becker sees it as a career you can quit = less deterministic; raised issue of police abusing stop and search choices; Cicourel raised how justice can be negotiated + importance of existing mental categories in classifying people as deviant or not

Weaknesses of labelling theory

Deterministic - labelling will lead to deviance; Marxists say those who seek to pass/impose laws is too simple; doesn't explain why/how some people have more power than others + can get laws passed

Marxist explanations for crime and deviance

Capitalist society is criminogenic; law reflects ruling class interests and ideology; selective law enforcement

Capitalist society is criminogenic

Nature of capitalism causes crime - promotes greed and wealth, competition, promotes false needs but no opportunities, Chamblis = use whatever means necessary, Gordon = dog eat dog

Law reflects ruling class ideology and interests

Chamblis - law aren't from value consensus, reflect ruling class ideology; Box - high proportion of laws protect property

Selective law enforcement

Street crime = heavily policed, justcie system is a repressive state apparatus

Strengths of Marxist explanation

Recognised different classes have different values, justice system can be manipulated, takes labelling into account, looks at both cause of crime and criminalisation, and social structure and social action/agency

Weaknesses of Marxist explanations

Traditional explanation for law creation + enforcement and crimes is one dimensional, can't explain capitalist countries with low crime rates or why ruling classes can be convicted, ignore role of victim, gender + ethnicity

The new criminology

Look at behaviour if victim, offender, media and criminal justice system interact, people have a choice, laws unnecessarily intolerant and restrictive

Critical criminology

Existing societies and criminal justice systems = unfair, exploitive, in need of change; laws = unjust + subjective; criminology should look at a wide variety of social harms, not just law breaking

Left realist

Rises in crime due to relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation; bulimic society; the toxic mix; square of crime

Relative deprivation

The feeling of deprivation compared to others - shown by crime increasing as nations become richer = role of materialism

Subculture

Formation of them is linked to relative deprivation + marginalisation, as those who share a sense of deprivation + strain group together to fit in. Can encourage criminality