Quickly REFRESH

What are social facts?

External norms institutions and collective beliefs that shape individual behaviour

Why did Durkheim say crime is normal?

Every society defines some conduct as deviant and reactions to crime reinforce social order

What does Durkheim’s society of saints example prove?

Even a perfectly moral group would redefine minor acts as deviant so deviance never disappears

What are collective conscience and boundary maintenance?

Shared moral beliefs create reactions that clarify and protect acceptable behaviour

What is anomie for Durkheim?

Normlessness caused by rapid change that weakens rules and leaves people without social guidance

What are mechanical and organic solidarity?

Mechanical solidarity rests on similarity while organic solidarity rests on specialized interdependence

What is social disorganization theory?

Crime rises where poverty instability and population turnover weaken community control

What did Shaw and McKay’s concentric zone theory find?

Delinquency remained highest in transitional inner-city zones despite changes in the ethnic population

What is collective efficacy?

Mutual trust and a shared willingness among neighbours to intervene and maintain order

What is Merton’s strain theory?

Society promotes success goals but distributes legitimate means unequally which pressures some people toward deviance

What are Merton’s five adaptations?

Conformity accepts goals and means. Innovation accepts goals only. Ritualism accepts means only. Retreatism rejects both. Rebellion replaces both

What is institutional anomie theory?

Economic success dominates society and weakens family education politics and community restraints

What is relative deprivation?

Strain produced by comparing yourself with people who appear wealthier or more successful

What is general strain theory?

Negative experiences create anger and frustration that may lead to crime when coping resources are weak

What is cultural deviance theory?

Disorganization and strain produce subcultures whose conduct norms conflict with dominant law

What are status frustration and reaction formation?

Cohen argued that blocked lower-class youths reject middle-class standards and adopt opposite gang values

What is differential opportunity theory?

Cloward and Ohlin argued that deviance requires strain plus access to specific illegal opportunities

What are Cloward and Ohlin’s three gang types?

Criminal gangs seek profit. Conflict gangs seek status through violence. Retreatists withdraw into drugs and hustling

What is differential association theory?

Criminal behaviour is learned through close groups when pro-crime definitions outweigh anti-crime definitions

How do differential associations vary?

They vary by frequency duration priority and intensity

What is differential reinforcement theory?

Behaviour is strengthened when crime is rewarded modelled or left unpunished

What is neutralization theory?

People temporarily suspend conventional morality through excuses that reduce guilt surrounding deviance

What are the five original neutralization techniques?

Denial of responsibility. Denial of injury. Denial of the victim. Condemnation of condemners. Appeal to higher loyalties

What are drift and subterranean values?

Drift is movement between conformity and deviance while subterranean values are privately accepted but publicly condemned

What does social control theory ask?

Why people conform and what restraints prevent natural self-interested offending

What is containment theory?

Inner and outer controls protect people from internal pushes and external pressures or pulls toward crime

What did Hirschi argue?

Delinquency becomes more likely when bonds between the individual and conventional society weaken

What is attachment?

Emotional concern for parents peers and authorities whose opinions matter

What is commitment?

Investment in education work reputation and future goals that crime could destroy

What is involvement?

Participation in conventional activities that reduces time and opportunity for delinquency

What is belief?

Acceptance that society’s laws and moral rules are legitimate

What did the Short and Nye self-report study show?

Delinquency was more widespread across social classes than official crime reports suggested

What is labelling theory?

Deviance is shaped by audience reaction stigma and the power to apply labels rather than by the act alone

What is the Thomas theorem?

Situations defined as real become real in their consequences

What is Tannenbaum’s dramatization of evil?

One bad act becomes a definition of the whole person and may change the person’s identity

What are primary and secondary deviance?

Primary deviance is the initial act while secondary deviance follows acceptance of a deviant label

What are master status and retrospective reading?

A deviant label overrides other identities and causes past behaviour to be reinterpreted as evidence

What is deviance amplification?

Labelling increases surveillance exclusion and self-identification which can produce further deviance

Who are moral entrepreneurs and what is differential enforcement?

Powerful groups create or enforce rules while marginalized people are more likely to be labelled

What is developmental criminology?

The study of how offending begins persists changes and ends across the life course

What is the difference between latent trait and life-course theory?

Latent trait theory stresses stable criminal propensity while life-course theory stresses changing bonds and turning points

What are instrumental and expressive violence?

Instrumental violence seeks a practical gain while expressive violence releases anger or frustration

What is the subculture of violence?

A value system that treats force as an acceptable response to conflict and threats to status

Why is sexual assault treated as a crime of power?

It uses sexuality to impose control and is often committed by an acquaintance rather than a stranger

What are Groth’s three main rapist types?

Power rapists seek control. Anger rapists express rage. Sadistic rapists combine assault with torture

What is male proprietariness theory?

Some men use violence against partners to preserve control especially when separation threatens ownership-like expectations

What is structural violence?

Social political and economic arrangements that systematically place certain populations in harm’s way

How is settler colonialism a form of structural violence?

Land theft assimilation racism and institutional exclusion create lasting exposure to violence and deprivation

What do unworthy victims and the MMIWG crisis illustrate?

Colonial stereotypes and institutional neglect make Indigenous victimization less visible and less urgently addressed

What is the difference between occasional and professional criminals?

Occasional offenders drift into opportunities while professionals rely on skill identity and continuing criminal income

How does rational choice explain burglary?

Burglars weigh payoff occupancy access guardianship escape routes and the risk of detection

What did Sutherland’s professional thief concept emphasize?

Skilled nonviolent offenders learn specialized techniques and depend on criminal networks such as fences

What are the main white-collar crime distinctions and categories?

Occupational crime benefits an employee. Corporate crime benefits a company. State-corporate crime joins government and business harm. Edelhertz identified ad hoc violations abuses of trust collateral business crime and con games

What is corporate culture theory?

Organizations can teach and reward lawbreaking when profit pressure and weak oversight make deviance normal

What is the self-control view of white-collar crime?

The desire for quick benefit and weak concern for long-term costs explains both elite and street crime

What are compliance and deterrence?

Compliance creates incentives for lawful business while deterrence detects and punishes violations

What are the three definitions of green crime?

Legalist focuses on lawbreaking. Environmental justice includes harmful legal acts. Biocentric includes damage to ecosystems themselves

What do Bre-X Westray and Deepwater Horizon illustrate?

Fraud weak regulation and profit pressure can create mass financial loss worker deaths and environmental catastrophe

What characterizes organized crime?

It is continuing profit-driven group crime involving planning specialization secrecy discipline corruption and connections to legitimate enterprise

What theories and structures explain organized crime?

Alien conspiracy stresses a foreign Mafia. Economic theory stresses illegal markets. Bureaucratic kinship patron-client and network models describe organization. Transnational crime operates across borders