paper 3 sociologists- crime and deviance

Durkheim on crime

He says that crime is inevitable and universal

Three functions that Crime performs for society - Durkheim

- Boundary Maintenance: punishments reaffirms value consensus

Polsky - Safety Valve

suggested that pornography may prevent more serious sexual offences

Evaluation of Durkheim

• Marxists argue that crime is caused by inequality and conflict

• Durkheim neglects the effects of crime on its victims

• Durkheim ignores the role of the powerful in shaping or fixing the consensus about crime so that their activities are not defined as criminal

Merton Strain Theory

• In the USA cultural insitutions socialise individuals into believing in the American dream

• However he believed that this led to the poor experiencing anomie

Merton's responses to strain

conformity

Evaluation of Merton

• fails to explain crimes that aren't economically motivated

• underestimates the amount of crimes committed by the upper and middle classes

• Valier: argues that Merton exaggerates the importance of monetary success in peoples lives

Cohen (Subcultural theory)

- looked at w/c boys and how poor access to educational achievement led to status frustration and the formation of delinquent subcultures as a way to gain status from peers.

Matza (criticism of subcultural theory)

- argues that only a minority of working class youth actually get into trouble or join gangs

Evaluation of Cohen

- Ignores female delinquency

Cloward and Ohlin

if young w/c people are denied legitimate opportunities

Cloward and Ohlin subcultures

• criminal subcultures: may be recruited into organisations

• conflict subcultures: some inner city areas may be dominated by territorial street gangs

• retreatist subcultures: "double failures" fail to become criminals and may form subcultures of drug use

Hirschi Control Theory (Interactionist)

• attachment: people fear losing the love and respect of their partners and family

• commitment: most people fear losing their jobs

Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin

• fail to account for white collar or corporate crime

• Marshall: argues that Cloward + Ohlin exaggerate criminal opportunities available to young people

Marxism and Criminogenic Capitalism

Marxists believe that capitalism is criminogenic - by its very nature

Chambliss

argues that the law mainly protects the interests of the ruling classes

Box

- argues that the law is socially constructed by the ruling classes to protect their interests

Selective Law enforcement

marxists argue that law enforcement is biased and selective. statistics give the impression that crimes are mainly committed by w/c people

White collar crime

crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations

Corporate crime

the illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf

Under reported + Under policed white collar and corporate crime

• these offences are hidden from public gaze - people may not realise that they've been a victim of corporate crime

• white collar crime or corporate crime isn't feared in the same way as robbery or violence

• these crimes are complex

• it can be difficult to prove individual responsibility for particular corporate actions

Neo Marxist view on crime

- Taylor et al: argue that criminality is a form of political protest as they see the w/c as agents of free will and choose whether to commit crimes in response to the negative experience of capitalism

Crime as political protest

• economic crimes: crimes like mugging are an attempt to redistribute weatlth from the rich to the poor

• vandalism: an attack on the capitalists obsession with poverty

• drug use: indicates a rejection or contempt for the material values of capitalism

Stuart Hall: Policing the crisis

Looked at muggings in London. New stories about black muggers were exaggerated by the tabloid press and were used to justify an increase in police powers. Black minorities used as scapegoats.

Evaluation of marxism

- over emphasise social class and fail to explain other patterns or crime relating to age

Evaluation of neo-marxists

• left realists critises new criminology for over-romanticising w/c criminals as "Robin Hood"

• crimes such as DV

Cicourel - negotiation of justice

justice is not fixed but negotiable middle-class are less likely to be arrested as they don't fit the stereotypes and parents negotiate successfully on their behalf

Evaluation of labelling

• labelling doesn't explain why people offend in the first place

• Lea and Young claim that labelling theory neglects victims of crimes

Evaluating the usefulness of the OCS

-Positivists accept the validity of the OCS

Walklate

in rape cases it is not the defendant who is on trial but the victim since she has to prove her respectability in order to have her evidence accepted
- notes that shoplifting and prositiution are often motiviated by economic necessity

Adler

Liberation thesis - womens liberation from patriarchy will lead to a new type of female criminal

Smart and Oakley

Suggest that males are socialised into aggressive

Messerschimidt

- boys have been socialised into a powerful hegemonic masculine value system which leads to them needing to protect their masculinity and commit crimes that reaffirm their power over women

Heidensohn

Patriarchal society imposes greater control over women

Evaluation of Chivalry thesis

• women are more likely to be victims

• doesnt take into account factors such as social class

Ethnicity and Crime

- Black people are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched despite 90% not leading to arrest. They are twice as likely to be convicted and three times more likely to go to prison.

Reasons for ethnicity and crime

• institutional racsim (Macpherson report found insititutional racism

• Canteen culture which allows discrimination (Holdaway and BAME youth)

• CJS may just reflect levels of discrimination towards BAME groups by police

What is the first factor in Sewell Triple Quandry theory?

Lack of father figure: many black boys are brought up by single mothers and look up to role models in gang culture in their community

What is the second factor in Sewell Triple Quandry theory?

Media: black boys believe that status can be achieved by the construction of hyper-masculine identity based on violence + sexual conquest

What is the third factor in Sewell Triple Quandry theory?

Negative experiences of white culture: black boys are disaffected because of their experience of school

Parson sex role theory

Females commit less crime than men due to socialisation that they receive as children and their access to adult role models in the home so are more likely to turn to all male gangs for masculine identity