Crime and Deviance Booklet 1

Crime and Deviance Functionalism Subcultural Theory Social Interaction Marxism Neo-Marxism Environmental Theory Left Realism Right Realism Postmodernism

Crime and Deviance

• Behaviour that breaks the formal, written laws of society.

• Deviance refers to any kind of behaviour that goes against that of the norms and in society.

Normative Definition of Deviancy- Societal

• A violation of a norm held in a certain social circle or by a majority of the members of the society at large.

Relativistic Definition of Deviancy- Situational

• Deviances are socially constructed

AO3- Social construction of crime and deviance

• Newburn- Crime is basically a ‘label’ and no act is a crime itself until the label to the act is applied.

Durkheim- Social Control

• Through social control order is possible, and there is a collective consciousness based on shared norms and values. the absence of these= ANOMIE

Durkheim- Functions of Crime

1. Reaffirming boundaries- the punishment of committing a crime that society experiences acts as a deterrent so others don’t commit the same crime.

2. Changing values- when a case brought to court, the CJS is challenged allowing for the changing of laws and the dealing with defendants.

3. Social cohesion- The community can bind together and stand against the defendant when horrible crimes are committed e.g. George Floyd and Sarah Everard

   1. Safety valve- Deviancy acts as a pressure release as people can express themselves in ways that aren’t criminal.

AO3 analysis- anomie

• After 2011 London Riots, stop and search rates increased and there was an introduction of policies to prevent anomie from ever occurring.

AO3 Evaluation of Durkheim

• Lea and Young- It doesn’t consider the social harm that crime cause the victims.

• Walton and Young- Not crime that reaffirms boundaries but the media coverage it receives instead.

Merton

• Strain theory arises from the desire to meet the value consensus of the American Dream whether that be legitimately or illegitimately.

5 Responses to Strain:

• Rebellion: Individual creates new ways of achieving goals e.g. terrorism

• Conformity: Individual conforms to society’s norms and values and meets the goals within the bounds of the law e.g. law-abiding citizen

• Innovation: Individual creates new methods in achieving the same goals as society e.g. white collar crime

• Ritualism: Individuals abandon the goals of mainstream society but still conforms to societal norms and values e.g. depressed law-abiding citizens

• Retreatism: Individual gives up on goals and norms and values of society e.g. drug abusers

Hirschi Control Theory

• Explores the reason why most people conform to societal norms and values.

  4 Controls/ bonds dictate people’s lives:

1. Attachment- People are linked with other individuals e.g. friends and peers

2. Commitment- Commitment and stake in conformity and conventions e.g. high educational attainment, family and work

3. Involvement- Less opportunity to commit crime due to prior engagements e.g. community activities and hobbies

4. Belief- People share moral beliefs about right and wrong e.g. following the parameters of the law.

AO3 Analysis of Hirschi

• Neighbourhood watch

• ASBOs

• Zero tolerance policing

AO3 Evaluation of Hirschi

• Fertility doctor Jaan Karbaat and Dr Donald Cline- impregnating women with his own sperm

Cohen- Status Frustration

• Subcultures are likely to form in w/c communities due to low educational achievement

• W/C boys join gangs:

  • inadequate socialisation

  • lack of educational status

• Mostly commit non-utilitarian crimes to gain status e.g. vandalism

AO3 Analysis of Cohen

• NSPCC (2009)- ‘they might join due to peer pressure, money or family problems.’ ‘feel attracted to status’

AO3 Evaluation of Cohen

• Willis- Myth of meritocracy- boys can bypass status frustration as they are disillusioned from the start.

• Matza- this theory both overpredicts and over estimates w/c delinquency

Cloward and Ohlin- Types of Subcultures

3 types of delinquent subcultures:

1. Criminal subcultures= access to the illegitimate opportunity structure, often organised crime syndicates e.g. Mafia, Yakuza

2. Conflict Subcultures= Non-utilitarian subcultures, non-hierarchal and fight for power and territory e.g. postcode gangs, cripz and bloods, mods and rockers

3. Retreatist Subcultures= People labelled as ‘double failures’ failed to achieve both societal goals and deviant goals causing substance abuse e.g. Hippies and drug abusers

AO3 analysis of Cloward and Ohlin

• Jemal Ebrahim= victim of mistaken identity stabbing in Tottenham

  • Led to the revenge murder of Chad Gordon which was ironically a mistaken identity shooting

AO3 Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin

• Miller (1962)- Deviance is widespread in the lower classes, this is born out of an attempt to achieve w/c cultural goals rather than mainstream goals

• South (2014)- The drug trade is a mixture of disorganised crime and professional crime.

Miller- Focal Concerns

• A distinctively w/c culture

6 Focal Concerns:

1. Acceptance- Violence is a part of live thus, the w/c must know how to protect themselves.

2. Masculinity- Men present themselves as tough, fighting, womanising and getting inebriated (loaded)

3. Smartness- Looking good, being sharp and streetwise

4. Excitement- Looking for the thrill/ kicks

5. Fatalism- Accepted that nothing can be done to change their position legitimately so they only concern themselves with immediate gratification.

6. Autonomy- Independence and not being pushed around

Matza- Techniques of Neutralisation

• We all had so-called "subterranean values" that, for the most part, we managed to control and inhibit.

Drift Theory- Losing delinquent values as people grow up

• Criminals use techniques of neutralisation because they know that their actions are deviant, that they do share the value consensus of the rest of society and wish to "neutralise" their transgression as soon as possible.

• Examples of techniques of neutralisation include: Denial of responsibility, denial of victim, condemnation of the condemners.

Evaluation of Functionalism and Crime and Deviance

• Taylor et Al- Assumption of value consensus.

• Types of subcultures:

  • Mods and Rockers

  • Football hooliganism

Malinowski (1929)- Trobriand Islands

• Labelled/ stigmatised- killed himself for incest

• Openness about incestuous activities led to him being ostracised and killing himself.

Becker (1963)

• A deviant act is only labelled as such by those that enforce the rules

1. Negative label- A person receives a label as a criminal from a Moral Entrepreneur

2. Self concept- self-image based on treatment from others

3. Label reinforcement- the labelled person internalises the label of ‘criminal’ as they are treated like one and feel like one

4. Mater status- the criminal identity becomes the main way in which the person with the label is perceived

5. Deviant career- As a result, the person becomes a career criminal

Selective Law Enforcement- Police act with pre-existing stereotypes and bias on who criminals are and what they appear to be.

Pillavin and Briar

• Decisions on arrest of young people are often based on physical cues like (dress, time and place)

Cicourel- Selective Law Enforcement

• The police operate with ‘typifications’- stereotypes about who is or isn’t a criminal justice is renegotiable - police less likely to support non-custodial sentences for w/c.

Lemert (1972)

• Looked at parental reactions to children stuttering and determined that deviance could be sectioned into 2 groups:

  • Primary Deviance: Not publically labelled and has few consequences e.g. illegal drug use, breaking traffic laws

    • If labelled leads to further consequences:

  • Secondary Deviance: continuation of deviance due to labelling and could cause deviant career

    • E.g. Notting Hill and the Marijuana Users

Jock Young (1971)- Marijuana Users

• Drugs were initially on the periphery of the Hippies lifestyle

• Media then begins to present the Hippies as drug takers and therefore, they became a deviant criminal group

• Due to their marginalisation from media coverage and police action, they unite and retreat from mainstream society making deviant norms and values develop further.

Cohen (1972)- Folk Devils

• Rival gangs of the Mods and Rockers

• Media created them to be folk devils to sensationalise the event

• Causes a moral panic which amplifies the deviance and causes a response from law enforcement

• Over policing causes more violence and more media coverage continuing the cycle.

Chambliss (1973)

• Saints Vs Roughnecks= responses to involvement in deviant crimes

• Saints= 8 M/C boys- attended university and evaded trouble with the police due to parental support and their elaborate code

• Roughnecks= 6 W/C boys - arrested, 2 serious criminals, 2 repeat offenders and 2 teachers

AO3 Analysis for Chambliss

• Lavinia Woodward- White and Middle Class

  • Stabbed her boyfriend for outing her drug abuse and was coined ‘too smart’ for prison by a judge as she was an Oxford Medical Student

• Terrorism Act 2000 and Suella Braveman’s Stop and Search

Braithwaite (1989)

• Disintegrative shaming- Labelling and shunning from mainstream society

• Reintegrative shaming- easy to re-join society

Chambliss- Capitalism

• Capitalism is criminogenic

• ‘Dog eat dog’ society

AO3 Analysis of Chambliss

• Matt Hancock- awarding the PPE supplying job to his friend- Cronyism

AO3 Evaluation of Chambliss

• Merton and Nightingale- The desire to achieve societal success and goals outweigh the pressure to obey the law. Therefore, capitalism leads to crime

• Doesn’t explain non-utilitarian crimes like Katz and Lyng and Cohen

Slapper and Tombs (1999)

• Corporate crime should be defined as law breaking in/for the interests of corporations.

• AO3 Analysis: Pfizer HQ in Ireland where Corporation tax= 12.5%

Snider (1993)

• The rich make the laws

• Street crime in the USA costs $4 billion and the losses from white collar crime cost 20 times more

Box

• Serious crime is defined by the ruling class and is ideologically constructed therefore, it fits the need to protect R/C interests and power.

AO3 Analysis of corporate crime vs blue collar crime

• Until 2007 no person could be charged and held accountable for the crimes committed by a company e.g. workplace negligence

• Bhopal disaster 1984- CEO and employees faced $2000 fine

• London Riots 2011- 1000 criminal charges and av sentence of 16 months

Reiman (2009)

• The Rich get richer and the poor get prisons

AO3 Evaluation Disparity in treatment between rich and poor

• Rara Plaza- Bangladesh ignored safety regulations, Primark and fast fashion

• Street crime has more emotional attachment than white collar crimes and therefore are punished more harshly.

Sayer (2015)

• The Rich shape the law and therefore won’t end up in prison

• Ensure that the gov don’t close loopholes that mean that they can’t continue to exploit the Law.

• Includes tax havens where money can be hidden on small islands or states where tax rates are low

AO3 positive Evaluation- Sayer

• Snider- States are reluctant to pass laws that threaten the profitability of large businesses e.g. low corporation tax in Ireland

• Pearce- Laws that appear to protect and benefit the W/C actually benefit the ruling class e.g. health and safety of their workers keeping them fit and loyal.

Gordon (1976)

• Law enforcement supports capitalism in 3 ways:

1. Individuals that commit crimes are labelled as ‘social failures’

2. Imprisonment system of selected individuals neutralises opposition to CJS and prevents revolution and anarchy

3. Defining criminals- ‘animals’ and ‘misfits’ provides justification for their imprisonment

AO3: Black males in prison in USA= 6.8% which hides the biproducts of capitalism e.g. homelessness and unemployment

Walton et Al (1973)

• Social construction of crime by looking at the meaning behind why people commit crime

• ‘Fally social theory of deviance’- changes society for the better by taking an individual view

• ‘Take on the Voluntarist view’- free will and choice to commit crime- w/c and ethnic minorities response to capitalism is why they commit crimes

Hall (1978)

• Myth of the Black Mugger arose from the Media’s deviancy amplification to divert from the winter of discontent

• Scapegoated black crime for people’s trouble’s so their anger would be turned away from the gov.

1. Crisis of hegemony

2. Moral Panics

AO3 Analysis Hall

• Sir Iain Livingstone deems the Metropolitan police institutionally racist

• Baroness Casey (2023) racism is still prevalent in law enforcement

AO3 Evaluation Hall

• Becker- Hall shows the importance of labelling

• Cohen- Media has the power to label which leads to crime

• Lea and Young- Too much empathy for perpetrators of crime, ignores OCS

Gilroy

• Crime is committed as a form of protest against the oppression and racism w/c face

• As their existence is labelled as criminal, ethnic minorities and the w/c they commit crimes to lash out

• e.g. London Riots 2011, Black Lives Matter 2020

AO3 Evaluation- W/C and racism

• Young- Underplays the effects of crime on the victims

• Carlen- More women are in poverty than men yet they are still left out of the discussion and discourse

Hall and Jefferson (1978)

• CCCS- formed as resistance

• Young W/C and especially those who had performed poorly academically

  • E.g. Teddyboys- 1950s subculture out of class inequality creating an identity crisis.

AO3 Evaluation of Subcultural resistance

• Muggleton- Hippies were negatively labelled and were M/C which challenges the view that all subcultures are W/C

• McRobbie- CCCS are male stream and fails to notice or explain the disillusionment of girls who are oppressed by society.

Shaw and McKay (1942)- SDT

• Social Disorganisation Theory:

  • Most crime occurs in the zone of transition: high immigrant populations and cheapest housing- similar to inner cities now

  • CBD is immune to crime, very few residents and mostly workers

  • Residential zones and commuter zones are inhabited by M/C also

Shaw and McKay (1942)- CTT

• Richer leave the zone of transition

• Leave behind successive waves of criminality due to high turnover rate in population

• New waves of immigrants take over vacated houses and maintain the hierarchy

• E.g. Map of London’s stratification

  • Most violent arrests= Newham and Lambeth

  • Most deprived areas= Newham and Tower Hamlets

AO3 Evaluation of Shaw and McKay

• Sutherland and Cressey- Differential associations dictate the likelihood a person will commit crime and are based on 4 factors:

  1. Frequency

  2. Duration

  3. Priority

  4. Intensity

Brantingham (1984)

• Cognitive Maps- knowledge of an area makes people more comfortable perpetrating and committing crimes

Morris (1957)

• ‘Tipping the Balance’- local councils put problem households and families in the same estate

  • The non law abiding citizens drive out the law abiding citizens

• AO3 Analysis: Baldwin and Bottoms (1976)- applied to 2 council estates where it proved true.

Skogan (1990)

• ‘Physical Deterioration’ of an area makes crime more likely to occur as there is a break down of social control

Marshall

• ‘Sink estates’- entire populations have an attitude of fatalism towards their estate/ community

  • Result of insufficient funding and lack of provision

Wilson and Kelling

• Broken Windows theory

• Physical deterioration leads to more crime as one broken window makes it easier for another to be broken.

Hobbes and Lister (2000)

• ‘Nocturnal economy’- Binge drinking is encouraged

• Thrives on involvement with prostitution and drug-taking

  • AO3 Analysis: the idea of the nocturnal economy was used as a justification for 2005 licensing laws

Clarke (1995)

• Rational choice theory

• People only commit crime when the rewards outweigh the costs and consequences

• In order to determine this fact, people take in the attractiveness and accessibility of the target.

AO3 Evaluation of Environmental theory

• Outdated given the rise of gentrification of zone of transition creating a duality and dichotomy between the rich and poor where they exist in one area.

Lea and Young (1984)- structural causes of crime

• Three reasons people turn to crime:

1. Relative deprivation- Hutton: 40:30:30 ratio of workers in Northern towns

   AO3 Analysis: Young: Bulimic society gauge with consumerist lifestyle and throw up raised expectations leading to more crime as a way to keep up.

2. Marginalisation- Unions and the rights of workers, unemployment denies access to these protective havens

   AO3 Analysis: 2011: university fees protests

3. Subcultures- due to marginalisation and oppression faced, they turn to non-utilitarian crimes to act out in large groups.

   AO3 Analysis: Pryce- Endless pressure faced by Afro-Caribbean migrants who refused to do ‘shit work’ leading to the formation of the Rastafarian subculture in the UK

Lewis et Al (2011)

• The desire to consume outweigh conformity to the law and in order to keep up with the media they consumed, people partook in looting during the London Riots to accommodate this feeling of deprivation

Young (2003)

• Three features of late modernity which intensify the feeling of relative deprivation

1. Growing individualism

2. Weakening of informal social controls

3. Growing economic inequality and economic change

AO3 Evaluation of Realsim

• Merton- Strain theory

• Katz and Lyng- Edgework

Lea and Young (2003)- Solutions to Policing

• Democratic Policing- the public can offer their opinions to change and improve policing policies.

• Targets marginalisation and fosters better relations with the police.

• Dealing with the structural causes: New Deal (1998)- Tough on crime and the causes of crime

• Multi-agency approach- much like New Labour- ‘Tough on crime (punishment) and the causes of crime (structural issues)

Matthews and Young

• Tackling street crime

• The square of crime- Victims, police, public, offenders

• Each corner works together to deal with crime and its causes thus reducing reoffending rates

AO3 Evaluation of Left Realism

• Hughes- Explored the position of the victim and the worst excesses of right and left approaches.

Clarke Rational Choice Theory

• Solutions to rational choice:

  • Situational crime prevention

  • Increase in CCTV

  • Target hardening

Communitarianism

• The unification of a community to save an area e.g. solving social problems like antisocial behaviour and vandalism

• solutions include:

  • Environmental Crime Prevention: improving local environment, less shared spaces

AO3 Evaluation of Wilson and Kelling

• Jones- Lack of investment, cycle of urban decline. Needed funding in the first place.

Felson and Cohen (1979)

• Routine Activities Theory:

  • Focuses on the individual and not the structure

• Features of Routine Activities Theory:

1. Motivation- crimes of necessity

2. Opportunity- time has to be right e.g. unlocked cars- 75% of range rovers in the UK are stolen

3. Lack of guardianship- inadequate socialisation, no parental engagement e.g. Fatherless homes

Murray Solutions to Crime

• Underclass theory: cycle of deprivation causes poverty and leads to dependency culture

Murray’s solution to Crime:

• Remove welfare state

• Provide role models

• Directly stop lone mothers receiving welfare state

• Involuntary sterilisation of criminals

AO3 Evaluation of Right Realism

• Mooney- There isn’t a scrap of evidence for a link between lone parent families and crime

Henry and Milanovic (1996)- Criticism of right realism

• Crime should be defined by the social harm it causes.

  1. Harms of reduction- power used to cause harm to a victim so they experience some form of loss

  2. Harms of repression- Power used to restrict someone’s future development

Maffesoli- Subcultural Theory criticism

• Subcultures should be defined as neo-tribes

• Groups being based on: Fluidity, Gatherings and dispersal

• Freedom to leave and join as one pleases

• Ability to belong to more than one subculture

• Subcultures change over time with one’s lifestyle, identity and state of mind

Katz and Lyng

• Edgework- people don’t always have rational motives but can be done out of pure thrill

• People flirting with boundaries of acceptable behaviour due to the excitement of crossing them e.g. underage drinking

Young- Crime is a product of its Circumstance

• Bulimic society and throwing up raised expectations

Pacione

• Glasgow and crime

• In post-industrial society after factories were shut the desire to consume continued in times of high unemployment

• Crime replaced loss of identity and became necessity

Winlow

• Crime is often about escapism

• Researched Sunderland and found that the only way to gain status in post-industrial societies is through security guardship

• The identity crisis led them to binge drinking and drug use

Foucault

• The use of the panopticon prison reflects the move from:

  • Sovereign power: control through force

  to:

  • Disciplinary power: control through surveillance

Bauman and Lyon (2013)

• A form of social control which people conform to

• Smallest detail of our lives monitored e.g. social media