SO 220 - Chapter 9: Crime As a Social Problem

Crime

Crime

Behaviour that violates the criminal law that is punishable by fine, jail term, or other negative sanction

Deviance

Anything that violates formal norms

Criminal Code of Canada

• Two components

  • The act (actus reus)

  • Intent (mens rea)

• Two major categories

  • Summary convictions (relatively minor crimes, provincial courts)

  • Indictable offences (serious crimes, more than a year’s imprisonment, federal courts)

Official statistics from uniform crime report

• Reported crime substantiated by police investigation

• A yearly snapshot around how much crime is occurring in Canada known to police

Dark figure of crime

• Crime that goes unreported to police

• People may be afraid to go to police depending on the nature of the crime

• People may also be unaware that a crime even occurred

• We learn about it through victimization reports

Victimization reports

• From the General Social Survey conducted in Canada every 10 years

• Asks you to report if certain things have happened to you / if you have been victimized in a certain way

• Indicates more crimes are committed than reported

• Gives more insight into criminal activity but is not considered part of the official data

The media and crime

• Much of what we “know” about crime comes from the media

• The media gives us an inflated fear of crime

• We are more likely to be afraid of violent crimes but we are more likely to be victimized by property crimes (in part due to the media)

• The media covers “sensational” crimes

• Media sources often act as claims-makers about crime

Moral panics

Based on perceptions rather than on the alleged reality of a problem

Crime Severity Index

• Statistical analysis that overlays the number of offences with the type of crime

• Summary convictions vs. indictable offences

Violent crime

• Actions that involve force or threat of force against others

• Homicide

  • Mass murder: 4+ people

  • Serial murder: 3+ people in a month with a cooling off period in between

• Sexual assault

  • 3 levels from touching to aggravated assault, including date rape

• Hate crimes

• Property crimes

Police reported crime from 1962 - 2021

• Spike in 1992 in everything except violent crime

• Violent crime remains steady because it doesn’t respond to social pressures the way other kinds do

Crime rates

• Very responsive to the economy

• They also respond to the level of freedom within a society

  • Crime rates are lower in more restrictive societies

Crime Severity Index 1998 - 2021

• As the amount of crime goes down, so does the severity

Level 1 sexual offences

• An assault committed in the circumstances of a sexual nature such that the sexual integrity of the victim is violated

• Minor physical injuries or no injuries

Level 2 sexual assault

Sexual assault with a weapon, threats, or causing bodily harm

Level 3 sexual assault

Results in wounding, maiming, disfiguring, or endangering the life of the victim

Sexual offences

• Combined, levels 2 and 3 make up 2% of reported sexual assault

• There was an increase in reporting in 2018 due to #MeToo

• The most underreported offences

Hate crimes

• Crimes motivated by the offender’s hatred of certain characteristics of the victim (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation)

• Very difficult to prove because you have to prove that the motive was the victim’s membership

• Majority of hate crimes are due to race/ethnicity

• 2009 - 2020

  • Spikes towards the end of 2017 and 2019-2020

• Hate crimes in AB based on religion have been increasing

• Highest in BC, ON, and AB

Property crimes

• The taking of money or property from another

• Property crime without force or threat of force has decreased

• Breaking and entering is serious because of confrontation

• Theft under $5000 is the most common offence

• Shoplifting accounts for billions of losses

• Identity theft (collecting) and identity fraud (using) for criminal purposes has decreased

  • Has increased online

Occupational (white-collar) crime

• Crime committed by people in the course of their employment or business activity

• Ex. fraud, insider trading

Corporate crime

• Illegal acts committed by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support

• Ex. selling defective products, pollution, obstructing data

Organized crime

Business operation that supplies illegal goods and services

Youth crime

• Violation of law or commission of offences by a person 12-17 years of age

• Assaults are rare but do occur

• Serious offences are also rare but receive a lot of attention

• If you are under age 12, it is the social service sector that deals with it, not the justice system

Youth Criminal Justice Act 2003

• Status offences

  • Activities that are criminalized because of the age of the individual

  • Ex. drinking, use of weed, driving

• Diversion program

  • Gives young people alternative sanctions in the community

  • Young people put through the court system and in jail have a higher risk of reoffending

Durkheim’s perspective on crime (functionalist)

• Crime is a normal part of society

• Crime is a cultural universal

• Crime is dysfunctional when levels of deviance are too high

Merton’s Strain Theory (functionalist)

• People who do not have access to legitimate means (ex. a job) to a culturally approved goal (ex. wealth) use illegetimate means (ex. crime) to achieve those goals)

• Lack of legitimate means creates a strain which generates crime

• An approved goal is a cultural norm

Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory (functionalist)

• criminal behaviour is most likely to occur when a person’s ties to society are weakened or broken

• Social bonding consists of

  • attachment to other people

  • commitment to conformity

  • involvement in conventional activities

  • belief in the legitimacy of conventional values and norms

Subculture of violence hypothesis (functionalist)

• Violence is part of the normative expectations among young adults in lower classes

• Some people are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour if it is seen as part of who they are

• This is why we are more likely to see violent crime against other people involved in violent crime

  • If you are a violent crime offender, you are statistically likely to be a victim as well

Life-style routine activity approach (functionalist)

• Crime occurs when a motivated offender finds a suitable target and no guardianship

• It is within those specific subcultures were offenders gain the motivation to engage in criminal activity

Conflict perspective on crime

• Emphasizes differences in power

• It is those who have power that make the rules

• Occupational and corporate crime

  • Some occupational practices harm individuals more than violent crime

  • ex. push to perscribe opioids

  • These things are not criminalized because of the power of those who engage in them

Radical critical-conflict approach to crime

• Social instiutions such as law, politics, and education create a superstructure that legtitimizes class structure and maintain’s capitalists’ superior position

• The crimes people commit are based on their class position

• Crimes committed by low-income people typically involve taking things by force or stealth

• White-collar crimes involve non-physical means

• Affluent people commit crimes because they are greedy, poor people commit crimes to survive

Differential association theory (interactionist)

• Individuals have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with people who tend towards deviance rather than conformity

• People learn the techniques, motives, drives, and attitudes around deviance from others

Labelling theory (interactionist)

Delinquents and criminals are people who have been labelled as such by others

Primary deviance

The initial act of rule-breaking in which the individual does not internalize the delinquent or criminal self-concept

Secondary deviance

Occurs when a person who has been labelled as deviant accepts that new identity and continues the behaviour

Liberal feminist approach to crime

• women’s delinquency or crime is a rational response to gender discrimination in society

• crimes such as prostitution and shoplifting are attributed to societal disadvantage

Radical feminist approach to crime

• The patriarchy contributes to crimes such as prostitution because it is acceptable for a man to pay for sex but unacceptable for a woman to provide it

Socialist feminist approach to crime

• Women are exploited by capitalism and the patriarchy

• Crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution are a way of earning money and acquiring consumer products

Gang violence

• Includes homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault

• Robert M. Gordon’s 6 types of gangs in Vancouver

  • Youth movements (perpetuate hate crimes)

  • Youth groups (hang out in public places like malls)

  • Criminal groups (small groups who ban together for a short time for illegal financial gain)

  • Wanna-be groups (loosely structured, impulsive criminal behaviour)

  • Street gangs (young adults who plan criminal behaviour)

  • Criminal business organizations (older, well structured, sometimes ethnic membership)

Problems with victimization reports

• Answers based on recall

• Respondents may not always be truthful

• Workplace crimes are not included

Experience of Anomie (Durkheim, functionalist)

• A level of normlessness/social disintegration

• Individuals do not feel connected to society OR society is lacking in societal norms

• This is why crime increases during times of economic stress

5 ways people respond to a cultural norm (Merton’s strain theory)

• Conformity (accept approved goals and means)

• Innovation (accept approved goals, reject means)

• Ritualism (give up on approved goals, but continue means)

• Retreatism (give up on both goals and means)

• Rebellion (reject both goals and means)