crime and deviance booklet 1

what is the meaning of crime?

the breaking of rules that have been made into laws by the government or rulers in society.

what is the meaning of deviance?

behaviour that most or all people disapprove of in society.

what is boundary maintenance?

a functionalist view. reminds people of what will happen if they cross the boundaries. preventing a larger number of people committing crimes.

what is social change?

a functionalist view. it keeps society moving forward as the public signals a change in social attitudes and values. this can lead to acts once seen as deviant or illegal as normal.

what is social cohesion?

a functionalist view. horrific crimes that bring society together through shared outrage.

what is a safety valve?

a functionalist view. deviance can be a form of pressure release - releasing stresses into society. deviancy allows people to express themselves in ways that aren’t criminal.

what is selective law creation?

a marxist view. laws are made by the ruling class and they benefit them. majority of laws relate to protecting private property and street crimes - working class crimes. simply rules are made to control the working class.

what is selective law enforcement?

a marxist view. even though majority of laws are made to interest the rich - these laws could benefit all of society if they were fairly applied. however marxists argue that working class are far more likely to be targeted by this system.

what is women and victimisation?

a feminist view. focus on the fact women are far more likely to be victims of particular crimes - like domestic abuse and sexual violence.

what does the experiences of women in the criminal justice system mean?

a feminist view. women are treated differently to mean in the criminal justice system. double deviance - women get harsher court cases than men sometimes - for example child abuse as women are meant to be loving and caring.

what is female criminality?

a feminist view. exploring the reasons for female crime as well as reasons why it tends to be less common amongst men.

what are the three problems with official crime statistics?

detection - some crimes may not even be discovered.

reporting - even if a crime was detected, people may not report it - because of embarrassment or not wanting to get involved.

recording- the police decide whether crimes are recorded. only a small amount of crimes reported are recorded.

what are victims surveys? what’s the problem with them?

victims surveys - interviewing a sample of people who have been victims of crimes within the last year.

problems - people don’t always know there victims of crimes, victims memory may be inaccurate, victims of rape or sexual assault still may feel unwilling to admit them.