Crime and deviance

Durkheim- functionalist

Crime is inevitable, helps with boundary maintenance and adaption and change

Davis- functionalist

prostitution acts as a safety valve for the realse of men's sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family

Polsky functionalist

porn safely channels sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery which would pose risk to the family

Cohen functionalist

crime acts as a warning sign that an institution is not functioning properly eg truancy in school show an issue with the education system

Erikson functionalist

deviance performs positive social functions so society is organised to promote deviance

police sustain a certain level of crime

Merton's strain theory

everyone in society is working to get the same goals but not everyone has the means to achieve them therefore they result to deviance

The American dream

the idea that society is meritocratic where anyone who makes effort can get ahead, assumption that material wealth is wanted

Merton deviant adaptions to strain

conformity,innovation,ritualism,retreatism,rebellion

Cohen-status frustration

focuses on deviancy among w/c boys, they adjust to their low status in society by creating subcultures which offer alternative status hierarchy

Cloward and Ohlin

illegitimate opportunity structure

Criminal, conflict, retreatist

conflict subculture

a criminal subculture without organized crime, and spontaneous violence

criminal subculture

provides youth with a career in crime, arise in neighbourhoods with a longstanding crime culture

retreatist subculture

Turn to drugs and alcohol

Menesser and Rosenfield

winner takes all mentality

societies with this mentality and low welfare support are most likely to experience deviancy

Becker-interactionalist

Labelling theory; a deviant is someone who has had the label successfully applied

Becker moral entrepreneurs

someone who attempts to change the law through influencing societal reaction eg journalists who influence opinions which then effect the labelling process

Cicourel marxist

police use stereotypes to influence their judgement, if the offender fits into their stereotype they are more likely to be arrested

the dark figure of crime

the difference between the official statistics and the real rate of crime

Cicourel- statistics

we should not take statistics about crime as fact, but more of a topic for sociologists to investigate

lemert deviance amplification spiral

labelling and negative media representations leads to a self fulfilling prophecy where offenders keep offending

Lemert: Primary Deviance

deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled as criminal

lemert secondary deviance

A result of societal reaction to being caught and publicly labelled as criminal; shame hostility ect

cohen- mods and rockers

Use to explain deviance amplification spiral.

Media exaggeration began a moral panic. Police responded by arresting more youths.

Demonising the mods and rockers as marginalised them further, resulting in more deviance.

Braitwaite marxist

suggests labelling can be use positively

reintegrative shaming- labels the act but not the offender so that their return to society is easier and no mater status

disintergartive shaming-labels the offender not the act, leads to self fulfilling phrophecy

Miller- functionalist

lower class has developed an independent subculture with norms and values which class with those of mainstream society- explains lower class higher crime rate

Box- marxist

Law is written by the higher class and only reflects their interests 'ideological law making'

Chambliss- marxist

criminal justice system disproportionately focuses on the actions of the working class to control them while the higher class are ignore 'selective law enforcement'

Althusser

law can be useful in maintaining a false class consciousness through creating on minimum wage and health and safety in the workplace

Gordon- marxist

crime is a rational response to the capitalist system which explains why it is found in all classes even though stats seem to make it a working class thing

Pearce- marxist

health and safety laws benefit the h/c as they produce a healthy workforce which is therefore more productive

caring face of capitalism

capitalism is criminogenic marxist

poverty may mean crime is the only way w/c can live

alienation and lack of control may lead to frustration and aggression in the w/c

Sutherland- white collar crime

a term coined by sutherland, crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations

CC-Sutherland

criminal behaviour is learnt from others so if companies justify it, employees will be socialised into doing crime

CC-Merton

if companies are not achieving goals they must do illegal business to do so

CC- braithwaite

law abiding may be more profitable for businesses eg USA pharmaceutical companies

CC- nelken

with the help of lawyers and reluctant law enforcement agencies, businesses can de label crimes so that they get away with them

CC- Pearce

capitalist control of the state means that companies can avoid making laws which go against their interests

CC- Box

sees companies as criminogenic as if they don't have the means they will resort to illegal ways making corporate crime inevitable

right realism- wilson

biosocial theory of criminal behaviour; personality traits such as aggressiveness cause crime

right realism - murray

there is a growing underclass. children of the underclass learn criminal behaviour from their culture and parents. This creates a viscous cycle of crime

right realism - clarke

crime is a rational choice based on the calculations of consequences

right realism- felson

for crime to occur there must be a motivated offender, a suitable victim and the absence of police control (which there has been in recently)

right realism- wilson and kelling

Zero tolerance policing is the only way to solve crime, if damage is done to an area it should be fixed immediately to not promote crime

left realism- lea and young

Three explanations of crime

1. Relative deprivation

2. Subculture

3. Marginalisation

left realism Young

we are now living in a time of late modernity where instability, insecurity and exclusion make the problem of crime worse

eg despite the idea of meritocracy exclusion from opportunities remains for the w/c

left realism young et al

police clear up rates are too low to act as a deterrent for crime and the police spend too little time tackling crime

left realism and new labour

had a strong influence on policy- firmer approach to policing hate crimes, and New deal for anti-truancy attempted to reverse the exclusion of young people at risk of offending

male offenders

4/5 offenders are male

Pollack- chivalry thesis

Most police offers male and males brought up chivalrous - lenient with female offenders - less women appear in statistics

Bias against women

Feminists argue CJS treats women more harshly, especially when they deviate from gender norms

Eg. Carlen - Scottish courts more likely to jail women whose children were in care than women whom they saw as good mothers.

Heindenson

Patriarchal society imposes greater control over women, thus reducing their opportunities to offend.

Operates at home, in public, and at work

control at work

male bosses and managers

control at home

Domestic role means restrictions on their time and movement

Control in public

fear of male violence

parsons sex role theory

women are less likely to commit crimes due to their genetic characteristics

perform the expressive role in the home which gives girls good role models but means boys reject this caring role model and start to be deviant

Messerschmidt

sees crime as a resource that some men use to accomplish masculinity eg black working class youths may have few expectations for employment so turn to crime for material success

Adler liberation thesis

when women become liberated from the patriarchy, their crimes will become just as frequent and serious as men's

winlow

found that working as bouncers provided men with paid work and opportunity for illegal work with drugs and the opportunity to show masculinity through violence

carlen control theory

Humans act rationally at are controlled by being offered a 'deal' - rewards in return to conforming to norms.

Crime is committed if people think they wont get the rewards, or if the rewards of the crime are greater than the risks.

class deal

A deal that offers women material rewards such as consumer goods in return for working for a wage

gender deal

promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role

official stats ethnicity

blacks are 7x more likely to be stopped and searched than whites

gilroy and hall

ethnic differences in crime are an outcome of a social construction process that stereotypes minorities as more criminal than whites.

bowling and philips victim survey

evidence suggest that white victims tend to over-identify blacks saying the offender was black even if they are not sure

phillips and bowling

police often follow stereotypes which cast ethnic minorities as criminal leading to deliberate targeting for stop and search procedures

lea and young- ethnicity

racism has led to marginalisation which causes delinquent subcultures and higher levels of utilitarian crime (theft and robery)

Gilroy

ethnic minority crime can be seen as a form of political resistance against a racist society

Hall et al- policing the crisis

the moral panic about black muggers in the media, the term mugger was associated with black men reinforcing racial stereotypes and legitimising oppressive policing

Fitzgerald

black were more likely to live in poorer areas ,due to racial discrimination, where more crime took place as a result of deprivation

McPherson report

Report which looks into the Stephen Lawrence case - identified institutional racism in the CJS.

Duffy- media

the media over represent violent and sexual crime

felson- media

age fallacy- the media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle class

bandura- media

The media may provide a deviant role model, resulting in copycat behaviour

merton- media

media set the norm and pressure to conform to the norm can cause strain and deviance

Jewkes-media

The Internet creates opportunities to commit 'conventional crimes' such as fraud as well as 'new crimes' such as piracy

castells- globalisation

global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum- created by trafficking and smuggling ect

Hobbs and Dunnigham- globalisation

caused glocal crime where organised crime groups act on a global level

Taylor- globalisation

has led to changes in patterns and extent of crime by creating new opportunities for crime to take place

beck- green crime

we are living in a global risk society because risks associated with green crimes often on a global scale EG global warming

White- green crime

anthropocentric- environment is only a resource for humans and we can harm it

ecocentric- environment has intrinsic value and harm to it is a crime

South green crime

primary- have an immediate impact (pollution ect)

secondary- result from breaking class meant to protect the environment (illegal waste desposal)

Potter green crime

affects the global south but is caused by the global north- environmental racism (poorer suffer more)

Snider green crime

state are reluctant to regulate large companies when they cause GC as it affects profit

Weber- state crime

committed by those with legal power making them harder to challenge or define as crime

ward- state crime

illegal activities done by the state- makes prosecuting SC harder as lack of accountability or power structures

Cohen state crime

states cover up crimes through a spiral of denial or claiming it was justified

Kramer state crime

state initiated eg space shuttle disaster which was caused by cost cutting choices and state facilitated (fail to regulate corporate behaviour) eg oil rig spill

Hillyard et al state crime

includes not just illegal acts but legal acts that cause harm similar to illegal acts eg state facilitated poverty

Clarke- situational crime prevention

A pre-emptive approach that relies on reducing opportunities for crime eg locking windows and doors makes its harder for burgulars

Foucault: surveillance

Constant monitoring will prevent crime

Lea and young- prevention

tackle social inequality

Durkheim-punishment

uphold social solidarity, reinforces shared values, and strengthen the collective conscience

Marxism- class control

punishment reflects interests of ruling class