Sociology - Crime and Deviance

Crime

A form of deviance that breaks the law of the country or area in which it was committed

Deviance

Any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs

Norms and Values

Socially constructed ideas that differ from person to person and place to place

Newsworthiness

The degree to which a news story is important enough to be covered in the mass media.

Moral Panics

The media sometimes focus on certain groups and activities that result in moral panic. The media defines these groups as a problem worthy of public anxiety and official censure and control.

Stanley Cohen

Coined the term "moral panic"; studied Mods and Rockers (1972) and sensationalization of crime in the media. Wrote "Folk Devils and Moral Panics"

Functionalism

The theory that all aspects of a society serve a function and work like clockwork with everything having a purpose. Then becoming necessary for the survival and successful operation of society as a whole.

Functionalist Sociologists

Durkheim, Merton, Parsons

Durkheim

Earliest sociologist to look at C&D, Functionalist. Claimed Crime had four major characteristics. Created theory of Anomie

Four key characteristics of Crime - Durkheim

Inevitable - Crime will always exist, can be reduced but never removed completely

Universal - Crime exists in every society

Relative - What is seen as criminal behavior varies from society to society

Functional - Limited amounts of C&D are actually beneficial

Anomie - Durkheim

A condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and of a sense of purpose in society.

Robert Merton

Argued that society is set up in a way that encourages excessive deviance.Created Strain Theory/American Dream.

Strain Theory/American Dream

A condition experienced when the members of a society lack a sufficient amount of legitimate means to achieve socially approved goals, prompting some individuals to pursue their aims through alternative means, such as deviant or criminal action. He sees people as being part of five groups

American Dream

An American ideal of a happy, successful life, which often includes wealth, a house, a better life for one's children, and for some, the ability to grow up to be president.

Merton's five types of person

Conformist - Hold both the means and the goals

Innovators - Hold the goal but not the means, the achieve the goal through other means i.e. Alan Sugar

Ritualists - Hold the means but not the goal

Retreatists - Have neither the means or the goals

Rebels - Non Conformist, may have goal might not, may have means might not.

Critique of Merton

Fails to explain why some people commit non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism that has no financial reward, assumes that everyone is committed to the success goals of achieving wealth/materialism which is NOT always the case i.e. Hippies and employees who don't seek promotion due to family commitments, Marxists contend that Merton fails to explain the influence of white collar crime/corporate crimes that are committed by powerful groups of society.

Travis Hirchi

Postmodernist. Created Bonds of Attachment or Control theory which argued that through successful socialization, a bond forms between individuals and the social group. When that bond is weakened or broken, deviance and crime may result.

Control theory

A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms

Bonds of Attachment

Attachment - The extent to which we care about others opinions and desires

Commitment - The personal investment we put into our lives, what we have to lose if we turn to crime and get caught

Involvement - How integrated we are so that we neither have the time nor inclination to behave in a deviant/criminal way

Belief - How committed individuals are to uphold and maintain societies rules and laws

Subculturalists

Centred around idea of C&D as a reaction by a group who reject the majority view and/or feel excluded. Subcultural theory assumes that those who deviate hold different values to mainstream society. Subcultural theory was developed to explain non material crime something that had been left out of prior research.

Subculturalist Theorists

Albert Cohen - 1955, Cloward and Ohlin - 1960, Walter B. Miller - 1963

Albert Cohen

Suggested that delinquency is most common among lower-class youths because they have the least opportunity to achieve conventional success. Adapted reaction formation. Says youth are held accountable for expectations related to school performance, neatness, non violent behavior ect. not everyone is ready/ can achieve this.. experience status frustration and turn to crime

Cloward and Ohlin

Deviance or conformity depends on the relative-opportunity structure that frames a person's life. Three types of delinquent subculture. Illegitimate career structure.

Types of deviant subculture - Cloward & Ohlin

Criminal, Conflict and Retreatist/Drug

Miller

Believes that the lower class has long had its own cultural traditions. Created idea of Focal concerns. His research on adolescence showed that young people were concerned with status, which is largely achieved in terms of peer group norms.

Focal Concerns

Toughness

Smartness

Excitement

Trouble/Danger

Fatalism

Autonomy

Matza

Rejects view that delinquents are different, that they have a distinctive subculture in opposition to mainstream society. Subterranean values - values that everyone has but come out in particular situations. Also doesn't believe in subcultures

Marxism

A structural sociological theory based upon the political idea of Marxism created by Karl Marx. They believe that society is controlled by the bourgeoise, the owning class, who in their capitalist profit pursuits stomp on the working class, the proletariat.

Marxist theorists

Karl Marx, Tolstoy, William Chambliss, Laureen Snider

Criticisms of Marxism

Feminists argue that Marxism puts too much emphasis on class inequality and ignores gender inequalities

Marxists have also been criticised for assuming that communism would solve the issue of crime

Steven Jones points out that capitalism does not always produce high crime rates, for example in Switzerland

Neo Marxist

Sociologists who follow Marxism however posses new ideas and views of society

Amplification Spiral - Jock Young

A theory that suggests that the interactions between a group and the police can lead to more crime not less

Realism

Realists believe that crime is real problem to be tackled, and not just a social construction created by control agencies.

Left Realists

Are socialists and favour quite different policies for reducing crime. Extension of Neo-Marxism, developed in 50's in response to growing crime rates and the influence the right had on government. Belief in gradual change rather than rapid social overthrow

Right realists

Share the New Right or Neo-Conservative political outlook and support practical solutions - Short, sharp, shock approach.

Left Realism - Theories

Relative Deprivation, Subcultures, Marginalisation.

Feminism

Sociological group that look closer at gender inequality as opposed to other issues that might get picked up by the different sociologists

Feminism - Statistics

According to official statistics, women commit relatively few crimes compared to men and are far less likely to be arrested and sent to prison.

4/5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are Male

By the age of 40, 9% of females had criminal convictions, as against 32% of males.

8% of UK prison population are female

Four theories on Gender Inequality

Differential Socialisation - Boys and girls are socialised differently. Boys brought up to be masculine, tough, aggressive and competitive = criminal tendencies probable. Girls - passive, nurturing and caring = criminality highly unlikely

Risk taking - Women take fewer risks in life compared to Men. Men play dangerous sports, drive fast and have more dangerous hobbies. Crime is high risk and women prefer high gain low risk, for example shopping.

Opportunities - Women more likely to have childcare responsibilities, which prevents them from being criminal. More likely to be responsible for majority of house work - thus fewer criminal opportunities. In past women wouldn't have had the ability to commit white collar crime.

Knowledge - Women don't posses the skills needed to steal a car, rob a bank or commit cybercrime. Women would like to be criminal but aren't skilled enough

The 'masked female offender'

Theory by Otto Pollack - 1950. Argued that official statistics seriously underestimate female criminality. He argues that many crimes predominantly committed by females went unreported and unrecorded

Juvenile delinquency + Youth crime

According to official statistics, young people are more criminal than older people just like W/C are more likely to commit than M/C

Newburn (2007)

More than 20% of offenders cautioned or convicted of offences in England and Wales aged 10-17 and over one third are under 21. Amongst middle aged and older people offending rates decline

Graham & Bowling (1995)

Found the highest rates of crimes by age, for property crime for males was 14, violent crime was 16, serious offences 17 however include fraud and forgery and it goes up to 22-25

In women it's as low as 15 for serious crime and property crime, with violent crime sitting at 16

Sociologists who studied youth offending/criminality

Cohen, Matza, Lyng, Presdec, CCCS, Jefferson, Bodkinson

Cohen's study of youth offending

Sees youth crime as the result of the formation of subcultures reflecting status frustration amongst working class boys who do poorly at school

Matza's study of youth offending

Denies there are cohesive subcultures arguing that young people drift in and out of delinquency but may get involved to restore mood of humanism

Types of crime prevention approaches

1.Structural 2.Individual 3.Situational

Structural or societal approaches

See the basic causes of crime