13 - Social class and crime

The Merseyside and Islington crime surveys concluded that poor people and communities:

• were more at risk of being victims of crime.

• they were mugged or burgled more than once over the course of the year.

• they had more traumatic experiences.

• they experienced more hostile police-community relationships, which made them more reluctant to report crimes.

Information from youth detention centres and prisons also tell us that:

• 11% of prisoners ran away from home as a child.

• 50% of male prisoners and 1/3 of female prisoners were excluded from school.

• 74% of prison population comes from the poorest 20% of the population.

Reiner’s study of prison populations also tells us that 74% of those that are unemployed, or employed at the lowest occupational levels, prior to their imprisonment.

Houchin’s research in Glasgow found that no fewer than 60% of prisoners came from the most deprived council estates.

The lower classes are more likely to be both offender and victims of crime.

Neo-Marxists and Left realists believe that the working class may commit more crime. However, Marxists would suggest that the official statistics are merely a social construction, as do interactionists.

The working class commit more crime to overcome individual problems

Functionalist and Right realist explanations:

Merton suggests that if your means are blocked you may experience strain, and the working class are more likely to be blocked (poorly paid jobs or no job).

Cohen agrees that deviance and crime can occur when people struggle to gain status.

Clarke suggests that if the benefit outweighs the cost, crime is a more likely outcome for an individual, the working class may have ‘less to lose’

Hirschi points out those with less commitments (the unemployed - no job to lose) may be more likely to risk the little they have by doing crime.

Neo Marxist explanations:

Hebdige argues that punks set out to deliberately shock the establishment and society by adopting a style which re-used ordinary objects line bin-liners and safety pins.

Feminists criticise Hebdige for failing to research female members of the subcultures.

The working class are labelled as more criminal, but this is just a social construction.

Gordon - Selective law enforcement. The selective enforcement of the law means that despite the law applying to everyone, in reality prosecutions of the ruling class are rare, while those against the working class are frequent. Defining criminals as ‘animals and misfits’ as enemies of the state, provides a justification for incarcerating them in prisons’.

Criticisms

Functionalists criticise Marxists like Gordon for assuming that crime benefits capitalism and the ruling class. Durkheim argues that who is prosecuted and imprisoned is decided by the whole community and reflects the vales consensus.

Interactionism - Cicourel

Cicourel’s work on the police shows how influential moral entrepreneurs can be, depending largely on the picture held by the police of the ‘typical delinquent’. of the appearance, language and demeanour of the young person fit this picture, she or he is more likely to be arrested. Cicourel found a close relationship between social class and delinquency. The middle-class juvenile is often defined as: ill rather then a criminal.

Criticisms:

Marxists are highly critical of interactionist who fail to identify where such stereotypes or ideas of a ‘typical delinquent’ come from. Gordon argues that the bourgeoise control the agents of social control such as the police and hence they purposefully set about targeting the working class. Hall et. al. could also be used here to explain how young working class, black men are labelled as criminal in order to distract from the problems of capitalism.

The middle class commit different types of crime

The middle classes tend to commit crimes against their employer or against the public. police focus on working class rather then middle class crime as interactionalist Cicourel found in his study. crimes committed by the middle class are less visible.