crime & deviance (10)

Q1: applying material from the item, analyse two reasons why women appear less likely to commit crime than men

Point: Pollack - Chivalry Thesis - women being treated leniently - distorted official crime stats on gender differences

Eval: some women are actually treated harsher - double deviance

Point: Heidensohn - women are less likely to commit crime because they have less opportunities due to patriarchal controls & restrictions (private, public, workplace)

Eval: things have changed - moved away from traditional housewife roles - (Adler - Liberation Thesis - women have gained more rights = more opportunities to commit crime)

Q2: applying material from the item, analyse two reasons why labelling theory may not provide an adequate explanation for the causes of crime

Point: shows us who is likely to commit crime through labels/self-fulfilling prophecy, but not why - doesn’t give any explanation. other perspectives, like Marxists/functionalists - strain, criminogenic capitalism

Point: do not tell us why certain groups are more likely to be labelled. ignore power structures - like capitalism, Neo-Marxists: Hall - black mugger moral panic - a stereotype to benefit the rich & powerful (maintain capitalism) by distracting from Thatcher’s failures

Q3: applying material from the item, analyse two functions of punishment

  1. functionalists - Durkheim

Point: aim of punishment is to restore the balance & repair the harm that has been caused - restorative justice - fine, prison, community sentence

Explain: boundary maintenance - punishment is a reminder of what is right & wrong

Eval: ignores the inequalities of punishment, doesn’t explain why some crimes/groups are more likely to be punished than others

  1. Marxists - Althusser

Point: punishment is an ISA - tool to manipulate - making crime look like a working class problem by punishing them but ignoring/overlooking corporate & white collar crime

Eval: focus on class too much, ignore gender/ethnicity inequalities

Q4: applying material from the item, analyse two reasons why situational crime prevention stragegies may not be effective in reducing crime

  1. based on rational choice theory, which assumes criminals are logical thinkers. Other perspectives argure that crime is the result of social conditions, e.g. depression, marginalisation & therefore needs different solutions

  2. displacement effect - doesn’t reduce, just moves crime → increase in working class areas, higher rates of being victimised because they can’t protect themselves as much. criminals will also find ways around target hardening

  3. only an immediate deterrence - doesn’t reduce crime long-term

Q5: applying material from the item, analyse two reasons why environmental crime is difficult to detect & punish

  1. main offender - businesses - (Cohen) - techniques of neutralisation - environmental crimes are de-labelled, hire expensive lawyers, lack of political will to enforce laws against companies

  2. difficulty of detection - wide-scale, complex crimes. (Beck) risk society - green crimes don’t have immediate impacts, mainly long-term harm - makes them harder to track