Crime Scholars
Anthony Giddens: Social changes have made distance and national borders less important as barriers between social groups. What happens in one society has a ripple effect and can quickly influence other societies anywhere in the world. Post modernists argue globalisation is a significant feature of contemporary society. This process has a significant impact on crime. Crime itself is becoming increasingly global. Effects of globalisation can have knock on effects on criminality.
Castells: There is now a global criminal economy worthy over £1 trillion. This includes: Human traficing, organ trafficing, cyber crimes, green crimes, international terrorism and the drugs trade.
Beck: Global risk consciousness, Much of our knowledge about risk comes from the media, which often gives an exadurated view of the dangers we face. For example, negitive coverage of immigrants portrayed as terrorists or scroungers has led to hate crimes against minorities in several european countries. Globalisation creates new insecurities and produces a new mentalitty of ‘risk consciousess’ in which risk is seen as global rather than tied to one particular location. For example increased movement of people as economic migrants seeking work or asylum fleeting persecution, has given rise to anxieties among western countries about the risks of crime and disorder and the need to protect their borders.
Misha Glenny: Glenny uses the term ‘McMafia’ to describe the way that organised global crime networks operate in the same way as legitimate buisness. Ie there are ‘zones of production’ Ie heroin in afganistan. These criminal gangs also have zone of distribution Ie heroin enters the uk via an established route. These criminal gangs know who their consumer market is - zones of consumptions ie services such as prostitution are consumed in western countries.
Hobbs and Dunningham: Crime is increasingly ‘glocal’ in character this means that crime is still locally based but is more likely to have global connections such as the drugs trade.
Chambliss: Marxist - crimes of the powerful. Sociologists should investigate state organised crimes as well as crimes of capitalism
McLaughlin: 4 Categories of state crime, 1. Political crimes (Corruption/censorship) 2. Crimes by security/police forces (Genocide, torture, disappearance of dissidents) 3. Economic crimes (Offical violations of health and safety rules) 4. Social and cultural (Institutional racism)
Herman and Schewendinger: We should define crime in terms of the violations of basic human rights not law breaking. States tht deny individuals basic human rights are criminal.
Durkheim: Recognises that crime is inevitable and exists in all cultures. It is inevitable because people are socialised differently - not everyone understands, learns or accepts social norms and so they become deviant. Life styles are now complex and diverse so subcultures emerge which have their specific norms and values that conflict with mainstream. He believes that there are 4 positive functions of crime: 1. Boundary maintenance, there is a boundary between good (Law abiding citizens). Society will regularly reinforce good behaviour and when someone commits crime and they are punished this means that this line is maintained. 2. Adapt and change, A law has been broken but it leads to eventual adaption/change in law and societal norms and values. Persistant breaking of a certain norm is a warning sign that the cjs or social institution is not fit for purpose. 3. Sanctioned rule breaking as a safety valve, some low-level criminal behavious may be accepted if the person is “Letting off steam” and may be appropriate in context. 4. Social cohesion, Horrific crimes such as terrorism or murder often bring communities closer and create public outrage. A reaction to an awful event can strengthen social bands between communities against the deviant.
Cloward and Ohlin: They differentiated the difference between te illegitimate and legitimate oppotunity structure
Merton: Strain theory, When people enage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve social approved goals by legitimate means. He argued that strain causes crime and deviance, unlike other funcionalists merton did acknowledge that some people in society have unequal oppotunity. This leads to strain which then leads to anomir - a feeling of confusion, uncertainty and normlessness. People dont follow soceities norms and values thus commiting a crime. He said there are 4 different rections and adaptions to the american dream goal, Conformity, Innovation, ritualism, retreatism or rebellion.
Albert Cohen: Builds upon and criticises mertons strain theory. Focuses on juvenille delinquence. He argued that strain doesnt just cause individuals to commit crime- groupings of people with shared norms will form or join a subculture and commit crime as a response to not achieving societial goals and aspirations. Working class youth suffer strain in the form of status frustration - a form of anomie as they are frustrated at the lack of status they they have in society - their cultural goal is to attain respect and status. They cant gain status legitimately so they gain status elsewhere (Crime). The w/c boys create an alternative status heirarchy- they can earn status through deviant and delinquent behaviours. It is anti -conformist what society praises the subculture punishes and they boys get their status via alternative means. It builds upon Merton theory as it explains why w/c boys comit nin-utilitarian crimes.
Matza: Criticses cohen, delinuqents do care about crime and they are equally enraged about it. They often excuse their behaviour with childhood trauma or that ‘everybody does it’ rather than a specific loyalty to the gang. Only a small minority of working class youths get into trouble and they will eventually grow out of it- the boys may drift in and out of criminal subcultures. All members of society are prone to some deviant behaviours not just teenage boys.
Kingsley Davis: Watching pornography has a positive function as it can help a mans sexual urges so he can still maintain a monogamous and loyal relationship.
David Gordon: Criminogenic capitalism - The very culture and values that underpin capitalism cause criminal behaviour. Capitalist values such as competition, individulism and money as a measure of sucsess means that people become greedy and consquently turn to crime to get richer.
Howard Becker: He stated it was all a matter of interpritation- it depends on the circumstances and wether society labels it as criminal or deviant. Becker argues that no act is inherently criminal or deviant. It becomes criminal only when it is interprited as such by others - he calls this societal reaction. Labelling an act as deviant can be a political act - Crime is socially constructed. All crime is relitve to historical, situational, cultural and age context.
Edwin Lemert: To be labelled you must have someone witness you do the crime. Primary deviance - if the deviant act was not witnessed by others then there is no label attatched to the individual. Secondary deviance - if the deviant action was witnessed by others than there is a label attatched to the induvidual than will then have consequences.
Cicourel: The middle class can negotiate out of being classed as criminal. M/c might be more educated on law and their rights, they can afford a good lawyer/ family might have social network connections, their parents more able to convince agents of social control that they as parents will monitor their children to stay out of trouble, they might argue that it was completly out of character and might argue that it will affect their life chances.
Stan Cohen: Mods and rockers, in the 1960s seaside resorts of britain there was a percieved class between two different youth subcultures, the mods and rockers. Cohen observed how the media had responded to these fights - the media had caused a moral panic that caused the public to worry. The teenagers that were either labelled as a mod or rocker were now the villian, self fuffilling prophecy, they started to internalise this label. Society panics which leads to an increased police presences, further tension and arrests, This is deviancy amplification.
Braithwaite: Reintragative shaming - criminal is publically shamed, feels remorse and is then accepted back into society. The criminal has learnt their mistake and society is giving them a second chance bevause society condems the action not the person. Also - restorative justice - making amends with thoes who were affected by the criminal behaviour.
Murray and Marsland: They argue that most crime is commited by a highly deviant, immoral and workshy culture called the underclass. The children lack father figures and are influenced by negitive role models. The new right argues that the main reason that the underclass has grown in the last 30 years is the welfare state.
Murray: Poor socialisation in lone parenthood families. The underclass are unruly who have been negitively affected by no father figure and stern discipline.
Cornish and Clarke: Rational choice theory- They argue that criminals act freely and choose to commit crime. Choice to commit crime is based upon a risk- benefit model. The criminak is always weighing up the potential costs of their punishment - Being caught, fines, prisons ect Right realists argue that criminals percieve the costs/risks/punishments as being minimal hence they commit the crime as there is more to gain.
Felson: Crime is too easy to commit nowadays.Quality of policing has detitorated and criminals know that the chance of being caught is slim. Members of the public/vitims dont want to cooperate with the police or are too afraid too. Comminitu control is weak and criminals know this and take advantage. Punishments are too leniant and not a detterance.
Wilson and Kelling: Broken window theory, If a community allows its physical enviroment to decline then criminals will assume local, social and community control is not in place and they will take advantage of this.
Lea and Young: 3 factors that contribute towards criminal behaviour - 1. relitive reprivation, people feel deprived when they compare themselves to others. Living in a capitalist scoeity means we pursue and compare our material goods with eachother. People feel resentful, angry and frustrated because their route to material goods have been blocked. 2. Marginalisation, people feel powerless anf feel left out. Leads to frustration and hostility to police and wider society. Policing inner-city areas stop and searches. 3. Subcultural response, people with similar experiences/values group together to form a subculture. These may be deviant subcultures they may even become retreatists and turn to substance abuse to cope
Parsons: Sex role theory, Men are socialised to have masucline traits they then try to conform to these traits via criminal behaviour.
Tony Sewell: Triple quandry theory, This explains why boys commit more crime becuase the lack of father figure means some boys will look for male gangs for a powerful male father like role, black boys are disaffected because of racism, hyper masculine influences from hiphop and drill.
Pollak: Chivalry thesis, women commit more crime than is reporyed but are treated in a more leniant manner by the police and court. This affects female crime rates because then women are less likely to be stopped and searched as they dont fit the police sterotype of who commits crime and women are not seen as a threat to society so dont need to be punished or prosecuted.
Heidensohn: Women are sometimes treated more harshly in the cjs due to them not fitting the sterotypes of who commits a crime.
Pat Carlen: Class and gender deal, w/c women made a class and gender deal that generally kept them under societal control and kept them fairly happy. The class deal was that they would work hard in exchange for pay which they could then use to pay for consumer goods. The gender deal was that they should do domestic labour and give love and companionship for their husbands, in exchange for love and finanancial support. Both deals keep working class women respectable, it was as carlen suggested when these deals broke is when w/c women were more likely to commmit crimes as a rational choice.
Adler: Liberation thesis, the emancipation of women and their increased participation in the workforce have led to a rise in female crime rates as women gain accsess to both legitimate and illegitimate oppotunities
Tony Sewell: Triple quandry - Why BAME people commit more crime,
Lack of father figure - many black boys brought up by single mothers. They look to gangs for a powerful male fatherlike role
Negitive experience of white culture - black boys are dissaffected because of their lived experiences in school, policing and employer racism
Media/hiphop influence - hypermasculine identity and acquasition of financial status- money jewellery and trainers
Paul Gilroy: Neo-marxist, he argues that there is a myth of black criminality created by racist sterotypes. He argues young black men feel hostile to white people (especially if they have been educated on topics such as slavery and colonialism)
Young black men feel alienated by their everyday experiences of casual racism and what they percoeve as racist through the police force
Crime is a form of political protest/resistsance against a racist, capitalist society
Criticsms of Gilroy: Fails to recognise that black people are more likely to be victims of crime. Most crime is also intra-ethnic which means both criminal and offender were of the same ethnic origin.
Asian crime rates are similar to white people- if police were racist then surely all non-white ethnic groups would be targeted.
Street crime/london riots a ‘political protest’ or just opportunistic crimes? are we romanticising street crime
Felson: Missing white woman syndrome - high intrest and media attention to the disapperarance of white, middle class women
Gives examples of scp - bus terminal in NYC was badly designed, he argued that the bus station provided opportunities for crimes. Re-shaping the physical enviroment to design out crime led to a large reduction in crime.
Gives an example of situation crime prevention (SCP)- the bus terminal in NYC was designed poorly. He argued that the bus station provided opportunities for crimes, for example the toilets were a good place to steal luggage, deal drugs and engage in homosexual intercorse.
Re-shaping the physical enviroment to design out crime led t
Newsome: Hypodermic syringe - Audiences are impressionable and can be easily manipulated by the media. The media is a powerful form of secondary socialisation- it is like a drug in the way that it impacts individuals and we passivly accept what they tell us.
The media desensitises us to violence and the distress caused to victims, it glamorises certain crimes, encourages is that crime could be the answer to our problems and actually teaches us criminal behaviour
Gerbner: Cultivation theory - the medias exaggerated reporting of crime has led to a fearful audience. People who consume the media in greater quantities have a greater chance of reacting in a scared, anxious manner. They stater to see the world how the media portrays it. Frightened people are easier to control.
Stuart Hall: Moral panics of black muggers
Bandura: The bobo doll experiment, Conducted in the early 1960s aimed to investigate weather agressive behaviours could be learned through observation and imitation.
Children observed an adult being agressive towards the bobo doll and then the results showed that children who witnessed that were more likely to mimic that when they were given the oppotunity to play with the doll themselves.
Bentham: panoptican prison model, Designed a prison to ensure all the cells could be observed with limited numbers of guards. He wanted a more efficiant prison system
Foucalt: Argued that surviellance is a new form of state power- it has replaced more old fashioned brutals forms of power. It is a key feature in todays society. Surviellance is a form of discilplinary power - it is more effective than brute force as citizens are more likely to conform if they feel like they are being watched. Foucalt argues that we are so concscious of it now that we effectively monitor ourseleves through internalised survaillence- we behave in such a way in fear of being watched/judged
Miers: Identifiers factors linked to the individual or their enviroment that might make a person more susceptable to becoming a victim of crime. Examines the ways in which victims may have contributed into becoming a victim. - Positivist victimology
Hans Von Hentig: Charateristics that may lead to an increased risk of being a victim of crime these include: Young, Female, Old, Immigrant, Depressed, Learning difficulties, Minorities and the lonely and heartbroken
Christie: Some victims are more news worthy than others. I.e missing white woman syndrome at the expense of other groups such as BAME and men