Soci Midterm 2

Chapter 4 - classical sociological explanations of crime

• Sociological theories explain crime through social context

  • Criminals are produced by their environment and social relationships

  • Criminal behaviour may have similarities to non-criminal behaviour and may be possible to explain using similar social theory

  • Sociological criminologists: examine group characteristics rather than focusing on distinctive things about individual engaged in crime

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

  • Founder of sociology as a discipline and how work on crime and deviance is impactful today

  • Sociological approach on suicide 

    • Suidcide differences were the result of individuals having weaker ties to their communities 

  • Essential to most societies is social solidarity 

    • Social togetherness 

    • Shared goals 

    • Shared norms

    • Without norms to guide, societies function poorly, and people experience a lack of grounding (anomie)

  • In rapid change social solidarity can break down

    • Heterogeneity and division of labour weaken societal norms, loosen social controls and encourage individualism 

  • When social cohesion breaks down individuals desires no longer controlled by traditional social control mechanisms

    • This was a worry as industrial capitalism fuelled urbanization - pushing people from their communities into bing new rapid moving cities

• Chicago school 

  • Early 20th century scholars were most prominent voices of sociology

• Crime and social disorganization

  • Shaw and Mckay (1942) and Thrasher (1927) argues that crime and juvenile delinquency were not randomly distributed 

    • High rates were caused by types of neighborhoods in which youth grew up

    • Social ties were weak and few controls 

    • Economic disadvantage

  • Disorganization of theses neighborhoods were largely assumed rather than studied 

  • Collective efficacy

    • Considered the opposite of social disorganization

    • Positive capacities of a community regardless of lack of resource and wealth 

• strain/anomie theory

  • Robert K Merton created social structure and anomie informing durkheim's ideas

  • Anomie: way societies are organized can strain individuals that can lead to rule-breaking behaviour - this is an inability to meet goals

  • Strain: is caused by the discrepancy between culturally defined goals and the availability to achieve goals 

  • Dominant cultural goal in many countries is wealth

  • Hard work and education are supposedly what is required to achieving material goals

  • Problem arises when legitimate means for achieving material success are not uniformly distributed (some work may be harder than others)

  • When cultural goals encourage people to want things that are difficult for certain groups to get members of the group experience strain

  • 5 modes of adaptation

    • To this strain: conformity, innovation, retreatism, ritualism and rebellion

    • Innovation is most often used to explain crime

      • The innovator believes in the culturally-defined goals and rejects achieving these goals

      • Innovators adapt using the proceeds from crimes (theft, fraud, and drug-dealing) to access so called american dream

    • Criticism of strain theory

      • Does not explain why educated and financially successful individuals engage in crime

      • Fails to explain gender differences (far lower rated for women)

    • Albert Cohen (merton's student)

      • Delinquent boys: the culture of the gang

  • Social control theory 

    • Assumptions

      • People are born with the capacity to do wrong

      • No special motivation is needed to explain deviance 

      • It is conformity, not deviance that needs to be explained

    • Asks

      • Why don't we all commit deviance 

      • Why only some commit deviance

    • Focuses on 

      • Why we refrain from deviance

      • Processes that bind people to the social order

    • Hirschi and the social bond

      • Causes of delinquency 

        • Individuals are most likely to turn to crime if societal bonds are weak or broken

    • Control theory

      • Control theory views society as set of institutions that act to control and regulate rule-breaking behaviours

      • Travis Hirschi (1969) modern oringtor of control theory - social bond theory

      • Most people are risk takers but bonds in society help them follow rules and laws

      • If social bonds are broken or weak in individual could become open to egocentric impulses

    • 4 components of social bond theory

      • Attachment: extent to which an individual is emotionally tied to and respects the opinions to their social group

      • Commitments: an investment or stake in conforming behaviour

      • Involvement: pursuit of conventional activities 

      • Beliefs: a person's loyalty to dominant value system

    • Criticisms

      • Does not explain more serious youth crime or fault crime

      • Strong bonds and involvement does not guarantee protection from forms of deviance 

      • Assumes 4 components relate to conforming behaviour 

• Differential association theory 

  • Edwin sutherland first proposed differential association theory in 1939

  • Criminal behaviour is learned

  • Learning through interactions and learnt criminal ways

  • Those around people who commit crimes are more likely to engage as well

  • Techniques, motives and attitudes are learned

  • Criminal behaviour is a response to the same cultural needs and values 

• Labelling

  • Some groups have power to force label on less powerful

  • Not a quality of an act but a label

• Labelling theory

  • Cooley (1902), Mead (1934) and Tannenbaum (1938)

  • Interested in explaining how crime is defined and how those with power react to rule breaking 

  • Primary deviance: initial act of deviance

  • Primary deviation

    • Early in career, offender commits deviant acts infrequently 

  • Secondary deviance: label is internalized following social reaction

  • Secondary deviation 

    • Deviance becomes way of life

    • Individuals has acquired intended deviant act

• Critical criminology 

  • Struggle and conflict in society between powerful and less powerful classes 

  • The state secures and maintains the interest of the economic elites

  • Focus of criminology should be directed to rule breakers and makers

  • Illegal activities in working class are subject to criminalization where political elites have impunity

• Left realism

  • Victims of most cries tend to be those from most vulnerable segments of community

  • Main causes are believed to be relative deprivation - food for survival

  • Policies ineffective response to this situation

• Feminism and criminology 

  • Change social attitudes and criminal justice system responses to issues like sexual assault and domestic violence

  • Carol smart (1976) Freda Alder (1975) Rita Simon (1975) looked into this theory

  • Societies around world follow patriarchy (men occupying dominant positions of power inside and outside household)

  • Adler and Simon made liberation/emancipation hypothesis 

• Gender variation through patriarchy 

  • John hagan A.R Gillis and john simpson proposed power control theory 

  • Including genders 

  • Deviance is related the amount of control in household

  • Girls are more deviant in equal households

  • Findings and supporting evidence has been mixed but some believe in relation to different forms of parenting

• Male violence against women

  • 1983 rapelaws in canada were renamed to sexual assault statues (including marital rape)

  • Women needed to have evidence to have charges laid

  • Moral character (credibility) of woman was questioned in regard to weather she provided consent

  • Domestic disturbances often did not lay chargers 

  • Costs of violence against women is high and support services for victims of violence are lacking

• Ideal victim

  • Race 

  • Gender

  • Power held

  • Outcast of society

  • Mental health issues

• Violence in home 

  • Major source of call for police 

  • Limited means for addressing domestic violence

  • Family depending on perpetrator causes issues on incarceration

• Responding to violence 

  • Movement of domestic abuse survivors has been more effective than police intervention

  • Police work alongside social services to help visits 

• Women as victims and offenders

  • Most criminalized women had been physically abused or sexually assaulted as children or adults

  • Pathways show connection between criminal activity and victimization

Chapter 5

• Gottfredson and Hirschi wrote a general theory of crime

• Argument is that crime are all results of low self control

• Low self control is constant through life and behavioral problems in children move onto delinquency 

• Parenting is most important factor is determining level of self-control 

  • If a child is abusive… ect. Upbringing they will tend to be the same and engage in crime

• Criticism

  • Mixed results when put to empirical testing

  • Self-control may shift over time

  • Fails to explain white collar crime

  • Ignores role of crime opportunity

• Why do young people commit crimes

  • Adolescence is period of ambiguity

  • Neither children or adults may not be fully committed to conventional values

• Life course perspective

  • Why do they stop?

  • Individuals refrain from crime and deviance as they enter adult rokes

  • Data from longitudinal research are used to test this theory

  • Victimization during early years carry negative repercussions later in life 

    • If social supports are provided to crime victim, long term disadvantages may be prevented 

• General strain theory

  • Merton argued strain can lead to criminal behavior

  • Robert Angew argued Merton's version did not apply to youth who additionally experience other kinds of strain

  • Angew theory suggest that several types of negative experiences can lead to stress and it is not just economically induced strain that prevents youth from achieving goals

  • Inability to achieve immediate goals (good grades, popularity) can lead to strain (stress) as can abuse

  • Three types of strain

    • Inability to achieve positively valued goals

    •  removal or threat to remove positively valued stimuli (getting suspended, getting divorced)

    • Actual or anticipated exposure to negative harmful stimuli

• Rational choice theory 

  • Rooted in classical school of criminology

  • Human behavior is result of conscious decision making

  • Criminals are rational actors

  • Crime is influenced by variations in opportunity, environment, target, and risk of detection

  • Policy implication corporate and other white collar crimes are effective regulation and sufficient funding of enforcement agencies

  • Distinguish between 2 types 

    • Instrumental crimes: involves planning and weighing of risks 

    • Expressive crimes: often impulsive and emotional people who commit them are not likely to be concerned at the time of commission

• Routine activity theory 

  • Proposed by cohen & felson (1979)

  • Suggest that changes in levels of crime in society are closely associated with changing lifestyles

  • Changes in how teenagers are supervised 

  • Ability to travel 

• Crime is likely to occur when motivated offender and suitable vitim come together in an environment that does not provide protection

• 2 policy implications directed at protection

  • Private property: residence, business, vehicles 

  • Target hardening - locked entry points, visible alarm systems 

  • Public areas: active surveillance and patrols by police and security

• Cristims

  • Opportunities to commit crime doe not necessarily lead to committing crime 

  • What about crime displacement 

• Crime prevention through environmental design

1. Natural surveillance 

   1. Objects or people maxime natural visibility or observation - presence of window

2. Natural access control

   1. Deter access to crime target by creating increased perception of risk to the offender (lighting, entrances)

3. Territorial reinforcement

   1. Use of physical attributes that express ownership (fencing, landscaping)

4. Maintenance 

   1. Creating appearance of ownership

• Park benches

• Bus stops

• Meridians 

• Strategy more so than a theory

• Critical criminology 

• Strain theory

  • Theory on economic inequality as a contributor to crime and how subcultures form through exclusion from “American Dream’

• Labelling theory 

  • Theory on how some people/groups define who is criminal 

• Critical criminology sees crime as  

  • Inequalities

  • Class division

  • Segmented social organization 

  • Separate, segregate and cause governments at all levels everywhere to differently and discriminately 

• Critical criminology 

  • Harmfulness ranking 

    • C “protestors block loggers from chopping down an old-growth forest” 

• Alcohol being illegal in america 

  • This is how black market gets involved

  • Drinking whiskey made people crazy

  • Banned and gone underground 

• Policy implications 

  • Radical political approach that is more about social and economic policy rather than crime control

  • Policies that target the social, cultural and economic forces that push people into crime such as family violence

  • Poverty and unemployment targeting root causes and transformations of society

    • Criticism: how crime is actually a problem for regular people (left realism)

• Risk and actuarial crim

  • Postmodern risk theory - focus on understanding emerging forms of social control

  • Different techniques of governing people and ways of thinking that go alongside

  • How do people think about and approach the problem of crime

  • What techniques, technologies ideas are brought together to deal with crime 

  • Risk and actuarial criminology example 

    • Credit card suspension 

 Chapter 6 

• Social exclusion 

  • It is not just about poverty 

  • Can involve physical and non-physical exclusion often in ways that are aligned 

  • “The process of being shut out, fully or partially from any social, economic. Political or cultural systems 

  • Social exclusion is multi-dimensional 

  • Restriction of people's access to spaces, practices and institutions

• Homelessness

  • Consequence and cause of social exclusion

  • 25,000-35,000 young people are homeless in 2020

  • Homeless youth have greater involvement in criminal behaviour

  • Most troubled background engage in crime

  • Trauma, abuse, involvement with protective services 

  • Big part of kids from foster care

• Youth gangs

  • Specific minorities, groups or immigrant background struggling with social exclusion

  • Power, money and protection are the reasons youth identify with gangs

  • Gangs provide a sense of belonging, a way to make money

• Indigenous people 

  • Social exclusion has been apart of their lives forever

  • More suicide, being sick, substance use, and more time in crim justice system 

  • They take up small amount of population but take up a quarter of prison population

  • Solutions to change the indigenous population in criminal justice system 

    • Educate the judges about the problem and make more sentencing alternatives

    • Make the amount of indigenous people brought in lower

  • Indigenous women are more likely to be victims in crime 

  • Indigenous women are 12x more likely to be murdered or go missing 

• Violence against women 

  • Social and economic exclusion plays a role in violence against women

  • Women are more likely to be killed by partner is relationship

• Hate crime

  • Crimes done based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation

  • Acts of Terrorism on non dominant groups

  • Victims are strangers and mostly committed by males under 30 with no criminal records

  • This is why hate propaganda is a crime

  • Large numbers of hate crimes against asians after covid-19

  • Sikh students being targeted in kelowna 

  • Hate crime is hard to deal with in canada because 

    • Police departments use different definitions of hate crimes

    • There is no hate crime section in criminal code

Chapter 7

• White collar crime

  • Crime that is committed by person with high status in their occupation 

  • Focuses on crimes committed by those who have an advantage over others 

  • These crimes take place in the business world

  • There's different benefits from the crime between white collar and corporate 

    • White collar: beneficial for that person 

    • Corporate: good for the whole business

  • There is also

    • Occupational crime: people who commit crime in their employment (ex. Theft, fraud)

    • Ponzi scheme: money paid to investors is from their own pocket or other investors not actual profit of business 

    • Pyramid scheme: participants pay to recruit others into a scheme and then they make money (brooklyn 99 boom boom)

  • Theres not a lot of information on corporate crime 

• Corporations

  • Corporations are considered legal people but they don't follow the same rules 

  • Corporations have an advantage because of special legal protections and money

  • White collar crimes are rarely charged 

    • People are more worried about violent crime

    • White collar crime are complex to investiagte 

    • There is crossovers with penalties for the rcmp

  • The financial collapse of 2008

    • Financial institutions did not want or use regulations 

    • Was very reckless ended up having the global economy collapse

    • No corporate executives were punished

  • E.coli breakout 2000 

    • Deregulating drinking water testing 

    • 7 people died and half the town were sick in ontario 

  • Price fixing: 

    • Companies set prices that are not changed on goods/services which leads to higher prices 

  • Car manufacturing defective fuel systems 

    • Knowing this they did not recall because of unwanted costs

    • “Profits-over-human consideration”

  • Occupational death

    • The third leading cause of death in canada 

  • State corporate crime

    • Illegal actions that occur when institutions of political governance co-operate with one or more economic production and distrubution 

• Smartest guy in the room - documentary

  • Enron 

  • What factors influenced the company to become an example of what things can go wrong in corporate america 

  • George W Bush supported Enron - friends in high places 

    • Used these friends to get legislations passed 

    • Deregulation = more freedom 

    • “Government is not the solution to our problem they are the problem”

    • Texas oil men wanted government out of the electricity business

  • Performance reviews: 

    • 10-15% were fired lay off the bottom in reviews 

    • Dominance 

  • Monopoly position 

  • Culture 

    • Risk-taking 

    • Do whatever it takes to not be in the bottom 

    • Men dominated 

    • Trying to prove masculinity 

  • Causes of white collar crime

1. White collar opportunities 

   1. Changes in regulation or tech

   2. Stock market manipoulatin 

2. White collar decision making

   1. Rational choice theory

   2. Weighing cost and benefit of illegal behaviour

   3. Cost of rule compliances, moral inhibitions 

3. The characteristics of white collar offenders

   1. Mostly male 

   2. Gender based

• causes cont.

  • Regulatory capture

  • Green criminology: study of environmental damage, caused by human acitivtiy

• Crime against state/government 

  • Quebec terrorists in 1970 

  • Storming of capital in 2021

• Crime committed by state

  • Scadnals during 2011 federal election

  • Treatment of activists and supporters during rallys/demonstrations

• Police misconduct 

  • Constant factors

    • The role played by discretion

    • Bribes, low visibility 

  • Variable factors

    • Culture of police and culture of community

    • Level of morals in community

  • Crime in trusted organization

    • Residential school system continuing even though abuse was reported

• Violence 

  • Rather than violence being an evolved behaviour we have evolved interactional obstacles to violence 

  • Like animals we avoid physical violence (one party backs down)

  • Dominance and emotional energy 

• 1960s why people fight 

  • When audience there's pressure to fight

  • Involves alcohol - someone being offended - group 

Chapter 4 - Classical Sociological Explanations of Crime

Sociological Theories of Crime

Sociology explains crime through social context, emphasizing that criminals are shaped by their environment and relationships. 

Criminal behavior shares similarities with non-criminal behavior and can be analyzed through social theory. 

Sociological criminologists study group characteristics rather than focusing solely on individual traits.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Social Solidarity

• Durkheim is a key figure in sociology, influencing crime and deviance studies.

• He linked suicide rates to weak community ties, highlighting the importance of social solidarity—a sense of social connectedness through shared norms and goals.

• When norms weaken (anomie), societies experience instability, leading to higher crime rates.

• Example: Rapid urbanization during industrial capitalism weakened traditional social bonds, leading to more deviance.

Chicago School and Social Disorganization Theory

• Early 20th-century sociologists (Shaw & McKay, 1942; Thrasher, 1927) studied crime in relation to neighborhoods.

• High crime rates were linked to economically disadvantaged areas with weak social ties and little social control.

• Example: Inner-city areas with high poverty and frequent population turnover often see more youth crime.

Collective Efficacy:

• Opposite of social disorganization.

• A community can reduce crime even without wealth if it fosters strong relationships and social cohesion.

• Example: Neighborhood watch programs that build trust among residents.

Strain/Anomie Theory (Robert Merton, 1938)

• Builds on Durkheim’s concept of anomie.

• Society sets cultural goals (e.g., wealth) but not everyone has equal means to achieve them.

• This gap creates strain, leading some to turn to crime.

Five Modes of Adaptation to Strain:

1. Conformity – Accepts cultural goals and means (e.g., working hard).

2. Innovation – Accepts goals but uses illegitimate means (e.g., theft, fraud).

3. Ritualism – Rejects goals but follows social norms (e.g., low-wage workers).

4. Retreatism – Rejects both goals and means (e.g., substance abusers, homeless individuals).

5. Rebellion – Creates new goals and means (e.g., revolutionaries).

Criticisms:

• Does not explain why wealthy individuals commit crimes.

• Fails to account for gender differences (lower female crime rates).

Social Control Theory (Travis Hirschi, 1969)

• People are naturally capable of deviance; what needs explaining is why people conform rather than commit crime.

• Crime occurs when social bonds are weak.

Four Components of Social Bond Theory:

1. Attachment – Strong emotional ties to family, friends, community.

2. Commitment – Investment in conforming behavior (e.g., education, career).

3. Involvement – Participation in conventional activities (e.g., sports, jobs).

4. Belief – Acceptance of societal norms and values.

Criticisms:

• Does not explain serious crimes or white-collar crime.

• Strong social bonds do not always prevent crime (e.g., organized crime families).

Differential Association Theory (Edwin Sutherland, 1939)

• Crime is learned through interaction with others.

• Individuals exposed to criminal behavior (family, peers) are more likely to engage in crime.

• Example: A teenager growing up in a gang-influenced neighborhood learns and adopts criminal values.

Labeling Theory (Cooley, Mead, Tannenbaum)

• Deviance is not inherent but results from societal labels.

• Primary deviance: Minor rule-breaking (e.g., skipping school).

• Secondary deviance: Internalization of a deviant identity due to labeling (e.g., repeated criminal behavior after being labeled a criminal).

• Example: A student labeled as a “troublemaker” may eventually embrace this identity and continue delinquency.

Critical Criminology

• Focuses on power imbalances.

• The legal system protects the interests of economic elites while criminalizing the working class.

• Example: White-collar crime (e.g., corporate fraud) often goes unpunished, while petty theft is harshly penalized.

Feminist Criminology

• Examines gender inequalities in crime and justice.

• Women’s crimes often stem from victimization (e.g., domestic abuse survivors committing self-defense crimes).

• Example: Prior to 1983, marital rape was not recognized as a crime in Canada.

Routine Activity Theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979)

• Crime occurs when:

  1. A motivated offender

  2. A suitable target

  3. Lack of capable guardians (security, surveillance) converge.

• Example: Unlocked cars in an unmonitored parking lot attract theft.

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

• Natural surveillance: Windows, open spaces for visibility.

• Access control: Fences, security lighting.

• Territorial reinforcement: Landscaping to indicate private property.

• Maintenance: Clean and well-kept areas deter crime.

Chapter 5 - Self-Control & Life-Course Criminology

General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990)

• Crime results from low self-control, established in childhood.

• Parenting is the most crucial factor in developing self-control.

• Example: Poorly supervised children are more likely to engage in delinquency later in life.

• Criticism: Fails to explain crimes of high-status individuals (e.g., fraud, corporate crime).

General Strain Theory (Robert Agnew, 1992)

• Expands on Merton’s strain theory to include non-economic strains:

  • Failing grades

  • Bullying

  • Loss of a loved one

• Example: A student facing academic failure may resort to cheating or vandalism.

Chapter 6 - Social Exclusion & Crime

Social Exclusion & Youth Crime

• Social exclusion is broader than poverty; it includes exclusion from education, employment, and social services.

• Example: Homeless youth are more likely to engage in crime due to lack of stability and resources.

Indigenous People & Overrepresentation in the Criminal Justice System

• Indigenous people make up a quarter of Canada’s prison population despite being a small percentage of the total population.

• Solutions: Culturally appropriate sentencing alternatives and judicial education on systemic racism.

Hate Crimes

• Crimes motivated by race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

• Example: Increased hate crimes against Asian communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chapter 7 - White-Collar Crime

White-Collar vs. Corporate Crime

• White-collar crime: Benefits individuals (e.g., fraud, embezzlement).

• Corporate crime: Benefits entire companies (e.g., price-fixing, environmental violations).

Regulatory Capture & Financial Crimes

• Corporations influence regulators to avoid penalties (e.g., 2008 financial crisis—banks avoided accountability).

Example: The 2000 Walkerton E. coli outbreak in Canada due to water regulation failures.