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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
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social class and crime |
- many theories focus on the WC to explain crime - the WC are often over-represented in prisons e.g: London riots: 13% were gang members and many were receiving benefits/ free school meals |
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social class and crime: functionalism |
> Durkheim: inadequate socialisation the cause due to incorrect socialisation (no sense of solidarity and value consensus so goals are different/ lead to crime) > Merton: the pressure to deviance- inability to achieve goals through legitimate means so commit crime to get what they want |
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social class and crime: Subcultural theories |
> Cohen: status frustration due to low grades and being unable to succeed academically leads to development of subcultures to gain status > Miller: WC subcultures have different N &Vs to rest of pop × labelling theorists: definition of crime changes depending on what class commits it × deterministic: ignores free will and individual differences |
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social class and crime: Marxism |
> Working class crime: Material deprivation, Relative deprivation and consumerism > Middle class crime: caused by greed and competition, a dog eat dog society > Gordon: all classes commit crime, but it is mostly portrayed as a WC phenomenon, |
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social class and crime: Right realism and left realism |
> Right realism: 1. biological pre-dispositions 2. inadequate socialisation 3. Rational choice theory > Left realism: working class crime is caused by subcultures, marginalization and relative deprivation |
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ethnicity and crime: official statistics |
> stats show significant differences between ethnicities & likelihood of being involved in criminal justice system
>> Ethnic minorities are over-represented in the prison population
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ethnicity and criminalisation: Alternative sources (supports left realist argument) |
Victim surveys: ask individuals which crimes they have been a victim of Muggings: black people also over-represented among those identified as offenders by victims × problems: subject to memory, excludes under 16's + corporate crime × False memories: due tostereotypes and schemas and prejudices × not representative: only reported crime |
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Ethnicity and criminalisation: alternative sources (supports Neo-Marxist argument) |
Self report: as individuals to disclose own criminal behaviour Graham and Bowling: 2500 sample - blacks (43%) and Whites (44%) had similar rates of offending but Asians much less Sharp and Budd: Whites more likely to admit to offence (40%) blacks (28%), Asians (21%) + home office found similar results + challenges stereotype that blacks offend more × tend notto ask about serious crimes × some EMs more wary about admitting crime due to common discrimination in society
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ethnic differences at each stage in criminal justice system > police stop and search 1 |
1. Police racism: - Macpherson report- institutional racism in met. police due to racist murder of black teen Lawrence - deeply ingrained racist attitudes among individual officers e.g. Mark Daly -Phillip and Bowling: officer's negative stereotypes about EMs as criminal = more S&S > LR: Blacks are S&S more as they are more guilty/suspicious × S&S only leads to 9% arrest rate therefore pointless |
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Ethnic differences at each stage in criminal justice system: > police stop and search 2 & 3 |
2. Ethnic differences in offending: - disproportionality in stats reflects different rates in offending - low discretion stops: police act on relevant info e.g. offenders description - High discretion stops: acting without specific intelligence, instead uses stereotypes 3. Demographic factors EMs are overepresented in population groups that are likely to be stopped e.g. young, unemployed, urban dwellers (generally EMs) |
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ethnic differences at each stage in criminal justice system *word document notes* |
> arrests and cautions > prosecutions > Trial > conviction > sentencing > pre-sentence reports > prison |
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explaining the differences in offending:
Neo-Marxism: stats are social constructs, result of racist labeling/discrimination in the justice system |
>> Gilroy & the myth of black criminality: racist stereotypes means EMs appear in greater numbers in the stats × realists: ethnic differences in stats reflect reality, not socialconstructs >> Hall, policing the crisis: moral panic over black muggers, merely scapegoats to hide capitalist problems - capitalism marginalized black youth + pushed into petty crime × left realism: not panicky but realistic e.g. terrorism and Trump × Hall has no evidence capitalism crisis led panic/ people were panicking + blaming crime on blacks |
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Explaining the differences in offending: Neo-Marxism evidence of police racism: Mark Daly the secret policeman (2003) |
1. what did he do? 2. What did he find? 3. Evaluation *word document notes* |
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Explaining the differences in offending: Neo-Marxism
>>Secrets of the police: documentary |
42% of people from a black Caribbean background trust the police
2005-2012 1% of all allegations made to the police by the public on racism were actually upheld Multiple allegations made on several officers yet not 1 sanctioned 77 officers committed racial discrimination and yet only 3 dismissed and 5 sanctioned + Not out of date, institutional racism is still prevalent |
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Explaining the differences in offending:
left realism: stats portray real differences in rates of offending, aim to find what causes them |
> Lea and Young: e.g. Asians are discriminated against but don't commit as much crime as blacks >> crime is a product of marginalization, deprivation and subcultures 1. racism leads to marginalization + EMs more likely to suffer from poverty, unemployment 2. media emphasis on consumerism leads to relative deprivation + sets materialistic goals which EMs can't reach through legitimate means 3. response to relative deprivation is to form delinquent subcultures e.g. gangs |
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Ethnicity and victimization |
- EMs are at greater risk of crime than whites & racially motivated crime - more likely to feel under-protected and controlled > victimology view: victims "invite" victimisation by the type of person they are e.g. displaying wealth, being drunk, insecure home × seen as victim blaming > critical criminology: powerless groups are at greater risk, cause is not individuals but society |
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Locality and crime |
> the BCS and police recorded show that rural crime compared to urban areas: -have lower rates of all types of crime - have a lower proportion of people with high levels of worry about crime |
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age and crime: stats |
> Peak age for crime seems to be 15-18 years old especially male youth |
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Explanations for age and crime: Status frustration |
> Cohen
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Explanations for age and crime: Peer group status and focal concerns |
> Miller: male class youths offend more because because they have own beliefs and values (another subculture)
- these focal concerns spread across the wc but particularly with youth due to exaggeration of peer groups, proving masculinity/wittiness |
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Explanations for age and crime: Edge work and the peer group |
edge work: people who want excitement, risk taking and impulsive behaviour - Katz and Lyng: buzz/ adrenaline created from these types of behaviour - peer groups status can be gained through edgework e.g. vandalism/shoplifting acting as incentive × over generalization: not the only factor × gender bias: explanation for females; focuses on appeal to masculine behaviour |
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other explanations for age and crime |
- police labelling & Judicial behaviour
- socialisation:
- opportunities:
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contemporary examples |
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Gender and crime: >> patterns and statistics |
- Heidensohn: gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime >>Official statistics:
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Gender and crime: >> Do women commit more crime? (Yes because of chivalry hypothesis means women are more likely to be let off) |
Chivalry thesis: criminal justice agents (police, magistrates, judges) are men, and men are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women > Pollak: Men hate to accuse women send them to their punishment, police officers dislike to arrest them, judges to find them guilty and so on >> Evidence for the chivalry thesis: based on self-report studies + Graham and Bowling: men more likely to offend but difference is smaller than stats suggests + Flood-page: found only 1/11 female self-reported offenders have been cautioned or prosecuted, the figure for men was over 1/7 + Hood: women are 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases |
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Gender and crime >> evaluation of the chivalry hypothesis |
× Farrington and Morris: study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft found that women were not sentenced more leniently × Women’s offences may be less serious and this maybe why they are treated more leniently × Example,Box: review of British and US self report studies -self reported crime for women are less serious so less likely to make it to trial and appear in official statistics × Generalisations: not all men are going to feel sorry for women just because they are female × What about female police officers, lawyers, judges etc × Outdated:do men still view women this way? |
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Gender and crime: >> Do women commit more crime? (No the stats are not a true picture + criminal justice system is bias against women) |
Bias against women: + Heidensohn: courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms (e.g. less motherly, caring,) - Double standards exists e.g. courts punish girls but not boys for promiscuous sexual activity - Wayward girls can end up in care without having committed an offence × Focus on girls not women so can’t generalise to all women - Women who don’t conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality + motherhood are punished more harshly + Stewart: magistrates perceptions of female defendants’ characters based on stereotypical roles +Carlen: women are jailed due to court's’ assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters (not seriousness of crime) |
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Gender and crime >> Do women commit more crime? (support for bias against women -victim blaming) |
Bias against women as victims
e.g. judge Wild: if she doesn't want it she only has to keep her legs shut + Walklate: not defendant on trial but the victim; she has to prove her respectability in order to have evidence accepted > Today: Kesha rape case not accepted due to lack of evidence but public outcry was huge + Adler: women who are deemed to lack responsibility (single parents, punks, peace-protesters) find it difficult to have testimonies believed |
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Gender and crime: >> Explaining female crime: Class and Gender deal |
Class and gender deals
× Sample bias: small sample + only looked at those convicted, only wc Conformity comes from 2 types of deals 1. Class deal: women who work are offered material rewards e.g. to spend on shopping 2. Gender deal: patriarchal ideology promises reward from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role Findings
- Class deal: 32/39 were always in poverty, gained no rewards from this deal + nothing left to lose - Gender deal: never had opportunity, some abused by fathers/husbands/always in care Evaluation + shows how failure of patriarchal deals to fulfill promises removes control that prevents women offending × deterministic: ignores choice/free will women's behaviour as controlled by external factors e.g. poverty × outdated: gender deals still apply to today? |
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Gender and crime: >> Explaining female crime: Liberation thesis |
Liberation thesis
changes in structure of society
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Gender and crime: >> explaining female crime: evaluation of Liberation thesis |
+ rates of female offending increased: e.g. since 50's + 90's share in offences has risen from 1/7 to 1/6 + Denscombe: similarly to males -growth in girl gangs risk taking behaviour - hard nut behaviour × inconclusive: female crime began rising in 50's before women's lib movement (late 60's) × inaccurate: most female criminals are wc so less likely to be influenced by women's lib as benefited mc more > Lind: in USA poor and marginalised women more likely to be criminals than liberated ones × Laidler and hunt: female gang members are expected to conform to gender roles like non-deviant girls (not liberation) |
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Gender and crime: >> explaining female crime: Patriarchal control |
Heidensohn and Patriarchal control (1985) 1. control at home
2. Control in Public
3. control at work
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Gender and crime: >> explaining female/male crime: Patriarchal control evaluations |
+ demonstrates how women's behaviour is extremely conformist + how patriarchal control over women reduces opportunities to offend
Outdated: women now have more freedom 1. women are now controlled less at home 2. Women not controlled at work by males + also have female bosses + increase in corporate crime >> Pink collar crime: Rita crundwell + embezzlement for 20 years + 2011 marquet report on embezzlement : more likely to commit this crime than men 3. now have public life + visible in public e.g. ladette culture/binge drinking >> 2009: 1/4 of all violent assaults carried out by women due to drunken behaviour × Bias: women are more likely to be arrested for rowdy behaviour than men |
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Gender and crime: >> explaining male crime: Sex role theory |
Parsons: differences in C&D linked to gender roles in family
× ignores generational/cultural differences
+ cohen: lack of masculine role models = boys turn to all male gangs for source of masculine identity e.g bloodz + crips + new right: absence of male in lone parent families = boys turning to crime for identity/status × simplistic: not all boys from LPF turn to crime × Walklate: SRT claims to be sociological but has biological assumption of men/women × feminists: approach ignores patriarchal nature of society that restricts women's behaviour × incomplete: fails to explain why some women commit crime |
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Gender and crime: >> explaining male crime - criminologists focus on mainly male criminality but don't generally explain what it is about being male that leads to men to offend |
Messerschmitt: masculinity is a social construct
> C&D are resources men can draw on to achieve status 1. white MC: subordinate selves to teachers to achieve status + outside school become rebellious e.g. drinking vandalism 2. White WC: less chance of educational success so rebellious in and out school -act tough |
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Gender and crime: evaluation of why do men commit crime |
+ strength: considers why men might commit more crime than women e.g. to achive masculine status + explains the stats: why black/wc men commit crime + functionalism: supports by sex role theory × superficial: is it an explanation of crime or a description of offenders in stats? × inconsistent: why don't all men use crime to accomplish masculinity × farfetched: overworks concept of masculinity to explain all male crime from joy riding to embezzlement |
