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TURNING TO CRIME
Upbringing
Rank these factors as to how much they would
affect a person who turns to crime:
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•
•
•
•
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•
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Television
Gender
Social class
Occupation
Newspapers
Genes
Parents
Brain function
Pets
Age
Education`
Addictions
Films
Peers
Siblings
Upbringing
• Influence of upbringing includes influences
from families, friends, teachers and general
life experiences such as where a person has
been brought up.
• It is unlikely that a single factor will explain
this, but we can try to build a picture of effects
that come together as potential triggers of
criminal behaviour.
Rhys Jones
• Jones, who played for the Fir Tree Boys football club,
was on his way home from football practice with two
friends. As he was crossing the Fir Tree pub car park, on
Fir Tree Drive South in the Croxteth Park estate,
Liverpool, a hooded youth riding a silver mountain bike
approached. He then held out a Smith & Wesson
handgun at arm's length firing three shots. It was
originally believed that one of the shots hit Jones in the
neck, but during the trial the pathologist revealed the
bullet had entered his back "slightly above the left
shoulder blade" and that it had then "exited from the
front right side of his neck".
Who was Rhys Jones’ Murderer?
The making of a criminal
The murder of Rhys Jones
Sean Using
Mercer,
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Turning To Crime
Upbringing
Disrupted
Families
Learning
From Others
Poverty
Farrington
Sutherland/Akers
Wilkstrom & Tafel
Disruptive Families
• Many would argue that the biggest influence on criminality is
family.
• If your family are criminals it is likely that you will also be a
criminal.
• However, this is obviously a very deterministic explanation, as
it ignores individual differences, some people do manage to
buck the trend and turn their lives around.
• Conversely, some people from law abiding families go on to
become criminals.
Read page 8 of your booklet
• Describe what has been the cause of marital
instability?
• What did the authors of ‘Broken Homes’ say
about disrupted families?
Further Notes
This study, then, aimed to look not simply at
broken vs. intact homes but also to disentangle a
number or pre- and post- disruption variables to
consider their effect on delinquency. These
included:
Pre-disruption variables
Post-disruption variables
Reasons for the disruption
Timing of the disruption
Gender of the lost parent
Level of conflict
Gender of the custodial
parent
Subsequent family
reconstitution
Learning From Others
• What is the differential association (pg 10)?
Learning from others
Sutherland’s theory of Differential association is based on 9
principles.
• Edwin H.Sutherland (1939) used social learning theory principles to produce
his differential association theory. Sutherland suggests that criminal behaviour
is learned through exposure to criminal norms, which happens within the
family and peer group.
Criminal behaviour results from two factors:
• Learned attitudes (criminal behaviour becomes the accepted social norm)
• Imitation of specific acts (how to do the behaviour is observed and then
imitated)
In situations where there is peer pressure a young person moves
away from parental influence and learns a new set of ‘rules’
about which situations are appropriate for deviant behaviour.
Evidence 2: Sutherland
• Summarise Sutherlands 9 Points:
Evidence 2: Sutherland
Explain these three points in more detail.
• 1. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a
process of communication.
• 2. The principle part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs within
intimate personal groups.
• 3. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions
of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable.
Poverty and Disadvantaged Backgrounds
•
In terms of the relationship between poverty/disadvantaged neighbourhoods and crime, there is
not a direct link. Instead, poverty and disadvantage are associated with the risk factors that may
lead a person into crime.
•
Government figures show that the most disadvantaged 5% in society are 100 times more likely to
have multiple problems than the most advantaged 50%.
•
The question for researchers then is to investigate how individual risk factors, lifestyle and
living in a disadvantaged area/poverty interact to lead a person into crime, and to consider
the relative importance of individual and situational factors in turning to crime.
•
Just how big an influence does social disadvantage have on whether a person turns to crime
or not?
•
The Peterborough Youth Study set out to test these factors and others to see which in fact were the
most significant predictors of criminal behaviour.
What can we conclude from this study
Wikstrom suggested there were three different groups of adolescent
offenders
Propensity-induced
Lifestyle-dependent
Situationally-limited
Back to reality
In pairs, look carefully at the Farrington study and
see
whether you can apply any part of this research to
the
Rhys Jones murder.
Can you explain the behaviour of Sean Mercer using
this piece of research?
Be ready to feedback to the class.
Back to reality: The Peterborough Youth
Study
In pairs, look carefully at the
see whether you can apply any part of this theory to
the Rhys Jones murder.
Can you explain the behaviour of Sean Mercer using
this piece of research?
Be ready to feedback to the class.
Which out of the three explanations would be the best
explanation for you Rhys Jones was murdered?
Back to reality
In pairs, look carefully at the Sutherland theory and
see whether you can apply any part of this theory
to
the Rhys Jones murder.
Can you explain the behaviour of Sean Mercer using
this piece of research?
Be ready to feedback to the class.
January 2013
How can criminal behaviour be learnt from others? (10)