Download Crime and Deviance - Priory Ruskin Academy

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By Mrs Wright
GWright:/home/crime.docx
What are crime and deviance?
Deviance is actions that break the social norms,
e.g. not saying please or thank you or murder. If
people broke social norms all of the time this
would lead to uncertainty, chaos and disorder.
Crimes are actions which are
against the law. Society's laws
are enforced by the police and
judiciary which are agencies of
social control.
The social construction of
crime and deviance
What is seen as a crime or deviant changes over
time and varies from place to place, e.g. in
medieval times it was the norm for girls under 16
to marry. A person who did this today would be
seen as a paedophile. Also abortion was illegal
until 1967 and polygamy is illegal in Britain but is
the norm in places like Kenya.
Are crime and deviance the same?
Most crimes are deviant, e.g. murder. Some
crimes are not deviant, e.g. speeding is against
the law but is not deviant because many drivers
break this law. Some behaviour is deviant but is
not against the law, e.g. wear a swimming
costume in the snow.
What is informal social control?
Social order is how society is kept under control.
This is achieved through social norms we are
expected to follow. People who break social
norms receive formal or informal sanctions
(punishments). Formal sanctions include prison
sentences and fines for breaking laws which are
written rules. Informal sanctions include raised
eyebrows, being gossiped about and dirty looks
or breaking unwritten rules such as wearing a
bikini to church.
Close knit communities are communities with
lots of links, e.g. between family and friends.
They have stronger informal social control.
People know each other and care about what
they think. In communities that are not close knit
people feel free to break social norms, e.g. when
on holiday people often behave differently to how
they would in their home town.
Other agencies of social control include the
family and education. For
example where social control
is strong family members may
be more worried about
sanctions by members of the
family than other authorities.
Sanctions may include being
left out of the family, losing
respect or being told off. Education maintains
social order informally by punishing those who
break social norms concerning uniform,
behaviour and attendance. At the extreme end,
with permanent exclusion, education becomes
more like a formal agent of social control.
What role do the police play in formal social
control?
The police do the following to
maintain social control:
Controlling traffic and the roads.
Keeping order in society
Investigating crime, collecting
evidence and catching criminals
Protecting and serving the
public
Educating the public about crime.
Public relations and styles of policing
Public relations refers to the way that the police
deal with the public. There are two styles:
community policing which involves making links
with the community and is useful when dealing
with ethnic minority groups and zero tolerance
which involves the police being strict on even the
smallest crimes. The idea is that people will not
commit crimes for fear of arrest.
Test your learning:
1. What is deviance?
2. What is crime?
3. What is meant by the social construction of crime
and deviance?
4. Name a crime that is deviant.
5. Name a crime that is not deviant.
6. What is social order?
7. What are sanctions?
8. Give an example of a formal sanction.
9. Give an example of an informal sanction.
10. What is a close knit community?
11. Why do close knit communities have stronger
informal social control?
12. What happens when communities are not so
close knit?
13. Give two examples of pother agencies of social
control.
14. Give two examples of sanctions that could be
given by family members.
15. Give two examples of things that sanctions may
be given for at school.
16. Name three things that the police do to maintain
social control.
17. What are the two styles of policing that can be
used to maintain social order?
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Functionalism and the police
Functionalists believe the police are doing a
good job by maintaining social order by
socialising the public, e.g. about speeding, drink
driving and other issues.
Marxism and the police
Marxists believe that the police keep the ruling
classes in charge by protecting the ruling class
from the workers who may try to steel their
wealth and help to stop working class protest.
Formal social control? - The judiciary
The judiciary includes legal institutions that
decide what happens when laws are broken; it
includes institutions (the Crown Prosecution
Services) who deal with people after the police
have investigated crimes.
The courts. There are a range
of courts to enforce the law;
Youth Courts for young
people
Magistrates' Courts for less
serious offences are presided over by
Magistrates who are members of the public with
the power to fine offenders up to £5,000 and
send them to prison for 6 months.
Crown Courts are for serious offences in which
a judge is assisted by twelve members of a jury
who are randomly chosen from the public and
decide by a majority of at least 10 - 2 if the
person is innocent or guilty. The judge decides
the sentence.
Functionalism and the judiciary
Functionalists see the role of the judiciary as
good; they take bad individuals out of society,
punish and resocialise them to become useful
members of society and to remind everyone of
the boundaries of behaviour.
Marxism and the judiciary
Marxists have a negative view of the judiciary;
they believe that the courts protect the rich and
powerful, particularly their property whilst the
poor are treated more harshly by the judiciary.
How do the media help to keep social
control?
The media includes all
means of mass
communication, e.g. TV,
Internet, social networking
sites and newspapers.
Media representation of crime
Sociologists state that the media focus in certain
crimes, e.g. those committed by young people
and the working classes. They note that
newspapers, particularly tabloids, often
sensationalise crime and focus on extremes.
Moral panics
Stanley Cohen stated that newspapers created a
moral panic (made the public worried,) by
suggesting that the whole of society is going to
break down, when he studied the reporting of the
Easter bank holiday violence at Clacton in 1964.
Newspapers exaggerated violence between
youths, drew attention to the events and called
for greater punishment of the young people
involved. (this is similar to the 2010 students
riots)
Folk devils
The young people
involved were
Mods and Rockers,
two popular youth
cultures, and
became known as folk devils who people unfairly
thought to terrorise society. This type of
exaggeration is a form of stereotyping.
Deviancy amplification
The media reporting events at Clacton were
trying to control society but made deviancy worse
(this is deviancy amplification) because they
predicted problems during other bank holidays.
This advertised events to young people and
made them worse at future bank holidays. Cohen
called this deviance amplification.
Test your learning:
1.Why do functionalists think that the police are doing
a good job?
2. Why do Marxists think that the police are doing a
bad job?
3. What is the judiciary?
4. Who is tried in youth courts?
5. Who is tried in the Magistrate’s Courts?
6. Who is tried the Crown Court?
7. Why do functionalists see the role of the judiciary
as good?
8. Why do Marxists have a negative view of the
judiciary?
9. What is the mass media?
10. What crimes do the mass media focus on
according to sociologists?
11. What is a moral panic?
12. What are folk devils?
13. What is deviancy amplification?
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White collar crime is usually but not always
linked to someone's job, is non-violent and
committed for money. It includes fraud, bribery,
insider trading and embezzlement and is hard to
detect as it is committed by middle class people
who are
respected
members of
society and so
not suspected.
They tend to be intelligent and in a position to
hide their crimes which may as a result not be
reported. Sometimes there is no obvious victim
or the victim may be unaware of the crime. This
partially explains why it is hard to know how
much white collar crime there is. Also companies
may ask workers to resign rather than involve the
police as bad publicity may put customers off.
The media tend to focus on violent crime or theft
although this appears to be changing following
reporting of the MPs expenses scandal.
Blue collar crime refers to crimes committed by
the working classes which are usually less
planned than white collar crime and may involve
damage to a person or property but also includes
drug abuse, prostitution and illegal gambling.
Corporate crime is motivated by greed and is
crime committed by 'respectable', high status
people working for big companies and
businesses. The aim is to make individuals rich
by making the company rich so they get higher
wages. Therefore it is not surprising that Marxists
see it as a ruling class crime.
The main difference between white collar and
corporate crime is that the company can be held
responsible, not just individuals who can also be
punished for corporate crimes. Victims of
corporate crime include both the public and
employees. Corporate crime includes
negligence, false advertising, lying about the
contents of a product, bribery and financial fraud.
Sometimes the company may not be making
money but rather have sloppy working practices
that risk people's health
Example of corporate crime
A German drugs company produced a drug
called Thalidomide in the early 1960s. It was
used to relieve morning
sickness in pregnant
women; babies were born
with missing limbs and other
problems. The company
Thalidomide
had done tests on animals
but not on the possible effects on pregnant
women. After years of campaigning the company
was forced to pay compensation to affected
families because of their negligence when testing
the drug.
What does sociology tell us about youth
crime and street crime?
Youth crime is crime committed by young
people. People are held to be criminally
responsible from the age of 10 years. Young
offenders are aged between 10 and 17 years.
After this age a person is considered to be an
adult.
Youths are associated with delinquency (antisocial behaviour) and crimes such as theft,
vandalism, intimidation, fighting and drug related
crime.
Street crime is crime that takes place in public
places, e.g. mugging, prostitution, anti-social
behaviour, gun and knife crime. It is associated
with youth, working-class and ethnic minorities.
How does society view youth crime and
street crime?
Many people see these as the main concerns of
society. Marxists believe that this is because the
media tend to focus on these crimes leading to
moral panics so the public and New Right call for
harsher punishments so the police and judiciary
spend more time on these issues. The New Right
also call for stricter discipline from parents and
schools Therefore, white collar and corporate
crime is overlooked according to Marxists as
attention is diverted from these issues.
Test your learning:
1.Who commits white collar crime?
2. What sort of crimes does this include?
3. Give three reasons why white collar crime is hard to
detect?
4. Why do companies often ask staff to resign rather
than involve the police?
5. What sort of crimes do the media usually focus on?
6. What is blue collar crime?
7. Give two examples of blue collar crime.
8. What is corporate crime?
9. How would Marxists describe this sort of crime?
10. What is the main difference between white collar
and corporate crime?
11. Who might be the victims of corporate crime?
12. Explain why the thalidomide scandal was an
example of corporate crime.
13. What is youth crime?
14. Give two examples of youth crime.
15. What is street crime?
16. Give two examples of street crime.
17. What types of crime are the main concerns of
society?
18. How does the New Right tend to act towards these
crimes as a result?
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Nature explanations of crime and deviance
Biological explanations
Nature explanations see criminals as born that
way. Cesare Lombroso in the late 19th century
stated that criminals could be identified by
physical features including large ears, jaws, flat
nostrils, dark skin and a high pain threshold.
These views have been discredited.
More recent views
state that behaviour
can be linked to
chemical imbalances
causing mental
health problems which are treated with drugs.
There has also been research to try to identify
behaviour caused by genes such as the warrior
gene which can lead to psychopathic behaviour
given the right environmental factors.
Psychological explanations
Psychological explanations of crime are
connected to a person's mind and personality.
Hans Eysenck believed that extroverts are more
likely to commit crime as they are more likely to
take risks.
Psychologists believe that other things such as
ADHD and schizophrenia also explain people's
behaviour.
Whilst biological and psychological theories
focus on the individual and their characteristics to
explain criminal behaviour sociologists
emphasise nurture (socialisation) when
explaining crime.
Labelling theory is a way that people are
socialised into criminal behaviour by the way
they are treated, e.g. if you call a person a thief
because they are caught shop lifting they may
live up to that label and commit worse crimes.
This is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
How do subcultures help to explain crime and
deviance?
All theories in this area see crime as a response
to a social situation and therefore nurture
(socialisation) rather than having individual
causes.
What is a subculture?
A subculture is the way of life of a small group
within a society. Some subcultures may be
criminal. Criminal subcultures may be different to
each other.
Strain theory
Robert K Merton believed that crime took place
when there was no little opportunity for people to
achieve their goals without breaking the law.
Malcom Webster, a nurse, murdered his first wife
and attempted to murder his second wife for the
money. Sociologists might argue that this is an
example of strain theory.
Status frustration
Albert Cohen studied American society and
stated that there is a strong value on success.
He believed that many working class people fail
to be successful and therefore invent their own
subculture that has the opposite norms and
values to main stream culture and gain success
and respect in that subculture. This may cause
them to do badly in school and
take part in criminal activities.
Example: Al Capone an Italian
immigrant to America faced
discrimination and was ambitious
for success. To achieve this he
got involved in a criminal
subculture of organised crime.
Criminal subcultures
Cloward and Ohlin believed that there are
different criminal subcultures according to the
opportunities for criminals in the area. They
identified three criminal subcultures:
1. Criminal subculture - highly organised
criminal subcultures exist.
2. Conflict subculture - there is no organised
crime so they join gangs and fight each
other.
3. Retreatist subculture - they give up and turn
to drugs or alcohol.
Test your learning:
1.What do biological / nature explanations of crime see
as the cause of crime?
2. What is the gene identified as a cause of crime in
more recent research?
3. What do psychological explanations of crime state
that crime is connected to?
4. What do sociologists emphasise when explaining
crime?
5. What do theories about subcultures see crime as a
response to?
6. When according to strain theory does crime take
place?
7. Explain why sociologists might argue that Malcolm
Webster’s crimes could be explained by strain theory?
8. According to status frustration theory why do people
commit crime?
9. Explain why sociologists might argue that Al
Capone’s crimes could be explained by status
frustration theory?
10. What according to Cloward and Ohlin determines
the type of criminal subculture that someone might join?
11. What are the three criminal subcultures identified by
Cloward and Ohlin.
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How is social class linked to crime?
Conviction rates and social
class.
Official statistics show that young
working class males are more likely
to be prosecuted, convicted and
sent to prison than any other
group. This suggests that they are
more likely to turn to crime.
Failure in education and feeling of low status
have been used to explain this. Cultural and
material deprivation resulting from this have been
linked to high conviction rates. However, selfreport studies show that crime is committed by all
social classes. White collar and corporate crime
may not be detected or even reported. Corporate
criminals may not even be thought of as
criminals.
Marxism, class and crime
Marxists argue that the police are more likely to
arrest and convict the working classes as more
resources are put into policing working class
areas and street crime, which is likely to be
working class. The courts being middle class
institutions are likely to not favour working class
people. Further the laws they enforce favour the
rich upper classes and are about protecting
property.
Victims of crime
The poor and elderly are also
more likely to be victims of violent
crime and burglary.
How is gender linked to crime?
Conviction rates by gender.
More males than females are
convicted of crimes; women only account for 5%
of the prison population. However, women are
more often convicted of shoplifting and offences
related to prostitution.
Socialisation
Norms of masculinity have been blamed for the
higher rate of male convictions because men are
socialised to be more aggressive and tough.
Females are socialised to be gentler and are also
controlled by parents to a greater extent. This is
changing; women are now being convicted of
more violent offences, possibly due to ladette
culture (a set of norms that encourage girls to
behave like men).
Chivalry factor
The chivalry factor is where
women are treated more
gently by the forces of social
control. This may start at
school where teachers treat
girls less harshly by shouting at them less and
punishing them less severely. The police and
judiciary behave in a similar way making it more
likely for me to be convicted.
Demonisation of women
This is the idea that women who go against the
view of the caring nature of women are
demonised for example by the media and may
receive harsh treatment by the courts, e.g.
women who harm children.
Victimisation
According to official statistics men are more likely
to be victims of violent crime whereas women are
more likely to be victims of sexual attacks and
domestic abuse. These figures may be
influenced by non-reporting, e.g. men may be
less likely to report domestic violence than
women.
How is ethnicity linked to crime?
Ethnicity and conviction rates.
Ethnic minorities are over-represented in the
prison population. Some may conclude that they
are more likely to be criminals than white people.
Conviction rates vary between ethnic groups and
sexes within them.
Racism and conviction rates
Paul Gilroy argued that the police are racist and
that ethnic groups were not more criminal than
white groups. Institutional racism in the police
force was highlighted by the Macpherson Report
following the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The
report stated that the police force was racist in its
thinking and practices and therefore had a
culture of racism.
Test your learning:
1.According to official statistics who is more likely to be
prosecuted, convicted and sent to prison than any other
group?
2. Give three things that have been used to explain crime
rates amongst the group identified in the previous
question?
3. Why, according to Marxists, are the working classes
more likely to be arrested and convicted of crime?
4. Which two groups are more likely to be victims of
violent crime and burglary?
5. What has been blamed for the higher rate of male
convictions?
6. Why are more women being convicted of violent
offences?
7. How are women treated by the forces of social control
according to the chivalry factor theory?
8. How are women treated by the media and the courts if
they go against the view of the caring nature of women?
9. According to official statistics what crimes are men
more likely to be victims of?
10. According to official statistics what crimes are women
more likely to be victims of?
10. What are the two views of why ethnic minorities are
more likely to be convicted of crimes?
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Stereotypes
Stereotypes and labelling of ethnic minorities by
the police and courts may have increased
criminal behaviour amongst ethnic minorities and
the resources put into investigating it and
therefore detection rates amongst these groups.
This may have resulted from moral panics
created by the media focusing on crime amongst
ethnic minorities and also about immigration
itself.
Ethnicity and victimisation
Ethnic groups are also more likely to be victims
of crime as they are more likely to live in poor
areas where crime rates are higher. They are
also more likely to be victims of racist attacks.
Is crime getting worse?
Official statistics and crime.
The government use
data that the police
collect to produce
official statistics on
crime. The media report
on these statistics. In
recent years this data
has shown crime rates
falling overall. At the same time people feel that
crime is getting worse which may be because
tabloid newspapers tend to sensationalise
stories.
Where do official statistics come from?
The main source of official statistics is crime that
are reported to and recorded by the police.
Sociologists argue that crime statistics are
socially constructed which means they reflect
what the public choose to report and the police
choose to record.
Reasons why some crimes are not reported.
They may not seem serious to the victim, the
victim may feel that the police will be unable to
do anything, they may fear repercussions if they
tell the police. The criminal may be known to
them or even be a family member. Sexual crimes
may be too stressful or embarrassing to report.
Crime such as child abuse may not be reported
for years. Some crimes may not have a victim,
e.g. underage drinking or drug abuse. On the
other hand some crimes will be reported so that
the victim can make an insurance claim, e.g.
burglary.
Problems with the way that crime is reported
For a crime to be reported it must be recorded by
the police. Police forces have been increasingly
under pressure since the 1990s to hit targets for
the reduction of crime and are judged on their
detection rates. Therefore the police may not
choose to record some crimes so that detection
rates look better than they actually are.
Test your learning:
1.Give two reasons why criminal behaviour has increased
amongst ethnic minorities.
2. Why is crime committed by ethnic minorities be more
likely to be detected?
3. Explain the role of the media in increasing detection
rates for crime committed by ethnic minorities.
4. Why are ethnic groups more likely to be victims of
crime?
5. Do official statistics show that crime is increasing or
decreasing?
6. Why do people think that crime is getting worse?
7. What is the main source of official statistics of crime?
8. Why do sociologists claim that crime statistics are
socially constructed?
9. Give five reasons why some crimes are not reported.
10. Explain why insurance claims increase the likelihood
of some crimes being reported.
11. Explain how pressure on police to hit targets to
reduce crime might influence what crimes are recorded.