Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Crime and Deviance - Coggle Diagram
Crime and Deviance
Ethnicity and Crime
Victimisation
Phillips and Bowling (2013) - Research suggests that per capita rates of racially motivated offences are higher outside the major cities, particularly in rural areas where there are only relatively small ethnic-minority populations
In 2012-13, there were 124,000 racially motivated incidents and the police recorded 30,324 racially or religiously aggravated offences
Phillips and Bowling (2012) - The higher part of victimisation is the result of higher proportion of minority ethnic groups living in cities, where rates of victimisation are generally high
Policing
The Macpherson Inquiry investigated the Metropolitan Police after the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and found they were institutionally racist
The Runnymede Trust (2009) reviewed evidence about whether policing for and of minority ethnic groups had improved since the Macpherson Report
It found that there had been extensive attempts to improve policing, with training to raise awareness of issues relating to 'race', and attempts to recruit more members of minority ethnic groups
-
Reiner (1992) - The idea of 'canteen culture' argus police have developed distinctive working values and a strong collective identity
'Core characteristics' include cynicism, conservatism, suspicion, macho values, and racism
Stop and Search
Black people are nearly 5 times more likely to be stopped than white people and those of Asian origin are more likely to be frequently stopped and searched than the population as a whole
Phillips and Bowling (2012) - When serious violence or terrorism is a concern, police can sto and search without reasonable suspicion of a crime, and minority ethnic groups are particularly prone to searches in these circumstance
They argue that while there may now be less open targeting of minority ethnic groups by the police than in the past, "stereotypes and prejudices" may still play a role
Arrests
Ministry of Justice - Black people make up a much higher proportion of arrests (8.3%) than of the population as a whole (3.3%)
Phillips and Bowling (2007) - After arrest, minority ethnic groups are more likely to remain silent, to seek legal advice and to deny the offence than the White majority
This may suggest that these groups are more suspicious of the police and/or that they are more likely to be arrested for crimes they have not committed
People from minority ethnic groups are also more likely to be arrested for offences that they have not committed
-
Gilroy - Anti-Racism
Gilroy suggested that Asian, African and Carribean communities in the UK carried the scars of the imperialist
Historical anti-colonial struggles against British Empire has led to development of techniques to avoid exploitation
As a result, groups demonstrated political resistance to exploitation in UK
Marches, demonstrations, rallies used to fight back against opression and racism – led to riots
Results in police focusing on crimes in minority groups, leading to over-representaton
-
Gender annd Crime
Key Statistics
-
By the age of 40, 9% of females had a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males.
A higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences (except burglary) and of violence or sexual offences.
Males are more likely to repeat offences, to have longer criminal careers and to commit more serious crimes
Chivalry Thesis
The thesis argues that most criminal justice agents, such as the police, are men and men are socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women.
The criminal justice system is thus more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending.
Graham and Bowling's (1995) research on a sample of 1,721 14-25 yr olds found that males were 2.33 more likely to admit to having committed an offence in the previous 12 months - whereas statistics show males as 4 times more likely to offend
Evidence from self-report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently. Flood-Page et al found that, while only one in 11 female self-report offenders had been cautioned, the figure for males was over one in seven self-report offenders.
Women are also more likely than men to be cautioned rather than prosecuted. For example, The Ministry of Justice found that 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution in 2007, whereas for males the figure was only 30%.
Evaluation
Farrington and Morris' study of sentencing of 408 offences of theft in a magistrates' court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences.
If women appear to be treated more leniently, it may simply be because their offences are less serious.
Furthermore, women offenders are less likely to show remorse, and this may help to explain why they are more likely to receive a caution instead of going to court
Explaining Female Crime
Sociologists take the view that social rather than biological factors are the causes of gender differences in offending. This is put forward in three main explanations of gender differences in crime; sex role theory, control theory and the liberation thesis.
-
Patrarchal Control
Heidensohn argues that the most striking thing about women's behaviour is how conformist it is- they commit fewer crimes than men. In her view, this is because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women and this reduces their opportunities to offend.
Control at home- Women's domestic role imposes severe restrictions on their time and movement and confines them to the house for long periods, thus reducing opportunities to offend. Dobash and Dobash argue that men exercise control through their financial power e.g. denying women funds for leisure activities, thereby restricting their time outside the home.
Control in public- Women are controlled in public by the threat of male violence against them, especially sexual violence. The Islington Crime Survey found that 54% of women avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime, against 14% of men.
Control at work- Women's behaviour at work is controlled by male supervisors and managers. Sexual harassment is widespread and helps keep women 'in their place'. Furthermore, women's subordinate position reduces their opportunities to engage in major criminal activity e.g. the 'glass ceiling' prevents women rising to senior positions where there is greater opportunity to commit fraud
Class and Gender Deals
Using unstructured interviews, Carlen conducted a study of thirty nine 15-46 year old working class women who had been convicted for a range of crimes. She argues that most convicted serious female criminals are working-class.
Carlen argues that working class women are generally led to conform through the promise of two types of rewards or 'deals':
The class deal: women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities.
The gender deal: patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role.
If these rewards are not available or worth the effort, crime becomes more likely. Carlen argues that this was the case with the women in her study.
In terms of the class deal, the women had failed to find a legitimate way of earning a living and this left them feeling oppressed and the victims of injustice. E.g. thirty-two of them had always been in poverty.
In terms of the gender deal for conforming to patriarchal family norms, most of the women had either not had the opportunity to make a deal, or saw few rewards and many disadvantages in family life. E.g. some had been abused physically by their fathers.
Many of the women had reached the conclusion that 'crime was the only route to a decent standard of living. They had nothing to lose but everything to gain.' Carlen concludes that poverty and being brought up in care or an oppressive family life were the two main causes of their criminality.
Evaluation
-
Carlen shows how the failure of patriarchal society to deliver the promised 'deals' to some women removes the controls that prevent them from offending.
Carlen's sample was small and may be unrepresentative, consisting as it did largely of working-class and serious offenders
The Liberation Thesis
Adler (1975) - As women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become more frequent and as serious as men's
-
Adler argues the changes in the structure of society have led to changes in women's offending behaviour
As patriarchal controls and discrimination have lessened, and opportunities in education and work have become more equal, women have begun to adopt traditionally 'male' roles in both legitimate activity and illegitimate activity
As a result, women no longer commit traditional 'female' crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution, but also commit typically 'male' crimes
This is because of women's greater self-confidence and assertiveness, and the fact they now have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure
Denscombe (2001) - Study of teenagers' self-image found that females were as likely as males to engage in risk-takin behaviour and girls were adopting 'male' stances
Evaluation
The female crime rate began in the 1950s- long before the women's liberation movement, which emerged in the late 1960s.
Most female criminals are working class- the group least likely to be influenced by women's liberation, which has benefited middle class women more.
There is little evidence that the illegitimate opportunity structure of professional crime has opened up to women.
However, Adler's thesis does draw attention to the importance of investigating the relationship changes in women's position and changes in patters of female offending.
However, it can be argued that she overestimates both the extent to which women have become liberated and the extent to which they are now able to engage in serious crime.
Why do men commit crime?
Masculinity and Crime
Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is a social construct or 'accomplishment' and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others.
Messerschmidt argues that different masculinities co-exist within society, but that one of these, hegemonic masculinity, is the dominant, prestigious form that most men wish to accomplish.
However, some men have subordinated masculinities e.g. gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity. Messerschmidt sees C&D as resources that different men may use for accomplishing masculinity e.g. class differences among youths leads to different forms of rule breaking to demonstrate masculinity.
White middle-class youths have to subordinate themselves to teachers in order to achieve middle-class status, leading to an accommodating masculinity in school. Outside school, their masculinity takes an oppositional form e.g. through vandalism.
White working-class youths have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school. It is constructed around sexist attitudes, being tough and opposing teachers' authority.
Black lower working-class youths may have fewer expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership to express their masculinity, or turn to serious property crime to achieve material success.
Messerschmidt argues that while middle class males commit white collar crime to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, poorer groups may use street robbery to achieve a subordinated masculinity.
Evaluation
Is masculinity an explanation of male crime, or just a description of male offenders? Messerschmidt is in danger of a circular argument that masculinity explains male crimes because they are crimes committed by males.
-
He over-works the concept of masculinity to explain virtually all male crimes, from joy riding to embezzlement
Postmodernity, Masculinity and Crime
Globalisation has led to a shift from a modern industrial society to a late modern de-industrialised society. This has led to a loss of many manual jobs. Meanwhile, there has been an expansion of the service sector including pubs and bars.
Winlow's study of bouncers in Sunderland, an area of de-industrialisation and unemployment. Working as bouncers in the clubs provided young men with both paid work and the opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs and alcohol as well as the opportunity to demonstrate their masculinity through the use of violence.
Winlow notes that in modern society, there has always been a violent, conflict subculture in Sunderland, in which 'hard men' earned status through their ability to use violence. However, the absence of a professional criminal subculture meant there was little opportunity for a career in organised crime.
Under postmodern conditions, an organised professional criminal subculture has emerged as a result of the new illicit business opportunities to be found in the night-time economy. In this subculture, the ability to use violence becomes not just a way of displaying masculinity, but a commodity with which to earn a living.
The men use their bodily capital to maintain their reputation e.g. the bouncers seek to develop their physical assets by bodybuilding.
Winlow notes that this is not just a matter of being able to use violence and win fights, but of maintaining the sign value of their bodies, 'looking the part' so as to discourage competitors from challenging them. This reflects the idea that in postmodern society, signs take on a reality of their own independent of the thing they supposedly represent.
Winlow's study shows how the expression of masculinity changes with the move from a modern, industrialised society to a postmodern, de-industrialised one. At the same time, this change opens up new criminal opportunities for men who are able to use violence to express masculinity, by creating the conditions for the growth of an organised criminal subculture.
Media and Crime
Media Portrayal of Crime
-
Risk - crime is random, unpredictable - anyone could be a victim
Agenda Setting
Agenda-setting - The power to manage which issues are to be presented for public discussion and debate and which issues are to be kept in the background
The media provide knowledge or impressions about crime and deviance for most people in society, including politicians, the police, social workers and the public at large
People are only able to discuss and form opinions about the crime and deviance they have been informed about, and for most people this information is provided by the traditional mainstream mass media rather than by personal experience or through social media networking sites
This means people's perceptions of crime and deviance in society are influenced by what media personnel choose to include in or leave out of the media
Media representations may therefore influence what people believe about crime and deviance, regrdless of whether or not these are accurate
News Values
News values - The values and assumptions held by editors and journalists which guide them in choosing what is 'newsworthy' - what to report and what to leave out, and how what they choose to report should be presented
Greer and Reiner (2012) - In the media, stories of sexual and violent crimes are stuff that tillitates, excites and captures the popular imagination
-
Reiner (2007) - Media coverage of crime and deviance is filtered through the values and assumptions of crime-thriller and film-script writers about what makes a story worth telling or 'newsworthy'
Jewkes (2011) - The news values influence the reporting of crime and deviance - These guide the choices writers, editors and journalists make when they decide what stories are sufficiently newsworthy to report, and what to leave out
-
Jewkes argues that the media continue to 'provide homogenised versions of reality that avoid controversy and preserve the status quo - Ignorance among audiences is perpetuated, and the labelling, stereotyping and criminization of certain groups persists
Globalisation, Green, Human Rights and State Crime
Globalisation and Crime
Cultural Globalisation
In media-saturated contemporary societies, everyone in developed and developing countries is constantly exposed to the ideology that the ‘good life’ lies in obtaining the consumer goods associated with affluent Western lifestyles
Young (a Left Realist) points out many people have little chances of achieving this, and a bulimic society encourages a turn to crime in many countries
Globalisation through mass tourism, migration and the influence of the media has spread a similar culture and ideology of consumerism across the globe
Supply and Demand
Growing global inequality, and poverty in the developing world, coupled with rising expectations generated by global media
This leads to factors that push people to emigrate to the developed Western countries where they think they will be better off
-
Many illegal immigrants are in debt to the smuggling gangs, leading them into virtual slavery to repay debts, or women are forced into prostitution
In affluent developed countries, demand for illegal drugs provides a means of making money by drug-dealing for those deprived of other opportunities, and supply is met by poverty-stricken farmers in countries like Colombia, Bolivia and Afghanistan who gain the highest income.
Individualisation
-
Any improvement to the living conditions and happiness of individuals now depends on their own efforts, and they can no longer count on the safety nets provided by the welfare state to protect them from unemployment or poverty
Taylor suggests individuals are left alone to weigh the costs and benefits of their decisions, and choose the course that brings them the best chances of gaining the highest rewards
Global Risk Society
Globalisation adds to the insecurity and uncertainty of in late modernity, and generates what Beck (1992) calls a ‘global risk society’
People become more ‘risk conscious’, and fearful of things like losing their jobs - Globalisation and migrants creates job insecurity and unemployment
The causes of these risks are often located globally, and it is not always easy to identify who is responsible
The media plays on these fears, with scare stories and moral panics induced by over-blown, sensationalized reporting of events like terrorist threats, gun crime, and threats to people’s ways of life and of growing social disorder allegedly posed by ‘scroungers’, arising from global population movements
These fuel hate crimes, where people are attacked or abused because of their ethnicity or religion
Organised Crime
Held and McGrew define globalization as ‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness’
Karofi and Mwanza argue that globalization has led to a global criminal economy, in which opportunities for crime and new types of crime have emerged, such as the illegal trade in weapons, nuclear materials, body parts and drugs
-
The most prominent organs that are traded illicitly are kidneys, with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating that 10,000 kidneys are traded on the black market worldwide annually, or more than one every hour
Glenny (2009) – Uses term ‘McMafia’ to describe the way transnational organised crime mirrors the activities of legal transnational corporations like McDonald’s, who seek to provide and sell the same products across the world
-
Green Crime
• Green or environmental crime can be defined as crime against the environment. The planet is a single eco-system, and threats to the eco-system are increasingly global rather than merely local in nature
Primary Crimes
Primary green crimes are ‘crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources’. South identifies four main types of primary crime:
Crimes of air pollution- Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 3 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere ever year.
Crimes of deforestation- Between 1960 and 1990, one fifth of the world's tropical rainforest was destroyed, for example through illegal logging.
-
Crimes of water pollution- Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water.
Secondary Crimes
Secondary green crime is crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters.
State violence against oppositional groups- States condemn terrorism, but they have been prepared to resort to similar illegal methods themselves. As Day says, 'in every case where a government has committed itself to nuclear weapons or nuclear power, all those who oppose this policy are treated in some degree as enemies of the state'.
Hazardous waste and organised crime- Disposal of toxic waste from the chemical, nuclear and other industries are highly profitable. Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal, businesses may seek to dispose of such waste illegally. Illegal waste disposal illustrates the problems of law enforcement in a globalised world. The very existence of laws to regulate waste disposal in developed countries pushes up the costs to business and creates an incentive to dump illegally in Third World countries.
Evaluation
It recognises the growing importance of environmental issues and the need to address the harms and risks of environmental damage, both to humans and non human animals.
However, by focusing on the much broader concept of harms rather than simply on legally defined crimes, it is hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly. Defining these boundaries involves making moral or political statements about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong. Critics argue that this is a matter of values and cannot be established objectively
-
State Crimes
Green and Ward (2012) - It is difficult to define and measure state crimes but the seriousness and scale of it is beyond question, as people in power can maintain secrecy over their actions
Green and Ward describe state crimes as illegal or deviant activities perpetuated by, or with the complicity of state agencies to further state policies
Mclaughlin (2001) - State crimes can be split into: political crimes (rigging elections), crimes of the police and security forces (unjustified violence against demonstrators), economic crimes (breaking health & safety regulations), social and cultural crimes (mistreatment of minority ethnic groups)
Defining State Crime
Breaking the laws of society in which the crime takes place - However, states can legalise actions that would, in most times and places, be seen as criminal
State crimes may be defined on international law - However, international law is open for interpretation
-
Human Rights
Green and Ward - "Violation of human rights, perpetrated by agents of the state in the deviant pursuit of organisational goals"
This definition is based upon the idea of harm inherent in the idea of human rights rather than legal definitions of unacceptable behaviour (zemiology)
Malesevic (2015) - The UNDHR conceptualises human rights as fundamental inalienable rights to which everyon is entitled on the simple account of being a human being
The idea of human rights fails to acknowledge that the idea of rights is socially constructed and what is seen as appropiate and 'normal' in terms of rights will vary from society to society
Waters (1996) - The powerful can often impose their own definition of human rights on less powerful groups in society
Some sociologists have seen human rights defined by the UN as liberal, Western and having individualist bias
-
Cohen- Culture of Denial
-
-
Stage 2 - The state tries to redefine what has taken place as being something other than a human rights abuse
-
Matza and Sykes (1961) - The state uses 'techniques of neutralisation' to make abuses seem more acceptable, without challenging idea that human rights abuses are normally wrong
These are: denial of responsibility (individuals blame superiors and state they were following orders), denial of injury (the victims didn't suffer), denial of victim (e.g. when torture is used against suspects), condemnation of condemners (accusing those of making judgements of being behaving worse), appeal to higher loyalties (justified in greater good)
-
Authorisation by state, routinisation of abuse + dehumanisation of people who are regarede as 'enemy'
Theories
Functionalism
Merton's Strain Theory
Cause
Result of unequal social class structure that has blocked attempts to reach goals set by society through legitimate opportunity structure
Response
Conformity - individual adheres to both goals, despite limited likelihood of success
Innovation - individual accepts goals of society, but uses different ways to achieve them (criminal behaviour included)
-
-
-
Goals
Shared goals - goals that society share (acheive financial success) and acheive it buy following approved means (hard work/effort)
-
Durkheim
Characteristics
Inevitable - crime will always exist, can be reduced but never eliminated
-
Relative - what is seen as crime and deviance varies in different societies and over time ; they are social constructs
Functional - a limited amount of crime can benefit a society because it ca strengthen bonds between communities
Positive Functions
Reaffirms boundaries - Each time a person is arrested, they make it clear to rest of society that particular actions are considered as unacceptable
-
-
Social cohesion - when horrific crimes have been committed, the community draws together in shared outrage
-
Cause of Crime
Anomie – great social change and disruption (industrialisation and mass urbanisation good but can create poverty, loneliness, mental health) means the collective conscience (set of agreed values and beliefs) is unclear.
This creates normlessness, confusion and uncertainty. Lawlessness after a revolution.
Evaluation
Strengths
- Durkheim served to generate great deal of subsequent research and influence other sociological theories on crime and deviance
Weaknesses
- Durkheim did not give detailed description of causes of crime
- It is unclear what is the 'right' amount of crime is ans when it becomes 'too much'
- The idea that crime is beneficial is insensitive towards victims of crime
- Assumes norms and laws reflect wishes of population ; does not consider that powerful group is imposing values onto rest of society
Subcultural Theories
Cohen
-
-
They reject mainstream norms and values and replace with delinquent subcultural norms and values (commit non-utalitarian crimes)
-
-
Cloward and Ohlin
Criminal Subculture
Arise in neighbourhoods where there is longstanding and stable local criminal culture with established hierarchy of professional adult crime
-
-
Conflict Subculture
When WC lack access to adult criminal networks but live in area which values defense of territory and violence
Arise in areas with high pop. turnover, results in high levels of social disorganisation and prevents development of stable adult criminal network
Illegitimate opportunities available withing loosely organised gangs, which violence provides release for status frustration
Retreatist Subculture
-
Youth become 'double failures', cannot acheive status and success
-
Marxism
Criminogenic Society
For Marxists, crime is inevitable in capitalism because capitalism is criminogenic
-
-
Crime is a rational response to the competitiveness and inequality of life in capitalist societies, in which profit and individual gain are more important than the concern of the well-being of others
Relative deprivation means some struggle to survive or are excluded from participation in the consumer society, encouraging crimes like theft, vandalism or violence arising from hostility to the frustration of social exclusion
Alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence.
The need to win at all costs or go out of business, along with the desire of self-enrichment, encourages capitalists to commit white collar and corporate crime e.g. tax evasion
Gordon (1971) - It is a dog eat dog society and it is surprising that the working class don't commit more crime
The State and Law Making
Marxists see law making and law enforcement as only serving the interests of the capitalist class e.g.
Chambliss (1975) - Laws are instruments of the ruling class, and they reflect the values and beliefs found in ruling-class ideology
-
-
The ruling class also have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests e.g. there are few laws that challenge the unequal distribution of wealth. Snider argues that the capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten their profitability
The agencies of social control protect ruling-class interests and power, criminalize those who oppose them, and are used to control the workforce
Control, Punishment and Victims
Punishment
Role
To discourage them from reoffending (rehabilitation) or to deter other people from offending in the future (deterrence)
-
To protect society from those who are dangerous (incapacitation - preventation through imprisonment or, in some countries, execution)
-
-
-