Crime and Deviance

Crime and Media - Proportion of news coverage and news values

- Ericson et al found 45-71% of quality press and radio news was about various forms of deviance and its control. - Williams and Dickinson found British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime. The Media Over-represent violent and sexual crimes: Ditton and Duffy found that 46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes, yet these made up only 3% of all crimes recorded by police. The media exaggerates the risk of victimisation: especially for women, white people and higher status individuals. The media overplay extraordinary crimes: and underplay ordinary crimes - Felson calls this the 'dramatic fallacy'. Similarly, media images lead us to believe that to commit crime (and solve it) one needs to be daring and clever - the 'ingenuity fallacy'. The media changes type of coverage of crime by the news media: Schlesinger and Tumber found that in the 1960s the focus had been on murders and petty crime, but by the 1990s murder and pretty crime were of less interest to the media. The change came about party because of the abolition of the death penalty for murder and partly because rising crime rates meant that a crime had to be 'special' to attract coverage. Media distorts crime:Soothill and Walby studied the coverage of rape in newspapers. They found that newspaper reporting of rape cases increased from under a quarter of all cases in 1951 to over a third in 1985. They also not that coverage consistently focuses on identifying a 'sex fiend' or 'beast', often by use of labels. The resulting distorted picture of rape is one of serial attacks carried out by psychopathic strangers. While these do occur, they are the exception rather than the rule - in most cases the perpetrator is known to the victim. News values and crime coverage: Cohen and Young note, news is not discovered but manufactured. A central aspect of the manufacture of news is the notion of 'news values'. News values are the criteria by which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the newspaper or news bulletin. If a crime story can be told in terms of some of these criteria, it has a better chance of making the news. Key values influencing the selection of crime stories: Immediacy Dramatisation Personalisation Higher-status Simplification Novelty Risk Violence

Ethnicity and crime - Pre-sentence reports and Prison

A Pre-sentence report (PSR) is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding on the appropriate sentence for a given offender. However, Hudson and Bramhall argue that PSRs allow for unwitting discrimination. They found that reports on Asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested that they were less remorseful than white offenders. They place this bias in the context of the demonising of Muslims in the wake of the events of 11 September 2001. In 2014, just over a quarter of the prison population were from minority ethnic groups. Among British nationals, 5.5 per 1,000 black people were in jail compared with 1.6 per 1,000 Asian and 1.4 per 1,000 white people. - As such, blacks were 4 times more likely to be in prison than whites. Black and Asian offenders are more likely than whites to be serving longer sentences. - Within the total prison population, all minority groups have a higher than average population of prisoners on remand. This is because ethnic minorities are less likely to be granted bail while awaiting trial. - In the US, 2 out of 5 prisoners held in local jails are black, while 1 in 5 is Hispanic

Media and crime - media and commodification of crime

A further feature of late modernity is the emphasis on consumption, excitement and immediacy. In this context, crime and its thrills become commodified. Corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products especially on the youth market. For example, 'gangster' rap and hip hop stars parade designer chic clothing, jewellery, champagne, luxury cars etc. - Fenwick and Hayward argue 'crime is packaged and marketed to young people as a romantic, exciting, cool and fashionable cultural symbol'. This is applicable to mainstream products as well. For example, they cite examples of car ads featuring street riots, joyriding, suicide bombing, graffiti and pyromania. - Companies use moral panics and controversy to sell products. For example, Colin Kapernick to front the Nike campaign amidst BLM controversy. Certain badges of identity we buy function as symbols of violence (hoodies).

The process of labelling - Young

A label is attached to an individual and by the police and courts. as a result the label becomes the individual's master status, overriding other statuses at sibling, friend etc. The labelled individuals accept the label which then leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy. Whether the label is true or not, the individuals acts in accordance with it. Confirming people's belief about the label and therefore making it true. Secondary devance is likely to provoke further hostile reactions from society and reinforce the outsider's status. As a result this may lead to the deviant joining a subculture that offers career opportunities, role models, rewards and confirms their deviant identity. Young studied hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill. Initially, drugs were peripheral to the hippies' lifestyles (primary deviance). However, persecution and labelling by the control culture (police) led the hippies increasingly to see themselves as outsiders. They retreated into closed groups where they began to develop a deviant subculture, wearing longer hair and more way out clothes. Drug use became a central activity, attracting further attention from the police and created a self fulfilling prophecy. AO3: However, although a deviant career is a common outcome of labelling, labelling theorists point out that it's not inevitable. Downes and Rock notes we cannot predict whether someone who has been labeled will follow a deviant career, because they're always free to choose not to deviate further.

The liberation thesis - Adler

Adler argues that, as women become liberated from patriarchy, their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as men's. Women's liberation has led to a new type of female criminal and a rise in the female crime rate. 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 just commit traditional 'female' crimes such as shoplifting and prostitution. They now also commit typically 'male' offences such as crimes of violence and white-collar crimes. This is because of women's greater self-confidence and assertiveness, and the fact that they now have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure. For example, there are more women in senior positions at work and this gives them the opportunity to commit serious white-collar crimes such as fraud. AO3: Most female criminals are working-class - the group least likely to be influenced by women's liberation, which has benefited middle-class women much more. According to Chesney-lind, in the USA poor and marginalised women are more likely than liberated women to be criminals. Chesney-Lind found evidence of women branching out into more typically male offences such as drugs. However, this is usually because of their link with prostitutes - a very 'unliberated' female offence.

The 'Folk Devils' - Cohen

An example of the deviance amplification spiral refers to Cohen's study on the 'Folk Devils' and Moral panics. This was a study of societal reaction to the 'mods and rockers' disturbances involving groups of youths at English seaside resorts. The media;'s exaggeration and distorted reporting of the events began a moral panic, with growing public concern and with moral entrepreneurs calling for a crackdown. The police responded by arresting more youths, while the courts imposed harsher penalties. This seemed to confirm the truth of the original media's reaction and provoked more public concern, in and upward spiral of deviance amplification. At the same time, the demonizing of the mods and rockers as 'Folk Devils' cause their further marginalization as outsiders, resulting in more deviant behaviour on their part.

Coroners' commonsense knowledge - Atkinson

Atkinson agrees official statistics are merely a record of the labels coroners attach to deaths. He argues that it's impossible to know for sure what meanings the dead gave to their deaths. Atkinson therefore focuses on the taken-for-granted assumptions that coroners make when reaching their verdicts. He found that their ideas about a 'typical suicide' were important; certain modes of death (hanging), location, circumstances of the death, and life history (recent bereavement) were seen as typical of suicides. One coroner said that if the deceased had taken more than 10 sleeping pills, then you can be sure it was a suicide. AO3: However, Atkinson's approach can be used against him. If he's correct that all we can do is have interpretations of the social world, rather than. real factors about it, then his account is no more than an interpretation and there is no good reason to accept it.

Critical victimology

Based on conflict such as Marxism and Feminism. They focus on two elements: structural causes such as patriarchy and poverty, which place powerless groups such as women and the poor at greater risk of victimisation. As Mawby and Walklate argue, victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness. And The sate's powerto apply or deny the label of victim: 'Victim' is a social construct in the same way as 'crime' and 'criminal'. Through the criminal justice process, the state applies the label of victim to some but withholds it from others - for example when police decide not to press charges against a man for assaulting his wife, thereby denying her victim status. Tombs and Whyte show that 'safety crimes', where employers' violations of the law lead to death or injury to workers, are often explained away as the fault of 'accident prone' workers. As with many rape cases, this both denies the victim official 'victim status' and blames them for their fate. They note the ideological function of this 'failure to label' or 'de-labelling'. By concealing the true extent of victimisation and its real causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful and denies the powerless victims any redress. In the hierarchy of victimisation, therefore, the powerless are most likely to be victimised, yet least likely to have this acknowledged by the state. AO3: Critical victimology disregards the role victims may play in bringing victimisation on themselves through their own choices or their own offending. - It's valuable in drawing attention to the way that 'victim' status is constructed by power and how this benefits the powerful at the expense of the powerless.

The social construction of crime - Becker

Becker argues that a deviant is simply someone whom the label has been successfully applied, and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people so label. Becker stated that it's not the nature of the act that makes it deviant, but more the nature of society's reaction to the act. he argued that social control agencies campaign for change so that they can increase their power. For example, Marijuana use is supposed to be illegal due to harmful effects, but Becker argues that this is not the case. He states it's the power that it gives individuals and groups when they define such behaviour is unacceptable. - We have mortal entrepreneurs who lead a crusade to change the law. These are normally people in power

Ethnicity and crime - official statistics

Black people in London are 4 times more likely to get stopped and searched. 35% of young black males aged 15-18 were stopped and searched last year compared with 10% of young white men. 74% of black minority people think that they are unfairly targeted by stop and search. Terrel Dacosta, 15, was stopped by police on suspicion of committing a robbery in November 2017. The Independent Police Complaints Commission are investigating after he was left with severe injuries after apparently falling from his book when he was stopped.

Moral panic about girls:

Burnman and Batchelor point to media depictions of young women as 'drunk and disorderly, out of control and looking for fights'. Reports featuring binge drinking, girl gangs and so on may be affecting the criminal justice system. For example, Sharpe found that professionals such as judges, probation officers and police were influenced by media stereotypes of violent 'ladettes' and many believed that girls' behaviour was rapidly getting worse. Similarly, in the USA, Steffensmeier et al found that media-driven moral panics about girls were affecting sentencing decisions. - The overall effect is a self-fulfilling prophecy and an amplification spiral: reports of girls' misbehaviour sensitise police and courts, who take a tougher stance, resulting in more convictions, which produces further negative media coverage and so on.

Class and gender deals

Carlen conducted a study of thirty-nine 15-46 year old working-class women who had been convicted of a range of crimes including theft, fraud, handling stolen goods, burglary, drugs, prostitution, violence and arson. Twenty were in prison or youth custody at the time of the interviews. Although Carlin recognises that there are some middle-class female offenders, she argued that most convicted serious female criminals are working-class. Hirschi argues that humans act rationally and are controlled by an offended 'deal', of rewards in return for conforming to social norms. People will turn to crime if they do not believe the rewards will be forthcoming, and if the rewards of crime appear greater than risks. 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.

Negotiation of justice - Cicourel

Cicourel found that officers' typifications (stereotypes of what the typical delinquent is like) led them to concentrate on certain types of people. This resulted in law enforcement showing a class bias, in that working-class people fitted the police typifications most closely. Furthermore, other agents of social control within criminal justice reinforce this bias. For example, probation officers held the common sense theory that juvenile delinquency was caused by broken homes poverty and ;ax parenting. They tended to see youths from such backgrounds as likely to offend in the future and were less likely to support non-custodial sentences for them. In Cicourel's view justice is not fixed but negotiable. For example, when young middle-class male was arrested he was likely to be charged≥ This was partly because his background did not fit the idea of police's typical delinquent, and partly because his parents were more Riley to negotiate successfully on his behalf, conning the control agencies that he was sorry, that they would monitor him and ensure he stayed out of trouble in the future. As a result, typically, he was counseled, warned and released rather than prosecuted.

The social construction of crime statistics - Cicourel

Circourel argue that crime figures are not accurate and that there are 4 problems with using criminal statistics. He notes that not all crimes are detected because if a criminal doesn't fit a policy's typification, then their crimes go undetected. Secondly, not all crimes are recorded and, or manipulated. This is because based on police typification, they're likely to choose whether they view you as committing a crime or not. Thirdly, not all crimes are reported such as personal drug use. Furthermore, police targets can affect criminal statistics. For example, if drunk driving is significant during Christmas time, the police are more likely to look out for it during that time, therefore resulting in more reports of it. Overall, he argues that there is a dark figure of crime - these are crimes that will not appear in official figures. In order to prevent this, self-report studies can be used to increase validity of crime rates as criminals can discuss crimes committed. As well as this, Victim surveys can also be used to give more information on crimes that are less likely to have4 been reported. AO3: These types of studies can be criticized. Self-report methods produce social desirability which means people are likely to lie about the certain crimes they commit depending on the severity as they believe the surveys aren't fully anonymous and therefore can be convicted

Patterns of victimisation:

Class: The poorest groups are more likely to be victimised. For example, crime rates are typically highest in areas of high unemployment and deprivation. Marginalised groups are most likely to become victims; Newburn and Rock found that in a survey of 300 homeless people, they were 12 times more likely to have experienced violence than the general population. One in 10 had urinated been on while sleeping rough. Age: Younger people are more at risk of victimisation. Those most at risk of being murdered are infants under one, while teenagers are more vulnerable than adults to offences including assault, sexual harassment, theft, and abuse at home. The old are also at risk of abuse, for example in nursing homes, where victimisation declines with age. Ethnicity: Minority ethnic groups are at greater risk than whites of being victims of crime in general, as well as of racially motivated crimes. In relation to the police, ethnic minorities, the young and homl;ess are more likely to report feeling under-protected yet over-controlled. Gender: Males are often at greater risk than females of becoming victims of violent attacks, especially by strangers. About 70% of monoxide victims are male. However, women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and harassment, people trafficking and - in times of armed conflict - mass rape as a weapon of war. Repeat victimisation: refers to the fact, if you have been a victim once, you are very likely to be one again. According to the British Crime Survey, about 60% of the population have not been victims of any kind of crime in a given year, whereas a mere 4% of the population are victims of 44% of all crimes in that period.

Illegitimate Opportunity structures - Cloward and Ohlin

Cloward and Ohlin agree that working-class youths are denied legitimate opportunities to achieve money success, and that their deviance stems from the way they respond to this situation. However, different subcultures respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities. For example, not everyone who fails by legitimate means, such as schooling, then has an equal chance of becoming a successful safecracker. Just like the apprentice plumber, the would-be safecracker needs to opportunity to learn their trade and the chance to practice it. Different neighborhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers. They identify 3 types of deviant subcultures: - Criminal subcultures: provide youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime. They arise only in neighborhoods with longstanding and stable criminal culture with as established hierarchy of professional adult crime. This allows the young to associate with adult criminals and provide them with training and role models as well as opportunities for employment not he criminal career ladder. - Conflict subcultures: arise in areas of high population turnover. This results in high levels of social disorganization and prevents a stable professional criminal network developing. Its absence means that only illegitimate opportunities available are within loosely organized gangs. In these, violence provides a release for young men's frustration at their blocked opportunities, as well as an alternative source of status that they can earn by winning territory from rival gangs. - Retreatist subcultures: In any neighborhood, not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal or gang leader actually succeeds. Those who fail in both the legitimate the illegitimate opportunity structures turn to a retreatist subculture based on illegal drug use.

Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin

Cloward and Ohlin draw boundaries too sharply between subcultures. For example, South found that the drug trade is a mixture of both 'disorganized' crime, like the conflict subculture, and professional dealers making a living from this utilitarian crime. In coward and Ohlin's theory, it would not be possible to belong to more than one of these subcultures. Strain theories have been called reactive theories because they explain subcultures as forming in reaction to the failure to achieve mainstream goals. They have been criticized for assuming everyone starts off sharing the same mainstream success goal. Miller argues that the lower class has its own independent subculture separate from mainstream culture, with its own values. This subculture does not value success in the first place, so its members are not frustrated by failure. Although Miller agrees deviance is widespread in lower class, he argues that arises out of an attempt to achieve their own goals, not mainstream ones.

Subcultural Strain theories - Cohen

Cohen argues that everyone wants to achieve high status, however not everyone can get this. They don't have the opportunity to legitimately gain status. - Cohen focuses on deviance among working-class boys. He agues they gave anomie int he middle-class dominated school system. They suffer from cultural deprivation and lack the skills to achieve which leaves them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy. As a result of being unable to achieve status by legitimate means, the boys suffers status frustration. nThey resolve this frustration by rejecting mainstream middle-class values and they turn to other boys in the same situation, forming or doing a delinquent subculture. Therefore, it offers the boys an alternative status hierarchy in which they can achieve. Cohen's ideas of status frustration value inversion and alternative status hierarchy help to explain non-economic delinquency such as vandalism and truancy. AO3: Cohen assumes that working-class. boys start if sharing middle-class success goals, only to reject these when they fail. He ignores the possibility that they didn't share these goals in the first place and so never saw themselves as failures.

Media and crime - Moral panics

Cohen examines the media's response to disturbances between two groups of largely working-c;ass teenagers, the mods and the rockers, at English seaside resorts from 1964 to 1966, and the way in which this created a moral panic. Mods wore smart dress and rode scooters; rockers wore leather jackets and rode motorbikes - though in the early stages, distinctions were not so clear-cut, and not many young people identified themselves as belonging to either 'group'. The initial confrontations started in 1964, in which stones were thrown, windows were broken and some beach huts were wrecked. Although the disorder was relatively minor, the media over-reacted. In his analysis, Cohen uses the analogy of a disaster, where the media produce an inventory or stock taking of what happened. - Exaggeration and distortion: The media exaggerated the numbers involved and the extent of the violence and damage, and distorted the picture through dramatic reporting and sensational headlines such as 'Day of Terror by Scooter Gangs' and 'Youngsters Beat Up Town'. Even non-events were news. - Prediction: The media regularly assumed and predicted further conflict and violence would result. - Symbolisation: The symbols of the mods and rockers - their clothes, bikes and scooters, hairstyles, music etc - were all negatively labelled and associated with deviance. The media's use of these symbols allowed them to link unconnected events. For example, bikers in different parts of the country who misbehaved could be seen as part of a more general underlying problem of disorderly youth. Cohen argues that the media's portrayal of events produced a deviance amplification spiral by making it seem as if the problem was spreading and getting out of hand. This led to calls for an increased control response from the police and courts. This produced further marginalisation and stigmatisation of the mods and rockers as deviants, and less and less tolerance of them, and so in an upward spiral. - The media further amplified the deviance by defining the 2 groups and their subcultural styles. This led to more youths adopting these styles and drew in more participants for future clashes. By emphasising their supposed differences, the media crystallised two distinct identities and transformed loose-knit groupings into two tight-knit gangs. This encouraged polarisation and helped to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of escalating conflict as youths acted out the roles the media had assigned to them. AO3: It assumes that the societal reaction is a disproportionate over-reaction. This relates to the left realist view that people's fear of crime is rational. McRobbie and Thornton argue that moral panics are now routine and have less impact. Also, in late modern society, there is little consensus about what is deviant. Lifestyle choices that were condemned forty years ago, such as single motherhood, are no longer universally regarded as deviant and so it's harder for the media to create panics about them.

Impact of victimization

Crimes may have serious physical and emotional impacts on its victims. For example, research has found a variety of effects, including disrupted sleep, feelings of helplessness, increased security-consciousness, and difficulties in social functioning. Indirect victims: friends, relatives, witnesses of crime can be affected too - Pynoos et al found that a child witness of a sniper attack continued to have grief-related dreams and altered behaviour for a year after the event. Hate crime: 'waves of harm' that affect whole communities through intimidation. This changes the value system of the society. Secondary victimisation: As well as the crime itself, individuals may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system. For example, feminists argue that rape victmis are poorly treated by police and courts = double violation. Fear of victimisation: surveys show irrational fear. For example, women fear attack. This fear of crime focuses on women's psychological state and their passivity. Focus on their safety instead of the patriarchal threat of violence they face.

Media and crime - cultural criminology, the media and crime

Cultural criminology says that the media turns crime itself into a commodity. Rather than just producing crime in its audiences, it encourages them to consume crime. Hayward and Young see late modern society as a media-saturated society, where we are immersed in the 'mediascape' - an ever-expanding tangle of fluid digital images, including images of crime. In this world, there is a blurring between the image of crime and the reality of crime. Media represents crime and crime control and this actually constitutes or creates the behaviour itself. For example, police cameras do not just record for a show like 'Cops' but changes the way in which the police behave.

Punishment

Deterrence: punishing the individual discourages them from future offending. For example, 'making an example' of them may serve as a deterrent to the public. Rehabilitation:is the idea that punishment can be used to reform or change offenders so they no longer offend. These policies include providing education and training for prisoners so that they are able to 'earn an honest living' on release, and anger management courses for violent offenders. Incapacitation: is the use of punishment to remove the offender's capacity to offend again. Policies in different societies have included imprisonment, execution, the cutting off of hands, and chemical castration.

Definitions of state crime

Domestic law: Chambliss defines state crime as acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of the jobs as representatives of the state. For example, in China it used to be part of their political law that you can only be in power for a certain amount of time. However, that was changed. AO3: However, using a state's own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate. It ignores the fact that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions. They can also create laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts. For example, Nazi state passed a law permitting it to compulsorily sterilise the disabled. Zemiology: Michalowski defines state crime as including not just illegal acts but also legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of illegal acts in the harm that they cause. Similarly, Hillyard et al argued that we should take a much wider view of state wrongdoing. We should replace the study of crime with Zemiology regardless of if the act is against the law. For example, the Holocaust. AO3: Critics argue that a 'harms' definition is potentially very vague. What level of harm must occur before it's identified as a crime? There is a danger that it makes the field of study too wide. Who decides what counts as a harm? This just replaces the state's arbitrary definition of crime with the sociologist's equally arbitrary definition of harm. International law: Rothe and Mullins define a state crime as any action by or on behalf of a state that violates international law and/or a state's own domestic law. Therefore, this definition doesn't depend on the sociologist's own persona; definitions of harm or who the relevant social audience is. Instead it uses globally agreed definitions of state crime. For example, laws made by individual states are open to bias by those in power and therefore are able to change them. AO3: However, like the laws made by individual states, international law is a social construction involving the use of power. For example, Strand and Tuman found that Japan has sought to overturn the international ban on whaling by concentrating its foreign aid on impoverished 'microstates', including all 6 Caribbean island nations, to bribe them to vote against the ban. As well as this, another limitation is that international law focuses on war crimes and crimes against humanity rather than other states such as corruption. Human rights: Schwendinger defines state crime as a violation of people's basic human rights by the state and their agencies. According to Schwendinger, if we accept the legal definition of crimes, we become subservient to the state's interests. The Schwendingers argue that the sociologist's role should be to defend human rights, if necessary against the state's laws. Supportingly, Risse et al argued that one advantage of this definition is that virtually all states care about their human rights image, because these rights are now global social norms. This makes them susceptible to 'shaming' and this can provide leverage to make them respect their citizens' rights. AO3: Cohen criticises Schwendinger's view. While gross violations of human rights, such as torture, are clearly crimes, other acts, such as economic exploitation, are not self-evidently criminla, even if we find them morally unacceptable. Furthermore, Green and Ward counter this with the view that liberty is not much use if people are too malnourished to exercise it. Therefore, if the state knowingly permits the export of food from a famine area, for example - like the British government did during the Irish famine of the 1840s - then this is a denial of human rights and state crime.

Suicide - Douglas

Douglas takes an interactionists approach to suicide. He's critical of the use of official suicide statistics as he believes they're socially constructed and tell us about the activities of the people who construct them, such as corners, rather than try real rate of crime or suicide in society. For example, whether a death comes to be officially labelled as suicide rather than an accident or homicide depends on the interactions and negotiations between social actors such as the coroner, relatives, friends, doctors etc. - For instance, relatives may feel guilty about failing to prevent the death and press fora verdict of misadventure rather than suicide. Similarly, a coroner with strong religious beliefs, believes that suicide is a sin and may be reluctant to bring in a suicide verdict. As a result, official statistics tells us noting about the meanings behind and individual's decision to commit susicde. Douglas argues we need to used qualitative methods such as the analysis of suicide notes, or unstructured interviews with the deceased's friends and relatives. This would allow us to get behind the labels coroners attach to deaths and discover their true meaning.

Globalisations and new types of crime

Drug trade: Hobbs and Dunningham: The global drugs trade is now worth over $300 billion per year. Drugs are often cultivated in third world countries such as Colombia, Peru and Afghanistan which have large impoverished populations, therefore, drugs are an attractive trade as it requires little investment but commands high prices especially in the western world. Human Trafficking: Can induce the trafficking of women and children as well as illegal immigrants and human body parts. It's estimated that over 2000 organs per year are trafficked from condemned or executed criminals. Women and children are often trafficked for sex trade or slavery, it's estimated that over half a million people are trafficked to Western Europe annually. Financial crimes: Such as money laundering has become much easier with the relaxing of international banking laws, meaning that people are able to move money between offshore accounts much easier or to haven countries where national laws do not allow law enforcement access to accounts. Cyber crime: Cyber crime has developed out of the growth in technology and takes a number of forms including cyber fraud, cyber theft, cyber terrorism and cyber violence. It's a transnational crime as the hacker can be in one country while hacking a system in another country. Transnational organized crime: There has been growth in organised crime networks based on economic links. Glenny calls these 'McMafia' which developed from the deregulation of global markets and the fall of the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the old school mafias such as the Italian mafia and the trades began to disperse around the world, especially in places like the USA. Terroism: Technological and communication advancements have made international terrorism easier, as groups are able to communicate with members all over the world and cultivate in-state members through online radicalisation.

Deviance amplification spiral - Young

The deviance amplification serial is a term labelling theorists use to describer a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance. As a result, more and more control produces more and more deviance, in an escalating spiral, as in the case of the hippies described by Young. Young studied hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill. Initially, drugs were peripheral to the hippies' lifestyles (primary deviance). However, persecution and labelling by the control culture (police) led the hippies increasingly to see themselves as outsiders. They retreated into closed groups where they began to develop a deviant subculture, wearing longer hair and more way out clothes. Drug use became a central activity, attracting further attention from the police and created a self fulfilling prophecy.

Durkheim's positive functions of crime

Durkheim argues that crime is inevitable. This is because not everyone is effectively socialized and therefore some people are likely to deviate from the norm and can be seen as criminals. Furthermore,there is a diversity of cultures and values. As a result different groups will develop their distinctive norms and values (subcultures). - Positive functions of crime: Boundary maintenance: Durkheim argues that crime unites members of society in condemnation and reinforces commitment to norms and values. This is done through rituals of courtrooms where the wrongdoing of people are dramatized and made a spectacle of. As a result, this reaffirms values of law-abiding. Adaption and change: Durkheim argues that all change starts with an act of deviance. Individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must not be completely stifled by the weight of social control. There must be some scope for them to challenge and change existing norms and values, and in the first instance this will inevitable appear as deviance. If all new ideas and values were suppressed, society will stagnate and will be unable to make necessary adaptive changes.

Neo-marxist evaluation

Feminists criticise it for being 'gender blind', focusing excessively on male criminality and at the expense of female criminality. Critical criminology romanticised working-class criminals as Robin Hoods who are fighting capitalism by redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. However, in reality these criminals mostly prey on the poor. Burke argues that critical criminology is both too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime. However Hall et al have applied Taylor et al's approach to explain the moral panic over mugging in the 1970s. Taylor et al have changed their views since 'The New Criminology' was published.

Ethnicity and crime - arrest, prosecution and conviction

Figures for England and Wales show that in 2014/15 the arrest rate for blacks was 3 times the rate for whites. By contrast, once arrested, blacks and Asians were less likely than whites to receive a caution. - This may be because members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to deny offence and to exercise their right to legal advice. However, not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged instead. The Crown Prosecution Service is the body responsible for deciding whether a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court. In doing so, the CPS must decide whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and whether prosecution is in the public interest. - Studies suggest that the CPS is more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities. Bowling and Phillips argue that this may be because the evidence presented to the police is often weaker and based on stereotyping of ethnic minorities as criminals. - When cases go ahead, members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to elect for trial before a jury in the Crown Court, rather than in a magistrates' court, perhaps due to mistrust of magistrates' impartiality. However, Crown Courts can impose more severe sentences if convicted. Black and Asian defendants are less likely to be found guilty. This suggests discrimination, in that the police and CPS may be bringing weaker or less serious causes against ethnic minorities that are thrown out by the courts. - Black offenders have imprisonment rates of 3% points higher, than Asian offenders 5 point higher, than white offenders. This may be due to differences in the seriousness of the offences, or in defendants' previous convictions. - However, a study of 5 Crown Courts by Hood found that, even when such factors were taken into account, black men were 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence, and were given sentences on average 3 months longer than white men.

Ethnicity and crime - Neo-Marxism (Gilroy)

Gilroy argues that the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbeans and Asians. In reality, these groups are no more criminal than others. However, as a result of the police and criminal justice system acting on these racist stereotypes, ethnic minorities come to be criminalised and therefore to appear in greater numbers in the official statistics. - Ethnic minority crime can be seen as a form of political resistance against a racist society, and this resistance has its roots in earlier struggles against British imperialism. Gilroy, like critical criminology, argues that working-class crime is a political act of resistance to capitalism. Most blacks and Asians in the UK originated in the former British colonies, where their anti-imperialist struggles taught them how to resist oppression, for example through riots and demonstrations. When they found themselves facing racism in Britain, they found themselves facing racism in Britain, they adopted the same forms of struggle to defend themselves, but their political struggle was criminalised by the British state. AO3: First generation immigrants in the 1950s and 60s were very law-abiding, so it's unlikely that they passed down a tradition of anti-colonial struggle to their children. Most crime is intra-ethnic, so it can't be seen as an anti-colonial struggle against racism. Lea and Young argue that, like critical Gilroy romanticism, street crime is somehow revolutionary, when it's not. Asian crime rates are similar to or lower than whites. If Gilroy were right, then the police are only racist towards blacks and no Asians, which seems unlikely.

Postmodernity and masculine crime

Globalisation has led to a shift from a modern industrial society to a late modern or postmodern de-industrialised society. This has led to the loss of many traditional manual jobs through which working-class men were able to express their masculinity by hard physical labour and providing for their families. - However, job opportunities in industry have declined, there has been an expansion of the service sector, including the night-time leisure economy of clubs, pubs and bars. For some young working-class men, this has provided a combination of legal employment, lucrative criminal opportunity and a means of expressing their masculinity.

State crime - what is state crime

Green and Ward define state crime as illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of state agencies. State crime is argued to me the most serious type of crime for two reasons: - The scale of state crime: State's enormous power gives it the potential to inflict harm on a huge scale. For example, Green and Ward cite a figure of 262 million people murdered by governments during the 20th century. - The state is the source of law: The state defines what is criminal, but its power means it can evade punishment and undermines the system of justice. Mclaughlin identifies four categories of state crime: Political crimes (corruption & censorship): - Illegal wars under international law, in all cases other than self-defence, war can only be declared by the UN Security Council. On this basis, many see the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of the 'war on terror' as illegal. For example, Kramer and Michalowsiki argue that to justify their invasion of Iraq in 2003 as self-defence, the USA and UK knowingly made the false claims that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction. There was also the torture of prisoners. A US military inquiry into Abu Ghraib prison found numerous instances of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses of prisoners. Crimes by security and police forces (genocide & torture): - The Genocide in Rwanda: Rwanda became a Belgian colony in 1922 and the Belgians used the minority Tutsi to mediate their rule over the Hutu majority. But Hutus and Tutsis were not separate ethnic groups - they spoke the same language and often intermarried. Rather, they were more like social classes: Tusis owned livestock and the Hutus did not. The Belgians 'ethnicized' the two groups, issuing them with racial identity cards, and educated the two groups separately. Rwanda gained independence in 1962 and elections brought the majority Hutus to power. By the 1990s, an escalating economic and political crisis led to civil war, with Hutu hardliners in the government attempting to cling on to power by fuelling race hate propaganda against the Tutsis. In order to maintain control of Rwanda 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered, legitimised with dehumanising labels describing Tutsis as 'cockroaches' and 'rats'. - Illegal wars under international law, in all cases other than self-defence, war can only be declared by the UN Security Council. On this basis, many see the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of the 'war on terror' as illegal. For example, Kramer and Michalowsiki argue that to justify their invasion of Iraq in 2003 as self-defence, the USA and UK knowingly made the false claims that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction. Economic crimes (violation of health and safety laws): - Whyte describes the USA's 'neo-liberal colonisation' of Iraq, in which the constitution was illegally changed so that the economy could be privatised. Iraqi oil revenues were seized to pay for 'reconstruction'. In 2004 over 48 billion dollars went to US firms. But poor oversight by the occupying powers meant it is unclear where much of this went, and cost-plus contracts led to enormous waste. This case is also an example of state-corporate crime. There was also the torture of prisoners. A US military inquiry into Abu Ghraib prison found numerous instances of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses of prisoners. - Deep water horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is an example of state-facilitated corporate crime. This occurs when states fail to regulate and control corporate behaviour, making crime easier. The rig, leased by BP, exploded and sank, killing eleven workers and causing the largest accidental oil spill in history, with major health, environmental and economic impacts. - Chernobyl disaster Social and cultural crimes (Institutional racism): - Police force targeting certain groups in society, Ethnocentric Curriculum ignore certain groups history. - ISIS destruction of Churches and shrines in Mosul - USA destruction of Native indian sites and lands

Green crime

Green or environmental crime can be defined as crime against the environment. Much green crime can be linked to globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of societies. Regardless of the division of the world into separate nation-states, the planet is a single ecosystem, and threats to the ecosystem are increasingly global rather than merely local in nature. For example, accidents in the nuclear industry - such as the one at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 - can spread radioactive material over thousands of miles, showing how a problem caused in one locality can have world wide effects. Definitions of Green crime: Transgressive means looking at the wider definitions of crime such as the harm that the crimes cause, not just the breaking of state laws. Anthropocentric means harm to the environment from the perspective of humanity. Pollution is a problem because it damages human water supply or causes diseases that are expensive to overcome; climate change is a problem because of its impact on people and the economic cost of dealing with it. Ecocentric means harm to any aspect of the environment as harm to all of it. Therefore, crimes like animal cruelty or the destruction of habitats are green crimes, regardless of whether or not there is any specific human cost. Globalisation links to Green crime because environmental crimes are global crimes and a crime in one geographical location can have knock on effects across the planet. Green crime is hard to police because an act can be done in one geographical location and not be considered a crime but have an effect on another geographical area where the act is a crime. Additionally it can be difficult to identify who is to blame for the crime. Traditional criminology: Situ and Emmons define Green crime as 'an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law of a state or nature' in a similar way to other crimes traditional criminology looks at patterns and causes of law breaking. This definition of green crime would not consider Global Warming or acid rain as a crime as they do not break any laws. Transgressive Criminology: Transgressive criminology looks more at the harm that certain acts cause in order to determine criminality. White argues that green crime is any action that harms the physical environment and or human/non-human animals within it even if no law has been broken. Global and Manufactured risk: Beck argues that in today's society we can now provide resources for all in the developing world and yet the massive increase in technology creates new manufactured risks which cause harm to the environment and have consequences for humans. For example the greenhouse gases caused by manufacturing has led to global warming which is global in nature rather than local.

Gender and crime (women) - Gender patterns in crime

Heidensohn and Silvestri observe that gender differences are the most significant feature of recorded crime. For example, official statistics shows that four out of five convicted offenders in England and Wales are male. As well as this, by the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction, as against 32% of males. Therefore, official statistics show us that a higher proportion of female offenders for property crime (except burglary). Furthermore, males are more likely to be repeat offenders and have longer criminal careers. Statistics underestimate the amount of females offending in comparison to males. Typically 'female' crimes are less likely to be reported. For example, shoplifting is less likely to be noticed or reported than the violent or sexual crimes more often committed by men. Similarly, prostitution - which females are much more likely than males to engage in - is unlikely to be reported by either party. Even when women's crimes are detected or reported, they are less likely to be prosecuted or, if prosecuted, more likely to be let off relatively lightly.

Patriarchal control theory - Heidensohn

Heidensohn argues that women's behaviour is conformist and therefore commit fewer and less serious 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, with its constant round of housework and childcare, imposes severe restrictions on their time and movement and confines them to the house for long periods, reducing their opportunities to offend. Women who try to reject their domestic role may find that their partners seek to impose it by force, through domestic violence. Dobash and Dobash show that many violent attacks result from men's dissatisfaction with their wives' performance of domestic duties. Men also exercise control through their financial power, for example by denying women sufficient funds for leisure activities, thereby restricting their time outside the home. - Control in public: Women are controlled in public places by the threat or fear of male violence against them, especially sexual violence. For example, the Islington Crime Survey found that 54% of women avoided going out after dark for fear of being victims of crime, as against only 14% of men. Heidensohn notes that sensationalist media reporting if rapes adds to women's fear. Distorted media portrayals of the typical rapist as a stranger who carries out random attacks frightens women into staying indoors. - 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 at work. For example, the 'glass ceiling' prevents many women from rising to senior positions where there is greater opportunity to commit fraud. As a result, they are less likely to be involved in white collar crime.

Gender and victimization

Homicide victims: about 70% are male. Female victims are more likely to know their killer and in 60% of these cases, this was a partner or ex-partner. Males are most likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance. Victims of violence: Fewer women than men are victims of violence (2% vs 4%): Women are most likely to be victimised by an acquaintance. More women than men were victims of intimate violence during their lives (31% vs18%) Only 8% if females who had experienced serious sexual assault repoted it to the police. A third of those who didn't report it said they believed the police couldn't do much to help.

Media and crime - cyber crime

Horror comics, cinema, television, videos and computer games have all been accused of undermining public morality and corrupting the young. The same is true of the internet - both because of the speed with which it has developed and its scale: over half the world's population are now lonely. The arrival of the Internet has led to fears of cyber-crime, which Thomas and Loader define as computer-mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit by some, and that are conducted through global electronic networks. Jewkes notes the internet creates opportunities to commit both 'conventional crime', such as fraud and 'new crime using new tools', such as software piracy. Wall identifies 4 categories of cybercrime: Cyber-trespass: crossing boundaries into others' cyber-property. It includes hacking and sabotage, such as spreading viruses. Cyber-deception and theft: including identity theft, 'phishing' (obtained identity or bank account details by deception) and violation of intellectual property rights. Cyber-pornography: Including porn involving minors, and opportunities for children to access porn on the internet. Cyber-violence: Doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm. Cyber-violence included cuber-stalked and hate crimes against minority groups. Global cyber-crime: policing cyber-crime is difficult partly because of the sheer scale of the internet and the limited resources of the police, and also because of its globalised nature, which poses problems of jurisdiction. Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it's seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing.

Marxist theories of crime evaluation

Ignores other causes of crime - Marxism focuses on class inequalities and ignores other inequalities that can lead to crime such as gender and ethnicity. Also completely ignore other causes of crime outside of inequality. Passive working class / romanticise criminals - Suggests that the working class cannot help but commit crime due to the economic circumstance. Also suggests that criminals are not to blame but the society in which they live has caused their behaviour. Crime in Communist states - If crime was a symptom of capitalism then Communist states would be crime free. This was not the case in Soviet Russia and Cuba. Ignore the victims of the crime - Most of the victims of crime are the poor and working class, if Marxist views were accurate then the ruling class would be victims. Lawmakers in modern democracies are elected - modern democracies and law makers are elected by the electorate and include a range of interests. Also most criminal laws are not controversial and there is a consensus regarding the greater good.

Punishment - Marxists

Laws are a reflection of ruling class ideology and punishment is part of the repressive state apparatus which keep people in line and in their place . E.P Thompson describes how in the 18th century punishments such as hanging and transportation to the colonies for theft and poaching were part of a 'rule of terror' by the landed aristocracy over the poor. The form of punishment reflects the economic base of society. - Rusche and Kirchheimer rgue each type of economy has its own corresponding penal system. For example, money fines are impossible with a money economy. They argue that under capitalism, imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment. - Melossi and Pavarini see imprisonment as reflecting capitalist relations of production. For example: capitalism puts a price on the worker's time; so too prisoners 'do time' to 'pay' for their crime. The prison and the capitalist factory both have a similar strict disciplinary style, involving subordination and loss of liberty.

The criminalization of females

In the USA, Steffensmeirer and Schwartz found that while the female share of arrests for violence grew from one-fifth to one-third between 1980 and 2003, this rise in police statistics was not matched by the findings of victim surveys. That is, victims did not report any increase in attacks by females. They conclude that in reality there has been no change in women's involvement in violent crime. They argue that the rise in arrests is due to the justice system 'widening the net' - arresting and prosecuting females for less serious forms of violence than previously. Chesney-Lind argues that a policy of mandatory arrests for domestic violence has led to a steep rise in the female violence statistics in the USA. When a couple fight, both may be arrested, even though it's likely that the woman is the victim. Females previously ignored by the justice system now find themselves being labelled as violent offenders. In the UK, Sharpe and Glesthrope note that net-widening policies are producing a rise in the official statistics for females' violent crimes. There is a growing trend towards prosecuting females for low-level physical altercations, even in some cases for playground fights. Most convictions are for minor offences not involving weapons. Young calls this trend 'defining deviance up' to catch trivial offences in the net. Worrall argues that in the past, girls' misbehaviour was more likely to be seen as a 'welfare' issue, whereas now it has been re-labelled as criminality.

Impact of globalization of crime

Individualism: Bauman argues that due to growing individualism and consumer culture, individuals are left to weigh the costs and benefit of their decisions and choose the best course to bring them the highest rewards. This can lead to people taking part in criminal activity in order to achieve consumer lifestyles which are otherwise unobtainable. Opportunities: Growing globalisation, technological advancements and communications has led to newer types of crime as well as new ways in which to carry out crime. In particular places like the Dark Web which allow criminals to communicate and conduct crimes whilst undetected. Additionally crimes can be committed in one nation whilst the criminal is in a different country. Disorganised Capitalism: Lash and Urry argue that there has been increased deregulation and fewer state controls over business and finance. Corporations now act transactionally moving money, manufacturing, waste disposal and stuff around the world to increase profits and lower regulation. Taylor has suggested that this has led to greater job insecurity, less social cohesion and fewer job opportunities in the west which can increase crime rates. Risk society: Beck argues that there is growing instability in the globalised world which has led to people being more risk conscious. The causes of the risks are often global in nature which can make it hard to pinpoint who is responsible and the media can play on this fear. These fears can lead to hate crimes and racially motivated crimes. Problems with policing: Due to crimes becoming transnational it requires cooperation between many different law enforcement agencies to bring the criminals to justice. Furthermore, what may be illegal in one country is not in another and so if the criminal is in one country and the victim is in another it can be difficult to determine jurisdiction. More inequality: Globalisation creates new patterns of inequality. The winners from the process are rich financial investors and transnational corporations, where the losers are the workers. The disadvantaged in both the developing and developed world are faced with greater insecurity and greater relative deprivation which then feeds criminal behaviour.

Latent functions of crime

Kingsley argues that prostitution can act as a safety valve for men to release their sexual frustrations without threatening the nuclear family. Polsky argues that pornography safely channels a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery which threatens the nuclear family. Cohen suggests that crime is an indicator that an institution is not functioning properly. For example, high levels of truancy suggests that problems need to be addressed in the education system. Erikson argues that if deviance performs positive social functions, then perhaps it means society is actually organized to promote deviance. He suggests that the true function of agencies of social control such as the police may actually be to sustain a certain level of crime rather than to rid society of it.

Media and crime - media, relative deprivation and crime

Laboratory based research has focused on whether media portrayals of crime and deviant lifestyles lead viewers to commit crime themselves. An alternative approach is to consider how far media portrayals of 'normal' rather than criminal lifestyles might also encourage people to commit crime. Left realist: Lea and Young argue that crime is caused by the sense of relative deprivation by marginalised and socially excluded groups. They are therefore more likely to commit certain crimes. Merton supports this view as people cannot achieve the media 'norm' of consumerism through legitimate means and so they turn to crime. Therefore, the media is setting a norm and encouraging crime.

Double deviance theory - Murphy and Brown

The double deviance theory is based on the point of view that certain women are punished under the view of doing two things wrong. They are viewed as having broken societal norms and expectations of how a woman behaves, as well as breaking the law. They are then judged upon the basis that they have done doubly wrong. Murphy and Brown suggest that under this theory it creates a situation where women can either be demonised or can be shown more leniency depending on if they broke these societal norms on what is expected of women. Double deviance theory which is sometimes referred to as the Evil Woman theory.

The difference in offending within minorities - left realism

Lea and Young argue that ethnic differences in the statistics reflect real differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic groups. Left realists see crime as the product of relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation. They argue that racism has led to the marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities, who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing. Furthermore, the media's emphasis on consumerism promotes a sense of relative deprivation by setting materialistic goals that many members of minority groups are unable to reach by legitimate means. - Formation of delinquent subcultures: One response is the formation of delinquent subcultures, especially by young unemployed black males. This produces higher levels of utilitarian crime, such as theft and robbery, as a means of coping with relative deprivation. As these groups are marginalised and have no organisations to represent their interests, their frustration is liable to produce non-utilitarian crime such as violence and rioting. - Lea and Young acknowledge the police act in racist ways and this results in unjustified criminalisation of some members of minority groups. However, they don't believe that discriminatory policing fully explains the difference in stats. For example, over 90% of crimes known to the police are reported by members of the public rather than discovered by police themselves. Under these circumstances, even if the police do act in discriminatory ways, it's unlikely that this can adequately account for the ethnic differences in the stats. Similarly, they rogue we cannot explain the differences between minorities in terms of police racism. For example, blacks have a considerably higher rate of criminalisation than Asians. The police would have to be very selective in their racism for it to be the cause of these differences.

The difference in offending within minorities - left realism AO3

Lea and Young can be criticised for their views on the role of police racism. For example, arrest rates for Asians may be lower than for blacks not because they are less likely to offend, but because police stereotype the two groups differently, seeing blacks as dangerous, Asians as passive. Furthermore, these stereotypes have changed since 9/11, because police now regard Asians too as dangerous. Therefore, explaining the rising criminalisation rates for this group.

Primary and secondary deviance - Lemert

Lemert distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance refers to deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. These acts are not part of an organized deviant way of life, so offenders can easily rationalize them away, for example a moment of madness. They have little significance for individual status or self-concept. Don't consider themselves deviant. Secondary deviance is the result of societal reaction. Being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatized, shamed, humiliated, shunned or excluded from normal society. Once an individual is labelled, others may come to see him only win terms of the label. This becomes his master status or controlling identity, overriding all others.

Marxist theories of crime - selective enforcement

Marxists agree with labelling theorists that although all classes commit crime, when it comes to the application of the law by the criminal justice system, there is a selective enforcement. The working class and ethnic minorities are criminalised; the powerful and rich appear to get let off or ignored. Reiman states that the ruling class are more likely to commit crime but less likely to have the offence treated as a criminal one. For example, social security fraud is committed by the poor and almost always leads to prosecution but tax evasion doesn't.

Marxist theories of crime - criminogenic capitalism

Marxists argue that crime is inevitable in capitalism because capitalism is criminogenic - by its very nature it causes crimes. Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class - uses them as a means to end (profit) whatever the cost of doing so. This leads to an ever increasing gap between the rich and poor. Therefore, it is not surprising that the poor might turn to crime in order to afford the necessities so that they can survive. As well as the frustration of exploitation can also lead to violence. However, they acknowledged that crime is not confined to the working class. According to them capitalism is a 'dog eat dog' system of ruthless competition among capitalists, while the profit. Gordon argues that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and hence it is found in all social classes - even though the official statistics make it appear to be a largely working-class phenomenon.

Marxist theories of crime - The sate and law making

Marxists see lawmaking and law enforcement as only serving the interests of the capitalist class. Box argues that the rich often engage in activities which result in death, injury, fraud and theft but the activities are protected under the law - Health and Safety laws. For example, Chambliss argues that laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy. He illustrates this with the case of the introduction of English law into Britain's East African colonies. Britain's economic interests lay in the colonies' tea, coffee and other plantations, which needed a plentiful supply of local labour. At the time, the local economy was not a money economy and so, to force the reluctant African population to work for them, the British introduced a tax payable in cash, non-payment of which was a punishable criminal offence. Since cash to pay could only be earned by working on the plantations, the law served the economic interests of the capitalist plantation owners. Similarly, Snider argues that the capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten their profitability.

Masculinity and crime - Messerschmidt

Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is a social construct and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others. As a result, some men have more resources than others to draw upon. Messerchmidt argues that different masculinities co-exist within society but hegemonic masculinity (work in. the paid-labpur market, the subordination of women and heterosexism) is the dominant, prestigious form that most men wish to accomplish. However, some men have subordinate masculinity. These include gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as lower-class and some ethnic minority men, who lack the resources to do so. - 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, for example through drinking, pranks and vandalism. - White working-class youths: have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school. It's constructed around sexist attitudes, being tough and opposing teachers' authority. The 'lads' in Willis' study are a good example of this king of masculinity. - Black lower working-class youths: may have few expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity, or turn to serious property crime to achieve material success. However, he acknowledged that middle-class men too may use crime. The difference lies in the type of crime - while middle-class males commit white-collar and corporate crime to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, poorer groups may use street robbery to achieve a subordinated masculinity. AO3: It's argued that Messerschmidt's explanation of male crime determines their behaviour and as a result blames their crimes - violent offences for example - on their characteristics. Ignores their choice. Doesn't explain why all men use crime to accomplish masculinity. He over-works the concept of masculinity to explain virtually all male crimes, from joy riding to embezzlement.

Institutional anomie theory:

Messner and Rosenfled's institutional anomie theory focuses on the American Dream. They argue that its obsession with money success and it's 'winner-takes-all' mentality experts pressure towards crime be encouraging an anomic culture environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an 'anything goes' mentality in pursuit of wealth. - In America, economic goals are values above all, and this undermines other institutions. For example, schools become geared to preparing pupils for the labour market at the expense of inculcating values such as respect for others. They conclude that in societies based on free-market capitalism and lacking adequate welfare provision, such as the USA, high crime rates are inevitable. Downs and Hansen offer evidence of this view. In a survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries they found societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment. This backs up Messner and Rosenfeld's claim. that societies protect the poor form the worst excesses of the free market have less crime. Savelsberg applies strain theory to post-communist societies in Eastern Europe, which saw a rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism in 1989. He attributes the rise to communism's collective values being replaced by new western capitalist goals of individual 'money success.'

Victims of crime - positive victimology

Miers defines positivist victimology as having 3 features: it aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimization - especially those that make some individuals or groups more likely to be victims, it focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence, and it ams to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimization. Hans Von Hentig identified 13 characteristics of victims, such as that they are likely to be females, elderly , or 'mentally subnormal'. The implication is that the victims in some sense 'invite' victimisation by being the kind of person that they are. This can also include lifestyle factors such as victims who ostentatiously display their wealth. - Wolfgang's study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia. Wolfgang found that 26% involved victim precipitation - the victim triggered the events leading to the homicide, for instance by being the first to use violence. For example, this was often the case where the victim was male and the perpetrator female. AO3 Fiona notes that Wolfgang shows the importance of the victim-offender relationship and the fact that in many homicides, it's a matter of chance which party becomes the victim. This approach identifies certain patterns of nterpersonal victimisation, but ignores wider structural factors influencing victimisation, such as poverty and patriarchy. It can easily top over into victim blaming. For example, Amir's claim that one in five rapes are victim precipitated is not very different from saying that victims 'asked for it'. It ignores situations where the victims are unaware of their victimisation, as with some crimes against the environment, and where harm is done but no law broken.

Factors affecting ethnic crime

Neighbourhood: FitzGerald et al examine the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining the greater involvement of black youths in street robbery. They found that rates were highest in very poor areas and where very deprived young people came into contact with more affluence groups. Young blacks were more likely to live in these areas and to be poor. - However , whites affected by these factors were also more likely to commit street crime. Thus, ethnicity as such was not a cause. However, black people may be more likely to live in poor areas because of racial discrimination in the housing and job markets. Getting caught: Some groups run a greater risk of being caught. Sharp and Budd found that black offenders were more likely than white offenders to have been arrested. Reasons included that they were more likely to commit crimes such as robbery, where victims can identify them, and to have been excluded from school or to be associated with known criminals - factors that raised their 'visibility' to the authorities.

Females and violent crime:

Official statistics support the liberation thesis. According to Hand and Dodd, between 2000 and 2008, police statistics show the number of females arrested for violence rose by an average of 17% each year. Similar trends have been noted in other countries, including Canada, Australia and the USA.

Evaluation of Merton's Strain theory

One issue of Merton's Strain theory is that it uses official crime statistics as supporting evidence. These statistics tend to over-represent working-class crime. Furthermore Strain theory can be criticized for being deterministic as it suggests that all working-class people will deviate due to the culture strain. However, this is not the case. Over exaggerates the importance of monetary success. Underestimates the amount of crime committed by those who have achieved societal goals. Doesn't explain why groups chose the response they do. Fails to explain non-utilitarian crime.

Criticisms of the positive functions of crime

One issue with functionalists explanations of crime is that functionalism focuses on what functions crime serves for society as a whole and ignores how it might affect different groups or individuals within society. For example, seeing a murderer punished for his crime might be functional in reinforcing solidarity among the rest of society, but it isn't functional for the victim. Another issue with functionalists explanation of crime is that it doesn't always promote social solidarity, It may have the opposite effect, leading to people becoming more isolated for example, forcing women to stay indoors for fear of attack.

Punishment Weberianism

Only the state has the power to punish offenders, not the church or landowners as in the past. Legal Rational Authority meaning punishment is based on impersonal rules and regulations set out by a vast bureaucracy and set of checks and balances. Since the 1980s there has been a move towards 'populist punitiveness', where politicians have sought electoral popularity by calling for tougher sentences. For example, New Labour governments after 1997 took the view that prison should be used not just for serious offenders, but also as a deterrent for persistent petty offenders (Political gain). As a result, the prison population has risen: between 1993 and 2016, the number of prisoners in England and Wales almost doubled to reach a total of 85,000 (0.1% of the population). Carrabine et al states one consequence has been overcrowding, adding to existing problems of poor sanitation, barely edible food, clothing shortages, lack of educational and work opportunities, and inadequate family visits.The country imprisons a higher population of people than almost any other in Western Europe. For example, in England and Wales, 147 out of every 100,000 people are in prison. Corresponding figures for some other countries are France 100, Germany 76, Ireland 80, Sweden 55 and Iceland 45. However, the world leaders are Russia (447) and the USA (698). The prison population is largely male (5% female). Black and ethnic minorities are overrepresented. Era of mass incarceration: According to Garland, the USA and UK are moving into an era of mass incarceration - excess policing and prosecution that reproduces economic and racial inequality and oppression. Garland argues that the reason for mass incarceration is the growing politicisation of crime control. - From the 1970s American prison population has risen and there are now 1.5 million state and federal prisoners in prisons like Rikers Island, plus 700,000 in local jails. - Black Americans are only 13% of the US population, they make up 37% of the prison population. Compared with white males, black males are six times more likely to be in prison, and Hispanic and Native American males are twice as likely. Downes argues that the US prison system soaks up about 30-40% of the unemployed, therefore making capitalism successful. Another reason is the use of prison to wage America's war on drugs. Simon argues because drug use is so widespread, this has produced 'an almost limitless supply of arrestable and impressionable offenders. - There is also a trend towards transcarceration - the idea that there individuals become locked into a cycle of control, shifting between different carceral agencies during their lives. For example, someone might be brought up in care, then sent to a young offenders' institution, then adult prison, with bouts in mental hospitals in between. - Some sociologists see transcarceration as a product of the blurring of boundaries between criminal justice and welfare agencies. For example, health, housing and social services are increasingly being given a crime control role, and they often engage in multi-agency working with the police, sharing data on some individuals.

Ethnicity and crime - Stop and search

Phillips and Bowling note, since the 1970s there have been many allegations of oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities. For example: - Members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. Police can use this power if they have 'reasonable suspicion' of wrongdoing. Compared with white people, black people are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched and Asian people over twice as likely. Data from the British Crime Survey and the CSEW indicate similar patterns. - Under the Terrorism Act 2000, police can stop and search persons or vehicles whether or not they have reasonable suspicion. Statistics show that Asians are more likely to be stopped and searched than other people under the Terrorism Act. Therefore, members of minority ethnic communities are less likely to think the police acted politely when stopping them, or to think they were stopped fairly. - The chance of being in a Taser incident varies with ethnicity. During 2010-14, police deployed Tasers over 38,000 times. For Asians, the chance of involvement was three in 10,000 and for whites sex, but for blacks it was 19 in 10,000. Phillips and Bowling note, members of these communities are more likely to think they are 'over-policed and under-protected' and to have limited faith in the police.

Parson's sex role theory

Pasrons traces differences in crime and deviance to the gender roles in the conventional nuclear family. While men take the instrumental, breadwinner role, performed largely to outside the home, women perform the expressive role int he home,w ehre they take the main responsibility for socialising the children. While this gives girls access to an adult role model, it tends to mean that boys rejct feminine models of behviour that express tenderness, gendelness and emotion. Instead, boys seek to distance themselves from such models by engaging in 'compensatory compulsory masculinity' through aggressing and anti-social behaviour, which can slop over into acts of delinquency. - Because men have less of a socialising role than women in the conventional nuclear family, socialisation can be more difficulty for boys than girls. Accoridning to Cohen boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity. In these subcultrual groups, status is earne dbya cts of toughness, risk-taking and delinquecy. AO3: Walklate criticises the sex role thoery for its biological assumptions. According to Walklate, Parsons assumes that because women have the biological capacity to bear childre, thry are best suited to the expressive role. Therefore, although the theory tries to explain gender differences in crime in terms of behaviour leanred through socialisiaotn, it's ultimately based on bniological assumptions about sex differences. Feminists have put forward an alternative explanation for women;s patterns of crime and deviance. Feminists locate their explanations in the patricachal nature of society and women's subordinate position in it.

Ethnicity and crime - explaining search patterns

Police racism: The Macpherson Report on the police investigation of the racist murder of the black teenager Stephen Larence concluded that there was institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police. Others have found deeply ingrained racist attitudes among individual officers. - For example, Phillips and Bowling point out that many officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals, leading to deliberate targeting for stop and search. Such stereotypes are endorsed and upheld by the 'canteen culture' of rank and file officers. Ethnic differences in offending: Disproportionality in stop and searchers reflect ethnic differences in levels of offending. - In low discretion stops, police act on relevant information about a specific offence. For example, a victim's description of the offender. - In high discretion stops, police act without specific intelligence. It's likely that officers use their stereotypes, that disproportionality and discrimination are most likely. Demographic factors: Ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped, such as the young, unemployed, manual workers and urban dwellers. These groups are all more likely to be stopped, regardless of their ethnicity, but they are also groups who have a higher proportion of ethnic minorities in them, and so minorities get stopped more.

The chivalry thesis - Pollak

Pollak argues that men have a protective attitude towards women and that 'men hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishment'. The criminal justice system is therefore more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending. Evidence from self-report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently. For example, Graham and Bowling's research on a sample of 1721 14-25 year olds found that although males were more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in the official statistics. They found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence in the previous 12 months - whereas the official stats show males as 4 times more likely to offend. Court stats appear to support the chivalry thesis. For example, females are more likely to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody. Females are more likely than males to receive a fine or a community sentence, and less likely to be sent to prison. - Buckle and Farringhton's observational study of shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females - despite the fact the numbers of male and female offenders in the official statistics are more or less equal. This small-scale study suggests women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than their male counterparts.

Types of Green crime - Primary Green crime

Primary Green crimes are 'crimes that directly result 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 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year and carbon emissions are growing at around 2% per annum, contributing to global warming. The potential criminals are governments, businesses and consumers. According to Walters, twice as many people now die from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago. Crimes of deforestation: Between 1960 and 1990, one fifth of the world's tropical rainforest was destroyed, for example through illegal logging. In the Amazon, forest has been cleared to rear beef cattle for export. In the Andes the 'war on drugs' has led to pesticide spraying to kill coca and marijuana plants, but this has created a new green crime, destroying food crops, contaminating drinking water and causing illness. The criminals include the state and those who profit from forest destruction, such as logging companies and cattle ranchers Crimes of species decline and animal abuse: 50 species a day are becoming extinct, and 45% of mammals and 11% of bird species are at risk. 70-95% of earth's species live in the rainforests, which are under severe threat. There is trafficking in animals and animal parts. Meanwhile, old crimes such as dog-fights and badger-baiting are on the increase. Crimes of water pollution: Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water. Marine pollution threatens 58% of the world's ocean reefs and 34% of its fish. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused massive harm to marine life and coats. Criminals include businesses that dumb toxic waste and governments that discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas.

Ethnicity and victimization

Racist victimisation occurs when an individual is selected as a target because of their race, ethnicity or religion. Racist victimisation is nothing new, but was brought into greater public focus with the racist murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the subsequent inquiry into the handling of the police investigation. Extent and risk of victimisation: - The police recorded 54,000 racist incidents in England and Wales in 2014/15 - mostly damage to property or verbal harassment. - However, most incidents go unreported. The CSEW estimated that were around 89,000 racially motivated incidents in 2014/15 - The police also recorded 38,000 racially or religiously aggravated offences in 2014/15, mostly harassment. 8,600 people were prosecuted or cautioned for racially aggravated offences in 2014. The 2014/15 CSEW shows that people from mixed ethnic backgrounds had a higher risk (27.9%) of becoming a victim of crime than did blacks (18%), Asians (15.8%) or whites (15.7%). - The difference may be partly the result of factors other than ethnicity. For example violent crime, factors such as being young, male and unemployed are strongly linked with victimisation. Ethnic groups with a high proportion of young males are thus likely to have higher rates of victimisation. However, some of these factors (such as unemployment) are themselves partly the result of discrimination. While the statistics record the instances of victimisation, they do not necessarily capture the victims' experience of it. Samposon and Phillips notes, racist victimisation tends to be ongoing over time, with repeated 'minor' instances of abuse and harassment interwoven with periodic incidents of physical violence. The resulting long-term psychological impact needs to be added to the physical injury and damage to property caused by the offenders. Responses to victimisation: Members of minority ethnic communities have often been active in responding to victimisation. Responses have ranged from situational crime prevention measures such as fireproof doors and letterboxes, to organised self defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks. - The Macpherson Enquiry concluded that the police investigation into the death of the black teenager Stephan Lawrence was 'marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers'. Others have found deeply ingrained racist attitudes and beliefs among individual officers.

Right Realist View of Crime

Right realist views correspond closely with the neo-conservative governments of the 1970's and early 1980's. They see street crime as a real and growing problem that destroys communities and undermines social cohesion. Right realists are less concerned with the causes of crime and more concerned with practical and realistic solutions to crime. Willson and Herrnstein put forward a biosocial theory of crime. They believe that crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors. They believe that some people are more predisposed to crime through personality traits such as aggressiveness, extraversion and risk taking along with low impulse control. This mixed with poor socialisation or lack of role models leads to criminal behaviour. Murray believes that crime rates are increasing due to the growing underclass of people who are dependent upon the welfare state. He believes that this underclass fails to adequately socialise their children. Murray suggests that the 'glorious revolution' of the 1960's led to the increase of lone parent families which are inadequate agents of socialisation and teach children to not take responsibility for themselves. Clarke assumes that individuals have free will and the power of reason, therefore criminals have made a choice to commit a crime. Clarke argues that if the perceived cost of committing the crime is outweighed by the benefit, people will be more likely to offend. Right realists believe that the current costs of crime are too low which is why the crime rate has increased. View of tackling crime: Right realists do not believe that it's beneficial to tackle the causes of crime as they are difficult to change, instead we should be looking at making criminal behaviour less attractive to people. This includes target hardening and Wilson and Kelling's Zero Tolerance theory. Target hardening focuses on making it harder for crimes to be committed in the first place whereas zero tolerance means all criminal behaviour must be dealt with immediately. AO3: Ignore wider structural causes of crime. Overstates rationality of criminals - this doesn't explain violent or impulsive crimes. Contradictory between rationality and bio-social causes of crime. Ignore corporate and white collar crime.

Types of Green crime - Secondary Green crime

Secondary Green crime is crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters. South suggests two examples: State violence against oppositional groups: States condemn terrorism, but they have been prepared to resort to similar illegal methods themselves. For example, in 1985 the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship 'Rainbow Warrior' in New Zealand, killing one crew member. The vessel was there in an attempt to prevent green crime, namely French nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific. Hazardous waste and organised crime: Disposal of toxic waste from the chemical, nuclear and the other industries is highly profitable Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal, businesses may seek to dispose of such waste illegally. For example, in Italy, eco-mafias profit from illegal dumping, much of it as sea. Walter notes the ocean floor has been a radioactive rubbish dump for decades. For example, 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed of the Channel Islands, reportedly dumped by Uk authorities and corporations in the 1950s.

Situational crime prevention

Situational crime prevention: Clarke describes situational crime prevention as 'a-pre-emptive approach that relies, not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing opportunities for crime', He identifies three features of measures aimed at situational crime prevention: They are directed at specific crimes; they involve managing or altering the immediate environment of the crime; and they aim at increasing the effort and risks of committing crime and reducing the rewards. For example, 'target hardening' measures such as locking doors and windows increase the effort a burglar needs to make, while increasing the likelihood of shoplifters being caught. Similarly, replacing coin-operated gas metres with pre-payment cards reduces the burglar's rewards. - Underlying situational crime prevention approaches is an 'opportunity' or rational choice theory of crime. This is the view that criminals act rationally, weighing up the costs and benefits of a crime opportunity before deciding whether to commit it. - Felson gives an example of a situational crime prevention strategy. The Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City was poorly designed and provided opportunities for deviant conduct. For example, the toilets were a setting for luggage thefts, rough sleeping, drug dealing and homosexual liaisons. Re-shaping the physical environment to 'design crime out' greatly reduced such activity. For example, large sinks, in which homeless people were bathing, were replaced by small hand basins. AO3: One criticism of situational crime prevention measures is that they do not reduce crime; they simply displace it. If criminals are acting rationally, presumably they will respond to target hardening simply by moving to where targets are softer. For example, Chaiken et al found that a crackdown on subway robberies in New York merely displaced them to the streets above. Another criticism of situational crime is that it assumes criminals make rational calculations. This seems unlikely in many crimes of violence, and crimes committed under the influences of drugs or alcohol. Another criticism of situational crime is that it ignores the root causes of crime, such as poverty or poor socialisation. This makes it difficult to develop long-term strategies for crime reduction.

Social and community crime prevention

Social and community prevention strategies place the emphasis firmly on the potential offender and their social context. The aim of these strategies is to remove the conditions that predispose individuals to Crimean the first place. These are longer-term strategies, since they attempt to tackle the root causes of offending, rather than simply removing opportunities for crime. The Perry pre-school project: One of the best-known community programs aimed at reducing criminality in the experimental Perry pre-school project for disadvantaged black children in Ypsilanti, Michigan. AN experimental group pf 3-4 year olds was offered a two-year intellectual enrichment program, during which time the children also received weekly home visits. - A longitudinal study followed the children's subsequent progress. It showed striking differences with a control group who had not undergone the program. By age 40, they had significantly fewer lifetime arrests for violent crime, property crime and drugs, while more had graduated from high school and were in employment. It was calculated that for every dollar spent on the program, $17 were saved on welfare, prison and other costs.

Punishment - Functionalists

Society can only exist if there is a shared system of values that ties a society together morally. Laws are a representation go this collective consciousness. Durkheim suggests that retribution gives people an outlet for anger and reaffirms collective consciousness. He identifies two types of justice, corresponding two types of society: Retributive justice - In traditional society, there is little specialisation, and solidarity between individuals is based on their similarity to one another. This produces a strong collective conscience, which, when offended, responds with vengeful passion to repress the wrongdoers. Punishment is severe and cruel, and its motivation is purely expressive. - and restitutive justice: In modern society, there is extensive specialisation, and solidarity is based on the resulting interdependence, so it is necessary to repair the damage, for example through compensation. This is referred to as restitutive justice as it aims to restore things to how they were before the offence which restores society's equilibrium.

Ethnicity and crime - Neo-Marxism (policing the crisis)

Stuart Hall et al adopt neo-Marxist perspective. They argue that the 1970s saw a moral panic over black 'muggers' that served the interests of capitalism. - They argue that the ruling class are normally able to rule the subordinate classes through consent. However, in times of crisis, this becomes more difficult. In the early 1970s, British capitalism faced a crisis. High inflation and rising unemployment were provoking widespread industrial unrest and strikes, conflict in Northern Ireland was intensifying and student protests were spreading. At such times, when opposition to capitalism begins to grow, the ruling class may need to use force to maintain control. However, the use of force needs to be seen as legitimate or it may provoke even more widespread resistance. Moral panics: The 1970s saw the emergence of a media driven moral panic about the supposed growth of a 'new' crime - mugging. In reality, mugging was just a new name for street robbery with violence, and Hall et al notes that there was no evidence of a significant increase in this crime at the time. Mugging was soon to be associated by the media, police and politicians with black youth. - They argue that the emergence of the moral panic about mugging as specifically 'black' crime at the same time as the crisis of capitalism was no coincidence - in their view, the moral panic crisis was linked. The myth of the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention from the true cause of problems such as unemployment - namely the capitalist crisis. - The black mugger came to symbolise the disintegration of the social order - the feeling that the British way of life was 'coming apart at the seams'. By presenting black youth as a threat to the fabric of society, the moral panic served to divide the working class on racial grounds and weaken opposition to capitalism, as well as winning popular consent for more authoritarian forms of rule that could be used to suppress opposition. AO3: Downes and Rock argue that Hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, but also that it was rising because of unemployment. They do not show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic, nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking or blaming crime on blacks. Left realists argue that inner-city residents' fears about mugging are neither panicky, but realistic.

Labelling and criminal justice policy - Triplett and DeHann

Studies have shown how increases in the attempt to control and punish young offenders can have the opposite effect. For example, Triplett notes an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance. The criminal justice system has re-labelled status offences such as truancy as more serious offences, resulting in much harsher sentences. As predicted by Lermert's theory of secondary deviance, this has resulted in an increase rather than a decrease in offending. De Haan notes a similar outcome in Holland as a result of the increasing stigmatisation of young offenders. This indicates that labelling theory has important policy implications. They add weight to the argument that negative labelling pushes offenders towards a deviant career. Therefore logically, to reduce deviance, we should make and enforce fewer rules for people to break. For example, decriminalising soft drugs has been suggested as a way to reduce criminal convictions and therefore the risk of secondary deviance.

Neo-Marxism: Critical Criminology

Taylor et al agree with Marxists that Capitalist society is based on exploitation and class conflict, and is characterized by extreme inequalities of wreath and power. As well as that the state makes and enforces laws in the interests of the capitalist class and criminalizes members of the working class. Furthermore, capitalism should be replaced by a classless society. This would greatly reduce the extent of crime and even rid society of crime entirely. - However, they argue that Marxism is deterministic. For example, it sees workers as driven to commit crime out of economic necessity. They reject this explanation, along with theories that claim crime is caused by other external factors such as anomie, subcultures or labelling, or by biological and psychological factors. Instead, Taylor et al take a more voluntaristic view. They see crime as meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor. In particular, they argue that crime often has a political motive, for example to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Criminals are not passive puppets whose behaviour is shaped by capitalism: they are deliberately striving to change society. A fully social theory of deviance: Taylor et al aims to create a 'fully social theory of deviance' - a comprehensive understanding of crime and deviance that would help to change society for the better. In their view, a complete theory of deviance needs to unite six aspects: - The wider origins of the deviant act in the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society - The immediate origins of the deviant act; the particular context in which the individuals decide to commit the act. - The act itself and its meaning for the actor. - The immediate origins of social reaction; the reactions of those around the deviant, such as police, family and community, to discovering the deviance. - The wider origins of social reaction in the structure of capitalist society: especially the issue of who has the power to define actions as deviant and to label others, and why some acts are treated more harshly than others. The effects of labelling on the deviant's future actions.

Left Realist View of Crime

The Left's Realistic view of crime developed during the 1980's and 1990's. They follow the Marxist view that society is unequal and this is what causes crime and deviance. However, unlike the Marxists they believe that gradual change is necessary rather than a violent overthrow of capitalism. Lea and Young suggest that deprivation is at the root of criminality, not poverty. In the 1930's poverty was high but crime rates were low. Instead they argue that as living standards have risen so has people's feeling of being deprived compared to others. This can lead to resentment and people turning to crime to achieve hath they feel they are entitled to. Marginalised groups are those people that do not feel they are part of society, and lack the goals and organisations to represent their interests. This leads to a sense of frustration and resentment amongst those groups and this can lead to criminal behaviour which they believe will improve their interests. This leads to a sense of frustration and resentment amongst those groups and this can lead to criminal behaviour which they believe will improve their situation. Links to the work of Cloward, Ohlin and Cohen especially their ideas of blocked opportunities and a group's inability to achieve goals through legitimate means. For Left Realists a subculture is a collective response to the problem of relative deprivation - criminal subcultures still subscribe to the goals and values of society such as materialism and consumerism. (E.G Ghettos in America hooked on Gucciek BMW and Nike). View in Tackling crime: Left Realists believe that in order to tackle crime you first need to tackle the social problems which lead to crime, in particular the causes of inequality and deprivation. Policies and Strategies should focus on creating better relationships between the public and police, and create a multi-agency approach. Milovaovic accepts the government's definition of crime being the street crime committed by the poor. Interactionists argue that it doesn't explain the motives due to reliance on quantitative data. Assumes a value consensus Relative deprivation cannot explain all crime as not all those that experience it go on to commit crime. Focus on high crime inner city areas gives an unrepresentative view of crime and makes it appear a greater problem that it is.

Merton's Strain Theory

The Strain theory argues that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means. Merton's theory is based on the American dream and he argues that American culture places value on 'money success' and that ignorer to achieve this they have to purse the "American Dream." This entails self-discipline, studying and working hard in a career. However, he notes that not all groups have the same opportunity. many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately. For example, poverty, inadequate schools and discrimination in the job Markey may block opportunities for many ethnic minorities and the lower classes. The resulting strain between the cultural goal of money success and the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve produces frustration, and in turn creates pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime and deviance. Merton uses strain theory to explain some of the patterns of deviance found in society. He argues that an individual's position in the social structure affects the way they adapt or respond to the strain to anomie. There are five different types of adaptation depending other whether an individual accepts, rejects or replaces approved cultural foals and the legitimate means go achieving them. - Conformity: accepting the goals set out and agreed by society as well the means to achieve them. - Innovation: accepting the goals set out and agreed by society but choosing alternative means to achieve them. - Ritualism: following the means to achieve the goals of society but believing that you will never actually achieve them. - Retreatism: reject the goals of society and the means of achieving them but do not replace them with their own goals or means. - Rebellion: rejecting the goals of society and creating your own as well as the means of achieving them.

Explaining state crime

The authoritarian personality: Adorno et al identified an 'authoritarian personality' that includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question. They argue that at the time of WW2, many Germans had authoritarian personality types due to the punitive, disciplinarian socialisation patterns that were common at the time. Crimes of the obedience: State crimes are crimes of conformity, since they require obedience to a higher authority. For example, in a corrupt police unit, the officer who accepts bribes is conforming to the unit's norms, while at the same time breaking the law. Conforming to one norm means deviating from the other. - Green and Ward argue that in order to overcome norms against the use of cruelty, individuals who become tortures often need to be re-socialised, trained and exposed to propaganda about 'the enemy'. States also frequently create 'enclaves of barbarism' where torture is practised, such as military bases, segregated from outside society. This allows the torture to regard it as a '9 to 5' job from which he can return to normal everyday life. - From a study of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where a platoon of American soldiers killed 400 civilians, Kelman and Hamilton identify three general features that produce crimes of obedience: Authorisation - When acts are ordered or approved by those in authority, normal moral principles are replaced by the duty to obey. Routinisation - Once the crime has been committed, there is strong pressure to turn the act into a routine that individuals can perform in a detached manner. Dehumanisation - When the enemy is portrayed as sub-human, normal principles of morality do not apply. Modernity: The Nazi Holocaust represented a breakdown of modern civilisation and a reversion to pre-modern barbarism. However, Bauman takes the opposite view: it was certain key features of modern society that made the Holocaust possible: A division of labour: each person was responsible for just one small task, no-one felt personally responsible for the atrocity. Bureaucratisation: normalised the killing by making it a repetitive, rule-governed and routine 'job'. It also meant that victims could be dehumanised as mere 'units'. Instrumental rationally: where rational, efficient methods are used to achieve a goal, regardless of what the goal is. In modern business, the goal is profit; in the Holocaust, it was murder. Science and technology: from the railways transporting victims to the death camps, to the industrially produced gas used to kill them. AO3: Not all genocides occur through a highly organised division of labour that allows participants to distance themselves from the killing. For example, the Rwandan genocide was carried out directly by large marauding groups. Ideological factors are also important. Nazi ideology stressed a single, monolithic German racial identity that excluded minorities such as Jews, Gypsies and SLavs, who were defined as inferior or even sub-human. This meant they did not need to be treated according to normal standards of morality.

Marxist theories of crime - ideological functions of crime

The ideological functions of crime are to give a reason for the social control by the ruling class in order to prevent revolution from occurring. Criminals are often portrayed as 'disturbed' by the media rather than reveal the role that capitalism has in making people criminals. Pearce argues that laws often benefit the ruling class - for example, by keeping workers fit for work. By giving capitalism a 'caring' face, such laws also create false consciousness among the workers. For example, despite the new law against corporate homicide being passed in 2007, in its first 8 years there was only 1 successful prosecution. Furthermore, because the state enforces the law selectively, crime appears to be largely a working-class phenomenon. This divides the working class by encouraging workers to blame the criminals in their midst for their problems, rather than capitalism.

Media and crime - Fear of crime

The media exaggerate the amount of violent and unusual crime, and they exaggerate the risks of certain groups of people becoming its victims, such as young women and old people. Therefore, there is the argument that the media distorts public perception of crime and causes an unrealistic fear of crime. - In the USA, Gerbner et al found that heavy users of television had higher levels of fear of crime. Similarly, Schlesinger and Tumber found a correlation between media consumption and fear of becoming a victim, especially of physical attack and mugging. - Greer and AReiner note, much 'effects' research on the media, as a cause of crime or fear of crime ignores the meanings that viewers give to media violence in cartoons, horror films and news bulletins. This criticism reflects the interpretivist view that if we want to understand the possible effects of the media.

Gender and Crime - Chivalry Thesis

This thesis argues that most criminal justice agents - such as police officers, magistrates and judges - are men, and men are socialised to act in a chivalrous way towards women. Pollak argues that men have a protective attitude towards women and that 'men hate to accuse women and thus send them to their punishment'. The criminal justice system is therefore more lenient with women and so their crimes are less likely to end up in the official statistics. This gives an invalid picture that exaggerates the extent of gender differences in rates of offending. Evidence from self-report studies suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently. For example, Graham and Bowling's research on a sample of 1721 14-25 year olds found that although males were more likely to offend, the difference was smaller than that recorded in the official statistics. They found that males were 2.33 times more likely to admit to having committed an offence in the previous 12 months - whereas the official stats show males as 4 times more likely to offend. Court stats appear to support the chivalry thesis. For example, females are more likely to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody. Females are more likely than males to receive a fine or a community sentence, and less likely to be sent to prison.

Environmental crime prevention

Wilson and Kelling use the phrase 'broken windows' to stand for all the various signs of disorder and lack of concern for others that are found in some neighborhoods. This includes undue noise, graffiti, begging, dog fouling, littering and vandalism. They are that leaving broken widows unreported, tolerating aggressive begging, sends out a signal that no one care. In such neighborhoods, there's an absence of both formal social control and informal control. The police are only wondered with serious crime and turn a blind eye to petty nuisance behaviour, while respectable members of the community feel intimidated and powerless. Without remodel action, the situation deteriorates, tipping the neighbourhood into a spiral of decline. Wilsona and Kelling's idea is that disorder and the absence of control leads to crime. Their solutions to crack down on any disorder, using a twofold strategy: any broken window must be repaired immediately, abandoned cars towed without delay etc, otherwise more will follow. Secondly, the police must adopt a zero tolerance policing strategy. Instead of merely reacting. to crime, they must proactively tackle even the slightest sign of disorder, even if it is not criminal. This will halt neighborhood decline and prevent serious crime taking root. - A clean car program was instituted in the subway, in which cars were taken out of service immediately if they had any graffiti on them, only truanting once clean. As a result, graffiti was largely removed from the subway. Other successful proofreads to tackle fare doing, drug dealing and begging followed. Zero tolerance has verb very influential globally, including the UK, where is has influenced anti-social behaviour policies.

Postmodernity and masculine crime - Winlow

Winslow's study of bouncers in Sunderland in the north east of England. Working as bouncers in pubs and clubs provided young men with both paid work and the opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs, duty-free tobacco and alcohol and protection rackets, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate their masculinity through the use of violence. - Winlow draws on Cloward and Ohlin's distinction between conflict and criminal subcultures. He notes that in modern society, there had always been a violence, 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 were few opportunities for a career in organised crime. Bodily capital: 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. To maintain their reputation and employability, the men must use their bodily capital. For example, many of 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 what they supposedly represent.