CRITISMS - victim ignored, no harm taken into account, law
creation and enforcement one dimensional
Subcultural Theory
Ideological domiance throught the media
Enconomic pressures - people want to keep their jobs & pay their mortgages
Labelling Theories
most people commit deviant and criminal acts beacuse they have been given a negative label
MALINOWSKI Describe how a youth killed himself due to be publically accused of incest. Islander expressed horror and
disgust. However when investigated insest of the island was not uncommon or frowded upon provided they were discreet.
If a person is successfully labelled,
then consequences follow
Someone has to enforce rules or draw
attention them - people with vested interest
CRITISMS - AKERS critised labelling theorists for presenting deviants as perfectly normal people until
someone comes along and slaps a label on them. AKERS believes there has to a specific reason
Master Status
Media - Moral Panics
Patterns of Crime
Working Class likely to commit crimes
Ploce Recorded Statisitics (Social Construction)
Non Reporting Crimes because: Too Trivial, Private Matter,
Embarrisment, victim may be to report crime, fear reprisals
Victims more likely to report crime if: they see benefit, have faith in police ability to recieve postive results
The role of the police
Seriousness, Social Status, Classifying, Discretion, Promotions
The Role of Courts
Plea-bargining
Victim Surveys
Strengths - large proportion of offences not recorded
Omit large range of crime such as theft or fraud participates may
be unaware of crime commitied, people still may not answer
honestly e.g. sexual offences still underreported even theough
anoymous
Weaknesses
Considerable inaccuracy in catergorising
hard to collect from younger people
Records based off of memories causes account to be faulty /bias
88% cases of violence, the victim and perpetrator know each other
Victims of property crime are most likley to be low income households living in poorer areas
Repeat victimisation common
Criminal target the poorer and less powerful groups in society
Enviromental Approach: The Place & Time
Chicago Sociology
The pattern - SHAW AND MACKAY
Plotted addreses on a map, found patterns in zones
each successive wave of immigrants move to less desireable socieity,
the successful move out, more immigrant move into vacanies - high
population turn over created social disorganisation
Social disorganisation lead to cultural transmission theory - crime becoming socially accepted
Differential association
1.Frequency - the number of times the definitions
2.Duration - over what length of time
3.Priority - e.g. at what stage of life - childhood socialisation mostly important
4.Intensity - the status of the person law breaking e.g.family vs stranger
Someone is likely to become
criminal 'if they receive an
excess of definitions favourable
to violation of law over
definitions favorable to
violation of law'
Housing policies
Crime rates certainly varied by areas,
but in more complex patterns
MORRIS - found high delinquency
had similar values to mainstream
society - criminal housing - have
problematic families together led
to high crime statisitcs
Explanining Offences
Cogitive Maps - PJ and PL BRANTINGHAM
We all hold 'cogitive maps' of the towns and
cities where we live - routes
Opportunity Theories
Routine Activities
Situational Crime Prevention
The Privatisation of public Space
Night Time Economy
Socicalisation, Culture and Identity - The declin of community
Gender Issues
Female commit less crime
Chivarlry Theory
Physical Attraction
Biological Explanations - Men stronger than women, Women more diplimatic
Functionalist Sex-role theory
Socialisation
Social Control
Marginalisation
females have categorsised as being more passive and less aggressive than men generally
changing role or 'liberationist' perceptive
Transgression: (Postmodernist)
Women stay in an night due to fear of becoming victim
Domestic Violence
how women are treated by the law in issues of rape and
harrassment (where they form the overwhelming bulk of the victms)
Male Crime
Normative Masuclinity
Social approved idea of what a man is
Poverty and Class
Katz:Seductions of Crime
Lyng:Edgework
Occupational, Corporate and enviromental crime
Globalisation
Capitalism
Better methods of communication allows goods, knowledge and services to cross distances and national borders easily
caused by: modern ICT, global mass, cheap air travel and deregulation of finance and other markets
it creases insecurities and widening inequanities encouraging people to turn to crim
led to increase to: dealing in illcit drugs, illefal trafficking in weapons, human beings, coruption, violent crimes including terroism, war crimes
Occupational - Crimes commited by the employee against employer
Examples - sale expense claims, theft,
depriving goods, services or money
Fiddling is seen as reward of the job
Corporate - Crimes commited against the public and employees
Cost economic more than conventional crime
- little attention paid to sanctions
not considered newsworthy - often scandal or abuse not crime
Example - Self Employed - tax evasion (Amazon, Starbucks - Based in Ireland), polluting enviroment in the IDC Countries
Enviromental/Green Crime - crime against the enviroment or economy
Ethinicity and crime
The Criminal Justice System
Biases
Greater levels of stop and search of young black males rather than white males or females