S. Class + Crime

• Who said that crime stats show that there’s HIGH incidence in the LOWER socio-economic class and a LOW incidence in the UPPER socio-economic class?

  Sutherland (1949)
• Why is there limited info on the social b.g. of ppl convicted of crime? 


  Ppl are less aware of s. class than they used to be & allocating s. class is tricky.
• Why may WC crime be OVER-repped?

  1. Over-policing
  2. Commit crime due to poverty
  3. WC crime more visible (e.g. theft) than MC
• In 2002, the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) found that

  prisoners were far more likely than the general

  population to have:

  • Been in care
  • Mental health/substance abuse
  • Poor education
• According to the National Prison Survey (2020), __% of M convicts came from manual classes.


  41%
• _______ found a strong link between deprived areas of - and being in prison.

  Houchin - Scotland
• _______ found that __% of adult prisoners had no academic qualification.

  Omolade - 43%
• Rosenbaum identified that criminal communities consisted of?

  • Poverty
  • Drug abuse problems
  • Poor housing
• Recorded crime in London is more prevalent in neighbourhoods w/ the highest lvls of what?

  Income depression
• In London, __% more crimes were recorded in the most income-deprived areas.


  80%
• Data from what kind of study suggests that the offending rates for W + MC people is not as high as the figures suggest?

  Self-report studies
• The CSEW found that the the % of homeowners who were victims of violent crime doubled for those privately renting - how does this link to s. class?

  Home owning = wealthy MC

  Renting = poorer ppl
• According to the ONS, which 2 demographics are most at risk of VIOLENT crime?

  Students + unemployed
• Who identified the ’myth of the = victim’?

  Young
• What does the ‘myth of the = victim’ mean?

  Some groups (e.g. poor) suffer more intensely than others when they’re victims of crime
• The poor are more likely to suffer from what?

  Multiple victimisation
• What does the fact that the 2 demographics most at risk of v. crime are students/unemployed indicate?

  Lifestyle is the common factor - staying out late, not driving + walking/public trans. instead
• What did Kinsey find in the Merseyside crime survey?

  Poor suffer more than the wealthy from effects of crime
• What do Marxists see crime as?


  • Function of class
  • WC use it to resist capitalism
  • Redistribute £ among poor
• What do Functionalists think of crime?


  • Linked to the poor socialisation of the WC
• What do Interactionists think of crime?


  • Poor are more likely to be labelled