Crime & Deviance Notes Part B

• Less harsh imprisonment may lose its effects.
• Alarms make it harder for car thieves and public telephone boxes are fitted with tougher coin boxes to make it harder for vandalisms.
• Official statistics show that males commit far more crime than females, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as the 'crime-gender gap'.
• The majority of crimes are committed by men.
• In January 2011, there were 79,293 males in prison in England and Wales and there were only 4,012 female prisoners.
• The rate of female prisoners is increasing especially in the UK.
• Saviour Formosa in 2013, pointed out that the prison of Malta hosted 576 men and 46 women.
• Malta has a high number of foreign prisoners when compared to other EU countries, the majority coming from Africa.
• In 2014, in England and Wales, men accounted for three-quarters of all persons convicted of more serious criminal offences and 75% of prisoners.
• The proportion of men found guilty of or cautioned for offences peaks at ages 17 to 20 when it is around ten times higher than the rate for women.
• In November 2014, The Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System, Ministry of Justice found out that men are many times more likely to be found guilty of offending than women — for example: about 60 times more likely for sex offences, about 14 times more likely for robberies, about 13 times more likely for possession of weapons, about 10 times more likely for public order offences, about 8 times more likely for violence against the person, and about 4 times more likely for theft.
• Women are more likely to commit theft from shops than to be involved in crimes of violence or burglary.
• Youth can also be victims of crime, with 6% of children aged from 10 to 15 experiencing violent crime and theft in that year.
• Offences like theft, burglary, and assault (street crimes) are associated with young working-class males.
• The Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) carried out in England and Wales between 2003 and 2004, surveyed 5,000 people between 10 and 24 years of age.
• Youth crime is generally drug-related, with more than 9% of school children aged between 11 and 15 being regular smokers, 25% having drunk alcohol in the past week, 21% having taken drugs in the past year and 4% having used ‘Class A’ drugs such as cocaine or heroin.
• Homosexuals experience a high incidence of violent crime and harassment.
• The peak age for offending was in the late 20s for both females and males.
• Ecstasy has also become a lifestyle drug associated with clubbing.
• Some rape crimes go unreported due to the victim's emotional trauma and the low conviction rate of reported rapes.
• In all, a third of the gay men and lesbians surveyed had experienced some form of harassment, including threats or vandalism and 73% had been verbally abused in public.
• A report by the Human Rights Campaign stated that more transgender people were killed in 2015 than during any other year on record.
• A UK national survey of 4,000 gay men and women found that 33% of gay men and 25% of lesbians had been the victim of at least one violent attack in the previous 5 years.
• White-collar and corporate crimes are described by Timmer and Eitzen (198%).
• Homosexuals are often seen as deserving of crime rather than innocent victims due to societal stigma and marginalization.
• The OCJS found that 49% of these people reported committing one or more offences over the years, 27% used drugs and 72% admitted some form of harmful or antisocial behaviour.
• Females tend to commit more of those offences which are less likely to be detected or reported, such as shoplifting.
• Around one-third of women in prison are there for theft and handling stolen goods.
• Examples of corporate crimes include illegal pollution, mislabelling of products and violations of health and safety regulations.
• Prisoners are deprived of freedom, earning an income, the company of their families and friends and personal items.
• There are 6 types of violation which are linked with big corporations: Administrative, Environmental, Financial, Manufacturing, Unfair trade practices, Labour.
• Prison doesn’t seem to work very well as a crime prevention measure.
• Evidence has shown that prisons do not reform the criminals and prevent them from committing new crimes.
• When prevention of crime fails, societies punish offenders and, in most legal systems, imprisonment remains a widely used method of formal punishment.
• The main aim for prisons is to rehabilitate individuals and prepare them to fit into society once they are released.
• Prisoners are no longer routinely physically maltreated, which was once a common practice.
• There are some cases where prisoners accept violence as a normal activity, they gain contact with seasoned criminals and which they maintain these relationships once they are freed.
• White- collar crime refers to middle class or professionals who engage in illegal activities for personal gain.
• There is a difference between white-collar crime and crimes of the powerful.
• Various studies have shown that there was no convincing evidence that putting more people in prison would significantly reduce crime.