M2 Crime

• Douglas - mental illness and suicide?

  • Interactionist approach
  • Criticises use of suicide statistics in the same way interactionists distrust crime statistics
• Why does Douglas distrust crime statistics?

  • Death being labelled as a suicide is dependent on interactions between social actors
  • Statistics say nothing about motivations to commit suicide
• Atkinson - mental illness and crime?

  • Focuses on taken-for-granted assumptions coroners make reaching verdicts
  • 'Real' rate of suicide doesn't exist, not an exact record of how many suicides there's been
• Commonsense theory of suicide?

  Ideas about a 'typical suicide' were important eg certain modes of death
• What evidence do coroners consider when trying to reach a verdict?

  • Suicide notes
  • Mode of death
  • Location / circumstances of death
  • History of mental illness, big life events etc
• Marxism and crime: official statistics?

  Countries consistently show the working class as more likely to commit crime
• Class difference in crime statistics: functionalism?

  • Result of inadequate socialisation
  • Modern societies with a complex division of labour mean different classes develop their own subcultures
• Class difference in crime statistics: strain theory?

  • American society's class structure denies the working class success by legitimate means
  • When means are blocked, people turn to crime
• Class difference in crime statistics: Marxism?

  • Bourgeoisie own the means of production
  • They alienate and exploit the working class who provide Labour
  • This exploitation is a crime in itself
  • Bourgeoisie hold power to allow them to commit crime without consequence
  • Violent revolution is inevitable
• Marxism and crime: does capitalism encourage competition over co-operation?

  Yes - to survive in a capitalist market, you have to make profit

  If you are not willing to do so, someone else will, and the company will fail
• Marxism and crime: does exploration lie at the heart of the Capitalist system?

  Yes. To make money and succeed, capitalism incentivizes paying workers as little as possible and charging customers as much as possible to maximise profits
• Marxism and crime: does capitalism encourage us to be selfish consumers?

  Yes. It advertises an unattainable lifestyle as commonplace (eg the american dream) to create feelings of inadequacy / shame if this is not met that pressures people into consuming. This pressure drives crime.
• What do Marxists believe about capitalism and crime?

  Crime is inevitable in a capitalist society because capitalism is criminogenic
• What is the difference between corporate and white collar crime?

  White collar crime is individuals, corporate is by companies
• Neo-Marxism and crime?

  1. Capitalism is based on exploitation and inequality, characterised by extreme inequalities of wealth and power
  2. The state makes and enforces laws in the interests of capitalism and criminalises the working class
  3. Capitalism should be replaced by a classless society to reduce crime
• Taylor et al - traditional marxism?

  Ignores individuals free will
• Taylor et al - voluntarism?

  • Crime is a conscious choice, often with a political motive
  • Along with a classless society, they emphasise liberty and diversity
  • Individuals should not be labelled deviant because they are different
  • Crimes against property are a reaction to wealth inequality
  • Vandalism is a symbolic attack on societies obsession with property
• Feminist evaluation of critical criminology?

  Taylor et al is 'gender blind' focusing on male criminality at the expense of female criminality
• Left realist evaluation of critical criminology?

  Neo-Marxists romanticise working class criminals as 'Robin Hoods' fighting capitalism. In reality, they prey on the poor
• Roger Burke evaluation of critical criminology?

  Argues critical criminology is too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime
• General evaluation of critical criminology?

  • Difficult to imagine a political motive underpinning crimes such as domestic violence / rape and child abuse
  • Most victims of working class and black crime are working class and black
  • Taylor et al do not take such crime seriously and they ignore its effects on working class victims
• Globalisation?

  Increasing interconnectedness of societies
• Causes of Globalisation?

  • Spread of new information and communication technologies
  • Influence of global mass media
  • Cheap air travel
  • Easier movements (migration)
  • Deregulation of financial markets
• Held et al - global criminal economy?

  An increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders
• Castells - global criminal economy?

  An economy now worth over one trillion dollars per year

  Includes:

  • money laundering
  • drug smuggling
  • human trafficking
• Human trafficking in Britain?

  The National Crime Agency estimated circa 13,000 people were victims of slavery, prostitution or forced domestic staff
• Who researched human trafficking in Britain?

  The National Crime Agency
• How is British human trafficking globalised?

  Trade of illegal immigrants; smuggling people at high cost to countries they cannot enter legally
• Changes from modernity to post-modernity?

  Community to individualism

  Social class to identity from other sources

  Nuclear family to many family options
• Lyotard - postmodernity?

  • Economic growth and expansion have gone beyond human scope
  • Marxism and functionalism are meta narratives, their role is to provide an explanation to make sense of a society out of control
  • Such theorists do not fit with people's sense of isolation and individualism
• Two ways globalisation may increase crime?

  • Improved communications: the internet can be used for crime, including cyber-crime such as identity fraud
  • Global culture can lead to resistance in the developing world, in the form of political violence and international terrorism
• Global criminal networks?

  Complex interconnections between a range of criminal networks that transcend national boundaries
• Examples of global criminal networks?

  • American mafia
  • Columbian drug cartels
  • Russian mafia
• Glenny - global criminal networks?

  Criminal economy accounts for 15% of global trade
• What percent of trade is made up by drug trafficking?

  8%
• Hobbs and Dunningham - criminal organisation?

  • Large scale 'mafia-style' criminal organisation is of the past
  • Crime is now glocal
• What is 'glocal' crime?

  • Crime is locally based but with global connections
  • International drug trade / human trafficking requires local dealers and pimps to deal locally
• Who suggests crime is glocal?

  Hobbs and Dunningham
• Taylor - globalisation, capitalism and crime?

  Globalisation has created an interconnectedness of the financial market, greater inequality and rising crime
• Lash and Urry - globalisation, capitalism and crime?

  Globalisation is accompanied by less regulation and fewer state controls over business and finance

  'disorganised capitalism'