Crime and deviance

• What are Durkheim's key arguments about crime and deviance?

  • Thinks crime is positive and inevitable
  • Boundary maintenance
  • Social change
  • Too much crime is negative - anomie
• Evaluate Durkheim's theory of crime

  It does not quantify how much crime there has to be for anomie, as well as ignoring the victims of crime and how the law benefits the powerful groups rather than everyone
• What is Merton's theory relating to crime?

  Strain theory - where individuals are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means. The lower classes are more likely to experience strain
• Evaluate Merton's strain theory

  It ignores crime committed by subcultures and crimes that have no economic motivation (eg vandalism), as well as being deterministic
• What did Albert Cohen find?

  Lower class boys experience status frustration, and turn to subcultures outside of school where they can find alternative status eg through vandalism
• Evaluate A. Cohen's theory

  It explains crimes that have no economic motivations, however it ignores girls and the middle classes as well as being too deterministic
• What are the three subcultures identified by Cloward and Ohlin?

  Criminal - illegitimate opportunities

  Conflict - no opportunities leading to status frustration

  Retreatist - 'double failures'
• Evaluate Cloward and Ohlin's theory

  It considers both legitimate and illegitimate opportunities however it ignores girls and the middle classes
• What key concept did Miller identify?

  'focal concerns' - associated with the lower class, for example their need for excitement. Crime results from an over exaggerated conformity to these 'focal concerns'
• Evaluate Miller's concept

  It ignores girls and the middle class, and it is also difficult to believe that the lower classes are so isolated from mainstream values
• What did Becker identify?

  There is no such thing as a deviant act - deviance only occurs when somebody (a 'moral entrepeneur') labels an act as deviant
• How would Marxists critique Becker's theory

  The law is created by the bourgeoisie, not everybody has the power to be a moral entrepeneur
• What did Cicourel identify?

  Police act on the basis of typifications - usually working class people. Middle classes are able to avoid prosecution through the negotiation of justice
• Evaluate Cicourel's theory

  Marxists criticise labelling theorists for not providing a structural explanation for working class crime eg capitalism is criminogenic
• What did Lemert identify?

  Primary and secondary deviance, and the deviance amplification spiral in which the label becomes a master status
• Give a critique of Lemert's theory

  It does not explain why deviance is committed in the first place
• What did Stanley Cohen study?

  The moral panic created by the mods and rockers in the 1960s which caused a deviance amplification spiral - more police meant more arrests
• Give a critique of S. Cohen's theory

  He appears to be on the side of the mods and rockers rather than the authorities
• What is Goffman's theory?

  The mortification process - individuals undergo a profound transformation where their previous identity is systematically broken down and replaced with an institutionalised label, making integration back into society more difficult
• Evaluate Goffman's theory

  It widens the focus to mental health issues
• What did Young's study find?

  That the police saw hippies as lazy drug addicts, and deviant norms and values developed, creating a self fulfilling prophecy within the subculture
• Give a critique of Young's study

  It is deterministic
• What two types of shaming did Braithwaite identify?

  Disintegrative which involves stigmatising and excluding the offender

  Reintegrative which involves social disapproval followed by forgiveness and integration
• What evidence can support Braithwaite's concepts?

  Reintegrative shaming can be seen in the recent policy of restorative justice
• What did Chambliss find?

  Using the example of Britain's East African colonies, he illustrated how a law on tax was introduced to force the African population to work on British plantations
• Evaluate Chambliss' theory

  Laws do not always exist to benefit the capitalists, such as health and safety laws. Pearce thinks this provides an illusion of equality without harming the ruling class interests
• What did Taylor, Walton and Young claim?

  Crime is committed with political motives eg burglary can be seen as the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor
• How do left realists criticise the claims of Taylor, Walton and Young?

  The 'Robin Hood' view of criminals is not true
• What did Hall et al's study find?

  The media created a moral panic around mugging and identified the black community as a threat to the white working class community, using them as a scapegoat for capitalist problems so the bourgeoisie was not blamed
• How do left realists evaluate Hall et al's theory?

  They think moral panics may reflect the real concerns of the communities
• What did Box claim?

  Corporate crime is seen as less widespread or harmful than working class crime (mystification process). Also views corporations as criminogenic, using crime to make profit
• Evaluate Box's claim

  It over predicts the amount of corporate crime, as well as ignoring that crime happens in institutions not motivated by profit eg police
• What did Nelken claim?

  White collar and corporate crimes are subject to de-labelling or non-labelling e.g. tax evasion is labelled as tax avoidance. Businesses and wealthy individuals are able to negotiate justice through hiring expensive lawyers
• Evaluate Nelken's theory

  Some businesses and wealthy individuals are labelled for their criminal activities
• What does Murray claim about crime?

  Thinks the underclass is responsible for crime as single parents cannot adequately socialise their children into the norms and values of society
• Give a criticism of Murray's claim

  It assumes single parent families are broken families as well as being deterministic
• What did Wilson and Herrnstein research?

  Biological differences and how they make some people more predisposed to crime than others, such as lower intelligence
• Evaluate Wilson and Herrnstein's claim

  Bio-social theories lack supporting evidence. Lily et al argue IQ differences account for only 3% differences in offending
• What theory did Wilson and Kelling propose?

  The 'broken windows' theory - uses the analogy of an abandoned building, once one window is smashed then all the windows will be. Once a crime is allowed to take place and nothing is done about it, other crimes will follow
• Give a strength of Wilson and Kelling's theory

  It inspired the use of zero tolerance policing in New York