Criminology

• The strain theory suggests that crime is a result of individuals being unable to achieve their goals through legitimate means and resorting to criminal behavior.
• Functionalist (Durkheim) - Anomie refers to the breakdown of social norms and values, resulting from rapid changes in society.
• Merton's strain theory proposes that the American Dream, which emphasizes material success as an ideal, creates tension between aspirations and opportunities, leading some people to adopt deviant methods such as theft or fraud to attain wealth.
• Merton's five adaptations include conformity (achieving success through legal means), innovation (creating new ways to succeed), ritualism (following rules without understanding them), retreatism (giving up on achieving success altogether), and rebellion (rejecting societal norms).
• Criticisms of Merton's strain theory include its focus on individual-level factors rather than societal structures and its failure to account for cultural differences in attitudes towards crime.
• Subcultural theories suggest that certain groups within society develop distinct subcultures with different values and beliefs, including those related to crime.
• National stats on crime are recorded by the police.
• Advantages of police recorded stats:

  • Gives a rough indication of crime rates in a given area.
  • Police recorded stats include homicides.
• Crime survey for England and Wales is a victim survey typically done face-to-face, collecting qualitative data from 50,000 random households.
• Advantages of commercial victimisation survey - Commercial victimisation survey/questionnaire identifies trends in behaviour.
• Commercial businesses victimisation survey only accounts for crimes against a business.
• Durkheim - Crime is inevitable and necessary and that we as a society need crime to have a good society
• Boundary maintenance - Crime is a reminder of what is right and wrong. Used as a reaffirmation of rules
• Social change - For example the suffragette movement where women used crime and violence for their rights
• Safety value - for example prostitution which is used to release frustration which may have otherwise resulted in violence
• Warning light - Crime acts as a warning light to raise issues in a particular area
• Strengths of durkheims theory are: it explains why crime is so prevalent in society
• durkheim was the first to recognise the positive effects of crime, reinforcing boundaries between right and wrong
• Limitations of Durkheim theory - There is no guidance or indication as to how much crime is the ‘right amount’
• Durkheim's theory does not explain all types of crimes such as white collar crime
• White-collar crime is committed by people who hold positions of power within an organisation
• Rational choice theory suggests that individuals commit white-collar crime because they believe there will be little chance of being caught and punished if they do get caught.
• Critics argue that these theories suggest that individuals cannot change their behaviour because they lack control over their actions.
• These theories also ignore the role of social factors in shaping criminal behaviour.
• The rational choice perspective argues that offenders weigh up the costs and benefits of committing a criminal act against the potential rewards from engaging in non-criminal behaviour.
• Criticisms of RCT include: It fails to consider the role of social factors in shaping individual decisions about whether to engage in criminal activity
• Theories of rational choice are criticised for failing to consider the role of social factors in shaping criminal behaviour.
• This approach assumes that criminals are rational actors, making decisions based on self-interest rather than emotion or impulse.
• It emphasizes the importance of situational factors in influencing criminal behavior, including opportunities to commit crime, perceived risks and rewards, and the presence of other offenders.
• The rational choice perspective has been criticized for oversimplifying human decision-making and ignoring the influence of personal characteristics and social context on criminal behavior.
• It assumes that all individuals are motivated solely by self-interest, ignoring other motivations such as altruism or conformity
• It does not take into account the influence of cultural norms and values on decision making
• White Collar Crime - Crimes committed by individuals who have high levels of education and status within society, typically involving deception and manipulation to achieve financial gains.
• Rational Choice Theory is often used as an explanation for white collar crimes such as embezzlement and fraud because it focuses on the financial gain that can be achieved through these types of crimes.
• right realism - Cultural deprivation, rational choice theory, biological differences
• Cultural deprivation - right realists believe that effective socialisation can control criminal behaviour
• Biological differences - Rigjt realists believe that some people are more prone to crime due to their genetics
• Rational choice theory - Right realists believe that crime is increasing because the reward outweighs risk
• Clarke suggested the rational choice theory
• cloward and ohlin came up with the theory of having subcultures in a society