3.1 The Effects of labelling

• Saints and Roughnecks (Chambliss)


  1) Two groups of boys were followed around, the MC delinquents & WC delinquents

  2) The saints would cause trouble but were viewed as being good boys as they weren't caught

  3) The roughnecks were targeted as being trouble makers as it took place in the local area
• What are the two types of shaming according to Braithwaite?


  Disintegrative, Where not only the crime, but the criminal is labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society

  Reintegrative, By contrast, labels the act only
• What is an example of the deviance amplification spiral?

  (Cohen) Folk Devils & Moral Panics

  -In a moral panic, a folk devil is identified as a threat, the media and moral entrepreneurs call for a crackdown, there is an increase in the scale of the problem as more individuals are publicly labelled
• Deviance amplification spiral

  Where attempts to control deviance actually produce an increase in deviance, leading to greater attempts at control and still higher levels of deviance
• How does Lemert define primary & secondary deviance?


  -Primary- deviant acts that haven't been publicly labelled

  -Secondary- individual being deviant due to being labelled
• Alternative statistics

  Some sociologists use victim surveys or self-report studies to gain a more accurate view of the amount of crime
• The social construction of official crime statistics

  Over representation of WC, MEGs & men in crime statistics and how they're 'constrcuted
• The dark figure of crime

  -The difference between official statistics and the real rates of crime

  -We don't know for sure how much crime is unreported
• What did Cicourel say about the negotiation of justice?


  Officers' decisions to arrest are often influenced by stereotypes about offenders

  Concentrate on certain 'types'- showing a class bias

  MC parents more likely to negotiate on their child's behalf to get them out of trouble
• What did Piliavin and Briar find about police arrest practices?


  Police officers used 'physical cues' to decide whether or not to arrest someone
• Status crimes

  Behaviour that is illegal only because of the individual's age, such as drinking alcohol, truancy or sexual promiscuity
• What does Platt think about 'juvenile delinquency'?


  -It was originally created by the Victorian upper class, aimed at protecting young people at risk of criminality

  -Caused juvenile courts to be created to convict them of 'status-crimes
• What does Becker say are the two effects of changing laws?


  Creation of a new group of 'outsiders' who break the new law

  The creation or expansion of social control agencies e.g. police to enforce the law
• What does Becker say about what defines an act as deviant?


  Who commits the act

  Who feels they've been harmed

  When & where the act is committed