Crime

• What did Newburn believe about the social construction of crime and deviance?

  The law defined crime and crime changes across countries and in time
• What does courts and police deciding whether to act mean?

  Crime is a social construction
• What did Downes and Rock think about the social construction of crime?

  Ambiguity is a feature of rule-breaking and judgement is context-based
• What did Plummer believe about the social construction of crime?

  Societal deviance is deviance which everyone agrees on and situational deviance depends on time, culture, group, place and context
• What was Durkheim functionalist theory of crime?

  Crime is inevitable and beneficial as it strengthens collective values, enables social change, acts as a safety valve and as a warning device
• What was Merton’s strain theory of crime and deviance?

  Not everyone can achieve shared goals through conformity so feel strain and anomie and resort to ‘modes of adaptation’ - innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion
• What is a limitation of Merton’s strain theory?

  Assumes consensus, forgets those who don’t turn to crime and ignores conforming innovators like white-collar crime
• What was Hirshi’s social bond theory of crime?


  Four social bonds prevent crime - belief, commitment, attachment and involvement
• What is a limitation of Hirshi’s social bond theory of crime?


  Doesn‘t explain criminals with bonds like corporate crime
• What is Cohen’s subcultural theory of crime?


  Working class denied status and feel status frustration so develop a delinquent subculture with revenge, e.g. vandalism replaces respect for property
• What is a limitation of Cohen’s subcultural theory?


  It assumes that the working class share middle class values
• What was Cloward and Ohlin’s subcultural theory?


  There are 3 types of delinquent subculture from illegitimate opportunity structures as they can’t access legitimate ones - criminal (utilitarian crimes), conflict (social dysfunction and violent crime) and retreatist (failure in schools and gangs so resort to drugs)
• What is a limitation of Cloward and Ohlin?


  There is a significant overlap between the subcultures
• What was Miller’s subcultural theory?


  Male subcultures with concerns like toughness and thrills encourage crime with young working class conforming for peer group status - it is over-conformity to working class subcultures not rejecting dominant ones
• What did Matza suggest about subcultural theories?

  The delinquent aren’t different, they use ‘techniques of neutralisation’ based on mainstream values and only use crime for status
• What did Taylor suggest about subcultural theories?

  Subcultural theories assume there is value consensus
• What do Marxists suggest abut capitalism and crime?

  Capitalism is ‘criminogenic’ and a response to relative poverty in a greed-driven society
• What was Chambliss’ Marxist theory of crime?


  The law reflects ruling-class ideology and there is selective law enforcement on the working class
• What was Box’s Marxist suggestion of crime?


  Serious crime is ideologically constructed and agencies of control defend the ruling class
• What was Snider’s Marxist suggestion of crime?


  States only pass laws affecting the ruling class when forced to
• What was Pearce’s Marxist suggestion of crime?


  The ‘crimes of the powerful’ like corporate are rarely discovered and prosecuted, giving the impression that crime is a working class phenomenon
• What did Neo-Marxists suggest about traditional Marxist theories of crime?


  They are deterministic and committing crime isn’t beyond control
• What do Neo-Marxists suggest working class crime is?

  Political action
• What was Gilroy’s Neo-Marxist theory of crime?


  Crime done by black people is resistance
• What was Taylor’s new criminology?


  Context, immediately origins and social definition of action and social reaction is important in crime
• What was Hall et al’s Neo-Marxist observation of crime?


  Crime in the 1970s scapegoated black people, reasserting hegemony and causing moral panic around mugging
• What do Neo-Marxist and Marxist theories of crime overemphasise?


  Property crime and class inequality
• What did neo-Marxist and Marxist theories of crime neglect?

  Corporate crimes and gender/ethnicity
• What do feminists argue about Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime?


  They are ’malestream’ and only focus on male criminality
• What are some laws which DON‘T reflect ruling class interests?

  Traffic laws
• What do neo-Marxist and Marxist theories of crime pay little attention to?

  Victims of crime, working class on working class crime and only focus on ‘Robin Hood’ crimes
• What are the four main aspects of the interactionist theory of crime?

  Labelling, selective law enforcement, deviant careers and primary deviance
• What is labelling in crime?


  The ruling class have the power to attach deviant labels, with only working class crimes seen as deviant
• What did Becker call agencies who can create/enforce rules and impose definitions of deviance?


  Moral entrepreneurs
• What is selective-law enforcement?


  How agencies of social control target only specific breaches of the law
• What did Becker suggest about selective law enforcement?


  Police operate with conceptions and stereotypes which influence their response
• What did Cicourel suggest about crime stats?

  Phenomenological approach - subjective perceptions affect criminal labels and thus crime stats are a social construction
• What do interactionists suggest is the reason that crime rates are higher in working class areas?


  Because police perceived working class behaviour as ‘more criminal’, even when middle class youth behave the same
• What did Lemert refer to as primary deviance?


  Deviance not publicly labelled as such, e.g. stealing stationery from work
• Where did Lemberg think secondary deviance arises from?

  The attachment of the label and societal reaction to the deviant when they are caught