Merton subcultures

• Policies to tackle poverty - better welfare benefits, wages, and job security would reduce crime by giving everyone a more equal chance of achieving success by legal means
• Equal opportunities in school - treating working class pupils equally would reduce their failure rate, making them less likely to suffer status frustration and join delinquent subcultures
• Education in prison - half of UK prisoners have a reading age on 11. Better education in prisons would help inmates gain skills to get a good job and go staring
• Evidence shows that anti poverty polices have a positive effect. Societies that spend more on welfare jail fewer people. Those with greater inequalities like the USA have higher crime rates