Sociological theories

• Functionalism - Durkheim, why does crime happen

  He sees society as a stable structure based on norms and values and beliefs. - Value Consensus

  Despite this he believes crime is inevitable. When there are many Subcultures shared rules become less clear. This is called anomie.

  He believes that crimes had 4 important functions
• Functionalism - Durkheim, 4 important functions of crime

  • boundary maintenance - when crime produces a reaction that unites society's members against wrongdoers, reinforcing shared values
  • social change - for society to progress, people with new ideas have to challenge existing norms and values and at first this can be seen as deviance. e.g. Nelson Mandela
  • warning light - crime and deviants indicates that society is not functioning properly. e.g. riots indicate social issues
  • safety valve - this is where lower crimes prevent more serious ones
• Functionalism - Durkheim, evaluation

  A limitation is that he wrote about crime very generalised terms. He believed crime was important for society but does not distinguish against what types. There is some crimes that they will always be dysfunctional. This is like rape or murder. However Durkheim suggests that there are benefits for every crime.
• Functionalism - Durkheim, evaluation

  A limitation is that he suggests that the criminal justice theory benefits everyone by punishing criminals. However not all criminals are treated equally. Example is that celebrities and Politian's are punished less harshly than others. This weakens his theory
• Functionalism - Durkheim, evaluation

  A limitation is that it does not explain why people commit crimes in the first place. Durkheim theory is not a full explanation of why crimes happen
• Marxism - Two types of class

  The bourgeoisies - These are the ruling class who own the businesses, banks, land etc

  The Proletariat - These are the working class who are exploited by the ruling class to make profit
• Marxism - what causes crime

  They believe that Capitalism causes crime, they see it as criminogenic (crime-causing)
• Marxism - What does Capitalism lead to

  Relative deprivation - when you want something that someone else has more of
• Marxism - Selective law enforcement

  Marxists see the law as a way to keep the working class in their place and serving the ruling class (bourgeoisie)
• Marxism -evaluation

  a limitation of Marxist theory is that it focuses on class and ignores the relationship between crime and other inequalities such as gender and ethnicity.
• Marxism - evaluation

  A limitation is that not all capitalist societies have high crime rates.

  an example is Japans homicide rate is very low compared to the USA
• Marxism - evaluation

  A limitation is that a bar fight might not be about relative deprivation
• Labelling theory - why does crime happen

  Becker believes that crime is a subjective concept as only certain acts and behaviours have been stigmatised as deviant and criminal
• Labelling theory - why does crime happen

  Becker says that the now the person is labelled as a criminal it becomes their master status.

  Master status - this is where all their other qualities become unimportant and are only seen by this one thing
• Left realism - what do they think causes crime

  They believe that inequality causes crime, Left realism argue that the main victims of crime are the disadvantaged groups particularly ethnic minorities and women.

  They also believe that crime is caused by relative deprivation
• Left realism - how to remove crime

  They believe that if they make crime more fairer and equal then it will reduce crime
• Left realism - evaluation

  a Strength of left realism is that it provides valuable insight to the predictors and solutions to criminal behaviour. It draws focus to the victims of crime and vulnerable groups.
• Left realism - evaluation

  a limitation of left realism is that it only accounts for structural cause of crime. There is evidence to show that there are biological and psychological crimes. this makes left realism an incomplete explanation for criminal behaviour