30 Marker

• Evaluate the usefulness of labelling theory in understanding crime and deviance.

  Thesis> useful in determining how and why people come to be labelled as deviant and part of official statistics. However, do not offer many solutions nor do they acknowledge wider structures of power.

  
  

  AO1> Useful in understanding the secondary effects of being labelled as deviant.

  AO2> Becker's symbolic interactionist perspective and secondary deviance, inidvidual is negatively labelled and so they not only internalise it but also people assign negative connotations to the 'master status' label of deviant and so they are treated differently and further rejected.

  AO3> Just focusing on inidvidual interactions ignores wider power structures that make the labels stick in the first place.

  
  

  AO1> Useful in challenging the Functionalist view that deviance is inherent.

  AO2> Instead explore why some groups are more likely to be branded than others. Cicourel found police will stop people they deem to be 'suspicious' based on looks of a 'typical deviant', giving oppurtunity for bias and stereotyping. Found that 'typical deviants' more likely to be WC.

  AO3> No thought is given as to where this view may stem from, Marxists would criticise the lack of acknowledgement of the power structures at play.

  
  

  AO1> Useful in evaluating the social construction of crime statistics.

  AO2> At each stage of the criminal justice system, agents of social control make decisions based on labels and typifications. Statistics only tell us about the activities of authorities. 1 in 5 crimes reported to the police in 2014 inspection were not recorded.

  AO3> Does not offer an alternative, potentially use alternative statistics but people may forget, conceal or exaggerate.

  
  

  AO1> Useful in exploring the role of the media in amplifying crime + deviance.

  AO2> Cohen's Mods and Rockers, press exaggeration, symbolisation/labelling (allowed them to link isolated events) and distortion. Problem seemed to be getting out of hand so media portrayed them as folk devils, called for crackdown. This further polarised the groups and reinforced their identites and opposition, thus causing further tension and crime.

  AO3> Useful in linking media and labelling but left realists would argue a fear of crime is rational.
• Evaluate the usefulness of functionalist approaches in understanding crime and deviance.

  Thesis> See crime as inevtiable with an important function and do provide some reasons why, but not holsitic or applicable to modern day society.

  
  

  AO1> Useful in highlighting the positive functions of crime.

  AO2> Durkheim and boundary maintenance, it reaffirms societies shared values and rules- punishment discourages others from rule breaking. Adaptation and change- statues being pulled down = review of all statues. Davies, prostituon acts as a safety valve for men.

  AO3> Crime is not beneficial for all, ignores the victims. Feminists critique Davies point.

  
  

  AO1> Argues that crime is inevitable.

  AO2> Durkheim 'society of saints', even in a perfect society, the slightest slip would be regarded as deviant. Throughout history no Deviance from the norm is inevitable. Erickson, authorities are there to sustain some levels of crime instead of eradicate it.

  AO3> Useful in opposing Marxist theories that crime is a result of Capitalism, but a vague argument.

  
  

  AO1> Why we engage in crime - Merton's strain theory

  AO2> Disparity between what individuals are encouraged to achieve and what they can legitimately achieve. American dream, which many disadvantaged groups cannot achieve = strain between goal and oppurtunity. Thus a pressure to deviate, especially from the emphasis of achieving goals by any means in the USA. CIRRRM = conformity/innovation/ritualism/retreatism/rebellion. Property crimes increase in times of recession.

  AO3> Influential and extensively used to link crime and poverty yet Marxists criticise him not asking who benefits from these disparities.

  
  

  Evaluation para:

  1. Relies on official statistics > does not provide a full holistic theory as ignores dark side of statistics e.g women

  2. Symbolic interactionists > crime is not an objective thing, it depends on how people define it themselves.

  3. Postmodernists > there are no boundaries or shared values for crime to affirm

  Thus Functionalist theories have many weaknesses as not a holistic or modern understanding.
• Evaluate Marxist explanations in understanding crime and deviance.

  AO1> Useful in understanding the inevitabilty of crime under capitalism.

  AO2> Crimogenic capitalism. Capitalism is competition and greed based + poverty alongside with alienation lead to frustration which leads to crime and deviance. Gordon argues crime is a rational response to capitalism and is found in all classes. Ideological functions of laws e.g Chambliss + American property law.

  AO3> Existence of crime in communist societies refutes this statement e.g modern day Cuba.

  
  

  AO1> Understanding crimes of the powerful.

  AO2> Sutherland > white collar crime, stronger definition is Tombs 'deliberate decisions or culpable negligence by a legitimate business organisation that is intended to benifit the business'. Tombs finds corporate crime has enourmous costs, cost of white collar crimes in USA 10x that of street crime. Abuse of trust- Harold Shipman GP murderer.

  AO3> Doesn't explain crime in non profit making orgs e.g police and army. Nelken argues it is unrealistic to assume all businesses wish to committ crime, may wish to preserve their reputations.

  
  

  AO1> Neo-Marxist explanations

  AO2> Taylor et al, full social theory of deprivation. Crime is meaningful and a concious choice. Combines Marxism and Labelling theory Origins of act, act itself, societal reactions and effects of labelling. E.g Hall and Black muggers 1970s

  AO3> Over romanticises working-class 'Robin hoods', crimes are mostly intra-class. Doesn't explain rape.

  
  

  AO1> Official crime statistics are false.

  AO2> White collar crimes are less likely to be recorded because they are harder to detect e.g tax evasion of Starbucks in 2014. Victims may be unaware that they have been victimised, and thus not report it and it does not go into the crime statistics. Box>dominant ideology that corporate crime is less serious and less harmful than street crimes.

  Murray + underclass > 35% of London rioters on beneifts, higher than average. Yet overly simplistic to assign this to class, left realists and deprivation.

  AO3> Links to labelling theory, how crime stats are constructed with Cicourels negotiation of justice.
• Evaluate the view that crime is a result of subcultural responses in failiure to achieve mainstream goals.

  AO1> Murray and underclass.

  AO2> Charles Murray, welfare creates an underclass of dependency with perverse incentives. NR journalist blamed Labour Party for 2011 riots, 35% of rioters on benefits, higher than average. Lone mothers do not socialise children properly leading to increased crime, both roles not fulfilled so children turn to subculture.

  AO3> Left realists would argues this is not the attitudes of the 'underclass' but instead their relative deprivation, especially in London poor and rich are very close.

  
  

  AO1> Cohen status frustration.

  AO2> Inability to achieve goals through legitimate means e.g WC boys cannot achieve at school so instead form delinquent subcultures = alternative hierachy. Good because it explains non-utilitarian crimes and shows how values can be subverted.

  AO3> Marxists criticise Cohen for not explaining wider cause of inequality.

  
  

  AO1> Cloward and Ohlin.

  AO2> People turn to different subcultures:

  1. Criminal (stable WC communities with access to networks)

  2. Conflict (lack of social cohesion, lack of adult networks = gangs)

  3. Retreatist (denied access to both so turn to drugs and alcohol)

  Recognise unequal access to the illegitmate means.

  AO3> Draw boundaries too sharply. South argues you can belong to both.

  
  

  AO1> Miller and independent subculture.

  AO2> Distinctive WC subculture with focal concerns > emphasis on toughness, law breaking, masculinity, autonomy, excitement and thrills. Thus arguably over conformity to WC subculture rather than rejection of dominant values.

  AO3> Matza found that most working class youth do not regularly engage in illegal acts. Also not a serious committment to over-conformity, a lot of the time more of a youth thing.
• Evaluate the vew that crime is a response to inequalities caused by capitalism.

  AO1> Marxism and crimogenic capitalism.

  AO2> In poverty, crime is the only way to survive, crime the only way to obtain consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising, alienation leads to frustration. Gordon- crime is a rational response to capitalis

  AO3> Communist societies like Soviet Russia and modern day Cuba = existence of crime. However, Marxits would argue this is still left over from capitalism.

  
  

  AO1> Left realism.

  AO2> Islington crime surveys show crime is more serious in areas of extreme poverty and deprivation e.g Hackney. Link to media, more people can see what they 'should be achieving' and so turn to illegitimate means. Subcultures, deprivation and marginalisation all work together to lead to crime, all results of inequality.

  AO3> Does not glamourise this crime as Marxists do but instead looks at real solutions.

  
  

  AO1> Merton's strain theory

  AO2> People want to achieve 'American dream'. Fail to do so because unequal oppurtunity so instead turn to crime, myth of meritocracy = strain to anomie (pressue to deviate). Leads to innovation, people use new ways to achieve these goals e.g fraud and theft. Reiner, 'get rich quick', main source of status has been money.

  AO3> Fails to explain non-utilitatarian crimes nor does it explain collective forms of crime like gangs. Also Valier argues it is rare to only desire one goal, people may also desire families etc.

  
  

  AO1> Murray and the 'underclass'.

  AO2> NR argue that inequality leads to crime. 'Underclass' are offered perverse incentives and dependent. 2011 London riots, 35% were on benefits. Social fabric is undermined and thus morals erased, lone mothers don't socialise effectively = more crime.

  AO3> Other factors at play, majority male and Black also better explanation is left realism as shows how relative depravation, marginalisation and subculture = crime.
• Evaluate realist explanations for, and the tackling of crime and deviance.
• Evaluate the view that crime statistics are socially constructed.

  AO1> Marxist perspective

  AO2> Crime statistics are misleading, white collar crimes are less likely to be recorded because they are harder to detect e.g tax evasion of Starbucks in 2014. Victims may be unaware that they have been victimised, and thus not report it and it does not go into the crime statistics. Box>dominant ideology that corporate crime is less serious and less harmful than street crimes.

  AO3> Useful in conjunction with labelling theory and idea of 'typifications'. Also the idea that 'alternative statistics' may still be socially constructed because people are ideologically coniditioned to only value and understand blue collar crimes.

  
  

  AO1> Functionalist perspective

  AO2> They believe in the consensus of society so pay little attention to the bias that may occur in the justice system. Durkheim used official statistics to investigate the ideas of suicide as a crime they believe in social facts and that you can take a macro approach.

  AO3> Do not appreciate dark figures of statistics, 1 in 4 crimes go unreported especially rape and sexual assault.

  
  

  AO1> Feminist perspective

  AO2> Official statistics males commit more crime than females but chivalry thesis argues that they underestimate female crime and treat women more leniently. 4/5 convicted offenders are men yet self report studies find the difference is smaller. This also may be because their offences are less serious, e.g shoplifiting not murder. Also only 8% of victims of sexual assault report it to the police which also distorts statistics.

  AO3> Whilst, feminists even argue that they are more harshly treated in cases of child neglect, it is clear that this still distorts figures and thus official statistics are socially constructed on bias' of gender.

  
  

  AO1> Labelling theory

  AO2> At each stage of the criminal justice system, agents of social control make decisions dependent on the offenders label. E.g Cicourel and the negotiation of justice > officers typifications lead them to concentrate on certain 'types'

  AO3> Can be criticised because does not look at the wider structure that causes this to happen but still useful for explaining how statistics are socially constructed.
• Evaluate how right realism contributes to our understanding of crime and deviance.
• Evaluate how left realism contributes to our understanding of crime and deviance.
• Evaluate the extent to which strain theories have contributed to our understanding of crime and deviance.
• Evaluate sociological explanations for gender differences in the patterns of crime.

  AO1> Chivalry thesis

  AO2> Pollak> men have protective attitude towards women and so there is an invalid picture of offending. Less likely to typify women (labelling theory) 1 in 9 females recieve a sentence for shoplifitng and 1 in 5 males.

  AO3> Bias against women for example double standards of mothers as deviating from society and their biological roles. Chivalry thesis may affect women in both ways.

  
  

  AO1> Functionalist sex role theory

  AO2> Parsons argues crime and deviance trace to the gender roles in nuclear family. E.g expressive and instrumental roles. New right would support this and argue that lone parent are unable to socialise children effectively which also leads to crime.

  AO3> However this view can be criticised as it is based on biological assumptions about sex differences (Walklate)

  
  

  AO1> Heidensohn and patriachal control

  AO2> How conformist women are because they are more controlled> control at home, Dobash and Dobash men may enforce control through abuse and financial abuse. Daughters subject to patriarchal control, bedroom culture. Public> media fear means women adapt their behaviours. Work> women's subordinate position limits opportunity.

  AO3> Arguably too deterministic because women have their own free will and interpretivists argue it is more important look at verstehen> meaning needs to be understood.

  
  

  AO1> Carlen class and gender deals

  AO2> Study of 39 wc women convicts. She found women committed crime as parts of two deals. Class deal> material rewards and gains if this cannot be earns legitimately women will turn to crime, this was made even more impossible to achieve in prison. Gender deal> conforming to patriarchy = material and emotional rewards from patriarchy yet many women experienced dark side of the family and turned to crime as couldn't partake in gender deal.

  AO3> Conclusion that poverty and oppressive families can be reasons for women engaging in crime YET small study that only explains working class.
• Evaluate sociological explanations for ethnic differences in crime.
• Evaluate sociological views of the effect of globalisation on crime.

  Thesis> Explanations can be useful but are often limited by the dark figures of globalisation and difficulty of tracking it across borders.

  
  

  AO1> Global criminal economy

  AO2> Held et al crime has become interconnected + globalisation = new opportunities for crime. Castells, global criminal economy worth 1 trillion. E.g trafficking (half a mill to U.K annually). International terrorism, drugs trade 20% of Colombias based on cocaine trade.

  AO3> However can this be attributed to just globalisation, arguably colonialism pre-dated this, crimes like the slave trade. Socialist view, increased capitalism with free reign to markets.

  
  

  AO1> Global risk consciousness> globalisation leads to increased fears of specific types of crimes.

  AO2> Globalisation creates new insecurities and threats for people, e.g countries more worried about immigration. This can lead to the creation of new crimes like illegal immigration due to moral panics from the media and increased pressure on the gov. New policies are made e.g stop the boats and time limits on immigrants in detention centres. Also links to fears of terrorism and thus increased hate crimes.

  AO3> This can be hard to measure, definition of illegal immigration and 'hate crime' changes throughout the world and across borders. Fear of these crimes even increased because of lack of consensus on them.

  
  

  AO1> Patterns of globalised crime

  AO2> Glocal organisation, crime still rooted in local context, e.g individuals need local contacts to find opportunities to sell their drugs. Locally based with global connections = move away from hierarchy > flexible, opportunistic, entrepreneurial criminals. Hobbs and crime hubs > individuals seeking opportunities and linking legitimate and illegitimate means which contrasts with large scale hierarchical Mafia's of the past, e.g Russian Mcmafia purely based on economic opportunities not like old hierarchy of Italian mafia.

  AO3> Is this shift new, have old structures even disappeared? Hard to measure globalised crime, countries have different definitions and hidden statistics.

  
  

  AO1> Globalisation causes green crime.

  AO2> Bhopal disaster, US owned pesticide plant start leaking and exposed half a million people. Global company took advantage of lax regulations in LEDCs and this led to pollution.

  AO3> Strong argument as dual nature. Green crimes like release of fossil fuels = increased global warming. Heatwave = destruction of grain belt in Russia = ban on exports = 30% rise in Mozambique = rioting and looting. Holistic view of the relationship between green crime and globalisation.
• Evaluate sociological views of the media on crime.

  AO1> Media and news is a social construction.

  AO2> Cohen said news is not discovered but manufactured. Also fictional representations of crime follow the law of opposites, homicides are greed and calculated, fictional sex crimes committed by psychopathic strangers and fictional cops usually win. Thus, arguably media distorts crime and misrepresents it to the public.

  AO3> Labelling theorists would argue this thus contributes to social views of typifications nd stereotypes that contribute to bias' in agents of social control as the media creates a picture of the typical criminal and the untrue perpatators of crime.

  
  

  AO1> Media as a cause of crime

  AO2> GTA has been encourages crime and violence. Imitation, arousal, commodification, glamourisation and desensitisation.

  Schramn argued that under most conditions television is neither paticularly harmful nor beneficial. People may exaggerate the effects of crime on children as they see it as a sphere of uncontaminated innocence.

  AO3> Stronger argument is relative deprivation causes crime, left realists argue mass media allows everyone to access the materialistic 'good life' and desire these standrards. Links to Mertons strain theory and acheving these through illegtimate means.

  
  

  AO1> Moral panics

  AO2> Cohen and mods/rockers. Media distorted and exaggerated the numbers, problem seemed to be getting out of hand so moral entrepreneurs began to portray them as folk devils (made easier through identities and symbols assigned by the media). More youths adopted these symbols they had seen on the media and thus the fuelled the fire of panic > media = moral panics = increased deviance.

  AO3> Assumes societal reaction is disproportionate, left-realists argue peoples fear of crime is rational. Does media over-exaggerate crime or does it report on peoples concerns?

  
  

  AO1> Media distorts crime

  AO2> Over represent violent and sexual crime, Ditton and Duffy found that 46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes. Media exaggerates police success and also crime is reported as a series of seperate events without structures or underlying causes. Marxists would argue that there is a focus on blue collar crime over white collar crime.

  AO3> Tumber found that by the 1990s crime coverage had widened to include other crimes, Ditton and Duffy is early 80s.
• Evaluate sociological explanations of the role of punishment in the prevention and reduction of crime.
• Evaluate sociological explanations of crimes of the powerful.