crim unit 2

• Informal Sanctions Against Deviance


  Issued by the general public's response to deviance. Examples are frowning on behaviour, grounding a child, ignoring someone etc.
• Social Mores


  Morals of a group or society itself, not essentially written law and can change
• Social Values


  Rules that are shared by the most of a society, what people feel like should happen
• Formal Sanctions Against Deviance

  • Custodial Sentences – court-imposed imprisonment
  • Community Sentences – court-imposed work, fines, courses, probation etc.
  • Police sanctions – cautions, conditional cautions, penalty notices
• Forms of Deviance


  • Behaviour that is unusual and good – such as heroically risking your own life for someone else's
  • Behaviour that is unusual and eccentric – such as talking to the trees
  • Behaviour that is unusual and bad or disapproved of – physically attacking someone for no reason
• Social Norms


  Social expectations that guide behaviour, these keep deviance in check and vary between cultures
• Definitions of Crime


  • Legal Definition – any act forbidden by criminal law – actus rea and mens rea
  • Social Definition – consideration of differing views of what makes behavior criminal
• Understanding the Impact of Media Reporting on Public Perceptions of Crime and Deviance

  • Media representations of crime exaggerate crime levels and severity of criminality, causing fear
  • Dramatic portrayal of certain types of crime in news and entertainment media can distort public understanding and lead to misconceptions
  • Such distorted representations can shape public opinion and increase support for harsher penalties
• Influence of Sensationalism


  • Sensationalist media trends can create a moral panic around certain types of crime or individuals, leading to stigmatization
  • Media outlets prioritize high profile cases or crimes that are particularly violent, unusual or involve famous individuals
  • Practice of 'trail by media' can lead to biased opinions and inferences with justice
• Role of Stereotypes


  • Stereotypes and cliches to characterize criminals and victims can influence public perceptions
  • Such stereotpes may reinforce social biases and preconceptions about crime, contributing to discrimination
• Social Media Impact


  • Rise of citizen journalism through social media has resulted in uncontrolled dissemination of crime related stories, with unverified information
  • Increase public awareness about certain underreported crimes or can boost fear and create unnecessary panic, potentially a moral panic
• Misrepresentation Effects


  • Over representing certain types of crimes can lead to public overestimating their risk of becoming a victim
  • As well as this, constant exposure to crime can desensitize crime, affecting their view
• Homicide


  Homicide Act 1957, contains three special defenses for murder when the defendant can plead not guilty. Diminished responsibility or loss of control can also account
• Age of criminal responsibility


  Children below a certain age or unlikely to understand the full meaning of crime
• How Laws Change from Culture to Culture

  • Polygamy – a crime in most countries, but legal in India, Malysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka etc. This is due to culture, as the Qur'an permits Muslim men up to 4 wives
• How Laws Change Over Time

  • Homosexuality – 75 countries outlaw homosexuality, 45 outlaw lesbian activity. Some countries even ban promotion of homosexuality, etc. Russia
  • Legal in UK, Europe, North and South America
  • Mainly outlawed due to religion or sexism
  • Cannabis – laws vary widely. Crime in the UK, and many other European countries. Legal in Canda, US, Portugal. Differs based on norms and values
  • Adultery – crime in many Muslim countries, some Christain African countries and 21 US States. Legal in most countries, e.g. UK and India. Mainly illegal due to religion
• Norms, values and mores

  Differ widely. The idea of criminality and deviance are socially constructed, they vary by culture, time and circumstance
• Consequence of unreported crime

  • Skewed Crime Statistics - Unreported crime can distort crime statistics. Inaccurate figures can affect policy making, criminal justice actions, and social understanding of criminality
  • Undermining Crime Trend Analysis - Efficacy of crime preventive measures and tactical decisions by law enforcement agencies could be affected due to incorrect analysis of crime trends, caused by unreported crimes
  • Victims of Unreported Crime - Victims may not receive necessary support or compensation, resulting in long term physical, psychological and social impacts. As well as this, offenders will evade punishment, indirectly encouraging criminal behaviour
  • Public Perception and Behaviour - Perception of crime, if many crimes go unreported, it can influence the way the public perceives crime, leading to fear, mistrust and cynicism. Misrepresentations about the nature of crime may lead to individuals developing incorrect strategies for personal safety, causing unnecessary stress or placing them at higher risk
  • Societal Impact - Normalization of crime: Unreported crime, particularly when it involves minor offences or victimless crimes can lead to a situation where such acts become normalized within society. Community deterioration: in extreme cases, higher ates of unreported crime can lead to deterioration of community cohesion and quality of life
• Twin Studies


  • Christiansen looked at 6000 twin pairs in Denmark and found a 36% concordance rate for criminality and monozygotic twins, to the 12% for dizygotic twins
  • Dalgaard and Kringlen studied 139 pairs of male twins and found a 26% concordance for identical and 15% for non-identical twins
• Adoption Studies


  • Hutchings and Mendick found evidence that adoptees with criminal records had a higher proportion of criminal biological parents than adoptees without
  • Crowe found that adoptees children without biological mothers had criminal records and higher offending than children with mothers without criminal records
• Lombroso's Atavistic Features


  • Lombroso believed that criminality should be studies scientifically. He examined the facial and cranial features of 383 dead criminals, and 3839 living ones, and concluded that 40% of criminals could be accounted for by cranial features such as a protruding forehead
• Sheldon's Somatotype Theory


  • Sheldon believed that our somatotype could influence criminality. Sheldon's study analyzed photographs of college students and delinquents and found that the delinquents had a higher chance of mesomorphic body types, from 4.6 to 3.8 In college students. It is therefore suggested that Mesomorphs have higher chances of crime
• Jacob's XYY


  • Having an extra Y chromosome can result in higher testosterone, potentially causing a super male. Price suggested that males with an extra Y chromosome were dispositioned towards violent crime. It is also suggested that the extra Y chromosome causes for less intelligence, which may explain the criminality
• Phineas Gage


  • Phineas Gage was a railroad worker who had an iron rod drive through his cheek into his brain, destroying much of his frontal lobe. His personality changed, he became volatile and very rude and misogynistic, potentially leading to crime. As well as this, studies show that 46% of prisoners have a brain injury
• Scerbo and Raine


  • Meta analysis of 29 studies into anti-social adults and children and found low levels of serotonin in all of them. Drugs can increase serotonin , so can foods such as dark chocolate and turkey. Changes in the body chemistry can increase of decrease chances of criminality
• Bandura's Bobo Doll


  • Bandura conducted a study where he investigated aggression through social learning. He found that his sample of 72 children were exposed to aggressive role models beating a bobo doll, they were more likely to also be aggressive towards the bobo doll and vice versa when exposed to a non-aggressive role model
• Freud's Psychodynamic Theory


  • Freud believes that our id, ego and superego drive our behaviour. If the Id is overdeveloped due to a lack in chance of learning behaviours from a same sex parent, then we may be more impulsive and potentially criminal. He found that our childhood trauma also drives our behaviour, and if this suppressed behaviour was to arise, we may also be more criminal
• Skinner's Operant Conditioning


  • Skinner conducted a study where he placed a rat in a skinner box and found that he could teach the rat through classical conditioning and operant conditioning
• Sutherland's DAT


  • Sutherland's study supports Bandura's theory of SLT, and he believes that prison is a university for crime and criminals learn activity from others
• Kohlberg


  • Suggested that criminal's moral development is stuck at a less mature level than anyone else's, and they are more likely to think about rewards and punishment rather than an empathic approach
• Eysenck's Personality Theory


  • Eysenck conducted a questionnaire where he concluded that criminals may be more extroverted, neurotic and psychopathic compared to introverted, stable and non-psychotic
• Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation


  • Bowlby conducted a study on 44 thieves where he found that 14/44 criminals had affectionless psychopathy, and 12/44 of these had a prolonged maternal deprivation. In his control group, he found that 2/44 had affectionless psychopathy, and maternal deprivation. Bowlby concluded that maternal separation for a prolonged period leads to no internal working model, meaning behaviour with no boundaries and potentially criminality
• Marxism


  • Karl Marx believes society is separated into 2 different classes, the bourgeoisie (smaller proportion, rich) and the proletariat (larger proportion, working class). He believes crime is inevitable, as the exploitation of the working class drives people into poverty, meaning crime Is the way to survival. As capitalism pushes materialistic goods on people, the inequality causes alienation and criminality
• Right Realism


  • Right realists believe that we should take a strict standpoint on crime, adapting a zero-tolerance policy and this can help stop a broken windows theory. Relists believe that small crime such as petty theft can escalate, so it should be stopped early through a zero-tolerance policy
• Durkheim


  • Society is class based; some people can achieve higher means than others. This means all societal roles will be filled up, known as role allocation. Those who are essentially assigned a lesser role could turn to deviance. He believes crime is integral part of society, essentially unavoidable, enforcing consensus and social solidarity
• Merton's Strain Theory


  • A strain from America's materialistic goods can be hard to achieve for those who cannot access it through legitimate means, they then turn to illegitimate means to access materialistic goods, which in some circumstances can mean crime
• Labelling Theory


  • Labelling theory believes that the media can encourage crime by labelling an Indvidual as deviant, which causes a self-fulfilling prophecy where the Indvidual begins to act like the title they are given. Labelling theory believes crime is socially constructed, and there is no such thing as an inherently deviant act
• Left Realism


  • Main cause of crime are marginalization, relative deprivation and subcultures, emphasizing community orientated programmes for controlling and reducing crime. Believes in intervention and improving policy, rather than penalizing criminals with harsh sanctions
• Individuals with an extra XYY chromosome may be over-represented in prison populations, but this does not explain the majority of crime
• XYY Theories


  • Over representation of XYY men in prison
  • Links to real life cases (John Wayne Gacy etc.)
  • Conducted on convicted criminals
  • Strengthening the theory that an extra Y chromosome explains criminality
  • Over representation in prison is still low, 15 in 1000 criminals does not explain the other 985
  • No evidence that XXY men had committed violent acts to be imprisoned
  • Only studied men, not an overall explanation
  • Condition is rare, so it doesn't explain the mass amount of crime