Patterns of Crime

• Class - Trends:

  > WC people, particularly those from the lower working class, are highly represented among offenders
• Class - Crimes of the Powerful:

  > occupational crime - committed by employees for their own personal gain, often against the organisation for which they work

  > corporate crime - committed by employees for their organisation in pursuit of its goals
• Class - Explanations for Corporate Crime:

  > strain theory - if a company cannot maximise profit by legal means, it may employ illegal ones instead

  > differential association - the more we associate with people with criminal attitudes, the more likely we are to become deviant (techniques of neutralisation - individuals can deviate more easily if they can produce justifications to neutralise moral objections to their behaviour)

  > labelling - businesses have the power to avoid labelling through expensive lawyers and accountants

  > marxism - criminogenic capitalism
• Class - Scale of Corporate Crime:

  > white collar and corporate crime do far more harm than street crime - the cost of white collar crime in the USA is over ten times that of street crimes

  > Tombs - corporate crime has enormous physical, environmental and economic costs

  > Sutherland - white collar crime is a greater threat to society because it promotes distrust of social institutions
• Class - Types of Corporate Crime:

  > financial crimes - e.g. tax evasion, money laundering, bribery

  > crimes against consumers - e.g. selling unfit goods

  > crimes against employees - e.g. discrimination, violation of health and safety - Tombs calculates that up to 1,100 work-related deaths a year involve employers breaking the law

  > crimes against environment - e.g. toxic waste dumping

  > state-corporate crime - government institutions and businesses cooperate to pursue their goals
• Class - Invisibility of Corporate Crime:

  > media - limited coverage on corporate crime reinforces the stereotype that crime is a WC phenomenon

  > lack of political will - politicians focus on street crime

  > complex crimes - law enforces are often understaffed, under-resourced and lack expertise to investigate effectively

  > de-labelling - corporate offences are often labelled as civil, not criminal

  > under reporting - individuals may be unaware that they have been victimised or may feel powerless against a corporation
• Gender - Trends:

  > 4 out of 5 convicted offenders are male

  > one of the most common crimes committed by women is shoplifting

  > a higher proportion of males are convicted of violent or sexual offences
• Why Women Appear to Commit Less Crime:

  > chivalry thesis (Pollak)
• Chivalry Thesis - Pollak:

  > women are less likely to be prosecuted as the CJS is lenient towards them

  > most criminal justice agents (police and judges) are men, who are socialised to act in a 'chivalrous' way towards women - men have a protective attitude towards women so are less willing to arrest, charge, prosecute or convict them

  > statistics give an invalid picture that under-represents female crime
• Evidence for the Chivalry Thesis:

  > women are more likely to be cautioned rather than prosecuted - according to the Ministry of Justice in 2007, 49% of females recorded as offending received a caution, compared to 30% of males

  > Hood's study of 3000 defendants - women are one third less likely to be jailed than men in similar circumstances
• Evidence against the Chivalry Thesis:

  > Buckle and Farrington - observational study of shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females despite statistics being equal, suggesting female shoplifters are more likely to be prosecuted

  > Box - if women appear to be treated more leniently, it may be because their offences are less serious

  > women also seem more likely to show remorse, so they receive a caution instead of going to court
• Why Women Commit Less Crime than Men:

  > functionalist sex role theory

  > patriarchal control

  > class and gender deals

  > liberation thesis
• Gender - Functionalist Sex Role Theory:

  > Parsons - women perform the expressive role of socialisation - girls have an adult role model present, but boys reject feminine models of behaviour - men's instrumental role performed outside the home

  > boys distance themselves from femininity by engaging in compensatory compulsory masculinity through aggression and anti-social behaviour in male street gangs
• Gender - Patriarchal Control:

  > Heidensohn - women commit fewer crimes because patriarchal control over women reduces their opportunities to offend

  > control at home - women's domestic role, men's threat of domestic violence, daughters cannot stay out late so develop a bedroom culture

  > control in public - fear of male sexual violence, media reporting of rape frightens women into staying inside, avoid going into pubs alone

  > control at work - glass ceiling prevents women from rising into senior positions where there are more opportunities for white collar crime
• Gender - Class and Gender Deals:

  > Carlen - most convicted female criminals are WC

  > humans are offered a 'deal' in return for conforming to society's rules, or they will commit crime - WC women are led to conform through the class or gender deal

  > class deal - working will earn women a good standard of living

  > gender deal - women who conform to the conventional domestic gender role will gain material and emotional rewards through family life

  > the WC women in his study had always been in poverty and abused by fathers or partners - gained nothing from either deal, so turned to crime
• Gender - Liberation Thesis:

  > Adler - as women become liberated from patriarchy, their offending will become similar to men's

  > patriarchal controls and discrimination have lessened and opportunities have become more equal - women have begun to adopt traditional male roles in both legitimate (work) and illegitimate (crime) spheres e.g. there are more women in senior positions in criminal networks
• Why Men Commit Crime:

  > hegemonic masculinity

  > postmodernity, masculinity and crime

  > bodily capital
• Gender - Hegemonic Masculinity (1):

  > Messerschmidt - masculinity is a social construct that men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting to others

  > different masculinities coexist in society, but hegemonic masculinity is the most dominant form - achieved through work in the paid labour market, the subordination of women and heterosexism

  > some men have subordinated masculinities because they have no desire to accomplish it (gay men) or lack the resources (WC/ethnic minorities)
• Gender - Hegemonic Masculinity (2):

  > Messerschmidt sees crime as a resource that different men use to accomplish masculinity:

  > white WC youths have less chance of educational success, so have an oppositional masculinity both in and out of school, constructed around sexism and opposing authority

  > black WC youths may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity

  > MC males may commit corporate crime to accomplish hegemonic masculinity
• Gender - Postmodernity, Masculinity and Crime:

  > globalisation has led to the loss of traditional manual jobs, where WC men were able to express their masculinity through physical labour and providing for their families

  > globalisation has opened up new types of jobs where men can still express their masculinity through the expansion in night-time leisure economy - combination of legal employment, criminal opportunities and a means of expressing masculinity
• Gender - Bodily Capital:

  > in the night-time economy, violence becomes a way of displaying masculinity and a commodity with which to earn a living e.g. many bouncers seek to develop their physical assets through bodybuilding - reputation and employability depends on their body capital

  > 'looking the part' discourages competitors from challenging them
• Ethnicity - Trends:

  > black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people and Asian people are more than three times more likely

  > black people are three and a half times more likely to be arrested
• Ethnic Minorities appear to Commit More Crime:

  > there are real ethnic differences in offending

  > ethnic differences are socially constructed

  > more recent approaches
• Ethnicity - Real Ethnic Differences (left realism):

  > Lea and Young - ethnic differences in stats reflect real differences in offending

  > racism has led to economic exclusion and marginalisation

  > media emphasis on consumerism also promote a sense of relative deprivation by setting goals that are unrealistic for disadvantaged groups due to discrimination
• Ethnicity - Ethnic Differences are Socially Constructed (1):

  > Gilroy argues that black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes, as a product of labelling

  > EM 'crime' is a form of political resistance against racism e.g. 2011 UK Riots, but this struggle against oppression has been criminalised
• Ethnicity - Ethnic Differences are Socially Constructed (2):

  > Hall adopts a Neo-Marxist perspective - the 1970s saw a moral panic over black muggers that was used to serve the interests of capitalism

  > normally, the RC are able to rule through consent, but due to high unemployment and rising protest, the RC had to use force - has to be seen as legitimate or it will be resisted

  > no evidence of an increase in mugging but was soon associated with black youths in the media - served as a scapegoat to distract from unemployment causes by a crisis in capitalism - divided the WC
• Ethnicity - More Recent Approaches - Neighbourhood:

  > Fitzgerald - examined the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining the greater involvement of black youths in street robbery

  > rates were highest in poor areas, where deprived young people came into contact with more affluent groups

  > young black people were more likely to live in these areas