Crime&Devi

• functionalist view of crime- boundary maintenance 


  reinforces acceptable behaviour as public nature of punishment shows what happens when breaking rules.
• functionalist view of crime- adaption + change


  some social deviance is needed to allow society to move forward and progress
• functionalist view of crime- safety valve 


  some minor crime can prevent more serious crimes
• merton - strain theory


  Based on the American Dream- crime is a response to the strain placed on people to achieve the goals and values of society. 1. conformist 2. innovation 3. ritualism 4. rebellion 5. retreatism
• Hirschi - Control theory

  why people do not commit crime - belief, attachment, involvement, commitments
• Hirschi Evaluation 


  assumes all people are naturally bad and it is society that keeps them good
• Marxist theory- capitalism is...


  criminogenic because it leads to crime as it causes exploitation of working class
• Marxist theory- selective law enforcement 


  criminal justice applies laws different social groups in different ways.
• Reiman 


  ruling class are more likely to commit crime and less likely to have offence treated as a criminal one. e.g. social security fraud is committed by the poor and almost always leads to prosecution but tax evasion does not
• Marxist theory- selective law making


  laws are constructed to benefit the rich. Box argues that the rich engage in dangerous activities (often resulting in injury, death, fraud, theft) but the activities are protected under the law. Snider says governments are reluctant to pass laws which regulate activities of businesses or threaten profitability as will affect donations.
• Marxist theory- criminals are portrayed...

  as 'disturbed' by media rather than revealing the role of capitalism in making people commit crimes
• Marxist Evaluation

  ignores other causes of crime. Passive working class: suggests w/c cant help but commit crime. Crime in communist states must not happen if crime is a symptom of capitalism. Ignores victims are mostly working class
• Cohen - status frustration 


  theory that addresses questions about why groups commit crimes + why people commit non-utilitarian crime. He developed the theory of subcultures. for example, w/c boys often fail school resulting in low status. a response to this was the formulation of subcultures or gangs- what was taboo or deviant in society was praised in the subcultures.
• cohen evaluation 


  Post Modernists like Lyng and Katz argue that it is more likely that the individual is influenced by boredom or seeking a buzz.
• Cloward and Ohlin - opportunity structures


  they sought to combine the theories of Merton and Cohen to explain the different kinds of criminal subcultures they identified in contemporary America. Echoing Merton, they argued that there was a 'legitimate opportunity structure' (what Merton meant by the socially acceptable means of achieving social goals) but they also identified 'illegitimate opportunity structures' which was available through gangs.
• state crimes are...


  crimes committed by the government. Defined by Green and Ward as 'illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with, the complicity of state agencies'
• it is most likely that governments break...

  international laws, or their actions should be seen in terms of transgressive criminology (causing harm rather than breaking laws)
• state crimes can include...

  corruption, discrimination, funding terrorism, funding organised crime, war crimes, torture, assassination, genocide.
• transgressive criminology and human rights abuses

  considering transgressive crime enables criminologists to consider corporate crime, state crime, and green crime in a broad way. Moreover, the Human Rights Act (1998) allows for individuals within the UK to be given a set of legal rights that mirror those of the European Convention of Human Rights. Examples of human rights abuse include the widespread use of torture and also the repression of homosexuals in many countries.
• Human rights abuse: Guantanamo Bay


  in the years following the 9/11 attacks, there has been many allegations that the US abused the human rights of terrorist suspects in their detention centre in Guantanamo Bay. Suspects were detained without receiving any sort of trail for many years. Techniques of 'enhanced interrogation' were used in the prisons which many categorise as torture.
• spiral of denial - Cohen 


  identified a spiral of denial that states use when accused of human rights abuse. 'it didn't happen' is the first reaction- denying that anything occurred. This lasts until evidence is shown to prove that it did occur. 'It's not how it looks' - once evidence is provided, the next stage is to question a particular version of events. 'It had to be this way' is the final stage. Admitting to the abuse but justifying it, suggesting it was the fault of the victims or that there was no other way.
• the hypodermic syringe model of media influence suggests that...


  the audience receives media messages and is directly and passively influenced by them, rather than actively engaging with them (theory influenced by studies of the impact of Nazi propaganda)
• examples of the hypodermic syringe of media influence

  Bandura's Bobo doll experiment, Jamie Bulger (boys had watched child's play series of horror films), Columbine massacre (listened to violent songs).
• evaluating media as a cause of crime

  thousands of people watch violent shows without going on to commit crimes. Therefore, media cannot be the only cause of crime. Pluralists and Post Modernists argue that audiences are more active than suggested by the hypodermic syringe model. They suggest that audiences choose what they wish to engage with it.
• Media and Deviancy Amplification 


  interactionalists like Cohen argue that media amplifies crime through the process of labelling and creating folk devils and moral panic.
• Deviancy amplification example

  • 2011 riots
• Riots(deviancy amplification)

  Response to police shooting of Mark Duggan
• Complete media coverage(deviancy amplification)


  Riots would have been contained to the location of origin if not for the constant media reports
• Folk devils(deviancy amplification)


  Young gang members
• Fewer than 15% of those processed by the criminal justice system were in gangs
• Moral panic(deviancy amplification)


  Young people were feral, lawless and had no respect for the communities they lived in, nor for the police
• Media coverage(deviancy amplification)


  People found it appealing to get involved
• the new media and crime


  the development of new media, especially social media and internet has led to a whole new category of crime. This also shows how globalisation has changed crime
• new media examples

  identity theft, cyber-bulling, fraud, terrorism
• green crime


  refers to crimes committed against the environment. Green criminologists are transgressive criminologists in that not all the activities would be of interest of traditional criminologists: activities that cause harm, but do not necessarily break laws.
• green crime and globalisation


  while some environmental crimes are local in character (such as fly-tipping), many cross national borders (such as pollution). This links to post-modernist Beck's idea of global risk society; he points to issues like global warming and the way they pose a risk to the whole world. He argues that many of these risks are manufactured risks that have been created by the way we organise society
• anthropocentric perception of harm

  considers harm to the environment from the perspective of humanity. Pollution is a problem because it damages human water supply or causes diseases that are expensive to overcome; globalisation is a problem because it impacts people and the economic cost of dealing with it
• ecocentric perspective of harm

  does not distinguish between humans and the rest of the ecosystem; sees harm to any aspect of the environment as harm to all of it. Therefore, crimes like animal cruelty or the destruction of habitats are green crime
• Nigel South- primary green crime


  crimes that are committed directly against the environment or acts that cause harm to the environment e.g. pollution, animal cruelty, deforestation
• Nigel South- secondary green crime


  further crime that grows out of flouting rules relating to the environment e.g. violence against environmental groups (e.g. french attack on the green peace ship), bribery / organised crime to avoid environmental regulations