Crime

• STATISTICS:

  • Only 1% of prisoners come from class 1 and 14% come from classes 1 — 1 & 2 combined
  • 5% of the population is unemployed whereas 67% of prisoners were unemployed before prison
  • 15% of the population have no qualifications but 53% of male and 71% of female prisoners have no qualifications
  • The working class are more likely to be victims of crime + fear it
• Who are the 5 studies that give reasons for why there is a social inequality within crime?

  1. Lea & Young -- the WC are more likely to be victims of burglary
  2. Merton -- efforts to achieve "culturally defined goals"
  3. Miller -- WC join subcultures out of boredom
  4. Cohen -- "status frustration"
  5. Sutherland -- criminal justice system ignores white-collar crime
• Lea & Young

  • Calculated that unskilled workers are twice as likely to be burgled as other working-class members. This is because the poorer the area the higher the rates of burglary and assault due to problems associated with social deprivation.
• Which sociologists found that poorer areas had higher rates of burglary and assault?

  Lea & Young
• Merton

  • Claims that individuals in society are trying to achieve the “culturally defined goals” — eg a good job, a nice house, holidays etc. However when people can't achieve these goals they experience “strain” — and turn to a life of crime to achieve the goals within their means. Merton argues that this is clear in the working class.
• Which sociologist stated the reason for the social inequality within crime was because of "culturally defined goals" not being able to be achieved causing strain -- leading to crime to achieve goals?

  Merton
• Miller

  • Working-class males join subcultures out of boredom --> can lead them to take part in deviant activities. But because the working-class males are already cut off from society they are happy to break society’s norms
• Which sociologist found that the working class joined subcultures out of boredom but these subcultures led them to take part in deviant activities?

  Miller
• Cohen added to Miller's reason stating --> that young working-class boys experience status frustration when they do not gain respect from adults in society and, therefore, join deviant subcultures to gain status and respect from peers
• Which sociologist added to Miller's reasoning behind the social divide within crime, mentioning status frustration led young boys to want to gain status in other ways?

  Cohen
• Sutherland

  • there is a consistent bias in the administration of criminal justice that ignores white-collar crime and focuses on crimes of the poor.
• Marxists argue that the legal system is biased towards the MC, this class commits as much crime as the WC but these crimes tend to be white collar crimes — adds that the justice system is MC so do not sentence white collar crimes as harshly
• Which sociologist mentioned that there was a bias in the administration of criminal justice?

  Sutherland