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AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
- A2 AQA Sociology – Crime and Deviance.......................................................................... A2 AQA Sociology – Crime and Deviance
- The Nature of Crime, Deviance and Social Control.................................................................................
- Defining Crime and Deviance ..............................................................................................................
- Contexts and Diversity of Deviance .....................................................................................................
- The Relativity of Crime and Deviance..................................................................................................
- Social Control .......................................................................................................................................
- Crime Statistics........................................................................................................................................
- The Volume of Crime ...........................................................................................................................
- Trends in Crime ...................................................................................................................................
- The British Crime Survey (BCS)...........................................................................................................
- Social Characteristics of Offenders ......................................................................................................
- Self-report studies ................................................................................................................................
- Media Representations of Crime
- Media Images of Crime
- Pattern of Crime News
- Explaining Media Representations of Crime .......................................................................................
- The Media and Perceptions of Crime ...................................................................................................
- Explaining Crime and Deviance: Functionalism, Strain Theory and Subcultural Theory ......................
- Normalising the Criminal ....................................................................................................................
- Functionalism and Crime.....................................................................................................................
- Strain Theory (Robert K. Merton)
- Subcultural Theory.............................................................................................................................
- Delinquency and Drift........................................................................................................................
- White-Collar Crime
- Interactionism and Labelling Theory
- The Interactionist Approach
- Labelling Theory
- Deviancy Amplification
- Marxism and Radical Criminology
- Traditional Marxist Approaches
- Radical Criminology........................................................................................................................... AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
- Right Realism and Social Control..........................................................................................................
- Recent Developments in the Sociology of Crime
- The Right Realist Approach
- Social Control
- Social Order and Crime Prevention
- Evaluation of Right Realism
- Left Realism
- The Victims
- The Offenders.....................................................................................................................................
- Dealing with Crime
- Evaluation of Left Realism
- Ethnicity and Crime...............................................................................................................................
- The Ethnicity and Crime Debate
- Ethnicity and Offending
- Racism and the Criminal Justice System
- Ethnicity and Victimisation
- Gender and Crime..................................................................................................................................
- The Gender and Crime Debate
- Gender and Offending
- Feminist Perspectives
- Crime and Masculinities
- Gender and the Criminal Justice System
- Gender and Victimisation
- Suicide
- Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
- Suicide – an Interpretivist View
- Suicide – a Realist Approach
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Link from Power and Politics Unit: Althusser (1971) a Marxist, made the distinction between repressive and ideological state apparatus. He saw the police and judiciary as repressive state apparatus which maintained the position of the ruling class; whereas, he saw ideological state apparatus (education, religion and media) as legitimising the position of the bourgeoisie.
Crime Statistics
Two main crime surveys –
- policed recorded crime – based on police records
- British Crime Survey (BCS) – based on interviews with a representative sample of adults.
The Volume of Crime
2002/3 – 6,468,000 cases of record crime in the UK (Social Trends, 2004) These statistics do not represent the total volume of crime. There is a so called “dark” or “hidden” figure of unrecorded crime. Over 30% of offences reported to the police in 2002/3 were not recorded (Simmons and Dodd, 2003) Reporting (and non-reporting) of Crime – over 80% of all recorded crimes result from reports by the public (Bottomley and Coleman, 1981). Some types of crime are more likely to be reported than others. For example, 97% of vehicle thefts were reported to the police in 2002/3. This compares with estimates which suggest that only a third of incidents of vandalism and theft from the person are reported (Social Trends, 2004) There are many reasons why crimes are not reported to police:
- lack of awareness that a crime has taken place (i.e. fraud)
- victim is powerless or frightened (i.e. child abuse, domestic violence)
- the offence seems to trivial (i.e. vandalism)
- there is no apparent victim (i.e. prostitution)
- the view that the police will not act on a report
- the matter is dealt with privately Crime statistics rely heavily on the public incidents to the police. Since some crimes are more likely to be reported than others, official statistics will not reflect an overall pattern of crime. Holdaway (1988) – “Official statistics of crime are not so much the facts about crime, as the end product of a complex series of decisions”
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Trends in Crime
Since the mid-1990s the proportion of crime reported to police has remained more or less the same at 44% of all crime , much higher than in the early 1980s (Simmons and Dodd, 2003). A number of reasons have been suggested for this:
- Increased telephone (and mobile phone) ownership
- Growth of reported burglary between 1981 and 1993 may be related to an increase in valuable goods in the home (TVs, videos etc.). More insurance policies now cover house contents and insurance companies require a police report when a crime has been committed (Mayhew et al., 1994)
- People are less willing to tolerate certain types of crime. For example, violent crime – recorded incidents of robbery, rape and theft from the person more than doubled between 1991 and 2000/01 (Maguire, 2002)
- Break-up of close knit-communities may result in people being more inclined to bring in the police to deal with incidents rather than sorting things out themselves (Maguire, 2002)
The British Crime Survey (BCS)
The British Crime survey is a victim study , based on a representative sample of adults living in private households in England and Wales – 75% response rate 2002/. Some offences are excluded:
- Murder
- ‘Victimless crimes’ (drug possession or dealing)
- Fraud
- Offences against non-domestic targets such as businesses
- Sexual offences Only 29% of all BCS crimes were actually recorded by the police and entered the official statistics of police recorded crime (Simmons and Dodd, 2003) Trends – from 1981 to 1995, BCS estimates show a steady rise in crime. Since then there has been a steady fall – by 2002/03, the estimates were only slightly above the 1983 level. Evaluation – for the crime it covers, the BCS provides a more accurate picture of the extent of crime and of trends in crime than police recorded crime, for two main reasons:
- BCS estimates include unreported and unrecorded crime
- Trends identified are not affected by changes in recording practices, unlike the trends from police records. There are some disadvantages:
- Only ¾ of BCS crimes can be directly compared to police recorded crime.
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
acts is a ‘normal’ part of growing up for most boys. However, frequent law breaking is relatively rare (Hood and Sparks, 1970). Gender – reflect official statistics, more men commit crimes than women Social Class – the lower a person’s social class, the more likely they are to commit a crime; this reflects the picture given in official statistics (Coleman and Moynihan, 1996). Age – crime ‘is a younger person’s game’. However, young people are more likely offend in public and in groups so they are more visible and more like to be apprehended. Self report studies traditionally have focused on crime committed by young working-class males, particularly street crime. They tend to omit ‘hidden crimes’ and adult crimes such as domestic violence. They are unlikely to include fraud, often committed by middle-class, middle-aged men. Therefore, self-report studies only give a partial view of crime.
Media Representations of Crime
Media Images of Crime
A study comparing the top ten national daily newspapers looked at the proportion of space given to crime. In 1989, 12.7% of events reported were about crime. The proportion of space given was greater the more down-market the paper: The Guardian – 5.1% The Sun – 30.4 % Williams and Dickinson, 1993 Another study found broadcast news devoted even more time to crime than the press, with commercial stations containing a higher proportion of crime features than the BBC (Cumberbatch et al., 1995). Studies indicate that the proportion of news devoted to crime has increased over the last 50 years. Daily Mirror and The Times 1945 – 8% Crime Daily Mirror and The Times 1991 – 21% Crime Reiner at al., 2000
Pattern of Crime News
The coverage of violent and sexual crimes is significantly greater than the incidence in all statistics. Homicide accounts for one-third of all crime news. Williams and Dickinson (1993) study of ten national newspapers in 1989 found that 64.5% of crime stories dealt with violence against the person. According to BCS, only 6% of crimes reported by victims in 1989 were violent. The media usually presents a positive picture of the criminal justice system. There are stories exposing police corruption and malpractice but they tend to focus on the failings of the individual
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
rather than the criminal justice system as a whole (Chibnall, 1977). When the system is clearly to blame, the media usually report that reforms have been made. Again, the legitimacy of the criminal justice system is safeguarded. Link from Power and Politics Unit Miliband (1969) believes the elites in the government, judiciary and business are related by marriage and kinship and work together to maintain the capitalist system. Crime and Reality TV- has blurred the boundaries of news and fiction. For example, Crimewatch UK, focuses on murder, armed robbery with violence and sexual crimes (Dobash et al., 1998) much like the news. Crime Fiction – staple ingredient of media fiction:
- between ¼ and 1/3 of paperback novels could be categorised as crime (Mandel, 1984)
- Since 1945, 20% of films crime movies and 50% have significant crime content (Allen et al., 1997)
- Since 1955, some 25% of the most popular British TV programmes have been crime or police series (Reiner et. al., 2000)
Explaining Media Representations of Crime
News values, journalists are taught what makes a good new story:
- Novelty, freshness, and surprise
- Drama and excitement
- Titillation
- A focus on personalities (Chibnall, 1977) It is therefore no surprise that the news concentrates on violent and sexual crimes. Sources of Crime News – the police and courts are the main source of crime news. Journalists are therefore largely dependent on official sources for their information. These sources have become primary definers – they define what counts as crime, what counts as justice , and what crimes are significant. And in doing so, they reflect the concerns of the powerful – the agents of social control and the state (Hall et al., 1978). Link from Power and Politics Unit Once again you could link this to Althusser (1971) and his theory of ‘state apparatus’ – see Page 3
The Media and Perceptions of Crime
In the BCS, between 2001 and 2003 an increasing proportion of respondents believed that the national crime had risen ‘a lot’:
- 2001 – 25%
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Strain Theory (Robert K. Merton)
American culture attaches great importance to success – success is measured in terms of money and material possessions. There are norms which define legitimate means for achieving success. These legitimate means include gaining skills and qualifications and career advancement. The American Dream states that anybody can make it to the top if they try hard enough. Anomie (normlessness) – so much emphasis is placed on material possessions that many people experience pressure to deviate from accepted norms and values. Deviance occurs when they reject the goal of success and/or the legitimate means of reaching that goal. Social Structure – Despite what the American Dream says, not everybody has an equal chance of success. The social structure prevents equal opportunity. The strain to anomie is most strongly felt by those at the bottom of the class structure. Adaptations – Merton identifies five possible adaptations or responses to the strain to anomie in American society:
- Conformity - aim for success, follow rules
- Innovation – aim for success, reject rules
- Ritualism – reject furthering success, but follow rules
- Retreatism – reject goal, reject rules
- Rebellion – replace goals, replace rules with own norms Evaluation of Strain Theory – strain theory is an early attempt to explain crime and deviance sociologically, offering an explanation of working class crime. However, it does not answer some questions: Why do some people, but not others adopt deviant adaptations? Strain theory focuses on individuals rather than groups, crime and deviance are often collective activities Crime and deviance is not always motivated by a desire for monetary gain. How can activities such as vandalism and fighting between rival groups be explained with Merton’s strain theory?
Subcultural Theory
Cohen (1955) – examined delinquent gangs in low-income, inner-city areas. Cohen agreed with Merton that the mainstream value of success creates problems for young working class males. Many do badly at school and fail to acquire the skills and qualifications needed for success. Status Frustration – defined as failures by the wider society many-class class adolescents experience status frustration. Subcultural Solution – faced by a common problem of adjustment, a problem they share, some working class adolescents develop a deviant solution. They create their own subculture with their pwn
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
norms and values which differ from those of mainstream society. This is where collective deviance activities come in – gang members require an audience to gain respect. The ‘successful’ delinquents gain status in the eyes of their peers and subculture.
Non-utilitarian crime – if status frustration is the main problem, then criminal activity to achieve monetary may not be necessary. Vandalism, joy-riding, fighting, anti-social behaviour can bring respect from their subculture’s members as well as fighting against the society that has rejected them.
Cloward and Ohlin (1961) – Opportunity Structures
Cloward and Ohlin argue that both Merton and Cohen fail to explain why delinquent subcultures take different forms – why some focus on violence and others theft.
They believe different social environments provide different opportunities for crime and deviance, which in turn, encourage the development of different delinquent subcultures:
The Criminal Subculture – develop in areas where there is a well-established pattern of adult crime. The Conflict Subculture – areas of illegitimate opportunity structure and high population turnover and low social cohesion. Little opportunity for established criminal groups so groups turn to violence. The Retreatist Subculture – emerges among those who have failed to succeed either by legitimate means or as members of a criminal or conflict subculture. Sometimes these ‘failures’ form retreatist subcultures based on illegal drug use.
Evaluation – Cloward and Ohlin tend to box off the subcultures and do not acknowledge overlaps. For example, gangs can be involved violence but still make money from dealing drugs. Also people in retreatist subcultures can also successfully deal drugs as well (Winlow, 2001)
Lower Class Subculture – Miller (1958) sees society as consisting of different social classes with their own distinct set of values. Miller argues that there is a distinctive lower-class subculture which is passed from generation to generation.
Link from Families and Households Parsons (1955) – the importance of primary socialisation (at home) in reproducing the norms and values of society (although in this case, lower class subculture) and developing the stable adult personalities, so that children could function properly in society.
Focal concerns – lower-class subculture has number of major interests:
- excitement and thrills
- emphasis on toughness
- concern with ‘smartness’ - (conning and outwitting others)
Evaluation – it’s unlikely that lower class young men are as insulated from the wider society and its values as Miller suggests (Bordua, 1962).
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
White-Collar Crime
Sutherland (1949) – white collar crime is: “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation” He challenged the view that crime was a mainly working class thing, claiming that the cost of white- collar crime was probably many times greater than the cost of working class crime. Today, many researchers make a distinction between two types of white collar crime:
- occupational crime – crimes committed at the expense of the organisation
- corporate crime – crimes committed on behalf of the organisation Crimes against Consumers – Ford Pinto defect in the USA in 1970s, led to between 500 and 900 deaths but Ford were fully aware of the problems (Box, 1983). Crimes against Employees – between 1965 and mid-1990s in the UK, 25,000 people were killed at work. The HSE estimated 70% of these deaths were due to the failure of management to meet safety regulations (Hughes and Langan, 2001). Views of White-Collar Crime Compared to more visible crime white collar crime is often seen and treated differently by the public, police and judiciary. Hughes and Langan (2001) , attribute this to four factors:
- Low Visibility - White collar crime hidden from public gaze
- Complexity – hard to allocate blame in large, complicated organisations
- Diffusion of responsibility – responsibility is often diffused
- Diffusion of victimisation – often crimes without victims. But environmental pollution can affect thousands of people. And we all have to pay for white collar crime – in higher process, insurance premiums and taxed (Hughes and Langan, 2001). Regulating Corporate Crime Lower rate of detection and prosecution, and more lenient punishments (Croall, 2001). Explaining White-Collar Crime Strain Theory revisited – like those in the working class, employees may seek to improve their success by ‘innovating’. The desired result may be obtained by fraud or by ignoring health and safety and environmental regulations (Box, 1983).
Interactionism and Labelling Theory
The Interactionist Approach
Blumer (1969) – behaviour not determined by social forces but meanings. These meanings are continually modified as people negotiate with each other.
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Labelling Theory
Becker (1963) – social groups create deviance by creating rules whose infraction constitutes deviance. Society creates rules; deviance is not a distinctive behaviour but behaviour which is seen to contravene these rules. Labelling – acts labelled as deviant tend to be committed by certain types of people. The police tend to target specific groups. Police tend to stop young men who are unemployed and from generally discriminated against ethnic minorities (Reiner, 1994). Cicourel’s (1976) study of police and juvenile offices in California illustrates this point. Both held a similar picture of a typical delinquent. As a result young people who fitted this picture were likely to be arrested and handed over to the juvenile officers, thus adding to the stereotype by being included in statistics. Primary and Secondary Deviance Lemert (1972) : Primary – acts which have not been publicly labelled. Secondary – have been publicly labelled as deviant.
Deviancy Amplification
Cohen (1987) looked at disturbances between mods and rockers and the societal reaction to them. The media represented these disturbances as a confrontation between rival gangs ‘hell bent on destruction. In reality, many of the people attending did not identify with either group and the violence was not widespread. Deviancy Amplification Spiral – media coverage led to considerable public concern about mods and rockers. This set into motion a deviancy amplification spiral. Sensitised to the ‘problem’ police made more arrests and the media reported more deviance, and young people were more likely to identify with either the mods or rockers. More arrests, increased media attention, more young people reacting to ‘heavy handed’ police. Moral Panics when something is defined to be a threat to societal values and interests. Examples of moral panics: Mods and Rockers Mugging Football Hooliganism (Cohen, 1987) Child Abuse Paedophilia Violent Films and Video Games
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Recent Developments in the Sociology of Crime
Realist approaches are a reaction to both labelling theory and radical criminology.
The Right Realist Approach
Wilson (1975) was an American New Right theorist. Right realists question the view that economics factors such as poverty and unemployment are responsible for the rising crime rate. Explaining Rising Crime Wilson and Hernstein (1985) – ‘crime is disproportionately committed by young men living in large cities’; they saw young men as ‘temperamentally aggressive’. They believe that society now emphasises immediate gratification , low impulse control and fewer restraints on self expression. Due to their socialisation and this culture they are less likely to conform to society’s norms and values and more likely to commit crime. Wilson and Hernstein argue that the crime rate will change with changes in the costs and benefits of crime, particularly property crime.
Social Control
Right realists argue that people are more likely to commit crimes when the social constraints on their behaviour are weakened. Social control is about preventing people committing crimes. Hirschi (1969) – none of us are immune to the temptations of crime, what stop us is strong social bonds that link us together. Social bonds consist of four main elements:
- attachment (to institutions like the family and school)
- commitment (to teachers and parents)
- involvement (in family life and learning)
- belief (we have too much to lose in committing a crime) Links from Theories and Methodology Durkheim (1964) – social solidarity, value consensus Giddens (2001) - social exclusion biggest threat to society Hirschi supports this with a study of 4,000 12-17 year olds in California in which he found that links with parents and teachers were more important than economic factors. Social Control and the Underclass Murray (1990) claims that an underclass is emerging in modern Western societies, the underclass are not defined by their wealth or position on the class structure but by their behaviour: Unwillingness to take jobs available to them Births outside marriage leading indicator of underclass
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Inadequate Socialisation - Many of these young men have grown up without a father and male wage earner, therefore, lack a male role model. Link from Families and Households Parsons (1955) – the importance of primary socialisation Murray (1996) - recommends penalising births outside marriage and reaffirming “the value of marriage and the nuclear family”
Social Order and Crime Prevention
Rational Choice Theory Wilson and Hernstein (1985) – an important element of crime is choice. They picture the individual weighing up the costs and benefits or whether or not to commit a crime. They call for measures to increase the ‘costs’ and likelihood of being caught: Surveillance Target Hardening Informal Social Controls Wilson and Kelling (2003) argue that crime and social disorder and closely connected. Leaving broken windows un-mended and ignoring anti-social behaviour can result in a vicious circle. The role of the police is to prevent an area from deteriorating by clamping down on the first signs of petty crime and disorderly behaviour. Since the police have limited resources, they should look to contain crime in inner-city areas but concentrate on areas where it is still possible to regenerate communities. The most that can be done to contain crime in inner cities is – longer prison sentences for “wicked people” (Wilson, 1975).
Evaluation of Right Realism
Right realists make an important point that rising living standards have gone hand in hand with growing crime rates since the 1960s. However, this does not mean social inequality ceases to be an important factor, it could be due to relative deprivation – the gap between the rich and poor has widened over the last 25 years. Right realists focus on young males and street crime, but are they really the most dangerous and harmful to society? Or should corporate crime and domestic crime be given more prevalence? Wilson (1975) argues in favour of harsher prison sentences but this is expensive and there is no evidence that it works (Walklate, 2003). The main concern of Right Realists is to maintain social order, for some their ideas are a culture of control. Widespread use of surveillance techniques intrudes people’s privacy (Hughes, 2000).
Left Realism
AQA A2 Sociology – Crime and Deviance Revision
Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
Suicide – an Interpretivist View
Suicide – a Realist Approach
