Sociologycrimeanddeviance 120705044108-phpapp02

Crime is behaviour that

breaks the formal written laws

of a society. If someone

commits a crime they can be

arrested, charged and

prosecuted. Actions can be

illegal but not deviant.

Deviance is behaviour which

does not comply with the

dominant norms of a specific

society. If people are seen as

deviant it can lead to

negative sanctions such as

being told off or ridiculed.

Gary, walked through his local

library whilst talking loudly on

his mobile phone.

This is legally deviant as he is

not breaking any law, he is just

acting socially unacceptable.

Robert, punched a pregnant

lady in the face.

This is illegally deviant as he

committed an assault, the

fact that he punched a

pregnant lady also makes the

mater worse.

Sam, illegally downloads

thousands of songs for her

mp3 player.

Sam is a criminal as she is

breaking the copyright act. She is

not a deviant as what she is doing

is not hurting anyone.

VALUE; In Arab culture family honour is

dependant on female purity.

CRIMINAL Social Code DEVIANT

Public nudity Separation of sexes

Taking photos of

womenSex outside marriage Modesty in dress

Homosexuality Marriage

Talking to random

women in the streetJobs for women at

home or in the care

industry - Nurses,

Teachers

Showing thighs,

shoulders, cleavage

and midriffPublic displays of

affection

Official Statistics; a set of statistics generated from data

gathered by the government or

other official organisations. Often

used as secondary data in social

research.

REASONS WHY NOT ALL CRIMES ARE

INCLUDED IN THE OFFICIAL CRIME STATISTICS

Detection; Is a crime detected? If a crime

is observed and identified as a crime, the

police may be informed. However, if the

crime has not been detected it cannot be

reported to the police neither can it be

included in official statistics. This is the

reason many crimes occur but go

undetected.

WHY DO NOT ALL

VICTIMS OF CRIME

REPORT CRIME?

Blackmail

Embarrassment

Fear

Lack of confidence in

force

Hassle

Victim of crime is

criminal themselves

Victim suffered no loss

Victim does not

consider crime worthy

Victim feels crime is too

personal

Institutional crime may

be swept under carpet

due to fear of bad press.

Victim Surveys

Surveys the public asking them to report

any crimes committed against them and

whether or not they reported these crimes.

Advantages Disadvantages

May uncover hidden

figure of crimeNot all crimes reported

Local geo-graphic data

generated

Participants may lie

In some cases victims

can not be questioned

British Crime Survey

A victim survey conducted annually by a

team of researchers at the Home Office.

The BCS measures the amount of crime in

England and Wales by asking the public

about their experiences with crime over the

last year.

Self Report Surveys

Self Report Surveys of the population

which ask them to confess to crime they

have committed but for which they were

not caught.

Advantages Disadvantages

May uncover the hidden

figure of crime

Participants may lie

They can not do anything

about the crimes

respondents were not

caught for.

DESPERATION

Nature

In 1876, Lombroso conducted research into

large numbers of prisoners. He believed that

criminals could be identified by visual traits as

they were less evolved than ‘normal’ citizens.

This theory is no longer accepted.

Hormones; Stress caused by menstruation can

cause women to act irrationally, 80% of female

offenders committed their crimes during the

menstruation period.

Relationships;

Nature

Hormones; Stress caused by menstruation can

cause women to act irrationally, 80% of female

offenders committed their crimes during the

menstruation period.

Nature

Relationships; Early childhood deprivation,

lack of emotional security and secure

attachment in childhood can lead to people

developing criminal personalities as they crave

affection and attention.

Nurture: Sociological Explanations Of Crime

Peer Groups & Subcultures; Some sociologists

pin criminal activity on influences from other

parties - mainly peers - known as peer pressure.

Being in a group gives us a sense of belonging

and acceptance, for some these feelings are

so important, so much so that they risk

breaking the law and being caught, just to remain in a certain social circle. As the

members of the group feel that illegal activities

are acceptable they are classified as a

negative subculture.


Socialisation; People who do not receive a

decent level of socialisation during their

childhood, do not know how to act

appropriately in society as they can not

comprehend the norms and values. This may

lead to them braking laws / acting deviantly

because they know no better.

Another way socialisation can affect whether

people go on to commit crimes, is if a person is

brought up with a criminal role model -

meaning they developed criminal values.


Labelling; Labelling is giving someone in

society a ‘tag’. Labelling someone a criminal /

negatively can have serious consequences on

their identity, if the label sticks and the person is

viewed as a criminal by everyone then they

may develop self-fulfilling prophecies and

break the law as it’s all they think they can

achieve.


Relative Deprivation; When a person is

brought up amongst poverty and do not own

luxuries such as a mobile phone or computer,

they may act illegally to obtain such desirables.

This is a Marxist explanation of crime as it is

caused by social inequality; the working class

seeing the rich with personal possessions and

wanting them but not being able to obtain

them legitimately.


Media; The media reports on crime in a

selective way. Amplification of deviancy is

when moral panic is created by the mass

media, which then causes a frenzy of worry,

and the police take drastic action to deal with

it, starting the cycle all over again.

INFORMAL AGENTS FORMAL AGENTS

Parents School

School Teachers Employer

Media

Legal SystemCharity Groups

Sub-cultures /

peers

Religion

Police OfficersCelebrity Role

Models

Why Males Commit More Crime Than Females

Different Socialisation Processes; Boys are more likely to be taught

values associated with toughness

and aggression. Whereas girls adopt

qualities and expectations which see

them abide by the law.


Different Opportunities to Commit Crime; Generally teenage girls are

subjected to restrictions and close

supervision and then in later life they

are usually occupied with

maintaining the home and caring for

the family.


Social Control; Men may constrain

women into ‘home’ lives limiting their

freedom due to the care of the

family being imposed on them.

The media creates expectations of

women too.


Chivalry Thesis; This is a common

belief that the male-dominated

police force and courts, are easier

on women due to them not being considered a threat. Whereas a man

may be arrested, police may let

women off with a warning.


Inaccurate Statistics; Statisticswhich show men commit more crime

than women could be

representative of the labelling of

men as criminals and police going

out to look for male offenders

ignoring female criminals.

Reasons why some ethnic groups seem to commit

more crime

Institutional Racism; Police officials

belonging to certain ethnic groups may

set out to punish members of other

ethnic groups whilst protecting their

own.


more crime

Relative Deprivation; Foreign workers

are usually left with low paying manual

jobs, thus meaning they may not be

able to afford material goods and so

obtain these desirables illegally.


more crime

Labelling; If a police officer labels a

particular ethnic group as criminals he

will go out and arrest more criminals

belonging to that ethnic group, whilst ignoring other crimes.


more crime

Racism; White police officers may

purposely prosecute or dig deeper into

crimes involving different ethnic groups

due to a racial hatred for such a group.

This may also mean they ignore cases

where a certain ethnic minority has

fallen victim eg. Steven Lawrence.


more crime

Racism; White police officers may

even frame Black or Asian criminals with

crimes they did not commit.


more crime

Media; Creates the moral panic and

then promotes labelling in the force.


more crime

Inaccuracy of Figures; The figures

could just be a reflection of racism

within the force.

Reasons why the poor commit more crime.

Poor Socialisation

Relative DeprivationAnomie; Society does not provide enough

opportunities for people to succeed,

therefore some turn their back on society

and cause trouble

Education; More likely to be in low sets, get

low paying job, struggle for money, so turn to

illegal ways of obtaining it.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME

White Colour Crime; Involves middle class

people, who commit crimes during work

hours.

4 Main Types:

Occupational Crime

Proffessional Crime

Corporate Crime

Computer Crime

WHITE COLLAR CRIME

White Colour Crime is difficult to deal with

as;

Judges Are Often From Similar Social

Backgrounds To White Collar Criminals

Compared to Burglary and Assault it is not

dangerous to the public.

There are usually no victims and no one

person is impaired

The media does not show WCC as serious

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