11. Social Class and Crime

Question 1

What are some characteristics of the prison population?

Answer 1

-Little or no academic qualifications
-High levels of illiteracy
-High levels of unemployment
-High levels of homelessness
-Likely to have been brought up in care

Question 2

What did Sutherland say about the well off?

Answer 2

The well off do commit crime but it is more likely to go undetected, unreported and unrecorded in official statistics. This is an indicative of class bias

Question 3

What happens the higher up you are in the social class hierarchy?

Answer 3

-Less likely your crimes will be detected
-Less likely to end in arrest
-Less likely to be prosecuted and found guilty
-Less likely to be given a prison sentence

Question 4

Who do the police target?

Answer 4

-Those who look stereotypically like a ‘typical criminal’ e.g young, male, lower class, black
-Those who are engaged in street crime in public places, rather than crimes of the rich

Question 5

Why is W/C crime easy to convict? (Newburn and Reiner)

Answer 5

W/C crime is more visible and therefore easy to convict and crime within the household or commercial sphere is not

Question 6

Examples of crimes committed by the W/C

Answer 6

Drug dealing, Rape, Graffiti, Assault, Pick pocketing etc

Question 7

Examples of crimes committed by the rich

Answer 7

Tax evasion, fraud, money laundering, computer hacks

Question 8

What did Croall identify about W/C areas?

Answer 8

Areas with a high concentration of w/C homes are subject to more intense policing

Question 9

Which suspects are usually targeted?

Answer 9

The ‘usual suspects’ from lower classes are taegetted

Question 10

What happens when lower classes are taken to court?

Answer 10

The lower classes are more likely to be sent to prison as they are seen as more likely to reoffend.

Question 11

What did Croall argue inprisonment is influenced by?

Answer 11

-Parental status
-Area in which convicted person lives in
-Unemployment

Question 12

What did Sutherland call crimes of the middle class?

Answer 12

White-collar crime

Question 13

What is occupational crime?

Answer 13

Crime committed by the middle class who abuse their work position for personal gain

Question 14

What is Corporate crime?

Answer 14

Crime committed by large companies which directly benefits the company resulting in increased profits.

Question 15

Why are white collar crimes underrepresented in official stats?

Answer 15

-Hard to detect; lack of awareness
-Often without individual victims
-Hard to investigate
-Rarely prosecuted
-Less likely to be found guilty if prosecuted