unit 2 social construction of criminality: time

Question 1

how has homosexuality changed overtime?

Answer 1

made a crime in 1885 - legalised in 1967 in england and wales between men over 21 in a private home, 18 in 1994, 16 in 2000

Question 2

what is one reason?

Answer 2

wolfenden report: private acts between men over 21 be legalised in 1957

Question 3

another reason?

Answer 3

campaigns: successful campaigns by homosexual law reform society, stonewall, and campaign for homosexual equality

Question 4

another reason?

Answer 4

politicians: roy jenkins, home secretary, and others

Question 5

final reason?

Answer 5

human rights: belief that the state has no right to control citizen’s private lives

Question 6

how has drug laws changed overtime in portugal?

Answer 6

from 2001 possession became a civil offence if quantity less than 10 day personal supply

Question 7

what is one reason?

Answer 7

revolution: in 1975 changed from dictatorship to democracy - increased openness led to influx in drugs

Question 8

another reason?

Answer 8

public health: state sees drug use as a public health issue and focuses on harm reduction

Question 9

another reason?

Answer 9

scale of the problem: sudden and rapid growth in the problem since 1975 - 1/100 of the population addicted by 1990’s

Question 10

final reason?

Answer 10

economy: belief that new law would reduce costs of drug use by 18%

Question 11

how has physical punishment changed overtime?

Answer 11

death penalty offences reduced until it remained for just murder and treason, capital punishment abolished in 1965, corporal punishment abolished in 1967

Question 12

what is one reason?

Answer 12

human rights: capital punishment is a breach of the right to life

Question 13

another reason?

Answer 13

miscarriages of justice: if a person is wrongfully found guilty and executed, nothing can be done to correct it

Question 14

another reason?

Answer 14

not a deterrent: most murders are committed in the heat of the moment without thought of possible punishment

Question 15

final reason?

Answer 15

decline in violence: norbert elias argues society ha undergone a civilising process in the last 500 years - physical punishment has been replaced by self-control

Question 16

how has gun control laws changed ovetime?

Answer 16

following hungerford shooting in 1987 and dunblane in 1996 laws governing access to firearms were tightened. all handguns are now banned in the uk

Question 17

what is one reason?

Answer 17

GCN campaign: set up by lawyers, academics, and parents of victims to campaign or tighter gun control laws

Question 18

final reason?

Answer 18

snowdrop campaign: started by bereaved dunblane parents and their friends, organised a petition and collected 750,000 signatures calling for a change in the law

Question 19

what is capital punishment?

Answer 19

execution by hanging

Question 20

what is corporal punishments?

Answer 20

included flogging, birching, branding and being put in the stocks

Question 21

how has laws relating to children changed overtime?

Answer 21

children today are seen as innocent and needing protection but they used to be treated the same as adults in work and by the law

Question 22

children and work?

Answer 22

in 19th century young children worked - a series of factory acts gradually excluded them from the workplace

Question 23

compulsory schooling?

Answer 23

introduced in 1880 ensured basic education and kept children out of the workplacer

Question 24

child protection and on welfare?

Answer 24

2004 children act made child’s welfare fundamental principle underpinning the work of social services

Question 25

children’s rights?

Answer 25

parent now have responsibilities rather than rights - UN convention on the child lays down basic rights for children

Question 26

laws and policies that only apply to children?

Answer 26

such as minimum ages for a wide range of activities from sex to smoking reinforce the idea that children are different to adults and subject to different rules