Age & Crime

Question 1

Subcultures- Juvenile delinquency study

Answer 1

According to Cohen, individuals do not carry out crimes by themselves; young people get involved with gangs, and to gain status, they commit crimes.

Question 2

Status frustration, related to age and crime

Answer 2

Schools set middle-class values, which makes working-class students feel alienated. Since they cannot gain status through educational achievements, they turn to criminality to gain status and “take revenge” on the people that discriminated against them.

Question 3

Peer group status & focal concerns

Answer 3

Walter Miller says that male working-class youths make up the official statistics more than females or middle-class because everyone follows their own beliefs, values, and characteristics. It was suggested that working-class males were socialized into a number of distinct values, which meant they were more likely to commit deviant behaviour.

Question 4

Delinquency and drift

Answer 4

David matza says that delinquents are committed to the same values and norms as the rest of society and that society prevents them from being delinquent most of the time. When delinquents commit crime they express regret and disapprove of crimes. The deviants drift into deviant activities through impulsivness.

Question 5

Delinquency and drift

Answer 5

Although delinquents in Matza’s theory do not approve of crime, they use techniques of neutralization to justify their behaviour.

Question 6

Techniques of Neutralisation

Answer 6

The criminal argues that they were a victim of circumstance and had no other choice but to commit the crime; that the crime was not their fault.

2. Denial of Injury
   The criminal argues that their actions didn’t harm anyone.
3. Denial of the Victim
   The criminal argues that the victim deserved to have the crime committed against them.
4. Condemnation of the Condemners
   The criminal argues that it is unfair for them to be blamed for the crime and that they are being persecuted or punished out of spite.
5. Appeal to Higher Loyalties
   The criminal argues that their actions, although illegal, were justified, or even positive; for the greater good.

Sykes and Matza