Crime And Deviance Flashcards by Brandy Asem

Lombroso (Positivism)

Features: sloping forehead, long arms, large ears, asymmetrical face, likes tattoos

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Durkheim (Functionalism)

Positive functions of crime
-boundary maintenance (punishment reinforces norms and values) exa: Sarah everard case
-adaptation and change (deviant acts move society forwards) eg stonewall riots

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Polsky/Davis (Functionalism)

Positive crime:
Safety valve-Prostitution allows men to express sexual frustration without threatening the nuclear family… + polsky pornography

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Cohen (Functionalism)

Positive crime:
Crime is a warning sign that institutions aren’t functioning properly

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Evaluation Functionalism

-enforcing boundaries is beneficial for society but not for victims
-crime can promote fear and isolation
-crime enables change?- outdated
-don’t specify on what is too much and too little crime
-prostitution and pornography?- feminism
-police create and maintain crime.. unprofessional

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Robert Merton (Strain theory)

American dream but unequal structural and cultural factors:
Conformity ++
Innovation +-
Ritualism -+ accepted their dead end jobs
Retreatism - - homeless
Rebellion +-+- cults

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Strain Theory evaluation

-ignores laws criminalising the poor not rich
-assumes a value consensus
-only explains money gain crimes and not others
-focused on individuals, ignores group crimes
-too deterministic

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Cohen (Subcultural strain theory)

Status frustration - w/c boys who fail to succeed in middle class environments are more likely to join delinquent subcultures

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Cloward and Ohlin (Subcultural strain theory)

Three subcultures:
Criminal sub- utilitarian crime in criminal areas
Conflict sub- young ppl gangs territory war
Retreatist sub- double failures..drug users

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Walter B Miller (Subcultural strain theory)

Focal concerns - middle class has its own autonomous subculture and norms

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Evaluation Subcultural strain theory

Cohen- explains why ppl commit utilitarian crimes but assumes a M/C value consensus
Cloward and Ohlin - ignore crime of the wealthy by focusing on w/c, ignores wider social structures (law enforcers), boundary between subcultures is too established

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Howard Becker (Labelling theory)

Ppl are labelled as deviant based on Gender, class and ethnicity. Laws are made by moral entrepreneurs. It creates outsiders (suddenly deviant ppl) and increased labelling

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Lemert (Labelling theory)

Primary deviance: no witness no labelling
Secondary deviance: labelling, deviant career

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Cicourel (Labelling theory)

Class bias:
Feds patrol w/c areas more due to stereotypes (selective law enforcement). M/c are more likely to negotiate their way out of punishment. (negotiation of justice)

Eg. Lavinia Woodward case

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Jock Young (Labelling theory)

Moral panics (about drug takers)
Folk devils (drug takers)
Deviance amplification spiral (the harder Feds crack down the more organised drug crime)

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Stanley Cohen (Labelling theory)

Supported Jock’s Moral panic and folks devil theory with his study “mods and rockers” involving teenagers at seaside

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Braithwaite (Labelling theory)

+Reintegrative shaming: labels the act but not the actor, avoids stigmatisation, person apologises
-Disintegrative shaming: crime and criminal labelled as bad, offended excluded from society

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Evaluation Labelling theory

+ explains deviant careers
+identifies the role of the powerful
-ignores victim
-ignores some may choose deviance
-Deterministic- deviant career is not inevitable
-doesn’t explain why do crime before labelling
-focuses on less serious crimes

Snider (Marxism)

Selective law enforcement:
Justice system is biased, protects businesses, w/c more criminalised than m/c

Chambliss (Marxism)

Selective law making:
Laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of capitalist economy. Burgeoisie has power to prevent laws against their interests

Pearce (Marxism)

Ideological functions:
Laws create false class consciousness, crime appears to be a working class phenomenon and divides the w/c who blames criminals for their problems rather than capitalism

Evaluation Marxism

+ gives a wider structural context
-ignores ethnicity and gender patterns of crime
-not all poor people commit crime: deterministic
-communist societies have crime
-left realists argue w/c commits and falls victims to most crime
-feds are professionals and need to comply

Taylor, Walton and Young (Neo-Marxism)

Traditional Marxism combined with labelling theory creates a fully social theory of deviance

Stuart Hall (Neo Marxism?)

Policing the crisis
Increase in muggings In London lead to more police racism, media outrage and division of w/c

Evaluation Neo-Marxism

-Hirst: it’s not proper Marxism -Rock: romanticises criminals into Robin Hood figs -feminists: male stream theory -hard to apply to real world crime -crime aint always politically motivated

Newburn (White collar and corporate crime)

Social construction of statistics makes w/c appear to be more involved in crime

Croall (White collar and corporate crime)

Invisibility of white collar and corporate crime

Sutherland (White collar and corporate crime)

White collar crime is committed by respectable people with high social status. Promotes distrust of key institutions (abuse of trust) Sutherland fails to distinguish occupational and corporate crime

(White collar and corporate crime)

Invisibility of corporate crime due to: Delabelling, lack of will to tackle it, the media, underreporting, complexity

Corporate crime (strain theory)

Box uses mertons strain theory to argue that company’s turn to illegitimate ways of maximising profit

Corporate crime (differential association)

Sutherland argues crime is learned behaviour from who we associate ourselves with

Corporate crime (labelling theory)

Nelken argues the m/c has the power to avoid labelling by affording lawyers and professionals

Corporate crime (Marxism)

Due to capitalisms goal being maximising profit, crime is inevitable and causes harm to employers and consumers

Hernstein & Wilson (Right Realism)

Biological differences make Indivuals more prone to commit crime. Examples: warrior gene

Murray (Right Realism)

Inadequate socialisation increases crime. Example: absentee fathers

Clarke (Right Realism)

Rational choice theory means criminals decide to commit based on rational calculation of consequences. If good outweighs bad they’ll do it

Tackling crime (Right Realism)

Zero tolerance policing (police patrols) The broken window thesis- maintain orderly characteristics of neighbourhood(Wilson & Kelling) Target hardening ( make it harder to commit)

Evaluation right realism

Rational choice theory: some ppl commit irrational Biological factors: Marxists- fails to explain crimes committed out of necessity eg deprivation Socialisation: too deterministic, assumes Situational crime prevention:leads to crime displacement, ignores inequality n deprivation

Lea & Young (Left realism)

Relative deprivation leads to crime due to feeling resentment towards wealthy ppl

Lewis Et al, Young (Left realism)

Subcultures form and turn to crime, bulimic society means culturally included but social and economic exclusion

Marginalisation (Left Realism)

Marginalised groups lack clear goals and representation which leads to frustration and crime

Tackling crime (Left realism)

-Policing and control (90% of crime cleared due to the public, yet decrease in trusting the police) -tackling structural causes by providing jobs for everyone, reduce inequality, incr equal opportuniy

Evaluation Left realism

-Material deprivation: many poor are law abiding and rich are committing white collar crime -subcultures: not all are criminal -Marginalisation: why is crime their outlet? +turning potential criminals into tax payers -more expensive than right realism -Marxism: they tackle deprivation but not underlying structural inequality