Criminalisation and Regulation - Midterm 1 Flashcards
(27 cards)
Gabor (1994) - key arguments
- we all use the justification that ‘everybody does it’
- crime and criminality are not moral absolutes (crime is not an attribute that one either possesses or lacks)
- crime is a continuum which includes both social and historical analysis
Kramar (2011) - key arguments
Distinguishes between the formal and normative definitions of crime
What is the normative definition of crime?
A crime that violates a cultural norm. This reacts to historical and economic conditions
What is the formal definition of crime?
A crime that is prohibited by law and punishable by the state
What is social/moral regulation?
A form of regulation that establishes what is right and proper. It encourages certain forms of conduct while discouraging others. It takes place on both a state and social level
What is positivism? (counting crime)
A school of thought that believes all claims to truth must be proven with empirical evidence - must be objectively observed and measured
What is the UCRS?
The Uniform Crime Report Survey
What are the factors which may influence changes in the crime rate?
- crime rates are report sensitive, policing sensitive, definition sensitive and media sensitive
- crime rate really is changing
What are the three main sources of crime statistics in Canada?
- the uniform crime report survey
- victimisation surveys
- self-report surveys
What are some of the limitations of UCRS?
- Reporting practices
- Law enforcement practices
- Legal definitions
- Media practices
- Methodological problems
- Geographical limitations - crime differ depending on geographical location
What are some limitations of victimisation surveys?
- some people don’t know they’ve been a victim of crime
- fears over anonymity
- psychological harm
sample size - no aggregate data
What are the limitations of positivism?
- society isn’t that objective
- statistics are socially constructed so measuring them objectively isn’t reliable/accurate
- doesn’t take into account why people do things
- statistics only measure policing and reporting
- doesn’t measure when crime happened
- doesn’t look at motivations
What is the culture of spectacle?
Punishment is public and effected on the body
What is carceral culture?
Punishment is more internalised/private and there is more of a focus on rehabilitation and regulation (regulatory power)
What is the panopticon?
architectural design which allows an observer to observe all of the prisoners without being able to tell that they are/when they are being watched
How does Foucault use Bentham’s panopticon?
As a means of explaining how society operates/how power is used in society
What is sovereign power?
Obedience to the state/royalty
What is disciplinary power?
Power that regulates the behaviour of individuals. It is done by organising space, time, activities and behaviour
How does Foucault view the concept of power?
Foucault views power as productive. It is not a commodity. Knowledge is a mechanism of power
What is discourse? (According to Foucault)
Word choice and ideology, ideas of common sense and morality. It provides a framework of understanding and interpreting information/representations
What is governmentally?
Power exerted over people (and their bodies)
What is criminalisation?
Crime is a process rather than a social fact - it responds to morals, values, and social/political/ideological circumstances. It describes the way ideas of crime change over time
What is regulation?
how the state or law plays a role in telling us what is right or wrong, and what the consequences of such acts might be (state regulation and social/moral regulation)
What does it mean for official statistics to be media sensitive?
MEDIA SENSITIVE - the media report things in a certain light - perpetuating stereotypes/moral panics - if something has media attention it is more likely to be reported/hate crimes increase when media report on terrorist attacks
