Interactionist Theory on Crime

Question 1

How does an act beocme criminal according to Becker?

Answer 1

No act is inherently criminal, become criminal when it is defined as such. Nature of the act is not criminal, but the nature of societal reaction makes it criminal. Criminal is the person who has been labelled as such.

Question 2

What are moral entrepenuers? (Becker)

Answer 2

They are those who lead to moral crusade to change the law so the act is criminalised. They are individuals or groups who can influence gov. This creates a groups ‘outsiders’.

Question 3

What do the gov do in response to moral entrepenuers? (Becker)

Answer 3

Expand the agencies of social control - police, courts, prisons, etc. They enforce the rule and impose the lables onto offenders.

Question 4

What leads a person the be labelled? (Becker)

Answer 4

Whether a person is labelled or not depends on: 1. interaction with the police, courts, etc. 2. their appearance, background. 3. circumstances of the offences.

Question 5

What did Cicourel find out police officers’ decisions to arrest?

Answer 5

Based on typifications - sterotypes.

W/c areas were heavily policied, m/c areas - less polcing = more arrests, confrims the stereotype.

Question 6

What did the police see as the cause of juvenile delinquency? (Cicourel)

Answer 6

Probation officers saw juvenile delinquency as created by broken houses and poverty. Youths from w/c were seen as more likely re-offend - supported custodial sentences for time.

Question 7

Why were m/c youths less likely to be arrested? (Cicourel)

Answer 7

As their background does not fit the sterotype. M/c parents used their cultural to negotiate with the police.

Question 8

What is Cicourel’s view on OCS?

Answer 8

OCS is wrong as it is based on sterotypes.

Question 9

What was Chambliss’ study?

Answer 9

1973 study - ‘Saints and Roughnecks’

1994 - Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU)

Question 10

Who were the ‘saints’ and’ roughnecks’? (Chambliss)

Answer 10

‘Saints’ - 8 delinquent m/c boys
‘Roughnecks’ - 6 delinquent w/c boys.
Both commited the same amount of anti-social behaviour.

Question 11

Why were the saints not seen as delinquent? (Chambliss)

Answer 11

Rarely came in contact with the police - criminal behaious out of town. Saints used cultural capital to get themselves out of touble.

Question 12

Why were the roughnecks seen as delinquent? (Chambliss)

Answer 12

They were in frequent with the police and commited criminal behaviour in their local area. Led to the self-fuffling prohecy - boys accepted their negative labels.

Question 13

What happened to the saints and roughnecks? (Chambliss)

Answer 13

Roughnecks - 2 rejected the label and became teachers, 2 became serious criminals, 2 were in frequent contact with the police.
Saints - all graduated from college and went on to professional occupations.

Question 14

What did the Rapid Deployment Unit study show? (Chambliss)

Answer 14

Study demonstrates the racist policing methods used by Washington DC police when policing black neighourhoods. Police were more aggressive and suspicious of people when working in black neighbourhoods than in white.

Question 15

What were the police more likely to do to cars driven by black people? (Chambliss)

Answer 15

More likley to stop cars driven by black men, especially new cars - thinking the driver was a drug dealer.

Question 16

What encourages people to be criminal according to Lemert?

Answer 16

Labrlling individuals as criminal encourages them to be more criminal.

Question 17

What is primary deviance? (Lemert)

Answer 17

Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled, e.g.littering. Not labelled by others so have no effect on the person that had commited it.

Question 18

What is secondary deviance? (Lemert)

Answer 18

Action labelled as criminal by others - result of societal reaction - been labelled as devaint. Once labelled - will only been seen in terms of the label.

Question 19

What is a master status? (Lemert)

Answer 19

Label rises above all others, e.g. son, brother.

Question 20

What happens when someone gets a master status? (Lemert?

Answer 20

Becomes an outsider - can’t rejoin society. Self-fulfilling prophecy - live up to master status, more involved with criminal activity - becomes deviant career.

Question 21

What did Young study?

Answer 21

Drug users in Notting Hill - 1971.

Question 22

What did the police do to hippies? (Young)

Answer 22

Being a hippie was not about smoking weed, more about fashion and music. Police began to persecute and label hippies - became outsider.

Question 23

What did hippies do as they were labelled? (Young)

Answer 23

Formed a subculture - distinct clothing, drug use became important. Police started to target hippies - led to more deviance.

Question 24

Why did the hippies become more deviant? (Young)

Answer 24

Act - not deviant, societal reaction - made it deviant. Labelled as deviant. led to increase in level of deviance.

Question 25

What did S.Cohen study?

Answer 25

‘Mods and Rockers’

Question 26

Who were the ‘Mods and Rockers’? (S.Cohen)

Answer 26

Mods - m/c, aspirational w/c, suits, desert boots, parkas, mopeds.
Rockers - w/c, leather jackets, motorbikes, jeans.

Question 27

What happened that put ‘Mods and Rockers’ into the spotlight? (S.Cohen)

Answer 27

Mods and Rockers had a minor fight with each other - newspaper exaggereated it into a big issue. National newspaper published story - caused more fights between ‘Mods and Rockers’.

Question 28

What did the media turn ‘Mods and Rockers’ into? (S.Cohen)

Answer 28

Media exaggerated events - turned ‘Mods and Rockers’ into folk devils - groups protayed as bad.

Question 29

What happened do the ‘Mods and Rockers’ due to the media? (S.Cohen)

Answer 29

Police began to target ‘Mods and Rockers’ - caused more fights. Began to actually see ach other as enemies, enternalised bad label.

Question 30

What did labelling cause? (S.Cohen)

Answer 30

Created deviance amplification - media labelled teens as trouble makers - start to commit crime.

Question 31

What does Triplett say about CJS?

Answer 31

CJS can create crime when they reduce crime. CJS has made young people seem criminal.

Question 32

Why does labelling have implications? (Triplett)

Answer 32

Negative labelling pushes offenders towards a deviant career.

Question 33

How should deviance be reduced according to Triplett?

Answer 33

Should make and enforce fewer rules for people to break. Decriminalising soft drugs - reduces the number of people with criminal convinctions. Avoid ‘naming and shaming’ offenders - likely to create a perception of them as evil outsiders.

Question 34

Why is excluding criminals from society negative according to Triplett?

Answer 34

Excluding them from mainstream society will push them into further deviance.

Question 35

What are the 2 types of shaming according to Braithwaite?

Answer 35

Disintegrative shaming and reintegrative shaming.

Question 36

What is desintegrative shaming? (Braithwaite)

Answer 36

Both the criminal the act is labelled as bad, the offender is excluded from society.

Question 37

What is reintegrative shaming? (Braithwaite)

Answer 37

Act is labelled as bad, not the person.

Question 38

What does reintegrative shaming avoid? (Braithwaite)

Answer 38

Avoids stigmatising the offender but makes them realise they have done something bad. It also encourages others to forgive them - allowing the offender to reintegrate back into society. Prevents them from performing secondary deviance.

Question 39

What is the evalutation of the Interactionist theory on crime?

Answer 39

+ Draws attention to the importance of labelling and societal reaction.
+ Points out that some people are more likely to be labelled.
- Fails to explain why people commit crime in the 1st place.
- Deterministic - suggests people are passive and do not react against their labels.