Understanding Crime: A Sociological Perspective

• Crime as a "qualitative phenomenon" is difficult to define, measure, and explain due to its reliance on human behavior.
• Societal definitions of crime vary across periods and cultures.
• Some sociologists define crime as a breach of the law, implying that without a law, there can't be crime.
• Social groups create deviance by making rules and laws, as stated by Howard Becker in "Outsiders" (1963).
• The definition of crime is dependent on time, place, the perpetrator, the harmed party, and the power dynamics involved.
• Emile Durkheim views crime as normal, releasing social tension, encouraging societal change, and fostering social solidarity.
• Robert Merton suggests that crime arises from social structures, with people acting in certain ways due to societal influences.
• Legitimate Opportunity Structure allows some people access to opportunities, like third-level education, while others don't have the same options.
• Richard Cloward and Lloyd E. Ohlin argue crimes stem from social structures and an illegitimate opportunity structure, with criminal gangs being an example.
• Edwin Sutherland believes that both social disadvantage and advantage explain crime, with white-collar crimes like tax evasion and embezzlement occurring because of social standing.

Context in Measuring Crime

• Context is crucial but often lacking; circumstances can make an act more explainable, such as a single mother committing robbery for diapers.
• Historical crime classifications include mid-1800s (indictable and non-indictable), 2000 (headling and non-headline), and 2007 (Irish crime classification system - CSO).

Issues with Crime Statistics

• Over-emphasis on CSO and Garda Síochána figures exists, despite disagreements between them.
• Public interest is in the trends of serious crimes, such as stabbings.
• EPA, OCE, HSE, Health and Safety Authority, Revenue/ Customs, and the Department of Social Welfare all enforce the law.
• Crimes must be reported by the victim and recorded by authorities to become statistics. 36% of crimes reported to Gardaí in 2015 weren't recorded on paper or PULSE.
• Garda Síochána miscategorized 18% of homicides between 2003-2016; murder was underreported by 3, manslaughter by 41, and dangerous driving by 196.
• Hidden crime results from inaccurate statistics due to unreported crimes.
• Crime victimisation surveys have limitations and may overestimate crime.
• Social, economic, and cultural contexts matter, with factors like economic development, Northern troubles, drugs, and economic booms/busts influencing crime rates.
• Policing has an impact, such as "Zero Tolerance" periods during specific times of the year.
• Detection offences, like drug possession, have a 100% success rate as they require the offender to have the drugs on them.
• Historical statistics on crime can be inaccurate and give a distorted view, particularly for sexual crimes that went unreported for decades.

Interpreting Crime Figures Post-Consideration

• Figures need interpretation with consideration of pure numbers vs. per capita rates.
• Murders have increased over the years, but the murder rate per 100,000 people was 1.48 in 2000 and 6.54 in 2023.

Five Characteristics of Crime

• Rising crime levels have occurred since the 1960s. Doubling from '66 to '71, increasing by a factor of seven from '61 to '95
• Co-existence of blue-collar and white-collar crime is evident.
• Irish economic development was criminogenic.
• Import Substitution Industrialisation occurred in 1933; in the 1950s, Limits of ISI were reached and in 1959, Dependant development was sought.
• Decline of protected Irish industries, MNCs favoring rural locations and female workforce, marginalized young working-class males contributed to blue-collar crime increase.
• In the 1940s, 1 in 10 pupils went onto the second level and in the 1960s over half left school at or before the age of 13 further increasing crime.
• Low participation rates of females is evident in the crime landscape. New work was aimed at women. Most crime was simply committed by young males. The prison population is about 90/10.
• Levels of violent crime is low, but there is a high level of property crime
• Crime is predominantly urban-based.
• Concentration of social disadvantage in urban areas exists and white-collar criminals rarely go to jail

Historical Crime Context

• Crime reporting and recording have improved since pre-1966.
• Sex offenses notably increased from 397 in 1990 to 986 in 1998.
• Half a million people left Ireland in the 1950s, representing 16% of the population. By the 1960s, Irish inmates in Britain constituted 14% of the prison population.

Causes of Crime

• Rathman (1980) attributes crime to the suddenness and rapidity of industrialization, urban migration, consumer goods availability, and benefits of economic progress being unequally experienced.
• Blue-collar crime is an adaptation to geographical or class concentration of social disadvantage.
• White-collar crime involves those who gain income and power steering the development process.
• The State was weakened by vis-a-vis foreign capital, increased interaction between political and economic interests, and the regulatory system poorly resourced and enforced.

Tribunal Ireland- 1990s

• The tribunals includes McCracken (payment to politicians- 1997) and Moriarty.
• The tribunals also includes same with the Flood/ Mahon concerning planning and payments to politicians.

The Irish Perspective on Crime

• Adaptation isn't a justification for crime, but it is an explanation.
• Characteristic #1 needs more context, #2 needs to be more descriptive- (Ps and Cs), while 3 to 5 are accurate

Rothman- 1981

• Other processes to consider include:
• Ballymun had no social provisions such as gyms, schools, shops, and other utilities were not available locally
• Consumer society and goods like TVs and cars became more prevalent, people had their doors open before and they realised they should probably close them.
• Clowrd and Ohlin- 1960 provide opportunities and performance structures

Criminal Subculture

• Elements include getting money illegally and exhibiting a pattern of organized crime. Acceptance of criminal behavior, socialization of the young into crime and upward mobility along with prestige to the most wealthy are included.

Retreats Subculture

• Consumption of illegal substances occurs, detached from society petty crime and a distance from mainstream and other subcultures
• Aaron's grandad in Ireland was apart of animals gangs in 1930 and the general in the 1980s was Martin Cahill.
• Solutions to crime look at education, jobs, opportunities, and the penal system

Robberies and Housing Breakings

• From 1964–1975, robberies went up 11.4x and housing breakings went up 4.3x.
• Robert Murton felt advertising and acquisitive crime were related.

Murton Research

• There was also a relation between crime and disadvantage; while it was not an excuse, it was an explanation.
• He asked culturally defined goals/ wants, aka. Legitimate opportunity schemes and questioned why others don't.
• He believed in a social equilibrium and that imbalance creates potential for anomie (lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group). There are common goals with the legitimate opportunity scheme, but not everyone is equal and asks if some groups in society subject to social strain.

Social Strain

• Conformity has the goals + and the method +
• Innovation has the goals + and the method -
• Ritualism has the goals - and the method +
• Retreatism (addicts retreating from society, for example) has the goals - and the method -
• Rebellion has the goals -/+ and the method -/+

Strengths and Weaknesses of Social Structure

• Social class bias
• Ignores middle/ white collar crime, causes of inequalities/ who makes the rules
• Emphasis on social structure and disadvantage
• Full range of behaviour examined, and prompted development of sub-culture theory

Mountjoy 1997 Prison Survey, O’Mahoney

• Survey included 95 prisoners and a sample & demographics around average age of 27 for most under 30
• 74% never married and 46% had children with Family & Background around large families (avg. 8+ children) and high family breakdown rates
• Concerning Education & Employment, 57% left school before 15 and 80% were unemployed before imprisonment
• Criminal History shows an average 15.5 convictions and 66% imprisoned as teenagers with 40% had a relative in prison
• Sentencing & Offences average sentence was around ~3 years with common offenses being robbery (18%), burglary (12%), and traffic violations (12%)
• Prison Life around about 40% had no prison occupation and 34% faced disciplinary charges with about 19% spent time in isolation or padded cells
• Mental Health & Suicide show that 41% had psychiatric care, 18% attempted suicide, and 24% on psychotropic medication
• In another Population & Sample among 550 inmates, survey sampled 110, with 95 interviews completed had findings on
• The average Age was around 27.25 with majority under 30 and older offenders had shorter sentences
• Marital Status showed 74% never married with 46% had children, but only half lived with them and a mostly Dublin-based, urban Irish, large families (avg. 8+ children) Background
• Education & Employment showed 57% left school before 15 and 80% unemployed before prison
• Socioeconomic shows that 77% had fathers in low-income jobs and 36% from extreme economic hardship
• This gave way to Sentencing around Avg. sentence ~3 years and a most common offense regarding robbery (18%)
• Criminal History showed Avg. of 15.5 convictions and 40% had imprisoned relatives.
• Prison Experience had 34% first convicted before 15 and 66% first imprisoned as teens.
• Health & Mental State reported 31% reported chronic illness, 41% had psychiatric treatment, and an 18% attempted suicide

Drugs and Crime

• Prohibition regards a controlled surface stating it is intrinsically evil and must be banned in every instance and people feel it's effective, yet the ban's effectiveness is not analysed
• Critics think the relationship between drugs and crime isn't analysed either, and that the issue of drug reform is very rarely mentioned.
• Prohibition is argued for reduce supply and demand & because drugs are considered morally wrong

Second Rationale

• substances are dependence-inducing, addiction is a public health issue, and the public is protected due to inaccessibility, but in effect, drugs are taken for granted in this rationale
• People are saying that the government can control the chemical properties of a drug easily and should they sell and tax the drug to makes for safer use to less incarceration.
• The effect of any drug is dependent on the psychological, social, cultural, and economic context of drug taking-
• Misuse is a behavioural and social issued; and Prohibition fails to distinguish between recreational and circumstantial drug use, while dysfunctional and compulsive misuse.
• The reform aims to shift emphasis from prevention of all use to prevention of misuse while arguing use is not “misuse” unless prohibition is in place

Other

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, 1984- less humanising, 2017- harm reduction and criminalisation is the best policy.
• Inflationary effect on price, creation of criminal gangs, competing gang “warfare”, ties up police, courts, and prisons.
• Most drug offenses are personal use
• National drug strat- 2001-08 and 09-16, 17-20