Crime and Deviance PDF

TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE STATISTICS Police Recorded Crime (PRC) and Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) - CSEW recorded 50 percent more crime than PRC in 2014 - 85 percent of recorded crime is brought to the police by the public- 1 in 5 crimes reported to the police arent actually recor...

TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE STATISTICS Police Recorded Crime (PRC) and Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) - CSEW recorded 50 percent more crime than PRC in 2014 - 85 percent of recorded crime is brought to the police by the public- 1 in 5 crimes reported to the police arent actually recorded Maguire- people are now more likely to report crime due to growing privatisation and the breakdown of the close-knit communities. Changes in law- In 2014 280 new criminal offences were created whilst 213 were abolished ETHNICITY The Ministry of Justice- compared to white people black people were twice as likely to be cautioned by the police, around 3 times more likely to be arrested, if arrested more likely to be charged, more likely to be given a custodial sentence, 5 times more likely to be in Prison Asians are more likely to be charged and face court proceedings and more likely to get custodial sentences Gilroy- crimes commited by black people, especially in the 1970s, can we seen as a symbol of political action represented a culture of resistance to inequality and resistance to oppressors and police racism. Gilroy argues that the idea that black criminality is higher is a myth that has been created by nagative stereotypes by the police and by the media Hall et al- in the 1970s there was a economic and political crisis threateing the dominance of the ruling class and growing tension between the afro-caribbean community and the police- through selective publication of crime statistics and the media picking up on this and using scare mongering to create a moral panic. This led to crime from the black community being a scape goat for the government, distracting society from the larger issues at hand- creation of the ‘black mugger’ Lee and Young- evaluate hall- argue that the majority of crimes recorded are reported by the public so its hard to see this black criminality as the result of police racism. Lee and Young- argue that there is higher rates of crime, in some crimes, with black individuals this is due to -marginality- being pushed to the sidelines of society -relative deprivation- subjective view of inequality - subculture- marginality and relative deprivation combine leading people to form subcultures of resistance working as peer group support Phillips and Bowling - higher levels of robbing by black people can be linked to poverty and social exclusion Evaluation of Phillips and Bowling- asian individuals are among the poorest in the country as well but have significantly lower rates of crime compared to black people- other factors?? TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE Reiner- suggests there is a racist canteen culture among the police- including suspicion, match values, racism and that this encourages the development of these stereotypes - joked about in the canteen Phillips and Bowling- Supports lebelling idea- suggests that there is evidence of racial discrimination in the Criminal Justice System both indirect and direct. Fitsgerald- Police are more likely to exercise their racist stereotypes when they have more scope and ability to exercise their institution- for example stop and searches The Ministry of justice in 2013- reported that, compared to white people, asians were twice as likely and black people were six times more likely to be stopped and searched by police. Phillips and Bowling- the evidence around stop and searches unfairly criminalises a group in society. That then leads to resentment and is one of the reasons we saw the riots in British cities in 2011 and can also lead to self fulfilling prophecy Investigation into the police handling of the murder of Steven Lawrence 1993- led to the publication of the Macpherson report that was highly critical of the met police - 1999 The metropolitan police association-2008- discouraged ethnic minorities from joining the police due to the hostile nature of the institution Phillips and Bowling-sighted evidence that suggests that when in prison black and asian prisoners face more brutal regime than white prisoners including abuse, violence and intimidation Sharp and Budd- home office 2003 offending crime and justice self report survey found that white people were more likely to commit lifetime offences and ethnic minorities were the least likely to commit crime- demonstrating the racist nature of the criminal justice system Gender Men are more likely to commit crime than women ¾ of people convicted of crimes are men and 85 percent of recorded crimes are for male criminal actions and make up 95 percent of people in prison- men are 60x more likely to be found guilty of sexual offences Chiavarly thesis- Pollack- due to the protective and patriarchal nature of the criminal justice system women are often perceived as needing protection, less guilty and more vulnerable so are treated with more leniency when convicted of a crime. The home justice system- we can see that women are consistently treated more leniently by the law, with first time offenders nearly half as likely to be given a sentence of immediate imprisonment as their male counterpart, less likely to be remanded in custody, more likely to receive a community or suspended licence TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE Evaluation of Chivarly thesis and the home justice system- actually women do not get as hard sentences due to existing responsibilities, less serious crime, show remorse and have less previous offences Heidensohn- claims that females are more likely to be harshly judged than men, particularly when they deviate from traditional gender norms- double standards. In the court system and women who dont conform are more likely to be harshley punished Carlen- women are jailed less on the seriousness of their crime and more on the courts assesment of them as wives, mothers, daughters- women who have children in the system are more likely to be labelled as guilty Parsons- looks at boy’s gender socialisation - men try to distance themselves from feminine role models by engaging in compensatory masculinity Cohen- suggests that this male socialisation can be seen as pushing boys to be more involved in ganges, especially if they lacked a male role model- boys growing up with single mothers are more likely to fail in education system and turn to crime Evaluation of parsons and cohen- gender socialisation is decreasing -​ Wurklates- critisised this view and claims its based on biological assumptions- parson assumes that because women have the biological capacity to have children they are best suited for the expressive role Heidensohn- control theory- women are more likely to be controlled in all spheres of life making them have less opportunity to commit crime - at home, at work, in public Carlen- woimena re encouraged to conform to what she calls class deals and gender deals Class deals- come form fulfilling their role at work and getting material reward Gender deals- comes from fulfilling their roles within the family Most women accept these roles. However, some women do not have access to these roles due to poverty, abuse, ext leading then to commit crime as they have nothing to lose Evaluation of Carlen- unrepresentative as it was a small sample of 31 women age 15-46, all working class, all convicted of a crime Increase in women’s criminality stats- 1957- men were responsible for 11 x the offences compared to women 2014- nows it 3 to 1 2002-2014- decrease in male crime but increase in female crime Alder- this increase in womens criminality is due to their liberation- they are no longer significantly controlled and more likely to be seen in the public sphere- more opportunity to commit crime Denscombe- growth in the ‘ladette’ culture with women increasingly adopting behaviour traditionally associated with young men and asserting their identity through binge drinking, gang culture, risk taking and peer group violence TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE Heidensohn and Slverstri- the evidence suggests that the increase in girls violence is more due to changes in labellilng of girls behaviour rather than real changes in behaviour Evaluation of Alder and Denscombe- to what extent have women been liberated Connell- talks about this idea of hegemonic masculinity this traditional masculine image in the world about what makes a real man. Male peer groups reinforce these competitive and aggressive tendencies, particularly among young men and that this leads to higher risks of crime and delinquency Miller- subcultural theory- found concerns among young men lead to risk of crime and delinquency Messerschmidt suggests that men sometimes turn to crime and violence to assert their masculinity when traditional legitimate ways of asserting their masculinity might be blocked eg good education Lynn- edgework- getting involved in edge work is a way of expressing masculinity when approved means are blocked Labelling theory- men are more likely to be labelled as criminal due to stereotypes SOCIAL CLASS Newburn- sociology of crime and deviance focuses on the crimes of the powerless rather than the powerful Sutherland- claims that crime is not a working class phenomenon but is widespread throughout all the sections of society. He introduced the ideas of white collar and corporate crime to describe those offences commited by the more affluent in society- suggesting many remain undetected Croall- suggests white collar crime is commited by middle class individuals that abuse their position for personal gain and corperate crime is commited by large companies or individals on the behalf of large companies Slapper and Tombs- look at corporate offences and examples- paperwork and non-compliance- volkswagon Environmental crime- Volkswagon Manufacturing offences- Thalidomide Labour law violations- Shein Unfair Trade Practice- 2011 price fixing Financial offences- starbucks and amazon offshore ceners undermining tax Clark and Croall- we dont see corporate crime as they are hidden from view and harder to detect- they are relatively invisible, appear to be doing normal job TOPIC TWO- CRIME AND DEVIANCE Croall- they can be without personal or individual victims theres less obvious personal harm Clark- points out that these are ‘complaintless’ crimess, theres no individual victim to report an offence Croall- suggest that victims may not have the expertise to know that they have been victims of crime e.g 2013 horse meat grocery Sutherland- additionally looks at the theory of differential association suggests that if individuals are around people who commonly associated with illegal activitty. They are more likely to commit crime Marxist- white collar/ corperate crime is due to crimonogentic society Nelken- suggests that due to corperate/ white collar crime being less likely to be labelled as criminal they are more likely to continue offending Katz and Lyng- suggests crime is seductive and thrilling- Nelken- cities evidence from the world of high finance showing clear subculture of excitement of men making high risk decisions Evaluation- fails to give reasons why not all individuals turn to come Marxist explanations dont explain why in countries where there is no pressure for profit (russia) corporate crimes are still present