differences in crime- ethnicity, gender, age and class
- Created by: Thierrylmb
- Created on: 18-03-19 12:17
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- differences in crime
- class
- functionalism
- the law is a reflection of society's values.
- crime and deviance is the result of inadequate socialisation
- modern societies with a complex division of labour has a diversity of values.
- strain theory
- people commit crime because they lack legitimate means to acheive socially encouraged goals.
- labelling theory
- reject offical statistics
- focus on how and why people are labelled as criminals.
- labelling theorists have been described as 'problem makers'- dont see offical statistics as valid social facts or a useful resource.
- believe offical statistics are a topic whose construction we must investigate by studying the power of control agents to label working class people as criminal
- subcultural theories
- Mertons idea- the working class suffer from blocked oppurtunities to acheive success- so form delinquent subcultures
- the delinquent subculture that they form- is a solution to status frustration
- functionalism
- Gender
- by the age of 40, 9% of females had a criminal conviction, against 32% of males.
- a higher proportion of female than male offenders are convicted of property offences
- a higher proportion of male than female offenders are convicted of violence or sexual offences
- 4 out of 5 convicted offenders in england and wales are men
- males are more likely than females to be repeat offenders, to have longer criminal careers and to commit more serious crimes.
- Age
- victimisation
- due to the young having the most important oppurtunity to commit crime, they are also exposed to a greater risk of being a victim of crime.
- Wilson 2006- young people are the most likely to be victims of crime with 27% of 10-25 year olds reporting that they have been victims of crimes such as theft and assault.
- statistics
- Roe and Ash- 2008 self-report study showed 22% of 10-25 year olds admitted to committing 1+ crimes in the past 12 months
- roughly 1/2 of all convictions were offenders 21 and under (Offical Statistics)
- differences in crime
- deviance between younger generations is known as 'juvenile delinquency'
- crime is more known about now due to the media and social networking
- browne 2009- peak age for offending in england and wales is 15-18
- the 'buzz' of deviant actions 'gratifies' young people and this often outweighs the risks of getting caught.
- victimisation
- ethnicity
- black youths are more likely to be arrested on the street and taken to court.
- MacPherson report showed police were guilty of institutional racism in the killing of Stephen Lawrence.
- Black and ethnic minorities are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched.
- according to Official crime statistics- most crime committed is by young and ethnic minority.
- left realism
- argue that ethnic differences reflect real differences in the level of offedning in different ethnic groups
- Lea and Young- accept black crime for some offences is higher than for the white population
- racism
- discriminatory policing does not explain the differences in statistics as 90% of crimes reported are by members of the public
- racism has lead to marginalisatio-n and economic exclusion of ethnic minorites.
- they face higher levels of unemploymen-t, poverty and poor housing
- caused by three factors-
- marginalisatio-n- some thnic minority groups are pushed to the edge of mainstream society
- relative deprivation, a sense of lacking things compared to others- not being able to possess consumer goods that other people have
- subculture- both marginalisation and relative deprivation combine to develop subcultures in communities.
- Neo-Marxism
- black crime as resistance
- Gilroy- crime by black people reflected political action in response to inequality and the oppression/repression from police racism and harassment
- statistics do not reflect reality
- black criminality is a myth created by negative sterotyping by the police and media.
- black crime and scapegoating
- Hall- argues there was no real increase in street robbery but this moral panic was used to justify more aggressive policing.
- crisis in hegemony- from political and economic crisis mixed with a growing conflict between police and the african caribbean community
- media created 'folk devil'- used as scapegoat
- black crime is framed as political but often occurs against other black and poor people
- black crime as resistance
- class
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