Functionalism

Functionalist theory on crime:

Society is based on value consensus. It is believed that social order is acheived throughout: 

Socialisation - Instills a shared culture.

Social Order - Rewards for conformity and punishments for crime. 

Functionalists believe that crime is inevitable and universal. This is because, there is a diversity of lifestyles and not everyone is socialised to shared norms. 

X - IT IS USEFUL IN EXPLANING WHY CRIME IS INTEGRAL TO SOCIETY.

Durkheims View:

In modern tendencies, there is an anomie and normalness. (The rules governing socety become less clear and uncut). 

Durkheim believes there are 4 functions of crime: 

1) BOUNDARY MAINTENANCE - Unites socities members into condeming the condemner. Helps to Promote social solidarity and re-establishes shared norms and values.

X- SOME CRIMES PROMOTE ALIENATION AND ISOLATIONS. 

 2) SOCIAL CHANGE - All change starts with an act of deviance. People with new ideas and beliefs should not be surpressed, as their ideas could give rise to a new culture. 

Durkheim: 

3) AS A SAFETY VALVE - Mass violent protest demonstrations may be seen as an outlet for expression of discontent, and can avoid wider more serious challenges. 

X - DAVIS ARGUES THAT PROSTITUION CAN ACT AS A SAFETY VALVE FOR THE RELEASE OF MENS SEXUAL FRUSTRATION WITHOUT THREATENING THE MONOGANOUS NUCLEAR FAMILY. 

4) A WARNING DEVICE - Alerts society when something needs changing or is wrong. Helps point to underlying problems that need to be solved. 

X - COHEN SUPPORTS THIS AS HE SEES CRIME AS USEFUL AS IT ALERTS POLICY MAKERS TO MAKE NECCESSARY CHANGES 

Too much crime - Threatens to tear society apart. 

Too little crime - Repressive to society.

X- DOESNT STATE HOW MUCH IS THE RIGHT AMOUNT. 

 Durkheim imagined a society of saints populated by perfect individuals - however the issue of this would be that, even the slightest offence such as littering would be seen as serious. 

X - CRIME IS NEVER FUNCTIONAL FOR ITS FAMILY OR THE VICTIMS. 

Strain theory argues that people engage in criminal acts when they arent able to reach their goals the legitimate way. For example, poor people may become frustrated and then steal as a way of getting food. 

Robert Merton - Argues that Americans are expected to pursue the goal of success and the 'American Dream' which tells their country that it is meritocratic (one that everyone can acheive based on effort and ability) 

X - THERE IS A WEALTH OF EVIDENCE THAT MERITOCRACY DOESNT EXIST AND IT ALSO ASSUMES THAT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME GOALS IN LIFE.

Strain theory states that when people cannot rach the american dream through legitimate means, they turn to illegitimate methods (e.g criminal acts such as robbery) 

X - STRAIN THEORY ONLY ACCOUNTS FOR UTILITARIAN CRIME FOR MONEY GAINS AND NOT NON-UTILITARIAN CRIME SUCH AS VANDALISM. 

X - SEES CRIME AS A WORKING CLASS PHENOMENON AND IGNORES CRIME COMMITTED BY THE MIDDLE CLASS. 

The resulting strain to acheive produces status frustration which creates pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime and deviance as the legitimate opportunity structure is blocked, so people then turn to Illegitimate methods.

X - DOESNT EXPLAIN GANG CRIME, AND JUST CRIMES COMMITED BY STATUS FRUSTRATION.

There are 5 responses to crime: 

1 - Conformity - individuals accept the culturally approved goals.

2- Innovation - Individuals accept the goal of money but use illegitimate means to acheive them.

3- Ritualism - Individuals give up on trying to acheive these goals but have become accustomed to legitimate means. 

4- Retreatism - indiviuals both reject goals and legitimate means and become drop outs. 

5- Rebellion - Individuals reject societys goals and means and replaces them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change. 

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Hirschi agrees with Durkheims veiws towards Socialisation and social order, however he focues on why most people dont commit crime. He argues that all humans suffer from weakness which makes them unable to resist temptation. However there are social bonds with other people that encourage them to excercise self control and restrain from commiting crime. 

X - A LIMITATION OF THIS IDEA IS THAT ITS POSSIBLE TO BE A CRIMINAL AND HAVE TIGHT SOCIAL BONDS. E.G MIDDLE CLASS DRUG USERS WITH SUCCESSFULL CAREERS. 

Hirschi argues that if these bonds are weakened, their self control is weakened and they commit crime. 

X - DOESNT EXPLAIN WHY SOME PEOPLE HAVE WEAKER BONDS THEN OTHERS. 

There are 4 reasons as to why someone conforms to society - 

• Attachment - People are attached to those around him such as family and friends. 
• Beliefs - People share moral beliefs about what is right and wrong and needed to follow the law.
• Commitment - People are committed to conventional activities such as working, getting an education and raising a family.
• Involvment - People are involved and kept busy with sports teams, leisure pursuits and dont have time or opportunity for crime. 

Labelling theorists are interested in how and why certain acts come to be defined as criminal in the first place. Becker states that a deviant is someone who the label has been successfully applied and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people so label. 

Wether a person is arrested, charged and convicted depends on factors such as - 

• Their interactions with agencies of social control such as police.
• Their appearance, background and personal background. 
• The situation and circumstances of the offence. 

X- RECOGNISE THE WIDER POWER STRUCTURE INCLUDING THOSE WHO MAKE AND ENFORCE THE LAW

Agencies of social control are more likely to label certain groups of people as deviant or criminal. Pilivan and briar found that police decisions to arrest a youth where mainly based on physical clues such as manner and dress.The officers judgements were also based on the criminals background, including gender, ethnicity and class. 

X - ASSUMES THAT PEOPLE ARE PASSIVE VICTIMS OF LABELLING. 

Cicourcel - Officers decisions to arrest deviants are based on their Typifications (commonsense theories and stereotypes of what the typical criminal is like). This then led them to concentrate on certain types, which then resulted in law enforcement agencies showing a Class bias  - this then led the police patrolling working class areas more intensely, resulting in more arrests and confirming their stereotypes. Other CJS agencies also reinforced this bias. For example, probation workers believed that delinquency was caused by broken homes and lax parenting.They then saw youths from this background more likely to offend again.

Primary deviance - deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled such as littering. 

Secondary deviance - 

The result of societal reaction - being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised and shamed. Many others may belive people live up to their label - giving them a master status. This can also lead to a Self Fulfilling prophecy.

Studied hippy marijuana users in Notting hill. Found that the labelling and persucution of police officers led them to feel like outsiders which they then retreated into small groups and deviant subcultures. Due to this, they gained even more attention from the police and created a self fulfilling prophecy. 

X - LABELLING THEORY FOCUSES ON LITTLE CRIMES SUCH AS DRUG USERS INSTEAD OF MORE SERIOUS CRIMES LIKE MURDER ETC. 

Refers to a term labeling theorists use to describe a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase of it. More control produces more deviance. Moral panics and press stories have triggered a Crackdown which is where the police respond by toughening down on criminals by arresting more youths and imposing tougher penalties. 

Labelling and criminal justice - Studies have shown how attempts to control deviance can have the opposite effects. e.g Cohen and Young 

X - tHE WORK OF BRAITHWATE SHOWS THAT LABELLING CAN BE POSITIVE AND THERE RE TO TYPES OF SHAMING. 

Disintergrative _ where the crime and criminal is labelled.

Reintergrative _ where only the act is labelled and not the person.

Sees crime, as a serious and growing problem that threatens to destroy communities and undermines social cohesion. It has helped uk governements move away from rehabilitation. 

X - HAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT POLICIES. 

There are three causes of crime:

• Rational Choice - Ron Clarke argues that the decision to commit crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences. If the rewards are outweighing the costs, then people are more likely to offend. The perceived costs of commiting crime are low and that is why it is increasing. 
  
• Biological differences - Biological differences may make some people more predisposed to commit crime, such as personalisity traits like agression and risk taking which puts some people at greater risk of offending. 
• Socialisation and the underclass - The  Underclass in the uk is due to welfare dependancy. 
  • Young single parents - Murray claims young single parents get pregnant on purpose to gain benefits - resulting in a culture of dependancy. murray sees single mothers as been unable to socialise their children properly. X - MOTHERS CAN STILL SOCIALISE THEIR CHILDREN. MACDONALD AND MARSH - PREGNANCIES WERE OFTEN UNPLANNED AND LIVING OF BENEFITS WAS TEMPORARY. 
    
  • Young unemployed men - choose voluntary idleness over work, due to the overgenerous welfare system.They can also carry out their supplements by carrying out fiddle work. X - MURRAY IGNORES THE MASS OF RESEARCH THAT INDICATES THAT PEOPLE WANT POWER.
  • Young men commiting crime - The chances of getting caught or being found guilty and going to prison have all reduced.
    

Right realism argue that the nuclear family is in decline and breaking down,and see this as a main contributer to the high crime rate. Their solution is a return to traditional family values. X - FEMINISTS ARE CRITICAL AS THEY CLAIM IT WILL MEAN WOMEN HAVE TO GO BACK TO A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY. 

Right realists claim that it is a good idea to try and deal with causes of crime such as socialisation since these cannot be easily changed. Their main focus on control and punishment 

• Broken windows - maintain the orderly character of the estate to stop crime taking place.
• Zero tolerance - X - GIVES POLICE FREE REIGN TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS. 
• Use target hrdening - measures to make crimes more difficult to commit.