Sociology crime dev

- crime is inevitible

- can be functional in 3 ways:

1) reaffirming boundaries

2) changing values

3) social coheision

American dream: based on shared goal of material goods however due to peoples positions within society (class, gender, ethnicity etc) they dont all have the same access/opportunities. There are accepted ways of meeting these goals (through education, employment, hard work etc) but the desire of obtaining the material goods overpowered the emphasis of the accepted ways of meeting them so people turned to crime in order to meet them.

1) conformity

2) innovation

3) ritualism

4) retreatism

5) rebellion

d

crime is a result of the existance of the welfare state as it has created a culture of dependancy where people develop seperate norms and values to the rest of society meaning they lack morals and

3 causes of crime:

1) relative deprivation

2) subcultures

3) marginalisation

british society is racist and young ethnic minority males are economically and socially marginalised, and have a sense of relative deprivation = subcultures have emerged. crime is used as a coping mechanism of this

solutions to crime: reestablish trust between police and community so they are seen more as a source of help meaning they report crimes more rather than using military style policing methods

y

**** trials bias

suspicious stereotype

women controlled at home, in work and in public

CJS unfair to women (crit pollack)

men commit crime to reassert masculinity

(school, classes, sport, fighting etc)

/crime is therefore a social construction

hippies - master status - unfairly policed/disproportionate

mods and rockers

*Fawbert - hoodies

stephen lawrence, CJS institutionally racist 4 areas:

1) policing

2) stop and search

3) arrests

4) prosecution

domestic violence caused by mens dissatisification with wifes performance on domestic duties.

also controlled financially by men

as women become less supressed by patriarchy they become more involved in crime eg fighting

crime is a rational response to capitalist system.

crime exists in all classes though official statistics make it appear to be a working class phenomenon

Big buisnesses are reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of buisness or threaten their profitability

laws exist to protect the bourjeousie. the ruling class have power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their intrests

- crime exists in all classes, the only difference is in the types of crime being committed and how the law is enforced across class boundaries

Muggings - began during a crisis of caapitalism (economic recession) and the media presented black youth as a scapegoat

negotiation of justice

zone of transition - people moving in and out regularly (more desirable areas etc) meaning community is not properly established, and so people dont fear the stigma attatched to crime

city centres, poorer districts and affluent areas have high crime rates of different types of crime eg. poorer areas = violent crime, wealthy areas = burglary

square of crime - to understand crime have to look at criminal, victim, state and

solution = establish better relationship with the police and community

solutions = zero tolerance, incarceration, retribution, more visible policing to deter people, military-style policing

crime a result of materialistic society, monitoring, bourjeousie exploiting proletariat

- laws eg, sponsorship of american electoral campaigns

-leave out victimless crimes (morrison)

/- shed light on social characteristics of criminals, question the accuracy of official statistics, used to test theories of crime (williams)