Crime and Deviance

Outline

•Social construction of crime

•Merton’s Deviance

•Functionalist and Marxist views on crime

•Dark figure of crime

•British Crime Survey

What is crime?

http://newsgrist.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c66f153ef0115703d90f5970c-pi

Crime Vs Deviance

• Crime is behaviour which is against the law of a particular country and is punishable.

• Crime is socially constructed• Focus on criminalization• No ‘natural criminal’

• Deviance is behaviour that does not conform to the norms of a given society

• Deviance can be positive (heroism, genius) or negative (slacker, chav)

Functionalism

Society’s laws reflect norms and values (consensus)

Crime is both positive and negativehow can crime help society function?

Functionalist-inspired sub-cultural theory would stress importance of crime in identity

Emile Durkheim - Anomie

‘Anomie’ means being insufficiently integrated into society’s norms and values

Explains why some people become dysfunctional and turn to crime.

causes society to become less integrated and more individualistic

causes individuals to look out for themselves rather than the community

Anomie?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Mertons_social_strain_theory.svg

Marxist views on CrimeMarxists recognise the systematic bias in favour of the powerful in the application of the law

• Laws are not consensual• Capitalist focus on property laws (e.g. illegal downloads)

“The heart of the capitalist system is the protection of private property, which is, by definition, the cornerstone upon which capitalist economies function. It is not surprising, then, to find that criminal law reflects this basic concern” (Chambiliss 1976)

How many of you have downloaded music?How many have paid?Is this a crime?

Marxist views on crime

“The state is reluctant to pass – or enforce – stringent laws against pollution, worker health and safety, or monopolies. Such measures frighten off the much sought-after investment” (Snider 1993)

These criminal acts can be exported to un(der)regulated countries

As a general rule, the higher people are in the social system, the less likely they are to be arrested, charged, prosecuted and found guilty.

Marxists stress the significant ‘dark-side’ of white-collar and corporate crime that is largely invisible and absent from crime statistics.

Feminist views on crime

Laws reinforce patriarchy

Marriage as slavery• Women as chattels • Options for divorce• Marital rape (criminalised in 1991 in England)• Domestic violence

Criminal Justice System reinforces patriarchy• Male judiciary and police• Gender stereotypes

Break

How might we measure crime?

Measuring Crime 1: Recorded crime

Where on this chart does a crime become a crime?

Crime in the UK

Reasons for rising report crime

More state action: as policing gets better more crimes are detected.

More laws: Because of more legislation on the statute book, there are more possible crimes (traffic offences, financial fraud, computer related crimes, etc.)

More sensitivity: People are more sensitive to reporting crimes physical and sexual violence to the police.

More victims: Because of increased affluence there are more things to steal. As opportunities have risen, so have crimes.

Dark Figure of Crime

Group work

Why is the crime rate higher in urban areas?

Why are most convicted criminals young?

Why are most convicted criminals male?

Why are most convicted criminals working class?

BCS – British Crime Survey

The BCS measures the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking people about crimes they have experienced in the last year

• 24,000 interviews

The BCS includes crimes which are not reported to the police, so it is an important alternative to the Official Crime Rate.

Victims do not report crime for various reasons. Without the BCS the government would have no information on these unreported crimes.

Comparing reported with BCS

Conclusions

Deviance Vs Crime

Crime is about power

Social construction of crime statistics (but still useful!)

Different stats useful for different purposes