Title: UNDERSTANDING CRIME
1UNDERSTANDING CRIME
- What is crime? - Why does it occur? - What
are the best ways of sociologically thinking
about and researching It?
Prof. David Inglis
2LECTURE CONTENTS
- Crime in the headlines
- Psychological criminology and sociological
criminology - The politics of criminology
- Functionalist approaches
- Neo-functionalist approaches
- Sub-culturalist approaches
- Labelling theory
- Marxist approaches
- New Left Realism
- 10. Evaluation
3CRIME IN THE HEADLINES
- Crime as a political football
- Rising crime rates (?)
- Regular scandals and outrages
- Getting tough on crime
- More policemen on the street
4Psychological Criminology
- Psychology of individual criminal
- Psychology defective
- Cause of crime individuals mentality
5Psychological Criminology
- HANS EYSENCK
- - neurotic extrovert
- JAMES Q. WILSON RICHARD HERRNSTEIN
- - young males naturally aggressive
- thus naturally oriented towards criminal acts
- NORMAL / ABNORMAL
6Sociological Criminology
- Social reasons for criminal acts
- Patterns of crime
- Cause of crime
- social conditions
- (varies between approaches)
7Sociological Criminology
- Social relations shape individuals and their
actions - Social contexts
- not individuals alone
- Society defines
- what is ABNORMAL
- NO abnormal individuals
- Abnormal is a label
8The Politics of Criminology
- Highly controversial area
- Tied up with government policies
- Psychological views right-wing policies
- Sociological views
- left-wing policies
9WHAT IS CRIME?
- Deviance any social behaviour which departs
from that regarded as normal or socially
acceptable within a society or social context - Jary Jary,
- Collins Dictionary of Sociology
- Breaking of social norms
- Breaking of informal social rules
- Backed up by sanctions - collective morality and
opinion
10WHAT IS CRIME?
- Crime an infraction of the criminal law
- Jary Jary, Collins Dictionary of Sociology
- Breaking of legal rules
- Breaking of formal social rules
- Formal written down,
- regarded as official
- Backed up by sanctions enforced by bureaucracies
- Criminal justice system
- Policing
- Courts
- Prisons
11WHAT IS CRIME?
- 1. What counts as deviance and crime varies
- from society to society
- over time (e.g. homosexuality)
- 2. What counts as NORMAL and ABNORMAL is variable
- 3. Not all deviance is regarded as crime
- e.g. cross-dressing
- 4. Not all crime is regarded as deviance
- e.g. speeding
12FUNCTIONALIST APPROACHES
- Crime is a social institution like any other
(economy, politics, religion, etc.) - Crime is primarily about MORALITY
- Crime is
- - socially necessary
- - socially useful (functional)
- 4. Approach - theorising
13FUNCTIONALIST APPROACHES
- Emile Durkheim
- Each part of a society (a social institution)
contributes to the smooth-running operation of
the whole society - Each of the parts must work together effectively
with all the other parts - Crime helps keep the whole society functioning
14- 1) Cannot have morality without deviance
- Cannot have law without crime
- (Black / white necessary contrast)
- 2) MUST have crime
- Clarifies what is good and bad
- 3) MUST identify deviant minority
- To remind majority what acceptable behaviour is
- 4) TRIALS
- - ceremonies of degradation
- produce strong collective feelings
- reproduce shared sense of morality
15Kingsley Davis - Prostitution
- Particular crimes are socially necessary
- Nuclear family units breeding rearing
children - Male anarchic sexuality
- Prostitution safety-valve
16- ISSUES PROBLEMS
- 1) Theorising about societys needs
- Are there such things?
- Macro-perspective / victims points of view
- 2) Society requires crime deviance
- - murder, paedophilia, rape, etc.
- These are socially functional
- Is this true?
- Davis on prostitution male bias?
- 3) HOW MUCH crime does a society require?
- When is there too much crime?
- When does crime become socially DYSfunctional?
17NEO-FUNCTIONALIST APPROACHES
- 1) Extension and refinement of original
functionalist views - 2) Dont assume crime is always socially
functional - Crime can be socially dysfunctional
- 3) Crime happens when different parts of society
are not properly coordinated with each other - 4) Approach - theorising
18Robert Merton Anomie Theory (Strain Theory)
- Writing in 1930s
- 1) Goals
- 2) Means of achieving goals
- The American Dream
- Goals wealth high social status
19Mertons Anomie Theory
- Legitimate means
- Educational success
- Hard work
- Illegitimate means
- Criminal activities
- Gangsterism
- Organised crime
20- WHY do people turn to illegitimate means
(criminal activities)? - - When strong anomie is experienced
- i) Anomie blocked aspirations
- ii) High aspirations (American Dream)
- VERSUS
- Actual social situation (lowest social class,
poverty, poor schooling, etc.) - Strain between aspirations (culture) and
actuality (low social position) - iii) Legitimate means closed
- Only illegitimate means open
211930s gangsters Abnormal or typical? High
aspirations versus Low social position (poor,
immigrants) ? Turn to illegitimate means
Al Capone
22- Conformists law-abiding majority
- Accept societys goals
- Use legitimate means
- Innovators law-breakers
- Accept societys goals
- Use illegitimate means
- Rational response to the situation
- Crime is societys fault
- Everybody given high aspirations
- - Some people not given opportunities to pursue
them legally
23Merton Issues Problems
- Theory rather than empirically proven
- 2. EVERYTHING explained in terms of anomie
(blocked aspirations) - - Other reasons?
- 3. Only explains certain kinds of crime
- - Murder as business / not murder for other
reasons
24SUB-CULTURALIST APPROACHES
- Crime as a product of sub-culture membership
- Deviant and criminal sub-cultures
- Sub-cultures exist separately from, and in
opposition to, mainstream society and culture - Must explore fine-grained details of life in a
sub-culture - Approach - ethnography
25- Albert Cohen (1950s)
- - Working class boys
- - Frustrated with social position
- - Rejection of middle class culture
- - Sub-cultural norms of defiance
- Cloward Ohlin (1960s)
- - Working class boys
- - Strongly accept middle class values
- - Have been encouraged to have high aspirations
- - But are frustrated by social position ? crime
26- Middle class culture
- VERSUS
- (Lower) working class culture
- - Law-abiding / Trouble
- - Refinement / Toughness Masculinity
- - Self-control / Autonomy freedom
- Young males over-conform
W. B. Miller (1950s)
27Issues Problems
- Most crime is not committed by gangs
- Assumes strong sense of membership
- - But drifting in and out of a subculture
- 3) Over-emphasises the gulf between sub-cultures
and mainstream society and culture - - Constructs a big divide between normal and
abnormal behaviour - - What is mainstream anyway?
- - Everyone is deviant in some way depends on
whether they are labelled that way or not
28LABELLING THEORY
- No action is naturally deviant or criminal
- No person is naturally deviant or criminal
- 2. It depends on whether they have been labelled
that way by - - Society as a whole
- - Powerful groups within it - police, courts
- 3. Approach symbolic interactionism /
ethnography / life-histories - 4. Sympathy for underdogs
29- Howard Becker
- Outsiders (1963)
- Edwin Lemert
- Primary deviance
- Breaking norms
- Secondary deviance
- - Labelled as a criminal
30- Secondary deviance
- 1) Stigmatisation
- 2) Deviance amplification
- See oneself as a criminal
- Engage in further criminal acts
- 3) Retrospective labelling
- 4) Deviant career
- - Vicious circle
31Issues Problems
- 1. Does not explain WHY crimes occur
- - Does not look at individuals motivations
- - Only looks at societys responses to crime
-
- 2. Assumes individual gets locked into deviant
career (may be the opposite?)
32MARXIST APPROACHES
- Karl Marx
- 1. Law serves ruling class interests
- protects middle classes ruling groups
- 2. Law particularly penalises punishes working
classes - 3. Bias in law goes unrecognised
- 4. Approach theory / some ethnography
33- Taylor, Walton, Young (1973)
- The New Criminology
- 1. Middle class crimes go relatively
- - undetected (e.g. tax evasion)
- - unpunished (e.g. corporate crime)
- 2. Middle class deviants often undetected or let
off lightly - - likely not to be labelled as criminals
34- 3. Working class criminals
- Likely to be negatively labelled
- Rebels against capitalist system
- Crime a disguised form of protest against social
inequalities - Robin Hood figures
35Issues Problems
- Explains all crimes in terms of social class
capitalist society - paedophilia? sex crimes?
- 2. Overly romantic notion of criminals as
working class heroes - Most crime (violence, theft, etc.) occurs WITHIN
the working classes
36NEW LEFT REALISM
- 1980s onwards
- Developed as a response to Marxist approaches
- Increases in crime HAVE occurred
- Legitimate public concerns about crime
37- 1) Need more emphasis on victims of crime
- 2) Approach
- cant trust official statistics
- many crimes go unreported
- Use victim surveys
- 3) Particularly high crime rates in deprived
inner cities - - deprived groups suffer most crime
38- 4) Causes
- Not poverty alone
- Poverty PLUS other forms of
- social exclusion
- Race and ethnicity
- 5) Pragmatic approach
- Formulate better crime policies
- From military policing to community policing
- Locally-elected police authorities
39Issues Problems
- 1. Uncritical and naïve?
- Accept views of rising crime rates put about
by government, police and media - 2. Sold out to the system?
- 3. Over-emphasis on street crime and thefts
- - Ignore white collar crime, corporate crime
40WHAT HAPPENS NEXT .
- 1) Consider both the theoretical and
methodological aspects of each approach - Theory connecting crime to wider society
- Methodology research methods used
- How good (or not) are these?
- 2) Which sorts of crimes are best explained by
which approaches? - 3) Which seem the strongest and weakest
approaches overall? - 4) Can different approaches be successfully
combined?