The Social Distribution of Crime & Deviance (AQA A Level Sociology): Flashcards

Farrington and Morris (1983) found that men and women often received similar punishments for comparable offences.

According to Carlen (1997), women who fail to conform to the ideal of a 'good mother' may face harsher sentencing.

Walklate (1998) argues that in rape trials, women have to prove their respectability to be believed.

Intersectionality challenges the idea that the CJS is lenient to all women because Black and working-class women may face harsher treatment due to police stereotyping and racial profiling.

According to Smart (1976) and Oakley (1972), boys are taught toughness, aggression, risk-taking and individualism, traits linked to higher male offending.

True.

Not all boys socialised into masculine traits offend, and the theory underplays free will and the effects of class, ethnicity and social context.

According to Heidensohn (1985), women are more conformist because they are controlled by patriarchal structures at home, at work and in public.

Bedroom culture is the tendency of teenage girls to socialise mainly at home with friends, which McRobbie and Garber (1976) found gave them fewer opportunities for delinquency.

Men hold most senior roles at work, which reduces women's chances of committing white-collar crime.

Patriarchy can leave women in poverty and marginalisation, pushing some into utilitarian crimes such as theft and fraud.

The class deal is Carlen's (1988) idea that women are offered consumer goods and a decent standard of living in return for working for a wage.

Carlen's gender deal offers women rewards from a male breadwinner in return for their love and domestic labour.

According to Carlen (1988), crime becomes a rational alternative when the rewards for conformity seem unattainable or not worth the effort.

True.

Carlen interviewed only 39 women already in prison or on probation, excluding women facing similar hardships who did not offend.

The liberation thesis is Adler's (1975) idea that as women gain freedom from patriarchy, they take on male roles in crime as well as work, producing a 'new type' of female criminal.

The timing problem that undermines Adler's (1975) theory is that female crime rates were already rising in the 1950s, before the liberation movement began in the 1960s.

Steffensmeier and Schwartz (2009) found that the female share of arrests for violence rose, but victim surveys showed no increase in female violence, suggesting police were prosecuting less serious violence.

According to Worrall (2004), girls' misbehaviour was once seen as a 'welfare' issue but is now treated as criminality.

True.

This suggests that rising female convictions may reflect a moral panic rather than a real increase in female offending.

According to the CSEW (2012), women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and harassment.

According to Messerschmidt (1993), men use crime to 'accomplish masculinity', a social construction that must be constantly demonstrated.

Hegemonic masculinity is the dominant and most valued form of masculinity, stressing toughness, control, paid work, heterosexuality and the subordination of women.

The night-time economy has created criminal opportunities for men, such as drug dealing and protection rackets, alongside legal work such as bouncing.

Messerschmidt's theory is accused of a circular argument because it claims men commit crime to show masculinity, while we know they are masculine because they commit crime.

A combination of structural inequality, such as over-policing and harsher sentencing, and social disadvantage may explain ethnic disparities in the CJS.

In the year ending March 2023, Black people were over 4 times as likely as White people to be stopped and searched.

In 2022/23, Black people were 2.2 times as likely to be arrested as White people.

False.

CSEW data show that people of Mixed ethnicity report higher victimisation than average.

After the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the Macpherson Report (1999) concluded that the Metropolitan Police was institutionally racist.

According to Phillips and Bowling (2007), minorities often feel 'over-policed and under-protected', leading to limited trust in the police.

False.

Only a small proportion of stop and searches result in arrest.

Black and Asian people are less likely to receive a caution because they are more likely to deny the offence and request legal advice, often due to mistrust of the police.

The CPS may be more likely to drop cases against minority defendants because of weaker evidence or police bias (Bowling and Phillips, 2002).

Minority ethnic defendants often opt for trial by jury at the Crown Court because they trust magistrates less.

Pre-sentence reports can reinforce stereotypes of Asian offenders by portraying them as less remorseful, as Hudson and Bramhall (2005) found.

High-discretion stops are stops based on officer judgement, where bias and stereotypes can drive disproportionality.

Demographic factors help explain ethnic patterns in stop and search because ethnic minority groups have higher proportions of young, urban and unemployed people, who are more likely to be stopped regardless of ethnicity.

Asian people were more likely than others to be stopped under section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which was repealed in 2012.

Lea and Young (1993) argue that ethnic differences in crime statistics represent real differences in offending, not just bias.

According to Lea and Young, police racism cannot fully explain the statistics because over 90% of crimes are reported by the public, not discovered by the police.

False.

Marginalisation produces non-utilitarian crime, such as violence and rioting; blocked opportunities produce utilitarian crime.

Gilroy (1982) argues that Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes.

Gilroy (1982) interprets African-Caribbean crime as a form of resistance against colonial oppression and racism in Britain.

Lea and Young argue that most crime is intra-ethnic, committed within the same group, so it is unlikely to be a challenge to state racism.

According to Hall et al. (1978), the moral panic about Black 'muggers' diverted attention from the crisis of capitalism.

False.

Hall et al. argued that mugging was simply a new label for street robbery, with no real evidence of a crime increase.

Downes and Rock (2011) argue that Hall et al. are inconsistent, claiming that crime was both rising and not rising.

FitzGerald et al. (2003) found street robbery rates were highest in very poor areas where deprived youth mixed with affluent groups.

White youth in the same deprived conditions were also more likely to offend, so ethnicity itself is not the cause.

A racist incident is any incident perceived as racist by the victim or any other person.

Sampson and Phillips (1992) noted that racist victimisation is often ongoing, with repeated harassment causing long-term psychological and social harm.

Minority communities develop self-defence strategies because of mistrust in the police's ability to protect them.

True.

This raises victimisation rates for ethnic groups with many young males, though risk factors such as unemployment may partly result from discrimination.

Reiner and Young found that most prisoners convicted of street crimes come from semi-skilled and unskilled backgrounds.

False.

The government does not officially collect these statistics, but other evidence shows a relationship between class and crime.

Trust for London (2023) found 40% more crimes recorded in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas.

Maguire (2007) found that working-class people are over-represented in prison.

White-collar crime is offending by individuals of high status in their jobs, such as managers or directors, e.g. fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion.

False.

People in more deprived areas had higher victimisation rates for crimes such as theft, robbery and fraud.

Corporate crime is offending by businesses to maximise profit, often against employees, consumers or the environment, e.g. price-fixing.

Working-class street crimes are more heavily policed because they are more visible.

Cloward and Ohlin (1960) argued that working-class groups have unequal access to the illegitimate opportunity structure.

Merton argues that working-class people face blocked opportunities to achieve approved goals, so some turn to crime such as theft as an alternative means of success.

False.

White-collar and corporate crimes are under-reported and under-prosecuted, and offenders can afford powerful lawyers.

Croall argues that the powerful have greater opportunities to commit crime and cover it up, and profit pressure encourages harmful cost-cutting.

Box argues that crimes of the powerful are more harmful to society than street crimes but are often hidden or treated more leniently.

True.

Taylor et al. argued that the working class choose crime as a response to exploitation, aiming to redistribute wealth from rich to poor.

Labelling theory argues that expensive lawyers, PR and professional status protect middle-class offenders from labelling, and regulators often handle cases quietly.

Murray blames the criminal underclass and weak social controls for most street crime.