Read the following. What possible social causes of crime can you identify in the passage?
A local housing estate has developed a bad reputation for crime and violence in the local area.
The area is one of low rent private houses and council housing. Many people who live on benefits are in the area and incomes are generally low, even if people work.
There is little work available locally; most of the jobs are for women who are employed part time as cleaners or in supermarket checkouts.
Many of the families have only one parent, usually women who bring up their children on their own.
The local school has a poor reputation and less than half of the pupils get five good GCSE grades.
The police patrol the area regularly and they target gangs of young people who gather in the play area to drink and chat.

Unit 1 – Assessment Criteria 1.3
Describe sociological theories of criminality.

• Crime is caused by the impact of society on individuals who form part of society.
• There are dynamics within certain social groups that lead individuals to choose a criminal solution to their problems.

• Crime is a reflection of social inequality.
• Society is in conflict based on social class – inclusion should be forced as social changes should be forced
Key Thinker - Willem Bonger;
• Crime is caused by an unequal society. Poor people live in miserable conditions.
• Poor people commit crime to survive.
• People with power punish the poor more harshly than the rich.

• They help their loved ones commit euthanasia as they see them in pain.
• They can not afford the best care and the best doctors to help ease their pain and so they are driven to crime. This is due to society being unequal.
• It is classed as a crime as law is dictated by the rich and they would not find themselves in this situation. It is the elites values that are dominant in society.

• Society is organic – it will develop naturally at its own pace – change does not need to be forced.
• Crime has a function – what might some examples of this be?
• Crime confirms societies values

• Crime occurs as a result of individuals not being sufficiently integrated into society
• Criminals do not adhere to society’s norms and values
• Whilst a small amount of deviance is potentially functional in that it
reaffirms society’s norms and values and has the potential to prompt
social change, too much deviance could lead to a state of anomie
(normlessness and confusion)
• Punishments act to reinforce values (thus maintaining the consensus)

• Durkheim’s idea of anomie is too vague
• For Merton, it is a lack of opportunity that leads to criminality
• Crime occurs when an individual has a goal but lacks the means to achieve it legitimately
• This places them – and wider society – under strain (which is why Merton is associated with Strain Theory )
Merton’s Strain Theory is often linked to the notion of the ‘American Dream’ – the popular consensus that exists in the USA around material success.

• Euthanasia as a crime is constantly being challenged and questioned.
This has led to the consensus of it being wrong becoming fractured. It is not broken yet but if it is to become so it will do so naturally. It does not need to be forced
• People commit Euthanasia as they see their loved ones unable to reach their goals.

What makes an action criminal?
According to Interactionists, crime depends on the situation rather than the action and it is how people respond that creates crime.
You are naked in your bathroom.
criminal deviant both
You are naked on a naturist beach in Greece.
criminal deviant both
You are naked in the middle of a shopping mall on a Saturday.
criminal deviant both

A form of labelling.
• Based on the idea that an observer’s beliefs of expectations about a person or group influence their social interactions, and therefore elicits or creates the expected behaviour. (Merton, 1948).
A form of stereotyping
• The observers beliefs are based on their schemas or stereotypes relating to that group or individual
• They will tend more to notice, and even seek behaviour that conforms to their expectations, and ignore that which doesn’t.This then acts as reinforcement of their opinion. (Selective social interaction).

• When observers expect anti-social behaviour, they confirm expectations and seek confirmation in behaviour.
• The observed will then behave in anti-social ways due to the encouragement provided for it, their negative self-belief (that they are not capable of better behaviour).
• The pressure to conform to expectations, and the feeling that any pro-social behaviour is ignored means any effort to change is pointless.

• All people commit criminal acts, but only some people are caught.
• This results in some people gaining a label as a criminal. This label becomes part of their identity, so they commit more crime.

• Research Daniel James and his Euthanasia Journey applying this theory of labelling.

• If you found yourself agreeing with the points on the previous five slides, then you probably side with a view of crime known as Right Realism.
• This is a view of crime that is taken by the
Conservative party in the UK and the
Republicans in the USA.

Murray says:
• There is a moral breakdown in society
• There is a growing underclass of non-workers
• There is more opportunity for criminal behaviour
• Some people choose criminal lifestyles
• Communities are breaking down
• These factors lead to more crime and criminal behaviour.

• Zero Tolerance policy

• Find out more about Charles Murray and the Right Realists
Websites: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/right_realism_crime.htm
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/crime-and-the-effects-ofcrime/revise-it/new-right-realism

Do you think crime is a serious problem in our society?

Do you think communities should be organised in such a way as to prevent crime?

Do you think prison is generally ineffective and pointless?

Do you think the cause of crime is an unjust and unequal society?

Do you think that vulnerable people are most likely to be victims of crime?

• If you found yourself agreeing with the points on the previous five slides, then you probably side with a view of crime known as Left
Realism.
• This is a view of crime that is taken by criminologists and sociologists.

State
Offender Victim
Public

Young says:
• Crime is a real problem in society.
• Crime is caused by social inequality.
• Some areas of society are over policed
(young people), whereas others are not controlled at all
(white collar crime).
Jock Young

• Look at what Jock Young says in his own words, there are articles written by him on this site:
Website: http://www.malcolmread.co.uk/JockYoung/

Find out more about Jock Young and the left realists.
Websites http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/left_realism_crime.htm
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Revision:AQA_Sociology_A2_-
_Crime_and_Deviance_-_Left_Realist_Criminology http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=9345