Assess the Usefulness of Official Crime Statistics to a Sociological Understanding of Crime

Assess the Usefulness of Official Crime Statistics to a Sociological Understanding of Crime The Government publishes official statistics on crime in Britain annually. The main source of these statistics are gathered from recorded crimes by the police and courts and through the British Crime Survey (BSC) which is a large-scale victim survey conducted annually by the Home Office. The combination of both of these statistics should provide a picture of the full extent of crime in Britain, however, sociologists believe there are a number of factors that influence these figures and that these official statistics do not reflect a true representation of crime in Britain today. We shall explore these factors and perspectives further to assess whether the official statistics do serve a purpose in the reporting of crime in Britain. From the functionalist perspective Emile Durkheim stated that deviance is a necessary part of all societies and that police and the courts are necessary to keep deviance in check and to protect social order. Durkheim argued that crime is an inevitable part of society and that all social change begins with some form of deviance and in order for change to occur, and that yesterday's deviance must become today's normality. That a limited amount of crime is necessary and beneficial to society and that society could not exist without some form of deviance and it

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The chivalry thesis claims that women will be treated more leniently for committing certain crimes, generally shoplifting is often associated more with females than males, but the statistics suggest that males commit many more acts of theft than women, an

Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the value of 'chivalry thesis 'in understanding differences in crime. gfg Pollak (1950) was of the opinion that police and magistrates tended to be more 'chivalrous' and 'lenient' towards female offenders, resulting in sentence disparities, and as a result, criminal statistics underestimate the amount of female offending. (Item A). Pollak (1961) argued that men - namely in this case police officers, magistrates and judges, are socialised to be protective towards women and thus are less likely to chare or prosecute them, and are also treated more leniently in court. Pollak goes further to argue that women are accustomed to deceiving men, for example in faking orgasms during sex, or lying in a relationship to gain material wealth. This skill in deceit mean that their crimes, such as poisoning and infanticide, are less easily uncovered (item A) leading to women being underrepresented in criminal statistics. The chivalry thesis claims that women will be treated more leniently for committing certain crimes, generally shoplifting is often associated more with females than males, but the statistics suggest that males commit many more acts of theft than women, and this may be because females are let off with a warning rather than a conviction. This could be because the statistics of crime are so male dominated, a police officer may

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Asses the arguments and evidence which suggest women commit much less crime than men

Asses the arguments and evidence which suggest women commit much less crime than men The sociology gender of has mostly been focused on women and femininity, but over the recent years men and masculinity has also been studied. Some sociologists believe that gender can be identified as male and female through their organs that produce sex cells and their hormones, enabling women to bear children but not men. There is also the difference of men being physically strong and women being weak. The biological differences in men and women are determined through their behaviour and their roles played in society. For example, men's role is to go out and provide for the family, they're seen as the 'breadwinners', and men are seen as 'housewives', producing children, cooking and cleaning. This may lead to the large-scale view that women commit less crime than men because women are assumed to not having the time and motive to commit crime and men having both. In this essay views from different writers and sociologists will be discussed on gender and crime. For what reasons are women stereotyped and assumed to commit less crime? Can sociological situations affect the crime committed by gender? If so, how and why? Frances Heidensohn (1985), a famous feminist, believes that women do commit less crime than men. She looked at women and social control, saying that it was difficult for women

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Evaluate the Functionalist explanations of Deviance.

Sociology Essay Evaluate the Functionalist explanations of Deviance (50 marks) Functionalism has been one of the most important approaches in explaining deviant behaviour. Functionalism has also played an important part in explaining other areas of sociology, such as health and education. In basic Functionalist terms, if something exists in society it must have a purpose for existing, and, since crime exists, it must perform functions for the society. Functionalist explanations look at the implications of crime and crime control policies, rather than directly attempting to explain the causes of criminal behaviour. However, unlike other models that eliminate blame from offenders by claiming criminals have little free will, a functionalist approach favours suppression of criminal activity and the use of appropriate sanctions. The major difference between functionalist and all other theories of crime causation is its apparent positive view of deviant behaviour. Durkheim identified two different sides of crime, a positive side, which helped society change and remain dynamic, and a negative side, which saw too much crime leading to social disruption. He claimed that a limited amount of crime was necessary for any society. Durkheim argued that as societies develop and grow, the collective conscience, or shared values, which guide our actions and provide boundaries, are

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'White-collar crime never hurt anybody'. Discuss

Assignment 2 - 'White-collar crime never hurt anybody'. Discuss We have entered the age of white-collar crime. A time when the words thieves and businessmen go hand in hand. White-collar criminals don't get their hands dirty in their work. They use their heads to get what they want instead of using a little muscle. But are these criminals are just as dangerous as the rapists and murderers? White-collar crime is the category of crime that tends to be committed by professionals, people who know how to bend the rules within the system and take what doesn't belong to them, without getting caught. Securities Fraud, Insider Trading, Bank Fraud, Tax Fraud, and Money Laundering are all examples of white-collar crime. The more common White Collar crime includes: Bank Fraud: Defrauding banks of their money, Cellular Phone Fraud: The unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. Computer fraud: Where computer hackers steal information sources contained on computers such as: bank information, credit cards, and personal information.(Levi 2001) There are some more types of this crime such as; Counterfeiting, this is when someone copies or imitates an item without having been authorized to do so and passes the copy off for the genuine or original item. Counterfeiting is often associated with money however can also be associated with designer clothing,

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Deviance in Society A person would be considered to be acting deviantly in society if they are violating what the significant social norm in that particular culture

Deviance in Society A person would be considered to be acting deviantly in society if they are violating what the significant social norm in that particular culture is. What causes humans to act certain ways is a disputed topic among researchers for some time now. There are three types of researchers that have tried to answer this question. There is the psychological answer, biological answer, and the sociological answer. With all of the studies that have been performed, no one group has come up with an exact reason to why people behave deviantly. Although, sociologists' theories have not been disproved as often as the psychologists' and biologists' theories because their experiments are too hard to define and no one definition for deviance is agreed upon by all experimenters (Pfuhl, 40). My own curiosity to find out what the influences are behind deviant behaviour is the purpose for this paper. We have already discussed this topic during class in part two, chapter four of the textbook which explains deviance and crime. This section talks more about deviance being a learned behaviour. I wanted to find out more information to see if biological factors are also behind this kind of behaviour. The most knowledge acquired for why people act deviantly is from the sociological perspective. There is need for more research, if possible, in the psychological and biological

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What was the impact of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act?

Conflicts and Contradictions in Crime 2500 words essay 2 What was the impact of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act? The Maintenance of Law and Order before the 1829 Metropolitan Act established. Authorities had few resources to cope with riot, crime and disorder. Country parishes and smaller market towns had constables and the local watch and ward; this was the old Tudor system. In London, the Bow Street Runners were set up in 1742. Troops were used to keep order. Local militias were used for local problems and spies were used to track down those who were suspected of disaffection. The industrial revolution put new pressures on society, leading to violence. Collective living led to collective organisation, which helped to create social disorder on a larger scale. The Penal Code was severe with almost two hundred capital offences and other punishments including transportation. This actually encouraged more serious crime as evidenced by the expression, "I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb". However, prisons were still a bad place to be, even after Peel's reforms of the 1820s. As Home Secretary, he undertook a refurbishment of the prisons and also a large scale reform of the penal code. Eventually prisons did improve although much of the pioneering work was done by people such as Sir Samuel Romily and Elizabeth Fry. Debate about the creation of a standing police

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"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". How far would you agree with this philosophy in dealing with criminals?

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". How far would you agree with this philosophy in dealing with criminals? Crime is often considered a social problem. It is a single natural phenomenon which occurs in every stratum of society and is not something which can be explained easily. Its causes are legion and its trends are difficult to ascertain. Its cures are speculative and controversial. There are those who believe that the evils of imprisonment are inextricable from imprisonment itself. Those who believe that imprisonment should stay are of the view that the prison is an indispensable institution and therefore, a potentially good and useful one. Those who believe that imprisonment must go are of the opinion that criminal sanctions should serve other purposes rather than retribution. Retribution is indeed the major, if not the most important, objective of penal measure. There is the view that retribution is euphemism for vengeance, a form of retaliation: society exacts punishment on the culprit as a form of payment for what he owes us, the discomfort and pain he may have inflicted on each of us. The retribution motive is based, among other things, that social and legal controls will break down and society will not be able to function normally as a result. This fear is not entirely groundless or irrational. The idea that sanctions will ensure the smooth functioning of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Sociology
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"Assess the view that deviance is merely a label applied by society to the acts of others".

"Assess the view that deviance is merely a label applied by society to the acts of others" Interactionists consider that when examining deviance it is just as important to look at those who define the act as deviant as it is to look at the act itself. They would argue that it is the reaction of society that determines how deviant an act is, if at all. Becker's labelling theory suggests that deviance is actually created by the social groups which create and promote norms and values which are deviated from, rather than the act itself. He says that by applying these rules to outsiders and labelling them as deviant, deviance is created - therefore deviance is not created by the individual who carries out the act, it is created by the labels which are attached by others to that act. An example used to demonstrate this theory could be nudity - alone in a bathroom nudity it is accepted, but if a stranger walked in it would be considered deviant. However in nudist resorts nobody wears clothes and this is seen as accepted within the resort, but possibly deviant to those outside of the resort. How deviant the act of nudity is depends upon how it is interpreted by the social audience. Becker argues that this is how deviance is in fact created, because some acts can be deviant in some cases but not in others. However, it could be argued that changing the circumstances of an act (eg.

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  • Subject: Sociology
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"Deviance is normal" - In what sense is this true?

"Deviance is normal". In what sense is this true? Deviance could be identified as a form of social classification which is a sociological concept concerning "things" which offend a cultures expectance and social norms. Thus deviance can change over time and differ from societies, what is not accepted in one decade or society can be in another. For example guy relationships where once perceived as a mental illness. It could now be argued that they have become social accepted and are no longer perceived as being deviant or a mental illness. This change of viewpoint could be due to time and the society's values changing. Downs and Rode defined deviance "As banned or controlled behavior which is likely to attract punishment or disapproval." Thus suggesting that all forms of "anti social" behavior are included, when considering deviance. Such acts such as murder which attracts punishment right through to mild acts such as burping and farting which attract mild disapproval. Therefore Downs and Rock could be suggesting that deviance is "normal" depending on the boundaries that the society enforces. Deviance can be either secret or private and occur within the home and can also be public and open. Deviance however is often concealed and feared off. Thus takes on the secret form and people who appear to be living normal life's and conforming to the norms of the society can in

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Sociology
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