Evaluate Which of the Three Social Factors (Class, Gender, Ethnicity) has the Greatest Impact on Participation in Recorded Street Crime.

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Evaluate Which of the Three Social Factors (Class, Gender, Ethnicity) has the Greatest Impact on Participation in Recorded Street Crime.

Street crime is the term used to describe certain acts that break the criminal law. These acts include violent assault, robbery, vehicle theft or damage, shop theft, and criminal damage. Often, the fear of crime is more common than the actual crime itself, and poses a larger problem in society than what you may first think. This essay sets out to determine which of the three social factors is held most responsible for the great participation in the recorded rates of street crime.

The media has the ability to influence and manipulate people’s opinions, and most often portrays the following image as Britain’s typical criminal. This is inevitably important to discuss when trying to tackle an essay such as this, because it helps to identify any social stigmas that may be involved with certain groups, or types, of people.

  • White/West Indian (Dependent on location)
  • Male
  • Working class
  • Late teens – Mid Twenties

It is important to recognize that this essay is based on recorded crime, which means that a crime has to be noticed, reported and then recorded by the police. There are two sets of statistics which record crimes, the OCS (Official Crime Statistics) and the BCS (British Crime Survey). Although the OCS relies on information from the police and courts, the BCS is a survey that is based on monitoring victims of crime and covers approximately 16,000 households across Britain. Often, victims of petty crime or crimes that could be seen as embarrassing are left unreported to the police. The BCS is therefore a sociological survey, which helps to uncover the true extent of crime in society.

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The main question asked by sociologists of this field, is what possesses certain individuals to commit particular types of crime? The most common answer to this question is opportunity.  If one has the opportunity to commit crime, he/she often will. However, you cannot commit a crime if the correct objects and conditions are not there. (IE. You do not have the opportunity.)

The first social factor I will assess against crime is social class. All social classes commit crime. However, only one social class commits a high percentage of recorded crime. The type of crimes which are accessible ...

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