REVISION SESSION #1 Crime and Deviance

STARTER CROSSWORD Find the words and define them

TASK ONE: Last person standing EVERYONE STAND UP. ONLY SIT DOWN IF YOU THINK A STATEMENT IS FALSE. IF YOU GET A QUESTION IS WRONG, YOU ARE OUT SO STAY SITTING DOWN!

THE CRIME AND DEVIANCE TOPIC IS IN PAPER 2

THE OTHER TOPICS IN PAPER 2 ARE MASS MEDIA AND POWER

Crime refers to behavior that does not conform to a society’s norms or rules.

A crime is an illegal act that is punishable by law.

Historical evidence suggests that what is considered as deviant can change over time. E.g. attitudes to smoking and to homosexuality have changed in Britain post World War II.

Negative sanctions: the groups and organizations in society that control or constrain people’s behavior and actions

Marxists argue that is crime is committed only by the working class (proletariat)

Feminists argue that is crime is committed only by men

Negative sanctions is the term used to explain rewards for positive behaviour

Functionalists use the term anomie to describe a normless society – one that is broken down and does not have social cohesion.

Inadequate socialization is one reason given by the New Right for why many people commit crime.

The New Right celebrate single parent families and think that they are a good thing for society

Functionalists and the New Right argue that the nuclear family is the best type of family and that single parent families can be blamed for lots of society’s problems.

Marxists argue that all social classes commit crime, however, the proletariat are more likely to get caught and are treated more harshly by the law courts. Middle and upper class people largely commit white collar crime which is often undetected or treated more leniently.

The chivalry thesis refers to the idea that men are treated more leniently than females because of their gender.

Albert Cohen argues that many people join subcultures in order to attain status (because they can’t get it anywhere else).

Relative deprivation only happens to poor people.

The police record all crimes

All crimes are reported

Unrecorded and unreported crime is known as the dark figure of crime

Victimisation surveys ask people what crimes they have committed

Self report surveys ask people what crimes they have committed

The BCS stands for the British Crime Survey

The BCS is a self report study

Official statistics is quantitative data compiled on behalf of the government

Relatively speaking, white people get stopped more by the police than other ethnic groups

The British prison system is overcrowded

The media can often sensationalise the news and make events appear much worse than they actually are. This can lead to moral panics.

The name given to the process of media sensationalism and the creation of a moral panic is called, subcultural amplification.

TASK TWO: Last person standing Match the words on the sheet

TASK THREE: Questions Explain briefly one way in which individuals try to persuade others to conform to their norms. (2 marks) Identify and explain one way in which governments have tried to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour among young people over recent years. (4 marks)  

TASK FOUR: Alphabet game – Everyone stand up

TASK FIVE: Question To what extent would sociologists find official crime figures helpful in providing an accurate picture of how much crime there is? (12 marks)  

TASK SIX: True or false? True or false: 1. Boys are more likely to be socialised to be tough and aggressive. 2. Girls have more opportunity to commit crime. 3. Boys are more closely watched by their family. 4. The chivalry thesis states girls are treated more harshly by the courts. 5. The difference in statistics between female and males could be due to police racism. 6. Ladette culture means these trends could change. 7. Crime is more likely to be in inner city areas. 8. Crime is more likely to be committed by those aged 14-24 9. Chinese people are most likely to commit crime. 10. Institutional racism is to blame for high ethnic prison populations. 11. White collar crimes are crimes of the working class 12. Anomie is a situation of agreement in society  

TASK EIGHT: Question To what extent would sociologists agree that labelling teenagers as deviant leads to an increase in youth crime? (12 marks)