Crime things aren’t what they seem to be.ppt

Crime: things aren’t what they seem to be What is it? How much is there? What causes it? What is crime? What is deviance? Stark: multiple approaches Common sense/legal system Sociological (better than common sense?) – Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi How much crime is there? “Dark figure” of crime (Edwin Sutherland: “statistics of crime are known as the most unreliable and the most difficult of all statistics.”) Wm. Chambliss: there are whole worlds of criminal (and related) activity – most of it is “victimless crime” (prostitution, gambling, illegal sex activities, drinking/drunkeness, drug use, etc.) FBI and crime statistics. Crimes “known to police.” Uniform Crime Reports original focus: seven “index” crimes it was thought most places agreed about: /ucr/cius2009/index.html Problems of UCR led to the National Crime Victimization Survey (from national samples): /index.cfm?ty=kfa Why is there crime? Strain? Subculture? Socialization/personality? Robert King Merton and “anomie” Anomie (anomia) –lawlessness or normlessness Merton: society/social roles/culture/norms are supposed to bring about order Norms – general expectations of behavior in specific situations Societally-approved goals Societally-approved means Problem: norm conflict. What if culturally-accepted goals are blocked? Robert King Merton and “anomie” Two major responses: Retreatism ? pow! “Innovation” ? bam! Influential -- Almost all theorists who believe society is responsible for disorder begin with Merton BUT: Why aren’t more poor people criminal? Poor peoples’ crime pays poorly What of all those unpoor people who commit crimes from time to time? What of “white collar crime,” etc.? What of non-economic crime? (Ted Bundy, etc.) Can violent crime be tied to economic or social inequality? Maybe. Socialization approach: Edwin Sutherland “Differential Association” Definitions of situations Characteristics of “associations” (essentially: what makes someone a significant other?) Frequency Intens