Work Text:
AC!.1 compare criminal vs deviant
social definition of a crime:
behaviour or activity that offends the moral code of a particular community
legal definition of a crime:
a behaviour that breaks the law and for which you are punished by the legal system
what does mens rea and actus rea mean?
and what does a crime have to have to be to be considered criminal
mens rea: guilty mind
actus rea: guilty act
a crime must be both the mens rea and the actus rea to be considered crimimal
what are some examples of fatal offences against the person
e.g: murder, man slaughter
what are some examples of non fatal offences against the person?
assault, battery, GBH
what are some examples of offences against property?
theft, robbery, burgulary.
what are some examples of sexual offences?
rape, indecent assault.
what are some examples of public order offences?
riot, affray, violent disorder
what are some examples of drug offences?
possesion of a controlled drug, possession with intent to supply.
what are some examples of non-court sanctions?
- cautions
- conditional cautions
- penalty notices
what are some examples of court sanctions?
- custodial sentences
- community sentences
- fines
- discharge
what are the two types of discharge someone could be given and whats the difference?
could either be given
- conditional which is where they have to meet the curfew and regulations
- absolute which is where they are let off the crime totally.
definition of deviance
a behaviour that goes against social norms which will cause disapproval
what are the three types of deviance?
-admired behaviour (deviant behaviour that is considered good)
- odd behaviour (deviant behaviour that is considered bizzare)
-bad behaviour ( deviant behaviour that is disapproved)
what are the formal sanctions against deviance?
- fines
- detention
- exclusion
what are informal sanctions against deviance?
-name calling
- ignoring
- labelling behaviour
- parents grounding a child
- frowning upon behaviour
what is the definition of social construction?
something that has been made by society rather than occurring naturally.
why are laws different in different places?
- politics ---> e.g: conservitive parties tend to be stricter
- religeon--> different religeons havew different moral codes
- narms and values ---> divisions between males and females, cultural beliefs and attitudes towards family can effect law
definition of a social construction?
something that has been made or defined by society rather than occuring naturally.
double jeprody:
what is this law?
why did the law need to change?
-it means the same law ca go to court twice if there is new or compelling evidence
- it was needed because ann mings daughter's killer could ony be prosecuted if the law allowed for it.
drug laws:
-why has there been changes in the prosecution of drug laws?
- what is the impact of the increase of drugs being produced illegally? and what impact would this have on the law?
-there's been changes because some drugs cxan now be used for medical purposes.
-the drugs produced illegally means theres little control over their contents, this means the law will need to change to keep up with the formula and law regarding it.
prostitution laws:
- is it legal why do people want this to change?
- why did these views change?
-yes prostitution is legal but many laws surrounding it are illegal such as owning a brothel and curb crawling. people want these to chnage to help womens safety.
-these laws changed because of a decline in religeon and the status of women has changed.
gun laws:
when were all handguns banned and who by?
why did this happen?
they were banned by the labor party in 1977
this happened because of a change in society and their opinion.
vagrancy:
-is it legal or illegal? and why is it this way?
- why have the views regarding vagrancy changed over time?
-its illegal this is so that people whio are faking being homeless can be prosecuted for faking it for money.
-the views have chnaged over time because there is more sympathy and concern for the homeless.
AC2
ac2.1 biological theories:
physiological theories who are the two people who came up with physiological theories?
lombrosso and sheldon
what theory did lombrosso come up with and how did he find this out?
lombrosso came up with a theory that criminals have different facial features and body types to non criminals ---> he discovered this theory through examining criminals skulls and of people in prision.
what theory does lombrosso use to give evidence for his theory, and how does it link?
lombrosso uses darwins theory of evolution to give evidence for his theory.
he does this through saying that criminals are born with a strong innate predisposition to engage in criminal behaviour. he uses darwins theory through saying that criminals are not as developed as non criminals so instead they should be called homo delinquents.
he also uses this theory to explain wwhy criminals tend to have more tattoos than non criminals due to them having a reduced pain tolerence alike someone who iis not as developed as homosapians.
what are some of the facial features lombrosso has associated with criminals?
- large ears
- big eyes
- big forehead
- high cheek bones
- large jaw
where did lombrossoo do the majority of his research and why would this be a problem?
he mainly did his research in italy
this would be a problem because it is culture bias and the participants may have a certian set of facial features because of the culture and country they live in rather than their criminality
what are some strengths of lombrossos research?
- it follows an evolutionary basis that has been proven right
- did scientific research by meauring the size of the skull
- uses quantitaive data
whats a weakness of lombrossos research?
- culture bias because majority of research was done in italy
- mainly focuses on the nature side of the debate o ignores nuture.
- steryotypes criminla so ignores individuality
- very outdated so lacks temporal validity
- its gender bias because he believed women were of a lower intelligence and passive os couldnt be criminals
sheldon:
what are three types of body types sheldon came up with and what were their charecteristics?
what body type did he believe was criminal?
ectomorph: tall slim and introverted
mesomorph: muscular, agressive
endomorph: tall slim and introverted
he believed that mesomorphs were likely to be criminals.
how did sheldon investiage the link between body types and criminals?
and what sort of study was it?
shelodn looked at 200 pictures of the front, side and back of 200 college students and 200 male delinquents. and they were rated on a scale of 1-7 of levels of mesomorphicness
he did a correlation study between body type and criminality
what was the findings of sheldons work?
he found that the students has more of either an ectomorph or an endomorph body
but criminals would have more mesomorph body types.
what are some strengths of sheldons research?
what other research has been done to back up sheldons research?
- was done on a large sample
- had objective methods such as rating scales and using nominal data
- other research done includes gleuk finding that 60% of prisioners were mesomorphs
- also kreschner found similar results to sheldon and added another somaotypes
what are some weaknesses of sheldons research?
- its gender bias because it only looked at mens body types
- its a correlation study so it ignores
genetic theories:
what is the maoa gene? and how does this link to criminality?
the maoa gene is linked to criminlaity through having low levels according to brummer et al
jacobs xyy study:
what does this theory say criminals have an extra gene of, and what is the name for them?
it says criminals have an extra y gene
and they are called supermales.
what study links to the xyy case?
the gacy case, this is because he had the xyy genes and he committed violent and sexual crimes.
twin studies:
what are mz and dz twins?
if theyre identical or non identical how much of their genetic material will they share?
mz= identical
dz= non-identical
identical twins = 100% of their genetics
non-identical twins= 50% of their genetics
adoption studies:
what does this look into?
what were the findings?
- this looks into how how if one twin lives in a prosocial environemnt but still commits crime it must be due to their genetics rather than their environemnt
- finding showed that twins were more likely to have a criminal record if their parents did aswell.
what are some strengths of the genetic theories?
- there is a lot of research evidence such as testing of the maoa gene, twin studies.
- uses scientific research which is valid
what are some weaknesses of the genetic theories?
- ignores the impact of nurture and the environment
- ignores free will and says e.g: if someone has the maoa gene they will be criminal.
what are the two brain areas that are associated with criminality?
The PFC
the limbic system
the pfc:
how is the pfc effected?
how will this effect their behaviour?
there will be reduced functioning of the pfc
it will mean they are impulsive, have less control, and cannot control their emotions.
the limbic system:
how is this efefcyed with people who will commit crimes?
how will this impact their behaviour?
there will be reduced activity
this will impact their behaviour because the limbic system will effect emotion and motivation
phineaus gage:
what happened to gage?
how did this impact his brain areas and how did this effect his behaviour?
gage had a metal pole go through his brain and it impacted his frontal lobes.
this would mean it would effect his morality and personality so he would be rude and angry.
serotonin:
what conditions are associated with serotonin?
-schizophernia
- anxiety
-depression
normadrenaline:
what is it?
how will it effect behaviour if levels are effected?
it is a chemical messenger its produced in the brain and adrenal glands
if levels are either too high or too low it will effect aggression, violence and criminality.
sex hormones:
what sex hormone will contribute to agression?
testosterone is associated with aggression
blood sugar levels:
how has this been linked to criminality?
and how will the body respond to low blood sugar levels?
this has been linked to criminality through the brain needing blood sugar to function, meaning it will reault in agggression and violence.
substance abuse:
how will substance abuse effect criminality?
whats an example of substance abuse?
people who abuse substances are more likely to become violent and engage in criminal behaviour.
an example is steriods, this will increase irritability and anxiety.
what are some strengths of this?
- theres scientific evidence
- there can be treatments such as antidepressants
- theres research evidence
- the legal system now recognises the impact of neurotrabnsmaitters in why people may commit crimes.
what are some weaknesses of this?
- no cause and effect
- ignores other factors such as the environment
- ignores the role of free will.
AC4.1:
policies that are impacted by biological theories:
what are the three biochemical theories?
drugs, diet and surgery.
what are the three drugs that are associated with biochemical explanations?
- antabuse
- methadone
- stilbestrol
antabuse:
- what is this used to treat?
- and how does it work?
- its used to treat alchohol addictions
- and it works through preventing the body to break dcown lchol meaning they will not get the positive effects of alchol and will instead get immediate hangover symptoms.
- this will act as a detterant to alchol because the hangover should want to stop people from drinking.
methadone:
- what is this used to treat?
- how does it work?
-its used to treat herion addictions
- it works through preventing the withdrawal symptoms of herion which will prevent a lot of people from quitting meaning more people will quit becaiuse they do not have to go through the difficult withdrawal symptioms.
stilbestrol:
- what is this used to treat?
- and why are people given it?
- its used to lower the hormone of testosterone, meaning people will not be as violent or agressive and will lower their sex drive.
- people such as sex offenders may be given this to reduce their sex drive so they are less likely to commit crime.
diet:
what hormone to criminals often lack and what food may they be given to raise these levels?
they often lack serotonin, so may be given foods such as fish or chocolate to raise their levels.
what did gesch et al find?
found that supplementing prisioners with vitamins, minerals and fatty acids lowered the levels of violent behaviour by 37%.
what vitamin has been linked to schizophernia?
vitamin B3
Surgery:
what are the three types of surgery policies put in place?
- lobotomy
- surgical castration
- crowd control
lobotomy:
what is it?
why woudld it be done?
and how often is it now used?
-it is when the connection is cut between the frontal lobes and the thalamus
- its used to treat criminals with things such as sz and depression
- it is very rarely used in some countries but has not been used in the UK since the 1960s
surgical castration:
what does it involve?
why is it done?
- it involves the removal of the testicles/ ovaries to stop the production of the sex hormones.
- to lower the chnaces of sexual crimes beciase of the lack of sex hormones.
crowd control:
what are some examples of biological methods to control groups?
what can these methods cause?
- examples include tear gas
- this would lead to vommiting and disorientation
The death penalty:
- what countries is it still used in?
- why is it in place?
- its still used in countries such as the usa, china and japan
- its in place to act as a dettereant for future criminals.
eugenics:
what is it?
what is biological determinism?
it is improving the genetic quality of the human population.
it is when a persons personmality is congrolled by the genes theyve inherited rather than the social or cultural factors.
compulsory sterilisation:
what is an example of this and who would be sterilised?
an example of compusory sterilistaion is when in america it became legal in 1927 and it would be done on anyone who was deemed unfit to be a paernt and pass on their genetics.
evaluation of biological factors:
what are some weaknesses?
- there are ethical issues surrondding the use of drugs such as anatbuse
- some people will commit crimes due to their socio-econmic situation meaning diet will not change this
- lobotomies may cause serious harm and it may worsen their condition.
individualistic approach:
freuds psychodymaic approach:
what are the 3 types of personality?
what does freud say criminals have?
what are some examples of criminals who have the ...... personality?
-the id, ego and super ego
- freud says criminals have a weak super ego meaning their id controls their personality
- examples of criminals associated with freud are myra hinley who had weak super ego
evaluation of the psychodynamic approach:
strengtrhs and weaknesses
strengths:
- one of the first explaninations that highlights the importance of a good famnily and role model on behaviour
weaknesses:
- outdated (lacks temporal validity)
- reductionist
- cannot test for the idea of the id, ego or superego
bowblys maternal depravtion theory:
what happens if a child does not have a maternal figure in the ages of 0-5 ?and what is the name of this time period?
and what behaviours/ personality can arise because of it?
in the 44 theives study what percentage of the criminals experienced complete seperation from their mother?
they will experience maternal deprivation
the name of this period is known as the critical period
affectionless psychopathy can happen
40% of criminals exoerienced total deprivation
eyesencks personality theory:
what questionare did eysenck create?
what two personalityu types of crime did he find? and what were the charecteristics of these two?
the epq (eyesencks personality questionare)
the PEN: high levels of psychotism, extraversion and neurtotism ---> more likely to offend as they cannot control their impulses
EN: high extraversion and neurotism. high levels of e will lead to thrill seeking
and high levels of n will lead to guilt and anxiety meaning they cannot learn from previous mistakes.
social learning theory:
what are the 4 stages of learning the behaviour?
what does ARMM stand for ?
and how does if ssomeone is either successful or unsuccesful in their behaviour effect how we will replicate it?
what study relates to this and does it support slt and why
1. observation
2. role models
3. vicarious reinforcment
4. immitation
A-ttention
R-etention
M-otor reproduction
M-otivation
- -if someone is succesful we are more likely to replicate it than if they arent succesfull
- banduras bobo doll study and it supports it because the children were aggressive towards the doll
sutherlands differential association theory:
- how does he say people learn crime?
- what attitudes are there in the family that will lead to crime?
- learn crime through family and peers
- and learn it through then family being pro crime
operant conditioning:
- what is crime learnt through?
- what is positive and negative punishment and reinforcment?
- what crimes are likely to be committed through operant conditioning?
-crime is learnt through punishment
- reinforcement is when you try to encourage behaviuoiur and positive is when something is added and negative is when something is taken away to encourage
- punsishment is to discourage behaviour
policies through individualistic theories:
psychoanalysis:
-what part of the personality needs to be corrected?
- what will the psychologist need to bring to the surface and how will this change the behaviour?
-the super ego
- will bring trauma and childhood trauma to the sutrface and this will change behaviourso it can be dealt with
behaviour modification:
- what type of economy is this and what does it involve?
- what may be given to a prisioner to encourage what sort if behaviour by what rewards?
-this is a token economy where people will be given rewards to try and break undesirable charecteristics and create desirable ones
- a token may be given to a prisoner to encourage prosocial behaviour for rewards such as more free time, more food ect..
aversion therapy:
-this tries to ..... behaviour
- what will the criminal watch? and what will they get as they watch the video?
what will they not associate with crime
-tries to shape behaviour
- the criminal will watch anotyher criminal commit crimes, when watching they will be given an electric shock or be given medication to make them sick.
- they will not associate crime with pain and discomfort in an attempt to not be criminal anymore.
what are some other policies?
-cbt
- anger managment
sociological theories:
marxism why do they think crime happens?
how do the upper class use crime?
what is crime linked to in relation to peoples employment?
what types of crime are often overlooked and what crimes are focused on too much?
- crime is inevitable due to class inequality. (crime is a result of inequality and poverty)
- the upper class use crime as a way off social control for the lower class
-crime is often a result of unfavourable conditions such as unemplyment
- white collar crimes are often overlooked because they are committed by the upper class but crime ssuch as robbery that are committed by the lower classes are often focused on too much.
mertons strain theory:
-does this apply to people who have material goods or not? and what class does this apply to?
-what do people set for themselves and how do they get them?
-this applies to people who do not have material goods but would like them. this links to the working class not having as many things/ benefits as the upper class.
- people set goals for themselves and the only way for them to get the goods is to commit crime because they are blocked by poverty.
mertons strain theory:
what do people do if they cannot achieve their goals?
-conform and accept the situation
- create criminal ways to gain material success by committing crimes
- drop out of society
- become rebels
labelling theory:
-focuses on how crime is a social .....
- labelling theorists say that what makes an act criminal or deviant is how society....
- when people are given a label how will society react to it and what will the person do?
-crime is a social construction
- what makes something criminal or deviant is how society reacts to it.
- when people are given a label society will act biased towards the person and the perosn will live up to and fuffill the label (self fuffilling prophecy) and will start to see themselves as a criminal or deviant because they have been labelled.
durkheim theory:
-they believe crime is ...
- crime becomes dysfunctional when..
-they believe crime is inevitable because not every member of society can be equally committed to beliefs and values
- they believe crime is dysfunctional when the levels become too high or too low.
- what are the ways in crime strengthens functions in society? (3 ways)
-boundary maintainance:
reinforcing what is right and wrong is society
- safety value:
some crimes are allowed to happen to prevent more severe crimes
-warning light:
crime and deviance can help to detect problems in society where there needs to be help/ funding.
right realism:
-what type of approach to society do they have?
- how do they want crime punished?
- why do they think caused crime?
-they have a right wing approach
- they want crime punished rather than rehabillittion #
- they think crime is caused by aggression and intelligence differences.
left realists:
- what approach to society do they have?
- what do they believe causes crime? and how does tv programms effect this?
- how do they believe crime should be resolved?
-they have a left wing aproach
- they believe crime is caused by inequalities in society such as when people watch tv programms it negativley effects how people interpret their own life.
-they believe crime should be resolves by by society being more fair and equal.
policies for sociological theories:
mertons strain theory:
how does he say we should tackle poverty?
how should education change? and how does this apply to prisons?
should tackle poverty by:
- better welfare benefits
- better wadges and job security = more equal chances of being successful through legal means
-education should change by treating pupils equally
- and people in prison should have better eduaction as 50% of prisoners have a reading age of 11 so better eduaction will mean they can get better jobs= less crime
labelling theory for policies:
decriminalisation: what offences should be decriminalised?
and why should this happen?
diversion policies: whats the difference between formal and informal diversion policies?
reintergrative shaming: what do you label rather than something else?
-minor offences such ad the possesion of cannabis
-this should happen so criminals would not have a label which would prevent them from oppertunities later in life.
- informal= police using their discretion to not charge someone
-formal= requring people to attend anger management classes.
right realist policies:
what is SCP?
what is ZTP ( environmental crime prevention)
SCP= aims to reduce the oppertunites for crime by increasing the difficulties for commiting ghe crimes. such as barriers being put in place in bridges to prevent vans.
ZTP= taking a tough stance towards all crimes and the police concentrating on tackleing aggressive crimes.
what is penal populism?
and give an example
penal populism is when the government enforce laws and punishments that will be effective with the general population
an example would be robert thompson and jon venales being punished in favor of the public.
tougher imprisonment:
how do incapacitation and deterance apply to this?
incapacitation= criminals are incapable of harming the public
deterance= criminals think twice before offending when they see the tough punishments being handed out.
left realism policies:
what is democratic policing? and how do they do this?
-because the police are looking for public support they will police by using methds that the public will like such as neighbour hood policing and domestic violence being more of a priority
what is a multi agency approach to reducing crime? and give an example
when there are other people to enforce the law other than the police such as no knives better lives
definition of social change:
when society as a whole adopts a whole new belief or behaving which then becomes accepted as the norm.
definition of norms:
social excpectations that guide and explain peoples behaviour. and keep deviant behaviour in check. and vary from culture to culture.
definition of mores:
they are norms that a culture think are too serious to break such as murder or sexual offenders
definition of social values:
rules shared by most people in a culture. they show what is right or wrong.
what is the public perception of crime?
the drink driving campaign
drink driving campaign:
-when was the first law for drink driving put in place?
-when was there a clear alchohol limit defined?
- when were breathalysers intoduced?
- when was it legal to penalise people who cause death by drink driving? and could have up to 14 years in prision?
-1925
- 1967
- 1968
-2014
what is the demographic changes?
immagration and racism
the windrush generation:
- when did this happen?
- who was coming to england and why were they coming?
- how did people react to the windrush generation?
-between 1948 and 1971
-people from africa and counties such as the carribeian and trinidad and tobago and were coming to post war england in search for a job
-people reacted negatively by refushing to house, educate or give jobs to black people.
what was put in place to reduce racism and discrimination? and when was this law passed?
what law was passed on later?
in 2010 what law replaced the race relations act?
- the race relations act and it was passed in 1965
- in 1968 it became illegal to discriminate in areas such as housing or health
-the equality act
what is direct discrimination and indirect discrimination and give examples
direct= when someone treats you less favourably because of e.g: your skin colour
indirect= when there is a policy or law that applies to everyone but will have a worse effect on some groups more than others such as there being a law saying that you must live in the area for atleat 5 years before you can get council housing which discriminates against immigrants or people new to the country
what is cultural changes?
LGBTQ rights
-when was homosexuality decriminalised in england? and when was the age of consent set at 21?
- when was the age of consent lowered to 16 (the same as hetrosexual consentual age)
- when was the equality act put in place to make it illegal to discrfiminate against people based on their sexulaity?
-when was same sex marriage legalised?
-1967
-2000
-2010
-2013
what are some reasons for the attitudes for lgbtq rights changing?
-individualism= the belief that we should have the right to choose how we live our lives such as more rights in divorce, abortions and sexual preferences
-equal rights= shown in the growth of womens rights and equal treatment in race, religeon ect..
-securalisation= the decrease in religeous views that oppose lgbtq rights
transgender rights=
- what law was passed in 2004 to allow transgender people to do? but what to they have to do in order to do so?
- how was this changed in 2018?
allows people to change their legal gender but they have to present evidence to a panel and have to of transitioned for atleast 2 years to change their documents
-this changed in 2018 because now it can be self declared if people want to change their gender
ac4.3: discuss how campaigns affect policy making:
what is an example of a newspaper that has effected policy making?
Sarah's law:
is sarahs law an individual or a pressure group campaign?
individual
sarahs law:
who was sarah and what happened to her?
who stared the campaign and what were they campaigning for?
what laws and policies were put in place because of this campaign?
sarah was 8 years old when she was abducted by roy whiting who was on the sex offenders list for kidnapping and assulting a 9 year old girl previously.
in 2008 a pilot scheme was introduced to allow parentrs to make enquires about named individuals. in 2011 the scheme was extended to thw whole of england and wales and is known as the child sex offenders disclosure scheme ans allows parents to make enquires about sex offenders to protect their children.
is ann mings campaign an individual or a pressure group campaign?
individual
ann mings double jeprody campaign:
why did the campaign begin?
what methods were used in the campagin?
what laws were introduced and how did it effect ann mings case?
the campaign began because ann minsg daughter was murdered and her killer did not admit to the crime until aftere the court case and beciase if the double jeprody law the same case couldnt go to court twice meaning he could not be prosecuted.
methods used included newspapers, petitions and radio
the double jeprody law was abolished meaning billy dunlop could be prosecuted.
is the british lung foundation an individual or pressure group cammpaign?
pressure group
BLF:
what does the blf campaign for?
what methods do they use to achieve the goals?
what laws or achievements were made as a result of the BLF?
they campaign for a positive change in the uks lung health, raise awareness for the dangers that cause lung disease and how to look after your lungs.
methods used include signing petitions and doing research
laws achieved include a ban on smoking in cars with children which is known as the children and families act 2014 and a change on the advertisment of ciggerets which arebnow in plain packets to discourage children from smoking as it was found a lot of young people start smpking because of the attraction of the colourful packets
the howard league for penal reform is it an individual or pressure group campaign?
its a pressure group campaign
howard league:
what are they campaigning for?
what methods did they use?
what laws were put in place?
they are campaiginig for a change in the criminal justice system and to reduce crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison
methods used were campaigns
laws put in place were ending routine strip searches for young people, closing all young offender institutions for girls and instead having secure units they are held in and a change in legistation that means 17 year olds are treated as children.