The whole of Sociology Crime and Deviance, This is only for the exam board - OCR, Suitable for all GCSE Students studying Sociology for their exams at the end of year 11. Once finished look through PowerPoint/Document please look through questions and Pass papers on the official OCR Website - This is the Latest available Pass Paper - http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/412873-question-paper-unit-b672-01-socialisation-culture-and-identity.pdf

1. Sociology
Crime and Deviance

2. Introduction
 Crime is behaviour that breaks the formal written laws of a
society. If someone commits a crime they can be arrested,
charged and prosecuted. Actions can be illegal but not
deviant.
 Deviance is behaviour which does not comply with the
dominant norms of a specific society. If people are seen as
deviant it can lead to negative sanctions such as being told
off or ridiculed.

3. Types Of Deviance
 Cross-Cultural Deviance – An action that is deviant in some
cultures but not others. E.g; Selling alcohol in America is
seen as not deviant whereas selling alcohol in Saudi Arabia
is.
 Situational Deviance – An action that is deviant only in
certain situations. E.g; Eating with your hands.
 Historical Deviance – An action that is deviant only at a
certain time. E.g; Same-Sex Marriages.
 Standardised Deviance – Deviance that is the same
throughout different societies. E.g: EU laws

4. The Standardisation of Deviance through
International Law
 The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is
an international standard-setting body composed of
representatives from various national standards
organisations.
 Founded on 23 February 1947, the organisation promotes
worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial standards.
 The gradual process through which unacceptable practice
or standards become acceptable. As the deviant behavior is
repeated without catastrophic results, it becomes the social
norm for the organisation.

5. Legal Deviant Behaviour
“Gary, walked through his local library whilst talking loudly on
his mobile phone”.
This is legally deviant as he is not breaking any law, he is just
acting socially unacceptable.

6. Illegal Deviant Behaviour
“Robert, punched a pregnant lady in the face”
This is illegally deviant as he committed an assault, the fact
that he punched a pregnant lady also makes the matter
worse.

7. Criminal Behaviour
“Sam, illegally downloads thousands of songs for her mp3
player”.
Sam is a criminal as she is breaking the copyright act. She is
not a deviant as what she is doing is not hurting anyone.

8. Recording Crime
 Official Statistics; A set of statistics generated from data
gathered by the government or other official organisations.
 Often used as secondary data in social research.

9. Recording Crime – Reasons why not all
Crimes are included in the Official Crime
Statistics
 Detection; Is a crime detected? If a crime is observed and
identified as a crime, the police may be informed.
 However, if the crime has not been detected it cannot be
reported to the police neither can it be included in official
statistics.
 This is the reason many crimes occur but go undetected.

10. Recording Crime – Why don’t all victims
of Crime Report Crime?
 Blackmail
 Embarrassment
 Fear
 Lack in Confidence Force
 Hassle
 Victim of Crime is a Criminal Themselves
 Institutional Crime may not be looked into due to fear of bad
Press
 Victim Suffered No Loss

11. Measurements Of Crime - Victim Survey
 Surveys the public asking them to report any crimes
committed against them and whether or not they reported
these crimes.
Advantages Disadvantages
May uncover Hidden Figure of
Crime
Not all Crimes Recorded –
Participants May Lie
Local Geo-graphic Data
Generated
In some Cases Victims Cannot Be
Questioned.

12. Measurements Of Crime – The British
Crime Survey (BCS)
 A victim survey conducted annually by a team of
researchers at the Home Office.
 The BCS measures the amount of crime in England and
Wales by asking the public about their experiences with
crime over the last year.

13. Measurements Of Crime - Self-Report
Surveys
 Self Report Surveys of the population which ask them to
confess to crime they have committed but for which they
were not caught.
Advantages Disadvantages
May uncover the Hidden figure of
Crime
Participants May Lie – They cant
do anything about the crimes the
respondents were not caught for

14. Reasons People Commit Crime
 Desperation
 Greed
 Peer Pressure
 Hate
 Boredom
 Loneliness
 Influences – Drugs and Alcohol

15. Sociological Explanations Of
Crime

16. Nature VS Nurture - Nature
 In 1876, Lombroso conducted research into large numbers
of prisoners.
 He believed that criminals could be identified by visual traits
as they were less evolved than ‘normal’ citizens.
 This theory is no longer accepted.
 Hormones; Stress caused by menstruation can cause
women to act irrationally, 80% of female offenders
committed their crimes during the menstruation period.
 Relationships; Early childhood deprivation, lack of
emotional security and secure attachment in childhood can
lead to people developing criminal personalities as they
crave affection and attention.

17. Nature VS Nurture - Nurture
 Peer Groups & Subcultures; Some sociologists pin criminal
activity on influences from other parties - mainly peers -
known as peer pressure.
 Being in a group gives us a sense of belonging and
acceptance, for some these feelings are so important, so
much so that they risk breaking the law and being caught,
just to remain in a certain social circle.
 As the members of the group feel that illegal activities are
acceptable they are classified as a negative subculture.

18. Nature VS Nurture - Nurture
 Socialisation; People who do not receive a decent level of
socialisation during their childhood, do not know how to act
appropriately in society as they can not comprehend the
norms and values. This may lead to them braking laws /
acting deviantly because they know no better.
 Another way socialisation can affect whether people go on
to commit crimes, is if a person is brought up with a criminal
role model - meaning they developed criminal values.

19. Nature VS Nurture - Nurture
 Labelling; Labelling is giving someone in society a ‘tag’.
 Labelling someone a criminal /negatively can have serious
consequences on their identity, if the label sticks and the
person is viewed as a criminal by everyone then they may
develop self-fulfilling prophecies and break the law as it’s all
they think they can achieve.

20. Nature VS Nurture - Nurture
 Relative Deprivation; When a person is brought up amongst
poverty and do not own luxuries such as a mobile phone or
computer, they may act illegally to obtain such desirables.
 This is a Marxist explanation of crime as it is caused by
social inequality; the working class seeing the rich with
personal possessions and wanting them but not being able
to obtain them legitimately.

21. Nature VS Nurture - Nurture
 Media; The media reports on crime in a selective way.
 Amplification of deviancy is when moral panic is created by
the mass media, which then causes a frenzy of worry, and
the police take drastic action to deal with it, starting the
cycle all over again.

22. Social Control
Informal Agent of Social Control Formal Agents of Social Control
Parents Court
Teachers Police
Media Employer
Charity Groups Legal System
Sub-Cultures/Peers Penal System

23. Solutions to Crime
 Prison - Where people are legally held as a punishment for
a crime they have committed. Suitable for major Crimes –
E.g; Murder.
 ASBO’s (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) – a court order which
can be obtained by local authorities in order to restrict the
behaviour of a person likely to cause harm or distress to the
public. Suitable for Social Minor Crimes – E.g; Swearing
and Fighting in Public

24. Solutions to Crime
 Community Service – Unpaid work, intended to be of social
use, that an offender is required to do instead of going to
prison. Suitable for major Deviant Crimes – E.g; Graffiti.
 Mental Health Order - A person may be detained and
required to take medication to prevent physical harm to
themselves and others. Suitable for harmful major Crimes –
E.g; Self harm or putting others in Harms way.

25. Crime and Gender – Why Males Commit
more Crime than Females
 Different Socialisation Processes; Boys are more likely to
be taught values associated with toughness and
aggression. Whereas girls adopt qualities and expectations
which see them abide by the law.
 Different Opportunities to Commit Crime; Generally
teenage girls are subjected to restrictions and close
supervision and then in later life they are usually occupied
with maintaining the home and caring for the family.

26. Crime and Gender – Why Males Commit
more Crime than Females
 Social Control; Men may constrain women into ‘home’ lives
limiting their freedom due to the care of the family being
imposed on them.
 The media creates expectations of women too.
 Chivalry Thesis; This is a common belief that the male-
dominated police force and courts, are easier on women
due to them not being considered a threat. Whereas a man
may be arrested, police may let women off with a warning.

27. Crime and Gender – Why Males Commit
more Crime than Females
 Inaccurate Statistics; Statistics which show men commit
more crime than women could be representative of the
labelling of men as criminals and police going out to look
for male offenders ignoring female criminals.

28. Crime and Ethnicity – Reasons why
some ethnic groups seem to commit
more crime.
 Institutional Racism; Police officials belonging to certain
ethnic groups may set out to punish members of other
ethnic groups whilst protecting their own.
 Relative Deprivation; Foreign workers are usually left with
low paying manual jobs, thus meaning they may not be
able to afford material goods and so obtain these
desirables illegally.
 Labelling; If a police officer labels a particular ethnic group
as criminals he will go out and arrest more criminals
belonging to that ethnic group, whilst ignoring other crimes.

29. Crime and Ethnicity – Reasons why
some ethnic groups seem to commit
more crime.
 Racism; White police officers may purposely prosecute or
dig deeper into crimes involving different ethnic groups due
to a racial hatred for such a group. This may also mean
they ignore cases where a certain ethnic minority has fallen
victim, E.g. Steven Lawrence.
 Racism; White police officers may even frame Black or
Asian criminals with crimes they did not commit.

30. Crime and Ethnicity – Reasons why
some ethnic groups seem to commit
more crime.
 Media; Creates the moral panic and then promotes
labelling in the force.
 Inaccuracy of Figures; The figures could just be a reflection
of racism within the force.

31. Crime and Social Class – Reasons why
the Working class commit more Crime.
 Poor Socialisation
 Relative Deprivation
 Anomie; Society does not provide enough opportunities for
people to succeed, therefore some turn their back on
society and cause trouble.
 Education; More likely to be in low sets, get low paying job,
struggle for money, so turn to illegal ways of obtaining it.

32. Crime and Social Class – White Collar
Crime
 White Colour Crime; Involves middle class people, who
commit crimes during work hours.
 4 Main Types:
 Occupational Crime
 Professional Crime
 Corporate Crime
 Computer Crime

33. Crime and Social Class – White Collar
Crime
 White Colour Crime is difficult to deal with as;
 Judges Are Often From Similar Social Backgrounds To
White Collar Criminals
 Compared to Burglary and Assault it is not dangerous to the
public.
 There are usually no victims and no one person is impaired.
 The media does not show WCC as serious.