Asiyah Salim

Biological theories of crime

Cesare Lombroso- claimed to have identified several characteristics of criminals:
Large jaws
High cheekbones
Large ears
Extra nipples, toes or fingers
Arms span longer than height
Insensitivity to pain

× Italian prison research so unrepresentative data.

× Prisoners usually from poor areas with poor diets
× Deformities may lead them to being social outcasts and commit crimes
× Not everyone who commits crime ends up in prison, excluded white collar criminals.

Moir & Jessel- low IQ was inherited and main cause of criminality.

Eysenck- C & D can be explained through inherent character traits. Extrovert personalities more likely to break
the law. Some may ‘not play by societies rule’ and end up in conflict with the law. Whereas others could quite
easily find ways of behaving that are quite socially-acceptable (such as in the business world where the extrovert
entrepreneur may well be an admired figure for taking risks).

× Eysenck seems to suggest that people can be classified into one personality type (extrovert or introvert)
therefore they behave in one way all the time, ignoring the fact that people change their behavior
according to the environment and situation they are in.

Social construction of crime

Newburn- crime is socially constructed; an act only becomes criminal when we attach the label of ‘crime’ to it.

Plummer-
 Societal deviance- acts that are seen deviant by most of society.
 Situational deviance- acts that are defined deviant in particular contexts, e.g. time, place, society, social
group.
Crime is sometimes defined as subsets of deviance- all criminals are deviant, but not all acts are deviant, e.g.
speeding.

Stan Cohen- study of moral panics. He shows how deviancy amplification leads to societal reaction and labelling
of a group as folk devils. This in turn leads to stronger social control, as something needs to be done of the folk
devils.
 Passive smoking moral panics came about with media amplification reporting studies suggesting passive
smoking is very harmful. They ignored scientists saying it was not harmful and the longitudinal study on
families. Suggesting we live in a risk society, where media portray high health risks.
 NHS figures show alcohol is much more harmful, but the industry is powerful so pressure groups don’t
target it. Also drinking is seen as a social activity so govt. passes laws in their favour, e.g. longer selling
hours.

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Jopp Young- soft drugs were not seen as harmful before, but media reports on horrific amplified stores have led
to stronger social control.

 Mc Robbie & Thornton- moral panics concept is outdated, as media no longer have such a strong influence.
 Folk devils have more power- facebook groups
 Access to wider sources
 Society about ‘me’ and not ‘us’, so have own explanations
 Pace of media changing over night- swine flue, recession, big freeze
 Durkheim- moral boundaries blurred- what is deviant?

News values
 Simplification- stories that don’t need a lot of explaining
 Proximity- closer to public
 Violence – interesting, sensational, drama like soaps
 Celebrities/high status people- public like gossip-Tiger Woods, Irish PM’s wife scandal

Reiner- all media exaggerate, including novels. 1945-84 over 10billion crime thrillers sold. 25% prime time TV and
20% films are crime movies/shows.

Recent trends
1. Reality shows tend to feature young, non-white underclass offenders
2. Show police as corrupt and brutal
3. Victim central, law enforces seen as punisher, audiences called to identify with their suffering
4. Schlesinger & Tumber- 1960s focus on murders/petty crimes, by 1900s less interested as death penalty
abolished and higher crime rates, so crime had to be ‘special’- drugs, child abuse, terrorism, mugging

LR- Lea & Young- media increase sense of relative deprivation among poor
Merton- pressure to conform when opportunities are blocked can cause crime. Media set the norm (lifestyle).

Global cyber crime

Speed and scale development of internet led to opportunities for new types of crimes (software piracy, fraud).

Labelling theories of crime

Howard Becker
 Social groups create deviance by making rules and labelling people as outsiders.
 Nature of act is not deviant but the nature of society’s reaction to it.
 Moral entrepreneurs lead a moral crusade to change laws-
1. New laws create new ‘outsiders’
2. Expansion of social control agencies to enforce rules and impose labels.
Platt- juvenile delinquency was created by u/c Victorian moral entrepreneurs aiming to protect the young and
establish ‘juveniles’ as a new offenders category with their own courts to enable the state to extend its power
beyond young offenders into status offences e.g. truancy, sexual promiscuity.

Cicourel
1. Typfications- police use stereotypes about offenders
2. Arrests- officers concentrate on ‘certain’ types of people e.g. w/c young
3. Stereotypes confirmed- law enforcement shows class bias- patrols in w/c areas lead to more arrests

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Edwin Lemert
 Primary deviance- acts that have not been publically labelled- little significance on way of life
 Secondary deviance- labelled deviant caught and labelled criminal- master status (thief) over rides other
statuses, blocking opportunities leading to further deviance and greater social control.
Jopp Young
Primary deviant hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill. Labelling by police led to hippies being ‘outsiders’ so they
retreated to closed groups developing a deviant subculture with long hair and ‘wear out’ clothes. Drug use was
central inviting further attention from police and a self fulfilling prophecy.
 Act itself was not deviant but societal reaction created serious deviance

× Downes & Rock- cannot predict who will follow a deviant career, because they are always free to choose not
to deviate further.

Baithwaite
 Disintegrative shaming- criminal and their act are labelled negatively- live up to their master status.
 Reintegative shaming- act is labelled but not individual, making integration into mainstream society
easier.
1. Avoids stigmatising and encourages others to forgive them
2. Easier to separate offender and offence stopping secondary deviance.
3. Crime rates lower in such societies.
 Triplett- USA CJS has relabelled status offences by young (truancy) as more serious- result harsher
sentences and more offenders and higher violence among young. (Lemerts 2ndry deviance)
 De Hann- similar outcome in Holland as a result if increase in stigmatizing

 Labelling pushes offenders towards deviant careers

 Enforce fewer rules to avoid publically naming and shaming offenders as ‘outsiders’

 Shows laws are not fixed but changing rules whose construction needs to be explained
 Crime statistics a record of police activities, not of crimes
 Societies attempt to control deviance can back fire

× Deterministic- implying once labelled deviant career is fixed

 Becker- deviant can choose not to deviant further, but find it hard as opportunities are blocked.
× Fails to explain why people commit crimes in the 1 st place
× Implies without labelling, deviance would not exist.
× Ken Plummer- recognise the role of power but fail to analyse the source of this power

Functionalist theories of crime

Society has 2 key functions to achieve solidarity
 Socialisation- everyone gains the same norms and values
 Social control- rewards for conformity and punishments for deviance

Too much crime destabilises society. Durkheim- crime is normal and an integral part of society. It is found in all
societies as not everyone is effectively socialized into the shared norms/values.

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Durkheim- modern societies is normlessness- specialized divisions of labour and diverse lifestyles thus collective
conscience is weaker resulting in higher deviance levels.

Positive functions of crime

 Boundary maintenance- punishment reaffirms shared rules and reinforces solidarity
 Adaptation & change- for change a group has to deviate, which at first may seem inevitably deviant. Very
high or low levels of crime signal malfunctioning of social system- too much crime shows oppression, too
little threatens society bonds
Kingsley Davis- prostitution acts as safety valve of nuclear family as it releases men’s sexual frustration.

× Durkheim offers no way of knowing what right level of deviance is good

× Just because crime promotes solidarity, it does mean it exists for this reason.
× Doesn’t always promote solidarity, can have negative effects e.g. forcing women to stay indoors.

ROBERT K MERTON- STRAIN THEORY

People engage in deviance because they can’t achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.
STRAIN  Structural factors- unequal opportunity structure
 Cultural factors- strong emphasis on success goals and weaker emphasis on using legitimate means.
Merton- deviance is a result of strain between the goals culture encourages to achieve and what society structure
allows them to achieve legitimately.
American Dream- We live in a society of meritocracy and opportunities for all. Americans expected to pursue this
goal legitimately. However poverty, inadequate schooling and discrimination in job market, all block
opportunities for many ethnic minorities and lower classes. Resulting in the strain to anomie between the
cultural goal of money success and lack of legitimate opportunities produces frustration, pressuring them to turn
to illegitimate means.
Cultural Goals Legitimate Means Modes of adaptation Example
Accept Accept Conformity Middle class
Accept Reject Innovation Lower class
Reject Accept Ritualism Lower/middle
Reject Reject Retreatism Dead end jobs
Reject Reject Rebellion Hippies
 Shows how normal and deviant behavior can arise from the same mainstream goals
 Explains official crime statistics
 Most crime is property crime- Americans value material wealth
 Lower class crime rates are higher- least opportunities to achieve legitimately
× Takes crime stats at face value- these are over represent w/c crime
× Deterministic- w/c experience most strain. Yet all don’t deviate.
× Marxsts- ignore power of ruling class to enforce laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich.
× Assumes value consensus- everyone strives for money success ignoring the possibility that come don’t
share this goal
× Only accounts for utilitarian crime with monetary gain and not violence crimes or state crimes
× Explains how individuals adapt to strain to anomie but ignores the role of group deviance- subcultures.

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SUBCULTURAL STRAIN THEORIES

Deviance is the product of delinquent subcultures with different values from mainstream society. Provide an
alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied legitimate means of achieving.

A K COHEN- STATUS FRUSTRATION

Agrees with Merton
 Deviance is largely lower class phenomenon
 Deviance is the result of those who don’t have the ability to achieve goals legitimately e.g. via education
Critises Merton
× Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain, ignoring the fact that it is committed by groups
× Merton focuses on utilitarian crime for material gain, largely ignoring non-utilitarian crime

 Focuses on deviance anomie w/c boys- face anomic pressure in m/c dominated schooling system and suffer
cultural deprivation and lack the skills to achieve. So they suffer status frustration and reject m/c values and
turn to other boys in the same situation, joining delinquent subcultures.

Alternative status hierarchy

Those who have failed in the legitimate opportunity structure create their own illegitimate opportunity structure
where deviance is praised and boys are offered an alternative status hierarchy.
× Merton & Cohen assume w/c boys start off sharing the same m/c goals and rejecting them on failure.

CLOWARD & OHLIN- SUBCULTURES

Not everyone adapts by turning to innovation. Different subcultures respond in different ways and different
neighbourhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities to learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers.
 Criminal subcultures- apprenticeships in a utilitarian criminal career. In areas with longstanding stable
local criminal culture with established hierarchy, allowing youth to associate with criminal role models.
 Conflict subcultures- in areas of high population and social disorganisation preventing a stable criminal
network meaning the only opportunities are within loosely organized gangs where violence is a release
for frustration from blocked opportunities. Gain alterative status and win ‘turf’ from rival gangs.
 Retreatist subcultures- in any area, not everyone want to be a professional criminal- just like not
everyone wants a well paid job. ‘Double failures’ may turn here- based on illegal drug use.

× Ignore crimes of wealthy

× Draws boundaries between subcultures too sharply- Nigel South- drug trade is disorganized (conflict) and
professional mafia style (criminal) and retreatists also trade to make a living.
× Both theories assumer w/c share same m/c goals
Major influence on later theories and government policy.
 Left realist use Merton’s idea
 Basis for the ‘War on poverty’ policy
 Ohlin appointed by USA to develop crime policy

MESSNER & ROSENFIELD- INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY

Focus on American Dream and it’s obsession with money success exerting pressure towards crime by encouraging
anomic culture and adopting the ‘anything goes’ mentality for wealth. Economic goals are valued above others,
undermining other institutions (school). Societies that lack adequate welfare (USA) have high crime rate.
Downes & Hansen- crime rates survey shows societies that spend more on welfare have lower imprisonment
rates

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Marxist theories of crime

Gordon- crime is a rational response to capitalism and is found in all society classes, but stats make it look w/c

 Crime is criminogenic by nature and inevitable in capitalism

 Society is damaging for w/c- poverty, consumerism, alienation- leads to crime
 ‘Dog eat dog’ world- ruthless competition makes m/c commit white collar crime to win

Chabuss- laws protect interest of capitalist

Snider- state is reluctant to pass laws that threaten businesses or profitability
 Selective enforcement criminalises w/c and ethnic and ignores m/c crime
Reiman- ‘rich get richer, poor get prison’- m/c not treated as criminals and forgiven more
 Laws form an ideological function for capitalism, laws appear to benefit w/c (H&S)

Steven Box- power, crime & mystification

 Media adopt fears of w/c disorder and street crime
 Serious offense convictions are young, uneducated males, unemployed- often ethnic
 Street crimes increase as material conditions deteriorate
 Attention is distracted from large scale crimes by m/c criminals
 Self report and victim surveys- higher proportion of crimes by white educated females, and older people
than shown in stats
Laws do not protect less powerful form being killed, sexually exploited, and physically/psychologically damaged
 Laws change, but still reflect bourgeoisie
 Ruling class remains in control and steer public opinions through hegemony and through ISA-media
 Most accept ‘official view’ of crimes, few aware of crimes of corporate managers

Slapper & Tombs- insufficient British research into corporate crime, some hit headlines- MP expenses, Madoff

Neo-Marxism- Taylor, Walton, Young

Agree with traditional Marxist
 Capitalist society based on exploitations and class conflict with extreme wealth inequalities
 State makes laws to benefit capitalist and criminalise working class
 Classless society would reduce extent of crime or get rid of it from society

Anti-determinism
 Reject idea that workers commit crime out of economic necessity
 Reject theories of anomie, subcultures, labelling and biological factors
 Voluntaristic view- have free will
 Meaningful and conscious action by actor
 Not passive puppets whose behaviour is shaped by capitalism
 Should be free to live- Baithwaite’s reintegrative shaming

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Left realist theories of crime

 Like Marxist- unequal capitalist society
 Unlike Marxist- reformist: gradual change with the need to develop practical crime reduction strategies
Criticise others
 Traditional Marxist- neglect w/c crime and its effects
 Neo-Marxist- romanticize w/c criminals as Robin Hoods- w/c criminals victimise w/c victims
 Labelling- see w/c criminals as labelled victims by CJS neglecting real victims (w/c)
Jock Young
 Real increase in crime since 1950s
 Crisis in crime explanations- labelling theories tend to deny real crime increase and blame increase in
crime reports
 Evidence: BCS and local surveys- disadvantaged groups have greater risk of becoming victims thus greater
fear of crime and less likely to report crimes

LEA & YOUNG- CAUSES OF CRIME

1. Relative deprivation
 Deprivation not itself responsible for crime e.g. 1930s high poverty rates, low crime rates.
 People are well off, but feel deprived because of media/advertising.
 ‘Lethal combination if relative deprivation and individualism’ causes crime and disintegrates
communities by undermining values of mutual support.
2. Subculture
 A groups collective response to relative deprivation- some may turn to crime to fill the gap others to
religion
 Criminal subcultures still hold mainstream society’s values and goals
 USA ghettos have ‘full immersion in the American dream-culture hooked on Gucci, BMW, Nike but
blocked opportunities so resort to crime. (Merton & Ohlin- strain theories)
3. Marginalisation
 Young lack clear goals (better pay) and organizations (trade unions) to represent their interests so
feel powerless and frustrated, which they remove through criminal means- violence/rioting.

Young- LATE MODERNITY, EXCLUSION & CRIME

 De-industrialisation since 1970s has brought lost in unskilled manual jobs, increased unemployment
and poverty.
 Many jobs now insecure, short-term or low paid, destabilising the family and increasing divorce rates-
led to instable, insecure and marginalized of those at the bottom and increasing sense of deprivation

TACKLING CRIME
1. Policing and control- Kinsley, lea & Young
 Police clear up rates are too low, and they spend too little time actually investigating crime.
 Public must become more involved with police policies
 Police depend on public for crime reports (90%) but losing support among ethnic and young
 Police relying on ‘military policing’- swamping areas, stop and search tactics alienating
communities
 Police must deal with local concerns and improve relationships with communities
 Crime needs a multiagency approach- police, housing dept, schools, leisure services, public
2. Tackling the structural causes

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 Improved policing not main solution

 Cause is unequal society structure- unequal opportunities, unfair rewards tackle discrimination,
provide jobs. Improved housing and community facilities
 More tolerant of diversity and cease stereotyping groups as criminals
× Draw attention to street crime reality and its effects
× Henry Milovanovic- accepts authorities definition of street crime being committed by poor
× Interactionists- rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, so cannot explain motives of offender
× Use subculture theory assuming that value consensus exists
× Unrepresentative view as its focus is on high-crime inner-city areas making it appear as a greater problem

Right realist theories of crime

 Crime, especially street crime, is a real growing problem, destroying communities, undermining social cohesion
 Similar view to neo-conservative govt- practical crime control measures via punishment, not by tackling underlying
causes
 Critise others on failing to offer practical solutions, emphasis strategies and offer crime causes explanations.

CAUSES OF CRIME
Biological differences- James Q Wilson- some more predisposed to commit crime, e.g. personality traits.
Charles Murray- low IQ is main cause, which is biological
Socialisation- effective socialisation decreases risk of crime, best agency is nuclear family (RR).
Charles Murray- crime growing because growing underclass failing to socialize effectively. Underclass growing
because of welfare dependency and lone parents increase. Underclass also threaten social cohesion and
undermine values of hard work and responsibility.

RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

Ron Clarke- is reward outweigh costs of crime then likely to offend. RR- costs of crime currently low
Wilson- if legitimate opportunities (jobs) were declining at the same time as the cost of illegitimate opportunities
(fines/jail), a rational teenager will conclude to steal cars rather than wash them.
Marcus Felson- for crime to occur there must be a motivated offender, suitable target (victim/property) and
absence of ‘capable guardian’ (police/neighbor). Offenders act rationally, so a guardian will deter them.
Informal guardian more effective- After Florida’s hurricane Andrew, crime rates went down as local citizen’s were
patrolling during police absence.

TACKLING CRIME
 Causes of crime cannot be easily changed (bio/socio), so main focus of control and punishment.
 Wilson & Kelling Broken Windows- maintain character of neighborhood. ‘Zero tolerance’ towards behavior
(prostitution). Strict police enforcement (policing pledge), reduce rewards, increase costs, greater use of
prisons, punishment closely followed after offence.

× Ignore wider structural causes

× Over state offenders rationality and cost calculation
× Explain utilitarian crime, but not violence
× Overemphasis biological factors. Lilly- IQ differences account for less than 3%
× Zero tolerance policy gives police rein to discriminate against ethnic youths resulting in crime displacement
× Overemphasis control of disorder, rather than tackling causes of neighborhood decline (lack of investment)

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Postmodernist theories of crime

 Society changing so rapidly and is market by uncertainty and chaos, with society split by diverse groups with
different interests and lifestyles.
 Social structures are replaced with individualism expressed through consumer culture.

Nature of crime
 Crime is socially constructed, based on a narrow legal definition, reflecting outdated metanarratives
 The definition denies diversity the freedom, self-identity and difference
 Henry Milovanovic- should be taken beyond narrow legal definitions to a wider conception of social harm,
embracing all threats and risks to people with diverse lifestyles

Crime as social harm

Henry Milovanovic- crime should be reconceptualised, as not simple breaking laws, but as people using power to
show disrespect by causing them some sort of harm
 Harms of reduction- power used for experience of immediate loss or injury
 Harms of repression- power used to restrict future human development, bringing in wider concepts of
sexual harassment, racist abuse and hate crimes

Causes of crime
 Individualism means social causes of crime cannot be discovered, each event expresses whatever an
individual chooses and is motivated by an infinite number of causes
 Messerchmidt- expression of masculinity
 Katz- ‘edgework’ – crime committed for excitement and thrills
 Causes lie in the individual and not society

Control of crime
 Growing emphasis on private crime prevention- private security for shopping centre’s, CCTV
 Foucalt- surveillance penetrating private aspect of lives, aided by technology like CCTV, UK has most
surveillance in Europe. Also vast amounts if data collected on individuals through consumer tracking, Tesco
Clubcard.
 Policing polices more localized and community based, to account for diversity, e.g. voluntary use of Sharia
Law to deal with disputes as a response to local identities.

 Explain contemporary development- surveillance use, consumer tracking

 Recognize there are more causes of crime beyond the structural theories
 Explains growing localism with policing strategies
 Explain non-utilitarian crime

× Doesn’t explain why most don’t use power to harm others and why some do to assert their identity
× Lea- rediscovery of labelling theorists saying crime is a social construction

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Chivalry Thesis theories of crime

Most CJS agents are men and men are socialised to act in a chivalries way towards women

 Otto Pollock- men have protective attitude towards women, they hate to accuse them and prison them
 CJS more lenient with women so crimes less likely to be recorded by stats, giving invalid picture.
 Graham & Bowling- sample of 1721 14-25yr olds, males more likely to offend, difference in stats was much
smaller. Males 2.33x more likely to admit to offence, stats show males 4x more likely to offend
 Flood-Page at al- 1/11 females cautioned, 1/7 for males- women more likely to be cautioned than
prosecuted.
 Roger Hoods- study of 3,000 defendants- women 1/3 less likely to be jailed in similar cases

× Farrington & Morris- study 408 theft sentences- women not sentenced leniently
× Steven Box- review of American/British self-report studies- women committing serious offences not
treated leniently. Low prosecution maybe because crimes less serious, show more remorse.

Feminist criminology
 Focus on female offending, CJS treatment, victims, gender gap
 Smart- ‘double deviant’ as break society norms (Cornwall paedophile)

Heidensohn- females are ignored in theories

 Male dominancy of offenders- 80%
 ‘Malestream’ academics
 Theories are ‘gender blind’
 Boring- Smart- female crimes are traditionally boring

Statistics are not valid- Pollock

 Females are shoplifters
 Crimes go unreported
 Prostitution is not seen as a crime until advertised
 Women’s roles allow them to get away with it- child abuse
Heidensohn
× Most shoplifting by men
× Many crimes against prostitutes
× Women’s’ roles and sexual attitudes have changed so unfair to say they get away with it

Chivalry thesis is biased

 Heidensohn- courts treat women more harshly as double deviants
 Stewart- magistrates perceptions of female defendants character based on stereotypical gender roles.
 Pat Carlen- women who are jailed are less for seriousness of crime, and more to courts assessment of
them as wives/mothers.
 Double standards from CJS and patriarchal- evidence is the way it deals with rape cases-
Sandra Walkate- victim is on trial to prove respectability.
Adler- those who lack responsibility, single mothers, and punks find it difficult to have testimony believed
by court

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Gender & Crime

EXPLAINING FEMALE CRIME

Lombroso & Ferrero- very few ‘born female criminals’

FUNCTIONALIST SEX ROLE THEORY

 Talcott Parsons- girls have adult role model at home (expressive women), boys reject feminine role
models and engage in ‘compensatory compulsory masculinity’ through aggression which can slip into
New Right delinquency.
 Albert K Cohen- relative lack of male role model so turn to all-male street gangs for a source of masculine
identity.

× Sandra Walklate- Parsons assumes because women have biological capacity to bear children, they are
best suited to the expressive role
× Tries to explain gender differences through socialisation, but based on biological factors.

PATRIARCHAL CONTROL- HEIDENSOHN

Females commit fewer crimes because patriarchal society imposes greater control over women, reducing their
opportunities to offend.
Patriarchy can also push women into crime e.g. theft, prostitution to gain decent standards of living

Control at home
 Domestic role restricts time and movement, those who try to reject this role may face domestic violence
 Dobash & Dobash- many violent attacks result from men’s dissatisfaction with wife’s domestic
performance.
 Men exercise control through financial power e.g. denying leisure funds
 Daughters less likely to come and go as they please or stay out late, developing a ‘bedroom
culture’. Also required to do more housework that boys, restricting opportunities to engage in
deviance on streets.
Control in public
 By threat of male violence, especially sexual
 Islington Crime Survey- 54% women avoid going out in the dark, 14% men
 Sensational media reporting adds to women’s fears
 Sue Lees- in school boys maintain control through sexual verbal abuse- slag

Control in public
 Sexual harassment by male supervisors and managers helps keep women ‘in their place’
 Subordinate position reduces chance of engaging in major criminal activity e.g. glass ceiling prevents
them from achieving senior positions, where theirs greater opportunity for fraud

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CLASS & GENDER DEALS- PAT CARLEN

 Unstructured tape recorded interviews, studied 39 15-46yr old w/c women convicted of crimes
 Uses Hirschi’s control theory- humans act rationally and controlled by a ‘deal’- rewards to conformity, if
rewards outweigh risks then turn to crime
 W/c women usually led to conform through promises of 2 rewards or ‘deal types’
 Class deal: working women offered material rewards with a decent living
 Gender deal: patriarchal ideology promises material/emotional rewards from family life by
conforming to expressive role
 If rewards not worth the effort, then crime becomes more likely
 Class deal women failed to find legitimate way of earning a decent living leaving them feeling powerless
and oppressed
Her  2/3 had always been in poverty
study  Some found qualifications gained in prison didn’t help find a job
 Many experienced humiliations in trying to claim benefits
 No rewards gained from class deal, so used crime to escape poverty

 Gender deal women saw few rewards in family life

 Some abused by fathers, or faced domestic violence from partners
 Over ½ had spent time in care which broke family bonds
 Those leaving care found themselves homeless and unemployed
 Crime was only route to decent living, nothing to lose, everything to gain

Causes of crime- poverty, brought up in care/oppressive family, drugs were controlling factors but often stemmed
form poverty. Being criminalised made class deal even less available and made crime more attractive.

 Heidensohn shows many patriarchal controls that prevent women from deviating
 Carlen shows how failure of patriarchal society delivering the promised deals removes the control that
prevents them from offending
× Sees women’s behaviour determined by external forces- patriarchal control
× Underplays importance of free will
× Carlen’s sample was unrepresentative

THE LIBERATION THESIS- FREDA ADLER

 If society becomes less patriarchal them logically crime rates will become similar and as serious as men’s
 Liberation led to new type of female criminality and rise in female crime rates
 Women adopted traditional male roles in work and crimes so they no longer commit traditional female
crime (theft) by also commit typical male offences (violence, white collar)
 Overall rate of female offending gone up- 1950-90s share rose from 1/7 to 1/6, also shows rising levels of
females in male crimes- armed robbery
 Media talk on ‘girl gangs’ growing- Descombe- Midland teenagers self images found females were as
likely to engage in risk taking and desire to be in control and ‘hard’

 Draws attention to importance of investigating relationship between women’s position changes and
female offending changes
× Female crime rates started to rise before liberation movement
× Overestimates extent of women’s liberation and the extent they now engage in serious crimes.
× Most females w/c which are least influenced by liberation. Chesney- USA poor/marginalised women
more likely to be criminals than liberated women
× Evidence to show illegitimate opportunity structure has opened to women. Hunt- USA female gangs still
expected to conform to conventional gender roles.

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EXPLAINING MALE CRIME

PO-MO, MASCULINTY & CRIME- SIMON WINLOW

 Loss of manual jobs where w/e men were bale to express masculinity by hard physical labour and
providing for families
 Expansion of night-time leisure- pubs, clubs, bars- provide legal employment, worthwhile criminal
behaviour and means of expressing masculinity for young w/c
 Sunderland bouncers gave paid work and opportunity for illegal business ventures.
 Modern Sunderland always had conflict subculture where ‘hard’ men earned status via violence
 Post-modern Sunderland has organised pro criminal subculture as a result of illegitimate night
opportunities.
 To maintain reputation men use their ‘bodily capital’ to disencourage competition.

NORMATIVE MASCULINITY- MESSERSCHMIDT

 Rejects biological an sex role theories
 Masculinity is not natural, but a state males achieve, depending on access to power.
 Businessmen express power over women at work, those with no power may do so at home using violence
 Men struggle to live up to the socially approved idea of a ‘real man’ so turn to crime to achieve
masculinity

SEDUCTIONS OF CRIME- KATZ

 Criminology have failed to understand role of pleasure in offending
 Crime’s always explained with background causes but rarely looks at pleasure from the act(transgression)
 By understanding the emotional thrills that transgression provides we can understand male offending

EDGEWORK- LYNG
 Young males search for pleasure through risks
 Risks seen as edge work- thrill in being between security and danger
 Explains attractiveness of joy riding and violent confrontations
 Young men ‘accomplish masculinity’ and prove thy have control

FEMALE SEX-ROLE & CRIME

Denscombe
 Changing female roles means females are likely as males to engage in risk taking behaviour
 15-16yr olds in East Midland depth-interviews found females rapidly adopting, traditionally male
attitudes
Westwood
 Identities constantly reconstructed and reframed
 Limited fixed female identity so we need to understand how women are reconfiguring their identity

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Age & Crime

Official statistics show roughly ½ those convicted are under 21
The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transition and Crime
 Longitudinal study
 Following 4,300 young who were 11/12 in 1998
 Most offenses were rowdiness, fighting, vandalism or shoplifting
 Offences are often minimal, opportunistic, short-lived, isolated or peer related

Albert K Cohen- Status Frustration

Lack of independence, caught between child/adult status, peer groups give support for identity, lack of
responsibilities, search for activity leads to delinquent acts to gain status in peer groups. W/c more likely as status
deprived and develops subcultures.
Miller- Focal concerns or characteristics to lead to crime: toughness, masculinity, fatalism, autonomy, freedom
Katz/ Lyng- edge work and buzz of crime
Hirschi- weakened social bonds- Beliefs, Attachment, Commitment, and Involvement
Policing- see young as the source of problems, young more likely to be part of the surveillance, reinforce
stereotypes, truancy seen more seriously so higher levels of criminal records

Ethnicity & Crime

 Black make 2.8% of population but 11% of prison population
 Asians make 4.7% of population but 6% of prison population
 Official statistics don’t tell if one ethnic group is more likely to offend that another ethnic group
Ministry of Justice (2008)
 Black communities 7x more likely than whites to be stopped and searched, 3.5x more likely to be
arrested, 5x more likely to go to prison.
Don’t tell if likely to commit an offense, just about CJS involvement, could be due to policing or courts

VICTIM SURVEYS
 In mugging black people more likely to be identified as offenders
 BCS (07) in 90% of crimes with white victims, offender was white
Limitations in using victim surveys
 Rely on victims memory. Bowling & Philips- white victims over identify blacks when not sure
 Excluded under 16s- minority ethnic groups have higher youth population

SELF-REPORT STUDIES
 Graham & Bowling- sample of 2500 offenders- 43% black, 44% white
 Sharp & Budd- 9 Home Office studies on drug use- 27% mixed origin males, 16% black/white males, 5%
Asian males. Class A- 6% white, 2% black, 1% Asian

 Challenge stereotype on black offending, supports Asian being less likely

 Inconsistent evidence- official stats show blacks more likely to offend, self-report studies say something
else

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RACISIM BY CJS
Policing- Philips & Bowling- oppressive policing of ethnic communities, ‘mass stop and search’ operations,
paramilitary tactics, excessive surveillance, deaths in custody, failure to respond to racist violence

Stop & Search- BCS- compared to white, blacks 7x, Asians 2x more likely to be stopped, only a small number
arrested. Philips & Bowling- ethnic communities’ thing they are ‘over policed and under protected’

1. Police racism- Macpherson report- investigation on racist murder of black teenager, Stephen Lawrence-
institutional racism within Met police, with canteen culture
2. Ethnic differences in offending- high discretion stops are acted without info so officers stereotype
3. Demographic factors- ethnic live within transition zone and inner-city areas

Arrests & Cautions- 06/07 Eng/Wales figures- black arrests rates 3.6x of white rates, once arrested black/Asian
less likely to be cautioned. When cautioned maybe because more likely to deny offence and exercise legal rights

Prosecution- CPS more likely to drop ethnic cases. Philips & Bowling evidence is often weaker and based on
stereotyping

DIFFERENCES IN OFFENDING
Left-realist- Lea & Young
 Stats reflect real levels of offending by ethnic groups
 Crime is product of relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation.
 Racism led to marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic- higher levels of unemployment,
poverty, poor housing
 Respond by subcultures, especially young unemployed black males
 Police often act racist but doesn’t explain stats difference- 90% crime is reported by public
× Views on police racism- Asian arrests rates lower than black as seen passively not dangerous, but after
9/11 this might have changed to being dangerous too.

Neo-Marxism
 Stats process of social construction of stereotypical views.
 Gilroy- myth of black criminality- ethnic crime seen as political resistance against racist society
× Lea & Young- 1st generation were law-abiding
 Hall et al- policing the crisis- 1970s moral panic over black muggers

VICTIMISATION
 Come into public focus with racist murder of Stephen Lawrence
 Racist victimisation comes from BCS and police stats

Extent & risk of victimisation

 161,000 police recorded incidents in 06/07
 Most unreported- BCS estimate 184,000
 10,600 prosecuted/cautioned in 06
 BCS- mixed ethnic at higher risk of victim (36%), black 27%, Asian 25%
 Sampson & Philips- racist victimisation is ongoing over time, with repeated minor abuse instances and
harassment with periodic incidents of physical violence

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Responses to victimisation
 Members of ethnic communities respond actively by SCP because police under protect them
 Macpherson Enquiry- Stephen Lawrence murder investigation was ‘marred by professional incompetence
and institutional racism- senior officers failed to lead
 Studies found racist attitudes between officers

Social Class & Crime

 Labelling- w/c labelled as trouble where as m/c seen behaving and respectable
 Social deprivation- poor housing, run down communities
 Strain theory- Merton- w/c strain between cultural goals and legitimate opportunities
 Marginality- marginalised face unemployment
 Social exclusion- unemployed and marginalised so turn to crime for support and status
 Subcultural explanations- Cohen- w/c turn to subcultures for alternative status hierarchy
 Lack of informal social control- w/c seen to lack informal control so faces harshly by formal control
 More detectable offences- m/c hide their crimes, w/c areas patrolled so more likely to be caught

Locality & Crime

Official statistics
 Most crime in urban areas
 Rural area crime increasing due to unemployment in rural areas
 Inner-city people more likely to become victims of crime

Durkheim
 Urbanisation brings community breakdown
 No shared social norms or consensus, bringing anomie
 Deviance maybe due to lack of understanding between members of right and wrong

Chicago School
Factory Zone

Transition Zone

CBD
Working-class Homes

Residential Areas

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Zone of transition - Shaw & McKay

 Highest amount of crime

 Crime rates fall the further you move away
 High rates of population- new comers temporary homes
 Lack stable communities so weak informal social control
 Social deprivation- poor housing so stress upon families=anomic pressure -->crime

 Alternative route to blame- blames environmental setting and not individual

 Interpretivists- use official stats so not valid
 Sees individual fuelled to commit crime because of environment
 Emphasis on disorganisation goes against idea of organised crime
 Doesn’t provide existence of white collar crime
 Urban areas have greater opportunities for crime that’s why it’s high

LABELLING THEORY

 Reject the link between locality and crime

 See it as a social construction
 Agencies of social control more likely to patrol inner city areas, so more crimes recognised
 Becker- low income neighbourhood youths committing deviant acts were labelled delinquent, wealthy
neighbourhood youths were labelled high youthful spirits- same act, meaning different
 Labels could lead to self-fulfilling prophecy

 Recognise stats maybe social construction

 Marxists- fails to explain how selective enforcement by area serves ruling class
 Fails to look at how some areas genuinely have high rates of crime

Globalisation & Crime

Globalisation- the increasing interconnectedness of societies. One society maybe shaped by distant events
Caused by spread of ICT, mass media influence, cheap air travel, financial market competition, easier movement.

The Global Criminal Economy

 Held et al- interconnectedness of crime across national borders
 Manuel Castells- worth over £1trillion/annum in form of arms/children trafficking, smuggling immigrants
 Demand from both sides- 3rd world drug producers attract opportunity with little investment

Global Risk Consciousness

 New insecurities and mentality of ‘risk consciousness’
 Risk seems global and not confined- terrorism, illegal immigrants
 Much knowledge from media- exaggerate
 Immigration- deviancy amplification- moral panics- politicians fuel it- negative immigrants coverage-
‘flooding’ country- more hate crimes against minorities
 Social control intensified at national level- border control, airport checks

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CAPITALISM-

Ian Taylor
 Free reign to market forces lead to greater inequality and rising crime
 Transnational corporations moving to low-wage countries producing job insecurity and unemployment in
richer countries
 Undermined social cohesion by marketisation and consumerism
 Lack of legitimate opportunities so turn to crime
 Deregulation in financial market allows inside trading and fund movement avoiding taxation

Slapper & Tombs- diverse range of corporate crime

 Paperwork & non-compliance- correct permits not obtained- Herald of Free enterprise disaster at
Zeebrugge harbour- doors not shut properly so 197 died
 Green crime- environmental damage though negligence- BP oil leaking
 Manufacturing offences- ignoring recall of unsafe goods- 1970s Ford pinto
 Unfair trade practises- price fixing- milk in 2007 costing consumers £270million
 Financial offenses- Bank collapses

Box- driven by the need to maintain profits leading to crimes like taxation, illegal waste dumping, concealing
unsafe product information

Underrepresented In official stats because they involve powerful people, hard to detect and often not possible to
prosecuted because no-one is alone responsible- usually fines by national bodies

GREEN CRIME
Ulrich Beck- massive productivity lead to ‘manufactured risks’- harm to environment thus humanity too

 Traditional criminology- no laws broken so not criminal- clearly set guidelines for powerful interests
 Green criminology- transgressive criminology- crosses boundaries of trad crim if new issues included

Rob White- criminology is harmful actions that harm the physical environment or animals, even if no law is
broken. Many of the worst environmental harms are not illegal.

Nigel South
 Primary green crimes- result directly from earth resources destruction- air pollution, deforestation
 Secondary green crimes- from flouting rules to prevent/regulate environmental disasters e.g. state
violence- condemn terrorism but result to similar methods

 Recognises growing importance of environmental issues

 Hard to define boundaries of study

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STATE CRIME
Scale of state crime
 Power of state enables it to commit extremely large-scale crimes- 1/5 of Cambodia’s population killed
Michalowski & Kramer
 ‘Great power and great crimes are inseparable’
 Medias attention often on 3rd world countries crimes- dictatorship
 Democratic states (UK, USA) often guilty- military use of torture in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay
 National sovereignty (state is supreme authority within borders) makes it hard for external authorises to
intervene (UN)

State is the source of law

 State defines laws and manages CJS
 Avoid defining own actions as criminal
 Nazi Germany- sterilising disabled against own will
Laws and state crimes should be studied with notion of human rights
 Natural Rights- life, liberty, free speech
 Civil Right- vote, privacy, fair trial
Herman & Schwendinger- define crime in terms of basic human rights violation. Reject idea that a thief can be
called criminal while those who destroy food are rewarded by state when others suffer malnutrition
 Limited agreement on what is human right- freedom from poverty

Crime Prevention & Control

SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION
Ron Clarke
 SCP only focus on reducing opportunities for crime, not on improving society
 Increasing the effort and risks, recuing rewards
 Most theories offer no real solution, SCP is biggest scope for prevention
Marcus Felson- Port Authority Bus Station- NYC

 Crime is displaced as criminals act rationally

 Chaiken et al- NYC subway robberies displaced to streets above
 Best SCP measure in Britain for suicide- 1960s ½ studied from gassing so coal gas was replaced with less
toxic gas and by 1997 gassing suicide fell to zero. Overall suicide rates fell as no other displacement.

× Works to some extent, most mostly there’s a displacement

× Focus on opportunistic petty crimes, ignore white-collar, corporate and state crimes
× Assumes criminals make rational calculations- unlikely in violence
× Ignore roots of crime so hard to develop long-term crime reduction strategies
× Norris & Armstrong- CCT focus on young males
× Feminists- CCTV extends the ‘male gaze’

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ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME PREVENTION

Wilson & Kelling- Broken Windows
 Absence of formal/informal control sends out signal no-one cares
 Police turn blind eye to petty crime, communities feel powerless
 Situation deteriorates, neighbourhoods decline, respectable members move out
Zero tolerance policy
 Environmental improvement strategy- clean up the area, show people care
 Zero-tolerance policing strategy- tackle every small crime so serious crimes don’t take root
 NYC clean car program- but there was a general decline in crime so not sure how far SCP worked
 Very influential globally- New Labours anti-social behaviour policies

SOCIAL & COMMUNITY CRIME PREVENTION

 Emphasis on potential offender and their social context- employment, housing, poverty
 Aim to tackle roots of causes and long-term strategies
 Social reform programmes have crime prevention role- promoting full employment
The Perry Pre-School Project
 Disadvantaged 3-4yr old blacks in Michigan
 Offered 2yr intellectual enrichment programme with weekly home visits
 Striking differences with control group who were not offered programme
 By 40- fewer arrests, many had graduated and in full-time employment
 For every $1 spent on the programme, $17 were saved from welfare, prison etc

× Take for granted the nature and definition of crime

× Generally focus on low-level interpersonal crimes of violence
× Disregard crimes of powerful and environmental crimes

PUNISHMENT

REDUCTION- Punishment prevents future crime

 Deterrence- disencourages future offending, ‘makes an example’ to disencourage public
 Rehabilitation- reforms offenders so they don’t offend- education, training, anger management in prison
 Incapacitation- remove offenders capacity to offend again-prison, execution, hands cut

RETRIBUTION- ‘Paying back’- justification for punishment

Durkheim: function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values
 Retributive justice- traditional societies, similar beliefs so string collective conscience. Punishment is
cruel and its motivation is expressive for the publics outrage
 Restitutive justice- modern societies, solidarity based on interdependence, punishment
compensates for the damaged interdependence. This restores things to how they were thus
motivation is instrumental with expressive element
× In reality traditional societies often have restitutive justice e.g. an eye for an eye, rather than execution

Marxism
 Punishment maintains existing social order
E P Thompson- 18th century punishment- hanging- were part of ‘rule of terror over the poor
 Form of punishment reflects economic base of society
Rusche & Kirchheimer- each economy type has own penal system- fines in money economy, prisons in
capitalist as it’s based on the exploitation of wage labourers.

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Foucault: birth of the prison

 Sovereign power- monarch had power, asserting control by body punishment e.g. public execution
 Disciplinary power- dominant in 19thC, body, mind and soul is governed by surveillance. In ‘panoptical
prisons’ there was constant surveillance which become self-surveillance in society, discipline becomes
self-discipline

× Neglects the expressive aspect of punishment

× Exaggerates extent of control

CHANGING ROLES OF PRISON

 Pre-industrial Europe- transportation, execution
 Until 18thC prison was used to hold offenders before punishment
 After enlighment prison was a punishment to be reformed through labour, religious guidance

Prisons today
 No death penalty, prison is most severe punishment
 No effective rehabilitation method- 2/3 re-offend
 1980+ politicians call for tougher sentences- 93-05 prison population grew 70% to 77,000
 Carrabine et al- overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of educational resources
 UK prisons have highest population in western Europe(193/100k)c, world leaders-Russian(607) USA (730)
 5% prison population are female
 Black and ethnic are over-represented

Era of mass incarceration?

 David Garland- USA and UK moving here with systematic imprisonment of whole groups, in USA its young
black males (2001 3235/100k in prison, 462 for whites
 Ideological function. David Downes- US soak up 30/40% unemployed, making capitalism look successful
 Reasons- growing politicians calling for tougher sentences and making it reintegarative

Transcarceration
 Individuals locked into a cycle of control, shifting between agencies-brought up in care, young offenders
institute, adult prison, mental hospital in between
 Product of blurring boundaries between CJS and welfare agencies e.g. health and housing given role of
crime control

Alternatives to prison
 In past young offenders were dealt with without contact with CJS to avoid self-fulfilling prophecy
 Recent growth in a range of non-custodial controls- curfew, community work, tags
 Same time growth in number of custodies, especially among young
 Stanley Cohen- increase range of sanctions enables control to penetrate deeper into society
 Community controls direct young into CJS- police use ASBOs to fast-track young into custodial sentences

VICTIMS OF CRIME
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 UN defines victims as those who have suffered harm through acts that violate the state laws
 Nils Christie- ‘victim’ is socially constructed. ‘Ideal victim’- child/elderly

POSITIVIST VICTIMOLOGY CRITICAL VICTIMOLOGY

Miers- we aim to Marxism and Feminism
 Identify factors that produce patterns in  Structural factors place powerless at
victimisation greater risk
 Focus on interpersonal crimes of violence  State holds power to apply/deny label of
 Victims contribute to own victimisation victim

Hons Von Hentig- 13 victim prone characteristics Tombs & Whyte

(females, elderly, mentally subnormal) ‘invite’
victimisation, can include lifestyle- wealth
Wolfgang- 26% of 588 homicides triggered
events
× Brookman- in homicides it’s a matter of
chance who becomes victim
× Ignores wider structural factors
× Victim blaming- 1/5 rape victims ‘asked for it  Draws attention to how victim status is
× Ignores situations where victim is unaware of
victimisation’
 Employers violate H&S laws and ‘safety
crimes’ are explained as ‘accident prone’
 ‘failure to label’ hides crimes of powerful
 Powerless most likely to be victimised but
least likely to have it acknowledged by
the state
× Disregard victims role in bringing
victimisation- not securing home
constructed by power and how it benefits
powerful

Patterns of victimisation
Average chance of individual is ¼ but risk is unevenly distributed
 Class (poorest)- crime rates highest in deprived areas
 Age (younger)- under 1 most risk of murder, teenagers of assault, old of abuse
 Ethnicity (minority) more likely to report being under protected
 Gender Male- violence, women- domestic/sexual violence
 Repeat victimisation- BCS 60% population never been a victim in past year. 4% victims for 44%
of all crimes that year

Impact of victimisation
 Disrupted sleep, feel helpless, security conscience, indirect victims- family, friends, witnesses
 Hate crimes create ‘waves of harm’- message crimes aimed to intimidated community too
 Secondary victimisation- further victims by CJS e.g. rape victims treated poorly by police
 Fear of victimisation- irrational- women afraid of going out at night, yet its young men who are
main victims of violence by strangers

HIRSCHI: why some don’t commit crimes- BACI

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 Beliefs- shared belief of right/wrong

 Attachment-to common goals-education, career
 Commitment- to others and care for friends/family
 Involvement- in social activities- well integration restricts time

 Takes into account current factors and not just socialisation

 Possible crime reduction strategy- involvement
 Recognises importance of socialisation in maintaining cohesion

× Involvement can lead to crime

× Nit everyone shared same beliefs
× Commitment may lead to crime- fraud
× Deterministic
× Doesn’t explain why some with weaker bonds don’t commit crimes
× Doesn’t explain why some with tight social bonds do commit crime

Suicide
DURKHEIM & POSITIVISM
 Social causes that can be discovered with casual explanation
 Helps show sociology as a science
 Social facts are social forces found in society structure
Approach
Used quantitative data from 19thC official stats for EU countries so it could easily be analysed and
compared over time

 Rates constant over time for any society

 Rates changed with other changes e.g. fell during war, rose in economic depression/ prosperity
 Different societies have different rates
 Within a society, social groups rates vary considerably
Types of suicide
2 social facts affect rates- social integration and moral regulation

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Puts others before oneself. Self-

sacrifice for good of others- Jim
Jones, Hindus widows throw
themselves on husbands Pre-industrial society
burning funeral to not be
burden, Samurai Warrior

Norms become unclear, uncertain Regulated completely-

what society expects- sudden Slaves, prisoners, Ian
economic slumps- Wall Street stock Huntley
exchange crash of 1929

Industrial society Excessive individualism, lack social

obligations- high among Protestants
(more freedom) lower rates among
Catholics (collective rituals),
divorced, childless

× Halbwachs- access to more recent reliable stats- reason for different rates was urban and rural
residence- protestants living alone so higher rates
× Gibbs & Martin- higher rates when well educated forced to take lower jobs
× Statistics- limited scientific knowledge of death causes in 19 th C. many countries lack technology
to compile national statistics, also questions change over time/country so cant be compared

INTERPRETIVISM- interactionists & ethnmethodology

Interactionists- Douglas
 Coroners label deaths as suicide
 Criticises Durkehim for:
1. Using stats- Durkheim patter- high integration level, low suicide rate because family denies suicide or hides
note. Low integration- no-one opposes suicide verdict. Verdicts and stats are based on product of
interactions between family, friends, doctors, police and coroner- integration influences negotiations
2. Ignoring actors’ meaning- assumes suicide has fixed meaning when meanings vary between cultures-
Japanese Samurai Warrior & failed businessman. Durkheim’s comparison between cultures gives false
results. Rejects categorising in terms of social causes, must classify each death to actual meaning using
qualitative methods- analyse suicide notes- to get behind the labels attached.

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× Sociologists no better than coroners at interpreting deaths

× Sanisbury & Barraclough- USA immigrant rates similar to those from country of origin despite different
labellers involved- stats reflect real differences, not coroners labels
× Inconsistent arguments- stats are opinions but can know real difference- how? Analysing notes are
opinions, so will never know real meaning of death

Ethnomethodology- Atkinson
 Socially constructed as coroners look for clues when deciding verdict
 Agrees with Douglas- stats are construct of labels
 Rejects we can ever know real rate
 Study how coroners come to classify deaths- compared Danish & English coroners- Denmark less stigma
 Uses qualitative data to see how they label deaths as suicides- conversations with coroners, inquest
observations, court examination
 Coroners have common sense theory of the typical suicide-
 Suicide not or threats before death
 Mode of death- hanging is typical, drug overdose/drowning less clear-cut
 Location & circumstances- shooting in deserted area-suicide, but accident when hunting
 Life history- disturbed childhood, mental illness
 Such stats use is echoing coroners commonsense theory and not discovering causes

× Barry Hindess- self defeating, if coroners are making interpretations then so are ethnomethodologists
 Most accept their accounts are interpretations unlike positivist who claim objective truth

TAYLOR & REALISM

Agrees with
Interpretivist- stats not valid e.g 32 hit by London tubes, ½ suicide without evidence
Atkinson- factors like mental illness increase change of suicide verdict
Positivist- can explain with real patterns and causes, but not using stats but using case studies

Self-directing suicides- ectopic

 Submissive suicides- certain about themselves- terminal illness
 Thanatation suicides- uncertain about themselves or what others think, risk taking- may survive

Other-directing suicides- symphysic

 Sacrifice- certain about others- betrayal, communicating with others to blame
 Appeal- uncertain about others, doubts self importance- attempt suicide to resolve uncertainty

× Based on actors meanings and there’s no certainty of being correct

× Unrepresentative case studies for generalisation
 Useful in explaining some observed patterns
 Deals with both failed and successful attempts

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