Social Distribution of Crime (patterns and trends)

Gender and Crime:

Is there gender bias in the criminal justice system?

• % of UK prison population that is male: 95%

• % of convicted offenders that are male: 80%

• By the age of 40 % of men who have committed a crime: 40%

• By the age of 40% of women who have committed a crime

• % of suicide victims that are male: 75% Gender patterns in crime: In the UK and Wales in 2014, men accounted for ¾ of all persons convicted: Men accounted for 85% of those convicted for more serious criminal offences

• Compared to women, men are many times more likely to be found guilty of offending than women.

• 60x more likely for sex offences

• 14x more likely for robberies

• 13x more likely for possession of weapons

• 4x more likely for theft

Chivalry Thesis:

Otto Pollak (1950): official statistics seriously underestimate female criminality: Women were more involved than men in crimes that are unlikely to be reported/detected e.g. shoplifting + prostitution-related offences

• Women are better at deception than men
• Women are treated more leniently by the police, magistrates and judges as they're usually male-dominated and men have been taught to be chivalrous
• He didn't provide much evidence and his ideas about women being deceptive have been dismissed as prejudice
• But do female offenders get treated more leniently? How credible is the Chivalry Thesis:

Supporting evidence:

• 2006 offending, crime and justice survey: interviewed 5353 respondents in England and Wales aged between 10 and 25. It covered 20 core offences but excluded homicide and sexual offences. It showed the proportion of male and female offenders for different types of crime in the previous 12 months. Found that there was a gap between the proportion of males committing any offence (26%) and the proportion of females (17%) , a much smaller gap than recently recorded. A similar picture is found in more serious crimes (12% of males and 8% of females) Recent data from the Ministry of Justice (Women and the Criminal Justice System statistics 2015) indicated that women are less likely to be remanded in custody than men: at the magistrates court, the percentages were 1% females and 5% males and at a crown 19% for females and 38% for males. They also found that women are less likely to be given a custodial sentence than men: for indictable offences, the figures were 15% for women and 28% for men; for all offences, the figures were 2% for women and 10% for men. Finally, they found that women receive shorter sentences than men; for indictable offences, the average sentence for women was 10.5 months and for men was 19.7 months.

Evidence against:

• Kate Steward studied decisions about whether to remand defendants in custody. Studied 103 remand hearings in magistrates courts and found that the majority of remanded decisions are based primarily on offence seriousness, without consideration of defendants' gender. She also discusses Home office research and suggests that the differences in the chances of males and females being granted bail can almost entirely be explained in terms of the seriousness of the offence.

• Farrington and Morris conducted a study of sentencing in magistrates courts and found that although men received more severe sentences than women, the research found that the differences disappeared when the severity of offences was taken into account.

• Home office states that courts are imposing more severe sentences on women for less serious offences. Rates of imprisonment have been rising for women and rose significantly faster than men in the 1990s and early 21st century.

• Heidensohn notes that the number of women in custody rose 68% between 1997 and 2008, while the number of men only rose 35%. She says despite this evidence, women's involvement in crime has become only a little more prevalent and the seriousness of their offending has either increased marginally or remained static.

• Hedderman argues that therefore that far from being chivalrous the criminal justice system is becoming increasingly severe on women. Evaluation:

• Some research suggests that women haven't been given shorter sentences than men and that it isn't due to their gender but because of the nature of the offences committed and because of gender differences in conviction history.

• Some feminists argue that it is not female offenders who get treated more sympathetically but males and that for example, rape trials celebrate men's sexual needs. Reasons for the Gender gap in criminality:

1)Biological theories: in the 19th century, Lombroso and Ferrero argued that criminals were atavistic beings, as they found examples leading them to conclude that most female offenders were not true biological criminals. They argued that criminality is innate within men, inborn and natural and that there are very few 'born female criminals' due to the higher levels of testosterone in men. They also argued that women are much more empathetic and have higher levels of fearfulness -> found in biosocial criminology.

Evaluation: However – Lombroso and Ferrero were criticised for being 'fanciful' and outdated

2)Sex/gender role theory: functionalists emphasise the importance of primary and secondary socialisation in shaping behaviour in boys and girls. Gender role socialisation, gender roles and gendered identities were all seen as reducing the likelihood of female criminality while making male criminality more likely

Parsons – expressive and instrumental roles encouraged upon girls (expressive) and boys (instrumental) = childhood crucial to this

Traditional notions of 'femininity' and 'masculinity' arguably continue to exert an influence on society and therefore on socialisation

AO2 - Heilman, Barker and Harrison (2017) – men still feel pushed to live in the 'Man Box'

= acting tough, looking physically attractive, sticking to rigid gender roles, using aggression.

A03 - Evaluation

However, the segregated gender roles that existed in the 1940s and 1950s no longer exist now so, gender socialisation can't shed light on the gender gap in criminality

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3)Control Theory (feminist): Heidensohn argues that male-dominated patriarchal societies control women more effectively than they do men

= makes it more difficult for women to break the law.

Control operates at home, in public and at work:

Controlled at home: housewife role - limits their opportunities for criminality.

• Domesticity is a form of detention, women are taught from a young age to follow roles or they would have failed as mothers or housewives. Controlled in public: controlled by the male use of force and violence, controlled by the idea of holding on to a good reputation, controlled by the ideology of separate spheres.

Controlled at work: male superiors at work control women, men also dominate workers' own organisations (trade unions), and sexual harassment. Heidensohn - 60% of women have suffered some form of sexual harassment at work.

The fact women are controlled is significant in restricting their opportunities to commit crime

= Toor's (2009) study of British Asian girls

= Their low rates of criminality are a result of 'key dynamics embedded in Asian cultures

e.g. strong emphasis on the idea of honour (izzat) and shame (Sharam)

Evaluation:

• Some have criticised the control theory due to the rise of feminist activism which brought about gender equality - are women still controlled in the 3 aspects of society (home, public + work)? Counter evaluation: some would say yes! Women ARE still seen as housewives and sexual harassment is still prevalent e.g. the Harvey Weinstein case in the USA is an example of patriarchal control!

Growing female criminality: Indeed, men commit more crime than women – but this pattern is slowly changing in the UK and internationally.

• In 1957 = men were responsible for 11x as many offences as women
• In 2014 = men were responsible for 3x as many offences as women Number of crimes committed by girls (aged 10-17) in England and Wales went up around 25% between 2004 – 2010.

There are 2 main reasons put forward by some sociologists

1. The liberation thesis
2. Carlen's study links female offending to poverty and other kinds of deprivation (synoptic links to relative deprivation – left realism?) 1)The liberation thesis:

-Freda Adler proposed that the emancipation of women and increased economic opportunities for women led to an increase in the female crime rate.

• Her basic idea was that as women attain social positions similar to men, and as the employment patterns of men and women become similar, so too do their related crimes.

• Adler claimed to have found a cross-national correlation between levels of women's economic freedoms and their crime levels.

• Adler suggested that an increase in female arrests for major crimes since the 1960s has occurred. As supporting evidence she used FBI crime reports and also compared several developed countries. In America, from 1960-1972:

• Arrests of female robbers grew by 277%

• Arrests of female burglars grew by 168%

• Arrests of female embezzlers grew by 280%

• She found that there had been an increase in female arrests in every major crime in the countries she investigated (Western Europe, New Zealand, Japan and others)

• Heidensohn and Silvestri – 20th-century media portrayal of the 'ladette' = the girl who wants to be just as hard-drinking, delinquent and criminal as lads

• The media reports contribute to this – a massive focus on female participation in gangs, binge drinking and violence

• Tara Young (2009) = females are now integral to gangs and no longer on the periphery – the emergence of the 'shemale gangster' -> girls not conforming to traditional female gender roles anymore (more liberal feminist viewpoint) Evaluation of the liberation thesis:

• % increases unreliable – female crime rate very low to begin with, so large increases aren't significant as the crime rate was still low.

• But it is clear that female offending is on the rise (Sharpe and Gelsthorpe)

• Heidensohn = Liberation is not the reason for the apparent rise in criminality

• Instead, the CJS has changed the way it operates = it's now just prosecuting more women (making it look like they're offending more)

• Now women are being 'seen' to be committing more crimes (media) – judges believe they are = will prosecute instead of letting them off.

• Men are still 4 times more likely than women to be arrested for violence

2. Carlen's study:

Using unstructured interviews, Carlen conducted a study of 39 15-46-year-old working-class women who had been convicted for a range of crimes. She argues that most convicted serious female criminals are working-class.

• Carlen argues that working-class women are generally led to conform through the promise of two types of rewards or 'deals':
  1. The class deal: women who work will be offered material rewards, with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities.
  2. The gender deal: patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role.
• If these rewards are not available (lack of opportunity) or worth the effort, crime becomes more likely. Carlen argues that this was the case with the women in her study. 3. In terms of the class deal, the women had failed to find a legitimate way of earning a living and this left them feeling oppressed and the victims of injustice. E.g. 32 of them had always been in poverty. 4. In terms of the gender deal for conforming to patriarchal family norms, most of the women had either not had the opportunity to make a deal, or saw few rewards and many disadvantages in family life. E.g. some had been abused physically by their fathers.
• Many of the women had concluded that 'crime was the only route to a decent standard of living'. They had nothing to lose but everything to gain.' Carlen concludes that poverty and being brought up in care or an oppressive family life were the two main causes of their criminality. A02: Corston Report (2007) = 40% of women had not worked in the 5 years prior to entering prison, 61% had no qualifications.

A03: However, Carlen's sample was small and may be unrepresentative, consisting largely of working-class and serious offenders.

Masculinity and crime:

Traditionally: a man's role in society was to be the provider/breadwinner, they encouraged independence, self-confidence and toughness. The male peer group reinforces these tendencies, particularly among younger men, and this can lead to higher risks of crime and delinquency. Men's traditional roles in employment and their lack of responsibility for housework and childcare, give men more independence than women, and more opportunities to commit crime.

James Messerschmidt: argues that -

Variety of 'masculinities' that coexist in society today

• Traditional concepts remain hegemonic (culturally dominant) Hegemonic masculinity = men need to be powerful, strong, self-sufficient, sexually active and in control

• Different groups of males turn to different types of crimes to demonstrate their masculinity

• These opportunities to do so vary with class, age, ethnicity and sexual preference Different men aren't equally well-placed to demonstrate masculinity through legitimate means

Masculinity = not a characteristic but instead accomplished

• Messerschmidt argues that White M/C youths adopt an accommodating masculinity in school; this is not to jeopardise their chances of academic success.
• Outside school, they may engage in pranks, acts of vandalism, excessive drinking and minor thefts.
• To demonstrate they're not 'girly' or 'soft'.
• White W/C youths have less chance of this academic success so cannot access the same masculinity as the M/C youths Therefore = they tend to construct their masculinity around the importance of physical aggression

It's important for them to be tough/hard and to oppose authority (by teachers and others)

A02 synoptic link:

Messerschmidt quotes the 'lads' in Paul Willis' study as an example of an anti-school subculture/peer group.

Crime in order to demonstrate hegemonic masculinity:

• Pimping allows lower-class black men 'to transcend class and race domination' = money

= power and control

• White-collar crime = demonstrates economic success (money superiority)
• Domestic violence = demonstrates control over others (women/children) Dobash and Dobash call this 'coercive control'

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Evaluation of Messerschmidt:

• He insists there is a range of subordinate masculinities that coexist with hegemonic masculinity but it is unclear what roles they play.
• Doesn't explain how this may not apply to all crimes.
• Deterministic: no facts to back it up.

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Globalisation and masculinity:

• Decline in traditional manual jobs, where working-class men used to express their masculinity

• Body capital – physical assets of bodybuilding – is it necessary?

• Rise in jobs in the service sector, where it is easier to carry out legal and illegal activities Winlow - Badfellas (2011)

• Due to globalisation = expansion of the service sector

• Provided W/C young men in Sunderland with the opportunity to earn paid work + take part in illegal activities

• Dealing drugs + demonstrating masculinity through violence Shift from modern to postmodern society = shift from conflict subculture to criminal subculture -> synoptic link

• The men use their bodily capital to maintain their reputation. E.g. bodybuilding

Ethnicity and Crime

What is ethnicity?

• Ethnic groups = defined by 'race', religion or national origin who share a common cultural heritage.
• There are so many ethnic minority groups; such groups are recently referred to as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups.
• Data shows that these groups are generally over-represented in the criminal justice system.

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Disproportionality in the CJS:

Data available indicates that ethnic minority groups are generally over-represented in the cjs, according to the Ministry of Justice (2015) in 2014

• Stop and search rates were higher for all ethnic minority groups than for white groups. Black groups are over 4 times as likely to be stopped and searched and mixed-ethnic groups are twice as likely
• Rates of imprisonment were higher for all ethnic minority groups than for white groups. Black groups were 4x as likely to be in prison,
• Such statistics do not tell us whether members of one ethnic group are more likely to offend compared to another group = they simply tell us about involvement in the criminal justice system.

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The Lammy Review (2017)

• Published in 2017, by David Lammy (MP) confirms the statistics and ideas above:
• "The review clearly shows BAME individuals still face bias - including overt discrimination - in parts of the justice system".
• "People from black, Asian and minority ethnic group backgrounds make up 25% of the prison population in England and Wales and 41% of the youth justice system, despite these groups being 14% of the general population" - the review says.

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Stages of the criminal justice system:

3. Policing: Phillips and Bowling (2012). Since the 1970s there have been many allegations of oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities. Mass stops and searches, paramilitary tactics, excessive surveillance, armed raids, police violence and deaths in custody, and failure to respond to racist violence.
4. Stop and search: police can use this power if they have 'reasonable suspicion' of wrongdoing. Black people are x7 more likely to be stopped and searched and Asian people are x2 as likely. Only a small proportion result in an arrest. 2010 - 2014, police deployed Tasers over 38,000 times. Low discretion stops: police act on a specific offence. High discretion stops: without specific intelligence. Synoptic link - typifications (Cicourel)
5. Arrests and cautions: arrests for black people x3 the rate for white people. Once arrested, black and Asian people were less likely to receive a caution. More likely for MET to deny the offences/seek legal advice, which normally leads to a charge.
6. Prosecution and trial: crown prosecution services decide if a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court. Factoring in whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and if it is in the public interest. CPS is also suggested to be more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities. Bowling and Phillips (2002) evidence is often weaker. When cases do go to court, it is often weaker. When cases do go to court, it is often before a jury, not in a magistrate's course.
7. Conviction and sentencing: Asian and black defendants are less likely to be found guilty. But when found guilty, black offenders have imprisonment rates 3% higher and Asian offenders 5% higher than white people. Hood (1992) disagrees - he found that black men were 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence. Synoptic link - Marxism - prison population doesn't represent that of society.
8. Pre-sentence reports: this is written by the probation officer. A PSR is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding the sentence. Hudson and Bramhall (2005): they allow for unwitting discrimination. Reports on Asian people were less comprehensive and suggested they were less remorseful. Link to 9/11 focus and demonizing of Muslims.
9. Prison: 2014 ¼ of the prison population were from minority ethnic groups. This means that black people are 4 times more likely to be in prison than white people. Ethnic minorities are less likely to be granted bail while awaiting trial. This is similar in America, where ⅖ of the prison population is black and ⅕ Hispanic. Explaining the patterns of crime:

2 explanations for these patterns:

10. Ethnic minorities are subject to discriminatory treatment within the CJS (Neo-Marxist view)
11. The rates of offending do truly differ along the lines of ethnicity (left-realism)

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Neo-Marxist view:

• Support the idea that the over-representation of Black people in the CJS statistics is a product of criminalisation by the police + courts rather than of higher levels of criminality.

• A key example is Hall et al - Policing the crisis (1979) = moral panic in the 70s developed around muggings.

• Young black men served as scapegoats for an economic + political crisis faced by the British government in that decade. 1)Hall et al: Policing the crisis:

• Young black men scapegoated for problems in society

• 60 muggings between August 1972 – August 1973

• Moral panic created – more arrests + harsher sentences although there was no real threat to society (statistics unreliable – why?) = amplification spiral occurred (moral entrepreneurs)

• The public could be persuaded that it was the 'immigrants' rather than the faults of the capitalist system = divided society and distracted them from the REAL problem (which was that the economy was failing)

• Govt couldn't govern by consent anymore – so had to use force instead– mugging became the face of the problem = the black mugger symbolised the threat of violence

• At the same time – major economic crises and crisis of legitimacy = unemployment rising = living standards worsening

• Many did actually turn to mugging = capitalism caused unemployment and many turned to hustling lifestyles to survive… Further AO2:

• Increasingly seen as a black crime, aggressive policing using ancient stop and search powers and the old 'sus' laws (which allowed police to arrest and secure convictions purely on suspicion of impending illegality) were used disproportionately against young black males (often involving the police flooding an area)

• Operation Swamp (1981): a 10-day operation in which 150 plain clothes officers made 1000 stops and 150 arrests. Two nights of rioting followed.

• In the case of the race riots, the alleged abusive use of the sus law was believed to be a contributory factor to those events. Evaluating Hall et al - A03:

• The conflicts between ethnic groups and the police and Criminal Justice System still exist, but the 'crisis of hegemony' of the 1970s does not - so how can Hall's explanation be accurate?

• They don't show evidence of how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic.

• Left realists - there really was an increase in crime. And most crimes are reported by the public (90%), not the police - so how can it be police racism?

• They are romanticising the criminals.

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2) Gilroy - the myth of black criminality:

• Rejected the view that black criminals belonged to an 'alien culture' + poorly socialised therefore became criminals

• Instead, he saw minority ethnic groups as defending themselves against a society that treated them unfairly

• Both British Asians + Africans and Caribbeans originate from former British colonies – learned how to resist oppression

• Brought this over to Britain – specifically in the late 1970s + early 1980s

• They hit back against police harassment, racially motivated attacks and discrimination.

• The myth of Black criminality = was created as a result of the police having negative stereotypes: = African Caribbean: wild and lawless / muggers. Asians: illegal immigrants -Police officer: "we are here to give our coloured brethren all the help we can – all they need to do is go somewhere else"

• Statistics that show a disproportionate involvement of African Caribbeans in street crime cannot be trusted

• Reflected prejudice of the police rather than a real difference in offending The Birth of a Nation's plot is riddled with negative stereotypes and portrayals of blacks, black men in particular. First off, the film popularised blackface as the black characters were just white m A02 example - The Birth of a Nation:

• The Birth of a Nation's plot is riddled with negative stereotypes and portrayals of blacks, black men in particular. First off, the film popularised blackface as the black characters were just white men with face paint on.

• The characters were largely influenced by the character Jim Crow formed after Reconstruction in the south.

• The black men in the film also were shown as dumb and sexually aggressive towards white women and seen as not deserving of human rights and almost animalistic.

• These portrayals show the oppressive nature that was popularised and supported by many whites in America. Evaluation of Gilroy - AO3:

• By arguing that the meaning of Black crime is a political act against oppressors, he is romanticising criminals. Also - Black crime is often committed against other black or poor people - how can it be seen as resistance to oppression?

• The first generation of immigrants in the 1950s + 60s were law-abiding - unlikely they passed down anti-resistance traits.

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Left realist view:

• They challenge the idea that the ethnic disparities in the Criminal Justice System statistics are simply a product of discrimination by law enforcement agencies. They see statistics representing real differences in rates of offending.

• Lea and Young = criticise Hall and Gilroy, although admit policing policies and police racism exaggerate the minority ethnic rate.

• Left realists argue that it is not entirely a myth that certain types of crime are more common among ethnic groups than among whites.

• 92% of crime is brought to attention by the public, 8% is uncovered by the police themselves. -Recorded rates of crime committed by whites were consistently higher for Asians, evaluation: most of the population consists of white individuals.

• Blacks have a higher rate of criminalisation than Asians = police would have to be very selective in their racism.

• Crime is a product of relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation.

• Racism led to an economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty or poor housing.

• The media emphasises consumerisation which leads to individuals feeling relatively deprived, as they are unable to achieve their goals through legitimate means so form delinquent subcultures which leads to utilitarian crime ( a way of dealing with relative deprivation).

• Relative deprivation rises from a feeling of frustration with feeling marginalised (A02 - 2011 riots). Rejection of Neo-Marxist view:

• Left realists criticise Neo-Marxists as Gilroy's resistance rejection - 1960s recorded rates of first-generation Afro-Caribbean crimes were lower than the nation average. Even though (today) official statistics for offences such as burglary show the rate for A/C crimes to be lower than for whites.

• They also criticise Gilroy for not accepting employment + racial discrimination which resulted in more crimes.

• Anti-colonialist struggle? Most young West Indian individuals were 2nd generation immigrants who had lived in Britain since birth - they're parents were law-abiding.

• But in 1990 - arguments about police racism propelled to the forefront of public attention - why? A03 - Evaluation:

• Crime rates are different between Blacks and Asians due to the views and stereotypes (typifications) that the police hold. Perceiving Black individuals as more dangerous and Asians as more passive.

• There is clear institutional racism, shown through the law, criminal justice system, media and the education system. Institutional racism:

• The concept of institutional racism originated with the Black Power movement in the USA (60s) -key events brought this around. The Labelling, Stereotyping and Racism in Policing and the CJS:

• Labelling theories and Marxists both see official crime statistics as a social construction.

• Therefore, evidence that black and Asian people are more likely to offend than white people is misleading and due to selective enforcement rather than higher rates of criminality.

• Reiner (2000) - there is a racist (canteen culture) among the police, which includes suspicious, macho values and racism, which encourages racist stereotypes. They'll target non-whites more and therefore cause an increase in non-white offending.

• Indirect racial discrimination = mistrust of the police, and social position.

• Direct racial discrimination = stop and search, institutional racism, arrests, charges and court proceedings, discrimination in sentencing, and over-representation in prison.

• 1993 - 18 years old and harmlessly waiting by a bus stop and was stabbed to death by a gang of white youths purely due to the colour of his skin.

• Tip-offs by local residents should have made it easy for metropolitan police to arrest those guilty. Police failed to collect sufficient evidence = only 2 of the 5 were charged and the CPS halted proceedings. 1996 - parents attempted to pursue a private prosecution - this failed.

• Labour government elected in 1997 - the new Home Secretary ordered a public enquiry chaired by Sir William Macpherson.

• His findings became known as the Macpherson Report. Macpherson Report (1999): "There is no doubt whatsoever that the first Metropolitan Police Service investigation was palpably flawed and deserves severe criticism.

• The failure of the police is the product of institutional racism. Consequences of the report: The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 = imposed a duty on public bodies to promote equality.

• Criminal Justice Act 2003 = scrapped double jeopardy ( the legal principle that prevented someone from being tried twice for the same crime after being cleared at the first hearing)

• Reopening of the case = 2 of the original 5 were finally convicted in 2012. Has the police relationship with Britain's BAME communities improved since 1999?

• Feb 2019: Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, marks 20 years since the Macpherson report by claiming police are no longer institutionally racist, but admits the force will be disproportionately white for another 100 years. Data from 2019 show that only 4% of senior officers in England and Wales were from Asian, black, mixed and other non-white backgrounds, and this proportion has not increased since 2013.

• November 2020: The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, tells the Met it must hire 40% of new recruits from ethnic minority backgrounds, while officers will have to justify stop and search to community panels. The Met has the most black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) officers of any force; but it also has the biggest race gap of any force because London is 40% BAME, while the Met's ranks are 15.4% BAME.

Unit 7 - Social Class:

Theoretical explanations of working-class crime:

Marxism - criminogenic capitalism/ Dog-eat-Dog society (Gordon)

Costs of corporate (elite crime), selective law enforcement etc

Left Realism - inequality and powerlessness, relative deprivation and marginalisation

Right realism - underclass

Interactionism - labelling, negotiation of justice

Functionalism - status frustration, strain theory, Cloward and Ohlin subcultures blocked opportunity structures and different values.

White Collar and Corporate Crime:

• Timmer and Eitzen: 'crime in suites' (committed in the suites off offices and boardrooms of the m/c)
• Pearce = 'crimes of the powerful'.
• Often the amounts of money involved are so colossal and human misery is so powerful that it dwarfs the everyday crimes committed by w/c offenders.

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What is white collar and corporate crime?

• White collar crime - committed by m/c individuals who abuse their work positions for personal gains, at the expense of employers, government and clients.

• Corporate crime: according to Slapper and Tombs - offences committed by large companies of individuals on behalf of those companies, which directly benefit the company rather than individuals and involve increased profits or the survival of the organisation. 📝Examples of white-collar crime:

• Bribery and corruption in government and businesses

• Fiddling expenses

• Professional misconduct

• Fraud

• Embezzlement 📝E.g. one GP made over £700,000 writing fake prescriptions.

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Slapper and Tombs - suggest that there are 6 main types of Corporate Crime:

12. Labour Law Violations: include crimes such as failing to pay legally required minimum wages, ignoring legal working hour restrictions or failing to provide correct safety equipment for workers. E.g. GAP using child labour in sweatshops.

• Having incorrect/ no permits or licences and/ or failing to comply with legal regulations. 📝E.g. the Bhopal disaster: gas leak that killed 3000 people and caused permanent injury to a further 20,000. Caused by inadequate safety procedures at the plant (owned by US governments).

13. Manufacturing offences: include crimes such as false advertising, price-fixing and illegally obtaining information on rival businesses. Mainly offences against consumers.

• These are offences such as misrepresentation, incorrect labelling and false advertisement. Also includes the production of dangerous or unsafe, counterfeiting and failing to recall faulty goods.

14. Financial offences: include crimes such as tax evasion and concealment of losses and debts. 📝E.g. In 2001 Enron concealed debts of around $50 billion, the company collapsed and many people lost their jobs and investments.

15. Environmental or green crimes: damage to the environment caused either deliberately or through negligence. Pollution of land, water supplies and air through the discharge, emission and dumping of dangerous or toxic substances. 📝E.g. BP oil spill in 2010, or Volkswagen installing software to disguise mission levels.

16. Paperwork and Non-compliance: offences when correct permits or licenses are not obtained, or companies fail to comply with health and safety and other legal regulations. 📝E.g. Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in 1987 - the ferry capsized in a calm sea because the rules weren't followed properly. 193 died.

17. Unfair trade practices: false advertising and anti-competitive practices, such as price-fixing and illegal obtaining info on rival businesses. 📝E.g. In 2011, UK's supermarkets and dairy companies were fined £50 million for fixing the price of milk and cheese.

No official statistics on corporate crime:

• Tombs claimed that although no data is available we know two things: 5. Corporate crime entails enormous costs, both physical and financial, which far outweigh those associated with conventional or street crime. 6. Is not a rare occurrence, or is a product of a 'few bad apples'. Some corporate crimes have global or transnational dimensions to them (fewer regulations, weaker laws, poorer countries so lower wages). Are we gaining partial visibility to corporate crime?

• Occupy Movement 2011

• UK Uncut 2010 The campaigning of anti-austerity groups such as the ones above has meant some types of corporate wrongdoing are being caught.

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Explanations of white collar and corporate crime:

18. Strain theory and relative deprivation
19. Control theory
20. Differential association
21. Marxist explanations
22. Labelling theory
23. The seduction of crime and edgework. 1) Strain theory and relative deprivation:

• People feel strain/pressure to achieve their goals if others are doing 'better' than them.
• If unable to do it legally, they'll do it illegally.
• Clinard and Yeager (1980) documentary on corporate crime = Law violations by large companies increased as their financial performance deteriorated.

= showed a willingness to 'innovate' (Merton) to achieve profit goals.

2) Control theory:

• Suggests that corporate crime is committed due to people socialised into self-seeking aggressive management cultures, which encourage ruthlessness against other companies. = People may not take shortcuts that are not legal but are seen as required.

• Nelken = strain and control theories converge = people are tied to societal expectations to maintain their lifestyles and may innovate by using illegitimate means to embezzle, commit fraud etc.

3) Differential association:

• Sutherland (1949) = sees corporate crime as a behaviour learned from others in a social context.

• The more people are associated with people that break the law = the more they'll do it too (and vice versa)

• Geis (1967) = people socialised into price-fixing when joining a company.

• Techniques of neutralisation (Sykes and Matza) = white collar criminals deviate more easily due to justifications: 'made to do it'/ 'everyone doing it'

• Associating themselves with others who are more likely to commit crimes themselves. 4) Marxism:

• Box = corporate crime is a result of the normal functioning of capitalism.

• Goal of capitalism = maximise profits at any cost = leads to consequences for employees and consumers.

• Industrial espionage, price fixing, lying about losses to avoid hitting share prices and upsetting investors (e.g. Enron from lesson 1), concealment of profits to avoid tax

• Box (1983) = Capitalism has successfully created 'mystification' = spread the ideology that CC is less widespread or harmful than W/C crime

• Capitalism's control of the state = able to avoid making/enforcing laws that conflict with its interests. 5) Labeling theory:

• Nelken (2012) = there is the 'de-labelling of white collar and corporate crime' = expensive lawyers/accountants = get away with crimes / reduce sentence or seriousness

• Law enforcement agencies = reluctant to investigate and prosecute (can they even if they wanted to?? -> $$)

• Corporate crime is often not accompanied by a direct intent to cause harm, so not taken as seriously compared to offences such as burglary

• Techniques of neutralisation 6) The seductions of crime and edgework:

• Postmodernists - Lyng and Katz argue that crime can be a seductive, pleasurable, thrill-seeking experience which criminals intend to gain a buzz from.

• Nelken = young men enter a subculture of risk, excitement and thrill, which is just as important as the material rewards, if not more. An evaluation of white-collar and corporate crime:

• Contributes to the understanding of the social construction of crime statistics, and the relative over-representation of working-class crime

• However, all these explanations fail to explain why not all individuals or corporations turn to crime to resolve their problems

• Marxists blame capitalism, but in former communist countries and even public organisations like the army, police and got, corporate crimes and corruption are still found!