Social class and crime 1 2 3 Patterns

Social class and crime 1. 2. 3. Patterns / statistics Explanations – is it to do with culture, material deprivation, or the definition of criminality? Case studies – bad fellas / violent night!

• In Glasgow 60% of prisoners came from the most deprived council estates. • A 2007 study found that 43% of prisoners had no ed. qualifications and 60% had been claiming benefits. • Another study found that 67% of prisoners were unemployed prior to going in prison compared with 5% of the population s whole. • Problems with the above = only includes those that have been convicted and imprisoned – some crimes of the middle 4 class are less likely to result in imprisonment e. g. fraud could be a large fine. Also – corporate and wh. collar cirmes – people often senior so can hide = not in crime stats / prisons. No big deal • Ditton and Mars found that in a range of services (from bakers to tourist workers)minor theft was regarded as a legitimate part of the job ‘perk’ or ‘fiddle’. • Clarke – employers often turned a blind eye to ‘fiddling’ and accounted for it in pay structure (paying certain bands less as a result) • Functionalist writers have linked this type of crime to the type of profession – claiming that those with a great degree of trust placed on them are less likely to commit occupational crime. Lower working class / working class Social class and crimethe figures White collar crime Types – • Bribery • Corruption Examples – • Medical professionals falsifying prescriptions / patient records Self report studies – Only one recent study of this kind 20032006. findings = ‘social class of the family, based on occupation of the chief-wage earner was not significantly associated with the likelihood of offending and drug abuse. ’ = not social class but ind. Circumstances as more important. • Main suggestions was that it was down to levels of social control for criminality and social class for being labelled as a criminal by the CJS. • Problems = mainly used a sample of 1025 year olds. Big and bad • Levi (2007) fraudulent health and unemployment benefit claims total £ 3 billion and frauds within the NHS are est. at £ 6 billion. • Counter to the functionalist argument Nelken (2002) found considerable evidence of fraudulent claims made by doctors and dentists against insurance companies in the USA (and to a smaller extent in GB) • About 25% of all retail loss in Britain is accounted for through theft by employees (according to a 1999 study). • Levi (1987) found that 75% of all frauds on financial institutions were by there own employees. Occupational Crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his / her occupation

Cultural explanations The definition of criminality- explanations Material deprivation explanations

Describing Map

Describing Map