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EnglandSociology

Crime and Deviance

8 dot points across 8 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do societies try to prevent and control crime, and what is punishment for?

Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies, including situational and environmental prevention and theories of punishment.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on control and prevention, covering situational and environmental crime prevention, surveillance (Foucault, Feeley and Simon), theories of punishment, and victimology.
12 min answer →

How do the media shape our picture of crime, and can they actually cause it?

The relationship between crime and the media, including media representations of crime, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime, moral panics, and cyber-crime.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on crime and the media, covering media representations and distortion, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime, moral panics and folk devils, and cyber-crime.
12 min answer →

Why are some minority-ethnic groups over-represented in crime statistics, and is the system itself biased?

Ethnic patterns in crime and victimisation, including the over-representation of some groups in statistics, explanations of offending, the role of the criminal justice system, and racism and discrimination.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on ethnicity and crime, covering ethnic patterns in statistics, stop and search and the criminal justice system, neo-Marxist and left realist explanations, and patterns of victimisation.
12 min answer →

Why does crime exist, and how do strain and subcultural theories explain it?

Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories of crime and deviance, including Durkheim on the functions of crime, Merton's strain theory, and subcultural theories (Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin).
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on functionalist and subcultural theories, covering Durkheim on the functions and inevitability of crime, Merton's strain theory, and subcultural theories from Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin.
12 min answer →

Why do men commit far more recorded crime than women, and how is gender linked to offending and victimisation?

Gender patterns in crime, including why women appear to commit less crime, the chivalry thesis, explanations of female and male offending, and gendered patterns of victimisation.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on gender and crime, covering the gender gap, the chivalry thesis, control theory, the liberation thesis, and explanations of male offending such as hegemonic masculinity.
12 min answer →

How has globalisation reshaped crime, and what are green and state crimes?

Globalisation and crime in contemporary society, the global criminal economy, green crime, human rights and state crimes, including genocide and crimes by states against their own citizens.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on globalisation and crime, covering the global criminal economy, glocal organisation, green crime (primary and secondary), and state crime including genocide and human rights.
12 min answer →

Is deviance a quality of the act, or of how society reacts to it?

Labelling theory and the social construction of crime, including the social construction of crime statistics, the deviant career, master status, deviancy amplification and primary and secondary deviance.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on labelling theory, covering the social construction of crime and statistics, Becker's outsiders, Lemert's primary and secondary deviance, master status, the deviant career and deviancy amplification.
12 min answer →

Is crime rooted in capitalism, or in real social conditions that both left and right realists try to tackle?

Marxist, neo-Marxist and realist theories of crime, including traditional Marxism, critical criminology, left realism and right realism, and their explanations of crime and policy responses.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on Marxist and realist theories, covering traditional Marxism, neo-Marxist critical criminology, left realism and right realism, and their explanations of crime and policy.
12 min answer →