Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): globalisation and crime (global criminal networks, transnational crime), green crime and state crime, and the relationship between the media and crime (moral panics, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime), with criticisms.

What this dot point is asking

This statement covers the contemporary themes of the option: globalisation and crime (transnational networks, the global criminal economy), green crime and state crime, and the relationship between the media and crime (moral panics, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime). These themes link Crime and deviance to the wider A-level theme of power and to the modern, globalised world.

The answer

Globalisation and crime

The global criminal economy includes drug trafficking, people smuggling and trafficking, money laundering, arms dealing and cybercrime. Globalisation also creates new opportunities and motives for crime: global inequality and the relative deprivation fuelled by global media, the deregulation of markets, and the ease of moving money and goods. Transnational crime is hard to control because it exploits the gaps between national jurisdictions.

Green crime and state crime

• Green crime is crime and harm against the environment (pollution, toxic dumping, illegal logging, wildlife trade). Much of it crosses borders, and some of it is legal yet harmful, so some sociologists prefer the broader concept of environmental harm (zemiology) rather than narrow legal definitions.
• State crime is crime committed by or on behalf of states (genocide, torture, war crimes, state corruption). It is large-scale and especially serious because the state controls the law and can define its own actions as legal, so state crime often goes unpunished and unrecorded.

The media and crime

The media and crime are closely linked in several ways:

• Distortion: the media over-report violent, sexual and unusual crime and under-report ordinary and corporate crime, giving a misleading picture.
• Fear of crime: this distortion can raise the fear of crime, sometimes out of proportion to the actual risk, especially among groups (such as the elderly) who are statistically less likely to be victims.
• Moral panics: Cohen showed the media can create moral panics, labelling a group as folk devils and driving a deviancy amplification spiral, as with the Mods and Rockers.
• The media as a cause of crime: through imitation (copycat behaviour), labelling, the relative deprivation fuelled by advertising (left realism), and the rise of cybercrime enabled by new technology.

Criticisms

The claim that the media cause crime is contested: the effects are hard to prove, audiences are not passive (they interpret and resist media messages), and coverage may reflect rather than cause crime, with structural causes mattering more. The role of the media is therefore real but easily overstated.

Examples in context

A strong answer connects globalisation to a global criminal economy, distinguishes green and state crime (noting both may be legal yet harmful), and treats the media-crime link as real but contested.

Try this

Q1. Explain what is meant by 'state crime'. [6 marks]

• What the marker wants. A definition (AO1): state crime is crime committed by or on behalf of states (genocide, torture, war crimes, corruption), with the point that it is large-scale and often unpunished because the state controls the law and can define its own actions as legal, illustrated with an example.

Q2. Analyse two ways in which globalisation has affected crime. [12 marks]

• Cue. Two developed points: the growth of transnational organised crime and a global criminal economy (drug trafficking, money laundering) that crosses borders and is hard to police, and the creation of new motives through global inequality and relative deprivation, each explained and linked to the interconnected, globalised world.