Topic Sociologist Key findings
/ Theory
Crime Types of Formal control – when the police or courts enforce laws and individuals are jailed – official way of constraining behaviour e.g.
prevention and control being arrested by a police officer and charged, being sent to prison for a criminal offence, receiving a fine from a local
control magistrate and having to complete community service for a minor offence.
Informal control- disapproval of our behaviour/actions from others around us which may constrain behaviour e.g. disapproval
by friends due to anti-social behaviour, local community stigmatising individuals for poor behaviour, family members
threatening to disown an individual if they act in a certain way and mass media shaming an individual for sending rude tweets
to a journalist.
Situationa This is a pre-emptive approach that relies not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing
l crime opportunities for crime to take place.
preventio Measures directed at specific crimes – locking doors and windows. Managing the immediate environment – increasing
n lighting in dimly lit area. Making crime less cost effective- increasing punishments/risks.
The rational choice theory of crime is the idea that criminals weight up the costs and benefits if a crime opportunity
before deciding whether to commit it. This differs from Left and Right Realist approaches as it doesn’t aim to tackle crime
through socialisation or social transformation, but focuses on an immediate crime situation where scope for prevention is
at its greatest.
There is evidence that crime prevention can be successful as a decline in the overall suicide rate due to changing of the
gas supply from highly toxic coal has to natural gas – there was no displacement to other methods of suicide.
BUT displacement can occur where crime simply moves elsewhere e.g. spatial – moving elsewhere, target- choosing a
different type of victim and functional- committing it at a different time.
The theory tends to focus on petty street crime – ignores white collar, corporate and state crime. Assumes criminals
make rational calculations many crimes are committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Ignores the root causes of
crime such as poverty or poor socialisation.
Environm Based of Wilson and Kelling’s Broken Window Thesis. Broken windows was code for petty nuisance behaviour becoming
ental worse over time if unchecked. It can be argued that the authorities under police petty crimes. Wilson and Kelling’s idea is to
crime crack down is disorderly behaviour by improving the local environment. They support a policy called zero tolerance policing.
preventio Clear Car Programme in NYC was an example of a successful zero tolerance policy. There was also a crackdown on fare
n and dodging, drug dealing and ‘squeegee merchants’. There was a link between zero tolerance policing and reduced crime across
zero the US – BUT other factors must be considered. Structural factors such as an increase in available jobs can explain why crime
tolerance rates reduced. It has also been suggested that a fall in the murder rate was down to improved medical emergency services.
policing
Social Left realists would support Social and Community Crime Prevention because they aim to move conditions that pre-dispose
communit individuals to crime in the first place, such as the root causes of offending based in social conditions. The Perry pre-school
y and project is a successful example because from the control group has significantly fewer lifetime arrests for crimes. For every
/ Theory
Crime Types of Formal control – when the police or courts enforce laws and individuals are jailed – official way of constraining behaviour e.g.
prevention and control being arrested by a police officer and charged, being sent to prison for a criminal offence, receiving a fine from a local
control magistrate and having to complete community service for a minor offence.
Informal control- disapproval of our behaviour/actions from others around us which may constrain behaviour e.g. disapproval
by friends due to anti-social behaviour, local community stigmatising individuals for poor behaviour, family members
threatening to disown an individual if they act in a certain way and mass media shaming an individual for sending rude tweets
to a journalist.
Situationa This is a pre-emptive approach that relies not on improving society or its institutions, but simply on reducing
l crime opportunities for crime to take place.
preventio Measures directed at specific crimes – locking doors and windows. Managing the immediate environment – increasing
n lighting in dimly lit area. Making crime less cost effective- increasing punishments/risks.
The rational choice theory of crime is the idea that criminals weight up the costs and benefits if a crime opportunity
before deciding whether to commit it. This differs from Left and Right Realist approaches as it doesn’t aim to tackle crime
through socialisation or social transformation, but focuses on an immediate crime situation where scope for prevention is
at its greatest.
There is evidence that crime prevention can be successful as a decline in the overall suicide rate due to changing of the
gas supply from highly toxic coal has to natural gas – there was no displacement to other methods of suicide.
BUT displacement can occur where crime simply moves elsewhere e.g. spatial – moving elsewhere, target- choosing a
different type of victim and functional- committing it at a different time.
The theory tends to focus on petty street crime – ignores white collar, corporate and state crime. Assumes criminals
make rational calculations many crimes are committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Ignores the root causes of
crime such as poverty or poor socialisation.
Environm Based of Wilson and Kelling’s Broken Window Thesis. Broken windows was code for petty nuisance behaviour becoming
ental worse over time if unchecked. It can be argued that the authorities under police petty crimes. Wilson and Kelling’s idea is to
crime crack down is disorderly behaviour by improving the local environment. They support a policy called zero tolerance policing.
preventio Clear Car Programme in NYC was an example of a successful zero tolerance policy. There was also a crackdown on fare
n and dodging, drug dealing and ‘squeegee merchants’. There was a link between zero tolerance policing and reduced crime across
zero the US – BUT other factors must be considered. Structural factors such as an increase in available jobs can explain why crime
tolerance rates reduced. It has also been suggested that a fall in the murder rate was down to improved medical emergency services.
policing
Social Left realists would support Social and Community Crime Prevention because they aim to move conditions that pre-dispose
communit individuals to crime in the first place, such as the root causes of offending based in social conditions. The Perry pre-school
y and project is a successful example because from the control group has significantly fewer lifetime arrests for crimes. For every
