WJEC Criminology Unit 2 Questions and
Correct Answers Graded A+ Complete
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1. What forms of deviance are there?: Admired behaviour: e.g. saving
someone's life. Odd behaviour
Bad Behaviour
2. What sanctions are there against deviance?: Frowning upon someone's
behaviour Labelling behaviour
Being ignored
Parents grounding a child
3. Legal definition of criminality: Where something is illegal according to statute or
common law. Where there is an actus reus and mens rea (except with strict liability offences).
4. Social construction of criminality: Not all harmful acts are criminal. Not all criminal acts are
harmful. Things are illegal because society says they are. Sometimes laws change to reflect public
opinion. Sometimes laws vary from society to society. So criminal behaviour is whatever society wants
it to be at any particular time and place.
,5. How has the law changed on homosexuality?: Homosexual sex between men
was illegal
until 1967. The age of consent was set at 21.
The age of consent was lowered to 18 and then 16.
Civil partnerships between same sex couples were available from
2004. Equalities Act 2010 banned discrimination on grounds of
sexual orientation. Same sex marriage was available in 2014.
6. How has the law changed on smoking?: legal age to buy cigarettes has been raised
from 16
to 18.
Tobacco advertising banned.
Tobacco sponsorship of sports made
illegal. Smoking ban (on smoking in
public places).
It is now illegal to smoke in a car with children.
Those born before 1st January 2009 will never be able to buy cigarettes legally.
7. Explain how social changes have affected policy development: (1) Religion:
UK has become a less religious country.
(2) Knowledge: Greater awareness, e.g. of the dangers of smoking.
(3) Pressure group campaigns, e.g. Stonewall campaigned on gay rights, ASH campaigned for
, greater awareness of the dangers of smoking.
8. XYY Theory of Crime: Genetic theory re that the XYY genotype was responsible for the
'supermale'
predator as it was argued to be found to be 20 times more common in prisoners than in the general
population. XYY males tend to be tall and of low intelligence.
9. Concordance studies of twins: Identical twins (MZ) have the same DNA. Non-identical
twins (DZ)
share only 50% of their DNA.
Twin studies have shown greater concordance (harmony) in MZ twins than DZ, suggesting that
genetics may play a part in criminality.
Concordance rate is 52% MZ twins, 22% for DZ twins.
10. Adoption studies: Hutchings and Mednick (1994) found that a high proportion of boys
with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions, but there was no relationship
between adopted parents and adopted children.
Concordance rate of 20% compared to 14%
11. Lombroso: He argued that the criminal is a separate species between the primitive and
modern human. Criminals share certain atavistic (primitive) features, such as a low sloping
forehead, enormous jaws, big ears.
Correct Answers Graded A+ Complete
Guaranteed
Verified by Experts
1. What forms of deviance are there?: Admired behaviour: e.g. saving
someone's life. Odd behaviour
Bad Behaviour
2. What sanctions are there against deviance?: Frowning upon someone's
behaviour Labelling behaviour
Being ignored
Parents grounding a child
3. Legal definition of criminality: Where something is illegal according to statute or
common law. Where there is an actus reus and mens rea (except with strict liability offences).
4. Social construction of criminality: Not all harmful acts are criminal. Not all criminal acts are
harmful. Things are illegal because society says they are. Sometimes laws change to reflect public
opinion. Sometimes laws vary from society to society. So criminal behaviour is whatever society wants
it to be at any particular time and place.
,5. How has the law changed on homosexuality?: Homosexual sex between men
was illegal
until 1967. The age of consent was set at 21.
The age of consent was lowered to 18 and then 16.
Civil partnerships between same sex couples were available from
2004. Equalities Act 2010 banned discrimination on grounds of
sexual orientation. Same sex marriage was available in 2014.
6. How has the law changed on smoking?: legal age to buy cigarettes has been raised
from 16
to 18.
Tobacco advertising banned.
Tobacco sponsorship of sports made
illegal. Smoking ban (on smoking in
public places).
It is now illegal to smoke in a car with children.
Those born before 1st January 2009 will never be able to buy cigarettes legally.
7. Explain how social changes have affected policy development: (1) Religion:
UK has become a less religious country.
(2) Knowledge: Greater awareness, e.g. of the dangers of smoking.
(3) Pressure group campaigns, e.g. Stonewall campaigned on gay rights, ASH campaigned for
, greater awareness of the dangers of smoking.
8. XYY Theory of Crime: Genetic theory re that the XYY genotype was responsible for the
'supermale'
predator as it was argued to be found to be 20 times more common in prisoners than in the general
population. XYY males tend to be tall and of low intelligence.
9. Concordance studies of twins: Identical twins (MZ) have the same DNA. Non-identical
twins (DZ)
share only 50% of their DNA.
Twin studies have shown greater concordance (harmony) in MZ twins than DZ, suggesting that
genetics may play a part in criminality.
Concordance rate is 52% MZ twins, 22% for DZ twins.
10. Adoption studies: Hutchings and Mednick (1994) found that a high proportion of boys
with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions, but there was no relationship
between adopted parents and adopted children.
Concordance rate of 20% compared to 14%
11. Lombroso: He argued that the criminal is a separate species between the primitive and
modern human. Criminals share certain atavistic (primitive) features, such as a low sloping
forehead, enormous jaws, big ears.
