Street Crime

• Why does street crime occur?• Functionalist believe that the poor want more

things because society socializes them in this direction.

• Our society’s road to success (schools) often fails the poor.

• So poor turn to crime to get these items they want.

Crimes

• White Collar Crimes- crimes committed by people of respect and high social status, mostly in the course of their occupation

• Corporate Crimes- a special form of a white collar crime by executives to benefit the corporation

Why do white collar & executives commit crimes?

• They have the money and the power, therefore seldom is a corporate crime taken seriously (even when it results in death)

Exxon Valdez

Tylenol Case

Ford Explorer & Firestone Tires

Questions

• Why do street crimes and white collar crime continue to happen?

• What role does society play in street crime and white collar crime?

• Why do American’s fear street crime more than corporate crimes?

Conflict Perspective

• Power equals inequality• Conflict theorists believe the group at the top

controls the criminal justice system• See law as an instrument of oppression (myth

that laws are fair)

Reactions to Deviance

• Prisons– People who go to prison often return to prison

(recidivism)

• Death Penalty– Higher percentage of men on death row than

women

• Legal Change- making change in the laws such as dealing with hate crimes

Medicalization of Deviance

• Is deviant behavior a result of mental illness or simply problem behaviors?

• One theory is that mental illness causes people to act bizarre

• Another theory is that people act bizarre because of their experiences in life.

Humane Approach

• Deviance is going to happen.• One measure of society is how it treats its

deviance.• Prisons are warehouses of the poor and

unwanted.• White collar people get a slap on the wrist• We need to find a way to protect people from

deviance that is harmful, tolerate deviance that is not harmful and create a fair system.