Assessment 1 crime and deviancy PDF

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Crime, Deviance and Society Assessment 2: Short Answers (30%) Short Answer Question 1 – Crime mapping, a legacy from the Chicago School The locations that have been chosen is Epping and Mount Druitt. Mt Druitt is located in Outer Western Sydney and Epping is in Central Northern Sydney. Both of these suburbs have different rates of crime and this can be explained through Chicago School theoretical idea such as social disorganisation theory. Social disorganisation theory is “the inability of a community structure to recognise the residential common values and hold effective social controls” (Sampson & Groves, 2011, p. 109). Chicago started as a small town and increased in a population through migrants and industrialisation (Cartwright, 2011). The delinquency rates the highest in lower socio-economic areas and reduced in more affluent areas. This is measured through Earnest Burges concentric theory which is to explain the city of Chicago five different zones. The first zone is the central business district where it consists “central business district and government offices” (Browning, Cagney and Morris, 2014, p. 1237). The second zone is the transitional zone and the third zone called working-class zone had an area of deterioration and high waves of immigration. The fourth is the residential zone and the fifth zone was called Commuter zone had the most wealth. The zones with high delinquency rates had characteristics such as poverty/inequalities, “population heterogeneity and turnover” (Browning, Cagney and Morris, 2014, p. 1238). The reasons for these high crimes in the zone of transition is because of cultural transmission values. This means that when there is the crime is established in the neighbourhood then the values of the delinquency are passed through generations. Also, social control is another factor which is when community institutions have lack of control thus community cohesion (White, Haines and Asquith, 2017). By applying the zone of transition and commuter zone, we can place the two regions suitably. According to the Australian Bureau Statics (ABS), the average personal income in Epping with $747is higher compared to Mt Druitt with $500. These factors were caused by industrialisation which left parts in Sydney divided in the outer western Sydney region (Waitt et al, 2000). According to Shaw and Mackey (1972), high rates of delinquency is measured with median income and homeownership. Through ABS 2016 we can see Mt Druitt median income is lower thus indicating high theft levels. By looking at crimes from the 2 years such as robbery, Mt Druitt with 880.6 to 1460.1 has a higher rate than Epping with a rate of 228.1 to 175.8.

Another case would the distribution of immigration in certain regions. ABS shows that urban areas like Epping are populated with Chinese people with 20.9% and Mt Druitt filled with migrants such as Filipino with 10.2%. This could explain social disintegration model as the “rapid population growth through racial, contradictory norms and cultural heterogeneity could result in an internal conflict between the immigrants” (Browning, Cagney and Morris, 2014, p. 1235) thus leading to crime. However, there might be no relations to that as two locations have an equal amount of immigrants but it could be due to more skilled migrants living in eastern suburbs whereas more affordable housing is located in western Sydney many other migrants tend to live in those areas (Collins and Poynting, 2000). This concludes that the Western region correlates with zone of transition thus more criminal genic and Central regions are categorised in Commuter zone.

Shaw CR, McKay HD (1972 [1942]) Juvenile delinquency and urban areas: a study of delinquents in relaon to dierenal characteriscs of local communies in American cies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

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Short Answer Question 2 - Structural Strains and the Politics of everyday life Many sociologists examined the causation of crime and the connection with the growth of inequality and urbanisation. According to Zorbaugh, (1929) stated that Chicago underwent an economic boom through an increased population through migrants, mobility and industrialisation which was the causation of increase rate of crime and deterioration of social control. It was also found that high crime and delinquent rate areas were found in manufacturing and capital areas (Shaw and McKay 1942). The essential theory that explains is social-disorganisation. This theory highlights the main factors that diminish social control and these factors are ethnic heterogeneity, disadvantages in accessing resources and residential mobility. By interviewing someone, not in the unit I have an insight into their social awareness on the socio-cultural conditions with inequality and crime. I also resolved that everyday Australians are

not oblivious to the problems and causations of crime. The first question, my friend said that “people commit crimes because they are brought from low socio-economic areas and have lack of access in education to no basic norms and values.” This correlates with Chicago’s theory as individuals who are from disadvantage areas predominantly fall into criminal behaviour. The second question my friend answered “people commit crime because they see the world unfair and people have less opportunities. To achieve equal opportunity for them they involve in criminal behaviour.” This justifies that my interviewer is knowledgeable in social disorganisation as he draws connections in inequality and disadvantages which could lead to a decrease in social control. The final question my friend does not believe in a society of equal opportunity. He also claimed that some people are derived from intergenerational inequity while others accumulate certain wealth. While the wealthy individual achieves their goals without any strains, the disadvantage individuals have to face perseverance and hardship to ultimately reach their goal. My friend also highlights a different theory which dives into the clashing of cultural goals and institutionalised means. This theory is called strain theory created Merton which is a pressure caused by a disjuncture of meeting the cultural goal (White, Haines and Asquith, 2017). The cultural goals include wealth, status and success (material possession) but not everyone can access it due to limited institutionalised means. For instance, to be employed in a high paid job you need education and time. However, not every individual could access the amount of education if you grew up in certain areas thus individual would involve in criminal activities to overcome the barriers. By being the interviewer, I have concluded that the average Australian’s are aware of the sociocultural condition and through the basic knowledge, they can apply social disorganisation and strain theory in their answers thus indicating that the Chicago school theory is still applicable today.

Reference Browning, C, Cagney, K and Morris, K 2014, ‘Early Chicago School Theory’, Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Springer, New York, pp. 12331242. White, R, Haines, F and Asquith, N 2017, 'Strain theory’, in Crime and Criminology, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp. 73-94.

Cartwright, B. (2011b). Economic Deprivation and Neighborhood Crime Rates. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 133135). Boston Sampson, R. and Groves, W. B. (2011). Community structure and crime: testing social- disorganization theory. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 107-132). Boston Waitt, G., Mcguirk, P., Dunn, K., Burnley, I. and Hartig, K. (2000). Introducing Human Geography. Sydney: Pearson Australia, pp.45-52.

Shaw CR, McKay HD (1972) Juvenile delinquency and urban areas: a study of delinquency in relation to differential characteristics of local communities in American cities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/Census sb Abs 2016 census

http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/ NSW crime tool...